Chapter 6

Draft

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In any case, you have completed your review.

The next time you paid attention to your position. 177 silently asked you to finish the inspection and kept staring at the ceiling. It didn't turn its head to look at you until you cleaned the gloves and started to wash, its gaze was so strong that you couldn't help but look back.

"What's the matter?" You ask, holding the unwashed toothbrush.

It frowned and looked at you. It seemed to want to talk, but in the end, it said nothing. It turned its head back. You waited a few seconds, continued to wash your toothbrush, and left the bathroom to go to sleep.

177's recovering pretty well, the biggest problem is that it doesn't eat. Like some wild animals, the devil can last a long time without food, but being able to endure starvation doesn't mean that there is no need to eat. A wounded demon needs to eat a lot. You have seen wounded demon soldiers eat (and digest) corpses equal to their own mass within a few minutes.

You don't know why 177 refuses to eat, is it because the canned food is unpalatable, or is it having a hunger strike? In addition to preventing it from committing suicide, you've also made preparation to prevent it from escaping. However, the prayers and facilities have never been triggered, and it seems that it doesn't want to commit suicide again.

You want to know what 177 is thinking, so you have been paying attention to it and making short observation notes. If you still can't get it to eat something, the observation would have to be discontinued.

In the next few days, you bring other cans; from the small beast devil to humanoid succubi, to plant-based monster feed. It still didn't eat anything. Even if the discarded cans are properly wrapped in plastic bags, the unpleasant smell still attracts sensitive flies. You have to take a ride and throw the garbage directly into the garbage dump a few blocks away. A believer greeted you on the bus. He saw the shape of the can in your black plastic bag, and like a chatterbox suddenly opened, started to talk.

"Yeah! Sometimes these little angels are so tricky, the things you buy in the store aren't good enough, you have to cook for them yourself." He talked fondly about the three-year-old beagle who seemed overweight to you. "Is there any other way? I love him!"

For four stops, this gentleman was talked about dog food recipes. You made some suitable sounds at the appropriate pauses. When he got out of the vehicle, he had already determined that you were also taking care of a certain stray dog with a picky mouth. He thought you were a like-minded dog lover and enthusiastically invited you to his home. You spend most of your time not registering anything, but you think some suggestions can be tried. For example, if the canned food in the store still doesn't work you can just make some food yourself.

Of course, you're not going to look for a fresh corpse.

It is a sin to desecrate the dead, it is wrong to disturb a grave, and it is even more wrong to murder. In this peaceful town far from the battlefield, devil corpses aren't a common thing. The only option is animal carcasses, which are fresh in variety and quality every day.

You bargained with the seller for a long time before purchasing the demon, but you don't hesitate to pay for the follow-ups. The purchase is an additional expense, but treatment and consumption are for daily life. If you don't spend money on food, medical supplies, holy tools, and donations, where else can you use it? What's more, even if it doesn't eat the beef, you'll still be able to feed it to yourself to avoid waste.

Raw meat is placed in the food bowl.

177's lying in the bathtub. It's less active today than yesterday, hunger must be disturbing it. You put down the food bowl, step back, and wait for its response.

For nearly ten seconds, 177 didn't move. It looked at the raw beef that hadn't been cut in the food bowl, and you looked at it with no expression. You have prepared other things besides raw meat. If it doesn't work, you'll try to fix it and then force it into eating something. A starved devil corrupts very quickly. For the sake of stopping it from being a loss, if all attempts are unsuccessful, you may need to kill it to get its meat while it's alive.

177 finally moved, it slowly crawled to the side close to the food bowl. Its claws hooked up the piece of meat, looking at the bloody cross-section and the half-cut bone. It watched for a while, and suddenly began to gobble it up.

The devil's teeth are quite sharp and can easily scrape raw meat off the bones. The appearance of 177 biting raw meat is certainly not elegant, but you have seen too many demons feasting, and can't help but be surprised by the way it eats. It has been hungry for so many days, but when it finally started to eat, it doesn't seem to enjoy it.

177 ate quickly; bite, chew, swallow, another bite. It eats the raw meat as if it has a grudge against it; it's vicious, as if eating is torture to it. The demon eats the beef like it's a wax block, but it ate it thoroughly, leaving nothing behind. It licked the thin blood from its fingers, looked at the remaining bones, and chewed those bones bit by bit.

The beef is only as big as a slap, it's definitely not enough for a hungry demon. This was originally a sample to test food preferences. You've prepared a lot of samples and are ready to try them one by one to find out what it eats. At the moment, it looks like fortune has blessed you, but after you think about it you decide to try something else.

You put the washed cabbage leaves into the food bowl of 177 and it looks at you strangely. It has probably never seen someone try to feed a demon a vegetarian meal- but you've never seen a devil who doesn't eat human flesh either. You looked at it quietly, it finally couldn't hold on and looked away. 177 grabbed the leaf and ate it.

It turns out that there are demons who eat vegetables. Do you think it's because of its pedigree? You want to know if 177 really eats vegetables or just eats cabbage leaves, so you take out a tomato.

You put the tomatoes in the food bowl, and it looks at you again, with the same look at purple sheep.

You look back innocently. It gives up.

177 wiped the skin of the tomato with the palm of its hand and bit down there. It sucked the overflowing bright red juice and looked much more relaxed than when it was sucking blood. You're not sure if this is because of a change of ingredients or if it's used to eating this.

