Stubborn Madman

Musing silently, Xiao Xiao gradually sorted out some things.

Of course, the true nature of Pain Substance, and whether there was only one true nature, or if it was a collective term for many elements, was another question entirely.

At least these three hounds, when fighting the Choking Nest, had devoured quite a few things, but didn't show any signs of strengthening. This already showed that while the Choking Nest and the Despair Swamp were both Aberrant Creatures and possessed Pain Substance, they weren't similar in some ways. Because of this, Xiao Xiao even suspected that there might be something like a periodic table of Pain Substance classifications in this city?

He sighed softly. A huge, twisted, living city, Aberrant Creatures, Pain Substance born from the bodies of the Despairful…

He vaguely felt like he had discovered some kind of logic behind all this absurdity.

However, compared to this vast world, what he had seen was only the tip of the iceberg, and he couldn't make any effective deductions.

"You did well..."

Ceasing his thoughts, Xiao Xiao gave the three hounds in the yard a verbal commendation.

These three hounds, already energetic from being strengthened, immediately became excited, darting left and right, bouncing around the yard, wagging their tails madly.

Although they had been strengthened, they shouldn't have broken through to the point where their IQ allowed them to understand Xiao Xiao's words. It was just some kind of deep connection that allowed them to feel Xiao Xiao's satisfaction with them.

"Come on..."

Xiao Xiao looked at them with a smile, then held out his palm: "Bite me..."

"?"

The three dogs were stunned.

Since becoming dogs, they had never heard such an excessive request...

"Bite boldly, I'm not that petty, I won't hold a grudge..."

Xiao Xiao gently persuaded them, knowing that his request was rather strange.

However, since the three dogs had already completed their strengthening, it was necessary to test their abilities.

In the Despair Swamp, he could feel that after being strengthened, these three dogs had become more powerful in terms of strength, speed, and even a certain twisted aura.

However, they should have more than just these changes after being strengthened by devouring Pain Substance.

So Xiao Xiao also felt that he had to personally test their strengthening effects, but he couldn't just take them to the street and experiment on pedestrians, could he?

People would call the police.

The three dogs' reactions to his request were immediately somewhat different.

The fierce black dog immediately raised its head high, with a stubborn look. I would rather bite myself than bite my great master.

The yellow dog was thick and honest, squatting there motionless, as if it hadn't heard.

Only the black and white dog, after a moment of being stunned, immediately "awooed" and bit Xiao Xiao's palm.

In that instant, Xiao Xiao immediately felt unbearable pain in his palm, but not only that, this pain spread throughout his body, and all kinds of strange memories instantly appeared in his mind.

Just like the feeling of uncontrolled memories when approaching the core of the Despair Swamp, it made his heart feel like a piece was missing for a moment, making it difficult to form effective memories.

Fortunately, the ability of thought explosion allowed him to instantly get through this most painful period, and on the surface, he even seemed nonchalant.

He just looked at the three dogs with some surprise.

"They gained abilities similar to that core of the Despair Swamp? They can disrupt or awaken some people's painful memories, disrupting their thinking."

"Is this because they originally devoured this kind of Pain Substance?"

"..."

"Woof woof..."

Seeing Xiao Xiao's happy expression, the black and white dog immediately happily stuck out its tongue, looking eager to try again.

The two dogs next to it were looking at it with blank expressions.

"I'll give you some good food..."

Xiao Xiao waved his hand, indicating that it wasn't necessary, and then took out the three sausages he had just bought from his pocket.

He gave the black dog one and a half, and the yellow dog one and a half.

When it came to the husky, he clapped his hands, and there were none left.

It wasn't that he was petty, angry that this husky bit him without hesitation, it was just that there happened to be three sausages, not enough to share...

As he happily turned around to go home, Xiao Xiao suddenly felt something and turned his head to look. He saw Nuo Nuo standing quietly at the door of her living room in the side bedroom of the neighbor.

She had changed into a white, cute pajama, and some fresh scars could still be seen on her face.

It seemed that she had applied something to cover them, but the bluish-black marks around her eyes were still particularly obvious, so she put on the white bear-eared hat of her pajamas.

She looked at Xiao Xiao from a distance, and a slight mist seemed to be growing in her eyes.

Xiao Xiao hesitated for a moment, unsure what questions Nuo Nuo would ask him, and hadn't thought about how to explain.

But unexpectedly, Nuo Nuo didn't ask anything. Instead, she walked in front of the three hounds, squatted down gently, and stroked their heads.

"Thank you..."

Xiao Xiao heard her speaking softly, her voice filled with a sense of relief after surviving a disaster.

