A hungry girl

The serpent demon took Sylvia back to its lair. In this dark and damp den, there were more snake demons than just the two that brought Sylvia. Along the way, Sylvia had already encountered over thirty different snake demons! Knowing that she was in the snake demon's stronghold, Sylvia was convinced that she was going to meet her end in this snake pit, her face as pale as death, devoid of any sign of life.

Yet, the two snake demons simply took Sylvia to a run-down cell and then left her alone. The cell wasn't just occupied by Sylvia; there were four other girls, as young and fragile as her. Two male snake demons guarded the front of the cell. One of them, a red-scaled snake demon, looked at Sylvia and licked its lips in greed, lamenting, "What a pity, such a tender human girl, and all we can do is watch."

"Don't get any ideas. The Witch's Feast is approaching. If one of them dies, we'll have to search for a long time," the other, a white-scaled snake demon, said. "They want virgins aged ten or below, preferably from rich families, claiming they taste tender. Tch, such a nuisance." After saying that, he added, "Don't cause trouble for us. I heard from the grey demon messenger that a little mage from Arcadia Magic Academy has recently arrived in Freymingstow. He's supposed to be tricky, and we were specifically told to behave."

The red-scaled snake demon grumbled discontentedly, muttering, "Afraid of a mage... from Arcadia Magic Academy... it's not like it's Patrick..." As he mumbled, he left the cell.

The white-scaled snake demon knew that out of sight, out of mind was the best approach, so he didn't try to stop him, just letting him leave.

Sylvia was sitting in a small corner of the cell, clutching her package tightly, her eyes wide and alert, filled with fear as she watched the snake demons and the other four girls.

The other four girls must have been captured for quite some time. Each of them was listless, with chapped lips due to thirst. The demons didn't feed them, and they were starving. Their eyes were lifeless, and their faces were dull. Each of them seemed resigned to their fate.

When Sylvia was first pushed into the cell by the snake demon, she accidentally stepped on one of the girl's fingers. Yet, the girl seemed to have no sensation of pain, not reacting at all. She just sat there, dazed, leading Sylvia to suspect that she might be dead.

Time passed slowly. Being underground with no sunlight, Sylvia had no idea how many days she had spent in there. After what felt like a night, Sylvia was famished. So she quietly took out a biscuit from her package and began eating it stealthily.

The biscuit was tasteless, but as soon as Sylvia brought it out, the remaining four girls seemed to smell something delicious and began to stir. Two of them were so weak from hunger they could only look at Sylvia, hoping she would share her food with them voluntarily.

But the remaining two, one looked at Sylvia, swallowing hard, while the other started slowly crawling towards Sylvia, using all her limbs. "Could you give me some food?" the crawling girl begged in a hoarse voice, "Please."

Even though the girl was pleading with Sylvia, her gaze was fixed on the hidden biscuit in Sylvia's possession, her eyes filled with the greed born from extreme hunger.

Sylvia could not possibly share her food with her. She had only bought five biscuits at the station. She lost one on the carriage, and had just eaten another, leaving only three in her package.

"Please, give me some food," the girl crawled closer, nodding her head as if she was kowtowing to Sylvia. Alert, Sylvia's hand went to the vegetable knife hidden in her bosom.

The biscuit was smaller than her palm, bland and hard to swallow. But once consumed, it provided energy. And with that energy, Sylvia would be able to run if the opportunity arose. She didn't know how long she would be held here, how could she share her hope of survival with them?

But the girl crawled closer and closer, a fierce look slowly appearing on her face. "Give me... give me food!" The girl suddenly sprang forward, knocking Sylvia to the ground.

"Ugh!" Sylvia grunted. The girl bit her hand in an attempt to make her let go of the biscuit. Seeing Sylvia still tightly clenching the biscuit, the girl began gnawing on her hand.

The girl was so hungry that she didn't care what she bit into while eating the biscuit, and ended up biting off a chunk of Sylvia's hand.

