Only I can make them stronger

Shana took over the conversation somewhat unwillingly.

Having the same experience as a mercenary, Y had indeed behaved more sophisticatedly than her at many points along the way. Coupled with her undisguised interest in Xia Ye, the competitive Shana would always deliberately confront Y.

"That's it." But Y still acted like he didn't care. He just tilted his head and found a more comfortable position to curl up on the sofa.

"So, Miss Y, have you inquired about the situation in Highway Town in advance? I remember that you don't use guns as weapons, right? Why do you carry so many bullets with you?" Luo Qi looked at her curiously and asked.

"That's not the case. After all, it's hard to find any information in a small gathering place like Highway Town even if you want to find out... As for the bullets, it's just my personal habit."

"As a mercenary moving back and forth between cities, I am used to seeing many small organizations in the wilderness that only exchange supplies, so I always carry a little bit of everything with me, which makes communication very convenient."

"In fact, I have a lot of canned food, drinking water, and even materials for monsters in my backpack. They are all prepared for times like this."

Hearing this, Xia Ye and Shana looked at each other.

Y continued to make up lies without changing his expression or heartbeat.

This kind of information, which seems reasonable but completely inconsistent with the personality she conveys, is quite confusing and makes it impossible to see her true intentions and identity.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and the enthusiastic and energetic voice sounded again:

"Hello everyone, it's your friendly Fat Jack!"

"Your food is ready! Can you come in now? The plates on the cart can't wait to be uncovered!"

Shana stood up and opened the door casually. A warm aroma filled the room. Fat Jack slowly walked in pushing a cart.

"Please enjoy your meal! These are special ingredients that can only be found in the highway area!"

After placing the plates on the table, Fat Jack was about to leave, but Y stopped him:

"Boss Jack, please wait."

"Call me Fat Jack, dear guest. What can I do for you?"

"...Okay, Fat Jack Boss..." Y smiled helplessly.

"Can you tell us what these ingredients are?"

62. The weird feeling doesn’t disappear just because you come to town

Hearing this, Fat Jack stopped, a gleam of light flashed in his smiling eyes, and he turned around and asked excitedly:

"Could it be... that this guest is also a gourmet who knows a lot about cooking!?"

"Ah... I'm not really a gourmet, am I? I've just been to a lot of places, and I'm used to learning about the local characteristics every time I go to a new place. That's interesting stuff, isn't it?"

"I like your answer! Indeed! It's just like what you said!" Fat Jack clapped his hands happily. "Although most of the Hill Continent is a dangerous wilderness, there are differences between wilderness and wilderness!"

“Seeing the unique styles of different wilderness areas is always an exciting experience on this dangerous continent!”

"Uh-huh, so these ingredients are..." Y smiled politely and pointed to the grilled steak on the plate on the table and asked.

"It's the meat of the last guest who stayed in this room!"

"..."

The room suddenly became deathly silent.

The greedy Leah could no longer resist the temptation of food, and began to eat it before they finished talking. But after hearing what Fat Jack said, she suddenly put down her knife and fork, and froze beside the table.

"Hahaha, just kidding! Western jokes are always so hard to accept..." Then, Fat Jack laughed, and everyone's hearts, which had just been hanging in the air, slowly fell back.

"After all, unprocessed human flesh is not tasty. We at Fat Jack's Restaurant will never use such inferior ingredients!"

"What we present to you, our distinguished guests, is top-quality alien flesh!"

"After being sucked clean of every last drop of energy by the special beasts in the highway area, there is no discomfort caused by energy. Instead, it has a unique flavor, delicate taste, fragrant and delicious. It is a special ingredient for Fat Jack's Restaurant!!"

The worries that everyone had just put to rest were suddenly raised again.

This doesn't sound... like it's that good, right?

"...We also find this joke difficult to accept." Shana frowned, feeling that there seemed to be something wrong with this Fat Jack.

"I'm not kidding this time! Fat Jack is seriously and enthusiastically introducing the most famous ingredients of our hotel!!" In his eyes, which were squeezed to a slit by the fat, there was a hint of emotion that no one could understand.

"Do I look like I'm joking? That's not good. Next time I need to introduce myself more seriously..."