She's a smart girl, he thought. She didn't ask anything, just quietly thanked him. As Xiao Xiao left, he saw her eyes.

In her eyes, there was gratitude, and also a silent promise, a guarantee that she would take good care of them.

Xiao Xiao really liked this unspoken understanding. There was something truly in common among similar people.

Regardless of whether this little girl next door was a real person or just another monster, Xiao Xiao could feel a certain similar quality in her.

He still knew very little about this world, and he didn't know why, but he felt that some things were important.

Preventing a girl's world from collapsing was important, and the little things that touched him were also important.

Perhaps in this world, everyone except the Outsiders were monsters...

But looking at the clean girl next door, and thinking that he had helped her avoid the fate of becoming an Aberrant Creature, Xiao Xiao still felt that he had protected something.

Monsters were real, and the little bit he had protected was also real.

When he got home, his mom hadn't gotten off work yet. Xiao Xiao took out a bowl of instant noodles, and then realized he had made a mistake.

Three hot dogs, he really didn't need to split them into two halves.

He could have left one for himself...

Just as he was sitting at the table waiting for the noodles to soak, and sorting out the things he had encountered today, Yang Jia's phone call came in: "You ran into Little Four today?"

"Yeah."

Xiao Xiao, who had been planning to tell Yang Jia or Ruan Ruan about this, hurriedly said with a smile, "We also unexpectedly encountered an Aberrant event together and solved it together."

"According to Little Four, he didn't contribute much, you solved it."

Yang Jia was silent for a moment, and then said, "Also, he said that he saw three enhanced creatures with obvious abnormal powers by your side?"

"Yes."

This was exactly what Xiao Xiao wanted to ask Yang Jia about. Seeing that she took the initiative to mention it, he hurriedly told her about how he had taken the three dogs to help, and unexpectedly discovered that their enhancement amount was getting less and less.

Yang Jia listened silently, and could feel Xiao Xiao's happiness at this time. After a long time, she said, "Do you know that this behavior is actually very risky?"

"They can be enhanced for free because they have devoured enough Pain Substance and reached the critical point of Aberration. You can directly enhance them, allowing them to instantly gain a higher level of power, but if the enhancement fails, they will immediately turn into Aberrant Creatures. At that time, what you need to face is not only the Pain Core, but also three monsters that have become Pain Hounds."

"..."

Faced with this question, Xiao Xiao fell silent.

It would be a lie to say that he hadn't thought about it. His Mind Blast ability allowed him to think about countless questions in every moment.

Naturally, this included the possibility of enhancement failure.

However, first of all, he had done a serious analysis.

After all, he was right in front of the coffee shop at the time. If things went wrong, he could leave immediately, and Little Four was not far away, so he believed that he could help solve the problem.

Of course, more importantly, he realized deeply at the time that if he didn't enhance them, he would have to give up the mission, and if he succeeded, everyone would be happy.

In addition, he also had a kind of inexplicable trust in them.

From this point of view, he wasn't a gambling addict, he just... trusted his intuition more!

Thinking silently, he smiled at the phone and said, "I know, I definitely won't do such risky things in the future."

Seeing him answer like this, Yang Jia instead softened her tone and said softly, "I'm just reminding you, the results are still very good now."

"Actually, although we also huddle together for warmth, in principle, we don't interfere too much with each other's choices."

"I just originally thought that you would grow for a while before having such a high degree of autonomy. I didn't expect that you have always been such a decisive person."

"..."

Xiao Xiao could only smile and say, "Not really..."

He could actually feel that Yang Jia seemed to have an excessive tolerance for him, and even when giving him advice, she was quite considerate of his emotions.

In the mouths of Ruan Ruan and Little Four, she seemed to be a leader?

Shouldn't leaders have more demands on newcomers? Why did she seem so tolerant?

Because of their feelings from high school?

"Okay, let's not talk about this."

At this time, Yang Jia also laughed and said, "However, the main reason I called you is to remind you of another thing."

"According to Little Four, your neighbor's girl almost turned into an Aberrant Creature. Although it was eventually prevented, you still need to pay more attention."

"If she still has some kind of change afterwards, you'd better clean it up in time, or notify us."

"..."

Xiao Xiao listened, but was shocked: "She can still Aberrate?"

"Normally speaking, the possibility is not high."

Yang Jia said softly, "But if problems really arise again, then it means that her Aberration may have been specifically cultivated by that group of crazy guys..."

Xiao Xiao was stunned: "Who?"

Yang Jia whispered, "A group of stubborn and foolish guys who think they have mastered the truth of the world..."