CHAPTER 325: CHAPTER 6-2

"There is a possibility he ate it but hasn’t been infected," Yang Qi said in a deep voice.

The probability of being infected by consuming the cursed creature is high, but it’s not a hundred percent.

"One more thing... oh, it’s mealtime, Mr. Liu, turn the camera thirty degrees to the left," the researcher tapped the shoulder of the colleague sitting in front of the control console.

Yang Qi glanced at her watch; it was nine-fifty in the morning, clearly not mealtime.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, he needs to eat every twenty minutes," the researcher evidently noticed Yang Qi’s action of looking at her watch, "When I say mealtime, I mean his feeding time."

As the camera moved, the group finally noticed that in this lavishly decorated room, more than half of the space was occupied by a dozen iron racks, each hung with several slabs of processed pork, beef, and lamb.

If one half of the room could be considered a top-tier mansion, then the other half was completely a meat processing plant workshop.

"This can’t be right, guys." Ye Jiu was speechless, "You just hang the meat in his room? With your capability, processing the meat and preserving it, and then delivering it to him directly when he wants to eat should be a breeze, right?"

"This involves another of his quirks, which I was just about to mention before I was interrupted," the researcher continued, "He has a very strong sense of crisis regarding food shortage. He must constantly see enough food in his view; otherwise, he’ll fall into a state of anxiety and agitation. We’ve tried setting up a window in his room that automatically dispenses food, but it didn’t work."

"Wow, this is even more ridiculous than the most obsessive anti-survivalists on the forums," Ye Jiu muttered, "I’m really curious about his experiences in the Surrendered Area now... By the way, has he ever mentioned any of this?"

"Never," the researcher shook his head regretfully, "Regarding that period, he has never mentioned it... and we don’t dare to take any forceful measures against him."

"Haven’t tried other methods?" Yang Qi glanced at the researcher, "For instance... hypnosis?"

"Of course, we’ve tried. We invited a very famous hypnotist, but during the hypnosis process, Li Junwen suddenly went berserk, grabbed the hypnotist’s neck, and bit off a large piece of flesh from her face... If the security personnel hadn’t rushed in immediately, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"Uh, allow me to interrupt..." Ye Jiu suddenly chimed in, "Did he swallow the piece he bit off the hypnotist’s face?"

The researcher nodded: "He ate it."

"Hiss... he even eats people?"

"That’s why I was surprised when I received the document from above," the researcher sighed, "The difficulty of your mission lies not in obtaining permission to pick him up, nor in how to transport him to the mission site... The greatest difficulty lies in communicating with him."

"I just think it’s hard," Ye Jiu shook his head repeatedly, "This person won’t even talk about his experiences in the Surrendered Area, he surely has severe PTSD... If we tell him we’re taking him back to the Surrendered Area, this guy would probably jump up and fight us to the death, right?"

At this moment, Li Junwen in the surveillance footage had already started eating—a rack with half a slab of pork had moved in front of him. Under the rapid and precise slicing of the laser knife, pieces of slightly charred raw meat fell into a metal plate that had been prepared long ago. Li Junwen struggled to sit up, grabbed the pieces of meat, and impatiently shoved them into his mouth.

"Eating raw pork, that’s something," Ye Jiu mocked.

Although the raw pork provided by Dubhe Tower certainly didn’t have parasites like pork tapeworms, the taste and texture of raw pork is just awful to imagine. Yet Li Junwen seemed to be enjoying it as if it were the best food in the world... towards the end, he even directly lunged at the half slab of pork and started gnawing on it with his teeth.

Watching him greedily suck the blood oozing from the raw meat, everyone couldn’t help but feel a chill.

"Actually... we don’t necessarily have to let him lead the way," Yang Qi hesitated to say, "As long as we can obtain some valuable information from him, this trip wouldn’t be in vain."

"Getting some valuable information from his mouth..." the researcher gave a bitter smile, "We’ve been working on this for twenty years but still haven’t made any progress."

"Can he communicate like a normal person?" Wang Xiyi suddenly stood up and asked.

"He can when he’s full," the researcher nodded.

"I’ll go in and have a talk with him," Wang Xiyi said.

"I’ll go in with you," Yang Qi also stood up immediately, unobtrusively reaching out to hold Wang Xiyi’s fist.

···

Just like usual, when Li Junwen had finished eating and comfortably laid down again, the password door on one side of the room suddenly opened. A tall figure with curved horns on her head and a long tail dragging behind her—a beautiful woman—walked in, followed by a female researcher wearing a white coat and goggles.

"Who... Who are you?" Li Junwen was evidently a little afraid upon seeing Wang Xiyi at first, but his fear seemed to ease upon seeing Yang Qi following behind her, "And the researcher... what do you intend to do? What about the researchers managing me? Where are they?"

"We’re from Tianfu City, and we want to talk to you about some things." The two women sat down on the sofa opposite Li Junwen.

"If it’s about those things, then forget it." Li Junwen’s gaze shifted to the wall on one side, "I forgot, I can’t remember at all."

"Really?" Wang Xiyi’s fingertips ignited a ghostly blue flame.

The temperature in the room sharply increased.

"You’re a Hunter, aren’t you? They’re planning to make you force me to open up?" Li Junwen suddenly chuckled, "It’s useless... I’ve really forgotten. Even if you kill me, it won’t work."

"You know, the human brain has a protection mechanism that automatically forgets unpleasant memories," Yang Qi said calmly, "But this ’forgetting’ needs to be in quotes because you haven’t truly forgotten them but instead stored them deep within your mind... I think, I might find a way to help you recall them."

"Then you’d better kill me; I’m not afraid of death." Li Junwen had evidently gone through a dialogue like this countless times, "When I surrendered, I had already prepared myself for execution. You say, what do I have to be afraid of now... I also know, I’m very abnormal now... Ha, do I look like a normal person to you? Binge-eating, eating raw meat, drinking blood, losing control when I can’t see piles of food... Do you think I don’t know I’m abnormal? I know, I know too well! But I just can’t control myself! Hehe... maybe killing me would be a relief for me."

"Damn it, what a tough nut," Ye Jiu couldn’t help but curse in the surveillance room.

"You’re not afraid of death." Wang Xiyi asked.

"Not afraid."

"Then are you afraid of hunger..." Wang Xiyi asked again.

"... Not afraid," Li Junwen hesitated for a few seconds before answering.

"Might as well starve me to death," He added after a while, "That would also be a release."

"Then are you afraid that we’ll take you back to that place?" Wang Xiyi asked lastly.

This time, Li Junwen’s expression finally changed.

A deep fear surfaced in his eyes.