Chapter 33: Tasteless as Chewing Wax

The morning meeting ended in a heavy expanse.

"Do you regret saving those people by the seaside back then?" Feng Liancheng asked her with a grin during lunch at the restaurant. "If you had stood aside back then, maybe there wouldn't be so much trouble today—I know your biggest dream is to rent some land in the mountains to raise pigs and grow flowers... Pfft, hahaha... You even downloaded 'The Rearing and Management of Wild Boars.' Do you know how much I wanted to laugh when I looked up your info? It was almost funny to death. People's awakened abilities are either to cause trouble or to seek benefits, yet you actually wanted to raise wild boars..."

Perhaps because their relationship had grown increasingly familiar, Feng Liancheng also learned that Yang Yi was not the type to hold a grudge over a slight. His courage grew bolder, and he even dared to make fun of her past online searches and downloads to her face.

Yang Yi snorted coldly. "Do you think I have a good temper and don't care about you looking up my info back then? Let me tell you, this thorn has been stuck in my heart all along!"

"Hey—" Feng Liancheng waved his hand indifferently. "If you feel unbalanced, I can package my life story and all my browsing and download records and send them to you to let you vent. In life, all sorts of strange thoughts arise. When I'm in a bad mood, I even want to destroy the Earth and all humanity. Does that prove I'm utterly wicked? Thinking about it and actually doing it are two completely different things! Let me tell you, I'm not afraid of social death at all; even if you make my browsing records public, I won't care... If you want to know my hobbies, I can tell you straight: my favorite is Tifa in the 3D zone..."

Before he could finish, Director Zhou slapped the back of his head. "Don't you see what kind of place this is? What nonsense are you spouting?"

Feng Liancheng didn't shut up; instead, his eyes lit up. "Director, you know Tifa too? Otherwise, how would you know I'm spouting nonsense?"

Director Zhou coughed twice, ignored him, and turned to Yang Yi. "Tomorrow, there will be an online meeting for national awakened representatives. After the meeting concludes, you must speak as the representative of all national awakened ones. Don't forget to write a speech when you go home tonight."

Yang Yi looked troubled.

Director Zhou coughed again, hinting, "If you really don't know how to write it, you can ask the pen-pusher in our bureau... It's just that set of things: the threat of abnormal creatures is increasing day by day, we awakened ones should set an example, protect the people's personal safety and property..."

This was practically an explicit suggestion that she could find someone to ghostwrite for her. Yang Yi immediately caught on and thanked Director Zhou.

"I'm starving. Let's taste the skills of a state banquet master chef today; this isn't an opportunity everyone gets..." The group arrived at the restaurant, and Feng Liancheng sat on the chair, rubbing his rumbling stomach.

Hearing this, Yang Yi finally remembered that since returning from Mist Town, she hadn't eaten anything, not even drunk water, yet until now, she hadn't felt thirsty or hungry.

Nearly twenty hours had passed, and the only thing she had consumed was the Source of Life...

An indescribable panic instantly attacked her. She felt her thoughts seem to stagnate, and the voices of everyone speaking seemed to be separated by a layer of glass.

"Yang Yi? Yang Yi?" Feng Liancheng pushed her. "What are you thinking? You haven't eaten since yesterday, right? Quickly taste this braised lion's head!" Saying this, Feng Liancheng used serving chopsticks to pick up a lion's head for her.

This was, after all, the top political center of Xia Country. Even work meals were crafted by master chefs of state banquet caliber. Lion's heads, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, clay-pot triple-wrapped duck, garlic-braised turtle ruff, saffron fish maw with rice, black-bone egg soup... every dish was perfect in color, aroma, and taste. However, Yang Yi felt no appetite at all.

She could smell the fragrance of these delicacies, yet this fragrance did not trigger her saliva secretion as usual.

"Eat, why are you spacing out?" Feng Liancheng stood up and served her a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. "Quickly taste it; the ingredients and heat control outside aren't as generous as here!"

Yang Yi slowly picked up the spoon, scooped a spoonful of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and slowly put it into her mouth.

