7: Welcome to my self-service cafeteria

No. 0 Forbidden Zone.

The night grew deeper.

For the vast majority of creatures, the Forbidden Zone at this hour was the back garden of the Palace of Hell.

Deadly poisonous insects could be hiding under every leaf, and hungry beasts could be lurking in every shadow.

But for the current Gu Fan...

The style of this place had undergone a sudden change.

It had turned into a casual healing game called "I Can Reach Max Level Just by Taking a Walk."

"Crack."

Gu Fan stepped on and snapped a dry branch.

The sound was exceptionally piercing in the silent forest.

This was intentional on his part.

Also known as the legendary "entrapment."

This was already the fiftieth branch he had snapped within the hour.

The effect was outstanding.

In the bushes to the left, a rustling sound rapidly approached.

Immediately after, a black shadow flew swiftly toward the back of Gu Fan's head, accompanied by a foul wind.

By the moonlight, one could vaguely see that it was a Shadow Leopard.

A C-rank Vicious Beast.

Known for its speed and sneak attacks, it was a top-tier assassin of the jungle.

Its sharp claws shimmered with a faint, eerie light, clearly coated in potent poison.

Even a small scratch would send an elephant into convulsions on the ground.

Gu Fan didn't even turn his head.

He even took a leisurely step forward.

At the very moment the Shadow Leopard's claws were about to touch a strand of Gu Fan's hair—

[Malice detected from 'Shadow Leopard' via backstab.]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: 20x.]

[Random Effect: Newton's Wrath.]

The next second.

The Shadow Leopard, still in mid-air, suddenly looked as if its hind legs had been violently yanked by an invisible giant hand.

Its body came to a bizarre halt in the air.

Immediately following that, the acceleration of gravity seemed to be amplified countless times upon it.

"Bang!"

It didn't land normally.

Instead, like an anvil falling from ten thousand meters high, it crashed straight and vertically into the ground.

And by pure coincidence...

There was a protruding, incredibly sharp piece of granite on the ground.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of a spine snapping rang out.

That majestic jungle assassin didn't even have time to let out a scream before its cervical vertebrae were smashed into a comminuted fracture against that rock.

Its body lay limp on the ground, tongue lolling out, eyes filled with utter confusion.

Deceased.

[Backlash successful! Target is physically paralyzed.]

[Energy converting...]

A surge of heat, even more dense than before, flooded into Gu Fan's body.

Gu Fan narrowed his eyes comfortably.

The cyclone within him expanded once more; the spiritual power that was originally like a trickling stream now possessed the Aura of a surging river.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for a cultivation Breakthrough: Fourth level of the Qi Refinement Stage!]

Gu Fan turned around, looked at the still-twitching Shadow Leopard, and sighed.

"Sigh, this is what happens when you don't watch the road."

"I told you, there are a thousand paths, but safety comes first."

He walked over and skillfully searched around the Shadow Leopard's corpse.

He pulled two venomous fangs from its mouth.

These were good items; selling them on the black market could fetch at least a few bottles of Advanced Nutrient Solution.

Although he now had the System and didn't need those low-level supplies...

Who would complain about having too much money?

After all, he would need travel expenses when he returned home.

Stowing away his spoils, Gu Fan continued his "mukbang" journey.

The Vicious Beasts in this Forbidden Zone probably never dreamed that one day they would encounter such an unreasonable loophole.

On a withered tree not far away...

A Two-Headed Demonic Vulture was staring intently at Gu Fan.

It was an overlord of the skies, possessing extremely keen vision.

It had seen everything that just happened.

But with its brain capacity, it clearly couldn't understand the Karma involved.

It only saw a defenseless human rummaging through things there.

The opportunity could not be missed.

The Two-Headed Demonic Vulture spread its five-meter-wide wings and glided down silently.

Its target was the crown of Gu Fan's head.

It planned to crush that fragile skull like a watermelon.

Just as it dove to a height of ten meters from Gu Fan and prepared to tuck its wings for an accelerated strike—

[Malice detected from 'Two-Headed Demonic Vulture' via high-altitude dropping.]

[Backlash triggered! Random Effect: Internal Conflict.]

The Two-Headed Demonic Vulture stiffened mid-air.

Its two heads suddenly seemed to have their own independent consciousnesses, and they were the kind of rivals who couldn't stand each other.

The left head pecked fiercely at the right head.

The right head was not to be outdone, biting hard onto the neck of the left head.

What was even more ridiculous...

Its left wing flapped desperately to the left, while its right wing flapped desperately to the right.

This caused its originally perfect aerodynamic structure to collapse instantly.

"Gah! Gah!"

Two shrill bird cries intertwined.

The Two-Headed Demonic Vulture, which had been diving at high speed, turned into a madly spinning top in the air.

Then, spinning out of control, it spiraled into a nearby towering tree.

"Thud!"

Leaves flew everywhere.

The large tree shook violently.

The Two-Headed Demonic Vulture was stuck firmly to the trunk.

It couldn't even be pried off.

Both heads had been smashed to a pulp.

Gu Fan looked up at the "specimen" hanging on the tree and shook his head.

"Look at you, why start an internal feud for no reason?"

"If you don't unite at a time like this, there's only a dead end."

As this massive surge of energy entered his body...

Gu Fan felt his Bottleneck loosen once again.

Fifth level of Qi Refinement!

If the Martial Artists outside, who had practiced bitterly for decades, knew of this astonishing leveling speed, they would likely go mad with envy.

A night passed.

When the first ray of morning light pierced through the thick mist and fell upon the woods...

The path behind Gu Fan was already littered with various Vicious Beasts that had died in bizarre ways.

There was a poisonous snake that had strangled itself on a tree.

There was a wild boar that had slipped and bashed its head to death on a rock.

There was even a Man-eating Flower that, because it wanted to devour Gu Fan, seemed to have contracted acute gastroenteritis; it vomited out all the nutrient fluid in its roots and finally withered itself to death.

It was truly a diverse display of strange deaths.

Gu Fan found a clean rock to sit on and took stock of last night's harvest.

His cultivation had stabilized at the Peak of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Stage.

Moreover, the Great Dao Returns to One Art seemed to do more than just increase his cultivation.

His skin had become tougher, and his hair, which had been somewhat sallow due to years of malnutrition, was now jet-black and shiny.

His whole person looked radiant.

That decadent temperament from years of being suppressed and bullied had been swept away.

In its place was a calm and unhurried demeanor.

And then there were those eyes.

Deep, yet with a hint of cynicism.

Like a game administrator who had seen through the entire game.

"That's about enough."

Gu Fan stood up and patted the dirt off his buttocks.

He looked toward the direction leading to the exit of the Forbidden Zone.

There was a towering electric fence wall there; on the other side of that wall was the human world.

The so-called "home."

"Haven't seen you for a night, I missed you quite a bit."

Gu Fan smiled.

"I wonder if my dear 'family members' slept well last night?"

"Did they dream of me?"

"If they knew I was still alive, and living so well, their expressions would surely be quite spectacular, wouldn't they?"

He could imagine it.

When he, this "dead man," stood before those people again...

That scene...

Would definitely be more explosive than the croaking of frogs last night.

"The buffet is good, but one must always go home."

Gu Fan reached out his hand, and a faint but pure spiritual light condensed at his fingertip.

That was the sign of externalizing spiritual power.

It was also the capital for his revenge.

"Let's go."

"Go back and give them a big surprise."

"Or rather... a shock."

Gu Fan set off, his figure flickering in and out of sight in the morning mist.