Jiang Xia remained silent for two seconds, taking a deep breath.
His gaze suddenly sharpened, and his claws plunged down fiercely!
"Ugh!" Wang Fei's remaining right eye bulged wide, his body tensed like a shrimp arching its back.
Squelch!
Jiang Xia exerted more force, and the entire claw sank completely into Wang Fei's heart. He could feel the heart, radiating intense heat, pounding wildly against his palm, fiercely resisting and squeezing the claw.
Contrary to what he imagined, there was no intense struggle. Wang Fei only twitched twice before his pupils dilated, and he stopped moving entirely.
Inside him, a warm current surged again, even more than when he killed the plump Lolita.
Jiang Xia withdrew his claw, slowly stood up, and gazed at Wang Fei's corpse for a long time, feeling a mix of emotions.
Even without Li Sitong's words, he wouldn't have spared Wang Fei. He knew well that if Wang Fei survived, he would definitely come after him again.
"Well done!" Li Sitong patted Jiang Xia's shoulder, a hint of admiration in her eyes.
"Damn! That was intense! So intense!" Yang Jie looked as if he had just escaped death, then glanced at Wang Fei on the ground. "This bastard was stronger than I thought. Luckily, we made it through!"
Jiang Xia retracted his demonized form and asked Yang Jie, "How come you're a Demonspawn too?"
"Me?" Yang Jie sighed. "I wanted to interact with you as a normal person, but it only led to distance. I had no choice but to reveal my identity and blend in with you."
Even after fighting together, Jiang Xia still found it hard to believe that his good buddy was also a Demonspawn.
Li Sitong circled around Yang Jie. "A Demonspawn without the aura of its kind, a Concealed Fiend, right?"
"Concealed Fiend?" Jiang Xia was puzzled.
"A Concealed Fiend can completely hide the aura of a Demonspawn, so even if another is nearby, they wouldn't notice."
Li Sitong smiled slightly, this being her first encounter with a Concealed Fiend. "Consider it a pleasant surprise. From now on, you can be a slave to me and Jiang Xia!"
"What? You want me to be Jiang Xia's slave?"
Yang Jie put his hands on his hips, his red cape billowing behind him. "I'm Yang Jie, the famous Yang Jie from Xinghe No. 1 High School. Even the street sweepers know my name. If word gets out that I'm your slave, how will I survive?"
"It's either be a slave or die. Choose one." Li Sitong's face carried a smile, but her tone was filled with menace.
Yang Jie frowned slightly, his expression changing. He chuckled, rubbing his hands together like a fly. "Heh, heh, just let me know if you need anything in the future!"
Jiang Xia looked at the real Li Sitong beside him. "When did you come back?"
"I came back when Wang Fei first appeared, hiding in the woods all along." Clearly, Li Sitong had known from the start that this was a diversion.
"Why didn't you come out earlier?" Jiang Xia wiped his hands and face with Yang Jie's red cape.
"If I came out earlier, would you have had such a good opportunity to grow?" As she spoke, a trace of ruthlessness flashed in Li Sitong's eyes. She stared at Wang Fei's corpse, seemingly filled with resentment, and stomped on his chest.
Even in death, Wang Fei was tormented, his mouth opening to spill a gush of fresh blood.
"He's dead. No need to desecrate the corpse!" Yang Jie said.
"He's dead, but the crisis isn't over," Li Sitong replied.
"What do you mean?" Jiang Xia asked.
"You two go back first. Wait for my call tomorrow morning." From Li Sitong's expression, it seemed she was planning something big.
Jiang Xia didn't know what conspiracy lay ahead. He was quite exhausted and really wanted to rest.
Yang Jie didn't go home; he went with Jiang Xia to his place.
After a comfortable hot shower, Jiang Xia sat wearily on the sofa.
The self-healing ability of a Demonspawn seemed strong. The small wounds on his body had already healed, and the slightly larger ones would likely be back to normal by morning.
"When did you become a Demonspawn?" Jiang Xia asked, watching Yang Jie emerge from the shower.
"About four months ago. Back then, there were few of our kind at school. Gradually, there were more, and a few days ago, I even sensed the aura on you." Yang Jie stood by the dining table, grabbing a piece of cold spicy chicken and popping it into his mouth.
"What was your purpose in online dating that plump Lolita? Did you want to eat her?"
Yang Jie's hand paused as he chewed the chicken, then he spoke seriously, "If I say I haven't eaten a single person so far, would you believe me?"
"Not to your taste?"
Jiang Xia laughed, and Yang Jie laughed along.
"My feeding method doesn't require killing people. I just need to make a small cut on them. As the blood flows, they won't feel much. I'll stop in time, and afterward, they'll just feel weak, without realizing it."
Jiang Xia believed Yang Jie's words.
Perhaps, like himself, Yang Jie's personality hadn't changed much. Between becoming a complete monster and satiating his hunger, he chose a compromise.
If animal blood couldn't satisfy him, this seemed like a good method too.
"Why did you come out to save me?" Jiang Xia asked.
"Because in the cinema, you told that fat woman not to touch me. I didn't have the aura of our kind, so you didn't notice me eavesdropping at the door." Yang Jie continued, "More importantly, we're brothers, aren't we?"
Jiang Xia asked again, "What do you plan to do next? Just barely getting by?"
"I do want to eat and drink my fill every day, but you know me. I'm kind-hearted and can't bring myself to harm the weak!" Yang Jie grinned foolishly.
Jiang Xia remained silent.
He knew the reason Yang Jie didn't go all out to satisfy his hunger wasn't that he couldn't harm the weak, but because his personality hadn't changed much. He was trying hard to hold onto his last shred of humanity. He didn't want to open Pandora's Box.
Yang Jie looked up at the ceiling. "What's going on with the world? Someone like Brother Jie should be the protagonist, right? But I'm not an Awakened! Damn it! What kind of virtue did those Awakened ancestors accumulate?"
"Forget it, forget it. A Demonspawn is a Demonspawn. Maybe Brother Jie was born to be a villain?" Yang Jie suddenly became melancholic. "I don't mind, as long as I can get my dad and grandparents into the Safe Zone."
"You have news about the Safe Zone?" Jiang Xia was also eager for any clues about the Safe Zone.
"A little. I only know that the Safe Zone in our country is built in the southwestern mountains. It's not small, but the first batch definitely can't accommodate too many people!" Yang Jie took out his phone, waving away the gloom. "Enough of that. Come on, let's play a couple of rounds!"
"Alright, let's play!"
Jiang Xia waved his hand.
Neither wanted their relationship to change because of being Demonspawn, nor did they delve into their experiences and insights after becoming Demonspawn, as if it was an untouchable "taboo."
...
In his sleep, Jiang Xia dreamed that not long after, he sent his family into the Safe Zone, bidding farewell to his sister at its towering gates.
As he watched his family enter the Safe Zone, suddenly, he sensed hundreds of thousands of his kind inside!
"Brother... save me! Save me!"
On the dragon-like city walls, Wang Fei, his face covered in blood, clutched his sister's throat.
"Jiang Xia, thank you, thank you for delivering your family to us!"
Wang Fei grinned hideously, opening his bloody mouth to bite his sister!
Whoosh!
Jiang Xia sat up abruptly, waking from the nightmare!
All night long, he was plagued by countless nightmares, all filled with the Wang Fei he had killed.
Clearly, killing for the first time, especially a classmate, had a significant impact on him.
"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!" The piercing alarm blared in his ears.
He fished out his phone from under the pillow to turn off the alarm, just as a message from Li Sitong arrived:
[Stop sleeping, get up. Do everything I say today, or we'll all die!]