Chapter 177: Difference Between Humans and Monsters
Wu Wu picked up a honeyed Ghost-arrow Pig with both hands and pushed it in front of Meng Chao’s lips. During the entire process, she stared at him with a very sincere look.
“Um... What’s the meaning of this?” Meng Chao asked.
“A treat for you. I want to learn Ultimate Style.”
“Really?” Meng Chao was shocked and surprised. As one of the four students who was specially recruited for the fighting occupations in the alliance of the five universities this year, Wu Wu was incredibly famous. Her fighting strength was also obvious to all.
If she were willing to learn the Ultimate Style, she would be the best advertis.e.m.e.nt Meng Chao could find, and he could get a lot of contribution points as well.
“Really.” Wu Wu nodded and said seriously, “I’m defeated by powerful person, so I learn from powerful person. Then I defeat powerful person and eat him. This is the law of survival. Of course, you defeat me, so you can eat whenever you want as well.”
Meng Chao looked at her. “Can we stop talking about eating each other all the time? Even if you really want to do it, please don’t say it so straightforwardly!”
Wu Wu frowned. “Do you not know I want to eat you because I don’t say?”
“I can teach you the Ultimate Style, but the condition is that you stop talking about such indicative and strange words. If someone hears them, they’ll think that there’s something going on between us!”
Wu Wu thought about it. “Okay. Please teach me Ultimate Style. I agree with your conditions. I can kill all the people you don’t like too.”
“... I don’t have anyone I don’t like for the time being, but even if I did, I could handle it on my own. Stop causing trouble for me!”
Wu Wu was truly a dangerous person. It was no wonder why so many monster controller course students stayed away from her even though they respected her. They even called her Big Sis Panther despite her looking like a kitten.
Meng Chao was silent for a moment. “How about this? I don’t need you to do anything over the top. I just hope that you can practice hard and learn the essence of the Ultimate Style, then will defeat the other three specially recruited students like Shao Jianqing from the military school’s heroic spirit course in terms of the ranking boards in the base at the east lake. Can you do that?”
“No need for you to say it. I will defeat them.” Wu Wu bared her sharp teeth and revealed a brutal but cute smile.
When she saw that Meng Chao did not eat the honeyed Ghost-arrow Pig that she personally served him, she took it back and opened her mouth wide. Then, she stuffed her cheeks full with half the head of a piglet.
There was something unique about Wu Wu when she ate.
First, she liked squatting on the bench instead of sitting on it.
Second, while doing that, she held her food with both hands while looking around. She was wary of her surroundings and watched for anyone trying to s.n.a.t.c.h her food right out of her hands.
Third, it seemed like there was another dimension with limitless s.p.a.ce in her mouth. She could stretch her cheeks at will. They would puff out to the max, and she would change from a kitten to a large squirrel.
Without personally seeing it, it would have been difficult for Meng Chao to imagine how a girl who was less than 160 cm tall could stuff half the head of a piglet into her seemingly pet.i.te mouth.
She looked greedy and wary, just like a monster in the wild, and she stood out like a sore thumb in the cafeteria.
Meng Chao found it interesting and got curious. In the end, he could not contain himself and asked, “Wu Wu, have you gotten used to living in the human world yet?”
Wu Wu chomped down on the piglet at lightning speed, and her cheeks trembled. She widened her brilliant eyes and stared at Meng Chao in puzzlement. She could not understand what he meant.
“Didn’t you grow up in the wild? You never thought about being a human before, right? Yet suddenly, you were saved by humans and brought back to Dragon City. When you saw the l.u.s.trous city and everything unbelievable in it, you must have received a huge shock. Now, you’re back in the wild again, and you’re ordered to kill monsters. Do you... find it hard killing them?”
Meng Chao was not asking without thinking.
From the memory fragments of his previous life, Meng Chao knew that during the later stage of the Monster War, many of the high-grade monsters with extremely high intelligence and skills in mind-related secret arts used every method conceivable to infiltrate Dragon City. They hoped to break the fortress of human civilization from within.
At that time, quite a number of people were controlled by monsters, and they were even willing to work together with monsters.
Since Wu Wu stayed in the monster research center for years and could even enter Monster University with the legitimate status of a specially recruited student, she had to have gone through careful monitoring and various examinations. She was definitely absolutely loyal to human civilization.
But Meng Chao really wanted to know just what the humans who were loyal to the monsters were thinking, and he thought that he might be able to get some clues from the girl.
Wu Wu finished the honeyed Ghost-arrow Pig in just a few bites. She stuffed the last of it down her throat so quickly that she was even faster than Meng Chao.
“I stayed with Ghost Leopards in the wild and killed many monsters. Why would I find it hard to kill them now?”
Wu Wu s.n.a.t.c.hed another honeyed Ghost-arrow Pig while unable to understand the gist of Meng Chao’s question. “In the wild, it’s survival of the fittest, law of the jungle. Before humans arrive in monster world, we killed one another. The strong kill the weak, eat them, enslave them. It’s normal. No problem.”
Meng Chao scratched his head. “That’s true. But what if we run into a group of Ghost Leopards in the future, will you hesitate?”
