Human Nature

"Shut up!"

Lu Shiyan's eyes turned cold.

"Have you forgotten what I said?"

"In here, no shouting."

Lu Shiyan pointed at the sky full of rain outside the window, his tone stern.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind throwing you out there right now and letting you become food for that guy."

"I'm sorry... Mr. Lu, I know I was wrong."

As soon as those words were spoken, the boy who had previously lost his reason instantly calmed down.

He glared at Hoshino with intense hatred, his eyes showing no sign of fading animosity, but fear forced him to choose submission.

Gritting his teeth, he slowly retreated to a corner, sat down, and buried his head in his knees.

The classroom fell back into a repressive, deathly stillness.

Hoshino stood stunned in place, feeling helpless.

She didn't understand.

Why?

Why would her own compatriot treat her as an enemy more terrifying than the monsters?

"Go over there first."

Yekaterina pointed to the other side of the classroom, where several female students were huddled together, trembling.

"Heal them first. Don't let them die here."

After saying that, Yekaterina walked to the window to stay on guard, seemingly unwilling to say anything more.

Hoshino took a deep breath, tried her best to squeeze out a friendly smile, and cautiously approached them.

"Um... I'm a healer... I'm here to take a look at your wounds..."

However.

"Get lost!!"

A female student suddenly waved her hand, knocking away the hand Hoshino had reached out.

That pair of eyes, which should have been clear, was now filled with fear and disgust.

"Don't touch me!! You devils! Stay away from me!!"

"But... your leg is bleeding..." Hoshino said, anxious.

"Even if I bleed dry and die, I don't want your hypocritical help!!"

Another female student hugged her companion tightly and shouted hoarsely: "Scram!!"

Some even grabbed books from the floor and smashed them towards Hoshino.

Hoshino stumbled back from the impact, eventually retreating dejectedly to the side of the lectern.

She looked at Lu Shiyan, her eyes filled with feeling wronged and confused.

Before she could ask, Lu Shiyan, who was leaning against the blackboard smoking, spoke first.

"Confused, right?"

Hoshino nodded, her eyes red-rimmed: "Why do they hate me so much?"

"I've clearly never met them before... I came here to save them."

Lu Shiyan exhaled a smoke ring, his gaze playful.

"It's not you they hate."

"It's the skin you're wearing."

"Skin?"

Hoshino looked down at the yellow-green special operations uniform on her body.

"That's right."

Lu Shiyan flicked the ash and began to narrate the truth about this school.

"The matter starts from when we crossed over here."

"The children in this classroom are all students from the Rose Middle School in your Cherry Blossom Country, including those skeletons piled high outside."

"To be honest, it's quite a coincidence."

Lu Shiyan gave a cold laugh.

"On Blue Star, your Rose Middle School happened to be built on the original site of the long-vanished Rose Middle School."

"It seems this coincidence of space-time overlap caused the entire school, along with the teachers and students, to cross over here together."

"As for Yekaterina and me, we were just unlucky folks passing by the school, accidentally becoming 'outsiders' here."

"On the first day, we ran into a large group of wandering corpses."

"Unlike the zombies in movies, these things have intelligence. They can open doors, smash windows, and even hunt in packs."

"Students and teachers were dying in droves. That director fellow, in particular, was gnawed into dregs by his female secretary right on the spot."

Speaking of this, Lu Shiyan's eyes filled with disdain.

"Yekaterina and I worked together and barely managed to kill three wandering corpses."

"We held out until the next morning, successfully awakened our supernatural abilities, and started clearing the wandering corpses from the campus to establish a safe zone."

Hearing this, Hoshino couldn't help but interrupt.

"Then... then what is going on with that monster outside?"

Thinking of the scenes where the team leader, Sato, and Ikeda had died so inexplicably, she still felt a chill down to her bone marrow.

Lu Shiyan didn't answer directly. Instead, he blew a puff of smoke into her face, making her cough violently.

"Don't be so impatient, little girl."

"Stories have to be heard bit by bit to understand the logic behind them."

Lu Shiyan's voice dropped low.

"Originally, under the protection of Yekaterina and me, these students wouldn't have had to suffer so many casualties."

