Morning sunlight streamed through their room's window, waking Leon and Shion around the same time. Both felt refreshed after a good night's sleep, though memories of last night's weird events still bothered Leon a bit.
They packed their stuff and got ready to leave Sunstone right away. As they walked out of their room together into the hotel hallway—
"Want to grab some food first?" Shion asked, her amber eyes bright and lively. Her stomach was starting to grumble softly.
Before Leon could answer, Shion was already marching ahead of him out of the hotel. Food seemed to always be her top priority.
They wandered through Sunstone's streets, with Shion eagerly scanning for interesting food stalls. The morning sun bathed the town's pale yellow stone buildings, making everything look vibrant and alive. People were starting their day—opening shops, chatting with neighbors. Laughter and conversation filled the air.
Then Shion's eyes landed on a street food stall selling weird-looking meat skewers. They were lined up on a grill, sending out a mouth-watering smell. The meat had a dark red color, looked juicy, and had strange patterns she'd never seen before. The shop owner, a chubby, honest-looking guy, was shouting to attract customers.
"Special wolf meat! Tender and delicious! You can't find this anywhere else!"
"Wolf meat..." Shion muttered, her eyes immediately sparkling with interest. She'd never tried wolf meat before.
Leon caught up and saw Shion's expression. He could only shake his head. "Shion... you're gonna eat way too much. You just had a ton yesterday." He couldn't help teasing her.
Shion completely ignored Leon's comment. She walked straight to the meat stall. "One stick!"
"Fifteen FreshCoin!" the owner grinned.
*Huh? That's pretty cheap...* Shion thought, pulling out some coins to pay. She took the hot meat skewer in her hand. The smell was incredibly tempting.
Just as Shion was about to take a big bite of the meat—
Smack!
Leon's hand shot out fast and hard, knocking the meat skewer right out of Shion's grip! It went flying and scattered across the ground!
"What the hell are you doing?!" Shion exploded with rage! Her pretty face turned bright red! "Are you out of your mind?!"
Leon froze in shock. He was just as surprised by his own actions! What?! What was that?! My hand just... it just moved on its own! He stared at his hand, then at Shion's furious face, completely confused.
"Uh... I... I'm sorry, Shion..." Leon said weakly, feeling genuinely bad.
Shion clenched her fists tight, grinding her teeth in anger! Then she swung her fist straight at Leon's face with full force!
Thwack!
"Ow!" Leon yelped, falling to the ground in a daze.
"You're unbelievable!" Shion stomped her foot in frustration, then turned and stormed off.
The townspeople walking by stopped to watch for a moment, then acted like nothing happened and went about their business, leaving Leon lying stunned on the ground.
Leon slowly struggled to his feet, head still spinning. He looked around and saw that Shion had already walked far away.
"Wait! Shion!" Leon called out, trying to chase after her. But then his eyes caught sight of the meat pieces scattered on the ground. The meat that looked properly cooked... but it was... moving! Twitching slightly in a creepy way!
"What... what is this..." Leon's eyes went wide with horror and disgust. He quickly bent down to pick up a piece of the meat for a closer look.
The meat's surface, which should have been still, had tiny black fibers pulsing inside it! Like it was still alive!
I need to show this to Shion right away! Leon thought. He glanced at the meat stall owner, who was busy grilling for other customers. Should I ask the owner what this is? But no! I need to find Shion first before she disappears!
Leon immediately ran after Shion through the town streets. "Shion! Where are you?!" he shouted while looking everywhere.
Finally, he spotted Shion sitting with her arms around her knees behind a building, still pouting.
"There you are!" Leon ran over to her.
"Hmph! What now?" Shion looked up at him with an attitude. "You gonna buy me new meat? Don't bother. I'm not eating anymore!"
"That's not it, Shion. It's just... that meat from before... there's something weird about it." Leon held out the still-twitching piece of meat for Shion to see.
Shion looked at the meat in Leon's hand with disgust at first, but then her amber eyes went wide the second she saw it moving! "What... what is that thing?!" She quickly swatted Leon's hand away in revulsion!
"It's the same piece of meat you were about to eat!" Leon insisted.
"What?!" Shion gasped loudly, her face going pale. "Wait... if I remember right... from a book I read once..." She frowned hard, trying to remember something after seeing how weird the meat looked. "It... it looks just like... Life's Fresh! The way it looks... like living flesh... or could it actually be that stuff?!"
"Oh... so that's what it is..." Leon's eyes went wide with amazement and alarm. He'd heard about Life's Fresh from Genus before, but never imagined it would look like this.
Suddenly Leon's hand jerked and threw the meat against the wall. Again? Shion frowned when she saw Leon acting weird. She carefully picked up the meat skewer with a stick.
"If that's really what it is..." Shion's face immediately became tense. "We need to go ask that meat vendor right now! We have to find out where he got this meat!"
"Yeah! Right!" Leon nodded firmly. Both of them hurried back to the same meat stall immediately! The mystery of Sunstone Town was about to be revealed piece by piece!