The texture was smooth and viscous. She tasted saltiness, a faint sweetness, and perhaps other umami flavors. She could still taste the flavors, but these flavors did not stimulate her taste buds to cause pleasure and satisfaction; instead, they made her taste decay and death, as if she were eating rotten fish and shrimp.

A wave of nausea rose to her throat. Yang Yi gripped the spoon tightly, forcibly suppressed it, and swallowed the unchewed meat and broth in her mouth in one gulp.

She looked at the others at the table. Director Zhou and Feng Liancheng, along with several colleagues, were eating normally. Clearly, after the morning meeting, they were all starving and eating quickly.

This table full of food, which had been delicious enough to make her mouth water yesterday, had today turned into rotting animal carcasses.

The Source of Life. After tasting that energy full of vitality and essence, and enjoying that extreme pleasure and satisfaction, how could one still be interested in these dead animal carcasses?

Her subconscious might have already foreseen that she would probably no longer be able to derive happiness from the easiest satisfactions in life. Like a sword hanging over her head, it constantly reminded her of what had happened.

You already expected this, didn't you? Why is it so hard to accept? Yang Yi asked herself.

This is Its purpose: to make you unable to experience any joy in the world, then force you to actively suck the Source of Life from others, making you a maniacal killer, making you an addict unable to extricate yourself. Does this scare you? This is just the beginning! It merely applied a slight trick, and this has scared you? Is your resolve so fragile?

No! No! Come on, come on! Isn't it just rotten fish and shrimp? Isn't it just swallowing these rotting animal corpses? I will not only eat them, but I will eat them year after year! I will eat them for a lifetime!

I am a normal person. Normal people must eat. These things are delicious! Yes, delicious at the level of a state banquet master!

Yang Yi suddenly poured the entire bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall down her throat, then stuffed the lion's head Feng Liancheng had given her into her mouth in one bite. She chewed it chaotically a few times, stretched her neck, and swallowed it down her esophagus. She even stood up to serve herself another bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

"Oh, looks like you really are hungry!" Feng Liancheng quickly took the serving chopsticks and picked up dishes from afar for her. "Come, clay-pot triple-wrapped duck, garlic-braised turtle ruff, and another bowl of fish maw with rice... Eat slowly, eat slowly. No one is fighting you for it. If you like it, you can come again later; it's not like you won't be able to eat it..."

After wolfing down a meal, her stomach was stuffed with moldy, decaying animal mush. A dead energy surged from her stomach up her esophagus. An uncontrollable nausea rose up, and her stomach began to churn and surge, wanting to exit through the entrance it had entered.

Yang Yi wiped her mouth, stood up, and said with a smile, "I'm full. You guys take your time." She stood up and walked quickly toward the restroom.

Along the way, people recognized her and greeted her. She even stopped to talk with two groups for a while about Mist Town, discussing the similarities and differences between Mist Town and the zombie incident in Xia Country's mountain villages.

Her stomach was churning, her body was protesting, and her stomach wanted to expel all the rotten fish, shrimp, and rotting meat she had just swallowed in one go.

But Yang Yi, as if deliberately opposing someone, not only used willpower but also forcibly sealed her esophagus with her mental power.

She sneered in her heart, as if to some unknown existence in the void, or perhaps talking to herself: If you want me to make a fool of myself, if you want me to become a pathetic clown, then you will be thoroughly disappointed. I will not be defeated by you! It's just some rotting flesh; I've eaten food even more disgusting than this. I've even fought dogs for stinking leftovers... You want to defeat me? Dream on!

After bidding farewell to these two groups of colleagues, she arrived at the restroom. She didn't even rush to vomit; instead, she savored the cramps in her stomach caused by the inability to empty the food. This wave of dull pain made her feel like she was still a human.

Why do you have to "be like" a human? You are clearly a human! Or do you feel you have already embarked on a path that does not belong to humans?

This thought struck her suddenly, like being punched in the face. She stood in front of the washbasin; the girl in the mirror had a face as pale as snow.

'Haha, a monster that can only feed on the lives of others and cannot digest human food, and you still think you are a normal person? The moment you ingested the Source of Life, you began to mutate...'

'Since returning from Mist Town, you have become increasingly vicious and harsh,' Yang Yi said.