"Wow!" After a brief silence, Leah rushed to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.

Although it was not uncommon for refugees to eat each other due to food shortages in the wilderness, they were not refugees.

In any case, eating human flesh was something that was beyond the acceptable range for Leah, who was already very concerned about food and had been carefully taught by Luo Qi.

Not only her, but the other clerks of Qianshi Office also had ugly expressions on their faces.

Xia Ye immediately thought of the bloody and fleshy room he had seen last night, and his stomach began to churn.

Only Y remained smiling and calm, continuing to talk with the boss:

"What a unique ingredient... So, Boss, can all customers enjoy ingredients like this?"

"Of course not! Only distinguished guests can enjoy it! After all, the source of this kind of food is very limited!" Fat Jack seemed a little unhappy looking in the direction of Leah, but was soon attracted back by Y's voice.

"For example, the members of the Mercury Merchants Group a while ago! They all praised this kind of meat!"

"Of course, there are also people like that little girl who doesn't know how to eat and wastes food... But they paid me a lot of supplies, so it's okay!"

"Mercury Caravan? They've been here too?" Y looked very surprised and was about to ask Fat Jack some questions.

"Of course! It was just a few days ago! Can I sit down?" Speaking of this, Fat Jack seemed to be interested and took the initiative to request a chat.

"By the way, if you don't want to eat it... let me eat it! This kind of food can't be wasted! But let me make it clear first, I won't refund the bullets I paid for before!"

"Help yourself..." Shana, Xia Ye and Luo Qi silently returned the plates in front of them to Fat Jack.

Y cut off a small piece of meat, tasted it, and then praised: "It's really good."

"Right! Fat Jack's culinary aesthetics are top-notch!" In comparison, Fat Jack's eating manners were not very elegant. He simply stretched out his chubby fingers, grabbed the meat and stuffed a mouthful of it into his mouth, his face covered with grease.

"Although this place has a unique style, it doesn't seem like a place where the Mercury Caravan would come." Y brought the topic back at the right time.

"I also find it strange... It was the first time that Fat Jack received such a large-scale merchant group. Their leader was covered in golden accessories and had a rapier that looked both gorgeous and practical. I was so greedy that my mouth was watering..."

"They were very generous. They directly had five boxes of bullets brought over and booked the entire hotel. But in fact, they only stayed there for less than two days!"

"That's five boxes of bullets! More than enough to last a week!"

Fat Jack was talking while eating with a beaming face, and the people around him, except Leah who looked extremely bad, gradually suppressed their discomfort and carefully captured the important information from Fat Jack's mouth.

"Did they say why they came here?" Y thought for a moment and continued to ask.

"It seems that there is an area not far away that needs to be investigated and sampled. They came here just to rest for a day... Anyway, they stayed until the afternoon of the next day and prepared to check out and leave."

"At the time, I advised them that it was a black moon night and it would be best not to go out."

"But they ignored me and left Highway Town in a hurry."

"Investigation and sampling? Could you please tell me which direction?" Finally hearing the important part, Y straightened up and asked quickly.

"This..." At this time, Fat Jack finished all the steaks in no time. He slapped his greasy hands on the apron in front of his belly with satisfaction, as if he was going to talk about something else.

Seeing this, Y also understood what the other party meant, and took out ten shiny bullets from his pocket again and placed them on the empty plate in front of Fat Jack.

"Look, I'm just a mercenary who's very interested in strange stories from all over the world. Such a talkative and enthusiastic boss has always been the favorite of my companions."

"If the accommodation experience over the past two days is good, I think they will definitely want to come and experience Fat Jack's hospitality when they return."

"Ahahaha... is that so?" Fat Jack was a little flattered by the praise:

"Actually, it's not something that can't be discussed—"

"About three hours south of Highway Town, there used to be another gathering place called Sunset Town, but it was abandoned about a year ago for some reason."

"According to people who went to investigate the situation, the houses in Sunset Town all looked intact, but the doors and windows could not be opened. Even attacking with factor abilities was ineffective, and there were no living people left."

"That's where the Mercury Merchants were heading a few days ago, and they never came back."

