Jiang Xia spent the entire morning in a daze.
He didn't absorb anything the teacher said, and it seemed like there was no point in studying seriously anymore.
At 11:40 AM, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, but the math teacher dragged on for another five minutes before finally dismissing them.
As soon as the teacher stepped out of the classroom, Wang Fei, who was sitting at the back, came over and hooked his arm around Jiang Xia's shoulder. "Come on, let's go eat."
Wang Fei had a sunny appearance and an air of masculinity about him, with nothing suspicious visible from the outside.
Perhaps due to his body's changes, Jiang Xia's sense of smell was now exceptionally keen, and he detected a faint, almost negligible scent of blood on Wang Fei.
"Jiang Xia, come on, let's go eat!" Li Sitong stood at the podium, her hands tucked into a hand warmer.
As soon as she spoke, the previously noisy classroom fell silent.
Everyone looked incredulously at Li Sitong, who had invited Jiang Xia to eat, and then at Jiang Xia with disbelief.
Wang Fei, still with his arm around Jiang Xia's shoulder, seemed reluctant to let go and teased, "Class Monitor, did I hear you right? You invited Jiang Xia to eat?"
Li Sitong said nothing, just looked at Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia patted the hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Sorry, Wang Fei, brotherhood is important, but I can't refuse the class monitor's sincere invitation."
"No way! Don't tell me you two are an item?"
Wang Fei's words stirred up the classroom, and aside from those who were just making a fuss, several boys who secretly admired Li Sitong looked as if they'd swallowed something bitter.
"Wang Fei, you..." Li Sitong seemed both embarrassed and angry, grabbing a textbook from the desk and preparing to throw it at Wang Fei, but her face turned red instead.
Wang Fei pretended to hide behind Jiang Xia, chuckling, "She's shy, her face is all red. You two must be an item. Come on, when did it start?"
"Wang Fei, don't talk nonsense. There's nothing between Jiang Xia and me. I just lost a bet with him earlier, and I said I'd cover his meals this week. I have to go swipe his meal card!"
Li Sitong hurriedly explained, and the crowd was half-convinced. Between losing a bet and dating the class monitor, most preferred to believe the former, especially those who had a crush on Li Sitong.
Jiang Xia's deskmate, Yang Jie, grabbed his hand, his face full of distress. "No, Ah Xia, you can't do this! I'm genuinely happy for you if you find a girlfriend, but seeing it's the class monitor, it's worse than killing me! Break up, please break up with her, I'll cover your meals for this month, okay?"
Li Sitong immediately said, "Yang Jie, stop making a fuss. I already said there's nothing between Jiang Xia and me."
Jiang Xia patted Yang Jie's head like a doting father, whispering, "When I really win her over, I'll introduce her bestie to you."
On the playground, Jiang Xia and Li Sitong walked side by side.
Honestly, feeling the envious and jealous gazes around him, Jiang Xia felt a bit elated.
"Didn't you say we shouldn't let others know about our relationship so easily?"
Li Sitong's voice changed, filled with a domineering air. "What do you think I'm doing? I saved your life, you know?"
"Saved my life? Are you talking about Wang Fei?"
Li Sitong said seriously, "I suspect he's already set his sights on you."
Jiang Xia was puzzled. "Set his sights on me? I'm not even a normal human anymore, why would he target me?"
"Among those hundreds of thousands, a Divine Sequence Awakened One might not even appear. Most people like to call us Demonspawn!"
Li Sitong continued to speak earnestly, sharing everything she knew with Jiang Xia.
"Although we all seem like the same kind, there are many types when you break it down. Wang Fei is one of those aberrations, and we call him an Aberrant Demon! He can target normal humans like us, but he can also target our kind, and we provide much more nourishment than normal humans!"
Jiang Xia's eyes flashed!
Wait a minute!
Li Sitong mentioned "Divine Sequence" Awakened Ones!
The information in his mind, isn't "Divine Sequence" at the forefront?
"It seems I can confirm that I'm an Awakened One, an undercover hidden among these monsters!" Jiang Xia thought to himself, feeling a surge of excitement and relief at not being a monster but an Awakened One.
Knowing that his undercover identity couldn't be exposed, Jiang Xia remained calm and said, "So you warned me about Wang Fei being dangerous... but we're classmates, even rabbits don't eat the grass around their burrows..."
"Don't be naive!" Li Sitong looked at Jiang Xia with a serious expression. "Remember, we're no longer normal humans. Our personalities and emotions are already different. You know Wang Fei has a younger brother, right?"
"I know!"
"His brother is like him, also a Demonspawn, and two weeks ago, his brother suddenly died. Who do you think killed him?"
Jiang Xia's pupils contracted. "You mean..."
