Chapter 16: Hunger

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Huli hung his head, sitting on the steps of the dilapidated temple, looking somewhat injured. Yusheng also sat on the same steps with his head down—he was truly hurt this time. The fox spirit maiden had bitten off a large chunk of flesh along with the skin in one bite!

He knew canines were protective of their food, but he hadn’t expected a fox spirit to be quite so fierce when guarding her sustenance!

“Benefactor…” Huli finally spoke up from beside him, her white fur seeming as if she was about to cry. “I’m sorry, I… I couldn’t hold back and hurt you again…”

“Yes, you hurt me again, but it’s much less severe than the first time we met,” Yusheng sighed helplessly, looking at the bloodstains at the corner of Huli’s mouth. He thought to himself, at least it was just one bite. The first time they met, she had headbutted him at supersonic speed, causing a wound far worse than this—an injury that led to amputation below his neck...

Huli tilted her head in confusion upon hearing this. She still couldn’t recall what Yusheng meant by “the first time we met.” Yusheng had tried to hint at it several times, but her reaction was always the same.

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

“You don’t remember anything?” Yusheng frowned. “I was fighting some horrible creature, and you rushed over saying you wanted to help, then—’bang’—everything went black, and when I came to, I was here, and you were wandering outside.”

Huli squinted, as if trying hard to remember something. After a moment, her fluffy ears drooped slowly, as if recalling was a painful process.

Yusheng glanced down at the wound on his hand.

The bite was healing rapidly, visibly sprouting countless tiny buds between the torn flesh. The blood seemed almost alive, writhing and roaming within the wound’s crevices. He even felt as if he could hear faint sounds coming from the injury—the tissue regenerating, the torn skin knitting together, everything returning to its original intact state.

Within minutes, the pain vanished, leaving only a slight itching sensation around the wound.

This was unnatural. Of course, he knew human wounds couldn’t heal this fast, but even faster than rapid healing—resurrection was stranger still.

These bodily changes made him uneasy. Though they seemed beneficial for now, he worried about hidden costs or unknown risks behind these changes.

Humans instinctively resist the unknown and loss of control. For Yusheng now, his own body was becoming the greatest unknown.

Just then, a strange feeling interrupted his thoughts. He couldn’t explain it exactly—he seemed to hear a sound, or perhaps some intrusive thoughts invading his mind—thoughts and memories not his own. A small part of his mind began to stir uncontrollably, and within that restless mental fragment, there was another thought—

Mom disappeared, Dad disappeared, uncles and aunts disappeared, it’s dark, poisonous, cold, scared, hungry, very cold, very hungry, starving, the fruit is poisonous, bark can’t be eaten, leaves can’t be eaten, soil can’t be eaten, stones can’t be eaten… nothing can be eaten, all forbidden, hungry, very hungry, starving…

A crushing, overwhelming hunger swept through Yusheng’s mind like a storm, threatening to crush his will. Though it was just a foreign intrusion into his thoughts, he felt as if his own reason was about to be devoured completely by that hunger. The chaotic thoughts roared inside his head, and only as they gradually faded did Yusheng begin to think clearly again and slowly lift his gaze toward Huli sitting beside him.

The fox spirit girl was slowly licking the blood at the corner of her mouth. Yusheng saw his blood seemingly alive, writhing on her tongue, seeping into her skin, into her teeth, into... her soul.

Noticing his gaze, Huli finished licking the last drop of blood, looked up at Yusheng, and gave a pure, harmless smile.

But Yusheng felt as if he was looking straight into her soul. He saw the part on the brink of madness, the raging hunger beginning to swell beneath that smile.

She was very hungry—hungrier than she appeared, even hungrier than she herself realized.

“Benefactor…” she looked cautiously at Yusheng’s pocket, a naive smile on her face. “Do you still have any food? I feel my stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, but I’m still a bit hungry.”

A chill ran down Yusheng’s spine. He vaguely sensed something and grew more curious about how he had just “read” Huli’s thoughts and memories.

Why… could he see into Huli’s mind?

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He recalled the moment he had just seen—his blood rapidly seeping into her skin.

Was it because of that?

At that moment, he noticed Huli’s expression shifting quickly.

It was as if she suddenly remembered something. Her eyes glazed over and then turned to shock. Huli slowly rose from the steps, staring blankly at Yusheng, as if “re-recognizing” him. Then, she shook her head sharply and, in disbelief, pointed at him: “Benefactor... you… you’re not dead?!”

Yusheng was stunned.

