Chapter 14 Hu Li
In the chaotic night, in the ruins of a dilapidated temple, on one side, a girl with silver hair and a fox tail squatted among the broken bricks and tiles, stuffing her mouth with rotten vegetable leaves found in the garbage bag. On the other side, Yu Sheng, who had died thrice, stood behind the broken wall, staring at the opposite side in amazement.
They just stood facing each other quietly in the night. As their first meeting (not counting the headbutt before), Yu Sheng would probably never forget this scene in his life.
Then, he saw the fox-tailed girl's eyes slowly widen, a kind of great astonishment and surprise - perhaps mixed with some disbelief - gradually filled her golden-red eyes. She finally stood up, still holding a handful of vegetable leaves in her hand, and then as if she suddenly woke up, she raised her hand and pointed at Yu Sheng, making a choking sound in her throat: "Human!? Ah, human! You are a human?! Who... who are you? Where are you from..."
Yu Sheng had already thought of his opening remarks, including how to introduce himself and how to inquire about the girl's situation, as well as expressing that he was broad-minded and didn't care about the previous "yes". However, as soon as the other party opened his mouth, he was stunned and forgot most of the words he had thought of. He just felt that the other party's reaction seemed different from what he expected.
What does "you are a human" mean? Is it such a big shock for her to know that she is a human? Has she never seen a human before or has she not seen a human for a long time? And more importantly...
Not sure if it was an illusion or a misunderstanding, but Yu Sheng always felt that the other party's reaction was as if she was seeing him for the first time. But she had clearly seen him before when he was fighting with that monster. Of course, the way they met at that time might have been more unique. After this headbutt, Yu Sheng's overall outline should be very different from now. But if nothing else, at least his face should not have changed much before and after...
Even if the girl did not carefully check the crime scene after the collision, she should at least have some impression of the dead soul under her head, instead of acting like she was seeing the "stranger" in front of her for the first time.
"We... have met once before," Yu Sheng held his breath for two or three seconds before finally unable to hold back and speaking, "Just now, in the open space outside, you said you were coming to save me... Have you forgotten?"
The fox girl on the opposite side tilted her head, as if she really didn't know what Yu Sheng was talking about, but soon her attention shifted to other places. She pointed at the bag of kitchen garbage on the ground, her eyes glowing in the night: "Is this, your, stuff?"
There was a strange pause when she spoke, as if she had not communicated with anyone for so long that she had to think and recall every word before she could say it.
Yu Sheng said in a strange tone: "Uh, yes..."
"Can I eat it?" the fox girl said quickly, still stuttering a little. Then she squeezed the leaves in her hand tightly, as if she was using great willpower to resist the urge to stuff it directly into her mouth. Her mouth moved, chewing the food she had just eaten. Then she glanced at Yu Sheng again and asked quickly, "I'm hungry. I want to eat. I'm sorry..."
Her hands were shaking slightly, and her tone was anxious, but she was using her willpower to control herself, as if what she was trying to control was not just her appetite, but something more dangerous than appetite... something that was about to get out of control.
Yu Sheng was in a trance for a moment. He seemed to have seen a faint shadow floating behind the other party. The shadow slowly spread from a distance, like a hunter waiting in the dark, waiting for the moment when the prey relaxed its spirit.
But the shadow quickly disappeared again.
Yu Sheng walked out from behind the broken wall. He had already noticed that something was wrong with the girl in front of him (although her messy tail itself was quite wrong), but he still walked forward bravely: "Those things can't be eaten, they are..."
He felt a little bit unable to continue speaking - because he had never been so hungry before.
At this time, the girl had slowly squatted down, as if she could not wait for Yu Sheng's response. She wanted to pick up the food scattered on the ground.
"Wait! I think I have something to eat!" At this moment, Yu Sheng suddenly called out to the girl opposite him. He seemed to have remembered something, and while speaking, he was quickly rummaging in his pockets.
Finally, he took out two small pieces of bread in packaging and a palm-sized piece of chocolate, which he had originally planned to save for a midnight snack.
Due to work reasons, he has the habit of staying up late at night.
The fox girl watched Yu Sheng's actions with a hint of vigilance and confusion. Yu Sheng then came to her and demonstrated how to tear open the bread bag. Along with the sound of plastic being torn, the aroma of bread wafted out. The girl's eyes instantly brightened up, and then she grabbed Yu Sheng's hand almost at a speed that left an afterimage, and stuffed the hand with the bread into her mouth.
Yu Sheng almost didn't react. The girl was not only incredibly fast, but also incredibly strong. He used almost all his strength to pull his arm back and finally pulled his hand out of the fox's mouth before the fox bit off his finger. Even so, his index finger was scratched by the fox's sharp canine teeth and blood oozed out quickly.
