A bullet punched through the monster’s chest, tearing up a mass of churning flesh. Thick, pus-filled blood splattered across the floor.

The monster froze, then stared at the hole in its chest in disbelief.

“Ah… H-how… how could this…”

The monster couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t make sense of what was happening.

Just moments ago, it had been sure of victory, tormenting its prey like a cat playing with a mouse. But in the very next instant, all that glee was mercilessly blown away.

This was just a slum…! There was no way some basement-dwelling nobody could have a gun!

It shakily looked toward its opponent. The person across from it had fallen back onto the floor at some point, yet was still aiming a gun at it.

She was a woman, but her face was somehow even more terrifying than its own!

…Was she mixed up with the gangsters?

The monster thought it had figured things out and turned to run. But its chest, now full of holes, couldn’t support its swollen purple head and shoulders. It had barely taken a few steps before it lost its balance and hit the ground with a thud.

“Ah… Aaaaaah!”

After turning into a monster, it had lost the ability to speak fluently, too. All it could do was repeat a few words over and over.

Now the monster was roaring in a frenzy, bracing its hands against the floor as it tried to get up. But its deformed, oversized head was a huge hindrance. Every time it pushed itself up, the weight of its head dragged its upper body right back down to the floor.

This is hilarious. It can’t get up at all.

The monster could only call out in vain. To Zhuohua, though, it looked like a chicken or duck waiting to be slaughtered.

Zhuohua immediately got to her feet, aimed at the monster, and fired again. The deafening gunshot rang through the entire apartment building.

Maomao frowned in discomfort, its two little ears curling up on their own like snail shells.

Zhuohua had wanted to take advantage of her unlimited ammo and unload on the monster, but the pistol’s recoil was far too strong. That first shot, when the monster came through the door, had jolted her right onto the floor. Keeping up a steady barrage was out of the question.

At least, not until she got stronger.

Besides, Zhuohua was a law-abiding citizen who’d never even handled a real gun, let alone received proper training. Hitting the monster in the chest with her first shot had been pure dumb luck—she’d actually been aiming for its head.

This shot wasn’t so lucky.

Zhuohua had aimed at the monster’s head again, but the recoil sent the bullet straight into the floor beside it. The impact punched a huge hole in the concrete, and flying chunks struck Zhuohua in the face, knocking her head to one side.

The little cat’s expression grew more and more disdainful as it watched Zhuohua. It even looked like it was trying not to laugh.

The whole scene was painfully awkward. Zhuohua’s facial nerves were dead enough to qualify her for a role as Two-Face, but she still felt psychologically slapped in the face.

Luckily, the monster lying on the floor hadn’t seen any of that. It thought Zhuohua had deliberately fired wide to intimidate it, so it immediately stopped moving.

“S-sorry…” The monster struggled to make its throat work. “I didn’t mean to… pick on you… p-please forgive this… little guy…”

Huh. It even knew how to use sayings.

Zhuohua gave a cold snort. To save face—no, to find out what was going on outside—she decided not to kill the monster just yet.

“Who are you?”

“For…got…”

Zhuohua frowned. If monsters forgot their memories from when they were alive, she’d be left knowing a lot less.

“How many things like you are out there?”

“…A lot… a lot…”

A lot… That meant people knew monsters existed. This world looked seriously dangerous.

“How did you turn into a monster?”

“…”

The monster didn’t answer, but its body began to tremble faintly.

Zhuohua sensed something was very wrong and hurriedly backed away a few steps. Beside her feet, the octopus cat’s tentacles began to sharpen.

“I diediediediediediedie… Why did you kill… kill me—die-die-die—screee!”

The monster’s body rapidly swelled. Thick black smoke poured off it, quickly engulfing its bloated frame. The gaping hole in its chest was repaired by the smoke in an instant, and within seconds it was back to normal.

Zhuohua panicked. She knew her own limits all too well, and she knew her aim was god-awful. In a fluster, she opened the system shop, intending to buy something else.

But the monster clearly wasn’t going to give her the chance.

“I’m gonna eat you!” The monster’s fangs grew wildly as it sprang straight at Zhuohua!

“Pshk!”

Just as Zhuohua squeezed her eyes shut on instinct, a pure-black thorn pierced the monster’s head. Murky blood splattered across the floor.

“Ah… k….”

The monster muttered a few words, full of terror and resentment. Then it fell silent for good.

The tentacle flung the corpse onto the floor. The swollen body, weighing three or four hundred pounds, was as light as a feather to it.

The tentacle, which had been as thick as Zhuohua’s forearm, quickly shrank back into the little cat’s slender limb.

Zhuohua stumbled back a few steps, her heavy chest heaving.

The monster’s charge had been ten times scarier than spotting a deep-sea fish in the middle of the night. Maybe even nine times scarier.

The little cat beside her tilted its head and glanced at Zhuohua with an air of disdain.

Once she’d recovered, Zhuohua looked at the little cat, hardly able to believe it.

So the little cat was this powerful?

The cat turned its head away with great dignity under Zhuohua’s admiring gaze, but the tentacles swaying behind it gave away how pleased it was.

Heh heh. Human, ■ is pretty amazing, huh?

Well, it couldn’t be helped. What did ■ expect, with such a timid [partner]?

Having to take care of a human right after arriving somewhere so unfamiliar… What a headache, meow~

The little cat didn’t notice that Zhuohua was crouched beside the monster, rubbing her chin as she thought.

If there were lots of these monsters outside, then they were basically the “Dark Creatures” the system had mentioned.

After all, no system would ask its host to kill magical creatures in a hardcore sci-fi world.

“Purchase [Dark Cuisine]?”

“Yes.”

“[Dark Cuisine] purchased successfully. 300 points deducted.”

Zhuohua let out a breath and looked at the heap of stuff on the floor again.

The skill was supposed to raise affection, but even if she bought it, there was no way she could turn something like this into a delicious meal… Hm?!

At that moment, the monster’s corpse—which had looked like a loose pile of poop—suddenly seemed orderly to Zhuohua. Its faint patterns, the qualities of its flesh, and the hardness of its bones all became clear to her.

I see! Meat this loose and tender would fall apart if it were stewed or stir-fried for too long. But if I browned it first and then steamed it briefly, it’d taste pretty good.

But this dim basement didn’t have any cooking utensils, and all she’d eaten so far was bread.

This wouldn’t do. She was a cat owner now, and she had to improve their quality of life—for Maomao’s sake, if nothing else.

How could she let the little cat go hungry or cold?

Zhuohua paused mid-thought.

Wait a second! Why had she so naturally started thinking about cooking with a corpse?!

And where had this whole “no matter how tough things get, you can’t let your precious pet suffer” mindset come from?

The most urgent thing was to go report this to the police!