Chapter 18: A Feast for the Beasts, Leading You to the Empress's Wedding Bed

On the rooftop of a high-rise building.

Zhao Feng was looking at the home textile mall in the distance, which had been submerged by the beast tide, with a ferocious grin, imagining the scene of Jiang Chen being torn to pieces.

"Hahahaha! So what if you're in the ninth stage of the Qi and Blood Realm? In front of hundreds of berserk Demonic Beasts, you're just a lump of meat! Su Qingyue, don't blame me; if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for following the wrong person!"

However, before his laughter could even fade, it came to an abrupt halt.

He saw a dark figure in the distance, tearing through the air at an incredible speed.

The dark figure leaped between the buildings, each landing accompanied by the roar of collapsing walls, as if an enraged Tyrannosaurus Rex was rampaging through the city.

"What... is that?" Zhao Feng's pupils constricted.

"Young Master Zhao! Run! That's Jiang Chen!" The dead soldier beside him, holding night-vision goggles, had a tremor in his voice for the first time. "He... he's flying! He's too fast! I can't lock onto him!"

"Impossible! Even someone in the Organ Refining Realm cannot fly!" Zhao Feng roared, activating the combat mode of his exoskeleton. "Stop him for me!"

But it was already too late.

Boom!

A loud crash, like a meteorite striking the ground.

A figure, like a demon god, smashed heavily onto the rooftop where Zhao Feng was standing.

The terrifying impact force caused the entire concrete rooftop to crack instantly, sending dust and gravel flying.

Jiang Chen, holding a slightly dizzy Su Qingyue in his arms, slowly straightened up. At this moment, his eyes were blood-red, and his entire body exuded an aura of wanting to devour anyone in his path.

"Is this the gift you prepared for me?"

Jiang Chen grabbed the air, catching the lingering scent of the beast-attracting agent.

"Jiang Chen! You actually didn't die!" Zhao Feng looked at Jiang Chen, who now resembled a malicious ghost, and felt a tremor in his heart, but he quickly calmed down. "It's good that you didn't die. I have this 'Black Mamba' exoskeleton and a spiritual energy shield; even if a Grandmaster came, they would..."

Snap!

Before Zhao Feng could finish his sentence, Jiang Chen's figure had already vanished from where he stood.

The next second, a large hand directly gripped Zhao Feng's prized spiritual energy shield.

That blue light screen, which claimed to be able to withstand bullets, was as fragile as a soap bubble under Jiang Chen's fingers, which were wrapped in Nightmare Power.

Bang!

The shield shattered.

Jiang Chen's hand clamped onto Zhao Feng's neck without any obstruction, lifting him, armor and all, into mid-air.

"Exoskeleton? Is this what you rely on?"

Jiang Chen sneered and exerted force with his five fingers.

Zzzzt, zzzzt—the alloy exoskeleton on Zhao Feng, worth millions, was actually deformed and twisted by Jiang Chen's bare hands, emitting a harsh, metallic screech.

"Ah—! Let go! I am from the Zhao family..." Zhao Feng felt as if his bones were about to shatter, and he struggled desperately.

"Save Young Master Zhao!" Seeing this, the two dead soldiers drew their high-frequency vibration daggers and stabbed at Jiang Chen's back from both left and right.

"Get lost!"

Jiang Chen didn't even turn around; he just glared at the two of them.

【Nightmare Shock · Gaze of Fear!】

Two beams of purple light pierced into the eyes of the dead soldiers.

The two strictly trained dead soldiers, who knew no pain, suddenly froze in place as if they had seen the most terrifying image in the world. Immediately after, black blood flowed from the corners of their eyes and nostrils, and their brains were turned into mush by the terrifying Mental Energy.

Thud! Thud!

The two corpses fell straight to the ground.

On the rooftop, only Zhao Feng, who was still being held in mid-air, remained, shivering.

"Jiang Chen... you can't kill me... I'm a candidate... killing is against the rules..." Zhao Feng finally felt despair, and a smell of urine wafted from his crotch.

"Kill you? No, that would be letting you off too easily."

The red light in Jiang Chen's eyes flickered slightly, and his rationality seemed to recover a bit.

He pulled an empty bottle from his embrace—it was the bottle containing the residue of the beast-attracting agent he had found in the ventilation duct earlier.

Although the liquid inside had evaporated, the concentration remaining on the bottle's walls was still astonishing.

"Since you like this perfume so much, I'll let you have your fill."

Jiang Chen sneered, stuffed the bottle directly into Zhao Feng's mouth, and then slammed his chest, forcing him to swallow it.

"Mmph... cough, cough, cough..." Zhao Feng clawed at his throat in terror.

