The Stubborn Madman

As Xiao Xiao silently pondered, he gradually sorted out some things.

Of course, what the Pain Substance truly was—and whether it had only one essence or was a collective term for many elements—was another question entirely.

At the very least, these three vicious hounds had devoured quite a lot while fighting the Choking Nest, yet showed no signs of becoming stronger. This already proved that the Choking Nest and the Despair Swamp were both Aberrant Creatures and both possessed Pain Substance, but they were dissimilar in certain properties. From this, Xiao Xiao even suspected that there might be a periodic table of elements in this city, something akin to a classification system for Pain Substance.

He let out a low sigh. A huge, twisted city that possessed life, Aberrant Creatures, Pain Substance born within the bodies of the despairing...

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

However, compared to this enormous world, what he had seen was still only the tip of the iceberg. He could not make any useful deductions.

"You did very well..."

No longer dwelling on it, Xiao Xiao gave the three vicious dogs in the yard some verbal praise.

These three vicious hounds had already been full of energy after being strengthened. They immediately became excited, darting left and right, bouncing around the yard, and wagging their tails furiously.

Although they had been strengthened, they probably had not become intelligent enough to understand Xiao Xiao's words. It was merely some deeper connection that allowed them to sense his satisfaction with them.

"Come here..."

Xiao Xiao smiled at them, then extended his palm. "Bite me..."

"?"

All three dogs froze.

Ever since they had become dogs, they had never heard such an outrageous request...

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

Xiao Xiao gently coaxed 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 had been able to sense that after being strengthened, the three dogs had become more powerful in strength, speed, and even some kind of twisted aura.

But having been strengthened by devouring Pain Substance, they should have changed in more ways than that.

So Xiao Xiao felt that he had to test the effects of their strengthening himself. But he could not exactly drag them into the street and use passersby as test subjects, right?

People would call the police.

As for his request, the three dogs immediately reacted differently.

The fierce black Big Dog instantly raised its head high, its face full of stubbornness. I'd rather bite myself than bite my great master.

Huang Mao wore an honest expression and sat there without moving, as if he had not heard.

Only the black-and-white dog froze for a moment before immediately biting down on Xiao Xiao's palm with a loud "Woof!"

In that instant, Xiao Xiao felt unbearable pain in his palm. Yet as the pain spread throughout his body, all kinds of strange memories suddenly appeared in his mind.

It was like the uncontrollable memories he had experienced when approaching the core of the Despair Swamp. His heart seemed to have a piece torn out, making it difficult to form coherent memories.

Fortunately, the Mind Burst ability allowed him to instantly get through the most painful part. On the surface, he even appeared completely unfazed.

He merely looked at the three dogs with some surprise.

"They gained an ability similar to that of the Despair Swamp's core? They can disrupt or awaken certain people's painful memories and throw their thoughts into disarray."

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

"..."

"Woof, woof..."

Seeing Xiao Xiao's happy expression, the black-and-white dog happily stuck out its tongue. It looked eager to try again, as though it wanted to bite him once more.

The other two dogs beside it, however, stared at it in confusion.

"I'll give you something tasty..."

Xiao Xiao waved his hand, indicating that it was unnecessary, then took the three sausages he had just bought from his pocket.

He gave one and a half to the black dog and one and a half to Huang Mao.

When it was Erha's turn, he clapped his hands. There was nothing left.

It was not that he was petty or angry that Erha had bitten him without hesitation. There had simply happened to be only three sausages, which were not enough to go around...

As Xiao Xiao happily turned around to head home, he suddenly sensed something and looked back. In the neighbor's side bedroom, Nuo Nuo was quietly standing at the entrance to her living room.

She had changed into a cute white set of pajamas, and some fresh wounds could still be seen on her face.

She seemed to have applied something to cover them, but the bruising around the corners of her eyes was still especially conspicuous. As a result, she had pulled the white bear-ear hood of her pajamas over her head.

She gazed at Xiao Xiao from afar, and her eyes seemed to glisten with tears.

Xiao Xiao hesitated for a moment. He was unsure what Nuo Nuo might ask him, and he had not figured out how to explain things.

But unexpectedly, Nuo Nuo did not ask anything. Instead, she walked up to the three vicious hounds, gently crouched down, and stroked their heads.

"Thank you..."

Xiao Xiao heard her speak softly, her voice filled with the emotion of having survived a disaster.

