After greeting Ai Lin and logging off, Yu Sheng did not hang up immediately.
It wasn't that Ai Lin had suddenly turned to a peaceful existence, but rather, this terrifying giant beast seemed to have fallen into a daze for some reason.
It stood there in the night wind, dozens of chaotic eyes overlapping on its monstrous body, fixed on its prey with a strange "gaze".
Though it sounded odd, Yu Sheng truly felt he could see "confusion" in those eyes—like they were trying to reconcile a stomach and mouth that had been empty for too long.
Ai Lin was anxiously calling out to him in his mind, but all of Yu Sheng's attention was on the fearsome creature before him.
Her voice felt like it was coming through a thick curtain, distant and faint.
He tensed his muscles, his heartbeat pounding like a war drum.
Every tremor of the creature’s muscles, every pulse of its veins, was vividly reflected in his mind.
Even though he had prepared since his "revival" in the ruined temple, facing the heavy weight of death again made Yu Sheng feel immense tension.
Yet, unlike last time, the fear mixing with that tension had greatly faded, replaced by a strange… excitement, one he didn't even fully understand.
Then, he suddenly perceived something.
The creature’s muscles contracted, its thick, murky blood seemed to gather, hunger surged from the depths of his being, and within the confused haze of his mind, commands to eat emerged.
In that fleeting moment, a warning bloomed within him, shaping the outline of danger.
The creature was about to strike from the left, but it was merely a feint.
Its true lethal move was its snake-like tail, which would whip around from behind, armed with barbs and sharp edges.
The beast lunged forward, its massive jaws suddenly opening at the end of its limb and snapping towards Yu Sheng’s left side.
However, even before it leapt, Yu Sheng had already reacted.
Without any further thought, he sidestepped at the urgent prompting in his heart, quickly diving forward in a blur of motion that astonished even himself.
He realized that his previously injured waist had completely healed at some point, as if this body’s condition had been incredibly good since his "revival".
The giant beast missed its target, its snake-like tail swiping only narrowly past Yu Sheng’s back.
He felt the rush of wind behind him, a chilling sensation from the edge of death making his hair stand on end.
Yet, more than fear, disbelief filled his heart: had he really dodged that attack?! What just happened?
But there was no time to ponder, as another wave of danger quickly approached him from behind.
This time he had no room to evade.
As soon as he landed, he awkwardly flipped onto his feet just in time to see a razor-sharp claw plummeting towards him.
In a state of desperation, he instinctively raised his hand, trying to block that claw with his humanly weak arm as it came down like a meteor.
A loud crash erupted, scattering grass and dust for several meters around.
Pain surged through his entire being as if multiple bones had been broken at once.
He grunted, struggling to catch his breath, stumbling back two steps—
But he had blocked the attack; he had really done it.
Dumbfounded, Yu Sheng looked at his hands.
His left arm was bent at an unnatural angle; evidently, a bone had indeed shattered.
Yet, astonishingly, the pain was fading quickly, as if that twisted bone was slowly mending.
He vividly remembered the creature's first assault and its overwhelming power, realizing that every inch of its muscle could easily crush a human body.
Yu Sheng was certain that if the beast had attacked with full force, he would never have been able to block it—not even if a thousand bones shattered.
But the monster wasn’t going to give him much time to think.
After merely adjusting for a second or two, it let out a chaotic and furious roar, attacking him once more, seeking its frustrating "prey".
A bone-chilling gust of wind swept around him, the beast appearing as if a mountain was descending upon him.
Yu Sheng instinctively rolled aside and hopped back to his feet, narrowly avoiding a tail that sliced through the air with the force to split mountains.
Yet, the next moment, while trying to regain his footing, he was knocked to the ground by the retracting tail.
Then, to his horror, the creature split open in the middle, and a grotesque, writhing "tongue" shot out from its body in the shadows, ensnaring Yu Sheng and dragging him forcefully back.
Yu Sheng fought to push against that "tongue," trying with all his might not to be choked out completely.
