?Hunger was not a stomach rumble. It was a structural collapse.

  ?Jiang Chen woke up on the floor of his hut, his fingernails digging into the wood. He was sweating cold, oily sweat. His veins stood out against his skin like black ropes, pulsing with a frantic, erratic rhythm.

  ?[ALERT: Biomass Critical.]

  [Foundation Stability: 88%.]

  [Metabolic Burn Rate: 200% (High Stress).]

  ?"What... is happening?" Jiang Chen gasped, clawing at his chest. It felt like his heart was trying to eat his lungs.

  ?"Maintenance costs," Apeiron replied, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "You are driving a tank, but you are fueling it with AA batteries. The Void Foundation requires a constant intake of high-density energy just to exist. If you don't feed it, it feeds on you."

  ?Jiang Chen dragged himself to the table. He grabbed the remaining two Spirit Stones.

  ?He didn't absorb them properly. He crushed them both in his fist and inhaled the blue dust.

  ?[EV +10.]

  ?It was like throwing a cup of water onto a forest fire. The relief lasted for exactly three seconds before the burning returned, hotter than before.

  ?"I need more," Jiang Chen rasped.

  ?He sat in the lotus position, trying to force the standard [Basic Qi Breathing] technique. He pulled at the atmospheric Qi of the Outer Sect.

  ?It came to him sluggishly—thin, wispy streams of energy filtered through the mountain's wards.

  ?As soon as the Qi entered his meridians, the [Void Foundation] snapped it up.

  ?Slurp.

  ?Gone.

  ?It didn't even reach his muscles. The black hole in his gut consumed it instantly, and the 50% tax to Apeiron took half of that.

  ?"Pathetic," Apeiron sneered. "The Qi density in this district is suitable for moss and insects. You cannot sustain a Perfect Foundation on air. You are starving to death, little host."

  ?Jiang Chen opened his eyes. The world looked different.

  ?The colors were washed out. Everything was gray, except for living things.

  ?He looked out the window.

  ?A disciple was walking past, carrying a basket of laundry. To Jiang Chen's eyes, the disciple wasn't a person. He was a walking sack of red light. The beating heart was a pulsing cherry. The marrow in the bones was a glowing white syrup.

  ?Jiang Chen's mouth watered. Saliva dripped onto his chin.

  ?He looks... tender.

  ?Jiang Chen slammed his head against the wall.

  ?THUD.

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  ?"No," he growled, fighting the urge to jump through the window and tear the disciple's throat out. "I am not a ghoul."

  ?"Are you sure?" Apeiron whispered. "The line between predator and monster is purely a matter of table manners. Eat him. No one will miss a laundry boy."

  ?"I am not eating people!" Jiang Chen shouted mentally.

  ?He stood up, his legs shaking. The hunger was making him dizzy. His logic was fraying. The "Dopamine Loop" the System used to reward him had inverted—now it was punishing him with withdrawal.

  ?He needed meat. Not human meat. Beast meat. High-tier, Qi-stuffed beast meat.

  ?"The Mission Hall," Jiang Chen said, focusing on the objective to ground his sanity. "I need a mission. I need to get out of the sect and into the wild."

  ?He grabbed his identity token. He moved to the door.

  ?He paused.

  ?His hand was shaking so badly he couldn't grip the handle.

  ?"I can't go out like this," Jiang Chen realized. "I look like a drug addict in withdrawal. If an Elder sees me, they'll think I'm cultivating a demonic art."

  ?"Stabilize yourself," Apeiron advised. "Burn your fat reserves. It will be unpleasant, but it will hide the symptoms."

  ?"Do it."

  ?[System Action: Autophagy Initiated.]

  ?Jiang Chen felt a sharp, searing heat in his thighs and lower back. The System was literally eating his own body fat to fuel the engine.

  ?He grew visibly leaner in seconds. His cheeks hollowed out slightly. The tremors stopped.

  ?The hunger didn't leave, but the manic urge to bite the doorframe faded into a dull, throbbing headache.

  ?"Better," Jiang Chen breathed.

  ?He opened the door and stepped out into the morning light.

  ?District 9 was waking up. Disciples were heading to morning lectures or chores.

  ?Jiang Chen walked among them like a wolf in a flock of sheep. He kept his head down, eyes fixed on the ground, because every time he looked up, the [Void Eyes] wanted to assess the nutritional value of the people around him.

  ?Disciple A: 45 EV.

  Disciple B: 30 EV.

  Spirit Crane flying overhead: 120 EV.

  ?He focused on the Spirit Crane. It was a majestic white bird, a pet of the Sect, gliding low over the rooftops.

  ?Jiang Chen's neck twitched. His muscles coiled, calculating the trajectory for a leap. Grab the leg, snap the wing, crunch the beak...

  ?He forced himself to look away.

  ?"Walk," he commanded his legs. "Just walk."

  ?He reached the central plaza of the Outer Sect.

  ?Ahead lay the Mission Hall, a massive three-story pavilion made of red cedar. A crowd of disciples swarmed the bulletin boards outside, jostling for the easy tasks—herb gathering, cleaning, delivery runs.

  ?Jiang Chen pushed through the crowd. He didn't care about being polite. He moved with a heavy, unyielding momentum. When he bumped into people, they felt like they had hit a stone pillar.

  ?"Watch it, trash!" a disciple snapped, turning around.

  ?He saw Jiang Chen's face.

  ?Jiang Chen looked terrible. Pale, gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes. But the eyes themselves were intense, burning with a frantic, starving light.

  ?The disciple took a step back. "Uh... never mind."

  ?Jiang Chen ignored him. He reached the counter.

  ?Behind the desk sat a bored-looking deacon (Qi Condensation Layer 9). He was flipping through a ledger.

  ?"Name?" the deacon asked without looking up.

  ?"Jiang Chen."

  ?"District 9. New promotion." The deacon sniffed. "We have latrine duty in the West Court. 2 Spirit Stones. Or maybe Rat Catching in the grain silo. 3 Spirit Stones."

  ?"I want a hunting mission," Jiang Chen said. His voice was raspy.

  ?The deacon looked up. He saw the scrawny, desperate-looking boy. He laughed.

  ?"Hunting? You? Listen, kid, the woods aren't safe. You're fresh meat. Stick to the latrines."

  ?Jiang Chen leaned over the counter. He placed his hands on the wood. The wood blackened slightly under his fingertips.

  ?"I need to eat," Jiang Chen whispered. "Give me something with a pulse."

  ?The deacon frowned. He felt a chill run down his spine. This kid didn't smell like a cultivator. He smelled like a starving dog.

  ?"Fine," the deacon scoffed, pulling a scroll from the bottom of the pile—the 'Rejected' pile. "You want to die? Be my guest."

  ?He slapped a mission scroll onto the counter.

  ?[Mission: The Black Swamp Horror.]

  ?Target: Investigate missing villagers near the Black Swamp. Kill the beast responsible. ?Risk Level: High (Likely Tier 1 Late-Stage Beast). ?Reward: 50 Spirit Stones + The Carcass. ?Status: Failed by two previous groups.

  ?"50 stones," the deacon smirked. "And you keep the meat. If you survive."

  ?Jiang Chen grabbed the scroll.

  ?"I'll take it."

  ?"Finally," Apeiron purred in his mind. "The dinner bell rings."

  ?Jiang Chen turned and walked away, the scroll clutched in his hand like a lifeline. He didn't hear the deacon making bets with the other disciples on how many days he would last.

  ?He only heard the growl of his own stomach.