I walked over, slow, step by step, until I was kneeling beside Chen Wu.
He was still breathing, but my mind was crawling with the thought to give him a quick death rather than watch him die slowly and painfully. It was too ugly to see the white foam in his mouth and the poison crawling down his neck like green worms
His eyes met mine for a second — unfocused, desperate. The kind of look you give when you're begging the world to stop kicking you.
For a heartbeat, I saw it — that stupid flicker of hope.
He thought I'd save him.
But I had nothing. Nothing to pull him back. No cure, no miracle. Only the cold truth that he was thrown away like trash.
All I could do was watch him die but also I wanted to end it clean, not stand here watching him flail until whatever was left of him gave up.
His breath came shallow, fading like smoke. I leaned closer, trying to catch the words — but all that came out was a broken sound, half a whisper, half an apology. I couldn't even tell who he was saying sorry to — me, himself, or whatever god stopped listening a long time ago.
God, tch… do they even exist in this cursed world? If they did, I doubt it would've turned into this mess.
Or maybe they're just watching — playing their little game while we crawl in this fucked up world.
Tch. Useless thought.
"W-Why…?" His voice was small. "We… we were a team…"
It broke me in a different way than they think. Not with pity but with rage.
"Don't worry, my friend," I said, voice low and even. "Your vengeance is mine."
He coughed—wet, useless. "D-Don't let them… don't let them get away."
"They will die the same way as you," I told him, cold as ice. "An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth."
His hand twitched once in mine, then went still. I felt his chest stop — just like that. The light faded from his eyes, slow, quiet. I just watched, and all I could do was close his eyelids with my hand.
I stood up, looking down at him for a long second.
I couldn't tell what I was feeling. Sympathy? Nothing. Pain? Nothing.
Am I... changed? The only thing loud in my head was rage — hot and simple. Rage to tear those bastards apart the same way they did to Chen Wu.
I thought maybe I'd break, maybe the tears would come. They didn't. My eyes stayed dry.
All I could feel was anger crawling under my skull.
It itched bad, like it wanted out — to rip those bastards apart.
I clenched my teeth so hard it hurt, but it didn't help.
The more I tried to hold it in, the louder it got inside my head.
"They used him as bait," I murmured, looking toward the path the three had taken. "They laughed while he died."
My hands curled into fists. I could feel the Abyss inside me, hungry and patient. It answered like a voice in my head, low and sure, like someone promising me the next move. Good. That was the sound I wanted.
"I also have a poison," I said softly — not a confession, but a warning. "And I will feed it to them."
Not tomorrow. Not someday. Not a wish in the dark. I planned it in my bones — a road I would walk until they fell.
They will bleed for what they did. They will beg. I will watch. I will make them the bait, make them know what it feels like to rot while others walk on.
Chen Wu is gone. Good. His last breath will not be wasted.
I looked at Chen Wu. I raised my hand.
For a moment, I hesitated. My hand stopped halfway.
He didn't deserve this. He was just like me. Thrown away. Used. Forgotten.
Something in my chest twisted. It wasn't my thought; it felt like something else moving under my skin.
A small, quiet voice whispered, 'Don't do it.'
But another voice, darker and heavier, spoke louder.
Do it.
He's already dead.
Don't let it go to waste.
Turn his death into strength.
Make his enemies suffer.
I clenched my fist. My heart was pounding so loud I could feel it in my throat. My fingers trembled against my palm as if they had their own will.
"I will devour you," I said slowly, my voice low and cold. "Make your power mine… and use it to deliver vengeance on your enemies."
I raised my palm over him. I still didn't know what would happen if I devoured a human instead of an otherworldly creature. But I wanted to know now.
The darker voice pressed like a hand at my throat—tight, steady.
My hand moved on its own, fingers curling, shaking, like something inside was pulling the strings.
I wanted to stop it… but I couldn't.
The craving hit hard, sweet and sick at the same time. I wanted to devour him.
My eyes felt wide, dry, hungry — watching, waiting for that power to crawl under my skin.
What I wanted, what I didn't… I couldn't tell anymore.
The lines blurred.
All that was left was the hunger.
"Void Eater"
From my hand, shadows began to leak out. Thin, dark, and alive.
They slithered like snakes—dozens of them—crawling over my arm, wrapping around my wrist, and spilling onto Chen Wu's body.
They wrapped around him, biting into his flesh. Each flesh turned into nothing.
And then, he began to fade. Flesh, bones, everything—turning into black dust.
I watched him turning into nothing in silence.
What was left behind was his dagger. Which he kept hidden under his clothes. But he didn't even get the chance to use it.
"Don't worry, I will use it." As I lean and pick the dagger from the ground.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "But your death won't be in vain."
A dark smirk touched my lips.
"I'll carry your hatred with me. And when I find them…"
My eyes turned sharp, the same way theirs did when they looked down on me.
"They'll learn what it means to be devoured."
[Void Eater Activated]
[Devoured: Chen Wu (F-1)]
[Skill Acquired: Bloodline Skill Acquired – RockSkin (F)]
[Effect: Skin hardens temporarily, reducing physical damage by 40%.]
[Experience Gained: +1000]
[Seed Growth: +15]
[Taint: +10]
For a moment, the word 'Taint' blinked faintly on the screen — and even after it vanished, it lingered in the back of my head like a whisper that refused to fade.
I didn't know what it meant yet.
But deep down, I felt it wasn't just corruption of power — it was something crawling into my thoughts, a shadow that might not leave when the fighting stopped.
As I stepped toward the two Venomfang corpses, ready to devour them, it hit me.
Not power. Not warmth.
Voices.
At first, faint — like whispers leaking through water. Then they grew sharper, crawling through my skull.
"Brother… Wait for me…"
"Don't go to the city today, please…"
"I'll bring you food when you're back…"
The words weren't mine.
My breath hitched. My chest tightened.
Then came another voice — the same one I'd just watched die.
Broken. Pleading.
"My sister… She's waiting for me…"
"Please… I can't die here…"
Each word stabbed inside my head, echoing again and again until it felt like my skull would split open.
I grabbed my head, grinding my teeth. "Stop… stop it…"
The whispers didn't stop. They mixed with my own thoughts – twisting, blending – until I couldn't tell where his memories ended and mine began.
For a second, I saw her face. Not clearly. Just a blur of a girl smiling. I guess she was his sister.
But when she called out again, her voice… It sounded like my sister.
"Shen Yan… come home…"
It hit like a blade through my skull — sharp, clean, and endless.
My vision snapped white, my ears ringing like something screaming from the inside.
I couldn't breathe right; every breath came short, broken.
I could feel the sweat sliding down my neck, cold and sticky, my fingers clawed at the dirt just to stay grounded.
It felt like my head was splitting open from the inside out — like the Abyss itself was trying to crawl free.
[WARNING: Taint +10 — Psychological Echo Detected]
The words flashed in front of me, but they felt distant. Buried under the sound of the voices whispering inside me.