She was a clever girl. She had asked nothing and simply offered her silent thanks. As Xiao Xiao left, he saw her eyes.

They held gratitude, as well as a silent promise—a promise that she would certainly take good care of them.

Xiao Xiao liked this tacit understanding. Certain things were truly shared among similar people.

Regardless of whether the little girl from the neighboring home truly existed or was herself merely a monster, Xiao Xiao could sense a certain similarity in her.

He still knew very little about this world and did not know why, but he felt that one small thing was important.

It was important that the collapse of a girl's world had been stopped. That small thing that had touched him was important too.

Perhaps in this world, everyone except outsiders was a monster...

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

The monsters were real, and the thing he had protected was real too.

When he returned home, his mother had not gotten off work yet. Xiao Xiao took out a bowl of instant noodles, then realized he had made a mistake.

There had been no need to split the three sausages into two portions of one and a half each.

He could have saved one for himself...

As he sat at the table waiting for the noodles to soak and sorted through the events of the day, Yang Jia called him. "You encountered Little Four today?"

"Yes."

Xiao Xiao had already intended to tell Yang Jia or Ruan Ruan about it, so he quickly said with a smile, "We also happened to run into an Aberrant Creature incident and dealt with it together."

"According to Little Four, he barely contributed. You were the one who solved it."

Yang Jia was silent for a moment before saying, "Also, he said he saw three strengthened creatures with clearly abnormal powers by your side?"

"Yes."

This was exactly what Xiao Xiao wanted to ask Yang Jia about. Since she had brought it up, he quickly told her about taking the three dogs along to help, and about accidentally discovering that the amount of strengthening they received was getting smaller and smaller.

Yang Jia listened silently. She could sense how happy Xiao Xiao was at that moment. Only after a long while did she say, "Then do you know that what you did was actually very dangerous?"

"They could be strengthened for free because they had devoured enough substance of the same origin and reached the threshold of aberration. You could indeed strengthen them directly and make them instantly obtain power of a higher level, but if the strengthening failed, they would immediately become Aberrant Creatures. At that point, what you would have to face would not only be the Pain Core, but also three monsters that had already become Pain Hounds."

"..."

Faced with this question, Xiao Xiao fell silent.

It would have been a lie to say he had not considered it. His Mind Burst ability allowed him to think through countless problems in every instant.

Naturally, that included the possibility of the strengthening failing.

However, first of all, he had carefully analyzed the situation.

After all, he had been right outside the café at the time. If anything went wrong, he could leave immediately. Little Four had also been nearby, and Xiao Xiao believed he could help resolve the problem if something happened.

Of course, the more important reason was that he had realized at the time that if he did not strengthen them, he would have to abandon the mission. If it succeeded, everyone would be happy.

Besides, he had also felt a strange sense of trust toward them.

From that perspective, he was not a gambler. He simply... trusted his instincts a little more than most!

Thinking silently, he smiled at the phone and said, "I understand. I definitely won't take such risks again."

Seeing him answer that way, Yang Jia's tone softened instead. "I'm only reminding you. Looking at the result, things turned out quite well."

"Actually, although we do band together for warmth, as a rule, we don't interfere too much with one another's choices."

"I originally thought you would need to grow for a while longer before gaining this much independence. I didn't expect that you had always been such a decisive person."

"..."

Xiao Xiao could only reply with a smile, "Actually, it's not really like that..."

He could sense that Yang Jia seemed excessively tolerant toward him. Even when offering advice, she took great care of his feelings.

In Ruan Ruan and Little Four's accounts, she seemed to count as a leader?

Shouldn't leaders place more demands on newcomers? Why did she seem so accommodating instead?

Was it because of their feelings from high school?

"All right, let's not talk about this anymore."

At that moment, Yang Jia laughed as well. "However, I mainly called to remind you about something else."

"According to Little Four, the girl from your neighboring home almost became an Aberrant Creature. Although it was ultimately stopped, you still need to pay more attention."

"If she undergoes any changes afterward, you'd better deal with it promptly or notify us."

"..."

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao was startled. "She could still become aberrant?"

"Normally, the possibility is low."

Yang Jia spoke softly. "But if something really happens again, that means her aberration may have been deliberately cultivated by that group of lunatics..."

Xiao Xiao froze. "Who?"

Yang Jia lowered her voice. "A group of stubborn and foolish people who think they have grasped the truth of the world..."