Under the premise of being unable to escape that dungeon, the number of people decreased, but no bodies appeared.
This was because the bodies of those who died were cannibalized by the starving people.
They chopped up the bodies, roasted them over a fierce fire, and then scrambled to eat them.
The scene of cannibalism made Wei Lai and Han Fuyu, two grown men, almost vomit on the spot, and they unconsciously took a few steps back.
Although Han Fuyu was the highest-ranking person in that prison cell, he dared not speak to stop them at this moment.
In his opinion, those people were already insane; they were capable of doing anything.
Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall; for people driven to desperation, Han Fuyu did not want to provoke them as long as it did not affect his own interests.
Although he did not know what the food provided by the Black-robed man was made of, whatever it was, it was certainly better than human flesh.
Since those bodies would be dragged away by the Black-robed man even if not disposed of, these people on the verge of starvation set their sights on these corpses.
The degenerates who ate the bodies of their own kind gradually underwent some changes.
The whites of their eyes slowly turned reddish, their expressions were crazed, and they always had their mouths open, occasionally drooling uncontrollably.
Most astonishingly, the strength of these degenerates who consumed human flesh actually increased, with one of them even achieving a breakthrough.
The bodies filled the stomachs of many people; no one starved to death, and thus there were no more bodies.
Wei Lai thought he would not see cannibalism again for a while, but he did not expect them to turn their attention to the living.
Hunger destroyed humanity and reason; those who had tasted their own kind seemed to have opened Pandora's box and could no longer stop.
They first killed a weak middle-aged man but found his flesh too tough and old.
The man's severed limbs and head were casually thrown into a corner of the dungeon, alongside several wooden buckets for excrement.
So, the degenerates killed a young couple, and this time they were satisfied.
To keep the meat tender, they dismembered them alive while they were still living.
"The man's flesh is too fishy and not tasty; the woman's skin is smooth, and she sweats less when afraid compared to a man, so she is more tender and delicious."
Those degenerates, their mouths greasy from eating, were still commenting with relish.
Han Fuyu and Wei Lai watched this terrifying and absurd scene and finally broke down.
In their eyes, those degenerates were no longer human; they were merely beasts in human skin, wantonly enjoying eating humans.
The most tragic thing was that among those degenerates, there were not a few former companions from the Guanzhou team.
It wasn't that Han Fuyu hadn't shared food with them, but there was too little to go around; compared to the scarce and unappetizing black viscous substance, under extreme hunger, oily meat seemed more appealing, and they ultimately couldn't resist, tearing apart their own humanity with their own mouths and swallowing it down.
Wei Lai hoped Han Fuyu would intervene, but although Han Fuyu was high-ranked, he was inherently cowardly; he dared not fight to the death, and facing those nearly insane degenerates, he actually retreated.
Wei Lai knew that this could not continue; the degenerates had lost their reason, and although they seemed to be minding their own business now, their fangs would sooner or later bite them.
Since the jailer dared not manage it, they could only further ask the jailers for intervention.
When the Black-robed man delivered the meal, Wei Lai stepped forward, took the bucket of food, and then spoke.
"They are eating people, didn't you see?"
The Black-robed man, seeing this, merely smiled.
"I saw it, and then what?"
"They just want to survive; why don't you give them your food, and maybe they won't eat people anymore."
"But you know, in my impression, eating people is not easy to start, and it's equally hard to stop."
"Or rather, if you don't want to be eaten by them, kill them earlier."
"Hypocrisy won't save you."
The Black-robed man patted Wei Lai's shoulder and walked away without looking back.
At that moment, Wei Lai suddenly understood.
The Black-robed man deliberately controlled the amount of food to make them kill each other.
Whether eating the food given by the Black-robed man or choosing to eat people, they could ultimately gain energy to seek breakthroughs.
This was what the Black-robed man wanted to see…
This group of monsters, from the very beginning, wanted to see this scene!
Watching them like Gu worms, raised by the Black-robed man in this dark, cramped dungeon, fighting and devouring each other until one side was completely dead.
And the surviving side would become the stronger "Gu worm" that the Black-robed men needed…
After realizing this, Wei Lai felt even more powerless because he found that no matter how much he and Han Fuyu broke through, they were ultimately just Gu worms raised by others.
Once the worms are fattened, can they truly gain freedom?
Wei Lai lost himself, slumped to the ground, thinking and thinking, unable to find any way to break the situation.
It wasn't until two or three more days passed, and a conflict with the degenerates seemed inevitable, that a problem suddenly arose in the dungeon where they were held.
Last night, when it was time to distribute food, the Black-robed man did not appear, and then about one or two hours later, people suddenly escaped from other cells.
Their cell doors could not trap an Awakened; what truly forced everyone not to escape were the Black-robed men guarding outside the dungeon.
However, the Black-robed man seemed to have disappeared, not appearing even once.
Although they didn't know why, everyone, except for the somewhat delirious degenerates, realized this was a rare opportunity.
Wei Lai's heart pounded, but he still kicked open the cell door and ran with Han Fuyu.
As they escaped the dungeon, they saw that all the cells on both sides were chaotic, everyone scrambling to get out.
Dozens of cells, holding one to two hundred people, with nearly half of them escaping at this moment.
After escaping the dungeon, Wei Lai saw the scene outside.
There was a huge circular platform on the open ground outside the dungeon, with the platform concave from the edges towards the center, and the concave center was filled with red liquid; upon closer inspection, it was clearly fresh blood.
Wei Lai didn't have time to think and quickly followed Han Fuyu, fleeing in one direction.
Everyone, after leaving the dungeon, split into several directions to escape, so that even if the Black-robed man discovered them, they could effectively delay time.
There were already a few people in the direction Wei Lai and Han Fuyu were fleeing; they gathered together, formed a temporary small team, and then fled from that terrifying place without looking back.
Dragging their malnourished bodies, everyone forced themselves to stay alert, holding faint torches, and desperately fled in one direction.
They ran for a while, rested for a while, and then continued to run, just like that, until dawn…
Then, as they passed a certain place, they saw a bloodied person sitting under a nearby tree, and a turtle-like demonic beast with its shell covered in black ice.