Although the memories of this nine-clawed human-faced bird were extremely chaotic, its recollections about the world of the living were relatively clearer. He could sense that within the nine-clawed human-faced bird’s memories, there was a peculiar obsession with the world of the living—an obsession identical to that of all the dead. Once, when it went to capture the soul of a human who had arrived in this world, another monster returned to the world of the living through a black hole. This was also the clearest fragment in the nine-clawed human-faced bird’s memory, and now it was known by Henry Clark.

“In other words, as long as one is fast enough and the body can withstand it, it’s possible to return to the world of the living through that black hole? I’ll need to calculate this carefully... But didn’t I release a flash of lightning before?”

Henry Clark carefully recalled what had happened earlier. When he was about to be swallowed by that surge of negative emotion, a flash of light burst forth from the depths of his soul. Then, the surface of his body was covered in thunder and lightning, even the black aura was dissolved by the lightning. He was sure he hadn’t seen it wrong—the surface of his soul was indeed covered in lightning. In fact, ever since he entered this hell, he had begun to wonder: why did all the other souls have black aura swirling around them after death, but only he had none of this black aura nearby?

“Lightning... electric current? Could it be that because I died from high voltage, my soul also carries an electric current? And after emitting lightning all over my body, I felt extremely weak, as if my entire soul was about to dissipate. Yet in that weakness, I managed to absorb dozens of light particles that I couldn’t absorb before. So, it stands to reason that I really can convert absorbed light particles into lightning or something similar?”

At this thought, Henry Clark’s spirit blazed with excitement once again. He had always been tenacious by nature, never giving up easily on anything since childhood. Now, faced with the only possible way to change his current predicament, he knew that only by gaining power could he survive in this hell. And to gain power, he had to absorb light particles... Perhaps, he could store all the light particles from this monstrous bird, and then use them to transform into the power of lightning when he encountered monsters?

With this in mind, Henry Clark once again rushed into those light particles, trying every possible way to experiment with them one by one, focusing all his attention on trying to communicate with the power of lightning within his body. But no matter how hard he tried, he could only stand there helplessly, watching as the light particles dissipated and vanished. After more than ten minutes, three-quarters of the giant bird’s body had completely disappeared, and Henry Clark grew increasingly anxious.

“Damn it! You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a child! My situation is already as bad as it can get, so I might as well risk it all!”

Henry Clark cursed twice, steeled his heart, and suddenly picked up a small rock from the ground. He placed his left hand on the ground, raised the stone with his right hand, and aimed it at his left hand. Gritting his teeth, he smashed the stone down onto his fingers. With a crisp snap, Henry Clark’s miserable howl echoed across the wilderness, and three fingers on his left hand were broken at once. In an instant, the three fingers dissipated into the void, while a light particle the size of a thumbnail floated before him.

Henry Clark knew that this small light particle was formed from his three fingers, but he didn’t touch it. Instead, enduring the excruciating pain of his broken fingers, he reached out his left hand toward a ping-pong-ball-sized intact light particle. At the same time, he kept reciting poetry in his mind to force himself to calm down, focusing all his attention on feeling the light particle merge into his body through the wound.

Sure enough, the light particle smoothly merged into Henry Clark’s wound, and from the wound, the faint outline of three fingers appeared. In just a few seconds, his broken fingers healed completely. Only then did Henry Clark finally calm down, but all he felt was a warm current, which soon faded away. His fingers were intact, but he felt nothing else.

“Ah!” Henry Clark opened his eyes in anger. This time, he was truly ruthless. Without hesitation, he raised the rock and smashed it down hard on his left hand. Instantly, an unbearable soul-tearing pain surged through him. Just think—even in the flesh, the pain of injuring the bones in one’s hand is excruciating, as the saying goes, “ten fingers are connected to the heart.” Now, with only his soul remaining, the agony of having his soul torn was more than ten times worse than physical pain—truly an indescribable, terrifying torment. Yet Henry Clark gritted his teeth and endured it with all his might, a testament to his incredible tenacity.

This time, he nearly smashed his entire left hand and forearm to a pulp, forming three ping-pong-ball-sized light particles. After taking several deep breaths, he recited poetry as he reached out toward the light particles. Perhaps because his mind was truly free of distractions at this moment, as soon as his arm touched the light particles, he entered a state of utter calm, like still water. Only the verses from his memory were silently recited again and again, and his entire consciousness was immersed in the warmth entering his body.