Chapter 1: The Town Boy

　　Midsummer midnight, the moon was bright and the stars sparse, and the mountain breeze was cool.

　　From the dense woods came hurried footsteps, mixed with the frequent sound of snapping branches.

　　A reckless creature was crashing through the forest.

　　With a ‘crash’, a shadow the size of a calf burst out from the thick underbrush.

　　The shadow crouched on all fours, its eyes flickering with a ghostly light, panting heavily.

　　After resting for a while, it slowly stood up on its hind legs, gazing at the small town below the hillside, where scattered lights twinkled.

　　Its gaze roamed through the darkness, quickly settling on a target—a small wooden cabin at the very edge of the town.

　　Within dozens of meters around the cabin, there was not a single other household.

　　A few strands of dim yellow light leaked from the cracks in the cabin’s window, indicating that inside was the delicious food it craved!

　　The shadow swallowed, crouched down again, and scrambled down the slope on all fours. Though its movements seemed clumsy, its speed was astonishing.

　　Only when it was a hundred meters from the cabin did it lighten its steps.

　　It knew very well that although this town appeared peaceful and quiet, it was actually extremely dangerous. Many of its companions had died here, their bodies never found.

　　This time, if it weren’t truly starving, it would never have risked its life to come here for food.

　　It crept forward cautiously, but when it reached the thorny fence around the cabin, it accidentally snapped a thin branch underfoot.

　　With a ‘crack’, the sound was faint, but it was enough to alert the dog in the yard, which immediately began barking furiously.

　　One dog started barking, and soon all the dogs in town joined in, creating a terrifying uproar.

　　The shadow shuddered violently, shrank back, closed its eyes, and lay motionless on the ground.

　　It wasn’t afraid of the cabin’s owner, but rather that the noise would alert the townsfolk—then it would be truly in danger.

　　The dog barked and howled. Someone inside the cabin heard the commotion, opened the wooden door, and came out to look around the yard, seemingly finding nothing unusual.

　　He said a few words to the dog, calming its barking.

　　From the voice, it seemed the prey was quite young. The shadow was pleased—youth meant inexperience, easier to deal with, and the taste would be purer and fresher.

　　After a while, the sound of the cabin door opening and closing came again from the yard. Through the fence, the shadow couldn’t see what was happening inside, but guessed the young man had gone back into the cabin.

　　The dogs in town gradually stopped barking, and the night grew quiet once more.

　　The shadow breathed a sigh of relief, slowly stood up, and began circling the thorny fence, hoping to find an entrance.

　　Very luckily, it discovered a spot on the fence, thick with thorns, that was damaged, leaving a gap.

　　The gap was small, but if it curled up, it could just barely squeeze through.

　　Its simple mind thought this was a perfect chance to slip into the yard unnoticed.

　　Since that was the case, it decided to go for it.

　　The shadow crouched down, carefully avoiding the thorns beside the gap, and slowly squeezed through the opening in the fence.

　　Even though delicious flesh and blood lay ahead, it calmed itself, moving with extreme caution, making not a sound.

　　It always considered itself the smartest of its kind—its intelligence was unmatched among its kin.

　　The reason its kin who had come here before were killed was simply because they were too stupid.

　　Soon, half its body was through, one step closer to success, and the yard remained silent.

　　It felt a bit smug—see, tonight it would have a feast, and when it returned to the forest, it could brag for a long time.

　　Just as it was feeling proud, the previously loose gap suddenly tightened, and a mass of thorny branches wrapped tightly around its body, trapping it so it could neither advance nor retreat.

　　The shadow instantly realized it had fallen into a trap. Furious, it roared and struggled to back out, not caring that the thorns tore its flesh and left it bleeding.

　　But it was too late.

　　In the yard, a figure stood up, holding an axe. With a stride, he rushed over, raised the axe, and brought it down hard on the shadow’s head.

　　The axe was incredibly fast and accurate, ignoring the shadow’s head movements, as if it had eyes of its own, striking right between the shadow’s brows!