Chapter 16: Hunger

Hu Li sat on the steps of the dilapidated temple, her head drooping, looking a little hurt.

Yu Sheng also sat on the steps with his head hanging—he was genuinely injured. That bite from the fox fairy had torn off a chunk of his flesh, skin and all!

He knew canines were protective of their food, but he hadn’t expected the fox fairy to be the same way!

“Benefactor…” Hu Li finally spoke, her voice on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry, I… I couldn’t help it. I hurt you again…”

“Yeah, you hurt me again, but it’s much lighter than the first time we met.” Yu Sheng sighed in resignation, staring at the bloodstains on the corner of Hu Li’s mouth. He thought to himself that at least it was just a bite. The first time he met this girl, that subsonic headbutt had caused a much bigger wound—it was basically amputation from the neck down…

Hu Li tilted her head in confusion after hearing this. She clearly still couldn’t remember what Yu Sheng meant by “the first time we met”—he had already probed her a few times, and each time she reacted the same way.

“Benefactor, you say… we really met before, outside this temple?”

“You don’t remember at all?” Yu Sheng couldn’t help frowning. “I was fighting some grotesque creature when you rushed over saying you wanted to help, and then—bang—everything went black. When I woke up, I was here, and you were wandering around outside.”

Hu Li narrowed her eyes, as if struggling to recall something. After a moment, the furry ears on top of her head slowly drooped, the process seeming quite painful.

Yu Sheng glanced down at the wound on his own hand.

The spot where Hu Li had bitten him was healing at a visible rate. Between the torn flesh, countless tiny sprouts were growing, and the blood seemed to have a life of its own, writhing and crawling through the gaps in the wound. He… could even hear faint sounds coming from the wound—the regeneration of muscle tissue, the reconnection of torn skin. Everything… was returning to its intact state.

Within minutes, he couldn’t even feel pain anymore, only a slight numbness lingering around the wound.

This wasn’t normal. He knew that. No human wound could heal this fast. But compared to the rapid healing—coming back from the dead was even more abnormal.

The changes in his body made him uneasy. Even though they all seemed like “good things” so far, he couldn’t shake the worry that behind these changes lay some unknown danger, or… a “price.”

People instinctively resist the unknown and loss of control. For Yu Sheng right now, his own body was becoming the greatest unknown in his mind.

But just then, a strange sensation interrupted his thoughts—he couldn’t quite describe it. It felt like he was hearing something, or maybe some thoughts were suddenly “invading” his mind, thoughts and memories that didn’t belong to him. He felt a small part of his brain stir uncontrollably, and then, within that stirring, he sensed another mind—

Mom’s gone. Dad’s gone. Uncles and aunts are gone. It’s dark. It’s poisonous. Cold. Scared. Hungry. Very cold. Very hungry. So hungry. The fruit is poisonous. The bark can’t be eaten. The leaves can’t be eaten. The dirt can’t be eaten. Stones can’t be eaten… Can’t eat. None of it can be eaten. Hungry. So hungry. So hungry. So hungry…

An overwhelming hunger, almost crushing his sanity, swept through Yu Sheng’s mind. Even though it was just a sliver of external information intruding into his head, he still felt as if his reason was about to be devoured by that hunger. The wild thoughts roared in his mind. When they finally began to fade, Yu Sheng slowly regained his composure and looked up at Hu Li sitting beside him.

The fox demon girl was slowly licking the corner of her mouth. Yu Sheng saw his own blood, as if alive, writhing on her tongue, seeping into her skin, her teeth, her… soul.

Hu Li noticed his gaze. She licked the last trace of blood from her lips, looked up at Yu Sheng, and flashed a simple, harmless smile.

But Yu Sheng saw deeper, as if he were looking straight into her soul. He saw… the part already close to madness. He saw the ravenous hunger surging and growing behind that smile.

She was hungry. She was still hungry. More than she appeared. Even more than she herself realized.

“Benefactor…” She glanced cautiously at Yu Sheng’s pocket, her face wearing a silly grin. “Do you… have any more food? I feel like… my stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, but I’m still a little hungry.”

A chill ran down Yu Sheng’s spine. He seemed to have a vague idea of what was happening, and at the same time, he was even more curious about how he had just “read” that information from Hu Li’s mind.

Why… could he see her thoughts and memories?

He remembered what he had just witnessed: his blood rapidly seeping into her skin.

Was it because of that?

Then he noticed Hu Li’s expression shift rapidly.

As if suddenly remembering something, her eyes grew dazed. Then the daze turned into shock. She slowly stood up from the steps, staring blankly at Yu Sheng as if “rediscovering” him. Then she shook her head violently and pointed at Yu Sheng in disbelief. “Benefactor… you… you’re not dead?!”

