The rain continued to hammer the Corpse Ravine, but to Jiang Chen, the sound had changed. Before, it was chaos; now, it was a rhythmic drumbeat he could filter out at will.
Thirty feet away, the Iron-Tooth Corpse Rat twitched its nose.
It was a nightmare made of fur and hunger. Scabbed skin showed through patchy hair, and its incisors were yellow daggers dripping with sickness. It was gnawing on the femur of a dead disciple, cracking the bone like a dry twig.
Jiang Chen's stomach roared—a painful, cramping demand that felt less like hunger and more like withdrawal.
I have to kill that? The confidence from his resurrection wavered. He was a servant. His "combat experience" was limited to curling into a ball while disciples kicked his ribs. He didn't know how to fight; he only knew how to bleed.
[Advisory: Target is a Scavenger. Threat: Low.]
[Host lacks combat memory. Initiating "Puppet Protocol."]
[Do you accept neural guidance?]
"Neural guidance?" Jiang Chen whispered, gripping a jagged rock until his knuckles turned white. "You mean you'll teach me?"
[Answer: I will move you.]
The Rat froze. It had smelled him.
With a shriek that sounded like metal grinding on glass, the beast abandoned its meal. Red, beady eyes locked onto Jiang Chen. It didn't hesitate. It launched itself across the mud, a blur of muscle and teeth aiming straight for his throat.
Jiang Chen's human instinct screamed: Close your eyes! Die!
But the cold presence in the back of his mind didn't blink.
[Protocol Engaged.]
BZZT.
Time didn't stop, but it turned into sludge. The falling rain slowed into silver streaks. The flying rat, jaws wide enough to crush a skull, floated through the air like it was swimming in syrup.
Jiang Chen felt a jolt seize his muscles—not pain, but a sudden, electric override. He didn't tell his legs to move; they moved on their own.
His body twisted to the left with mechanical precision. His spine popped audibly. The rat sailed past, missing his neck by a fraction of an inch. The wind from its passing claws brushed his cheek.
I... I dodged it?
[Strike now. Base of the skull.]
The command wasn't a voice; it was a red impulse flashing behind his eyes.
Jiang Chen didn't think. He obeyed. His arm lashed out, fueled by the borrowed instincts of the thing inside him. He brought the jagged rock down with a force he didn't know he possessed.
CRUNCH.
The rock connected. There was a wet, sickening sound of bone splintering into mush.
The rat squealed, crashing face-first into the mud. It thrashed, tail whipping the air, but the blow had broken something vital.
[Finish it.]
The voice was relentless. Cold.
Jiang Chen leaped onto the creature's back. It bucked, trying to throw him, but his legs clamped around its torso like a vice. He raised the rock. And again. And again.
He pounded the creature's skull until the squealing stopped. Until the rock was slick with dark blood. Until his arm burned with a fire he'd never felt before.
He sat back, panting, steam rising from his chest. The silence of the ravine returned.
He had done it. Jiang Chen, the trash of the Iron Sword Sect, had killed a demon.
[Target Eliminated.]
[Puppet Protocol: Offline.]
[Energy Critical. Consume immediately.]
The blue screen hovered over the mangled corpse. An arrow pointed to the chest.
The adrenaline crashed, and Jiang Chen's human stomach revolted. "You... you want me to eat this? Raw? It eats dead people!"
He retched, bile burning his throat.
[Warning: Host organ failure in 180 seconds.]
The threat was blunt.
Jiang Chen looked at his hands. They were trembling again. The supernatural strength was evaporating, leaving him with a fluttering heart and limbs that felt like lead.
"I want to live," he muttered, his voice cracking. "I promised."
He crawled forward, dragging his body through the mud. He reached the rat's chest cavity, a mess of fur and crushed bone.
Just pretend it's chicken, he told himself, squeezing his eyes shut. Just pretend it's medicine.
He ripped open the skin. The smell of hot copper hit him.
The System intervened then. A sharp static buzzed at the base of his skull, like a wire being re-soldered inside his brain. It was an alien sensation—a dial being turned in his mind.
Suddenly, the stench of the rat wasn't rot anymore. It smelled... sweet. Rich. Like the spirit ginseng soup the Elders drank.
Jiang Chen's eyes snapped open. The blood didn't look disgusting; it looked glowing. Vibrant. His mouth watered uncontrollably.
He lowered his head and took a bite.
It was warm. Salty. And god help him, it was delicious.
He tore into the flesh like a starving wolf. He didn't chew; he swallowed chunks whole. He drank the blood pooling in the ribcage. A euphoric heat spread from his stomach to his fingertips, washing away the pain, the cold, and the shame.
He ate until the rat was nothing but wet bones and fur.
Jiang Chen wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, face smeared crimson. He felt a strange, pulsating power humming in his veins.
[Biomass Assimilation Complete.]
[Repairing Host Tissue... 100%.]
[Strength +0.2]
[Constitution +0.3]
[Evolution Points (EV) Gained: 10]
Jiang Chen burped, a small cloud of steam escaping his lips. He looked at his hand. He squeezed a fist, feeling the muscles bunch up tight like steel cables.
"I got stronger," he whispered. "Just by eating? No pills? No meditation?"
A dark smile crept onto his face. It was cheating. It was defying the heavens. And he loved it.
[System Shop Unlocked.]
[Current EV: 10]
"Shop?" Jiang Chen scrambled to his feet, ignoring the gore on his robes. "Show me!"
A grid appeared in his mind. Most items were grayed out, but three were bright:
Cleansing Water (1 EV) - Removes grime. Blood Clotting Pellet (5 EV) - Stops minor bleeding. Skill: Serpent's Breath (10 EV) - Tier 1 Stealth Technique.
Jiang Chen's eyes glued to the third option.
A skill. In the Iron Sword Sect, servants weren't even allowed to touch a sword. A technique manual cost hundreds of Spirit Stones. And here, he could buy one for the price of... one dead rat?
"I'll take the Serpent's Breath."
[Purchase Confirmed.]
[Transmitting Memory...]
AAAARGH!
Jiang Chen grabbed his head as a headache split his skull. It felt like a hot nail being hammered into his temple.
Images flooded his mind. A snake hiding in the grass, its heartbeat slowing until it was invisible to the world. He felt his diaphragm shift. He knew how to circulate his meager Qi to dampen his pulse.
The pain vanished, leaving him sweating but enlightened.
He took a breath. Not a normal breath—he breathed in a specific, rhythmic pattern he had just "learned."
His heartbeat slowed. The sound of his breathing vanished. Even his presence seemed to dim, blending into the shadows of the ravine.
"Incredible," he breathed. "I learned it instantly."
He looked up at the cliff face, miles above him, where the Iron Sword Sect sat in the clouds.
"They threw me away," Jiang Chen said, his voice steady. "They think I'm meat for the rats."
He clenched his fists, the blood of the corpse rat drying on his skin.
"I'm going back. And I'm going to eat them all."
[Quest Generated: Return to the Sect.]
[Objective: Climb the cliff and enter the Outer Court unseen.]
[Reward: 20 EV.]
Jiang Chen smiled. It wasn't the smile of a servant anymore. It was the smile of a predator who had just realized he had fangs.