Chapter 16
An Unqualified Spectator
This was the first ti in Lu Li's life that she had ever ridden in this kind of car—one that just looked, at a glance, like trouble.
She had first asked the other party to drop her off at ho, leaving a letter for her younger sister explaining that she had sothing to take care of that evening and not to worry, and after that...Lu Li began waiting at the agreed-upon location for her pickup.
Before long, a modified black SUV tore through the silence of the night.
The window rolled down, revealing Lin Lu's exquisite face.
"Get in."
At the sight of her, Lu Li carefully pulled the door open and slipped into the back seat.
The air conditioning inside was running full blast—cold enough to make one shiver slightly. Sitting in the passenger seat was a girl who looked a little younger than Lu Li.
She appeared to be not very old. She wore a baseball cap, with a few strands of grey-black short hair sticking out from under the brim. A pair of noise-cancelling headphones hung from her ears, and her whole presence radiated a "stay away from " aura.
"Let introduce you—this is Ning Ye...she's more or less my partner."
Ning Ye only cast a brief glance at Lu Li, then reached into the storage compartnt beside her and pulled out a black single-ear headset, holding it out toward the back.
"Connect it to your terminal."
Lu Li took the headset—which looked expensive just from a glance—and froze.
Connect to her terminal?
Did that an via Bluetooth on her phone?
The air inside the car went silent for a few seconds.
Lin Lu glanced back through the rearview mirror. She seed to realize sothing and was just about to speak up to smooth things over, when a small, ek voice drifted from the back seat.
"Um...I don't have a phone."
"..."
The girl in the passenger seat finally lifted her head and turned around, studying Lu Li up and down 3 tis with an expression that, in that instant, looked as though she were examining so rare ancient creature.
Silence.
"...Strict family?" Ning Ye held back for a long mont before squeezing out those words.
"Not exactly..." Lu Li had no idea how to explain that she was technically a ghost who had only existed for a few days—an unregistered person with no Household Registration—so she could only bury her head lower in embarrassnt. "It just...broke, and I haven't bought a new one yet."
"Fine."
Ning Ye let out a sigh and reached out to press a few buttons on the dashboard, switching the communication channel over to the car's broadcast mode.
"Then you just listen in."
****
The SUV finally ca to a stop in front of an unfinished building on the outskirts of the city.
Yellow caution tape had been strung up all around the periter, and the air carried a faint, indescribable stench of rot and filth.
"We're here."
Lin Lu pushed the car door open. The high heels she'd been wearing earlier had long since been swapped out for a pair of short boots suitable for movent. She pulled a long, slender tal rod from that enormous art supply bag, gave it a light flick—and it unfolded into a weapon resembling a walking staff. Her manner and presence shifted subtly.
"Tonight is about letting you get a feel for things, and giving you a rundown of the basics."
"Calamities co in all manner of strange and bizarre forms. So may even possess extrely unusual abilities—or even intelligence."
"The one we're dealing with tonight is the lowest grade of Calamity, very common, which is why it's also colloquially known as...Garbage."
She walked as she spoke, lightly brushing aside the debris on the ground with her staff.
"Garbage?" Lu Li repeated the word.
"Mm, yeah—because it's as common as the rubbish you'd find by the side of the road." Ning Ye's voice ca through the headset, carrying a faint crackle of static.
In the middle of their conversation, a wet, squelching sound of movent suddenly emanated from the shadows ahead.
Gurgle.
Gurgle.
By the light of the moon, Lu Li made out what the thing was.
It was a mass of black sludge, roughly half the height of a person—like the muck at the bottom of a sewer drain had taken on a life of its own. Its surface roiled with revolting bubbles, and one could vaguely make out various pieces of trash and debris trapped inside.
Even with her ntal preparation, Lu Li felt a wave of visceral nausea.
It had no eyes, but it clearly sensed the presence of the living. Its previously sluggish body abruptly swelled and expanded.
