Hunger

Falling, tossed upward, then falling once more, repeating the endless cycle amid sheer cold and void. His thoughts were churned into a tangled mess, chaotic perceptions gouging at his mind like sharp knives until consciousness nearly gave out. Only then did a sensation akin to suddenly breaking free from drowning finally wash over him, jolting Yu Sheng awake from that cold, dark, infinite plunge. He bolted upright in bed, instantly lost his balance, and tilted sideways, nearly tumbling onto the floor. At the last second, he grabbed the corner of the nightstand and barely steadied himself, his head spinning wildly. A sharp, relentless throbbing pain made him wonder if his brain were actually boiling. Fortunately, the sensation did not linger much longer. Once he was fully awake, the unbearable feelings in his head faded away like the dream itself, leaving behind only an unpleasant impression. Yu Sheng sat on the edge of the bed and drew a few ragged breaths. Looking out the window, he saw the setting sun dipping toward the rooftops of the distant city district, the sky dimming shade by shade. "...An entire day has gone by..." he muttered in surprise. Using the nightstand for support, he stood up, walked over to the desk, poured a cup of water, and gulped it down. He patted his cheeks, trying to shake the lethargy from that restless sleep, before leaving the bedroom and heading down to the ground floor. "I really didn't expect your 'violent awakening' to feel this awful," Yu Sheng complained to the oil painting on the dining table the moment he entered the dining room. "I figured it'd just be a dizzy spell or a racing heart at most. Good grief, the second my eyes popped open, I almost threw up last year's New Year's Eve dinner..." He finished venting, yet Irene did not fire back with her usual stream of chatter. Instead, she was uncharacteristically quiet. Sensing something amiss, Yu Sheng turned toward the painting on the table, only to see Irene slumped like a malfunctioning machine on the red velvet-draped chair. Clutching her teddy bear, she stared blankly toward the upper corner, her eyes rolling occasionally before she leaned over to dry-heave. Yu Sheng said, "...How did your 'violent awakening' manage to wreck you this badly too?" Irene glanced up at him. She was about to speak when another wave of nausea surged—yet as a doll sealed away for who knew how many years, let alone last year's dinner, she did not even have stomach acid (in fact, Yu Sheng doubted she had a stomach at all). All she could do was drape herself over the edge of the chair in utter misery, retching so violently it looked as though her head might shake off at any second. It took a good while for the unfortunate doll to catch her breath. She looked up at Yu Sheng and wheezed, "I didn't 'wake' the two of us up. You did." Yu Sheng blinked. "...Huh?" "That final shout of yours startled the fox awake! I didn't even have time to react!" Irene cried, full of indignation. "Why did you have to yell so loud?!" Yu Sheng stood there dazed, but he gradually grasped her meaning and scratched his hair in embarrassment. "I didn't know. I just wanted to warn Hu Li. She seemed to be in a really dangerous state." "Well, your gut was right about that," Irene said, but then let out a gag and leaned over the chair once more. After dry-heaving twice, she caught her breath and glared at him peevishly. "Fine. The good news is that you managed to wake her before she sank any deeper. Even though she ejected the two of us in the process, she should be able to stay lucid for a little while." Yu Sheng walked over, pulled out a chair beside the dining table, and sat opposite Irene, his expression turning serious. "And the bad news?" Irene did not answer immediately. After several seconds of silence, she gave a slight nod. "You've probably guessed it—she can't hold out much longer." Yu Sheng frowned and said nothing. Yes, he had indeed sensed it. He had felt it back when they were trapped in the valley—that hunger and madness buried deep in Hu Li's soul, spreading and eroding like some festering blight. Though he hadn't known what it was at first, during his final confrontation with that flesh monster, he had realized that "hunger" was far from simple. And what he had witnessed in the depths of the dream had merely given him a clearer grasp of Hu Li's condition. "If you want to help that fox, you'd better act soon," Irene said from the side. "The thing beguiling her is trying to turn her into some kind of... 