Dark Moon Era

The giant numbing spider had exceptional energy. Even after Tang Ling smashed its head, it struggled for one to two seconds before retracting its legs and dying.

Tang Ling was patient. He waited for the spider to completely die before he cut all eight legs off. He hung the legs on his tactical belt before carefully removing its fangs and venom sack and putting them into the little pouch at his waist.

“46° to my left. The timing of the throw is nicely mastered, but the angle deviated by a little. My Precise Instinct calculation shouldn’t be wrong. It must be my own control of my body. I still can’t keep up with the Precise Instinct.” Tang Ling was pleased with the harvest. He wished he could run into several more spiders since the hunt was practically effortless.

He was dismayed with the result though since it deviated from his initial estimation. He initially estimated that his knife could have killed the spider with a single blow on the head, but it did not.

Despite the result, Tang Ling was not anxious about it. Instructor Thuja had once told them before that combat required technique, and although they had not started their combat technique classes, it was not something that they could master within a certain period of time. They had to temper their techniques and precision through thousands and thousands of failures before achieving the ultimate success. Tang Ling agreed to the saying.

Of course, stamina was the basis of everything.

After he cleaned up his spoils, he continued towards the destination of his hunt. Every step he treaded was careful while he observed every spot before him warily.

Three hours later, Tang Ling was in the northern forest exactly 1.5 km away from Area 7 of the battlefield, which was considered the most secluded area.

Tang Ling took cover behind the ruins blanketed by the forest. He was panting laboriously but softly.

It was not exactly a smooth journey since he had to sneak past two king beasts and got tangled up with a cloud shadow panther, even getting injured in the process.

In the end, he hunted another wolf-headed bird and conveniently took out a clumsy hopping rabbit before arriving at his destination.

He wiped the sweat off his face, and without further ado, he swiftly and cleanly dealt with his prey’s body. He kept the rather valuable parts and lit the solid fuel gas stove which he had exchanged with the Hope credits that he shamelessly borrowed from the other members of the Fierce Dragon Squad. Then, he sliced the meat and put it on the stove.

After that, Tang Ling finally heaved a breath of relief. Three hours was the maximum. Another ten-minute delay and his intolerable hunger would devour him.

In fact, he also wanted to accept more missions to earn Hope credits, but the food distributed by Safety Sector No. 17, which they claimed could last for seven days, only lasted him two days.

Now, his appetite was somewhat infamous throughout the Hope Barrier, but it was still within his control. If he really exposed his true appetite, it would shock everyone and attract unwanted attention from unintentional parties.

Therefore, other than keeping a low profile as a dead weight, he had to fulfill his utterly realistic needs. Given his vigilance and consideration, hunting for food to replenish himself was the best way possible.

So, it was determined that he could only complete basic missions.

“But…” Frowning, he twisted the bottle cap open and drank a third of the water. The solid fuel gas stove that glowed red and burned fiercely made his mood heavier.

What was with his damned appetite? It grew greedier by the day. Especially with his power enhanced, the hunger would grow accordingly. He had to eat more than 15 kgs of meat a day to fully suppress his hunger.

The oil on the meat was glistening. Tang Ling neglected the heat, taking a piece of meat from the stove and stuffing it into his mouth without considering if it was fully cooked or not.

Eating the way that Su Yao taught him had become second nature. Regular meat was very different from Level 3 vicious beast meat, hence it would be digested even quicker.

Tang Ling ate even faster than before. He quickly cleaned up an 11.5 kg wolf-headed bird. Other than its tough skull, all the other smaller bones and cartilages were crushed and swallowed.

Next, the 4 kg hopping rabbit did not last long either. It was briefly roasted with salt before being gobbled down by Tang Ling as if it was the most delicious meal in the world.

In the end, he even lightly roasted the eight spider legs and dug out its white flesh. Not a bit of the flesh was left and it tasted like crab meat.

Tang Ling simply wiped his mouth, then he quickly and neatly cleaned up the crime scene. The ruins that had not fallen to the wild of the forest was a relatively safe place throughout the entire northern forest.

There were three walls that had not fallen coupled with a giant tree that could cloud the sky. Together with the thick bushes at the bottom, it formed a perfect cover.

Tang Ling did not want to attract trouble with the leftovers and ruin his eating space.

However, after he cleaned up the place, the lingering hunger continued to torture him. He hesitated for a while before he took a piece of Level 3 vicious beast meat, which was around 50 grams, out.

It was the meat that Su Yao had left for him 20 days ago. Even Su Yao would not have expected that in less than 20 days, the 1.5 kg piece of vicious beast meat would be devoured to become less than 800 grams.

If he wanted to power himself up, the regular food that he consumed could not keep up with his body. Among the resources that Safety Sector No. 17 distributed, only the high nutrition liquid was a tad useful. Not even the medium nutrition liquid worked anymore.

Besides that, Tang Ling might not be able to get his hands on enough food every day. After all, he had been poor and starving in the first week.

On top of that, time was money. Tang Ling would never slow down because of his stinginess.

Although consuming 50 grams that day was a bit overkill, he did not hesitate either. He formed a simple trap with three knives and an almost transparent line before he swallowed the vicious beast meat.

After the short comfort of satiation, the extreme pain came like the rising tide.

Tang Ling clenched his teeth hard and pushed his face towards the ground. He almost shattered the hard concrete floor with his agony, but he managed to keep quiet.

In the end, following the weakness that came after the pain, Tang Ling was drenched in sweat, but an unusual sense of fullness appeared.

“Mmm, I feel powerful. I guess I must have leveled up once more.” Tang Ling stood up after sipping some water. As long as he made it through the three familiar stages after eating the vicious beast meat, he would feel like Superman.

Fuaa!

He threw a punch and a gale followed. Without even calculating intentionally, his Precise Instinct already provided him with the exact number: 1056.731 kgs.

As for his agility and reflexes, the place might not be a good place to measure them, but according to his usual movements, he was quicker than his previous self. In fact, he was almost a third faster than during the first test at the sealed training camp.

Especially with his reflexes coupled with his Precise Instinct, Tang Ling was more confident than ever.

It was one of the few satisfying moments in his life. Even Tang Ling could not help but grin widely.