Seeing Liam return safely, the group rushed over excitedly to greet him.
“Liam, you’re incredible!
I can’t believe you managed to kill a monster that huge,” Mike said excitedly.
Goldman was just about to step forward and say a few polite words when he noticed that Liam was carrying a young bear cub.
He immediately fell into thought.
The college students didn’t give it much thought.
Heather had already come over curiously and started playing with the bear cub.
Goldman asked, “Are you planning to adopt this brown bear?”
“That’s right.”
“Normally, an adoption like this requires paperwork, and you’re not allowed to keep one in the city.”
“Don’t worry.
I’ve never followed government regulations.”
Goldman slapped a hand to his forehead.
He should have known that would be Liam’s answer.
He sighed and patiently tried to reason with him.
“I am a government employee, after all.
I’d prefer to handle this through legal channels.
For instance, I can help you take care of the paperwork.”
Liam looked at him in surprise.
“I didn’t expect you to be so generous.”
Goldman cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Actually, I do have an ulterior motive.
The bear cub is so well-behaved that I was hoping I could borrow him sometime to shoot a promotional video.”
That hadn’t occurred to Liam, but it worked out well for him.
It would save him a lot of trouble.
While he and Goldman were discussing the details of the shoot, Heather and her two friends came over.
“Mr.
Liam, I’d like to ask you something.”
“It’s about your graduation project, right?”
Heather nodded.
“This shoot was a complete disaster.
Most of the footage is shaky, and we were screaming from beginning to end.
I feel like we completely failed.
Since you’re a TV host, could you give us some advice?”
Liam thought about it.
He needed more people to promote his show so he could attract more leads about mysterious incidents.
The college students’ graduation project was a ready-made opportunity for publicity.
Then he remembered a very successful example from his past life.
“Why don’t you make the movie around the story from that anonymous letter you received?
You could call it The Blair Witch.”
Heather and the other two stared at him in confusion.
“It’s simple.
Put a line at the beginning of the film saying, ‘Based on true events.’ Then use all the real footage you shot today, screaming and everything.
That way, the rough quality becomes part of the realism, and the audience will think it all really happened.”
Heather hesitated.
“Will that really work?
Won’t it look too amateurish?”
Mike completely agreed with Liam’s suggestion.
By now, he was a devoted fan.
“I think it’ll work just fine.
Other movies have to worry about bad acting, but the way we were screaming our heads off today?
No normal person could fake that.”
Heather flushed when Mike so bluntly brought up how pathetic they had looked earlier.
But after thinking about it, failing their graduation project would be far worse than a little embarrassment.
“All right, Mr.
Liam.
Thank you very much for the advice.
We’ll make sure to thank you in the closing credits.”
Liam immediately added, “Make sure you include the name of my show, Exploring the Truth.”
Heather smiled and nodded.
It was already getting late, so Liam prepared to head back to his apartment.
Goldman was still uneasy and couldn’t resist asking, “Why don’t you let the bear cub stay at my forest ranger station for now?
Taking him into the city is too risky.”
Liam waved him off, picked up the bear cub, and turned to leave.
“It’s fine.
I’ve been avoiding government surveillance for years.
I have plenty of experience with this sort of thing.”
Goldman watched helplessly as he walked away.
That wasn’t what he had meant at all.
Back in Boston, Liam’s first stop was the supermarket.
On the way there, he repeatedly reminded the bear cub that once they were in the city, he couldn’t roar or do anything that might attract attention.
The bear cub stared straight at him, and Liam nodded in satisfaction.
The little guy seemed to understand.
At the supermarket, Liam dressed the bear cub in some spare clothes and a hat, then put him in a stroller and pushed him around.
The bear cub behaved himself throughout the entire shopping trip, merely looking around with curiosity.
No one paid any attention to the “child” bundled up in clothes, and the bear cub didn’t cause any trouble.
In the end, Liam bought a large amount of cooked meat, along with some berries the bear cub would probably enjoy.
As for why he didn’t buy raw meat and cook it himself, there were two reasons.
First, he was already exhausted.
Second, he had no idea how to cook.
Once he reached the apartment, Liam dug some old clothes and sheets out of the closet and arranged them in a corner to make a soft bed.
After spending days chained up, the bear cub took one look at the soft bedding and launched himself onto it, happily rolling around.
[Gluttony: By consuming large amounts of meat, strength can be increased at a slow rate]
He neatly arranged all the cooked meat he had bought across the table.
Sausages, bacon, and roasted chicken soon formed a small mountain.
The bear cub stared at it with wide eyes.
Even so, he behaved himself and didn’t make a sound.
He simply nudged Liam’s arm with his nose.
Liam opened a box of raspberries, picked up a piece of cooked turkey, and handed both to the bear cub.
Then he grabbed a sausage and started eating.
After being busy all day, Liam was starving.
He no longer cared how anything tasted and simply stuffed the food into his mouth.
Before long, he had finished a sausage and an entire box of bacon.
Liam smacked his lips.
Everything was so salty that he was already starting to lose his appetite.
“Damn food companies.
They make everything this salty because they’re probably in cahoots with the pharmaceutical conglomerates so they can sell more blood pressure medication.”
After cursing them out, he reluctantly kept eating.
After eating for what felt like forever, Liam was stunned to realize he had already consumed five or six pounds of meat and still didn’t feel full.
“Looks like this ability is going to cost me a fortune.”
Liam was already short on money, so he had no choice but to cut back on his other expenses.
By the time he finally felt almost full, he realized he had eaten what amounted to a week’s worth of food for a family of three.
Looking over the aftermath of his meal, he muttered to himself, “Maybe I should enter some eating contests.
I could make some extra cash.”
After resting for a while, he felt a steady warmth spreading from his stomach, gradually restoring his exhausted body.
Sleepiness soon washed over him.
Liam grabbed a piece of paper and wiped the corner of the bear cub’s mouth, then went back to his bed and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Liam woke feeling completely refreshed.
All his exhaustion had vanished.
He moved his arms and legs around a little and could sense that his strength had increased ever so slightly.
The improvement was slow, but the ability to recover this quickly was already more than enough to satisfy him.
Excited, Liam picked up the still-sleeping bear cub and used him for several bench presses.
The bear cub had been sleeping soundly when the sudden movement startled him awake.
Suspended in the air, he tilted his head and stared at Liam, clearly unable to understand what he was doing.
After breakfast, Liam took the bear cub to the TV station.
James was sitting comfortably in his office drinking coffee when Liam walked in.
The moment he saw him, he was so startled that he nearly fell out of his chair.
“You finished filming already?
And you even brought back a trophy?”
Liam grinned proudly.
“That’s right.
I didn’t catch Bigfoot this time, but I found something else.
And I brought back a helper.”