This thing was as bland as drinking water.
The hunger made him panic—saliva secreting wildly, his mind popping with nothing but meat.
Bloody, fresh, raw meat.
He looked at his own fair arm—in that instant, a terrifying thought flashed in his mind.
This arm looked full of protein flavor—the texture should be nice.
“Fuck…”
Gu Chen pressed down hard on his trembling hand, jerking his head up to look at the mirror.
In the darkness, the eyes in the mirror faintly glowed with eerie green, pupils contracted into vertical slits.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
Qin Hongyi, this lunatic.
What the hell had she turned him into?!
Thump, thump, thump.
Not a knock.
Through the bulletproof glass and three-inch-thick metal door, Gu Chen still heard it crystal clear.
It was the heartbeat coming from the end of the corridor.
Qin Hongyi was coming.
Not just the sound—that scent was even deadlier.
The cold perfume, the remnants of gunpowder, and hidden beneath the skin, that sweet, warm, surging blood flavor in the veins.
Gulp.
Gu Chen’s Adam’s apple bobbed—salivary glands like an out-of-control faucet.
He gripped the marble sink tightly—fingertips uncontrollably exerting force, actually scratching five stark white marks into the hard stone surface.
“What the hell is this…”
He cursed low, trying to suppress that urge to pounce and bite with reason.
Beep.
The electronic lock disengaged.
The door opened.
Qin Hongyi walked in carrying a silver tray.
No Michelin three-star plating—in the center of the white porcelain plate on the tray was just a bloody raw beef steak.
Uncooked, even hanging with icy blood droplets.
“All data off the charts.”
Qin Hongyi hooked the door shut with her foot—her gaze sweeping over those faintly glowing eyes in the darkness. “The doctors say your metabolism is ten times normal. Young Master Gu, must be starving, huh?”
She set the tray on the bedside table—no knife, no fork, no chopsticks.
“Eat up.”
Qin Hongyi crossed her arms against the wall, her gaze playful: “Don’t put on airs—in this cage, what table manners?”
This was blatant animal training.
Gu Chen stared at that scarlet raw meat—his stomach spasming wildly.
As the Gu family prince, even sashimi for him used to be air-shipped bluefin tuna—now making him gnaw raw meat on the ground like a wild dog?
“Take it away.” Gu Chen gritted his molars. “Get me cooked.”
“Cooked?”
Qin Hongyi scoffed, her eyes full of coldness. “Gu Qingcheng, face reality. Your body now doesn’t want protein—it’s active enzymes, only in living flesh and blood.”
She picked up the meat, walking to Gu Chen—waving it under his nose.
The bloody smell rushed straight to his brain.
Reason instantly collapsed.
If it were ordinary hunger, Gu Chen could starve to death without batting an eye.
But this Eden base body’s hunger was the highest command written in the genes.
“Give it to me…”
Gu Chen jerked his head up.
The mockery on Qin Hongyi’s face hadn’t even receded when it froze instantly.
Too fast.
She hadn’t even seen how Gu Chen moved.
Just a blur before her eyes—a gust carrying cold fragrance assaulting her face.
Bang!
Qin Hongyi was pressed hard against the wall by an immense force.
The raw meat in her hand plopped to the ground.
But Gu Chen didn’t even glance at the meat.
He single-handedly pinned Qin Hongyi’s hands overhead—his whole body pressing against her.
That stunningly pale face nuzzled her neck side—nostrils flaring, deeply inhaling.
“So fragrant…”
Gu Chen’s voice was no longer the soft female tone—but carried a creepy hoarseness.
He opened his mouth—two sharp canines vaguely visible between his lips, slowly pressing against Qin Hongyi’s neck carotid.
There, the vessel throbbed violently.
Just a light bite—squelch—those sweet fluids would gush out, filling his black-hole stomach.
Qin Hongyi’s pupils shook.
She truly felt death’s chill from Gu Chen.
Not business negotiation games, not verbal spars—but a top-of-the-food-chain predator’s dimensional strike on prey.
This body’s strength was ridiculously huge—her wrist bones groaning.
