Chapter 8: The Demon in My Heart

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The rain poured down in torrents, as if the entire world were shrouded beneath an endless curtain of water. Inside the factory, the air was damp and dim, permeated with a scent mingling rust, mildew, and earth. Rainwater dripped through the dilapidated roof, producing a steady "drip-drop" that echoed through the empty space. The raindrops hit the ground, forming slender rivulets that meandered along the uneven floor.

“Where is this place?”

“Close to the outskirts of the city,” Xu Mingsong replied, setting down his handheld lantern to illuminate the area.

He rubbed his hands together. “The inner city and the outer city are actually adjacent, without any dividing walls. You might just cross a street and you’re already in the outer city. But because they’re so close, conflicts often arise. One day a family loses something, the next day gangs form and start brawling. Naturally, people from the inner city start moving out to the outer districts, creating a buffer zone where few dare to tread. Over time, this became an unspoken rule.”

Ming seemed thoughtful. “You mean here?”

Xu Mingsong lifted a bottle of mineral water, took a swig, and continued, “Before tensions escalated, this place was once a bustling large-scale factory. People said it was a sweatshop that exploited labor, but for the outer city, it held great significance. Then, after some unknown dispute, it was vandalized and abandoned…”

“At first, it became a haven for vagrants… but the city government didn’t like that and launched a cleanup campaign, forcibly driving them away. I heard they still have dozens of ironclad jobs just to oversee this place—people who mostly sit in offices drinking tea and chatting. When they feel like it, they come here to patrol and catch anyone trespassing, earning credit for it.”

“Creating jobs as needed,” Ming understood.

“Shh, don’t say that so loudly!” Xu Mingsong covered Ming’s mouth, preventing her from making any scandalous remarks.

After a brief rest, he picked up the lantern again and ventured deeper into the factory.

The factory was no longer filled with the roar of machines or billowing smoke from blast furnaces. Now, only empty workshops and rusted, abandoned machines remained. Most machines were mere shells; their useful parts long since scavenged, standing like hollowed-out corpses in the shadows.

The cold wind carried the chill of the outdoors and faint sounds of cars driving on distant streets, but soon the rain drowned out all other noises.

The rain grew heavier.

Xu Mingsong chose a spot on the second floor. The glass curtain wall had long since shattered, leaving only the frame through which wind and rain freely entered. His gaze passed through the glass; the entire world was wrapped in thick fog, distant lights blurred and flickering like ghosts within the mist.

The rain’s patter echoed in his ears. He unfastened his luggage, looking like an old couple, and confirmed repeatedly with the white cat, “No preference for location, no preference for equipment,” then patiently awaited her instructions.

He watched silently as Ming consumed everything.

“Burp~”

Ming let out a satisfied belch.

Xu Mingsong almost dropped his jaw. “You ate it all?!”

Ming sneered, “What else? You expect me to add each herb milligram by milligram, precisely tossing them in second by second, then concoct it in a chemistry lab with flasks, test tubes, crucibles, and alcohol lamps? Do you have that skill?”

—I’m pretty good at solving problems.

—I’m the all-around champion without weaknesses.

He hesitated. “Is there no option to use a rice cooker?”

Ming rolled her eyes. “Then why not just boil a pot of tonic soup? Toss everything in and stew it.”

“Listen, Xiaosong. These ingredients have their effects, no doubt, but the most important step is me refining them for you. Without this, even if you manage to mix the ingredients, it’ll just be a worthless concoction.”

With that, she strutted over to Xu Mingsong with elegant feline grace.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“Hold on a moment! After seeing your one-gulp medicine-making method, you’re not about to show me some regurgitating miracle, are you? Don’t start so gross!”

Unexpectedly, Ming gave him a disdainful glare. “You’re too pathetic.”

“Am I? That’s great then!”

Ming waved a paw at him. “Get your shoulder ready, roll up your sleeves. What’s a big man afraid of?”

As Ming approached, her body gradually became transparent. Her skin lost its color, veins became visible, and her slender heart pumped out strands of eerie blue light. The cold radiance surged along her blood vessels. When she reached him, her original form was no longer discernible—only the outline of a cat woven from countless streams of light remained.

Within the glow, where her eyes once were, emerged a pair of brilliant blue vertical pupils.

The vertical pupils rolled.

She fixed her gaze on the youth. “Are you ready, kids?”

Perhaps it was a trick of his mind, but he sensed a perverse amusement behind that blurred feline face.

Xu Mingsong swallowed nervously. “Aye, aye, captain!”

“I can’t hear you!”

She climbed onto Xu Mingsong’s shoulder, pressing one hand on his shoulder and the other on his neck.

He closed his eyes and shouted, “Aye, aye, captain!”

Ooh～!

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Ming opened her mouth, revealing shark-like sharp teeth. Before Xu Mingsong could react in fear, she bit down on his neck.

In an instant, Xu Mingsong pictured a python coiling around a field mouse, sinking its venomous fangs in.

He was the doomed mouse—unlucky beyond measure—as the snake’s teeth pierced his neck. A cold toxin seeped into the stinging wound, gradually boiling and burning like molten lava, unbearable to endure.

“Hoo…”

His throat moved.

A searing pain, sharp enough to rattle his brain, radiated from the fang’s entry point, spreading outward. Xu Mingsong felt like he was losing his mind. His blood vessels seemed alive, as if a sharp foreign object rampaged within, tearing and expanding everything in its path.

Blood circulated.

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