"Transformation? What exactly is going on?" Sam sat down, picked up the information, and focused his eyes.
"Just like a maggot turns into a fly, or a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. It's just that this thing becomes more and more disgusting and deadly." Travis took a sip of beer and said slowly, "He was hungry at the beginning, and he could never be satisfied. At the beginning, he ate everything, bread, meat, raw and cooked food, as long as it could fill his stomach, he would accept them all. Later, ordinary food could not satisfy him anymore, and he was only interested in one thing - growing pigs."
"Grown pig? What is it?" Dean raised his eyebrows.
"He's talking about human flesh." Sam's face instantly became solemn, and he raised his eyes to look at Travis.
"Okay, I learned a new word today." Dean curled his lips, but the smile in his eyes disappeared.
"The hunger will get stronger and stronger until he can no longer bear it and takes the first bite of human flesh." Travis's tone was filled with the numbness of an old hunter. "As long as he takes that bite, his transformation will be completed in an instant, and his body will be completely deformed within a few hours., turned into a complete monster, and will never change back. This thing has rough skin and thick flesh, bullets can't penetrate it, and knives can't cut it. The only thing it's afraid of is fire. When I killed his father, I used a flamethrower and burned it for ten minutes before burning it to ashes."
He paused and sighed, "And our Jake is now rushing towards that road on a rocket. It won't be long before he can't hold it anymore."
"How did you find him?" Dean asked, "Looking at him now, he can barely be considered a normal person."
"This thing is inherited in the family, passed down from father to son, from generation to generation, and there is no escape." Travis's eyes flashed with a hint of complexity, "In 1978, I killed his biological father. That son of a bitch had torn apart eight people before I caught him. He was also a dentist, had a car, a house, and a beautiful wife. In the eyes of outsiders, he was a perfect good man."
"When I caught him, I had no idea that his wife was pregnant." Travis's voice was a little lower. "Later, she gave the child up for adoption. By the time I found out about it, the child had long since disappeared."
"You are the best at finding people in our industry, but you can't find a child?" Sam frowned, with a trace of confusion in his tone.
"It's not that I can't find it, it's that I don't want to." Travis shook his head and smiled bitterly, "If you ask me to hunt down a newborn child who has done nothing wrong, I can't do it. I can only wait, wait for him to grow up, wait to confirm that he has really inherited this thing, and to confirm that I didn't find the wrong person. Now it seems that I found the wrong person."
"Then what should we do now?" Dean looked at him, "Kill him directly? Get rid of him first before he transforms and harms others?"
"Wait! No!" Sam stood up suddenly, with an excited tone, "He hasn't eaten anyone yet, hasn't harmed anyone yet, he's still an innocent person! We can't just kill him! What's the difference between this and murder?"
"Innocent? Sam, he will turn into a man-eating monster soon!" Dean also stood up and looked at Sam, "By the time he eats people, it will be too late! I don't know how many innocent people will die by then! We are hunters, and our duty is to prevent this from happening!"
"Then we can warn him and help him!" Sam's voice rose a little higher. "I checked the information and there are records. Rugaru has resisted temptation all his life and has never eaten human flesh. They have lived like ordinary people all their lives! He is not destined to become a monster!"
"Boy, I've been doing this for forty years, and I've never seen anything like this." Travis shook his head, with an undeniable certainty in his tone, "This thing is engraved in the genes, just like tigers are born to eat meat, wolves are born to hunt, and he is born to eat people. You can't persuade him, and you can't help him. This is his fate."
"Life?" Sam laughed, his eyes full of dissatisfaction, "Just because he was born with this thing, he must die? Can't we even give him a chance to choose? We must at least tell him the truth, at least let him know what happened to him and let him make his own choice!"
Dean stared at Sam, looked at him for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth. "Okay, if you want to talk, we will talk. But let me tell you, Sam, this matter can only have one outcome in the end. Either he can handle it on his own and never eats people for the rest of his life, or we will kill him. There is no third way."
After Dean finished speaking, he turned around and looked at Bai Haorui, twitching his lips and saying, "It just so happens that we have an expert in playing with fire here. When the time comes, we will just burn him on fire and it will be over."