“Gu… Chen…” Qin Hongyi squeezed out with difficulty. “Look clearly… I’m Qin Hongyi…”
“Food…”
Gu Chen’s eyes unfocused—tongue tip licking her skin, arousing shivers.
He really wanted to eat her.
Just as his teeth were about to pierce the skin.
Buzz!
The entire underground bunker suddenly trembled violently.
Red emergency lights flashed instantly—a piercing alarm blaring, shattering this suffocating ambiguity and terror.
“Alert! External enemy intrusion! Alert! Sector B defenses breached!”
The cold electronic voice came over the broadcast.
This boom—like an ice bucket challenge dumped overhead.
Gu Chen jolted sharply—the lust in his eyes receding like a tide.
He saw the scene before him clearly.
He was pressing Qin Hongyi against the wall—clothes disheveled, his mouth at her neck…
Fuck!
Gu Chen released like electrocuted—staggering back a few steps, holding the bed edge in dry heaves.
What had he been about to do?
Eat a person raw?
And eat Qin Hongyi, this crazy bitch?
This was a million times more disgusting than making him wear women’s clothes!
Qin Hongyi slid down the wall—panting heavily, two tooth marks clearly visible on her neck.
She touched the stinging skin—her gaze toward Gu Chen complicated to the extreme.
Fear, lingering dread—and an even thicker mad excitement.
“Eden…” She murmured low. “Truly taboo.”
Boom!
Another enormous blast.
This time closer—the observation room’s heavy metal door vibrating with buzzes.
“Damn it!”
Qin Hongyi switched states rapidly—drawing that silver compact pistol from her thigh holster, her gaze instantly sharp. “Black Kui’s people caught up. These mad dogs—dare bomb my lair.”
She rushed to the console—fiddling operations, but found the screens all black.
“Power cut.” Qin Hongyi gnashed her teeth. “They brought military jammers.”
“Don’t want to die? Turn off the lights.”
Gu Chen’s voice came faintly from behind.
He had at some point picked up the dusty raw meat from the ground—enduring psychological disgust, swallowing it in two or three bites.
With the flesh in his stomach, that madness-driving hunger finally eased a bit.
“What did you say?” Qin Hongyi turned back.
“Turn off the lights.”
Gu Chen casually wiped the blood from his lips—vertical pupils flickering with eerie glow under the red alarm lights. “Black Kui’s people daring to charge in must have thermal and night vision. But this room has strobe flashers, right? Set to sensor mode—whoever enters gets their dog eyes blinded.”
Qin Hongyi narrowed her eyes—instantly getting his intent.
“And you?”
“Me?” Gu Chen flexed his wrists, feeling the surging non-human power in his body. “I see clearer now than daytime.”
Sizzle—
The door was being cut with high heat.
Sparks flying.
Qin Hongyi wasted no more words—raising her hand to shatter the emergency light.
The whole room plunged into pitch blackness, fingers invisible.
Three seconds later.
Clang!
The metal door was kicked open.
Four fully armed black-clad mercenaries charged in with assault rifles.
Four-eyed night vision on helmets glowing green.
“Target confirmed—clear site, no survivors.”
The leader gestured tactical signs—muzzles sweeping the room rapidly.
However, in their thermal vision, the room had only one heat source.
The one hiding behind the console—Qin Hongyi.
Where was the other?
That just-post-surgery, extremely weak target body?
“Careful! One heat source vanished!” The leader exclaimed.
This wasn’t science.
As long as alive, impossible no body heat.
Unless the other was already cold, or…
“Over here, oh.”
A soft, sweet voice carrying chill—abruptly right by the last mercenary’s ear.
Too close.
Close like death breathing.
That mercenary’s hairs stood on end—instinctively turning to fire.
Too late.
A slender hand precisely gripped his tactical helmet edge in the dark—the other buckling his chin.
No fancy moves.
Just pure, crushing-level force.
Crack.
The cervical snap sounded crisp in the silent dark—like breaking a cucumber.
That 200-pound brute didn’t even scream—body going limp like noodles.
“Old Four!” The leader roared. “Over there! Fire!”