Gary wasn’t sure how many times he had to close his eyes and just continue chewing, but eventually the message that he had been waiting for finally arrived.

[Your Energy has been fully restored]

[110/110 Energy]

The alleyway had been filled with rats that Gary could use, and after consuming the first one his Energy was being replenished allowing to catch more. Three rats later and his emergency healing finally kicked in, though it meant that he would have to eat even more of the rodents.

On the plus side, the wounds on his body and hand had started to heal as if it was magic, but what he had done, what he had eaten to get to this point, felt like a distant memory in his mind.

The taste of the rats themselves had actually been far better than he had anticipated, though he had the feeling that this was thanks to him being part werewolf now. He was sure if he was still a complete human, he would have thought very differently. Nevertheless, they had the same iron-like taste that he had begun to enjoy in the steaks he had been purchasing from the convenience store.

[Daily quest achieved]

[Eat 2kg of meat]

[285/460 exp]

Walking out of the alleyway, Gary used his enhanced senses to check if anyone was following him, but so far he seemed safe. However, he had to do something about his clothes. They were a blood mess, not least of all because of his impromptu snacks.

‘Blood is so hard to get out of a white shirt… yeah I will have to dump this one. There’s no way in hell I can get the stench of rat entrails out of it. I’m going to have to buy a new one. Here, I tried so hard to save that emergency money and yet I’m still going to have to use it.’ Gary thought.

For the time being, he kept the uniform with him as he needed to find some way to dispose of it discreetly later, preferably somewhere far, far away from his fight with barry. He still hadn’t figured out what to do with his other clothes that were covered in blood from the construction site and he had no desire to have a closet full of ‘evidence’.

‘The taste of those rats..they weren’t that bad, and it's cheaper than buying meat.’ Still, the thought of what he had just done was making him feel quite sick. It was then he heard the sound of some pigeons and could see them flying above.

‘I suppose it doesn’t have to be rats necessarily. It should also work with other things, right? If I can keep up my Energy without having to spend money, and if it stops me from..’ Gary didn’t want to finish that thought. He changed into his rugby uniform for now, placing the bloody clothes in his bag, and headed home. The high schooler decided against going to the gym for now and he wasn’t sure he would go there after having dropped off his bag at home.

The good news was that Gary had not only replenished his Energy, but that he had essentially solved his problem on how to get a free supply. At least for the coming days he could test out his new skill and more, but there was still the problem with Barry.

‘Will he tell anything to the cops? I mean he was the one who stabbed me. Everything I did was pretty much just self-defense. If he tells the truth, he will just get in trouble as well.’

After getting home, speaking to his mother and sister, it was this thought that was making it hard for him to fall asleep. Eventually he saw a familiar message as the clock hit midnight.

[Your bloodlust grows]

[6 days until the next full moon]

——

Earlier in the day, Anton Millstun had stayed behind to investigate the crime scene. More police had arrived to help him while the ambulance had given the injured high schooler some treatment, before taking him to the hospital.

After reporting what he himself had witnessed, the Chief of Police had left his subordinates to gather any clues, while he himself had decided to go to the hospital, hoping to talk to the victim. Despite it being dark outside, he continued to wait for the boy to wake up.

While in the hallway, a young police officer named Roo Game walked up to Anton with a few files in his hand, but he had a worried look on his face as he approached.

“Just tell me what it is.” Anton sighed and waved to Roo to hurry up.

“Yes, Sir. Unfortunately, it seems like we will have to hand over the case to White Rose. We tested the weapon that was found at the scene for fingerprints. It appears that the one we have apprehended isn’t the victim, but actually the assailant. However, we have also found the blood of what we can only assume to be the actual ‘victim’.”

“The blood splat report states that our injured friend most likely stabbed the one you have scared away. Now here’s where things get interesting. While we don’t have that mysterious person’s identity in the database, we do have this blood on record.”

“You remember the gang members that we found at the construction site. Well the blood matches up. Whoever that person is, he was at the construction site on that day.”

Anton let out an even bigger sigh, because he now understood why White Rose would grab this case. If the blood matched up, it was most likely the same Altered who had killed the gang members that had attacked the high schooler.

“What about Billy Bruntin? He was a high school student and his last two victims were teenagers. Is there any possible link to him?” Anton asked.

“Not that we are aware of. We have Billy's suspected DNA on file that we recovered from his home. White Rose has made a forensics check, but his DNA wasn’t the one found at the construction site nor anyway near the alleyway or the other cases. It seems these are two separate Altered killing cases.”

Shaking his head, Anton was wondering what the world was coming to.

“Thanks Rookie. Report this to White Rose, and while you're at it, try to look for some links between the two. I know that there hasn’t been anything so far, but the fact that these are both high school students and have run in with suspected Alterds, I just have a feeling this whole thing is connected.”

It was then that the sound of panic was heard not too far from where they were. The nurse came storming out of the room, and quickly brought a doctor back with her.

Even more panic started to ensue, and they were wondering just what was going on. Inside the hospital room itself, Barry was shaking. His whole body seemed to be undergoing some type of fit and he had foam in front of his mouth.

Not too long after, a certain someone received a notification screen.

——

[Congratulations, you have successfully hunted your first Marked!]

[Reward: Additional stat points]

‘Huh?’

*****

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