Sam stood there with an ugly face, and his fingertips were clenched and turned white. Bai Haorui walked to him and patted his shoulder gently. The movement was very gentle, but it had a comforting power.
"It's not wrong that you want to help him." Bai Haorui's voice was very soft, only two people could hear it.
"I just don't want to do something that convicts people in advance." Sam's voice was hoarse, "He hasn't done anything wrong yet, so why should he be sentenced to death?"
"You are protecting him who doesn't want to become a monster." Bai Haorui looked into his eyes and spoke calmly, "It's like you yourself have been fighting against the things in your body."
Sam froze suddenly, lowered his head, and said with unconcealable trembling in his voice, "I'm afraid... I'm afraid that I will end up like him, making one wrong step and one wrong step. I'm afraid that in the end, I will become the kind of monster that I don't even recognize."
"No." Bai Haorui said in a very firm tone, "Because you always have the right to choose. Even if fate has written the ending for you, every step you take and every choice you make is up to you. That's enough."
Sam: Even if my fate has been predestined, my choice still has meaning... right? If I really have a choice, why am I destined to live with the blood of the devil from the day I was born?
The Montgomery kitchen was lit with warm yellow lights, and Michelle was standing in front of the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables and preparing dinner. Jake walked in, his steps were sloppy, his face was pale, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. As if he couldn't control himself, he walked to the refrigerator again, opened the door, and his nose twitched like a beast. He stared at the raw meat in the refrigerator, his breathing became heavier and heavier, and his whole body was shaking slightly.
The hunger in his stomach surged like a tide, gnawing at his internal organs, and ordinary food could no longer satisfy him. He looked at the raw steak in the refrigerator, his throat kept rolling, and there was only one thought in his mind: eat it, eat everything with blood.
Suddenly, there was a soft "hissing" sound, and Michelle accidentally cut her finger while cutting vegetables. Blood gushes out instantly and drips on the white cooking table, which is particularly dazzling. She screamed in pain and subconsciously put her finger in her mouth to suck.
Jake turned around suddenly, staring at her bleeding fingers, her pupils shrank suddenly, and her breathing instantly became heavy and turbid. The muscles all over her body were tensed, and she was frozen in place. Reason and instinct were pulling wildly in her mind - a voice was screaming, rushing forward, biting open the warm flesh, and drinking the warm blood; another voice was roaring, that is your wife, you can't hurt her.
"Oh my god, the cut is too deep. I think I need stitches." Michelle pointed his finger at the faucet, grinning in pain, and completely didn't notice anything strange about Jake.
"I have to go." Jake's voice was hoarse like sandpaper, and his whole body was shaking so hard that even his teeth were chattering.
"What?" Michelle was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at him, "Jake, what's wrong with you?"
"I have to get out of here." Jake didn't look at her, his eyes still staring at her fingers, as if he was afraid that if he looked at it again, he would lose control completely.
"Where are you going? Jake, tell me, what happened?" Michelle's tone was full of worry and he took a step forward.
"Don't come here!" Jake took a step back and roared, then immediately softened his tone, with a cry in his voice, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Michelle, I can't stay here anymore."
After he finished speaking, he rushed out of the kitchen like crazy, slammed the door and ran out. Michelle was left standing alone in the kitchen, looking at the open door, with confusion and worry on his face, and tears slowly filling his eyes.
I just... I actually wanted to pounce on her just now... I actually wanted to bite Michelle's finger... What happened to me? Am I a monster? I can't hurt her, absolutely not. I have to go, as far away from her as possible.
The lights in the small town bar were dim, the loud music and voices were mixed together, and the smell of tobacco and alcohol filled the air. Jake sat in front of the bar, crazily stuffing peanuts into his mouth, and drinking whiskey one glass after another. However, the hunger in his stomach not only did not subside, but became stronger and stronger, like a wild beast charging madly inside.
His face was covered with sweat, his eyes were becoming more and more distracted, and all he could think about was Michelle's bleeding fingers, and the lingering desire for flesh and blood. He drank a large gulp of whiskey and tried to numb himself with alcohol, but the hunger became clearer and clearer, and even his Bones was clamoring for bloody meat.
"Have another drink and get me some snacks." Jake said to the bartender, his voice hoarse.
