Sorry, I'm Starving

1

In the first year of Chaos, the space gates opened.

Monsters invaded from another world, and humanity's home became their hunting ground.

2

A few people noticed that a new boy had arrived in the Seventh Slum today.

He was handsome and polite, but looked frail and moved slowly.

They felt sorry for him and shared what little dry food they had, though they all thought he wouldn't live long.

After all, only those who could run fast had any chance of escaping the monsters' hunt.

*

That night, Pei Qiu woke up hungry in bed.

He saw that the ceiling was covered in clusters of purplish-red growths, writhing like waves.

A piercing alarm sounded outside, and someone pounded hard on his door.

"Are you all right? Hurry to the shelter!"

Pei Qiu weakly answered that he was.

The person may have heard him getting out of bed, or may simply have been in too much of a hurry to escape. Either way, the pounding stopped.

There was only one shelter in the vast slum. If you got there too late, you'd be left outside with the monsters that hunted humans.

But Pei Qiu had no intention of going.

There was only one reason: he was too hungry to walk.

He searched the whole room and found the only thing that could be called a weapon: a pair of scissors. Pei Qiu stared at the invader on the ceiling, swallowing as he wondered how long it would keep him fed.

3

Later, Pei Qiu became a legend.

"Light of Dawn," "Cleaner," "The Monsters' Absolute Nightmare"... People spoke of him with admiration and longing.

When Pei Qiu heard about it, he fell silent.

Heaven knew he'd only wanted a filling meal in the beginning.

Theme: People need food to live. Skip one meal and you'll be starving.