Chapter 28 "Hunger"
Falling, being thrown up, and then falling again, this process was repeated endlessly in the extreme cold and emptiness. The thoughts were tangled into a mess, and the chaotic perceptions were like sharp knives stabbing in the mind, until the consciousness was almost cut off, and a feeling of sudden relief from the edge of drowning finally came, awakening Yu Sheng from the endless fall of cold darkness.
He suddenly sat up from the bed, then lost his balance and almost fell to the ground. At the last moment, he grabbed the corner of the bedside table and barely supported his body. He felt his head spinning.
The sharp and continuous pain made him even suspect that his brain was really boiling.
But fortunately, this feeling did not last too long. When I really woke up, the unbearable feelings in my mind disappeared like the dream, leaving only some unpleasant impressions.
Yu Sheng sat on the edge of the bed and took a few breaths. He looked up and out the window. He saw that the setting sun was gradually approaching the rooftops of the buildings in the distant city and the sky was getting darker.
"...an entire day has passed..." He muttered in surprise, and stood up with the help of the bedside table. He first poured a glass of water from the table and drank it. Then he patted his face, trying to recover some energy from the not-so-restful sleep, and left the bedroom and went to the first floor.
"I really didn't expect that your 'sudden awakening' would be so uncomfortable," Yu Sheng complained to the oil painting on the dining table as soon as he arrived at the restaurant, "I thought it would be just a little dizzy or a little heartbeat, but when I opened my eyes, I almost vomited last year's New Year's Eve dinner..."
After he finished complaining, Irene did not respond with a series of beeps as usual, but was very quiet. Yu Sheng felt something was wrong and turned to look at the oil painting on the table, only to see Irene slumped on the chair covered with a red velvet carpet as if it had malfunctioned, holding a teddy bear and staring blankly upwards, occasionally moving her eyes, and then standing up and retching.
Yu Sheng: "...How can you make yourself so miserable with your sudden awakening?"
Irene looked up at him, and just as she was about to speak, she felt hungry again - however, as a puppet who had been sealed for who knows how many years, she couldn't even have a stomach full of acid, let alone a New Year's Eve dinner (in fact, Yu Sheng even suspected that she didn't even have a stomach), so she could only lie on the edge of the chair and burp so hard that it seemed as if her head would fall off at the next second.
It took a long time for the unfortunate puppet to recover. He looked up at Yu Sheng and said with a dying breath: "It wasn't me who 'woke us up'. It was you."
Yu Sheng: “…Ah?”
"Your last shout woke up the fox, and I didn't even react!" Irene said angrily, "Why did you shout so loudly?"
Yu Sheng was a little dazed, but at least he understood what the other party meant. He scratched his head awkwardly: "I don't know, I just wanted to remind Hu Li, I feel that her condition is very dangerous."
"You're right," Irene said, and then she vomited again and fell on the edge of the chair. She retched twice before catching her breath. She looked at Yu Sheng unhappily, "Well, the good news is that you managed to wake up the fox before she got deeper into trouble. Although she 'bounced' us out when she woke up, she should be able to wake up for a while."
Yu Sheng walked over, pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat opposite Irene, his expression gradually becoming serious: "What about the bad news?"
Irene didn't speak for a while. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded gently: "You should have guessed it - she can't hold on for much longer."
Yu Sheng frowned and said nothing.
Yes, he did feel it. He felt it when he was trapped in the valley. The hunger and madness buried deep in Hu Li's heart was like some kind of evil that would grow and keep eroding him. Although he didn't know what it was at first, during his last confrontation with the flesh-and-blood monster, he realized that the "hunger" was not as simple as it seemed.
The scene he just saw in the depths of his dream only made him grasp Hu Li's situation more accurately.
"If you want to help that fox, you'd better take action as soon as possible," Irene said. "The one who bewitched her is trying to turn her into some kind of... 'nutrient'. Killing is not the goal of that thing. 'Hungry madness' is what it wants. The fox's will is so strong that she can hold on until now. This is incredible, but the longer she persists, when the 'transformation' occurs... the more 'nutrients' she can provide. Things will be very troublesome, very, very troublesome."