Huli pressed her hand hard against her forehead, her body swaying. The conflicting memories had shaken her already fragile mind, nearly breaking her. Then, she began to recall those “real” memories that had once vanished—

She remembered her first “meeting” with Yusheng, the terrible “mistake” she made, the shattered image of her “benefactor,” the warm blood of the living person, and then… the blood fading into nothingness, the remains disappearing, the memory of Yusheng’s “death” dissolving from her mind...

She steadied herself slowly. Her golden-red eyes were clouded as she murmured, “Ah, I remember now, Benefactor, we just met on the clearing outside. I accidentally hurt you... but…”

She hesitated, her words turning into a muddled murmur. Her confused mind seemed to gain the upper hand, plunging her thoughts into chaos.

Yusheng blinked. Obviously, Huli had recalled their first meeting and the supersonic headbutt incident. He didn’t know how she suddenly remembered everything—perhaps it was related to how he had glimpsed her thoughts and memories earlier—but now was not the time to ponder that.

Huli’s condition was clearly unstable. Her body wavered again, as if she might collapse at any moment.

Yusheng instinctively took a half step forward—but her next reaction froze him in place.

Huli lifted her head. Her golden-red eyes were filled with a bloody glow. She stared intently at Yusheng, emitting a low, beast-like growl from her throat.

She bent forward, her tangled tails slowly unfurling behind her. The fox tails flared boldly in the night, each tipped with flickering blue flames.

She unleashed the predatory aura of a wild beast with abandon.

The hunger raging in those blood-filled eyes grew uncontrollably. Through some faint connection, Yusheng even seemed to hear the voice echoing deep within the girl’s heart—

“Benefactor, you smell so delicious…”

Yusheng swallowed hard and took a small step back. At that moment, his peripheral vision caught sight of a shadow behind Huli.

It was a massive, looming shadow stretching out from the darkness, creeping closer behind her. The fox spirit’s blue flames flickered in the night, illuminating the figure’s outline—a grotesque mass of countless twisted beast limbs fused together, a monstrous flesh-and-blood titan several meters tall. Its body was riddled with gaping mouths, eyes, and claws interwoven chaotically, embodying hunger and predation. The creature let out low, guttural roars of urging behind Huli.

Amid the growls and urgings, Huli’s body lowered further. Her silver-white fur covered her skin, her cheeks distorted, fangs growing, human features rapidly fading. In the blink of an eye, the innocent, smiling girl vanished—replaced by a towering silver-white fox demon standing amid the ruined temple, the blue fox fire illuminating the decayed ruins and Yusheng’s face.

Yusheng heard a voice, filled with a strong seductive and mind-piercing power, faintly echoing—

“Eat… eat, and you won’t be hungry…”

“Feed…”

“Feed, together with me…”

“You’re hungry, eat…”

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At first, Yusheng thought the voice came from Huli’s inner thoughts, but he quickly realized it was what Huli was hearing—the true source was that grotesque monster.

It was urging Huli to feed, to surrender to that hunger—its tone like it awaited the flowering of something long nurtured.

Yusheng wanted to shout a warning, to tell Huli not to be bewitched by that voice, as he had begun to grasp some truths. But before he could speak, he felt a terrifying hunger emanate from deep within Huli’s mind.

That hunger was enough to consume all reason and block out any external voices.

He could only smile bitterly and spread his hands before the fox spirit.

“Listen, soon your mouth and stomach won’t match up. Next time we meet, it’ll be awkward for you…”

Having said this as if delivering a last will, he steeled himself, his face darkening. He crouched slightly, assuming the starting stance of military boxing.

Military boxing certainly couldn’t defeat a nine-tailed fox (or perhaps seven- or eight-tailed), but it could allow him to die with some dignity.

Besides, what if? His constitution had mysteriously grown stronger. Maybe, just maybe, he could land a punch on Huli’s nose before dying and make her suffer for a while...

As the thought crossed his mind, a fierce gust of wind suddenly blasted toward him. The massive silver-white fox leapt into the air with explosive force—the strong wind pressed against Yusheng, making him close his eyes instinctively.

But the death he expected did not come.

He opened his eyes in confusion.

He saw the silver-white fox twist midair and pounce fiercely on the disgusting monster—she let out an enraged, almost mournful roar and bit into the creature.

But the next moment, numerous black chitinous spikes and fragments of black bone erupted from within Huli’s body, piercing her in multiple places and pinning her midair.

Yusheng watched in shock as the silver-white fox struggled, turning her head. Blood of a golden-red hue flowed from her wounds, steaming under the night sky.

“Benefactor… run…”

{You smell so delicious…}

“I’m not a monster yet…”

{So hungry…}

“Run!”

{Run!}