After tearing apart the abdomen of the corpse he finally discovered what was causing the unusual bulge, it was his large intestine which is about twice its normal size than that of a normal human being.
Laying his eyes directly on it Mohan knew this was what he needed as felt the same feeling strongly from it but thinking about it made him grimace as even though he usually liked eating chicken and mutton or any other type of fowl he generally avoided anything that is related to the intestine as he didn't like that nauseating smell from them even after eating a real human being's meat and can now officially considered to be a 'cannibal', he was having second thoughts whether to proceed further or not.
Not delving deep into this train of thought as it may only lead him in an unwanted direction, he plunged forward to take a bite of it without thinking further. Feeling the rubbery and slippery texture and the heavy nauseating smell from it due to being straight from the dead body, he retched then and there.
Fortunately, at least he confirmed from the bite this was exactly what he was supposed to eat as felt some strong energy in that bite but the quantity was not substantial enough to make any change. So repressed the disgust and prepared to clean the intestine to the best he could.
He ate the much cleaner intestine without leaving anything which should have filled his stomach without any space but he didn't feel anything like that. After consumption, he felt something released or leave from his stomach and spread to his entire body. Naturally as if to confirm it heard the same emotionless voice he heard before all this fiasco.
"YOU HAVE ABSORBED DARK ENERGY…"
He finally came to know the name of this black miasma-like substance that led to all the changes that have happened and is still lingering around everywhere without any notion of leaving. He didn't know whether this DARK ENERGY was the same as the dark energy that was theorized by the scientists to be the mysterious influence that fills almost 70% of the universe.
At least he knew for sure that this DARK ENERGY was beneficial for him as he could already feel the minor improvement in his body. So he planned how to proceed further in the future. His first goal is to find other normal people to know more about this as that would help him. He didn't know whether the changes only happened in humans or to other species as well. He didn't come across any animals on his way but he hoped that they didn't undergo any changes or it would be much more difficult for him.
After formulating the general idea of how to proceed, he carried the sharp steel pipe along with him and went eastwards from this place to the heart of Pondicherry where the population of people is concentrated. And by doing so he might also chance upon a few more morphs to absorb their energy but thinking about all the disgusting things he had to do for it, he couldn't help but curse about the unfairness the NALLA system imposed on, as all the system he read from the novels made it easy for main characters, all they had to do is only to kill and they will get the power to improve by leaps and bounds but here he had to resort to cannibalism.
Due to all the destruction, he found it difficult to find the correct way, he proceeded further by remembering the general direction of things. Along the way, he did come across three more morphs which was much less than what he expected. He had to eat all the abnormally grown parts of the three to absorb the dark energy in them.
"YOU HAVE ABSORBED DARK ENERGY…"
"YOU HAVE ABSORBED DARK ENERGY…"
"YOU HAVE ABSORBED DARK ENERGY…"
Travelling further just a couple of kilometers he soon found the reason why there were none nearby. He stood on the edge of the cliff and viewed the harrowing sight, what was visible from there was roaring sea waves that swallowed the entirety of White Town even including the Botanical Garden that should have been just a few hundred meters from where he stood. He could still feel the mild rumbling of Earth through his feet.
And it is clearly apparent the seawater doesn't seem to receding and was rising further instead. If this was the situation all along the coastal line, the number of lives lost would be numerous. It felt sad thinking about it as a fair share of the world's population lives along the seashore. He spent a few minutes there praying for the peace of lost souls on their journey to the afterlife.
Clearing his mind of all the thoughts, he changed to the opposite direction and decided to proceed inland towards Villianur commune. As it is on the border between Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu state it is also a populated place.
With his improved strength, he was able to travel long distances without taking rests along the way. On his way there he came across a few stray cats and dogs. Although they didn't have any external deformation like morphs they were much more agile than they used to be. They also didn't attack him like morphs but were warier of him on the contrary.
After an hour and a half, he reached Villianur. The people he met during his travel all had blank looks on their faces. They couldn't accept the sudden loss of all their loved ones and the things they have worked all their lives to suddenly disappear. The situation right now is very similar to going several eras back as they have to rediscover and reinvent all things again.
Some of them had come across few morphs, lucky ones escaped with life intact while the misfortunate became the reason for the spread of the horror stories about the man-eating beasts lingering around.
According to the stories, the man-eating beast was similar to humans except for a single abnormal swelling anywhere on their body. They were human-turned-beasts that hunted on humans whenever they came across one. Due to the fear of facing one alone, everyone grouped together with the stranded people they came across, in hopes of defending against them.
There was also a rumor going around that there was a man in the group who killed the man-eating beast himself. Mohan hearing about the stories knew that the man-eating beast was nothing but the morphs. He was also curious about the man in the rumors as he wanted to know whether he too ate the morph or not.
In this settlement, there were no more than a hundred people. After enquiring about him, it was easy for him to find the man. There was no one around near the worn-out makeshift tent where he was residing. Mohan called from outside to catch his attention but he didn't get any response immediately. After waiting for a few minutes he whispered near the opening of the tent.
"Hey, did you eat it?"