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He sat up abruptly in bed, but immediately lost his balance. His body tilted, nearly sending him tumbling to the floor. At the last moment, he grabbed the edge of the bedside table, barely managing to steady himself as his head swam.

A sharp, persistent throbbing made him wonder if his brain was actually boiling.

Thankfully, the sensation didn’t last long. Once he truly woke up, the unbearable feelings in his head faded like remnants of a dream, leaving only a lingering, unpleasant impression.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Yu Sheng took a few deep breaths. He looked out the window and saw the sun gradually sinking towards the rooftops of the distant city. The sky was growing darker by the minute.

“An entire day has passed…” he muttered in surprise. Supporting himself on the bedside table, he stood up. He went to the desk, poured himself a glass of water, and gulped it down. Then he slapped his face lightly, trying to shake off the unrest from his fitful sleep. Leaving the bedroom, he headed downstairs.

As soon as he entered the dining room, Yu Sheng began to complain to the oil painting on the table. “I never thought that ‘abrupt awakening’ would feel this awful. I figured I’d just be a bit dizzy or have my heart race for a while. But man, when I opened my eyes, I almost threw up last year’s New Year’s dinner…”

He finished venting, but Irene didn’t respond with her usual snarky remarks. Instead, she was unusually quiet. Sensing something was off, Yu Sheng turned to look at the painting. He saw Irene slumped in the chair draped with a red velvet blanket, hugging a teddy bear and staring blankly upwards. Occasionally, her eyes would shift, followed by her standing up to retch.

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “How did your ‘abrupt awakening’ end up making you feel so awful too?”

Irene glanced at him. Just as she was about to speak, another wave of nausea hit her. But as a doll sealed who knows how many years ago, she didn’t even have stomach acid, let alone New Year’s dinner. (In fact, Yu Sheng doubted she even had a stomach.) So she could only lean over the chair, feeling miserable, dry heaving as if her head might fall off any second.

After a long while, the unfortunate doll finally caught her breath. She looked up at Yu Sheng, her voice weak. “It wasn’t me who ‘woke’ us up—it was you.”

“Uh… what?” Yu Sheng was puzzled.

“You scared that fox awake with your last shout. I didn’t even have time to react!” Irene looked aggrieved. “Why did you have to yell so loudly?”

Yu Sheng blinked, but he quickly grasped what she meant. Scratching his head awkwardly, he said, “I didn’t know. I just wanted to warn Foxy. I felt her state was dangerous.”

“Well, your instincts were spot on,” Irene said, before leaning over to gag again. After dry heaving a couple of times, she caught her breath and gave Yu Sheng an exasperated look. “Fine. The good news is you managed to wake that fox before she sank any deeper. Though she ended up ‘bouncing’ the two of us out when she woke up, she should be clear-headed for a while.”

Yu Sheng walked over and pulled out a chair opposite Irene at the dining table. His expression grew serious. “And the bad news?”

For a moment, Irene said nothing. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded slightly. “You probably guessed it—she can’t hold on much longer.”

Yu Sheng frowned but remained silent.

Yes, he had felt it. Trapped in that valley, he sensed the deep-seated hunger and madness buried within Foxy, something like a festering parasite spreading incessantly. At first, he didn’t know what it was, but during their final confrontation with that flesh-and-blood monster, he realized that this ‘hunger’ was not as simple as it seemed.

What he had just witnessed in the depths of the dream only gave him a clearer understanding of Foxy’s situation.

“If you want to help that fox, you’d better act quickly,” Irene said from beside him. “Something is luring her, trying to turn her into some kind of… ‘nourishment.’ That thing doesn’t aim to kill; it’s the madness born from hunger that it wants. The fact that she’s held out this long shows incredible willpower, but the longer she resists, the more… ‘nutrients’ she’ll provide when the ‘transformation’ occurs. Things will get troublesome—very, very troublesome.”

Yu Sheng listened intently, his face growing increasingly grim. He mentally filled in the gaps based on what Irene described and what he knew so far. Suddenly, he sensed something and looked up at the painting across from him.