"ROARRR——"
"No special abilities. Direct physical elimination will do."
Lin Lu did not stop walking. The staff in her hand suddenly dispersed, transforming into countless threads as fine as hair.
"If it were a Calamity of a slightly higher rank, we wouldn't co to handle it like this without conducting any investigation beforehand. Higher-grade Calamities have too many unknowns, too much risk. They could be extrely powerful, or they could be extrely weak. That's why we generally won't gamble on it."
The battle began quickly and ended just as quickly.
For a Hunter of Lin Lu's caliber, a Rank E Calamity really was nothing more than a teaching demonstration for newcors.
No flashy opening move—Lin Lu simply raised her hand lightly.
A few flashes of silver reflected off the air.
The threads.
The silver threads wove through the air like living things, effortlessly slicing through the sludge creature's body.
Black, foul blood erupted like a fountain, massive chunks of flesh scattered across the ground, and the stench of rot intensified tenfold in an instant.
Lu Li stood at the back, watching the bloody scene before her.
She had assud she would feel fear, nausea—or at the very least, discomfort.
But...nothing.
The feeling wasn't fear.
It was——
'So fragrant.'
Her throat moved.
That sensation from the depths of her soul—extre, overwhelming hunger—surged up in an instant and drowned out every shred of rational thought.
'Want——'
'To eat it——'
'If I just eat it, I won't be hungry anymore——'
"Just one more hit." Lin Lu had her back to her, manipulating the threads to deliver the finishing blow to the creature. "Lu Li, watch the location of the core——"
She hadn't noticed anything amiss behind her.
Lu Li's body was trembling.
Her right hand lifted against her will. Her fingers—normally pale and slender—felt stiff now, the knuckles emitting soft crack sounds.
'Eat it...'
If she just ate it, the hollow feeling inside her body would disappear.
That weakness that tornted her every single mont would be swept clean away.
"Stop—stop it!"
Lu Li clenched her jaw and slamd her left hand down hard over her unruly right, using every ounce of strength she had to force it back down to her side.
"What's wrong?"
Monts later, the creature was completely shredded, letting out a piercing shriek before collapsing into a lifeless heap.
Lin Lu finished up at the scene and turned around to find Lu Li slumped against the car door, pale as a sheet, gripping her own wrist with both hands, her entire body shaking.
She walked over and stripped off her blood-stained gloves, tossing them into a sealed bag.
"Scared?" Lin Lu's voice softened. "Seeing it up close for the first ti really can be a bit of a shock. It's alright—just let it out."
She thought Lu Li was holding back the urge to vomit.
"...I'm fine."
Lu Li kept her head low, her voice hoarse.
She didn't dare look up. She was afraid Lin Lu would see the trace of...ravenous red light that hadn't yet faded from her eyes.
"That's perfectly normal—no need to tough it out." Lin Lu patted her on the shoulder. "The first ti Ning Ye went on a mission, she spent half an hour hugging a trash can and throwing up."
"Hey." Ning Ye's disgruntled voice ca from inside the car. "There's no need to bring up sothing like that."
Lin Lu didn't press her further, simply treating it as a normal stress response from a civilian. "Alright, let's go. Get in—heading back to base."
Lu Li drew a deep breath. The hunger gradually faded as the creature died.
She slipped into the back seat. Darkness closed in around her again.
No phone, no sense of ti—in this sealed space, the craving to devour that had gripped her just monts ago lingered like a ghost, impossible to shake from her mind.
"Head back to base."
Lin Lu started the car and glanced through the rearview mirror at the girl huddled in the back seat, knees drawn to her chest.
"First, let's sort out the phone situation for you. If we can't reach you when we need to, that's going to be a headache for too."
Lu Li looked up, her gaze a little blank.
"...Thank you."
She really did need a phone right now.
And not just to stay in contact with people...it was also because she needed to confirm that she was still living in human society—and not gradually turning into sothing...else.
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