Stray Chapter 30: When the credit is in progress
It didn't take too long, Izumi Shinichi and his parents decided to start their return journey after lunch.
——No nostalgia, even for Izumi Shinichi's parents.
Although they came out to travel together to relax their minds and cultivate their relationship as husband and wife, this trip not only did not let them relax their minds and feel how beautiful life was, but it was also thrilling and frightening enough.
Especially knowing that some kind of terrifying man-eating creature has appeared in this world, with powerful camouflage ability, and can even replace the identity of others...
They almost got the Dao themselves, and their son is basically a Dao, and his right hand has been replaced by a parasitic beast...
In all fairness, no matter how thick the nerves are, facing such a thrilling development, they will never feel how wonderful this journey can be. Although the love and tolerance of Izumi Nobuyuki and his wife for their son can make them accept the existence of the parasitic beast on their son——
After all, that thing has eaten their son's right hand and replaced it, is there really any other choice now?
Are you going to chop off your son's right hand? Or are you going to report to the authorities and hand over your son to the state?
None of them are realistic, and there is no other way but to accept tolerance.
——But this does not mean that they can accept the existence of other parasitic beasts, especially because of a terrible encounter that left a psychological shadow, they are now somewhat in a state of turmoil, and the grass and trees feel like soldiers.
Simply put, this couple now always feels that everyone outside may be a cannibal monster under the skin. Unless they return to their familiar home, they will not be able to give them any sense of security...
So naturally there is no reason to stay in an unfamiliar place.
In fact, if it wasn't for Quan Xinyi's coma that made him have to stay for a day, they would have been ready to go back yesterday.
But in fact, this is fine. With an extra day of buffer time, at least the family has an opportunity to be open and honest with each other, so there is no estrangement between each other...
As for the three members of Quan Xinyi's family who left the local area by boat, there were actually two people, Xia Ran and Yutian Shou. As for the reasons, they were different, but in general they can be attributed to-
Izumi Shinichi still has a family, is still in school, and has a circle he can't give up. It's not realistic for him to drop everything and try to keep up with the actions of the other two. However, the reverse situation is that the other two can go anywhere.
Because Uda Mamoru is no longer a student, and just got divorced not long ago, it is considered a career and love relationship... No, both failed adults. However, it is not the kind of social animal who is too busy to take time off and has no human rights. He can still arrange his own time.
Although Xia Ran is still a student, she was originally an arranged fictional identity. In this world, she has nothing to do with it. She was wanted not long ago. So he didn't care where he was going, as long as it was safe enough and had the right opportunity to hunt parasitic beasts.
The protagonist Izumi Shinichi's side is obviously the most suitable hunting ground.
To be reasonable, Xia Ran thinks this is really unscientific—
Obviously in other places, the number of parasitic beasts is in line with the number of their ethnic groups, and for the sake of concealment, they often do not overlap the territory, so as to avoid frequent murders and disappearances in the same area, resulting in attracted the attention of the human society.
But in the city where Quan Xinyi is located, this is not the case at all. Parasitic beasts seem to be refreshed on time, and there are always special varieties.
Not those beasts that can be easily solved. Although they disguised themselves as human beings, they still appear mechanical and rigid, and their instincts are greater than rational beasts. They are the types that are more human-like and more dangerous than humans.
A parasitic beast such as Tamiya Ryoko will begin to explore the meaning of the existence of its own species...
--It's a rare breed.
Quan Xinyi welcomes this very much. After all, he does feel that the world is getting more and more dangerous. Did his parents come out for a spin, and they could be targeted by parasitic beasts, which gave him a great feeling sense of crisis.
To have two reliable companions walking together right now is simply a good thing to ask for, how could he refuse?
As for Xia Ran's suggestion, Quan Xinyi did not hesitate for a long time, then agreed and decided to join this small team of hunting parasitic beasts. Because he has already seen, that kind of thing is terrible and dangerous to human society.
Especially the experience of his parents made him unable to ignore it. In addition, there is no reason to prevent thieves for a thousand days. It seems that the best solution is really... to nip the danger in the bud?
Maybe he can't clean up the parasitic beasts all over the world, but if he just hunts and kills in the city where he lives, to ensure the daily and travel safety of his parents and friends to the greatest extent—
Izumi Shinichi feels that it is entirely possible to do it with the strength of three people on his side.