“Why?” Wu Wu pouted. “When I was Ghost Leopard, I also attack Ghost Leopards many times.”
It was only then that Meng Chao remembered Wu Wu saying that she had killed and eaten at least two Ghost Leopards before.
It seemed like he had been overthinking things.
“From young, I know I different from other Ghost Leopards. After all, I not look like them at all.”
While showing food into her mouth, Wu Wu spoke in a m.u.f.fled voice. “At that time, many Ghost Leopards bite me, catch me, bully me, treat me like toy and tool to train cubs.
“I don’t think I is a deformed Ghost Leopard, but I don’t know I is human. Everytime I am covered in wounds, I lick my wounds alone. I look at sky and horizon and spend a long time thinking and thinking and thinking.
“In the end, I broke necks of three cubs who bully me with my bite, and I understand.
“I am G.o.d.
“I am G.o.d of Ghost Leopards. I am destined to rule over all Ghost Leopards!
“This is why I look different from them. My thinking is different from them. I am much smarter than them. I know how to set traps, sow discord, break them from all sides. I know many ways to make them run in circles.
“When I get my wish and become Ghost Leopard Queen, I run into rescue team, and I learn that I have many kindred.
“But my kindred does not fit into this world. They very different from all other monsters. They face animosity from many monsters. It’s just like how I don’t mix with Ghost Leopards and am enemies with most cubs. Why is that?
“I continue thinking, and I understand in the end. Humans are G.o.ds of monsters. We are strongest monsters. We have the right to kill them, eat them, and rule this world.
“So when I return to the wild, I have no hesitation and conflict when I face monsters. I just use another method to do what I did last time.”
Wu Wu’s experiences from when she was young caused Meng Chao’s heart to clench for her.
But killing intent was hidden in her calm voice, as if this was completely logical, and gooseb.u.mps broke out on his skin.
“Humans are not the strongest monsters!”
“Is there difference? Humans are monsters.”
“Of course there’s a difference. We’re not monsters! We’re civilized!”
“I know. Humans can write, sing, make houses, make strong weapons with big bangs. Our weapons are sharper than claws of normal monsters, but is there difference?
Wu Wu swung the hind leg of the honeyed Ghost-arrow Pig and said, “In the wild, I kill Ghost-arrow Pig and eat it raw. Among humans, I hunt Ghost-arrow Pig and ask someone to put honey on it. They roast it carefully and put on plate. Then they make me use chopsticks and knife to eat it. But it only add trifling process. No difference in essence. To Ghost-arrow Pigs, they are killed and eaten. So in their eyes, Ghost Leopards and humans are both monsters, no?”
Wu Wu’s train of thought was very unique, and it formed a closed-loop in her thoughts.
It seemed like it would be very difficult to break it.
Wu Wu continued, “After I return to Dragon City, I observe in secret for very long time. Even though everyone always say human civilization, human civilization and make it seem as if humans and monsters have division that cannot be closed, I don’t think so.
“Dragon City is same as Ghost Leopard nest I lived for more than ten years. Is also survival of the fittest, and the strong are kings. Also need to compete and struggle madly nonstop to survive arduously in very brutal environment.
“Ghost-arrow Pigs curl up and use poison needles to hunt. Hundred-eyed Toads jump up and use acid to hunt. Wolf Crocodiles bite prey and use death spiral to hunt. Ghost Leopards use Rotting Claw to hunt.
“Humans use cold weapons, guns, steel and machines to hunt.
“Everyone is monster. No difference. I use Ghost Leopards’ method and can still survive like fish in water in human world.”
As she spoke, she finished the mountain of meat in front of her.
The stainless steel tray was empty, without a single bit of bone or meat sc.r.a.ps. Even the honey and oil was licked clean. The tray shone bright and even reflected the girl’s face.
Then, she drew a piece of serviette from the pack of serviettes at the center of the dining table. She wiped her mouth and said with a smile, “Biggest difference between humans and monsters is we use paper to wipe mouths after we eat. Not hard.”
Meng Chao found himself speechless.
He then remembered how his throat was “slit” by the instructor with the black skull in his memory fragments. When he fell on the ground with no strength in his limbs and waited for death in despair, he heard the screams from the Shriekers in the village that belonged to the civilization of the Other World.
What exactly was the difference between humans and monsters?
From what he remembered from his previous life, even though they paid a large price for it, in the end, humans still won the Monster War.
But that was merely the truth of the previous life Meng Chao remembered.
‘After that war, what is that Extraordinary Disaster that rushed through all of the Other World from Monster Mountain Range?’ Meng Chao sank into deep thought.
“You are weak now.” Wu Wu looked at him. “Compared to time we fought in university grove, you have more thoughts. You become conflicted and hesitant. You are no longer firm and resolute. If we fight again, you will be bitten to death by me.”
“No, I became stronger.” Even though Meng Chao had not found his answer yet, there was one thing he was certain of. “Humans have brains, and we use them to think of stupid things. We also have eyes, which we use to discover truths, even if they are not pleasant. This is the greatest difference between humans and monsters, and it’s the path I will take as a superhuman. I will persevere to the end down this road.
“Come, let’s go to the cultivation room. I’ll let you witness the power of the Ultimate Style!”