“Irene,” he said seriously, “do you… know something? About that valley and what’s in it?”

Irene hesitated for a moment. First, she shook her head, but then she gave a slight nod.

“I don’t remember most things, including what’s really going on with that valley. But the situation that fox is experiencing—I seem to recall something about it. I think I’ve read related materials before.”

She paused, frowning as if trying hard to dredge up useful information from her fragmented and incomplete memories.

“An entity called ‘Hunger’—I think that’s its name,” Irene said slowly. “It’s a highly dangerous entity with clear malicious intent. It manifests in sealed-off areas where the environment becomes toxic and hunger spreads. It has strong offensive capabilities, but what’s more dangerous is its ‘influence.’ Those targeted by this entity fall into terrifying hunger, and their willpower is severely tested. I can’t recall specific incidents, but I remember… it’s very dangerous, has harmed many people, and what’s worse…”

Irene stopped, lifting her gaze to meet Yu Sheng’s eyes.

“Hunger turns people into beasts, devouring both dignity and life. Most people can’t withstand it. And those who fall become part of the entity itself—endlessly and ceaselessly in hunger.”

As Irene spoke, Yu Sheng’s expression grew taut, a heavy weight pressing on his heart. Just then, another thought struck him—

The urge to eat that he felt when confronting the flesh-and-blood monster!

Could it be that he was already affected by ‘Hunger’?!

His heart skipped a beat. He quickly asked, “Wait, what are the main ‘symptoms’ after being influenced by ‘Hunger’?”

Irene gave him a strange look. “Well, ‘hunger,’ of course.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Yu Sheng said, waving his hand hastily. He reorganized his thoughts. “For example, when I saw that monster, I had this intense desire to take a bite out of it—even thought it might taste good. Then I came back and cooked a couple of dishes. Could that reaction mean I’ve been affected by ‘Hunger’?”

Irene’s expression visibly froze. She immediately thought of the ‘local specialties’ Yu Sheng had brought back, and that delicious-looking meal of four dishes and a soup.

“That’s right, you even ate…” the doll muttered. But then she snapped back to attention, her tone changing. “No, of course not! The influence of the ‘Hunger’ entity makes you starve to the point of going crazy and attacking others—not make you want to eat it! It doesn’t lure people into madness by offering itself as bait!”

Irene’s outburst startled Yu Sheng, but he quickly understood her point. Hunger and appetite are closely related, but in the realm governed by strict rules—like ‘Otherworlds’ and ‘Entities’—these are distinctly separate definitions. Especially when dealing with an entity with active malicious intent, its influence would operate strictly according to its own rules.

Simply put, if Yu Sheng had indeed been affected by ‘Hunger’ while in that valley, he should have been trying to bite Foxy—not the monster that was the source of the lure.

Of course, the first time he bit that monster, he was somewhat reluctant. But let’s not dwell on that.

Realizing this, Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. Confirming that he hadn’t been corrupted by that bizarre entity, he recalled that after eating before sleep, he did feel normal satiety. This greatly reassured him. Exhaling deeply, he said, “That’s good. Looks like I’m still pretty normal.”

Irene looked at him, muttering under her breath, “No, I think the fact that you had an appetite for that thing is already not normal…”

Yu Sheng waved her comment aside nonchalantly and quickly changed the subject. “So, that very abstract-looking but surprisingly tasty monster is ‘Hunger,’ right? If we eliminate it, Foxy can break free from its influence—I know entities can’t be completely destroyed, but I’m talking about defeating it temporarily.”

“Actually… I’m not sure,” Irene replied hesitantly. “‘Hunger’ is a rather special entity. The monster you saw is its ‘manifestation,’ but as I understand it, the real ‘Hunger’ permeates the entire valley. Do you get what I mean? What you saw was just its ‘tentacle’ reaching out to hunt and sense what’s happening. Its main form—as the name implies—is the omnipresent hunger in the valley.”

Yu Sheng listened, his expression gradually turning blank.

Yes, he understood.

“Wait, so it’s a… rule-based entity?!”