"I'll go first!"
Sensing something was off, Jiang Xia turned to run, but Li Sitong quickly grabbed him by the neck.
"Darling~"
"I'm your boyfriend, your legitimate boyfriend, you can't treat me like this!" Jiang Xia struggled and shouted.
"Just one sip, come on, just one sip!"
"Do you even hear what you're saying!"
Jiang Xia tried to pry Li Sitong's hand away, his peripheral vision catching her smile, then the bottle of liquor near his lips. Suddenly, the image of Pan Jinlian feeding Wu Dalang medicine flashed in his mind.
This high-proof liquor could kill someone!
What on earth is wrong with this crazy woman again?
"Darling, one sip, just one sip. You take a sip, I take a sip, how about that?"
"No!"
Li Sitong was a bit displeased: "Those couples on the street, when the girlfriend feeds the boyfriend a drink, they don't refuse. Why are you so ungrateful?"
Jiang Xia pressed down on Li Sitong's hand, speaking seriously: "Listen to me, let's not hurt each other. Put the liquor down, I'll treat you to tea with milk, with extra-large pearls!"
Li Sitong snorted: "That woman just now wanted you to drink, and you were going to. But when I ask, you refuse. Am I not even as good as her?"
Jiang Xia stared at Li Sitong: "Can you even compare like that?"
"Why not compare? We're both women, and I'm your girlfriend. You listen to her but not to me?"
To be fair, when Li Sitong throws a little tantrum, she really does have that little girlfriend vibe.
"I know what you're up to. You want to see what I look like after I transform." Jiang Xia hit the nail on the head.
He felt he had somewhat figured out the pattern of Li Sitong's madness.
This woman seems crazy, but she doesn't just suddenly go nuts for no reason.
"I just love your cleverness. Don't you want to see what you look like after you transform?"
Jiang Xia was curious too: "To be honest, I do want to know. But is there no other way besides drinking?"
Li Sitong said: "You probably belong to the kind that can't control their body autonomously. You need to complete a thorough demonization before you can freely demonize in the future."
Hearing this, Jiang Xia looked at the liquor in Li Sitong's hand, thinking: So I have to drink this bottle after all?
Li Sitong continued: "Besides, you must drink this liquor, not just now, but regularly in the future. You need to let your body endure alcohol to the maximum extent, at least suppress the intense discomfort alcohol brings to your body within five minutes of drinking. You don't want to be easily controlled by alcohol in the future, do you?"
Jiang Xia found it reasonable, just about to drink but felt this place was inappropriate: "Let's change places. If that Awakened comes back with people, it'll be troublesome."
"She wouldn't dare come back, but just in case."
Li Sitong said, her gaze falling on the woman on the ground with a stabbed eye, murmuring: "Damn Awakened, they've stirred up my appetite."
"Then take your time, I'll wait outside."
For Li Sitong, this dead "kind" should be a feast, but Jiang Xia didn't want to watch the process; he still couldn't handle such scenes.
"No need, let's go together. I'm not interested in leftovers hunted by others; I prefer to hunt myself."
Jiang Xia scratched his itchy eyes: Who knew she was picky!
"Shouldn't we do something about this?" Jiang Xia glanced around the blood-stained living room. Just leaving two corpses here, are we sure it won't be a problem?
"No need, someone will come to handle it. The relevant departments are still trying to maintain social order. If nothing else, they'll claim there was a home invasion robbery here..." Li Sitong added: "Or a couple had a quarrel over a relationship dispute, and the man killed the woman, then committed suicide."
"Will they trace it back to us?"
"I've destroyed the nearby surveillance. I don't believe they have enough manpower to track us down now, and besides..." Li Sitong didn't finish.
"Besides what?"
"Nothing."
"Is it that there are also our kind in the relevant departments you mentioned?"
Seeing Li Sitong nod, Jiang Xia increasingly felt this world was already riddled with holes, teetering on the brink.