63. The Maid in the Run-Down Hotel

"Won't you have any psychological barriers when eating this..." After Fat Jack left, there was silence in the room for a long time. Finally, it was Xia Ye's voice that broke the silence. She pointed to the plate with half a steak left in front of Y and asked.

"No way? As long as it's cooked, it's just an ingredient." Y cut off another small piece and put it in front of him to look at it carefully.

The steaming and fragrant gravy is oozing out from the delicate meat, which looks quite tempting.

"Want to try it?"

“Forget it…” This behavior made everyone have a new understanding of Y.

"To put it bluntly, whether it's an Inhuman, a Devil Beast, or even a Mythic Species... in this world dominated by rational elements, where becoming stronger and more intelligent is the only direction of evolution, is the difference really that big?"

"We are all carriers of the rational element, but the forms of action and the amount of the rational element that can be carried are different."

"If you can eat a monster, why can't you eat an alien?"

"For example, if there is a mythical creature that can transform into a human form but is actually a beast, would you eat its meat?"

Y's extremely insightful words left the others speechless. Although they didn't want to admit it, what she said was indeed the truth.

Under the influence of rational elements, aliens can no longer be called simple people.

Everyone knows that rational elements and mutant factors will cause a mutant's personality and thinking to change subtly, but ironically, in this cruel world, if they want to survive and live better, rational elements have become the energy and advancement resources that they are eager to obtain.

"Even so, I still want to keep up the fig leaf on the surface... After all, understanding the essence is one thing, and accepting it wholeheartedly is another thing, isn't it?"

But after thinking for a while, Xia Ye gave his answer.

Even if this is true, at least the alien still looks like a human being, so he is at least willing to regard the other party as a human being.

He just couldn't accept cannibalism.

"Hmm... that does make sense. Suddenly, the meat in front of me doesn't taste good anymore."

After hearing this, Y also put down the knife and fork in his hand, looked at him meaningfully, with a hint of surprise and appreciation in his eyes, and praised him as before:

"As expected of Xia Ye, you always come up with something that enlightens me and is refreshing."

“……”Xia Ye has almost become immune to Y’s half-true, half-false compliments.

"So, should we wait for Fat Jack to get us some information about Sunset Town?"

Just now, before leaving, Fat Jack offered to provide a detailed map and intelligence if the people in the house wanted to go to Sunset Town, but that would take about an hour or two... and 30 bullets.

After hearing this, Y immediately took out another handful of bullets. Not only did Fat Jack's eyes light up, but even several of his companions looked at her in surprise.

How many bullets does this guy have in his pocket?

But no matter what, Fat Jack left the room happily and promised to send a satisfactory map and intelligence within two hours.

"Two hours is still enough. In such a strange wilderness area like the highway area, it would be better to do enough intelligence work." Y shrugged.

Hearing this, Xia Ye once again recalled the horrific second half of last night, so he sighed, nodded, stood up and said:

"In that case, you guys should rest in your room first. I'll go out and relax."

Seeing this, some confusion appeared on the faces of the people around.

"Are you alone? Do you want me to go with you?" "How about I go with you?" "Liya wants to go with Xia Ye!"

Y, Shana and Liya's voices rang out almost at the same time, but Xia Ye just shook his head and said:

"I just passed by a place that I'm personally quite interested in. I'm just going to take a look and will be back soon. Nothing will happen, don't worry..."

After saying that, he paced out of the room.

…………

"The Highway District's specialty, thorny juice, is refreshing and thirst-quenching! 10 takou or 1 standard bullet per cup!"

"A pendant with a western style, giving you a unique style that is completely different from the city! 50 buckles or 4 standard bullets per piece, purely handmade, no bargaining!"

"..."

"So actually many vendors also accept transactions for tower buckles, but I don't know why Fat Jack only accepts transactions for bullets."

Xia Ye looked around, searching for his target among the stalls where people were shouting enthusiastically.

"If I remember correctly, it should be here... ah, I remember correctly, it's right there."

After taking several shortcuts between several houses, Xia Ye came to a relatively remote narrow alley. At the end of the alley, there was a two-story building that was obviously more dilapidated than the surrounding buildings.

If he hadn't paid close attention just now, he would never have found this inconspicuous place that looked like an old house about to be demolished.