The bartender refilled his drink and pushed over a plate of peanuts. Jake picked up the wine glass, but saw his own appearance in the mirror behind the bar - his eyes were bloodshot, his face was ferocious, and his eyes were as ferocious as a beast, completely unlike a normal person. He put down his glass suddenly and froze in place, unable to believe that the monster-like person in the mirror was actually himself.
At this moment, a woman's voice of resistance came from the side. Jake turned around and saw a greasy middle-aged man blocking a woman who was drinking alone. He put his hand on her waist and smiled maliciously. The woman resisted and kept backing away, but she was blocked in the corner by the man and could not escape.
"Come on, beauty, I'll buy you a drink." The greasy man smiled obscenely, "It's boring to drink alone. Have a drink with your brother, and he will take you home."
"No, thank you. I'm waiting for my friend." The woman's tone was full of resistance and she moved to the side.
"Don't be like this, how can your friend be as interesting as your brother?" The man reached out to touch her face, "What's wrong with having a drink with me? You won't lose any meat."
"Hey, idiot."
Jake's voice suddenly sounded, hoarse and cold, with irrepressible anger. Both men and women turned their heads and looked at him.
"She said she didn't want to talk to you." Jake stood up and walked towards the greasy man step by step. The muscles all over his body were tense and the anger in his eyes almost overflowed. He himself didn't realize that an unprecedented power was slowly awakening in his body.
"Who the hell do you think you are? Are you meddling in my business?" The greasy man let go of the woman, swung his fist and hit Jake in the face with a sharp sound like the wind.
Jake subconsciously stretched out his hand and grabbed the man's fist. He didn't even exert much force when he heard a crisp "click" sound, and the man's finger bones were crushed by him.
The man let out a heart-rending scream and instantly fell to his knees on the ground. His whole body was shaking with pain and his face was pale. The bar instantly became quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on Jake.
Jake looked at his hands and was stunned, as if he couldn't believe what he had just done. He suddenly let go of his hands, took a step back, and looked at the man who was kneeling on the ground and screaming, his eyes full of fear and shock. He turned around and rushed out of the bar like crazy, forgetting to even take his coat.
How come I am so strong? I almost killed him just now... What have I become? If this continues, I will not be able to control myself... I will kill someone...
In the motel room, Dean and Travis were sitting at the table, assembling the flamethrower. The crisp sound of the collision of parts kept ringing in the room. Sam opened the door and came in. His face was still bad, and he was holding a thick stack of photocopies of ancient books in his hand. He had gone to the town library to photocopy them in the afternoon.
Bai Haorui was sitting by the window, holding a piece of fine cloth in his hand, carefully wiping the peach wood sword engraved with runes. The blade of the sword glowed with a faint golden light, and he used his own Pure Yang True Fire to refine and carefully carve the runes on it little by little. He has the ultimate restraint on evil things. His Spiritual Sense has always sensed the direction of the Montgomery family, and clearly senses that the animal nature in Jake's body is growing crazily, but his reason is still desperately resisting.
"Where have you been?" Dean raised his head and looked at Sam, his hands moving continuously.
"I went to check the information again." Sam put the information on the table and pushed it in front of the two of them. "There really was Rugaru who resisted the temptation and never ate anyone in his life. In 1989, Ohio, there was Rugaru who lived to be 87 years old and never harmed anyone until he died of old age. We can't just give him up."
Travis glanced at the information, shook his head, and continued to assemble the flamethrower nozzle, "Boy, I know you have a good heart. But in our industry, being kind will kill yourself and others. I have seen it too many times. The hunter temporarily softened his heart and let go of the monsters that had not done any evil. What happened in the end? Those monsters turned around and killed an entire family. I have seen this kind of thing too many times."
He paused, raised his head and looked at Sam, with a serious tone. "Rugaru's only way to die is to burn him. No other method can kill him. If you are soft-hearted now, you are giving future victims a death sentence in advance."
"He's right." Dean put down the parts in his hands and looked at Sam, "Sam, I know why you are so persistent in helping him. You see yourself in him, right? A good man with a monster hidden in his body."
"So what?" Sam raised his head suddenly, his eyes full of anger and grievance, and his voice suddenly rose in pitch.
"Sam, this is different."
