Hunger

“Why did you run off so fast yesterday?”

At Jade Capital University, near noon, Qi Chuan finally caught up with Su Mian, who had just finished class.

Although they attended the same school and were in the same major, they weren’t in the same class. Fortunately, their classrooms were close, and sometimes they even shared the same professor in the same hall, so finding each other wasn’t difficult.

Su Mian stuffed his books and notes into his bag. Having anticipated this question since morning, he was well-prepared and replied calmly without changing his expression, “My sister only notified me she was arriving right before she got here. If I didn’t hurry, how was I supposed to meet her?”

“Fair enough…”

Qi Chuan had clearly just asked in passing. He didn’t even wonder why he hadn’t been invited along, even though his car would have been more convenient at the time. He quickly tossed yesterday’s events to the back of his mind and rubbed his stomach, looking as if he were about to collapse from starvation. “Let’s go, time to eat. Regular canteen or the Sixth Canteen?”

“Sixth Canteen.” Su Mian didn’t hesitate.

To an outsider, the choice between “the canteen” or “the Sixth Canteen” might sound strange—weren’t they all canteens? In reality, it was local slang. Jade Capital University only had five official canteens (including the faculty one). The so-called “Sixth Canteen” referred to the restaurants outside the campus gates.

Because only the Second Canteen on campus was actually good, it was often packed. If you were slow, you had to wait in long lines, and if you were unlucky, they’d run out of food. Consequently, many students chose to eat outside. Over time, those small eateries outside the school were nicknamed the “Sixth Canteen.” If a student simply said “the canteen” without a specific number, they usually meant the Second Canteen.

Qi Chuan had no objections to Su Mian’s choice.

“It is getting late. Let’s head outside then. I heard that new place has excellent stir-fry…”

“Really? We’ll have to give it a try.”

Since his appetite had returned, Su Mian had already eaten quite a bit today. However, his metabolism was high, and he was indeed starting to feel hungry again.

…

The place Qi Chuan recommended was called “Star Stir-fry.” Although it wasn’t far from the school, its location wasn’t great—which made sense, as prime locations usually didn’t go to newcomers.

Despite the slightly remote location, business was booming. It was unclear if it was because of an opening promotion or if the food was truly that good, but at a glance, the place was packed. There was even a crowd gathered outside!

“Wait… are there no seats left?”

Qi Chuan wondered if they had made the trip for nothing, but as they got closer, he realized something was off. Many of the people gathered weren’t there to eat.

What was going on?

He exchanged a look with Su Mian, and the two of them squeezed through a gap in the crowd. Once inside, it was even louder, and the situation became clear immediately.

“It’s an eating contest!”

Indeed, the restaurant had cleared out the front area for a “Big Eater” competition. Most of the people around weren’t diners; they were there for the spectacle.

Seeing this, Qi Chuan and Su Mian weren’t in a rush to eat anymore, though they had arrived at the tail end of the event. On a long table specially prepared by the restaurant, eight contestants sat facing each other, surrounded by piles of empty plates. Trays of freshly made golden fried rice sat beside them.

Six of the eight had already collapsed. They were either slumped over rubbing their bellies while belching or staring blankly at the sky in a vegetative state. One of them couldn’t take it anymore and was being led aside by staff to be induced to vomit.

Only two contestants remained, and the contrast between them was stark.

On the left was a man over 1.8 meters tall, built like a tank—not the muscular type, but a “round and sturdy” kind of big. At first glance, he looked like someone who could clear an entire menu.

Sitting across from him was a middle-aged man who was barely 1.7 meters tall. He was emaciated, with almost no meat on his face. His eyes were deeply sunken behind his glasses, making him look as if he were suffering from a terminal illness.

With such a mismatch, the outcome should have been obvious. Forget comparing him to the big guy—this middle-aged man was smaller than everyone else who had already tapped out.

Yet, he was the one who had lasted until the end. A thick stack of plates sat before him. As time passed, the round man on the other side was drenched in sweat, but the thin man remained expressionless, mechanically shoveling fried rice into his mouth.

A moment later, the end came.

“I’m done! I… I give up!” The big man collapsed first, clutching his stomach with a pained expression. The middle-aged man, who was still eating, was declared the winner.

The crowd erupted in cheers and gasps. Clearly, no one had favored the frail-looking man. Well, almost no one—a youth in front of Su Mian looked smug and shouted excitedly to his friend, “See? I told you he’d win!”

“You just guessed.”

“Bullshit! That was precise analysis. Look how thin he is—how many days do you think he’s been starving? Someone that hungry has to pack in three days’ worth of food at once. Of course he was going to be the champion!”

“…” The friend ignored him; it was too difficult to explain that eating contests aren’t won by whoever is the hungriest.

Su Mian overheard the conversation, but his attention was elsewhere. He frowned as he looked at the middle-aged man.

Something was wrong.

The aura of desire coming off this man was bizarre. In Su Mian’s eyes, it was incredibly intense—second only to that Officer Jiang he had met. It was far more potent than a normal human’s, yet it was clearly abnormal. It felt as if those desires didn’t belong to the man himself, but were simply “burning” inside his body.

The strangest part was that Su Mian felt absolutely no appetite toward him. Despite having “eaten” yesterday, a desire this strong should have at least piqued his interest, but he felt nothing. He felt less interested in this man than he did in a normal person.

Su Mian sensed a problem. And he was right to.

After being declared the winner, the middle-aged man didn’t stop. He kept eating. Even though the staff told him he didn’t need to continue, he acted as if he hadn’t heard. Eventually, seemingly finding the spoon too slow, he began grabbing the rice with his bare hands and stuffing it into his mouth.

The staff and the crowd realized something was wrong. The owner panicked and tried to stop him—the man had eaten far too much; if he continued, his stomach would literally burst. They were running a contest, not a suicide show. If someone died of overeating in their shop, they were ruined.

The owner ordered the waiters to hold the man down while others moved to clear the table. But the moment the food was pulled away, the middle-aged man flew into a violent rage!

“Aaaaah! No! Let me eat! I’m so hungry! I’m so hungry! Get away, get away from me! I’m not finished, let me eat!”

BOOM!

That emaciated body exploded with incredible strength. He didn’t just flip the long table; he actually threw two or three waiters who were holding him into the air!

Then, to the horror of the crowd, he lunged at the owner who was trying to reason with him and bit directly into the man’s neck.

In the next second:

“AAAAAAAGH!!”