'nourishment.' Killing isn't its goal; 'madness born of hunger' is what it truly craves. It's incredible that her willpower has held out this long, but the longer she endures, the greater the 'nourishment' she'll provide when the 'conversion' happens... Things will get troublesome. Very, very troublesome." Yu Sheng listened, his face dark as water, piecing Irene's description together with what he already knew. Suddenly, something struck him, and he looked up at the frame opposite him. "Irene," he said solemnly, "do you... know something? About that valley, and what's inside it?" Irene hesitated. She shook her head at first, but then gave a gentle nod. "I don't remember most of it, including what that valley is all about. But the situation that fox is dealing with rings a bell. I must have read records on it before." She paused with a frown, seemingly straining to dredge up useful details from her fragmented memories. "...Entity-Hunger. I think that was its name," Irene said as she recalled. "A high-hazard entity of distinct malice. It manifests in cordoned-off zones, poisoning the environment and spreading hunger. It's plenty aggressive on its own, but far more dangerous is its 'influence.' Anyone who draws its attention falls into a terrible hunger, their willpower tested to the absolute limit. I can't recall specific incidents, only that... it was extremely dangerous and harmed many people. And worse still..." Irene trailed off, looking straight into Yu Sheng's eyes. "Hunger turns people into beasts, devouring both dignity and life. Almost no one can withstand it. And those who fall become part of Entity-Hunger, unendingly." Listening to Irene's explanation, the expression on Yu Sheng's face tightened, a heavy weight pressing down on his chest. Right then, another thought abruptly struck him— When he clashed with that flesh monster, the overwhelming urge to feed that had risen from the depths of his heart! Could he have been affected by "Hunger" too?! Yu Sheng's heart clenched, and he spoke rapidly, "Wait, what are the primary 'symptoms' after falling under the influence of 'Hunger'?" Irene gave him an odd look. "...'Hunger,' obviously." "That's not what I mean. I'm saying..." Yu Sheng waved his hands hastily, searching for the right words. "For instance, when I saw that monster, I really wanted to take a bite out of it. I even thought it tasted pretty good, and I stir-fried two dishes with it after coming back. Could that kind of reaction be the result of 'Hunger'?" Irene's expression visibly went blank. Her mind immediately leaped to the "local specialty" Yu Sheng had brought home, along with that colorfully fragrant spread of four dishes and a soup. "Right... oh, right, you ate it..." the doll mumbled, but then she snapped to her senses and her tone abruptly shifted. "Wait! Of course not! The influence of Entity-Hunger makes you go crazy with starvation so you gnaw on other people, not on it! It doesn't bait people into madness by turning itself into chum!" Irene's outburst startled Yu Sheng, but he immediately realized she made complete sense. Although hunger and appetite were closely linked, when applied to "foreign domains" and "entities" governed by strict rules, they were two distinct concepts with clear boundaries. Especially when an entity possessed active malice, its influence would strictly follow its underlying rules. Put plainly, if Yu Sheng had truly fallen under the influence of "Hunger" in that valley, he should have tried to gnaw on Hu Li—not on the monster that was the source of the temptation. Of course, when he first took a bite out of that monster, there had been a fair bit of reluctance involved, but that didn't need mentioning. At this thought, Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that he had not been tainted by that bizarre entity. He also remembered feeling a normal sense of fullness after eating before bed, which settled his mind even further. He let out a long breath. "That's a relief. Looks like I'm pretty normal after all." Irene stared dumbly at his words and muttered under her breath, "No, I think working up an appetite for that thing in the first place is already abnormal..." Yu Sheng waved it off dismissively and moved on to the next topic. "So, that abstract-looking but rather tasty monster is Entity-Hunger, right? If we kill it, Hu Li can break free from its influence—I know entities can't be destroyed permanently; I mean putting it down temporarily." "Actually... I'm not sure," Irene answered with some hesitation. "'Hunger' is a rather unusual entity. The monster you saw was its 'manifestation,' but as I understand it, the true 'Hunger' actually permeates the entire valley. Do you get what I mean? What you saw was merely a 'tentacle' it extended to forage and perceive its surroundings. Its true body... just like its name, is the hunger pervasive throughout the valley." Yu Sheng listened, his expression gradually going blank. Yes, he understood. "Holy shit, a rule-based entity?!"