"Of course, it's just a guess. People like us, unless extremely extreme, wouldn't harm our family..." Li Sitong said, her expression grave as she shook her head. "But Wang Fei... he's the most extreme I've ever seen. To him, you're a newly joined kind, not too strong, easier to handle!"
The thought of Wang Fei sitting behind him in class, staring at him like food, made Jiang Xia's hair stand on end.
Come to think of it, who says rabbits don't eat the grass around their burrows? Didn't Li Sitong target Xu Kun last night?
Jiang Xia asked again, "Those Awakened Ones you mentioned... if it's like in novels, they should be the good guys, and we're the bad guys, right?"
"Is there any point in distinguishing between good and bad? It's all about survival." Li Sitong continued, "It won't be long before this world falls into chaos. What we need to do is become as strong as possible before that happens!"
Jiang Xia nodded and asked, "How long have you been like this?"
"I can only tell you, when I became like this, there were very few of our kind around." Li Sitong said with a smile, leaning close to Jiang Xia's ear and whispering, "By the way, I'm also an Aberrant Demon!"
Jiang Xia's mind buzzed, his face frozen!
You tell me Wang Fei is dangerous, but aren't you just as dangerous?
Seeing Jiang Xia's frozen expression, Li Sitong giggled, her voice seductive. "Alright, darling, don't be so scared. If I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't have made it through last night. I really like you. As long as you listen to me and don't make me unhappy, I'll protect you."
Looking at Li Sitong's sickly adorable expression, Jiang Xia had a bad feeling. He felt that Li Sitong's personality was the most extreme!
Good news: Successfully infiltrated the enemy's ranks.
Bad news: Got a crazy, deranged girlfriend.
In the cafeteria, after swiping Jiang Xia's meal card, Li Sitong went to sit with her good friend from the neighboring class.
Even though the food didn't fill him up, Jiang Xia ate in big bites.
Assuming there were Awakened Ones around, if they found out he couldn't get full no matter what he ate, they might think he was a monster and eliminate him.
At that point, telling the Awakened Ones trying to kill him that he was undercover probably wouldn't help, since he looked just like a Demonspawn and could even turn into a real monster. Why would they believe him?
"I absolutely can't let the Demonspawn around me know I'm an Awakened One. Didn't Li Sitong say that compared to normal humans, Awakened Ones provide more and richer nourishment? If my identity as an Awakened One is exposed, who knows how many Demonspawn will come after me as a feast."
"Thinking about it, being an undercover is really a pain! I'm not accepted by either side, am I?"
"Divine Sequence 001, Undercover, on the surface it's to make me an undercover, but in reality, it should be a kind of ability, allowing me to become just like a Demonspawn."
This was Jiang Xia's preliminary analysis of the information in his mind. He just didn't know if there were any other functions besides making him indistinguishable from a Demonspawn.
Jiang Xia didn't think being able to become like a Demonspawn was a good thing, because he also had to target normal humans to get full, but his personality hadn't changed, making it unacceptable for him both mentally and physically.
Jiang Xia stuffed food into his mouth in big bites. Although it didn't fill him up, the taste was quite good, providing him with some mental satisfaction. This constant feeling of hunger, no matter how much he ate, made him feel like he could enter a competitive eating contest, as long as he wasn't afraid of bursting his stomach.
The cafeteria had two floors, with nearly two thousand students eating there. Perhaps due to his still-weak abilities, Jiang Xia couldn't sense the presence of his kind from too far away, but as long as one appeared within a hundred meters, he could clearly feel it.
Among the more than two thousand students, including Li Sitong and Wang Fei, he had already discovered over ten of his kind.
Ten people, if they fed once every half month, at least twenty people would be harmed in a month. If it was once a week, then...
And this was just Xinghe No. 1 High School, just what he could see. In the entire Xinghe City, with a population of nearly ten million, he couldn't imagine how many of his kind there were.
"Li Sitong was right, this world will inevitably fall into chaos. Perhaps it's already on the brink of collapse, and there must be a group of people trying hard to maintain order."
"Now I need to figure out what my method of becoming stronger is. According to Li Sitong, Demonspawn like her get stronger by absorbing nourishment from normal humans."
"Surely my method of becoming stronger isn't the same, right? Otherwise, what's the difference between me and a Demonspawn?"
Although there was a "Divine Sequence 001—Undercover" in his mind, Jiang Xia couldn't even tell if he was human or ghost.
"If I belong to the Awakened Ones, then my way of becoming stronger should be the same as theirs, right?"
"Besides, is there any other way to fill my stomach? After all, I'm not really a Demonspawn, just an undercover."
At 9:00 PM, evening self-study ended.
Jiang Xia boarded the bus at the school gate, heading to where his sister was currently staying. Compared to himself, he was more worried about his family now.
But as soon as he stepped onto the bus and found a seat, Wang Fei followed him on.
Even though this bus route wasn't the one Wang Fei took to go home!