Chaos shrouded the night, amidst the ruins of a ruined temple, a silver-haired girl with a fox tail knelt among the broken bricks, stuffing spoiled vegetable leaves found in a garbage bag into her mouth while Yu Sheng, who had died three times already, stood behind a crumbling wall, staring dumbfounded at her opposite.
Thus, they faced off silently across the dark night, and for such an initial encounter (not counting the previous headbutt), it's a scene Yu Sheng would likely never forget in his lifetime.
Then, he saw the fox-tailed girl's eyes gradually widen, a profound astonishment and delight—perhaps mixed with a bit of disbelief—filled her golden-red eyes. She finally stood up, still clutching a handful of vegetable leaves, and then as if suddenly awakened, she lifted a hand, pointed at Yu Sheng with a voice on the brink of choking, "Human?! Ah, human! Are you a human?! You... who are you? Where are you from..."
Yu Sheng had already thought out his opening remarks, including how to introduce himself and how to inquire about the situation with the girl, as well as express his broad-mindedness about the "favor" of that previous head bump. However, he was stunned as soon as the other party spoke. The words he had prepared in his mind were mostly forgotten, feeling that her reaction seemed quite different from what he had expected.
What does "you are a human" mean? Is being human such a shock to her? Has she never seen a human or has it been too long since she last saw one? And more importantly...
Whether it's an illusion or a misunderstanding, Yu Sheng always felt that her reaction was as if seeing him for the first time, even though she had already seen him during his fight with that monster. Of course, their way of meeting might be a bit creative, with her headbutt causing Yu Sheng's overall silhouette to now appear quite different, but nonetheless, at least his face hadn't changed much before and after...
Even if the girl hadn't examined the crime scene carefully after bumping into him, she should at least have some impression of the soul who had passed away beneath her head, rather than acting like seeing a "stranger" for the first time.
"We... have met before," Yu Sheng held back for two or three seconds before he couldn't help but speak up, "Just now, outside in the clearing, you said you came to save me... forgotten?"
The fox girl tilted her head, seemingly clueless about what Yu Sheng was talking about, but soon her attention shifted elsewhere. She pointed at the bag of kitchen trash on the ground, her eyes glimmering in the night like they were lit up, "Is this, yours?"
She spoke with a strange cadence, as if she hadn't communicated with people for a long time, each word being carefully thought over and recalled before being spoken.
With a peculiar tone, Yu Sheng said, "Uh, yes..."
"Can I, eat it?" asked the fox girl quickly, stuttering slightly. Then, she clenched the vegetable leaves in her hand more tightly, as if by immense will she was fighting the urge to shove them straight into her mouth. Her mouth moved, chewing the food she'd just eaten, then looked at Yu Sheng again and hurriedly asked, "I'm, hungry, I want to eat, sorry..."
Her hands trembled slightly, her tone urgent, yet she always restrained herself with willpower, as if she was suppressing not just her hunger but something more dangerous... something on the verge of loss of control.
Yu Sheng felt a sense of trance, as if he just saw faint shadows floating behind her, creeping slowly from afar like a hunter lurking in the dark, waiting for the prey's moment of mental relaxation.
But the shadows dissipated just as quickly.
Yu Sheng stepped out from behind the wall, having sensed something off about the girl in front of him (although her tangled tail was in itself odd), but still boldly approached her, "Those things aren't edible, they're all..."
He found it difficult to continue—because he had never been this hungry before.
Meanwhile, the girl slowly squatted down, seemingly unable to wait for Yu Sheng's response as she began picking up the strewn food from the ground.
"Wait! I think I have some food!" Just then, Yu Sheng suddenly called out loudly to the girl opposite him. It seemed as if he remembered something and rapidly searched through his clothing pockets.
In the end, he pulled out two wrapped small buns and a palm-sized piece of chocolate, his intended midnight snack.
Due to work, he was accustomed to staying up late at night.
The fox girl watched Yu Sheng's motions with a hint of wariness and confusion. Approaching her, Yu Sheng demonstrated how to tear open the bread's wrapper—the scent of bread wafting out as the plastic was torn, instantly brightening the girl's eyes. Then, almost in a blur, she grabbed Yu Sheng's hand, shoving it along with the bread into her mouth.
Yu Sheng barely had time to react. The girl was not only quick but also surprisingly strong. He nearly exhausted all his strength to pull his arm back before his fingers were bitten off by the fox, and even then, his index finger was still grazed by her sharp canine teeth, blood seeping out quickly.
"Geez, how long have you been hungry..." he couldn't help but murmur.