Yu Sheng listened with a gloomy face, and supplemented the information he had known so far based on Irene's description, but suddenly he noticed something and looked up at the picture frame opposite.
"Erin," he said with a serious face, "Do you... know something? About the situation in that valley, and the things in the valley?"
Irene hesitated, shook her head first, but then nodded slightly.
"I don't remember most of the things, including what happened in that valley. But I seem to have some impression of what happened to the fox. I think I have read some information about it before."
As she spoke, she frowned and paused briefly, as if she was trying to search for useful content from her fragmentary memory.
"...Entity-Hunger, I think that's its name," Irene said as she recalled, "It's an entity with clear malicious intent and high danger. It's generated in the blockade area, poisoning the environment in the area and spreading hunger. It's very aggressive, but what's more dangerous is its 'influence'. People who are targeted by this entity will fall into terrible hunger, and their willpower will be greatly tested. I can't remember the specific victimization incidents. I only remember... it's very dangerous and has harmed many people. And what's worse is..."
Irene stopped and looked up into Yu Sheng's eyes.
"Hunger turns people into beasts, devouring dignity and life at the same time. Most people probably can't bear it, and those who fall will become part of the entity - hunger, endlessly."
Listening to Irene's story, Yu Sheng's expression gradually tensed up, and a heavy feeling of depression weighed on his heart. At this moment, he suddenly thought of another thing -
When he was fighting with the flesh and blood monster, he felt the urge to eat!
Could it be that he has also been affected by "hunger"? ! Yu Sheng's heart tightened, and he immediately spoke quickly: "Wait, what are the main "symptoms" after being affected by "hunger"? "
Irene gave him a strange look: "...Of course it's 'hunger'."
"That's not what I meant. I meant..." Yu Sheng quickly waved his hands and organized his words. "For example, when I saw that monster, I really wanted to have a bite. I even thought it tasted pretty good. I even cooked two dishes when I got home. Could this reaction also be affected by 'hunger'?"
Irene's expression was visibly dull. The first thing she thought of was the "local specialties" that Yu Sheng brought back, as well as the four dishes and one soup that were delicious.
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"Yes, yes, you ate it..." Miss Doll muttered, but then she suddenly realized and changed her tone, "No! Of course not! The effect of 'Entity-Hunger' is to make you go crazy with hunger and eat others, not to make you eat it! It doesn't make people crazy by making nests with itself!"
Irene's yell startled Yu Sheng, but he soon understood the truth - although hunger and appetite are closely related, when it comes to "foreign" and "entity" based on strict rules, these are two distinct definitions, especially when an entity has active malice, its influence must be strictly in accordance with its rules.
To put it more clearly, if Yu Sheng was really affected by "hunger" when he was in that valley, then he should have gnawed the fox - instead of gnawing at the monster that was the source of the bewitching.
Of course, he was somewhat reluctant when he first bit the monster, but we won’t mention that.
Thinking of this, Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that he had not been eroded by the strange entity. He also recalled that he did feel full after eating before going to bed. He felt relieved and breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. It seems that I am quite normal."
Irene was stunned when she heard this and whispered, "No, I think the fact that you can have an appetite for that thing is already abnormal..."
Yu Sheng waved his hand nonchalantly, and then changed the subject: "So, that monster that looks very abstract but tastes good is the 'Entity-Hunger', right? Killing it will free Hu Li from its influence - I know that the entity cannot be killed completely, I mean to kill it temporarily."
"Actually... I'm not sure either," Irene answered hesitantly. "'Hunger' is a rather special entity. The monster you saw is its 'manifestation', but as far as I understand, the real 'hunger' is actually diffused throughout the valley. Do you understand what I mean? What you saw were just its 'tentacles' that came out to forage for food and sense the situation. Its true form... is just like its name, the hunger that is everywhere in the valley."
As Yu Sheng listened, his expression gradually became a little dull.
Yes, he understood.
"Fuck, rules system?!"
(End of this chapter)
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