On the bus, Jiang Xia sat by the window. As they reached the same stretch of road from last night, that peculiar scent once again invaded his mind.
He hurriedly called for the driver to stop, and with his backpack slung over his shoulder, he dashed off the bus the moment the doors opened.
Underfoot was an intersection, not a bustling area, with no tall buildings in sight for several hundred meters.
Due to the narrowness of the road, traffic here was extremely congested, and every day after five in the afternoon, traffic police would personally come to direct the flow.
Heading upwards led to the "Autumn Maple Villa Estate," while going down to the right led to the "West Cloud District."
Unfamiliar with this area, Jiang Xia didn't rush directly to the source of the scent. Instead, he cautiously opened his phone's map to check the nearby area.
Heading down towards the "West Cloud District" was an industrial zone, with rows of factories resembling a forest of steel, and towering chimneys puffing out white smoke like an old man smoking dried tobacco.
In Xinghe City, hundreds of thousands of worker families relied on the jobs in this industrial zone for their livelihood, and the scent was coming from this direction.
Jiang Xia looked up, clearly sensing the direction from which the scent came. Once he confirmed the direction, he zoomed in on the map with his fingers.
Seeing the names of several factory areas on the map, Jiang Xia frowned: "Slaughterhouse?"
The map showed that in the direction the scent was coming from, there were several livestock slaughterhouses!
"Could the peculiar scent I smelled be the blood and flesh of livestock?"
Even though it was several hundred meters away, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to smell anything.
But as an "undercover Demonspawn," Jiang Xia's senses, especially his sense of smell, were far beyond that of ordinary people, not to mention he was in a state of extreme hunger.
To mention something embarrassing—while eating in the school cafeteria, he could even precisely determine which female classmate was on her period...
"No, Li Sitong said that only humans can satisfy a Demonspawn's appetite, nothing else works, no matter how much you eat!" Jiang Xia pondered, muttering to himself.
Jiang Xia looked around. It was dinner time after work, and the area was crowded with workers in factory uniforms coming out of the factories.
To get to the bottom of it, he mustered his courage and followed the direction of the industrial zone.
Finally, outside the gates of a slaughterhouse, he confirmed that the source of the scent was indeed coming from inside!
As he got closer, Jiang Xia could distinctly smell the scent of livestock blood wafting in the air, confirming that this was the aroma that whetted his appetite!
Jiang Xia was overjoyed, his heart a whirlwind of emotions: "Livestock blood! If I can truly fill my stomach with livestock blood, that would be fantastic!"
"It seems this is a special favor from the heavens for me, an 'undercover Demonspawn'!"
Jiang Xia was now so hungry that he could barely move his legs, suppressing his inner excitement, he planned to immediately go to a nearby market to buy a live chicken to test it out.
If it worked, one of the biggest problems would be solved!
Although the nearest live poultry market was only about a ten-minute walk away, Jiang Xia couldn't wait any longer and hailed a taxi straight to the destination.
Under normal circumstances, a student like him with a weekly allowance of just a hundred and fifty wouldn't casually spend ten bucks on a taxi starting fare.
In the taxi, he received a message from Li Sitong on his phone: [Where are you? Come out, I'll treat you to a meal.]
Jiang Xia knew that when Li Sitong said "meal," she didn't mean going to a restaurant for a meal, but rather randomly picking a passerby.
Last night at the hotel, Li Sitong had told him that she planned to take him hunting over the weekend.
But now Jiang Xia seemed to have no need for hunting: [No need, I'll find a way to fill my stomach myself.]
Li Sitong: [No way! Your precious first time, I must teach you hand-in-hand!]
Jiang Xia joked: [Isn't it possible that we don't need to hunt? Your family is rich, right? How about we co-invest in buying a paid blood donation vehicle? I'll put in a hundred, and you cover the rest! That way, not only won't we harm anyone, but we can also eat well every day, changing flavors as we like!]
Li Sitong: [How did you come up with such a foolish idea? Also, can you avoid using sensitive words in our chats? Are you afraid the cyber police won't find you?]
Jiang Xia paused, realizing he had overlooked the fact that chat records could be seen.
But it didn't matter; no matter how they hid, the relevant departments had many ways to discover them.
According to Li Sitong, the main reason for hiding their identities was to guard against those Awakened who were also lurking around them.
Awakened individuals grew stronger by killing Demonspawn, and they must also realize that the world would eventually descend into chaos.
To become as strong as possible before the social order completely collapsed, their desire for Demonspawn was as intense as the Demonspawn's desire for them.
Jiang Xia: [Let's talk later, I'm busy right now.]
Li Sitong: [Oh.]
In the market, he bought a live chicken for a hundred bucks, and back home, Jiang Xia began the task of slaughtering it.
It was his first time killing a chicken, and with no experience, feathers flew everywhere. The chicken finally died when Jiang Xia, unable to bear torturing it any longer, twisted its neck.
He stabbed a knife into its windpipe, letting the fresh blood flow into a bowl in a thin stream.
The mouth-watering scent hit him once again!
Jiang Xia dipped a finger into it, feeling both excited and anxious.
He was afraid, afraid he wouldn't be able to fill his stomach.
Fortunately—
As he put the blood-stained finger into his mouth, his eyes lit up, savoring the red liquid on his finger like sipping juice, not missing a single drop!
Sweet!
So sweet!
It didn't taste as metallic as he had imagined; instead, it was sweet like honey fruit. Just a little, and Jiang Xia felt invigorated!
Jiang Xia was overjoyed, not caring about appearances, and before the blood could coagulate, he lifted the bowl to his lips and gulped it all down!
The long-lost feeling of fullness allowed Jiang Xia to once again savor the taste of being alive. His entire body was filled with vitality, the long-absent strength returned to his limbs, and his muddled thoughts became instantly clear.
It felt like someone who had been trapped in a quagmire for days had finally climbed out!
Drinking down a large bowl in one go left Jiang Xia a bit breathless, his hands bracing against the stove as his chest heaved.
Ecstasy!
Pure ecstasy!
Thump—thump—thump!
The pounding of his heart echoed his inner excitement.
He was thrilled, thrilled that he didn't have to hunt normal humans like a Demonspawn; he could be a decent human being!
"Thank heavens, you didn't turn me into a real Demonspawn!"
Jiang Xia wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, savoring the remnants of the "feast" in his mouth, not even sparing the bowl's bottom.
"Now that I'm full, the next step is to find a suitable Demonspawn to target and grow stronger, right?"
Just as he was content and about to clean up the "battlefield," the door suddenly opened!
Click!
Jiang Xia looked sharply from the kitchen, his first thought was his mom, but as the door was pushed open a crack, he distinctly felt a kindred presence!