The two returned to the villa across the street, stayed for a few minutes, then Jiang Xia and Li Sitong left the "Autumn Maple Villa Estate" one after the other, a few minutes apart.
Li Sitong didn't let Jiang Xia go but dragged him back to the couple's hotel where they stayed last night.
It was the same room as last night, with the same ambient lights, the same birdcage bed, and a vending cabinet by the bed filled with expensive and flashy adult toys.
Unlike last night, tonight Jiang Xia was no longer so afraid, gradually accepting everything happening around him.
From the bathroom, where Li Sitong was washing her hands, came her voice:
"The longer it takes, the more people die. No matter how hard the relevant departments try to cover it up, these things will eventually be exposed to the public eye. Countries around the world are now secretly building Safe Zones. Once the first batch of Safe Zones is completed, they'll tear off the mask with us, so getting stronger is urgent!"
As she spoke, Li Sitong's voice sank.
Jiang Xia nodded. He had also been following the news online. In the past two years, food prices had skyrocketed, which now seemed to be because countries were stockpiling food in large quantities.
"How do the Awakened get stronger?" Jiang Xia asked.
"Based on the information I have on the Awakened, the most direct way for them to get stronger is to kill us." Li Sitong came out of the bathroom, her face glistening: "But not just any way will do. They must use their awakened special abilities to kill us for it to work."
Jiang Xia felt a thrill: Isn't this just like leveling up by defeating monsters? After he tore apart that small monster with his bare hands, he clearly felt a warm current appear in his body.
Those warm currents didn't disappear but seemed to burrow into his body's cells, and his body's strength seemed to have increased significantly.
It seemed that, like other Awakened, he also grew stronger by killing Demonspawn.
He just didn't know if, after killing enough Demonspawn, he would evolve like them.
Jiang Xia's eyes flashed, immediately realizing the greatest benefit of his Divine Sequence ability — he could sense the presence of his kind!
This meant he could precisely locate nearby Demonspawn to slay and grow stronger, without playing hide and seek with them like other Awakened!
At least before humans and Demonspawn tore off the mask, his advantage was significant?
Thinking of this, a sudden question popped into Jiang Xia's mind: "I have another question. The Awakened are always looking for us. Could they capture one of our kind, threaten them, and have them reveal the presence of others nearby?"
Li Sitong smiled slightly: "Yes, the relevant departments have already controlled many of our kind, using them to mark the identities of many of us. This is unavoidable."
"Actually, we hide our identities mainly to guard against those scattered Awakened."
Jiang Xia asked: "Don't the Awakened have any connection with those departments?"
"Some Awakened have been secretly recruited, but most are still fighting alone, even if they team up, it's just three or five!"
Li Sitong continued: "Given the current situation, any Awakened with a bit of sense wouldn't trust anyone easily. Think about it, if you were Awakened, knowing there might be Demonspawn undercover in the relevant departments, would you expose your identity and join them?"
Jiang Xia nodded slightly. Thinking this way, in this situation, Awakened, who are one in ten thousand, are much more dangerous than them.
Once an Awakened's identity is exposed, no matter where they are, countless Demonspawn will come to enjoy the feast.
Initially, Jiang Xia felt some sympathy for the Awakened, but gradually he was startled: Damn! I'm an Awakened too! As an undercover Awakened, I might be the most dangerous of them all!
Barefoot on the soft carpet, Li Sitong brought over two glasses, choosing not to drink that bottle of liquor, but instead poured two shallow glasses of whiskey sent by the hotel front desk.
She sat on Jiang Xia's lap, her slender figure without an ounce of excess flesh, handing a glass to Jiang Xia.
Looking at the glass, Jiang Xia questioned: "You don't seem to be alone; do you have an organization?"
"Yes!" Li Sitong smiled slightly, adding: "When the time is right, I'll bring you in. I guarantee the people there will open your eyes!"
She clinked her glass against Jiang Xia's with a crisp "ding."
"Cheers!"