"What's the difference?" Sam's voice trembled violently, "He was born with this thing, he didn't choose it himself! Just like me! I was born with the blood of demons, and I don't have a choice! Do I deserve to die just because of this? Do you want to kill me in advance just because of this?"
"I didn't say you deserve to die!" Dean also stood up and looked at Sam, his tone full of helplessness.
"You just said it!" Sam's roar exploded in the room, "You said that if you didn't know me, you would hunt me! In your eyes, I am a monster just like him, right?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"Then what do you mean?" Sam took a step forward and stared at Dean, "Just because he has monster genes in his body, he must die regardless of whether he harms others? What about me? Do I have to die too? Will you kill me like a dog when I lose control?"
Dean was silent and opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked at the hurt and despair in Sam's eyes, and his heart hurt like a knife, but he couldn't find the words to refute - he was really afraid, afraid that Sam would lose control, afraid that he would eventually have to face the cruelest choice.
The room fell into dead silence, with only the parts in Travis's hands occasionally making a soft sound.
"I want to go find him." Sam broke the silence with a firm tone, "I want to tell him the truth and I want to help him. If you want to kill him, kill me first."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and slammed the door out. The door was shaken and buzzed. Dean froze on the spot, looking at the open door. Finally, he sighed heavily, put down the parts in his hand, and quickly followed out.
"This kid is so kind." Travis shook his head and sighed, "A kind person will not live long in this industry."
"It's not wrong to be kind-hearted." Bai Haorui raised his head. The peach wood sword in his hand had been wiped. He sheathed the sword and said calmly, "What's wrong is to regard all people who are born with 'abnormalities' as monsters that must be eliminated. The original intention of demon hunting is to protect innocent people, not to execute all potential threats in advance."
"When you see those monsters eating people and the corpses of innocent people torn into pieces, you won't say such things." Travis picked up the beer and took a sip, with a heavy tone in his voice.
"I have seen it." Bai Haorui stood up, with a flash of golden fire in his eyes, "I have seen children torn to pieces by monsters, and corpses that have been chewed beyond recognition. But I have also seen people who try their best not to become monsters, and people who still stick to their true feelings even if they are regarded as monsters by the whole world. Their choices deserve to be respected."
After the words fell, Bai Haorui picked up the mahogany sword placed by the table, turned and walked out. Travis looked at his back, frowned, put down the beer in his hand, and said no more, but a trace of complexity flashed in his eyes.
Bai Haorui: Travis represents the most common "presumption of guilt" in the demon hunting circle. They have seen too much darkness, so they no longer believe in the light or that anyone can fight fate. But the essence of demon hunting has never been about killing, but about protecting. Dean will understand this sooner or later, and Sam will prove it with his own choices.
The night was getting darker, and in Montgomery's yard, Jake was squatting by the flower bed, watering the flowers. His actions were absent-minded, and the water in the water pipe overflowed and wet his trousers, and he didn't notice it. His whole body was still shaking uncontrollably, and his mind was filled with the image of crushing the man Bones just now, and the lingering, bone-gnawing hunger.
He knew that he was becoming a monster. But he didn't know what to do or who to ask for help.
Sam and Dean crossed the lawn and came over. Bai Haorui stood at the entrance of the courtyard and did not go in. He could not be as sincere as Sam.
"Who are you? What do you want to do?" Jake stood up suddenly, looked at the two of them warily, and tightened his grip on the water pipe in his hand.
"Mr. Montgomery, we want to talk to you." Sam took a step forward, trying to be as gentle as possible, not wanting to irritate him.
"I don't know you, get out of my yard." Jake's voice turned cold instantly, and all the muscles in his body were tense, like a frightened beast.
"Listen, Jake, we know what happened to you." Dean spoke in a direct tone, "You are always hungry, you can never fill your stomach, your strength becomes stronger and stronger, you start to lose control of your temper, and even... you start to be interested in blood and human flesh, right?"
Jake's face instantly turned pale, and the water pipe in his hand fell to the ground with a "clack", and the water spilled all over the floor, making his shoes wet. He looked at the two of them, his eyes full of shock and fear, and he stopped breathing for half a second.
"You... how do you know?" His voice trembled violently, "Are you doctors? My wife came to you?"
