"You want me to kill you?" Yang Yi was somewhat surprised.
He hadn't expected that, after saying so much, this witch actually wanted to die.
"Yes!" Ronette confirmed again.
"From the moment I became a Brain-Eating Demon, I set a time limit on my life. I had to end it before eating my fifth human brain."
Ronette drank the liquor in the measuring cylinder.
Who knew how long it had been stored? It had already turned cloudy, but its aroma remained rich and mellow.
She continued her explanation.
"Actually... not all creatures have the courage to kill themselves, especially certain intelligent, long-lived species. They're actually very afraid of death.
"Brain-Eating Demons are one of them.
"They're powerful, cunning creatures for whom aging practically doesn't exist.
"They generally like to live inside a host's skull, using the host's appearance to approach prey, then seizing the opportunity to eat their brains, or reproduce..."
Ronette spoke at length from an objective standpoint, as though describing a creature completely unrelated to herself.
Yet she herself was a Brain-Eating Demon.
But Yang Yi already understood what she meant.
She was terrified of death but too embarrassed to say so outright, and wanted Yang Yi to give her a hand.
"I'm a scholar, and above all, a human.
"At least for now, I still consider myself human! Even though I really want to eat your brain."
As Ronette said this, her tentacles twitched restlessly.
One tentacle was shaped like a drinking straw, presumably for sucking out brains.
It was probably this tentacle that had tried to burrow into Yang Yi's brain not long ago.
Seemingly unaware of her restless tentacles, Ronette continued.
"In a year, or ten years, as I eat more and more brains, my thinking will change. I'll consider myself a noble Brain-Eating Demon.