Carnivorous Girlfriend

Lu Yao really wanted to open the door and see what was going on outside. But his instinct for safety first still suppressed his curiosity.

The sound of a kitchen knife falling repeatedly on a chopping board reached Lu Yao's ears with unusual clarity.

He could even tell from the friction between the knife and the ingredients that what was being cut was potato, and specifically potato slices.

Oh, now it was being cut into strips.

His nose caught the scent of meat broth—it was pork ribs stewed with lotus root, rich and fragrant.

Lu Yao poked his head out the window. Outside his room was a small living room, and on the other side of the living room was a small kitchen, so from the window's position he could just see the kitchen glass.

But the kitchen glass was covered with floral window film, making it impossible to see inside.

The kitchen light was on, and a figure was reflected on the window film.

The figure had its hair coiled up, a relatively slender build, standing very steadily, cooking in the kitchen.

Lu Yao realized his eyesight had suddenly become very good, as if the visual quality had been upgraded from 720p to 1080p. Even the shadow reflected on the window, he could instantly make out the other person's body lines, as well as the specific positions and rhythms of each cutting motion.

Was he... entering that legendary zone mode athletes talked about?

No.

It wasn't just eyesight—hearing, smell, all had become far superior to before. His body's overall sensitivity to external perception had been elevated by a whole level.

This was completely different from yesterday. Why had such a big change happened overnight?

The only reason Lu Yao could think of was that reminder.

[Population is the vessel, faith is the power.]

Earlier, he thought this should be a description of the god role.

In the Pixel World, the larger the population, the more it could boost productivity and advance civilization. This would reveal many hidden game rules, turning them into visible data.

Faith was even easier to understand. Gods needed faith to unleash the power of miracles. Faith was strategic resources and ammunition—the more, the better.

Lu Yao now realized that this statement might not be limited to the low-dimensional Pixel World.

It also included the real world he lived in.

All kinds of [Sacrificial Offerings] and [Blessings] could break through dimensional limits through the Temple, proving that this game was indeed sustained by unimaginable power behind it.

Then the changes brought by faith and population, directly reflected on the player acting as a god, seemed like an easy thing to understand.

Once he figured this out, Lu Yao found the reason.

This change in his physical perception must be due to the physiological transformation brought by the over ten thousand population in Ghost City Sanilo.

He sorted his thoughts and turned his attention back to the kitchen.

The shadow on the window—Lu Yao had already confirmed it was Zhou Qiang's girlfriend, Miss Yu Yao.

Zhou Qiang had a girlfriend in college, but later she was stolen by a rich second-generation. It was both lucky and unlucky.

Lucky in that the girlfriend revealed her gold-digging nature now, not after marriage, so the loss was relatively small. Unlucky in that, after all, having his partner taken was a blow to any man.

Later, Zhou Qiang worked himself to the bone running his online store, getting up early and staying up late, and didn't date again—partly for this reason.

Before today, Lu Yao had never heard of this woman named Yu Yao.

Coupled with her strange behavior of cooking and humming in the middle of the night, Lu Yao found it even more suspicious.

The next day, when Lu Yao came back from work, as soon as he opened the door, he saw the living room table covered with dishes: Boiled Shrimp, pork rib soup, Braised Carp, Taro Chicken, Salted Duck, Mushroom and sliced meat, and some refreshing green vegetables.

"Sit down, sit down, let's eat together." Zhou Qiang said smugly, "Yu Yao made it. Not bad, right?"

"The presentation and color are impeccable... Where is she?" Lu Yao looked around but didn't see Yu Yao.

"She went out to buy some stuff. We're short on seasonings in the kitchen, and toiletries, mops, and things like that."

Zhou Qiang opened a can of beer and took a sip.

Lu Yao sat down next to him, setting down his backpack: "Old Zhou, how did you and Yu Yao meet?"

"It's kind of fate."

Zhou Qiang's face broke into a smile.

He and Yu Yao had started seeing each other a week ago.

That night, it was raining. Zhou Qiang went downstairs to pick up returned goods and saw a girl standing under the eaves. She was wearing a black spaghetti-strap short dress, staring blankly at the ground, looking homeless.