He helplessly watched as he was pulled before the beast, its torso opening to reveal a cavern filled with countless sharp teeth rubbing against one another like a hungry maw.
As he teetered on the edge of being pulled into that gaping mouth, Yu Sheng suddenly pushed off with his feet.
The ground beneath him shattered, and the tremendous recoil sent the beast stumbling.
Without thinking, he seized the fleeting moment to muster all his strength, roaring and breaking free from the clutches of its long tongue.
He quickly grabbed a sharp shard of rock from the ground and lunged toward the monster’s wildly trembling eye.
The moment the tongue snapped, the creature let out a terrifying roar, blood spraying from its body.
It staggered, fighting to regain balance, its dozens of eyes fixated on their tantalizing prey—
So fragrant, so very fragrant…
The scent of blood permeated the air, stimulating the hunger within, awakening something deep and primal inside him.
It truly was enticing.
Yu Sheng felt his heart racing wildly, a burning sensation surging through his veins, intoxicating delight bubbling in his chest.
He struggled to comprehend this ecstatic feeling until he finally understood:
It was the joy of about to feast, the sweet reward of satisfying hunger.
That giant beast, the mound of blood and flesh, the corrupted and chaotic soul, that… exquisite meat.
The sharp stone crumbled slowly in his hand, and he breathed heavily, feeling everything around him slow down.
He lunged at the beast while it lunged at him, food embracing food—it felt surreal, as if he hadn’t eaten in over twenty years or at least hadn’t tasted "real food".
He grasped the creature's grotesque limb while it tightens its hold even more, cracking his bones one after another.
Yet, Yu Sheng felt no pain.
He was already biting into the creature's flesh, not in a last desperate effort, but with a new mindset:
He wouldn’t die; he would return.
This creature could kill him once, twice, or a thousand times, but he would always come back.
And every time, he would understand better how to face the beast.
It might take a long time.
But he would savor every better piece of this fine meat.
The dozens of eyes around the monster trembled wildly, and it seemed some of them finally focused on Yu Sheng.
A massive mouth filled with sharp teeth sank its bite into him, yet a glimmer of fear began to surface in those eyes.
Yu Sheng felt the monster tearing his body apart little by little.
He knew he was losing this time—a fact rooted in inevitability.
He would die, consumed by this monster.
At least, this time he fought longer than he had expected—he thought he would perish on the first encounter, but he had surprisingly withstood the beast's assault.
"Ai Lin…" He tried to call out in his mind just before consciousness slipped into darkness.
Ai Lin's voice came almost immediately: "Yu Sheng! Are you okay?! I called you, but you didn’t respond..."
"I'm fine, I just spoke too soon. It's time for me to go..."
Yu Sheng disregarded Ai Lin’s frantic exclamations, quietly awaiting the embrace of death.
Yet, just as that heavy darkness was about to descend, he suddenly heard a voice nearby—a clear and unmistakable voice existing in this valley.
"Don’t be afraid! I’m coming to save you!"
His awareness was fading, but at that moment, clarity struck him like lightning.
Someone?!
Is there someone here?!
With great effort, he cracked his eyelids open, directing his gaze towards the voice.
He saw a figure rushing towards him from afar; through the haze, he perceived it was a tattered girl.
But the next moment, he noticed there was another outline trailing behind her in the dim light.
What was it?
A tail?
A fox?
A person?
No, it was an under-speeding headbutt.
In desperate disbelief, Yu Sheng watched as the figure charging towards him accelerated like some kind of high-powered projectile, ducking its head straight for him.
The monster, preoccupied with devouring him, inadvertently turned its body (likely on purpose), making Yu Sheng the target of the incoming figure.
"Whoa…"
He barely managed to squeeze out two syllables between his teeth.
The girl rushing toward him was entirely oblivious to the danger ahead.
The under-speeding headbutt struck Yu Sheng in the chest, and then he simply ceased to have a chest.
Nothing below his neck remained.
It was as if he had evaporated.
“Girl, you messed up…”
And then, Yu Sheng was saved to death.
(End of Chapter)