Live Prey

A Mutant's descent was irreversible. Once they slipped, they would remain in the abyss forever.

At least, since the arrival of the Super-Species World at the turn of the millennium, no one had managed to break this rule.

Not even Ashes, an organization that had taken self-discipline to the extreme, could reverse or alter the essence of this descent. That was precisely why they had created a coherent religious doctrine: promoting mutation, glorifying descent, and calling the irreversibility of mutation eternity.

"You're saying his parents abandoned him?"

Xiao Xuebai's lips parted slightly, her eyes full of disbelief.

She had never expected that, after all the dangers of tonight's crisis, there would still be such a spine-chilling story hidden at the end.

"Then... then will he die?"

Jiang Qian glanced calmly at Xiao Xuebai and shook his head. "I don't know."

Though I siphoned all the toxins out of his body, Metamorphic Mutants themselves are unstable. With some degree of organ failure on top of that, who can guarantee he'll survive... As if suddenly recalling something, Jiang Qian pushed open the car door.

"Sorry, Senior. I still have something to do. Go ahead without me. No need to wait!"

"Hey~"

Xiao Xuebai still had plenty of questions that needed answers from her intern.

For instance, why was a novice License Holder like him so strong?

Why could he force a Second State License Holder into a desperate situation even without using aberrant limbs?

And how had he known that a Metamorphic Mutant's secretions were poisonous?

Why had the woman of that household suddenly lost emotional control? Could he have had something to do with that as well?

And most importantly—

Judging by how calmly Jiang Qian had chatted with the giant bee Mutant, he clearly wasn't as "uncertain" or "unable to say for sure" as he claimed...

Could it be because he thinks I'm stupid, so he can't be bothered explaining it to me? Xiao Xuebai thought resentfully.

This series of questions, together with the lingering fright in her heart, all turned into boundless curiosity and admiration for Jiang Qian.

Under the moonlight, the first buds of romance sprouted vigorously alongside the girl's heartbeat.

In another building at that moment.

Ye Xiaojing stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, watching coldly.

Only after her colleagues from the Special Affairs Center had finished handling the aftermath and withdrawn did she turn around and glance at the prey hanging from the ceiling.

He was a dark-skinned man with knotted muscles and a vicious face, clearly no decent person at a glance.

She had interrogated him earlier. This Black Alliance member, code-named Cricket, was a minor local boss in this area. He usually frequented nightclubs and private gambling dens, luring people into ruin and committing robbery and murder. He had moved in here for one purpose only: to conveniently observe the mutation process of a Metamorphic Mutant.

The target Metamorphic Mutant was in the very household that Jiang Qian and Xiao Xuebai had visited.

According to this Black Alliance member, after "properly dealing with" the Metamorphic Mutant, he was supposed to send his superior a detailed record of the target's condition from the early stages of mutation to death, then collect his reward.

The man had not withstood the interrogation. Ye Xiaojing had immediately forwarded his superior's contact information to her colleagues at the Jinping branch.

Afterward, Ye Xiaojing had found detailed records in this rental apartment as well.

The culprit and evidence had both been secured. The proof was conclusive.

This man's value had been thoroughly exhausted.

Her phone rang. It was from the Operations Department of the Jinping Special Affairs Center.

Ye Xiaojing answered. "Hello?"

"Ms. Ye, the information you provided has been verified. Black Sesame's superior has been detained... Where are you now? Would it be convenient for us to come take over the scene?"

After listening to the other party's polite explanation, Ye Xiaojing coldly gave her location.

"Understood, Ms. Ye. Um... the suspect is still alive, right?"

"Dead. I've handled the body."

"Oh, understood. We'll be there shortly." The person on the other end did not seem particularly surprised.

Deaths and injuries during arrests were hardly uncommon, especially since they had already obtained the most important intelligence.

Ye Xiaojing hung up.

The dark-skinned man suspended from the ceiling heard her words and suddenly began struggling frantically!

His eyes bulged wide, cold sweat pouring from his forehead. His mouth, sealed with tape, worked desperately. A mouthful of dark green fluid corroded through the tape... all so he could plead aloud, "Lady Ye, Boss Ye! Please, have mercy and let me go!!"

"I'm just a small fry! Please, hand me over to the Jinping authorities... I'm not worth you dealing with personally!!"

