"Flora, go, bring back all the remaining souls."
Above the scarlet, viscous lake, Lu Minghao's indifferent voice echoed. Flora, standing beside him, nodded and disappeared. Lu Minghao silently absorbed the nourishment and souls, waiting for the moment to awaken with a million souls.
Directly above the flesh cave, in an unknown small town on the border of the Yst Kingdom, Flora's figure silently appeared on a secluded street. Several stray cats searching for food in the trash cans were startled by Flora's sudden appearance, meowing incessantly.
"Good."
Flora lowered her head, looking at the snarling stray cats with bristling fur, a gentle smile appearing on her lips. She slowly bent down and picked up a dirty stray cat, gently stroking its fur.
The stray cat, which had been meowing incessantly, fell silent the moment Flora picked it up. However, upon closer inspection, the small stray cat in Flora's arms was trembling uncontrollably.
"Such fragile lives."
Watching the trembling kitten in her arms, Flora's fair fingers gently stroked every inch of its fur, as if handling a fragile object, as if it would break with the slightest carelessness.
"Um, Big Sister, do you also like cats?"
At this moment, a naive voice rang out behind Flora. Several children with dirty faces and tattered clothes stared at the stray cat in Flora's arms with wide eyes, but because Flora's clothes looked expensive, they only dared to watch from a distance.
In fact, if Flora didn't exude a gentle aura, the children wouldn't dare to get so close. In their young hearts, only noble lords and adventurer adults could wear such beautiful clothes.
"Do you like it?"
Flora looked at the human children behind her, their eyes filled with innocence and purity. Flora smiled gently, squatted down, and handed the cat in her arms to the little girl who spoke first.
"Yes! Kitties are the cutest."
The little girl looked at the cat handed over by the big sister in front of her and quickly wiped her dirty hands on her tattered skirt. After rubbing her hands red, she carefully took the cat from Flora's hands.
"So cute!"
The little girl looked at the well-behaved cat in her hands, a happy smile on her face, a smile as warm and reassuring as the morning sun. The other children gathered around the little girl, reaching out to gently stroke the cat.
"Um, Big Sister, do you want to adopt Little Flower?"
A few minutes later, the little girl looked up and reluctantly handed the cat in her hands to Flora. In the little girl's opinion, since this gentle big sister was holding Little Flower, she must want to adopt it.
Although she was reluctant to part with the cat, the little girl still handed it to Flora, because in her opinion, the big sister in front of her could definitely ensure that the cat wouldn't have to search for food in the trash cans like it did now.
Moreover, if things continued like this, the cat might end up like her mother, accidentally running into the street and bumping into an adventurer adult. Its dirty fur would soil the adventurer adult's shoes, and then it would be killed.
"Little human girl, what do you think humans are?"
Instead of taking the cat from the little girl, Flora squatted down and asked the little girl a question. Looking at the little girl in front of her, Flora seemed to see herself as a child, the pure and kind self, even if it was a false self.
It was precisely because of this that Flora became more and more interested in the human little girl in front of her. She wanted to know how this little girl viewed her own race, the human race.
"I don't know."
Alice gently shook her head. Having grown up without parents, relying on food in the trash cans, she had never thought about such things. In her small world, her only wish was that there would be more food in the trash cans in the future, so that she and her friends could eat their fill.
If possible, she hoped to find a few pieces of clothing before winter came, so that they wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death when it was too cold in winter.
"Don't know..."
Flora looked at the innocent faces in front of her, murmured something, then stood up and walked towards the street outside. The little ones behind her looked at Flora's sudden departure, a trace of confusion in their big eyes.
"Big Sister, don't you want Little Flower anymore?"
The little girl named Alice raised the cat in her hand and asked, looking at Flora's back, but Flora continued to walk forward. Seeing this, Alice bit her lip, hugged the cat, and chased after her.
"Humans?"
On the bustling street in the center of the city, Flora looked at the bustling crowd in front of her and murmured to herself. Although she had perfectly adapted to the Sin of Gluttony, her original personality and reason had not disappeared. Although her inner self was a demon craving slaughter and battle, the gentle self that she once was when facing children still existed.