"But ever since... yesterday morning, after a special forces unit from your Cherry Blossom Country arrived here, everything changed."

"I still remember that bastard in charge, he was called something like... Village Entrance... Nichita Tree?"

"It's Muraguchi Nissuu, Mr. Lu."

Hoshino corrected him instinctively.

But then, a roar echoed in her mind.

Muraguchi Nissuu?!

Wasn't that their commander-in-chief?

Why did Mr. Muraguchi arrive yesterday?

Why did the team leader and Kujo seem completely unaware of this?

"Oh, that sounds like the name. I'm getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be, but it's all about the same anyway."

Lu Shiyan shrugged.

"That muraguchi officer brought a fully armed squad, claiming they were looking for some 'terminal signal tower'."

"But he didn't want to send his own elites to their deaths for scouting."

"So..."

Lu Shiyan pointed at the students huddled in the corner.

"He used guns to force these students to go out in batches, using 'human wave tactics' to help him trigger mines and find the way."

"As for the result..."

"You should know that very well."

"They didn't find the signal tower, but instead succeeded in releasing that monster sleeping underground."

"Those students... were all treated as bait and food."

Lu Shiyan leaned into Hoshino's ear, his voice like the whisper of a demon.

"Now, think about how you managed to escape here in the first place?"

"And finally, think about... why your muraguchi officer clearly came here before, yet didn't tell you there was a monster?"

"Instead, he sent your squad to come here again?"

Boom!

Hoshino felt the world spinning.

Even if she were foolish, she realized it now.

Searching for the signal tower...

Establishing a base...

It was all a lie!

They were nothing but pawns!

Discarded pieces used to test whether that monster was still there, and whether it had already eaten its fill!

"Ugh..."

Hoshino squatted down in despair, hugging her trembling body tightly.

The despair of being betrayed by one's compatriots and superiors is more devastating than death itself.

Just then, Lu Shiyan spoke again, delivering the final blow.

"Oh, right. Didn't you ask what that monster outside was?"

"I can tell you now."

"In truth, it didn't have that perverted water drop teleport ability at the beginning."

"It only evolved that ability after devouring a transcendent from the team yesterday!"

"And I even gave it a catchy name. It's called..."

"Hungry ghost!"

"Ahhh!! Stop it!! Don't say any more!!"

Hoshino covered her ears and let out a broken scream.

"Ahhh!! Stop it!! Don't say any more!!"

Out on the wasteland, Yu Shishi covered her ears with both hands, facing the siege of the crowd, and let out the same broken scream.

"I really can cook! I'm not lying to you guys!!"

But clearly, not a single person present believed her nonsense.

Wang Meng, with a dark expression, pointed at the large black pot in front of them.

Inside the pot, a mass of brownish-black, unspeakable thing that emitted a pungent, fishy, and burnt odor was bubbling away.

"Sister Shishi..."

Wang Meng's corner of mouth twitched. "You call this thing food?"

"Ugh!"

Liu Yuqing covered her mouth, suppressing the impulse to vomit as she rushed to the side.

"This smell... it's even more intense than the stench of the corpses in that cellar yesterday! It reminds me of my great-grandmother!"

Even Chen Tong, who was usually composed, looked relatively relaxed at the moment.

Because she had already grown accustomed to this smell, but she still couldn't help but ask.

"Shishi... how did you make this?"

Yu Shishi answered righteously.

"I learned the method from the older generation! It's called a 'chaos stew'! I just wanted everyone to reminisce about the charm of tradition!"

"I just put all the ingredients in and stewed them together! There's even a fish and five packs of compressed biscuits in there! The nutrition is definitely enough!"

"Um..."

Guo Shuai raised his hand, looking at the fish that was staring dead-eyed from within the brown mush, and posed a soul-searching question.

"I mean... this fish... did we wash it? Or, you know... remove the organs?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's gaze shot toward Yu Shishi like blades.

Especially Jiangnan, who was standing at the car door with a face as dark as the bottom of an iron pot.

Yu Shishi blinked, put her hands on her hips, and answered confidently.