"Oh my god, how long have you been hungry..." He couldn't help but mutter.
The girl seemed to be completely deaf to the sounds around her. She stuffed food into her mouth quickly, as if she wanted to stuff it directly into her stomach. Her mouth was so stuffed that it was bulging. Her eyes widened with every chewing. Yu Sheng was even worried that she would choke to death in the next second, but she still swallowed the food in her mouth and then her eyes fell on another piece of bread.
"Take it easy and catch your breath first. If you keep eating like this, you'll choke to death," Yu Sheng had to block the other person and looked into the girl's eyes and said seriously, "Is that okay? Do you understand?"
"I, understand..." The fox girl nodded vigorously and swallowed hard.
Yu Sheng then handed over the second piece of bread and watched the girl tear the plastic packaging clumsily - her technique was wrong, but her strength was amazing. She tore the plastic bag into pieces almost instantly, then tore the bread in half and stuffed it into her mouth. But after putting half of it in, she seemed to remember Yu Sheng's words, or realized the preciousness of this food, and hurriedly slowed down, tearing the bread into small pieces and putting them into her mouth with great restraint.
At the same time, her eyes kept glancing at Yu Sheng's hand and fell on the last piece of chocolate.
"This is chocolate..." Yu Sheng said casually, and was about to hand over the chocolate, but he hesitated and stopped halfway, and the expression on his face became a little strange.
He thought quickly for several seconds, and finally called Irene in his heart: "Irene."
The sound of the puppet in the painting suddenly filled my mind: "Yu Sheng! What happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly stop making any noise? And no matter how I called you, you didn't..."
"My situation is complicated. I will explain it to you later. Now I want to ask you something..."
"You... okay, just ask." Irene's voice sounded unfriendly, but in the end she showed patience helplessly.
"Dogs can't eat chocolate, right?" Yu Sheng suppressed the strange feeling in his heart. He secretly glanced at the fox girl opposite who was full of expectation, and tried to make his tone sound more serious.
"...Yes," Irene felt that this question was puzzling, "That thing is poisonous to dogs. But why are you asking this suddenly? You are already trapped in a foreign land and you still have the time..."
Yu Sheng ignored the other party's subsequent mumbling: "Can the fox be eaten?"
"Foxes shouldn't be able to do that either...right?" Irene hesitated. "After all, they are all canines. Well, let me tell you, many human foods are poisonous to species other than humans. Let's put it this way, your diet is simply sick in the eyes of an 'alien' like me, not to mention animals. It's like eating poison and strong alkali, with acid pouring down your throat, biochemical agents passing through your intestines, and corrupt substances filling your mouth..."
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Yu Sheng interrupted BB Ji's loud bibi again: "What about the fox that has cultivated into a spirit?"
Irene was finally stuck and said, "...What?"
Facts have proved that even BB Ji, who is a great trash talker, can't stand this overly insane topic change.
"I mean, a fox that turns into a human form is called a fox fairy or a fox demon, understand?" Yu Sheng said quickly in his mind, because he found that the fox girl in front of him had almost finished the small piece of bread and was about to grab the chocolate in his hand. "Is a fox fairy still a fox? Does it have more human or fox elements? If the latter is more, is the fox fairy considered a canine?"
Irene: "…What's going on over there?!"
"I have a starving fox here, the kind with white fur, red eyes and nine tails... or maybe six or seven, all tangled up and I can't count them, but I only have one piece of chocolate left."
Irene listened in a daze, then said with amazing receptiveness: "If you already have nine tails, you must be able to handle it. If you don't even have this much training, do you want to have so many tails just to use them as propellers when swimming? Wait, what's going on over there? Didn't you say it was an uninhabited foreign land? How come one suddenly appeared..."
Yu Sheng felt that the first half of Irene's words made sense, so he handed the chocolate to her without responding to her subsequent chatter. However, he did not forget to remind her, "Here you go, but you'd better eat a little. I'm afraid it's not good for your health."
"Thank you...thank you!" The fox girl hurriedly took the chocolate, clumsily opened the package, and took a careful bite.
An expression of surprise appeared on her face, and then she narrowed her eyes slightly, as if immersed in great happiness.
"That's enough. I don't have any more." Yu Sheng shook his head and spread his hands. "I don't know if it's enough to fill you up... Um, I don't know what to call you."
"Thank you," the fox girl said again, this time thanking him more solemnly than before. After she was finally not so hungry anymore, she looked into Yu Sheng's eyes, raised her finger and pointed at herself, and said seriously, "Hu Li."
"Ah?" Yu Sheng didn't react at once.
"Hu Li," the fox girl pointed at herself and slowly laughed, "I have a name!"
(End of this chapter)
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