How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 40.1 – Their Courage

The empress bee of the purple light bug that was infected by Abyss No.0 was named the “Black Queen”.

Its whole body was composed of black crystals, which were as high as a small building. The purple light bug it reproduced also had the characteristics of coming back from the dead.

After the “Black Queen” was severely hit by a space-based weapon, she was contained at the bottom of the laboratory. Once it came back to life, it would be pierced through the head by a laser weapon, then reborn, and then killed – the research center was very cautious not to give it any chance to grow.

Other researchers were studying whether high-efficiency anesthetics or freezers could be used to limit its movement.

“This is not a solution after all,” Professor Guan said. “It took us two space-based weapons to subdue it, and it will take a lot of energy to contain it. Even if there is one more creature like this, we may not be able to withstand it.” He rubbed his eyebrows. “I only have one question, did the ‘Black Queen’ get infected before Abyss No.0 disappeared or after? Where did Abyss No.0 go again? Why can we still monitor its infection wavelength?”

No one could answer his question.

The night was deep, the research center was brightly lit, the researchers in white were running around, and the green data flowed across the huge screen. This was destined to be a sleepless night.

At the same time, the infection wavelength of Abyss No.0 reappeared.

Its data was like a fish, swimming through a torrent of thousands of data, and everywhere it passed turned into a hellish red.

—Shi Yuan went out of the city again.

He took advantage of the night to come to the wasteland and stepped into a high forest.

The monsters were still afraid of him and did not dare to approach him. Now he knew why: he could override their infections, kill them physiologically, and infect them with his own. While fearing death, they still instinctively craved that supreme power.

Infection, deformation, ascension. Evolution, something that would take thousands of years, could happen every minute and every second; time, the thing that imprisoned all species, was broken by him.

If he wanted…

He could create an immortal legion of monsters. Perhaps in the distant future, after the legion occupied this planet, it could launch an expedition to the wider universe.

The conquest would never stop.

The bright moonlight was cut into pieces by the branches and fell on his shoulders, and the insects with light on their tails flew slowly, much like the night Xie Qianming died.

Shi Yuan crossed the stream, climbed the short slope, and sat on a dead tree trunk lying on the ground. His shoes were full of wet mud and uncomfortable to wear. He took off his shoes and put them aside, just in time to touch the cold stream on his toes.

He took out the black crystal. The blue butterfly emitted a dreamy glow, and unlike before, the crystal cracked open a gap.

Shi Yuan could feel that in this restless night, the butterfly wanted to flutter its wings and fly.

He waited for a while, and after half an hour or an hour, the crystal made a crisp sound, and the butterfly with black crystals on its wings flew up.

It came to life.

Blue and black complemented each other, it happily shuttled through the forest wind, chasing an insect, and its six feet gently fell on its body.

Blood burst out.

Sharp crystals poked out from the tips of its feet and pierced the insect. The butterfly flew back to Shi Yuan’s side with the bloody insect, rejoicing, and offering its prey to Shi Yuan, just like a loyal subject paying tribute to the king, or a devotee offering sacrifices to the gods.

“No, I don’t want it,” Shi Yuan said. “This doesn’t look delicious.”

Blue Butterfly didn’t quite understand, but finally understood what he meant. It swallowed the insect in small bites and caught another three-headed bird.

“I don’t want this either.” Shi Yuan hugged his tail sadly. “I like bean sprout soup, the bean sprout soup from the restaurant in front of the theater.”

For the next half an hour, the blue butterfly flew around, catching transparent rabbits, half tentacles, human-faced spiders, and a fluorescent green tortoise. It tried its best to give Shi Yuan the best things, but Shi Yuan didn’t want it.

Shi Yuan stretched out his hand and the blue butterfly fell gently on his fingertips. Shi Yuan looked at it and said, “Can you stop killing humans and monsters?”

The blue butterfly didn’t understand, shaking its wings gently.

It only craved endless hunting and killing, and would never stop.

Shi Yuan was silent.

Another gust of forest wind blew in, blowing the fragrance of the trees and insects dancing with lamps. The boy with devil horns and black scales at the end of his eye was sitting on the trunk of a tree, stepping on the stream with his bare feet, his eyes lit up by the fluorescence of the butterfly on his fingertips. The monsters were watching him secretly – they didn’t dare to approach, but they looked at him with a little curiosity, he was the absolute protagonist here.

If a lost person saw this scene, he would definitely treat him as a god from the wild.

This was the homeland that he couldn’t part with and was closely related to.

“Go,” Shi Yuan said to the blue butterfly, “The farther away, the better, don’t come back.”

He shook the butterfly off but the butterfly flew back again. After a few backs and forths, it reluctantly flew away.

Shi Yuan was dazed for a while, picked up his tail, and fell asleep against the trunk of the tree.

There was a bright stage in his dream. The sound of insects fluttering their wings was still there, and this time, he saw each other clearly.

The “Black Queen” hovered at the bottom of the stage, watching him tenderly and fanatically.

The blue butterfly danced and they all fought for him. The audience was full of monsters who feared and respected him. They longed to walk in the eternal wasteland of time; they wanted the show to begin, a magnificent show that would never end.

“Well,” Shi Yuan said, “It seems that I am still a monster.”

The scattered light of the forest fell on his forehead, and in the distance was the city, desperately emitting a light that pierced the long night.

*

Shi Yuan started working in the food distribution office again.

The whole city was under martial law, and you couldn’t go out without a permit. All recreational activities were suspended, the curfew was advanced to 9 o’clock, electricity and water were restricted, and the hot water supply time was reduced from 6 hours to 4 hours.

There were fewer and fewer dishes in the distribution office. At first, there were cabbage, potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, etc., which were arranged and combined in different patterns to make different dishes. Later, there were the same combined dishes, but meat was not seen at all. He heard that meat was exclusively for the army.

He heard about the recent situation of Cheng Youwen and Qin Luoluo.

Cheng Youwen went to the shoe factory to control the machine to make military boots; Qin Luoluo went to the hospital and learned to help people deal with simple wounds.

No one knew where Xia Fang had gone, Lu Tinghan only told Shi Yuan that he was definitely not in Gleaning City anymore. Wolfgang went to the main city to join the army and fought several battles. He heard that he served a long time ago until his brother died outside the city.

Tracy was sent to the Star Welfare Home and placed in the care of Dean Martha Faith.

She painted, acted, and read fairy tale books at the orphanage, gaining a small army of loyal fans.

When Shi Yuan saw her again, she was in the hospital.

Wolfgang couldn’t come back, Dean Martha still had a bunch of children to worry about, and Cheng Youwen and Qin Luoluo were so busy that they could only entrust Shi Yuan to take care of her.

Tracy was very sick, sicker than ever before.

Every night, the sequelae of infection would eat away at her, and the pain would spread from the spine to every inch of the soul. Painkillers were scarce now, and the doctor would only give one piece every three days. She curled up in a ball with an IV needle, and Shi Yuan held her hand to soothe her.

“… Shi Yuan,” she said softly, “Where did Xia Fang go? I haven’t seen him for a very long time.”

No one told her that Xia Fang stole the money and ran away.

“He went to a very far place,” Shi Yuan replied, “probably to another city.”

Tracy: “Fengyang City? Or the main city? Will he come back?”

“I don’t know,” Shi Yuan said honestly.

Tracy thought for a while: “I think it’s Fengyang City. His mother and Ms. Isabella are both there. Maybe they can meet.”

Shi Yuan said, “Well, maybe.”