His parents didn't say no, also feeling that having such a professional living nearby would make them feel more secure. Although they did not know that the two professionals were in the same situation as their son, they did not recognize that one of them was a wanted criminal.
……
……
One week later.
"Ah ah ah ah ah-"
The screams of the parasitic beast resounded through the dark alley.
"Boom-!!"
But soon, with a deafening loud noise, it came to an abrupt end.
The twisting and dancing human figure fell into the flames, and the blood stained the surrounding area, but it didn't last for too long, and it quickly turned black under the scorching of the flames. Not the slightest sound.
Xia Ran hummed an unknown tune, half-kneeled to the ground, slowly put the grenade launcher back into the piano case, and carried it behind her back.
“…”
Utian Shou, who was next to him, just came over out of breath when he saw the last scene. A big drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Although it was not the first time he had seen this, he still felt Very impactful.
——Who is the murderer who kills without blinking?
Xia Ran didn't know what Yutian Shou was thinking. He stood up, walked to the edge of the corpse, crouched down and stretched out his hand, as if to check something, and then turned around.
"Okay, let's go... Follow the previous route and hurry to get out of here. I think the police's response speed seems to have gotten faster recently."
"Huh? Oh, okay..."
Utian Shou reacted, nodded hurriedly, then turned around and left, his movements were always a bit slow, but it was not due to a problem with comprehension or memory.
It's because he is really an ordinary person. Now, even if he can summon the courage to set up a game with Xia Ran and take the initiative to attack, it is already the limit. As for psychological construction, it can only be said that there is really no way to do it in one step.
It can be said that every time he fights that kind of monster, he forcefully forces himself to rush up... but that's all, so it's hard for him to understand why Xia Ran can do this.
It is the other extreme. It feels like the other party is an experienced butcher who is killing chickens and oxen. He has long since had no mood swings. For him, it is to find a parasitic beast and then kill it. Lead to a suitable slaughter...battlefield.
The next operations are the same. The beginning is the fight and containment of the parasitic beasts. He seizes the opportunity to fire a fire bomb and fill in the knife to complete the kill.
I even feel in the mood to hum the melody of the latest pop music or something. This is neat and straightforward. Even if I have seen it several times, Uda Moru will still be stunned for a while, which is very unreal. a feeling of.
Seriously, he really thinks that Xia Ran is more like a cold-blooded and ruthless hunter than a parasitic beast...
Xia Ran didn't think about the embarrassing expression of his companion beside him. He just followed the route planned before, and quickly entered with Yutian Shou from the nearest sewer cover, and then out of this remote area.
After all, the official force seems to be very active recently, and the reaction speed is a bit strange—
No matter how good he is, he can compress the time so that he can kill a parasitic beast in ten seconds, and the movement will not be too small, so the official personnel may arrive at the crime scene at any time.
Because in many cases, Yu Tianshou's mobility caused him to be too late to arrive at the scene at the scheduled time, so Xia Ran could only use the grenade launcher to make a quick battle...
And the best ideal situation that was originally expected is actually at least two people at the same time, and quickly cut off the enemy's head through the deformation attack of the parasitic beast, and there will be little movement in silence.
Leaving the previous area and taking a long detour again, the two returned to the base camp, which is an apartment not far from the community where Quan Xinyi lived. This place was temporarily rented by them.
Uda Mamoru relaxed and relieved the discomfort caused by the long-distance running just now, and then began to ponder the troublesome question of what to eat today.
Xia Ran opened her own system interface and directly used up a precious point she just got, adding it to her physique attribute.
Now his base stat has become—
"Strength: 5"
"Agility: 12"
"Physical: 7"
"Intelligence: 7"
"Spirit: 20"
"Perception: 7"
Because the reward for hunting parasitic beasts has been greatly weakened, although he has hunted eight parasitic beasts with his companions in total during this period, the free attribute points obtained are only two.
He adds a point to his strength, allowing himself to secure a one-handed grenade launcher. And another point is just added to the constitution, to ensure that the output of the parasitic beast will not be dragged down due to physical problems.
It's just that the reduction in the kill reward is outrageous. Before, a parasitic beast could get one to three free attribute points. Now it seems that three or four parasitic beasts add up to only one free attribute point.
There are also points rewards that have also shrunk. Now a parasitic beast has only a symbolic 100 points for Xia Ran, and it may continue to be reduced.
——The only thing that seems to be fortunate is that the parasitic beast just now gave Xia Ran another key.