But the girl seemed entirely deaf to the sounds around her, stuffing food into her mouth rapidly as if wanting to shove it all directly into her stomach, her cheeks bulging with each chew, her eyes widening. Yu Sheng even worried she might choke to death the next second, but she forcefully swallowed the food in her mouth, then her gaze fell on another bun.
"Take it easy, catch your breath first, you'll choke like this," Yu Sheng had to block her, looking into the girl's eyes earnestly as he spoke, "Alright? Do you understand?"
"I, understand..." The fox girl nodded vigorously, trying hard to swallow her saliva.
Only then did Yu Sheng hand over the second piece of bread, watching the girl clumsily tear at the plastic packaging—her technique was wrong, but her strength was astonishing, almost instantly tearing the plastic bag to shreds, then pulling the bread in half and stuffing it into her mouth. But after stuffing half, it seemed she remembered Yu Sheng's words, or realized the preciousness of the food, and hastily slowed down, carefully tearing the bread into small pieces and restraining herself as she placed them into her mouth.
Meanwhile, her gaze kept darting to what was in Yu Sheng's hand, landing on the last small piece of chocolate.
"This is choco..." Yu Sheng casually said, preparing to pass the chocolate over, but he hesitated and stopped halfway, his expression becoming somewhat strange.
He quickly pondered for several seconds, finally calling out to Erin in his mind: "Erin."
The voice of the person in the painting boomed instantly in his mind: "Yu Sheng! What just happened? Why did you suddenly go silent, and why didn't you respond no matter how much I called ..."
"My situation here is complicated, I'll explain it to you later, now I need to ask you something..."
"You... alright, ask." Erin's voice carried a displeased tone, but she eventually showed reluctant patience.
"Dogs can't eat chocolate, right?" Yu Sheng suppressed the weird feeling in his heart, sneaking a glance at the expectant fox girl opposite him, trying to sound as serious as possible.
"...Right," Erin felt the question was out of the blue, "that stuff is toxic to dogs. But why are you asking this all of a sudden? You're trapped in the Exotic Realm and still have time for this..."
Yu Sheng ignored her ongoing ramblings: "Can foxes eat it?"
"Foxes probably shouldn't be able to... either?" Erin hesitated a bit, "After all, they are also part of the canine family. Look, many human foods are poisonous to species other than humans. To put it this way, with your human menu, it's not just a crazy idea to animals, but to an 'Alien Species' like me it's basically like ingesting toxins with strong alkalis, gulping down acids with every meal, having biochemical drugs run through your guts, and feasting on decaying substances..."
Yu Sheng once again interrupted the lengthy rambles of the chatterbox: "What about a fox that has Cultivated into a Spirit?"
Erin was finally at a loss for words: "…What?"
It turned out that even a talkative chatterbox couldn't stand up to such an insane shift in the topic.
"I mean, a fox that has transformed into a human form, like a Fox Deity, a Fox Demon, you know?" Yu Sheng rapidly conveyed his thoughts in his mind, because he noticed that the fox girl in front of him was almost finished with the small piece of bread and was eyeing the chocolate in his hand, ready to snatch it away. "Does a Fox Deity still count as a fox? Is it more human or more fox? If it's the latter, does a Fox Deity still belong to the canine family?"
Erin: "... What exactly is happening on your end?!"
"I've got a fox here who is nearly starving, white fur, red eyes, nine tails... might be six or seven, they're all knotted up so it's hard to count, but all I have left is a piece of chocolate."
Erin listened in confusion and then with impressive adaptability threw in a comment: "If it's got nine tails then it should be fine, right? If it doesn't even have that much Cultivation Level, what's the point of growing so many tails, to use as propellers when swimming? Wait, wait, what's actually going on over there? Wasn't it supposed to be an uninhabited Exotic Realm? How did a..."
Feeling that the first part of Erin's response made a lot of sense, Yu Sheng didn't wait to answer her further questions and handed the chocolate to the girl across from him, but he didn't forget to warn her: "Here, you can eat this, but it's best to eat a little first to test it, I'm worried it might be bad for your health."
"Thank... thank you!" The fox girl hurriedly took the chocolate, awkwardly unwrapping it before carefully taking a bite.
Surprise showed on her face, followed by a slight narrowing of her eyes, as if she was immersed in immense happiness.
"That's it, I don't have any more for you," Yu Sheng said, shaking his head and spreading his hands, "I don't know if it's enough to fill you... um, I also don't know how to address you."
"Thank you," the fox girl said again, more earnestly than before. After feeling less hungry, she finally looked Yu Sheng in the eyes, lifted her hand, and pointed to herself with a serious expression, "Hu Li."
"Ah?" Yu Sheng didn't quite catch on at first.
"Hu Li," the fox girl pointed at herself, slowly smiling, "I, have a name!"