Apple? Apple

"Come quick! A lot of people died in here."

Denji stood at the entrance, panic written across his face.

Meng Fan and Aki Hayakawa quickened their pace and rushed inside.

The three of them entered the ramen shop together.

The scene before them was even more horrifying than the last.

There were ten corpses.

But they looked different from the skeletal corpses they had found at the previous ramen shop.

Their heads and necks were intact.

Only bones remained everywhere else.

"This time, it didn't eat everything. It left their necks."

Aki Hayakawa pointed it out immediately.

"It ate so many people, it must not have been able to finish them. That's why it left the necks," Denji quipped.

"Devils don't feel full. It clearly left the necks on purpose."

"On purpose? What is it trying to do?" Aki Hayakawa asked. As an experienced Public Safety Devil Hunter, he genuinely felt that Meng Fan was no ordinary man.

With just a glance, he had spotted something Aki Hayakawa had missed.

"I'm not sure. Let's keep looking."

The three took a few steps forward.

All of them noticed the ramen on the tables at the same time.

Steam rose from the ramen.

The noodles in the bowls remained untouched.

"Thank you for the meal" was written on the table in blood.

The only difference between this ramen and the ramen at the previous restaurant was that there was no cilantro sprinkled on top.

"Leaving all this ramen uneaten is such a waste."

Denji clutched his growling stomach and loudly swallowed his drool.

"What's that?" Aki Hayakawa's eyes lit up, and he hurried over to the checkout counter.

A bright red apple sat on the counter.

"An apple? Can I eat it?" Denji immediately stepped forward and asked.

His eyes never left the apple.

He was wary of eating the ramen on the tables.

After all, corpses hung upside down over every bowl.

But the apple on the checkout counter should have been fine.

"I've never seen such a strange apple. Meng Fan, come take a look."

Aki Hayakawa held the apple tightly.

He deliberately kept his right hand, which held the apple, away from Denji.

"It is strange. So bright and red. It also looks like a prop." Meng Fan did not take it, only glanced at it.

"Can I eat it or not?" Denji asked eagerly.

"Eat it, my ass. Obviously, you can't eat an apple this strange."

"I can't eat this, I can't eat that. I'm going to starve to death," Denji complained. He had come to eat, only to keep walking into crime scenes. "Whatever. I'll check the kitchen. I don't believe there's nothing else to eat in this ramen shop."

With that, he turned and walked into the kitchen.

But before long, a scream interrupted Meng Fan and Aki Hayakawa's thoughts.

Whoosh!

The two rushed into the kitchen.

They found Denji slumped on the floor.

"Where's the devil?" Aki Hayakawa drew his sword and scanned their surroundings.

But Denji said, "Gone... it's all gone."

"What's all gone?"

"The food! All the food is gone! There's not a single thing left to eat in this ramen shop."

"The food?! I thought you'd seen the devil!" Aki Hayakawa snapped.

Just then, Meng Fan's expression suddenly grew tense, as if something had occurred to him. "This is bad. We need to get back to the first restaurant right away."

Before either of them could react,

he left them behind and ran toward the first ramen shop.

On the way back, he happened to run into Natsume Fan Zhi, who had just stepped out of the shop.

"Why are you back? Don't tell me you're interested in human corpses too?"

Meng Fan ignored Natsume Fan Zhi and rushed straight into the ramen shop.

A moment later, Aki Hayakawa and Denji arrived at the first ramen shop, hot on his heels.

"Why are you all running? Don't tell me you ate without paying because you're broke?"

Natsume Fan Zhi teased them.

But to his surprise, neither of them acknowledged him either, and both went straight into the shop.

"Huh, everyone in the Fourth Division is pretty strange. They were laughing and chatting earlier, and now they're ignoring me. Are they playing hard to get?"

"Captain, should we go in and take a look?"

"Fine. Let's see what they're up to," Natsume Fan Zhi said. "Stay outside and keep an eye on him. I'll be right back."

Meanwhile, Meng Fan stood in the kitchen, rummaging through cupboards and drawers.

He discovered that all the ingredients in the ramen shop were gone.

A newly opened ramen shop should have been well stocked.

Yet it was completely empty, which was very strange.

"What's wrong, Meng Fan? Did you find something?" Aki Hayakawa could tell that Meng Fan had figured something out.

He quickly followed him over to ask.

Only Denji looked unimpressed.

It was bad enough that they weren't eating, but now they were running all over the place too.

All he could do was drag his exhausted body aside and stand there.

He had no interest whatsoever in who the killer was.

"All the ingredients in both restaurants have disappeared. This devil didn't just eat people. It ate all the ramen shops' supplies too."

"I've never heard of a devil that could eat this much."

"Forget about the devil! When are we going to eat?" Denji shouted.

"Hey, what are you all being so secretive about?"

Natsume Fan Zhi appeared behind them.

"We're looking for clues."

"Clues? What have you found, then?"

"So far, just an apple."

Aki Hayakawa took the bright red apple out of his pocket.

"An apple? I have one too."

With that, Natsume Fan Zhi took an identical apple out of his pocket.

Meng Fan's gaze immediately fixed on the apple. "Where did you get yours?"

"That man was carrying it on him."

"This is bad. We need to get outside, now."

Meng Fan looked alarmed and rushed out of the ramen shop again before anyone could react.

The two men behind him exchanged a glance and immediately followed.

Only Denji remained seated off to the side, his eyes vacant.

By the time Meng Fan ran out of the ramen shop,

Natsume Fan Zhi's two subordinates were already lying unconscious on the ground.

"Heiji!" Natsume Fan Zhi hurriedly crouched down to check on his subordinate.

"They're not dead."

"So that man just now was the devil that killed everyone," Aki Hayakawa said.

"I don't think it was him." Meng Fan rubbed his chin.

"Not him? Then who else could it be?"

"I'm not sure yet, but it's definitely a powerful devil. And the ramen shop owner must know something."

"All right. I'll call Himeno right away and ask her to issue a wanted notice."

"Hey, when are we eating?!"

Denji's complaints rang out behind them once again.

Aki Hayakawa glanced at Denji. Deep down, he felt that Denji was completely unsuited to being a Devil Hunter, whereas Meng Fan had earned his respect.

If only one of the two could stay,

Aki Hayakawa hoped it would be Meng Fan.

With the trail gone cold and Denji constantly clamoring for food, Meng Fan could only suggest, "Why don't we buy some ingredients and eat at your place?"

"Why my place? Can't we just find somewhere to eat?"

"Two places in a row have put us off our food. We really need somewhere cozy right now."

"Fine. Honestly, I'm tired of running around too. We'll drive to my place. I've got enough ingredients at home to feed you two rookies."

Aki Hayakawa gave in and said no more.

"Oh, right. You know how to make ginger pork, don't you?"

"I do."

"Denji, once we get to Aki Hayakawa's place, have him teach you how to make it."

"Huh? I don't want to learn."