Without even turning around, Ye Xiaojing sent a throwing knife flying, severing the rope in one clean stroke.

The freed dark-skinned man hurriedly fled for the door...

Ye Xiaojing did not even raise her eyelids. She merely yawned lightly as her right arm shot outward with a whoosh, mutating like lightning into a withered yellow "great scythe"!

Its serrated teeth closed in, blocking Cricket head-on. The dense, razor-sharp teeth of the withered-leaf great scythe hooked into his thick neck. With a casual tug, she lifted his entire body off the ground and dragged him before Ye Xiaojing in an instant.

Blood spurted along the serrated teeth embedded in his neck. The man struggled with all four limbs, trying to break free, only to be leisurely "dismantled" by another great scythe and tossed aside like garbage.

Moonlight spilled down. Ye Xiaojing swallowed and no longer restrained the predatory hunger surging through her stomach.

Live prey was the Mantis Card's primal desire.

When Jiang Qian counted the floors and descended from the rooftop onto the terrace outside the floor-to-ceiling window where Ye Xiaojing was, what he saw made him deeply regret his decision.

He had only wanted to greet Ms. Ye and, while he was at it, discuss a few matters related to Mutants.

Instead... he had accidentally interrupted Ms. Ye's meal.

Inside the dark living room, thick liquid and scattered limbs lay strewn across the floor.

Ye Xiaojing had her back to Jiang Qian. The muscles around her shoulders and neck occasionally contracted and relaxed, while her jaw moved rhythmically. Her familiar brown trench coat concealed most of her limbs and movements.

Only the unfamiliar pair of legs dragging across the floor still twitched from time to time...

Jiang Qian wanted to leave.

It was not because the bloody scene had frightened him. In fact, Jiang Qian felt nothing in particular about it.

But his cognition could clearly discern that what Ye Xiaojing was doing had exceeded the bounds of "humanity," even if the prey was a vicious Mutant.

At that moment, Ye Xiaojing, having noticed movement outside the window, paused her meal and turned around.

"Rookie?"

In the dim night, everything from Ye Xiaojing's sharp chin to the front of her chest was darkened by some deep, heavy stain.

She still held the nearly hollowed-out "food" in one hand and looked at Jiang Qian questioningly. "Do you need something?"

Not anymore... Jiang Qian replied calmly, "I came up to say hello. I didn't expect you were... uh, eating."

Ye Xiaojing fell silent.

For a moment, the atmosphere froze.

As the intruder, Jiang Qian took the initiative to find a topic and break the awkwardness. "Aren't you worried about indigestion if you eat it raw?"

Ye Xiaojing's expression remained calm, her tone cold. "At least I chew it up. Snake-type License Holders swallow it whole."

Snakes, swallowing whole... Jiang Qian finally felt a little nauseated.

But Ye Xiaojing continued explaining, "After evolving into the Second State: Aberrant Form, the biological traits represented by the Identity Card become more pronounced. This is also part of the 'animal nature' the Boss spoke of."

Although Ye Xiaojing's tone and expression did not change in the slightest, Jiang Qian somehow sensed her helplessness.

"By the Third State, this 'animal nature' becomes even stronger. If not controlled properly, there is also a risk of descent. I haven't eaten live prey in a long time. The Boss doesn't advocate this way of eating. Today was just my... momentary impulse."

More like your craving hit and you couldn't hold it back... Jiang Qian asked, "I see. Other than giving in to animal nature, are there other ways to resolve it?"

After thinking for a moment, he rephrased the question. "If circumstances don't allow it, but you really want to... then what?"

"Raise creatures with habits similar to your Identity Card. Through observation and living together, you can transfer or weaken some of the primal urges brought on by 'animal nature.'"

Hearing that, Jiang Qian suddenly thought of his craving for toxins. Could that also be a primal craving brought on by 'animal nature'?

Jiang Qian took the opportunity to press further. "Does this kind of primal craving never occur at all in the First State: Cognitive Form?"

"Rarely. Even when it does, it's relatively mild."

So the urge to drain toxins dry the instant I find them is considered a 'relatively mild' primal craving?

"Anything else?"

Ye Xiaojing issued an order to leave.

People from the Jinping Special Affairs Center would be arriving shortly.

"No. Thank you. Enjoy your meal!"

With that, Jiang Qian promptly climbed away along the pipes running down the building.

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