'When you are talking about me, you are also talking about yourself. What you say, I am you, and you are me.' It was not annoyed. When Yang Yi was angry, it was usually happy, and now it was very happy.

Yang Yi ignored it. She was not in the mood to argue. She entered the restroom and vomited for a while, emptying all the food until her stomach stopped cramping.

While rinsing her mouth, she looked at herself in the mirror. Because of the vomiting, her whites were full of bloodshot veins, and her eyelids were somewhat swollen. The slightly tanned skin from sunbathing on the beach in Haibei City also looked puffy and lifeless.

She rubbed her face, trying to bring more color to her complexion, but it was useless.

Her mental power swept around; there was only her alone in the restroom. So she stared fiercely at the person in the mirror: Pull yourself together! Be a normal person! Who are you showing this appearance to? You are the number one awakened one right now; everyone is watching you. Every single hair on your head, every single expression of yours will become the focus! Be normal! If you don't want to become an outcast!

The restroom was extremely quiet. The water dripping from the faucet that wasn't fully closed fell onto the basin wall, drop after drop, as if knocking on her heart. The air was filled with jasmine and lemon-scented air freshener, which wasn't unpleasant, yet she still felt the air was stifling, and the oxygen content seemed to be gradually thinning.

She was clearly standing, yet she felt her body becoming heavier and heavier, as if an invisible Dashan was constantly pressing down, pressing until she couldn't breathe.

The person in the mirror stared lifelessly at the person outside the mirror.

Suddenly, Yang Yi raised her right hand and slapped herself hard. Half of the face of the person in the mirror immediately turned red, looking much more colorful. So, she raised her left hand and slapped again to make the complexion on both sides symmetrical.

This was much better.

She even smiled gently at the mirror.

'Wow~~ Our T-Rex is about to return to its beloved flock of sheep, disguising itself as a gentle and cute little lamb~~ Everyone, don't be afraid of me, I'm kind and harmless~~ Look, I've even shaved off my claws, and I've pulled out my scales too. I've also put on soft, white wool. I'm one of you. Let's play together... Although I've eaten over four thousand little lambs, it wasn't intentional~~~' It affected a little girl's tone in a pretentious manner, then laughed wildly: 'Hahahaha... Your appearance is almost funny to death...'

Yang Yi took a deep breath, ignored it, and walked straight out of the restroom.

'Let's see, let's see if you will eat these cute little lambs when you are starving, and let's see if the little lambs, upon discovering your true face, will still treat you as one of their own... Hehe...'

There was still a break before the afternoon meeting began. She went straight to the rest area, found a secluded corner, sat down, and closed her eyes to rest. Everyone who could enter here, except for her as an unexpected guest, was very perceptive, so no one came to disturb her. Even the conversation of the people around her was deliberately lowered.

Just as her consciousness was hazy, on the verge of sleep, the phone suddenly rang, startling Yang Yi awake. Suddenly returning to reality, she felt a moment of discomfort. She frowned deeply and impatiently took out her phone.

Oh, it was Chris.

The moment that name came into view, the events of last night flooded her mind like a dam breaking, a indescribable shame spreading through her entire body, making her wish she could travel back to before everything happened and beat herself up, or simply throw yesterday into the trash like deleting a video and erase it forever.

Ashamed of her confession? No, no, a young girl like Mu Ai, liking a handsome man, was no fault. What she was ashamed of was that she had tried to use love to escape reality, utterly cowardly and stupid; this was completely the stupidest thought she had ever had in this life, even though she had soon decided to face all the unknowns head-on.

She hated her own cowardice the most.

The ringtone continued to sound; Yang Yi wiped her face, looked helplessly at the phone screen, and pressed decline.

Then, she opened the message editor and typed: "Sorry, I'm in a meeting."

Ha, a meeting, truly a brilliant excuse.

So, how had she answered Chris last night? Recalling that scene now, she still felt a bit regretful.

Perhaps it was an accident, a mistake, a foolish decision made while her mind was unsettled!

Why had she said that at the time?

She tried hard to recall the scene then, to analyze her state of mind at the time, but could only remember the cold light emitted by the pale white LED ceiling lamp and the pale blue dawn filtering through the window.

What did she say back then?

"Okay," she said, "from now on, you are my boyfriend."