Chapter 142 – We Are All Cannibals

Volume 3: Rising Winds and Clouds

"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way."

An odd smile spread across Kaldor's peculiar face. To Wen Yu, it was almost painful to look at.

"Wait." His voice was drained.

"Where do the Human Race's Magic Crystals go?"

Kaldor paused, then answered with a smile.

"My lord, you lack both the strength and the clearance… But judging by your reaction just now, perhaps you've already guessed. Haven't you?"

He paid no further attention to Wen Yu's clenched fists and vanished into thin air.

Left alone, Wen Yu gripped the Black Container and stared toward the center of the Outpost.

"The Exchange Pillar…" he murmured.

…

With the Black Container in his hand and the two human Magic Crystals in his pocket, Wen Yu trudged toward the Treasure Land's exit like a walking corpse.

The scene he had just witnessed replayed in his mind. Questions erupted one after another until his head rang with them.

"Without this Black Container… human Magic Crystals would slowly disappear into the air… The Ruler might collect them… condense them back into Magic Crystals, then offer them to Class Holders…"

A Magic Crystal contained a living creature's Blood Essence, perhaps even other, unknown elements. When members of the Human Race died in battle, did the Ruler gather those "invisible" Magic Crystals and make them available for exchange? And when the Class Holders who absorbed them died in turn, would they produce stronger crystals for the Ruler to collect…?

It was like the Bipedal Lizards' reproductive cycle running in reverse.

A harvest of unimaginable cruelty.

In the end, every powerful Class Holder would have been "fed" on countless human corpses. Something even more horrifying than what the Cannibals did.

And the first batch of Magic Crystals the Ruler had provided at the start of the Apocalypse? The high-level crystals? Wen Yu thought of the humans killed by the invading Demon Qi and turned into Zombies. He thought of Shimmer Blue Star.

"You really do let nothing go to waste!"

"What the hell are you trying to do?!"

He took out the two crystals and studied their sheen, his mind racing as he tried to work out the Ruler's purpose.

But he found nothing beyond the theory he had already pieced together.

He could not even be sure that theory was right.

Helplessness washed over him. He stood there blankly, his mind emptied of thought.

Only a flash of Teleportation light brought him back to himself.

Without realizing it, he had spent hours standing in the Treasure Land in a daze.

Kuangliu and Lin Haifeng stood before him, both looking worn out.

…

"What's wrong? How do you look even worse than I do?"

Kuangliu stepped up and gave him a couple of nudges. Wen Yu stood motionless, holding a long Black Container in one hand and two perfectly ordinary Level 4 Magic Crystals in the other.

Healing Potions had already healed all the injuries Kuangliu had suffered while confronting the Ancient Demon Seed.

Wen Yu stared at him for a moment. His lips parted, but nothing came out.

After rapidly turning it over in his head, he decided to keep this to himself.

For one thing, it was only a theory. He had no evidence.

More importantly, without the Ruler's Exchange Pillars, how was the Human Race supposed to change Class? How would people obtain Enhancement or Promotion? And Wen Yu still had the Leiguhart Magic Mirror. Without the Exchange Pillars, he had no way to follow its "recipes" and help his Soul Pets achieve perfect Promotion.

He squeezed the two Magic Crystals hard, then tucked them into the deepest recess of his Spatial Ring. He gave Kuangliu a couple of helpless smiles.

"Nothing's wrong…"

…

"I'm a little tired. I'm going back to rest."

Wen Yu said goodbye to Lin Haifeng and headed out.

Lin Haifeng and Kuangliu exchanged a glance. Kuangliu hurried after Wen Yu and fell into step beside him.

"Sequence 5 is a traitor to humanity. He's the one who released that Demonic Creature and let it take intelligence with it. Our observations and reconnaissance also suggest that he may have ties to the Demon Worship Cult…"

"You've heard of them, right? Reliable intelligence says it's an organization of Cannibals. Their Headquarters is in Modu Settlement. Peng Jun, the Settlement's supreme commander, may be their leader."

"Mm."

Wen Yu gave a perfunctory reply, climbed into a military vehicle, and drove away.

Kuangliu got into the passenger seat. Watching Wen Yu's distracted face, he frowned.

"What is going on with you?"

"Nothing… And I don't want any part of this Demon Worship Cult mess."

Kuangliu's frown deepened.

"They're scum. They eat people for pleasure. There's nothing human left in them."

Wen Yu sighed and shook his head.

"Cannibals?" he whispered, barely audibly. "We're all Cannibals…"

"What? What did you say?"

Kuangliu hadn't caught it.

"Nothing."

Wen Yu shook his head again and said no more.

Seeing how distracted he was, how little any of this seemed to move him, Kuangliu played his trump card.

"Help us out, and Vermilion Bird and I will go with you to find a Divine Beast Species."

Life slowly returned to Wen Yu's eyes.

"Give me a few days. I need some rest. Get myself back together."

"Fine. I'll come find you in three days."

Kuangliu opened the door and jumped out of the moving vehicle.

Wen Yu looked toward the towering walls of Yanjing Settlement in the distance and let out a heavy breath.

Whatever the truth was, one thing would not change.

Only the strong had any right to wrest answers from the Ruler.

And the most pressing question now was whether he would keep obtaining Magic Crystals from the Exchange Pillars.

He hesitated for three seconds.

Only three.

A savage light flashed through his eyes.

There was no need to waver. No need to hesitate.

If it would give him power, then even eating people was a price Wen Yu would pay.

"If I can't change any of it, all I can do is endure it! Even if I have to bear every sin, I'll keep moving forward! One day, I'll tear through every veil with my own hands. I'll see what you're after-and the truth you've been hiding!"