And now, she was going to slaughter all the humans in this city, regardless of age, size, or gender, and use their souls as nourishment for her master's awakening.
"Big Sister!"
At this moment, Alice's voice came from behind Flora, followed by a small hand timidly grabbing the corner of Flora's skirt, holding a cat in front of Flora.
"Alice, do you think living is painful?"
Looking at Alice, who had caught up, and the little ones hiding in the alley looking this way, Flora squatted down and gently stroked her head, asking.
"Painful? Although it's hard when we can't find food, it's also very cold in winter, and it hurts when we accidentally bump into adults and get beaten by them, but Alice doesn't feel very painful. When Alice grows up, she wants to see the world outside the city, and she wants to eat things she's never eaten before, and eat her fill."
Alice looked up at the big sister in front of her, an angelic smile on her face.
"See the world outside, eat her fill... Such simple wishes."
Flora gently stroked Alice's golden hair, looking at Alice's smiling face, then turned her head to look at the others on the street who were wrinkling their noses and walking away, their eyes looking at Alice and the others as if they were garbage and a source of pollution.
With Flora's powerful perception, she could clearly sense that some human children not far away were holding many stones in their hands. If Flora weren't here, those children would have already thrown the stones at Alice and the others.
Although both sides were humans and were all children of similar ages, their lives were completely different. Even the adults had a disgusted and disgusted attitude towards Alice and the others.
The next second, Flora stood up and looked at the bustling crowd on the street. Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd on the street, Flora slowly raised her palm, looking at them with a strange smile on her face.
"Mommy, what is that person doing?"
A chubby child looked at Flora, who had raised her hand, and asked his mother curiously. In the chubby child's hand, he held a few stones. If his mother hadn't pulled him back, he would have rushed over and driven Alice and the others, who had just come out of the trash pile, back.
In his opinion, trash bugs like Alice and the others were only fit to live in trash piles, and coming to the street would only pollute the air and dirty the streets.
"Mommy... why aren't you talking?"
After waiting for half a minute, the chubby child shook his mother's thigh, trying to get her attention, but at this time, the chubby child's mother, or rather, the humans in the entire city, were staring blankly at the sky, their eyes filled with unconcealable fear.
The originally azure sky was now covered with dense black spots. Countless Gluttony monsters covered in tentacles and with completely indescribable bodies were flying downwards, and the entire city was gradually being shrouded in shadow.
"Mon... monsters!"
"Why are monsters appearing here!?"
"Save... save me!"
The next second, countless monsters pounced down on the humans from the sky. In an instant, countless people were torn apart by the Gluttony monsters' claws and tentacles, or had half of their bodies directly devoured by the hideous maws. Their incomplete lower bodies fell weakly to the ground, internal organs and blood flowing from the wounds, staining the gray-white stone slabs red.
"Mommy!"
At this moment, the chubby child, who had been shaking his mother's thigh just a second ago, stood blankly on the spot, looking at his mother, who was only half left, and the monster beside her with shreds of flesh on its mouth. The pungent stench of blood and the sticky, warm feeling on his body had completely stunned him.
"Hiss!"
"Ah!!"
Suddenly, the monster in front of him opened its mouth and a long, snake-like tongue shot out, licking the chubby child's face forcefully. The dagger-like barbs on the tongue directly licked off a large piece of flesh from the chubby child's face, and a shrill scream rang out in the midst of intense pain.
But the next second, the scream stopped abruptly, leaving only a pool of blood on the stone slab, and the monster turned and walked towards other places.
"This... what is this?"
Standing behind Flora, Alice looked at everything in front of her with a pale face, her small hand tightly grasping Flora's skirt. The pungent stench of blood, the shrill wails, the monsters' chewing sounds... everything filled Alice with incomparable fear.
Alice even saw with her own eyes that an adventurer adult, who had once seemed aloof in her eyes, unhesitatingly pushed his teammates towards the monster in order to survive, and drew his long sword to chop everyone blocking his path into pieces, just because they were blocking his way forward.
Some people pushed their husbands and wives towards the monsters close at hand in order to survive, and some people raised their weapons and charged towards the monsters for the sake of their children, and some people...