Yu Sheng was stunned.

Hu Li pressed her hand hard against her forehead, her body swaying. The chaotic, conflicting memories rattled her already unstable mind. Then she finally began to recall the “truth” that had once vanished from her memory—

She remembered her first “encounter” with Yu Sheng. She remembered that terrible “accident.” She remembered her benefactor’s shattered body. She remembered the warm blood of a living person. Then… that blood gradually turned to nothing, the remains disappeared, and the memory of Yu Sheng’s “death” faded from her mind…

She slowly steadied herself, her golden-red eyes hazy. “Oh, I remember now, Benefactor. We did meet before, out in the clearing. I accidentally… but…”

She paused, her words trailing off into a vague mutter. Her clouded mind seemed to be gaining the upper hand, throwing her thoughts into confusion.

Yu Sheng blinked. Clearly, Hu Li had remembered their first meeting and the subsonic headbutt. He didn’t know why she had suddenly recalled it, maybe because of his own sudden glimpse into her mind—but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Hu Li’s condition was obviously off. She swayed again, as if about to collapse.

Yu Sheng instinctively stepped forward—but her next reaction made him stop dead in his tracks.

Hu Li lifted her head. Her golden-red eyes seemed filled with bloodlight. She stared fixedly at Yu Sheng, a low, beastly growl rumbling from her throat.

She slowly bent over. Her messy tail gradually unfurled behind her, spreading out in the night, growing rampant. Blue flames leaped and burned at the tip of each tail.

She released the aura of a predator with a beast’s posture.

Hunger raged in those bloodlit eyes. Through some vague connection, Yu Sheng could almost hear the voice echoing in the girl’s heart—

Benefactor, you smell so good…

Yu Sheng swallowed hard and slowly stepped back half a step. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a… shadow behind Hu Li.

It was a huge, dark mass. It oozed out of the darkness, creeping closer behind Hu Li. The blue foxfire flickered in the night, illuminating the outline of that shadow—countless twisted, ferocious beast limbs crudely stitched together. A fleshy clump several meters tall, covered in crisscrossing mouths, eyes, and claws. It looked like the embodiment of hunger and predation. The monster let out a low, guttural growl behind Hu Li, as if urging her on.

Under those guttural growls and urgings, Hu Li crouched lower. Silver-white fur covered her skin. Her face distorted, sharp teeth grew, human features rapidly faded. In the blink of an eye, the always-grinning girl was gone—a massive silver-white fox stood in the night, its blue foxfire reflecting off the crumbling temple ruins and Yu Sheng’s face.

Yu Sheng heard a voice, powerful and hypnotic, piercing his mind, faintly reaching him—

“Eat… eat, and you won’t be hungry…

“Feed…

“Feed, together with us…

“You’re hungry. Eat…”

At first, Yu Sheng thought it was Hu Li’s own thoughts, but he soon realized it was actually the voice Hu Li was hearing—the true source was that grotesque monster.

It was urging Hu Li to feed, urging the fox demon girl to give in to hunger. Its tone was like something waiting for its long-nurtured prize to finally bloom.

Yu Sheng wanted to shout a warning, to tell Hu Li not to be deceived by that voice, because he had a vague guess about the truth. But before he could speak, he felt the terrible… hunger emanating from deep within Hu Li’s mind.

That hunger could swallow all reason, block out all external voices.

He could only smile bitterly and spread his hands in front of the fox demon.

“I’m telling you, your mouth and stomach are going to have an accounting problem later. Next time we meet, you’ll be so embarrassed…”

After saying this, as if uttering his last words, he steeled himself, set his expression, and assumed a military boxing stance—wide stance, low center of gravity, guard up.

Military boxing couldn’t beat a nine-tailed fox demon (or maybe seven or eight tails), but at least he could die with some dignity.

And what if, by some miracle, his body had become inexplicably stronger? Maybe he could land a punch on Hu Li’s nose before dying and make her feel it for a while…

This absurd thought crossed his mind. The next second, he felt a blast of wind. The massive silver-white fox leaped into the air—the intense pressure forced Yu Sheng to close his eyes.

The expected death didn’t come.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes in confusion.

He saw the silver-white fox twist midair and pounce directly onto that disgusting monster—letting out a enraged roar that sounded almost like a sob, she bit into the creature.

But the next moment, countless black, horn-like spikes and shards of black bone burst out from within Hu Li’s body, piercing through her everywhere and pinning her in midair.

Yu Sheng stared in shock. He saw the silver-white fox turn her head with difficulty. Golden-red blood flowed from her wounds, steaming in the night sky.

“Benefactor… run…”

{You smell so good…}

“I’m not a monster yet…”

{So hungry…}

“Run!”

{Run!}