C17 The Musthave for a Macho Man(2)

Despite his small stature, his appetite was astonishingly large. He'd devoured a pound of fried rice first thing in the morning, and now, at only eleven o'clock, he was already tucking into a hefty portion of noodles. Shen Xiang's gaze drifted to the little guy's belly, noting that the scabs from old wounds were flaking off.

Was his healing that potent? Supercharged recovery? It wasn't exactly super-speed, but it was significantly better than the average person's.

"Fine."

Shen Xiang yawned, still groggy from only a few hours of sleep. He hadn't had his fill of rest, but the kid was a handful, and he worried that if he dozed off again, the little rascal would start messing with his "automatic avoidance system." If that kept up, there'd be no need to mop the floors—the laundry alone would be overwhelming.

You're supposed to be a sophisticated system, so why ask such dim-witted questions, you dopey system?

After a brief time together, Shen Xiang had pegged Ann's intelligence and temperament to that of a precocious four or five-year-old—somewhat sensible but still in need of guidance and discipline at the most rambunctious age.

But considering how endearing you are, and that you let me pet you, I'll forgo calling you 'melon kid' or 'wild child' and just stick with 'little tyke.'

At noon, with the sun directly overhead, Shen Xiang's door was knocked on. It was Ruila.

She felt a bit disconnected, her mind wandering to thoughts of cotton swabs. She settled on calling her Rui.

"Big Sis!" Ann exclaimed with joy upon Rui's return. She smiled at him and passed a dark plastic bag to Shen Xiang, shooting him a meaningful glance.

Inside were five fish.

When Shen Xiang accepted the bag but made no move, Rui gave him a puzzled look. Then it dawned on her that she needed to ask for his help. "Could you cook them for me?"

What a hassle. In the past, a simple look from her was enough to have him dutifully preparing food.

Ruila internally huffed, but since he hadn't recognized her true identity, she decided not to burst his bubble. After all, what if he started treating her with the same familiarity as before?

"I guess I've become the cook around here, huh? Just cooking for you guys all the time." Shen Xiang grumbled to himself. Cooking was something he did on autopilot anyway. Once he'd made a dish, he'd never touch it again; he left that to the system.

"So, can you give me some specifics about what's going on?" Shen Xiang inquired, after serving the fish. Ann, having just polished off some stir-fried noodles, was feeling peckish again. He sat down obediently next to Rui, picking up his chopsticks to join her in savoring the braised fish. Shen Xiang, with no appetite for fish, sat to the side and posed his question to Rui, "I've lent a hand, and now I'm a target. What exactly is happening here?"

He understood that they were up against a group akin to the mafia. Rui and her companion were like local bosses, ready to face off whenever trouble came knocking. His old classmate's department, that enigmatic entity known as the special office, was essentially the police for these underworld figures.

That seemed to be the gist of it.

Rui nonchalantly spat out a fish bone, which embedded itself into the table with a sharp 'pfft,' startling Shen Xiang. He marveled at her skill, wondering if all cat-like reflexes were as impressive. Realizing her faux pas, Rui removed the bone from the table and set it aside with care.

"You're aware of our origins, the strange sounds on July 15th, but the cause remains a mystery to me. All I know is that our transformation is deeply tied to that day. It's not just us; many pets, wild animals, and even zoo creatures in this city were influenced by that sound, starting to evolve towards humanity."

"However, we possess stronger bodies than humans and can even utilize animal traits in combat. Ann and I, being feline, rely on our claws for fighting."

Rui showed Shen Xiang her hand, her nails elongating and hardening impressively. Turning her palm over, the flesh was soft and pink, bulging out like the pads on a cat's paw.

Ah, I'm tempted to give it a feel.

"Ann, myself, and two other companions," Rui continued, retracting her claws and going back to her meal, "aspire to human lifestyles. Since we didn't resort to cannibalism during our evolution, the primal bloodlust within us is somewhat diminished. But many animals, during their evolution or mutation, turned on humans. Their genes are wilder, more aggressive, and they have a taste for blood. They've banded together to form an underground faction—The Wild. That's the group those two who attacked you belong to."

"Those two were just the lowest rungs on the ladder, strictly adhering to their place in the hierarchy."

"The group is large, and aside from a few neutrals, they're the majority. There are at least several hundred members, big and small, in this city. Initially, there were over a thousand, but after the special office—a group dedicated to hunting down our kind—intervened, only a few hundred remain. The survivors, though, are the stronger and more cunning ones, lurking in the city's shadows."

Rui polished off her fish in no time. In stark contrast to Ann, who would chew up even the bones, Rui ate with the grace of an aristocrat, leaving a perfectly reconstructed fish skeleton on the plate—picked clean without a morsel left.

Shen Xiang mused, 'No wonder when I took care of you, you were so meticulous, even burying your waste. That's definitely a sign of OCD.'

"Hold on," he interjected, "Are only animals affected? That doesn't sound right. There must be humans who've mutated as well, right?"

Otherwise, his system would have informed him, and he'd be able to piece it all together.

"I don't know," Rui replied, shaking her head. "I've never encountered such a person. But I do know one thing: the special office has been around for a long time, and their mission extends beyond just us beast species."

Rui went on to explain, "Beast species is the label the special office uses for us. Those wild ones, due to the genetic mutations in their bodies and their disdain for humans, consider themselves superior beings or advanced species. Their aim is to topple human dominance and establish a world ruled by beasts."

Ah, such a base desire. Can they actually pull it off? I'm only wary of you lot because I'm unarmed.

Could you really be as formidable as a tiger descending a mountain?

"I once found it laughable too," Rui said, noting the skepticism on Shen Xiang's face. "But now, I'm not so sure, because of... this cat."

She slid her phone across to Shen Xiang, revealing a photo of an orange cat—the very one he had seen outside his window.

"They're after this cat. I've learned from the black market that Xi Yijia, the man with sunglasses who came looking for you, lost a crucial drug, and now they're also searching for this cat. It was seen at your window, leading them to mistake you for one of my associates and launch an attack on both of us and you. And this drug, it could be..."

"A drug capable of replicating the 715 evolution," Rui said, concern evident in her eyes as she addressed Shen Xiang. "That orange cat probably ingested the medicine unintentionally. It's already started its evolutionary process—the devouring journey. If they can mass-produce this drug, do you really think their ambitions are merely fanciful?"

Profile of Safety.