Famine

Wasteland Author: Butterfly

Synopsis:

"Raging Bird" is a monster that feeds on the blood of infants or young men. It has a woman's upper body and face, both of which are extremely beautiful. It is free-spirited and unrestrained.

This ferocious bird is named "Wilderness," because its very existence is as its name suggests.

Prologue: Stared at by the Abyss

"...I don't even dare to look at the ceiling, it's so scary. Hengzhi, are you listening?" The beautiful girl in front of me nudged me, and I quickly nodded, snapping out of my daze.

"Yes, yes, I'm listening. You just mentioned your bathroom problem."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Xue Zi sighed sadly. "It's causing quite a stir. Having the ability to see ghosts is such a hassle..."

The classmates surrounding her buzzed with curiosity and sympathy, talking about all sorts of terrifying experiences.

I lowered my head, pretending to carefully smooth out the folds of my skirt. Above those childish voices, high-pitched laughter echoed.

"Look at me, 'Supernatural Beauty'!" The giant bird with a human face made of black mist started her prank again, pressing her beautiful face close to Xue Zi's eyes. "See me first before you talk about supernatural things, you idiot!"

"...I'm talking to you, but you don't answer." Xue Zi appeared and disappeared from the other side of the black mist, looking dissatisfied. "You don't trust me, do you?"

It wasn't easy to hear what she was saying in such a noisy environment; I really tried my best. "Of course I believe that's not true... it's just that I don't have any experience to share."

The human-faced bird laughed even more shrilly and high-pitched, so I could only see Xue Zi's mouth opening and closing, and had no idea what she was saying.

"Forget it, Xuezi, just ignore her." The other female classmates pulled her away. "What's the point of talking to her?" They walked towards the restroom in a group.

The large bird with the human face didn't follow; it simply flew back to perch on my left shoulder. "They said you're a liar, an idiot, and mentally unstable." They were very malicious and eager to see my reaction.

But I just took out my textbook and started reviewing the Chinese text that I hadn't been able to listen to properly in class.

She was extremely disappointed. "With a single command from you, I could take their lives. They are the liars, the liars! Foolish fools who can see nothing yet spout empty lies!"

"They're still just kids, they crave attention. A little fantasy now and then is harmless," I answered inwardly. "Don't mess around, Huang'e, move aside, your feathers are blocking my textbook."

But it seemed she was angry. She shoved her face close to mine, yelling, "Get angry! Get angry! Let me go kill people, leave a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood! Give the order! What kind of saint are you pretending to be?! They hate you to death! That idiot Xue Zi is putting on airs, saying that if she ignores you, no one will want to be your friend... So hypocritical, so condescending and contemptuous! If you were a human being, you'd get angry!"

I tried to shoo her away, but people around me stared in disbelief as I waved my hands haphazardly into the air. I could only awkwardly slap my neck and mutter "there's a mosquito," trying to get away with it.

This is already abnormal enough; it doesn't need any more attention, really.

"Do you kill whoever I tell you to kill?" I asked myself, staring intently at the textbook, which was completely blank.

"Of course, of course!" Her ecstatic face was very, very close to mine, her blood-red pupils revealing intense greed.

"Alright then." I sighed. "Please go and kill a ferocious bird for me. I think its name is 'Wilderness'..."

She glared at me fiercely, her eyes filled with intense hatred. Without a word, she landed heavily on my left shoulder again, deliberately so heavily that I shrugged, her sharp claws almost digging into my flesh.

I know she'd gladly kill anyone for me, to satisfy her own bloodthirsty desires. But that doesn't include herself.

This is the "reality" I find myself in. Bound together with a monster whose race is the Wraith Bird.

Therefore, we are never far enough away from the other world.

This is truly unfortunate for a human being.

cause

It was an unfortunate fate for both her and me.

She was originally a demon who craved the blood of infants or young men, possessing a woman's breasts and a woman's face, both extremely alluring. Free-spirited and unrestrained.

The reason it is called the Desolate Calamity is because its existence is just like its name.

As for me, I was supposed to be an ordinary person. Lacking both talent and inspiration. If I had to find anything different about me... supposedly I'm a delicious food, from an outsider's perspective.

It was this insignificant little feature that allowed the harbinger to leave its mark on clothes left out to dry overnight. Unfortunately, another harbinger also left its mark at almost the same time.

I was only seven months old at the time. My mother gave birth to me when she was sixteen, while my father was thirty-three and worked as a tutor.

A handsome, hot-tempered professor and a smart, beautiful female student fall in love, elope, and have a child—it seems like a scene straight out of a manga, or even a shoujo manga. But reality is often cruel.

My surname is Lin, and my given name is Hengzhi. This name and this life are all my mother gave me, and I have never seen her since. It is said that on the day I turned seven months old, she went home, divorced my father, and went abroad.

On that very day, a strange experience occurred that changed the course of my life.

Huang E said that after midnight, she would come to collect her "food." (Supposedly, this was me.)

But another ferocious bird was already eyeing the cradle covetously. The very name "ferocious bird" suggests they were not a peaceful, benevolent species. Both ferocious birds claimed ownership of the food; sharing and cooperation were never virtues of their kind.

So the two ferocious birds fought fiercely, and in the end, they were both badly injured... I'm sorry, only Huang E was seriously injured, the other ferocious bird died.

The severely wounded Huang E lay beside me, on the verge of death, too weak to even eat me.

So wounded, she anxiously awaited my mother's arrival. Now, she was only strong enough to disintegrate and lie dormant in the womb of a fully mature woman, waiting for the woman's next pregnancy, to become one of the illusory twins, before she would have the strength to regain her body and freedom.

Unfortunately, on that very day, my mother decided to divorce my father and had already run back to her parents' home. So she could only watch helplessly as her life slowly slipped away, staring blankly at me, who was crying loudly.

They had neither the strength to leave nor the strength to tell me to shut up.

It wasn't until noon the next day that my grandmother came into the room, still cursing, and bent down to pick me up. Although it was a bit too familiar, and she was over fifty, it was still better than having no hope at all.

The desolate creature, its life force fading, mustered its last strength and disintegrated into black mist, attempting to invade its grandmother's womb...

“But she…she…she…” Every time he got to this part, Hu

……