"Dad… I'm so hungry…"
The little girl was frighteningly thin. Her patched-up clothes hung in tatters, and the outlines of her ribs stood out with cruel clarity.
The man forced the corner of his mouth up. With his back to her, he wore a bitter smile.
"Tomorrow… tomorrow Dad will find—"
Thud.
As if starved into fainting, a little boy—just as skeletal—collapsed onto the floor. Only his abdomen rose and fell faintly.
"Klein…"
The man wanted to rush forward and lift the child up, but a body weakened by prolonged hunger refused to obey. He couldn't turn his intent into action—he'd already been starved to the point he couldn't even straighten his back.
Seven days.
A full seven days without food. The scorching pain in his stomach clung to his gut, making it impossible to concentrate on thinking.
Even a Taboo Hunter couldn't come out unscathed after disobeying the Nest's orders.
Being slaughtered by the combat specialists of R Corp might have been the easiest ending people like them could hope for.
"Maybe… maybe this is fine."
Trembling, the man pulled a photograph from his pocket.
A family portrait.
A man. A woman. A boy. A girl.
All smiling—so brightly.
"We have to live."
…
"Whew… I'm so full."
The girl let out a long breath. For the first time, a trace of color returned to her sallow, hollow cheeks.
"Yeah—haha! Dad promised you! Not just food… but meat, too!"
"But… where's big brother…"
The man froze. As if something occurred to him, he split into a grin.
"Klein will—forever and ever—be with us!"
…
The Head Chef jolted awake from his sleep.
From that day on, the nightmares never stopped.
Countless times, he dreamed of his adorable children. He would reach out to touch them—only for them to shatter into bubbles the instant contact was made, dissolving into dust.
"I have to live."
In Alley 23, cannibalism and "bad habits" were words that could never coexist.
If everyone does something and you don't, then you are the aberration.
And aberrations don't get to live.
If you want to live, you have to prove you're one of them.
The Head Chef did it well.
He had once been an outsider. He had once been a resident of the Nest.
He had once been a senior executive of a Wing. His wife had been a Wing's Taboo Hunter. They had a son and a daughter.
They were happy.
Once.
A bird that soars in the sky cherishes its wings—constantly grooming its feathers.
They became the feathers that were cleaned away.
…
The Head Chef rose from his bed and worked his joints; an ear-grating crackle sounded.
The nightmares didn't affect him. His mind belonged to cooking, and cooking alone.
Life was precious.
Every dish served at Xinxu Garden demanded ingredients chosen with care.
Marinate them in intense emotion. Cook them with exquisite technique.
Greed, rage, sorrow, despair… negative emotions were the finest seasonings.
The Head Chef had never tried to see what kind of result positive emotions might produce.
This was a new attempt.
A new flavor.
"The heat's just right."
…
Ke Ming lay sprawled on the bed. The soft mattress was indulgent and comfortable—an experience no one in the Backstreets could afford.
He'd had a nightmare.
He dreamed of his past-life boss. His coworkers.
Meek and cringing, head bowed, running around serving tea and water.
That was life.
For a raise. For promotion. For a better life—bending the knee wasn't shameful.
Ke Ming understood it perfectly.
Smooth, worldly, socially fluent.
But life isn't something you can fool just because you compromise.
The company wouldn't keep him. Friends avoided him like the plague.
Family?
They regretted having a son like him.
Luckily, it was only a dream.
Now, Ke Ming had a new life.
-------
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