Chapter Five: Weapons and Sister Yan

Lin Lei’s family was not particularly wealthy, but money had never been an issue. His father sent him several thousand yuan for living expenses every month, and Lin Lei himself was not one to spend frivolously. His biggest expenses were settling scores with Liu Ping and his gang, and even after that, he still had almost ten thousand yuan on hand.

In his impression, the only long-handled weapon suitable for himself that could be found in a general store was a watermelon knife.

The owner of the “Two Yuan Store” looked at Lin Lei, who was so thin he seemed almost frail, with sunken eye sockets and bloodshot eyes, and took a wary half-step back, shaking his head decisively.

“…No!”

Young students were the most prone to impulsive actions. The shopkeeper could see something off in Lin Lei’s expression and had no intention of inviting trouble.

Lin Lei noticed the strange glint in the owner’s eyes, and an inexplicable agitation began to well up in his mind…

He forced himself to suppress his irritation and managed to offer the shopkeeper a smile as gentle as he could muster. Unfortunately, with his naturally cold demeanor, the forced smile looked more like a grimace.

“Don’t misunderstand, boss. I only want to buy a watermelon knife to cut watermelons!”

“Really?” The owner’s gaze remained alert as he spread his hands. “I believe you, but I honestly don’t have one…”

Lin Lei’s mouth twitched…

After much coaxing, pleading, and persistence, five minutes later Lin Lei walked out of the “Two Yuan Store” with a twitching expression, holding a ceramic fruit knife less than twenty centimeters long, complete with a sheath.

He toyed with the fruit knife, which was barely longer than his palm. By the time he started toward school again, his excitement had waned somewhat, and he quickly realized something was amiss.

“When did my emotional control get this bad?”

He was still near the school. Even if he was eager to hunt ghouls, there was no need to buy a watermelon knife right by the school gates.

And so what if he couldn’t get a watermelon knife? Why did he insist on buying this fruit knife? Could it possibly be more useful than the claws he gained after transforming?

His own claws, when extended, might not compare with swords or knives in length, but they were longer, harder, and much more effective!

Looking back, it was as if he’d fallen into a state of obsession—once he decided to buy a knife, he simply had to get one, even if it meant straying from his original purpose.

“This isn’t like me.”

He frowned slightly. In his past life, though he wasn’t afraid to act, he had never been so impulsive.

He quickly came to a realization.

“Is it because of the ghoul? After I consumed it, my emotions were affected?”

In fact, right after he’d eaten the ghoul yesterday, he’d felt something off about his mood. He had thought it was because he’d just transmigrated, his memory was in chaos, and he’d been attacked by a monster—all of which could lead to extreme emotional fluctuations.

But now, it seemed not to be so simple.

“So this is the price?”

Lin Lei raised an eyebrow, tucked the fruit knife into his pocket, and tried to calm the restlessness in his heart.

“No matter if it’s to vent the violence and bloodlust inside me, or to advance my strength more quickly, I must begin hunting ghouls as soon as possible!”

A fruit knife might be enough to bully little kids, but for hunting ghouls, it was woefully inadequate!

Once he joined the “Investigation Bureau” that Li Xue had mentioned, he should be able to apply for proper weapons. According to Li Xue, however, his review would take several more days.

“I need to get my hands on a suitable weapon first—”

Back at school, Lin Lei had no mind to continue with classes. He picked up his backpack, stuffed in a few books the original Lin Lei had been reading recently, and asked his counselor for sick leave before leaving the campus.

Outside the school gates, Lin Lei opened his phone’s map and searched for “general markets,” immediately pulling up a dozen locations. He chose the nearest one and started the navigation.

After an hour of searching, Lin Lei spent over a thousand yuan and bought a decorative sword.

This sword resembled a Tang sword from his previous life, not yet sharpened but of decent quality.

He also bought an electric sharpening stone at the market.

Back at home, with the help of the electric tool, it took Lin Lei less than an hour to put a fine edge on the weighty Tang sword in his hands.

“Barely adequate.”

Compared to a truly refined weapon, this was lacking, but it was far better than a flimsy watermelon knife!

And as he gripped the sword’s hilt, a surge of confidence bubbled up from deep within.

His new body might be much thinner, but after “plundering” the ghoul’s abilities, his strength was no less than that of his well-trained former self.

Lin Lei recalled how it had taken countless bites yesterday to break the ghoul’s artery, and he swung the blade experimentally…

A flash of confidence and anticipation crossed his face.

“Ghouls usually only come out at night, sleeping in their lairs during the day. I’ll start my hunt after dark, then…”

He lay back on the bed, forcing himself to nap and conserve his energy.

By the time he opened his eyes, dusk had already fallen. Lin Lei sat up, his stomach growling.

He got up and opened the fridge, only to pause in surprise.

There were no vegetables or eggs inside, but there was a sizeable amount of frozen meat!

Lin Lei raised an eyebrow in surprise.

He leaned in to check, confirming that none of the meat was human flesh, and relaxed.

If the original Lin Lei had been a hidden serial killer or something, he would have been in a very awkward situation…

“Am I… a carnivore?”

Lin Lei frowned slightly, rifling through the original’s memories.

Rather than a carnivore, the original Lin Lei was more of an omnivore. He ate anything and everything, with no particular preference.

He had no standards when it came to food.

“What a weirdo…”

Lin Lei wrinkled his nose, soon detecting several pieces of meat that were clearly spoiled and giving off a foul odor.

If frozen meat had gone bad in the fridge, it must have been there for a long time.

A thought occurred to him: “These could be used as bait…”

He took out the rancid pieces and left them to thaw.

He also took out several chunks of beef and headed into the kitchen.

Having lived alone in his previous life, he had picked up some basic cooking skills.

Though he could just devour the meat directly using his “Gluttony” ability, doing so would not satisfy his body’s natural appetite.

As he began to cut the beef into pieces, he realized there was neither oil nor any seasoning in the kitchen.

“Did the original owner have some kind of taste disorder…?”

He turned and went out, ringing the doorbell of the apartment next door.

About ten seconds later, the door opened, revealing a beautiful woman of twenty-four or twenty-five, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and an office uniform. She looked out politely but warily.

When she saw it was the frail Lin Lei, she was momentarily surprised. “Lei Lei?”

“Sister Yan…”

Flashes of memory flickered through his mind, and information about this woman surged into Lin Lei’s thoughts.

Her name was Qi Fangyan, the daughter of Lin Lei’s neighbors, four years his senior.

She had been Lin Lei’s childhood playmate.

He remembered that, as a child, his personality had not been so strange, and his relationship with Qi Fangyan had been excellent.

Later, the Qi family bought a house elsewhere and moved away, renting out their old place…

It wasn’t until Qi Fangyan finished university and found work nearby that she returned to live alone.

Although Lin Lei’s personality had changed greatly since their childhood, Qi Fangyan’s attitude toward him had never changed; she always treated him well.

Because of his peculiar nature, Lin Lei had virtually no friends at school, and his only family, his father, was often away. In a way, Qi Fangyan was the closest person in his life—

She was one of the rare individuals in Lin Lei’s memory who could warm his heart.