"We are not doctors." Sam shook his head and said calmly, "But we know what disease you have. This is not an ordinary disease, this is a genetic curse. You are Rugaru, Jake."
"Rugaru?" Jake was stunned for a moment, then his face filled with anger, "What are you talking about? I'm not a madman! I'm not mentally ill!"
"We're not talking nonsense." Dean took a step forward, "Your father was the same. He eventually turned into a man-eating monster and killed eight people in 1978."
"My father?" Jake was completely stunned, took a step back and almost fell, "I was adopted, and I don't know my biological father at all! You are lying to me!"
"We know you were adopted." Sam's tone was still gentle, "But this thing is inherited, passed down from father to son, from generation to generation. It will make you hungrier and hungrier, and eventually you will lose control of yourself and start eating people. As soon as you take the first bite of human flesh, you will completely become a monster and never come back."
"No... no, this is impossible." Jake shook his head and kept retreating, his eyes full of despair, "I am not a monster... I cannot be a monster..."
"Jake, you are not a monster." Sam spoke immediately, with a firm tone, "You can control it. There are many people like you. They have resisted temptation all their lives, never eaten people, and lived like ordinary people all their lives. You can do it too."
"But we have to tell you the truth, it's difficult." Dean took over with a serious tone, "It's like an alcoholic soaking in a whiskey barrel. You have to restrain yourself all the time and never let go. As long as you let go once, as long as you take the first bite of human flesh, everything will be over. At that time, we will have to stop you."
"Stop me?" Jake's pupils shrank suddenly, "You want to kill me?"
"As long as you don't eat people, as long as you don't hurt anyone, we won't hurt you." Sam looked into his eyes, "We are here to help you, not to kill you."
Jake looked at the two people, the emotions in his eyes surged, shock, fear, despair, anger, and finally turned into a roar of collapse.
"Get out! Get out of here!" He pointed at the door of the courtyard and roared, "I don't want to hear your nonsense! I'm not a monster! Get out of my courtyard!"
Sam and Dean looked at each other, and in the end they could only shake their heads helplessly and turned to leave. Bai Haorui nodded slightly to Jake, then turned and followed.
"Did you see it? I just said it's useless." Dean said as he walked, with a hint of expected helplessness in his tone, "He doesn't believe it at all. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to bear it."
"He believed it." Sam shook his head and said firmly, "He is just afraid. He needs time to accept it all."
"He must have believed it." Bai Haorui spoke in a calm tone, "Your words have exposed the truth that he has never dared to face. He is fighting against himself now. What we can do is to leave him enough space and don't push him. Pushing him too hard will only push him into the abyss."
"Force him?" Dean sneered, "When he goes crazy with hunger, the first thing he eats will be his wife! By then, we won't even have a chance to regret it!"
Jake: What they said was true... Everything clicked... Endless hunger, growing strength, uncontrollable temper, and thirst for blood... Am I really a monster? Would I hurt Michelle? No, absolutely not. I can't hurt her, I can't let her become the same people my father killed.
There was only one bedside lamp turned on in the bedroom, and the warm yellow light illuminated the room very softly. Michelle sat on the bed, looking at Jake who opened the door, his eyes full of worry. In the past few days, Jake had changed too much. He had become strange, irritable, and scared her, but she felt more distressed.
"Jake, what's wrong with you?" Michelle spoke in a very soft voice, "You haven't been feeling well these past few days. What did you do when you ran out? Tell me, we are husband and wife. Is there anything we can't handle together?"
Jake sat beside the bed, not daring to look at her, with his head buried low and his voice hoarse. "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Michelle moved towards him and reached out to touch his face, "Jake, look at me. What happened? Did something happen at work? Or are you sick? We can find a solution together, don't carry it alone like this, okay?"
Jake suddenly raised his head, hugged her, and started to kiss her. His movements became more and more out of control, rougher and rougher, his breathing was heavy, and his eyes were full of suppressed madness. The tip of his nose brushed against her neck, and he smelled the warm breath of blood flowing under the skin. The hunger in his stomach instantly surged up, and his teeth grinded uncontrollably. He just wanted to bite it and drink the warm blood.
"Jake! Don't do this! What's wrong with you?" Michelle was frightened by his actions and pushed him away with all his strength. His face was full of fear and hurt, and tears instantly filled his eyes.