"Well, of course not!"

"I preserved all of its fishy flavor!"

"That way, you guys can know you're eating an authentic, wild-caught fish!"

"..."

Faced with the murderous expressions of the several people, Yu Shishi finally couldn't keep up the act.

Plop!

She knelt down directly, and it was quite a smooth motion.

"I'm sorry! I was wrong!!"

"Actually, I can't cook at all! I couldn't even believe the words that just came out of my own mouth!"

"Waaah!!"

Yu Shishi burst into tears and hugged Jiangnan's thigh.

"Please, boss, don't abandon me! I really know I was wrong! I'll never try to show off again, wuwuwu!"

Looking at her sincere apology, the anger in everyone's hearts dissipated for the most part.

After all, they were companions; they couldn't really throw someone away just because of a meal.

Liu Yuqing sighed and took the blame upon herself.

"Boss, it's all my fault. I was the one who told her to cook, and I didn't supervise her."

She looked at the dark cuisine in the pot, gritted her teeth, and said with the air of someone facing death.

"I... I'll finish eating all of this! I absolutely will not waste food!"

"Me too! Me too!"

Wang Meng seemed to realize something; he suddenly gave a crooked smile and quickly chimed in to show his loyalty.

Although Guo Shuai didn't understand what was going on, he knew that if Brother Wang was acting this way, following his lead couldn't be wrong, so he shouted along as well.

"Actually, it's not impossible to eat! In a certain sense, this is just high-protein energy paste! It really is quite nutritious!"

But Jiangnan remained dark-faced, not saying a word.

Seeing this, Chen Tong stood up, trembling.

It wasn't because of fear, but because a certain part of her body was still aching faintly.

Liu Yuqing hurriedly supported her.

Chen Tong spoke with a smile, her voice gentle:

"Actually, I was supposed to be the one cooking from the start, and Shishi was just supposed to help me. This mistake should be mine."

"Let me be the one to eat it."

As she spoke, she reached out to grab the spoon.

However.

The moment her hand was about to touch it, a big hand firmly grabbed her wrist.

Jiangnan.

The next moment.

Clang!

Jiangnan raised a foot and kicked the large black pot, sending it flying!

That pot of scalding brown mush traced a perfect parabola through the air.

"Caw?!"

Splat!

On a withered tree not far away, a mutated crow that had been watching the show didn't even have time to react.

It was hit precisely by the unspeakable thing and was instantly plastered into a pile of dung.

Only a pair of terrified little eyes remained exposed.

"Caw..."

The crow twitched twice and fell down stiffly.

It was unclear whether it had been scalded to death or poisoned.

"..."

The several people were terrified, thinking Jiangnan was truly angry, and were about to rush to apologize again.

However, they saw Jiangnan had already pulled out a memo pad, scribbled a few lines, tore the page off, and slapped it down in front of them.

[Enduring hardship is Goujian; eating bitter without reason is a scoundrel!]

[There is no pity in dumping something that even pigs won't eat!]

[Starting today, Chen Tong and Yu Shishi will take turns cooking! Liu Yuqing is responsible for supervision! If there is a next time, get out!]

[I have no use for useless people here!]

[Now, head to the terminal signal tower immediately! Eat compressed biscuits to get by for now!]

Seeing these lines, the group let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes! Boss! Moving out immediately!"

Wang Meng and Guo Shuai felt as if they had been granted amnesty and immediately returned to the cockpit and the observation post.

Yu Shishi also wiped away her tears, revealing the happy expression of someone who had survived a calamity; it was good that she hadn't been kicked out!

Liu Yuqing patted her on the shoulder with a meaningful look.

This silly girl, she hasn't realized it yet~

If she doesn't cook well, she might be "eaten" herself~

Meanwhile, Chen Tong looked at the memo, a happy smile appearing on her face.

For some reason, her leg didn't seem to hurt as much anymore.

She hooked her arm into Jiangnan's and followed him onto the vehicle.

I originally thought I was fierce enough for my age, but it turns out Jiangnan is like a perpetual motion machine...

Now that there's someone to share the cooking, maybe I can even share "that"...

This is just too great~