Henry Clark finally couldn’t bear it any longer. He rushed forward a few steps, lunging straight at those glowing particles. These glowing particles were only slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball, just quietly floating in midair. Henry Clark easily grabbed one of the glowing particles, but what happened next was completely unexpected. No matter whether he squeezed the glowing particle, pulled at it, or even swallowed it, the glowing particle seemed completely unaffected by him. If he squeezed it, it would flatten; if he tore it, it would split in two, but after being torn apart, it would merge back together. The strangest thing was when Henry Clark swallowed it— the glowing particle would reappear from his nose, ears, and eyes, then merge back into one. No matter what tricks Henry Clark tried, the glowing particles remained impervious, never being absorbed as he had imagined. Instead, as time passed, they slowly dissipated into the void. With each dissipation, over a hundred glowing particles vanished, making Henry Clark so anxious and distressed that his heart ached.

As the glowing particles dissipated, another part of the strange bird’s corpse disappeared, and more glowing particles floated out from its body, as if filling the surrounding space until it was full. Only then did the corpse continue to decompose, without turning into glowing particles and vanishing into the void.

“Calm down, calm down!” Henry Clark shouted, forcing himself to calm down from his agitation. It took more than half a minute before he finally turned his head calmly, no longer looking at the strange bird’s corpse or the glowing particles around it, but instead sat down on the rocky ground, carefully pondering everything that had happened.

“First, I must have absorbed those glowing particles, otherwise my arms and single leg couldn’t possibly be intact. Secondly, my stamina and strength couldn’t have recovered and improved. So, it can be assumed that these glowing particles are definitely absorbable, and there’s no distinction between humans and monsters. Otherwise, those monsters couldn’t possibly absorb glowing particles by devouring human souls… But why can’t I absorb them? Could it be that I’m doing something wrong?”

Henry Clark carefully thought back to the process of trying to absorb the glowing particles. It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong— wasn’t it just a matter of absorbing the glowing particles into his body? Why couldn’t he absorb them? Could it be that a person’s capacity is limited, like eating— after three bowls of rice, most people are full, but some bigger people can eat five or six bowls and still not be completely satisfied. Is that the reason?

Thinking of this, Henry Clark sighed, and the heat that had just flared up in his heart dissipated, as if he had been happy for nothing, only to realize it was all a dream. The sense of frustration and despair left him feeling bitter and stifled. When Henry Clark turned his head in utter frustration, he suddenly noticed a change in the cluster of glowing particles.

It turned out that when a part of the strange bird’s corpse dissipated, not only did glowing particles emerge, but also a wisp of black aura floated out. As soon as this black aura drifted into the void, it slowly floated toward a glowing particle. Though the speed was slow, the glowing particle had no awareness and simply stayed in place. When the black aura wrapped around the glowing particle, the particle quickly shrank and dimmed until it completely disappeared, while the wisp of black aura seemed to grow slightly stronger— though it wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

“Huh? Could it be that these glowing particles need to be absorbed with that black aura?”

A thought struck Henry Clark. He suddenly recalled everything he had seen since his death— all the human souls seemed to be shrouded in black aura. According to that old man, it was the karma from everything they had done from birth to death, or, in other words, the resentment others held against them for their wrongdoings. In short, this black aura should be resentment. From any myth or logical perspective, this black aura should be a bad thing, especially since, once human souls entered this world, they immediately began to change form, each one transforming from human into something ghostly— blue-faced, fanged, their bodies swelling… Could all of this be because they absorbed resentment?

Henry Clark immediately hesitated. At this moment, he desperately needed strength— even if it just made him stronger or faster— but his rational mind told him that the black aura was definitely not a good thing. If it invaded his body, he would surely become something like a monster…

“Damn it, whatever, I’m already dead anyway. How much worse could things get?” Henry Clark thought it over and over, but couldn’t come up with a solution. He simply stopped overthinking, walked straight toward the black aura, and, summoning his courage, grabbed the wisp of black aura that was slowly drifting toward another glowing particle. As soon as his skin touched the black aura, a wave of icy, chilling thoughts instantly passed through the black aura into his consciousness.

It was the past of the nine-clawed, human-faced bird. It… no, she— she had actually been a human!