Zhou Qiang hesitated, then asked if she needed help.

The girl remained silent.

But when Zhou Qiang got home, he found the girl had followed him upstairs.

He was startled and quickly pulled out his phone, saying, "Don't try anything—I'll call the police."

Zhou Qiang had been an online merchant for years, so he knew all kinds of people existed in this world. You couldn't let your guard down. Even if she looked like a young girl, it could easily be a honey trap setup, and before you knew it, you'd be blackmailed.

But the girl said, "Aren't you going to help me?"

Zhou Qiang explained that it was just lip service—everyone was playing along, so she shouldn't take it seriously.

As he spoke, he opened his phone and started recording, just in case this was some new kind of scam.

The girl let out an "oh" and turned to leave.

Before she went, she said she was hungry and asked Zhou Qiang for something to eat.

Zhou Qiang thought to himself, This routine is way too old. Watch me handle you. Just you wait.

So he handed the girl a pack of ham sausages, two bags of milk, and a bag of sliced bread. Generously, he said, "Eat up, don't be polite."

Right in front of him, the girl polished off everything cleanly.

"Got more?"

Zhou Qiang was stunned.

This woman had some nerve.

Fine. If you dare to eat, I dare to give.

Zhou Qiang dug out some instant noodles from home and cooked a big pot for her. Then the girl slurped it all down.

He found a pack of meat floss cakes, and she ate them one by one with plain water.

Finally, he pulled out two cans of surströmming he'd been saving at the bottom of his stash. The girl scooped them up with a fork, even chewing and swallowing the fish bones.

Zhou Qiang surrendered.

He said, "Stop, please, don't compete with me. I admit defeat, okay? Go to the bathroom and make yourself throw up. Eating that much could kill you."

The girl said, "It's fine. Thank you. You're the first person to give me food. Everyone else just gave me money."

Zhou Qiang was completely baffled.

He couldn't quite tell.

Was there something wrong with her stomach, or with her head?

The girl said her name was Yu Yao, 21 years old, hadn't studied much. Someone had introduced her to work in the city, but a shady agency took her ID and tricked her into working at a nightclub as a hostess. She felt something was off, ran away, wandered the streets, and got hungry.

Zhou Qiang chatted with her and found that Yu Yao really did come across as naive and ignorant. This ignorance wasn't faked—she genuinely had no reaction to things most people took for granted.

For example, she didn't know how to use a water heater, couldn't use a smartphone, ate bananas with the peel on, didn't bother to avoid exposing herself or care about male-female boundaries... She was like a female wildling who'd stumbled into modern society.

A very good-looking female wildling, at that.

Hearing this, Lu Yao couldn't help but remind him, "Old Zhou, don't mind me saying this. Is there a possibility... she's faking it?"

"Could be."

Zhou Qiang grinned. "Women are born actresses. I know that."

"If she really is faking it, then her acting is Oscar-level. She performs in front of me every day without slipping up once. If I fall for it, I'll take the loss."

Lu Yao saw a quiet happiness on Zhou Qiang's face.

He really liked that Yu Yao.

"She's hardworking. Seriously, the hardest-working person I've ever met." Zhou Qiang couldn't stop talking about his girlfriend.

"After she moved in with me, she washes all the clothes by hand. Gets them spotless."

"She cooks. She has a talent for it—learns anything in one try."

"She even fights to do the heavy lifting around the house. Embarrassing to say, but she's stronger than me and has a much bigger appetite..."

"She's really good to me."

Zhou Qiang took a sip of beer. "I've had bad luck for years. Guess my luck's finally turning."

Lu Yao still felt something was off.

"She doesn't have any demands at all?"

"Just one."

Zhou Qiang set down his beer. "She likes eating meat. Told me to buy more."

Just then, the door swung open, and Yu Yao came back carrying bags and bags of stuff.

Lu Yao's nose twitched.

The smell of blood.

The strongest bloody scent was on Yu Yao's lips.

Thanks to Chongyang Shennong for the 100 starting point coin support.