Chapter 2

I sat at the kitchen island in our dorm, slicing an avocado with a silver fork.

The door swung open.

Emma pinched her nose, her face twisting in pure disgust.

"What the... what is that smell? It smells a hundred times worse than a dead rat in a Brooklyn sewer!"

Just as she spoke, Chloe dragged herself into the room.

Her tweed Chanel-style jacket—the one she had saved up for months to buy two days ago—was covered in brown mud. Dark, suspicious animal droppings clung to her hem.

Her carefully styled hair looked like a bird's nest. A nasty scratch from a thorn bush cut across her left cheek, and she reeked of rotting copper and wild animal sweat.

Emma gasped, taking two large steps back.

"Chloe, did you pick a fight with a wild boar in the woods?"

Chloe grit her teeth, forcing herself to stand straight, but her eyes kept darting toward me.

"What do you guys know?" she sneered. "I was performing an ancient European aristocratic cognitive ritual. Once I pass this phase, my IQ will experience a massive leap."

I raised my bone china cup and took a slow, elegant sip of my black coffee.

"Oh? Good luck with your awakening then."

Right at that moment, a mechanical voice rang sharply in the air, heard only by me.

[Warning! Host has ingested unfiltered wild animal blood and contracted an unknown intestinal parasite.]

[Host has developed acute gastroenteritis. Physical functions compromised. IQ rating decreased by 2 points.]

[The stripping progress has dropped back to 75%. Host, please cease self-destructive behavior immediately!]

Chloe froze.

Her face turned from pale to a sickly, moldy green.

"Gurgle—"

A loud, violent rumble erupted from her stomach.

Clutching her abdomen, Chloe threw all her "aristocratic grace" out the window. She shoved Emma aside and sprinted frantically into the bathroom.

Soon, the unmistakable, stomach-churning sounds of violent diarrhea echoed through the door.

Emma waved her hand in front of her nose, her face full of disgust.

"Is she insane? Going out in the middle of the night to eat wild animals? Does she think she’s in a vampire movie?"

I set down my coffee cup and gracefully dabbed my mouth with a napkin.

So, only Chloe and I could hear that mechanical voice.

Perfect.