The Demon’s Menu

Charge!

It was still that incomplete and unmastered version of charge.

Although Jason could only initiate it without retracting, at this moment, he couldn’t care less about those details—he needed to leave Ash Street as quickly as possible.

Thud thud thud!

In the midst of his boots stomping violently against the ground, Jason’s body carried a whirlwind, almost instantly arriving at the street corner.

But at that time, the being that was either manipulating or perhaps playing the melody finally came to its senses.

Anger!

It was the kind of fury that comes from being played for a fool and then being violently embarrassed!

One could say it was a genuine, complete rage, which was why when the melody rose again, it was even higher than before.

Just now, Jason had already experienced this once.

And when it happened again, he still had no room to resist.

Even worse, in fact.

Because the ‘charge’ had been terminated!

His blood went from boiling to stillness, almost instantly completing the shift from extreme motion to extreme stillness.

Thump thump thump, Jason’s temples kept throbbing, his heart beating rapidly like an engine, and then, reaching its limit, it burst!

Notifications appeared—

[Suffering a lethal attack…]

[Consuming satiety to heal…]

[3 points of satiety consumed!]

[Complete healing done!]

…

The words in front of his eyes flickered again.

With the flickering of the words, Jason, whose Qi-Blood had been tumultuous and heart had burst, came back to life again.

All discomfort vanished at that moment.

However, the melody was still playing.

Looking at the remaining 2 points of satiety and feeling his thoughts about to freeze again, Jason, who was a bit averse to eating raw, couldn’t care about these trivialities anymore and directly bit into the big whatever was in his embrace.

A smooth, slightly sweet liquid poured directly into Jason’s mouth.

Instinctively, Jason began to swallow.

It seemed…

The taste of eating it raw was also pretty good?

And the big whatever, as its juices were being sucked dry, promptly withered away.

More text appeared in front of Jason’s eyes.

[Consumed mature nightmare creature]

[Physical Strength and Energy significantly restored!]

[Satiety +25]

[Satiety: 27]

[Excitement of Feast +1]

[Excitement of Feast: 3]

…

Jason didn’t wait to read the details as his thoughts truly froze.

With his thoughts frozen and body stiff, Jason’s life signs ceased.

Death, as expected, arrived once again.

Just like another ‘resurrection’ would follow.

The next moment, Jason came back to life.

He continued to take steps forward.

But as his foot fell, death descended upon him once more.

And then, he was alive again.

Death and resurrection cycled repeatedly.

Like two sides of the same coin, twin siblings.

But more like…

An ouroboros.

Bizarre strands, because of the continuous transitions from life to death, slowly began to emerge.

Very subtle.

Jason’s perception, more than three times that of an ordinary person, could not detect it.

But the player did.

The other immediately became anxious.

The player did not want to be singled out.

Nor did it want Jason to escape.

The next moment!

The beautiful melody changed.

It became high-pitched and sharp.

Jason, who was originally able to move two or three steps before facing death, now seemed like the protagonist in an old videotape experiencing a tape jam, moving in fits and starts, stopping and starting again.

Each time was a switch between death and rebirth.

Jason was only a step away from making it out of Asher Street.

But that one step seemed insurmountable, like a chasm that was impossible to cross.

Jason was dying faster now, his satiety that had just recovered to double digits was in rapid decline.

Looking at the nearly depleted satiety, Jason raised his hand to the pocket containing the larval “Nightmare Worms.”

Just as Jason was about to replenish his satiety,

The melody stopped.

It didn’t disappear!

It was just that the part targeting him was gone!

The melody became beautiful and melodious once again, seemingly bringing a hint of sleepiness. Jason barely listened for a moment before he felt drowsiness pulling him towards sleep.

He pinched his arm firmly, driving away the sleepiness.

Once awake, Jason glanced at his feet, which were already outside Asher Street, and turned to run towards the edge of the town.

His nose still caught the faint scent coming from behind.

But Jason had no intention of searching further.

Because he could feel the presence of something that made him shudder looking in this direction.

He had felt this pressure before.

In Lorde.

On Pea Street.

He had felt similar pressure.

So he knew very well what he should do at this moment.

While sprinting, Jason glanced at his satiety, which had plummeted to zero in less than a minute. A trace of lingering fear crossed the face beneath Jason’s hockey mask.

But upon seeing the ‘Excitement of Feast’ reach 3, Jason confirmed it was worth it.

Moreover, he still had satiety left!

Feeling the five larval “Nightmare Worms” in his pocket, Jason ran even faster.

Then, he saw the corpses.

They were piled up near the city gate, clad in grey-black cloaks.

There were five in total.

Beneath the cloaks, the faces were of varying ages but all filled with astonishment.

There was only one wound: the throat!

The cuts were smooth and precise, not a fraction deeper or shallower, just enough to sever the major artery.

“Peters, huh?”

After a quick glance over the wounds, Jason’s form didn’t pause.

He had seen Peters’s dagger before, and it perfectly matched the wounds.

And when he saw Peters standing with a sword just outside the city gate, it further confirmed his suspicion.

Around Peters, two more figures dressed like members of the ‘Revival Society’ lay fallen.

Further away, many people were running, fleeing for their lives.

These were the people who had just narrowly escaped death.

“Mr. Jason.”

Without a word more, Peters opened the carriage door.

Jason got straight into the carriage.

Then—

Crack!

With the crack of the whip, the carriage sprinted away.

Just as the carriage surged up a hill, the ground suddenly trembled.

Boom!

The muffled sound was like an earthquake.

Then, a white curtain of light descended from the sky.

A figure playing a flute appeared in that light, surrounded by countless people. That beautiful melody once again reached the ears of Jason and Peters.

Only this time, although the melody was melodious, it lost its deadly attraction.

But that was only for Jason and Peters.

To those gathered around the flutist, they were already hopelessly entranced.

So much so that when the blurry figure of the flutist turned to leave, they mindlessly followed.

Their silhouettes became more distant on the curtain of light.

The figures grew smaller and smaller.

Eventually, they disappeared.

That curtain of light also faded more and more, vanishing like dissipating fog.

But at that moment, the blurred figure of the flutist reappeared.

With an image gigantic in size.

The entire figure engulfed the screen.

Then,

It tilted its head slightly, looking down at… Jason!