"Don't spit it out; this is something your dad paid a high price for." Jiang Chen clapped his hands. "The wind here is strong, and it will soon blow the scent on you across the entire city. Right now, you are the brightest star in this night sky, the Tripitaka meat in the eyes of all Demonic Beasts."

"No... don't..." Zhao Feng was streaming with tears and snot.

Jiang Chen ignored him, grabbed a still-dazed Su Qingyue, and turned to walk towards the edge of the rooftop.

Before leaving, he looked back at Zhao Feng, a cruel arc forming on the corner of his mouth: "I hope you have a fun night. Those Demonic Beasts will surely 'warmly' entertain you."

After saying this, Jiang Chen leaped and disappeared into the vast night.

A few seconds later, the drug took effect.

An intensely strong, strange fragrance erupted from Zhao Feng's pores.

The group of Demonic Beasts that had been besieging the home textile mall below suddenly seemed to smell a peerless delicacy; they all raised their heads in unison and looked at the rooftop of this high-rise building.

"Awoooo—!!!"

Even crazier and more intense beast roars erupted.

Countless Demonic Beasts began to scramble up the walls and stairs towards the rooftop, fighting to be the first to taste this "feast."

"Jiang Chen! I am not reconciled!!"

Zhao Feng looked at the dense mass of green beast eyes below and let out a despairing scream. What awaited him would be a truly hellish "Beast Feast."

...

At this moment, Jiang Chen had already brought Su Qingyue to a safe area several kilometers away.

As the battle ended, the Evil Qi on his body gradually receded, and that heart-palpitating "Waking Up Anger" finally calmed down.

But what followed was a huge side effect.

【Ding! Waking Up Anger buff has faded.】

【Severe overdraft of Mental Energy! Current Mental Energy: 0/200.】

【Side effect triggered: Forced sleep countdown... 10 seconds.】

Jiang Chen shook his head, feeling his eyelids were as heavy as a thousand catties, and his whole body felt as if his bones had been hollowed out.

"Su Qingyue..." Jiang Chen's voice became somewhat weak, his body swaying unsteadily.

"I'm here! Jiang Chen, are you okay?" Su Qingyue supported him, her face full of anxiety. The god-like and demon-like state Jiang Chen had just been in was too terrifying, but now he suddenly seemed like a fragile child.

"I'm fine... just... sleepy... want to find a bed..."

Jiang Chen's consciousness began to blur, but the System notification sounded stubbornly at this moment:

【Ding! Detected that the host's Mental Energy is exhausted, urgently need an S-rank sleep environment for recovery!】

【Scanning...】

【Target found: 3 kilometers straight ahead, deep in the Red Line Restricted Area.】

【S-rank sleep spot: The Empress's Embrace (Ten-thousand-year Profound Ice Bed).】

【Warning: Extremely dangerous! But only there can you get a good sleep.】

Jiang Chen pointed groggily at the area ahead shrouded in a red light screen.

"Go there... there's a bed there..."

"Ah?" Su Qingyue looked in the direction his finger was pointing, and her expression changed instantly. "That's the Red Line Restricted Area! Even the examiners said that we absolutely must not go in there; there is a great horror inside!"

"If I don't go... I won't be able to sleep... I'll die..."

After Jiang Chen finished this sentence, his body went limp, and he collapsed directly onto Su Qingyue's back, falling asleep instantly.

Su Qingyue: "..."

She felt the heavy weight on her back, looked back at the sky-high flames and beast roars in the distance behind her (the direction of Zhao Feng), and then looked at the eerie, terrifying, Death Qi-filled restricted area in front.

She was in a dilemma.

But if she didn't go in, the beast tide outside would soon spiral out of control because of Zhao Feng's death, and then no one would be able to escape.

Furthermore, Jiang Chen's current state clearly required an absolutely quiet place.

"What a nuisance! I guess I owe you in this life!"

Su Qingyue gritted her teeth, secured Jiang Chen on her back, supported his thighs with her hands, and resolutely took a step forward.

"Jiang Chen, if you're lying to me and there's no bed inside... I'll use you as a mattress and sleep on you!"

Carrying Jiang Chen, she stepped into the red restricted area that symbolized death.

At this moment, at the surveillance command center outside the abandoned city.

All the screens suddenly flickered with static, then returned to normal.

A mysterious observer from the Imperial Capital Martial Arts University, looking at the energy reading that had flashed by just now, felt a trace of shock in his eyes.

"That Mental Energy fluctuation just now... it actually reached the level of a Reality-level Mentalist? Could it be that this small Jianghai City has produced a natural-born Prodigy?"

He picked up a pen, drew a heavy red circle around the name "Jiang Chen," and added a note with four words: "Key focus."