"Heh, you havenât considered, have you? A Level 2 Professionistâs muscles provide defensive power even better than a bulletproof vest, not to mention their protective suit! How could a weapon meant for common thugs possibly kill a Level 2 Professionist? Do you really think Professionists are made of clay?"
Sun Aotian was tongue-tied and didnât say a word.
"What about the captives?" Wen Yu asked Sun Aotian.
Sun Aotian pointed to the opposite room. "Theyâre all in there, along with three pale-faced guys. I didnât search the rest of the place too closely!"
Wen Yu nodded.
"Old Sun, go check for any survivors or anyone who might have slipped through the net."
Having just finished digging bullets out of Sun Aotian, Sun Ruixing immediately drew his weapon and headed upstairs.
"Everyone inside, come out. I have a few questions," Wen Yuâs calm voice echoed.
A defiant shout came from inside the room.
"If youâve got the guts, you damn well come in! I still have aâ"
Then, the sound of a steel saber slicing through flesh.
"You, you..."
"Yes, itâs me! Now hurry up and die, you bastard!"
A brief commotion erupted inside, then quickly died down.
The door opened, and a figure emerged.
Wen Yu sat down at the large table in the room and asked directly, "What happened?"
"Heh, just bad luck. I really screwed up this time, completely screwed," the speaker, Li Quanâan, said.
Wen Yu tossed a cigarette to Li Quanâan, his gaze taking in Li Quanâanâs pale face and the grenade he clutched. "Speak. What happened? How did you end up in such a state?"
"Got a light?"
After Li Quanâan lit his cigarette, faint smoke filled the room as he slowly began to tell the story of these Cannibals.
"These people used to be in Chaihe Town. Their camp was at the town hall.
"Then the Corpse King appeared and drove them out. They fled to a cellar. It was supposed to be a pre-planned escape route, but something unexpected happened!"
"So a mutant bear blocked your path?"
Li Quanâan looked at Wen Yu in surprise. "How did you know?"
"I had Cyclops check it out, but the trail for these people went cold there. Cyclops couldnât pick up their scent."
Li Quanâan gave a bitter smile and explained, "No wonder Cyclops couldnât pick up their scent. If you donât believe me, have him smell me."
At a look from Wen Yu, Cyclops stepped forward and sniffed Li Quanâan vigorously. After sniffing for more than ten seconds, Cyclops looked at Wen Yu in confusion and shook his head.
Cyclops hadnât smelled anything. These Cannibals had no scent!
Wen Yu was surprised. "No scent? No wonder Cyclops couldnât track them! Isnât that a good thing?"
There are many things that can mask scent, but most have a limited duration. To permanently hide oneâs scent would require at least a C-Class ability!
"If that were all, of course, it would be a good thing! But the downsides of becoming a Cannibal are far greater!"
Seeing Wen Yu nod thoughtfully, Li Quanâan directly recounted the tragic fate of the Cannibals.
"I was leading my men out of the camp when a ray of light attracted us here. Only after entering did we realize... these people ate human flesh!
"But our strength was no match for them; we had no way to resist. My two subordinates were eaten by them right then and there.
"Then they gave me a choice: eat human flesh, or be eaten!"
"Was there a choice?" Li Quanâanâs question hung in the air, leaving Wen Yu silent.
Slowly shaking his head, Wen Yu gave his answer. "No. You did nothing wrong."
"Haha." Li Quanâan gave a wretched laugh and spoke again. "At first, I hesitated. After all, they were my subordinates. But then I thought, theyâre already dead, so whatâs the harm in eating a few pieces of their flesh?"
Li Quanâanâs tone became increasingly grim.
"It was raw flesh! Freshly cut from their bodies!
"The first bite was disgustingâwarm and greasy! The metallic tang of blood was overpowering. Honestly, I had to force that first piece down! Especially with their corpses lying right in front of me... I almost broke down!
"But I had no choice. After I swallowed the first piece, they gave me a second.
"Humans... once you cross your own moral boundary, you lose all boundaries!
"So I ate the second piece. Then the third! And the fourth!
"I never knew I could eat so much! I ate and ate... I donât know how much. It wasnât until they untied me that I realized...
"I had become one of them!"
Li Quanâanâs words were simply him venting.
Listening to Li Quanâanâs story, Wen Yu stubbed out his cigarette and patted Li Quanâanâs shoulder. "And then?"
Li Quanâan calmed himself and addressed the issue Wen Yu was most concerned about.
"Then, things changed!
"My Profession was stripped away, and my skills were gone too. Apart from my basic physical fitness, all my other abilities vanished!
"Cannibals... thatâs just your term for us," Li Quanâan said. "We call ourselves... the Forgotten!
"Because weâve been forgotten by the Exchange Stone Pillar!
"We became monsters. Killing zombies earns no points, and we canât use the Exchange Stone Pillar. We even find normal human food difficult to swallow. We can only survive by eating human flesh!
"To become stronger, thereâs only one path: eating human flesh! Eating human flesh can enhance our physical fitness.
"If we donât eat human flesh, we starve. If we starve, we canât get stronger. And if we donât get stronger, weâll die sooner or later anyway. What choice do we have?
"Itâs a dead end. A vicious cycle!"
Li Quanâan took a deep drag from his cigarette and looked at Wen Yu calmly.
"So, kill me."
Li Quanâan stated his final request.
At that moment, Sun Ruixing came downstairs, leading a few individuals referred to as "meat pigs." Sun Ruixing had overheard much of Li Quanâanâs story. His expression was complicated, showing a hint of regret.
Wen Yu looked at Li Quanâanâs pale face, and a slow smile spread across his own.
"Actually, you donât have to present me with such a thorny problem.
"The most important question is, what do *you* think?"
Li Quanâan was taken aback. "Isnât your purpose in coming here to kill all of us cannibalistic monsters?"
Wen Yu smiled and shook his head. "Look, as you just said, youâre all just a group of pitiful people. And the ones who were actually *eating* people... werenât they already dealt with by Sun Aotian?
"Now, out of consideration for the bond weâve formed on this journey, Iâll give the choice to you.
"If you feel that death is preferable to eating human flesh, Iâll kill you.
"But if you believe that you still want to liveâno matter how, no matter what you have to eat to surviveâthen you can leave."