It ate the tomatoes in a few bites and licked the juice. It cooperates so peacefully today, but you're still not sure what its staple food is. You handed it an egg, this time you didn't put it in the food bowl, but on the palm of its hand. 177 took it, knocked an opening with its fangs, and sucked away the contents inside.

You feel calm; like you have finished a mass or sent off the stray creatures to where they should go. You gave 177 all the vegetables you have bought it didn't refuse. It ate and didn't bother to spare energy for you, as if you were only a food transportation device. You stare at it and write down its reactions. Its consumption is basically similar to a human's diet and unexpectedly dislikes meat.

In the end, it left the sheep bones in the food bowl and looked at you. You think about whether it only eats beef bones but not lamb bones. After a while, you react.

"It doesn't matter if you don't eat," you said.

But 177 didn't relax because of this. When you went to get the food bowl (that piece of lamb chop was the last one), it quickly took away the lamb bones and ate them all.

You are pretty sure that the other party doesn't like eating bones.

The big blind dog stayed in your house for nearly a month before he dared to eat until he was full. Before, he only ate very little and thought that he would be thrown away again if he ate too much. Creatures who have been wounded and abandoned were mistrustful that they would truly be cared for. Their vigilant eyes are full of desire. They roar at you and cling to your palms, like an unlucky child pushed into a swamp, and hope. You take their hand and ease the fear that you would let them go halfway, making them fall and sink deeper.

It takes time, but you have time.

You clean its food bowl among the background noise of 177 crushing bones, you remember something after washing and walked towards it again. It has eaten the bones of the lamb and is licking its lips and teeth. You lift its chin and say, "Open your mouth."

177 stops and looks at you. You guessed it's wondering the same things as you. You both want to know what the other is harbouring in their minds. The bathroom lamp flashed in its blood-red eyes. Red, you suddenly remembered. At first, you still think its eyes are too ordinary for a demon, brown eyes... brown-red? It's almost like a dying plant. After watering and raising it, its bright colours will return.

177 slowly opened his mouth with confusion and alert.

Its teeth gleamed white, neater than any other demon you've ever observed. Devil's teeth, like sharks, can shed and grow again. Therefore, most demon's teeth grow more free and unrestrained, like thorns on a durian. 177's teeth aren't like that. Its teeth are almost as neat as humans, and the sharpness somewhere between humans and ordinary demons. You look at the food residue in its teeth and note that you should buy a toothbrush.

After a while, you realize that you do have a spare toothbrush. You open the cabinet, take down the new toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, and walk towards 177. Given that there's only one spare toothbrush, you reminded it before you started, "Please don't bite."

"What?" it said.

"This can't be eaten." You explain.

177 seems to want to swear, or roll its eyes, or maybe bite the toothbrush or your finger. It seems to want to do all three but controls itself. You put the toothbrush into its mouth, it backs off abruptly, gritting its teeth and saying, "I can do it myself!"

You think about the worst possible consequences and hand the toothbrush over.

177 brushed its teeth in front of the sink. Although its movements were slightly unnatural, it used the toothbrush correctly.

You supervise it until the brushing is finished, you then open its mouth again and check it again. 177 is too tall to be checked while standing, you have to press its shoulders to make it kneel. You press 177's chin to prevent it from biting you and then grab its jaw, you press its tongue with your thumb and check its teeth with the light. The result of the examination is satisfactory, you nod your head, return its chin, and prepare to wash yourself.

"What are you going to do?" 177 asked.

You take your towel and tell it you are about to wash your face. 177 took a breath and clenched his fists, looking as if it was unable to bear something.

"What are you going to do with me?" It snapped, "Why on earth did you buy me, Father?"

You stopped, looked at it, and fell into deep thought. After a while, you confessed: "I don't know."

"Ha." 177 gave a sharp smile, it was like a cloud full of rain, about to relase the thunder and lightning inside, "You don't know? You bought me for 177 silver coins and brought me home instead of giving me to the church. You punish me with prayers instead of testing prayers with me. Do you have an apprentice? Does your teacher let you practice with me? You... what the hell are you going to do? Don't pretend to be stupid!"

But you weren't pretending to be stupid.

Your teacher is dead, you don't have an apprentice, and you don't need a mixed-blood demon to be a sparring partner. You... just wanted to buy it. Your life is full of plans, full of things you should and shouldn't do. Buying a devil isn't in your plan, it's between "should" and "should not". You just passed by a second-hand store and listened to a sales promotion. You looked at the demon rushing towards the butcher's knife and suddenly wanted to take it back.

Your life's full of what you should do and what you should not do. The whim of "want to do" is as precious as a meteor, you see it as a guide from God. When this thought appears, you will hold on to it tightly- whether or not you know why it happened or whatever the consequences of doing so.

You don't know what to do with 177, you've never thought about it. So far you're just trying to make it stay alive. It's best to let it live as long as you want to understand it.

"Are you fighting against your own morality, Father?" The demon who you bought back with 177 silver coins is still aggressive. Its words rush toward you, just as its body rushed toward the butcher knife, "I know you're just going to fuck me, do you think this has never happened?"

Fuck it?

177 was covered with scars all over, but none of the wounds was still festering. Its hair is fluffy and its eyes are bright red. If you look at it carefully, it has fully healed. It has just eaten something. It has the strength to argue with you and won't die for a while.

If you want, you can give it a try.

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PastTimer: Ah~ So tired~~