Sylvia kicked the girl in the stomach, knocking her over, while she stuffed the rest of the biscuit into her mouth, her cheeks bulging with it.

The girl screamed pitifully and lunged at Sylvia again, trying to pry open Sylvia's mouth to scoop out some biscuit.

Trapped here, the girl had no way to trim her nails. Having not been cut in a while, her nails were incredibly sharp and had scratched Sylvia's face. Sylvia's face burned painfully. She quickly withdrew the kitchen knife hidden in her bosom, swung her hand, and the blade horizontally sliced across the girl's throat.

"Splat" - a surge of crimson blood sprayed out. The young girl numbly lifted her hand, seemingly trying to block the fresh blood gushing from her throat. But in the end, she fell onto Sylvia without even a chance to change her expression.

The warm blood flowed onto Sylvia, staining her entire body red. She roughly pushed the already dead girl off her body. While swallowing the food in her mouth, she glared menacingly at the other three.

Of the two remaining girls, neither had the strength to even lift a finger, while the girl who had previously been swallowing saliva, seemed to have wanted to take advantage of the chaos to snatch some food. But after seeing Sylvia kill the girl, her face turned pale, and she dared not make another move.

The cell was filled with the smell of blood. The two snake demons, who were outside, hurried in after smelling it. Seeing the girl, who lay unblinkingly dead at Sylvia's feet, the red-scaled snake demon couldn't help but curse.

"Who killed her!"

The white-scaled snake demon was calmer: "Since she's already dead, let's drag her away and share the meal. Ask the ones hunting outside to catch another one."

"Easy for you to say. Samantha the witch's millennium banquet is only five days away. Where are we going to capture a maiden from a rich family!" The red-scaled snake demon opened the cell door with a whip of his tail, picked up the dead girl, and cursed, "That little wizard from the Arcadia Magic Academy hasn't left yet. Last time, one of our comrades got his head chopped off just for catching a dog. If we bring back a human, wouldn't they chase us right to our doorstep?"

"We still have to catch one." The white-scaled snake demon entered the cell, looked around, and said, "If we provoke the witch, none of us will be able to stay here."

As soon as the two snake demons entered, Sylvia anxiously retreated to the deepest part of the cell, tremblingly clutching the kitchen knife. Seeing the blood-stained kitchen knife in Sylvia's hand, the white-scaled snake demon knew who the murderer was.

To prevent further casualties, the white-scaled snake demon turned his hand into a blade, waved it in the air, and shattered the knife in Sylvia's hand. Sylvia didn't understand what had happened. There was a flash of white light, and the knife in her hand was broken.

She was shocked, incredulously looking at the kitchen knife in her hand that was now only a handle. She was terrified, thinking that the white-scaled snake demon was angry that she had killed the other "gift" for the "witch", and would take out his anger on her.

Sylvia was extremely panicked, but fortunately, the white-scaled snake demon just swished his tail, swept the broken knife out, and then turned to leave.

Sylvia was still in shock. She sat dumbly in the corner, her clothes clinging to her skin due to cold sweat. She put down the kitchen knife handle, which had now become a piece of scrap wood, and found her hand still shaking.

This incident made Sylvia understand that no matter how much food she consumed to stave off her hunger, she was powerless in front of these monsters.

Perhaps due to good luck, within a day, two snake demons who went out to hunt brought back a maiden from a rich family. This young girl must have sneaked out, as she was still wearing men's clothes.

"Please, let me go. My...my father is the richest businessman in all of Freymingstow. As long as you let me go, you can have as much money as you want!"

The girl's almond eyes were red from crying, and her delicate little face was stained with blood. However, there were no wounds on her body, so this blood should belong to someone else.

The bad-tempered red-scaled snake demon couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, saying, "Heh... do we look like we need money to you?"

"Then...then do you want people?" The girl asked fearfully: "I...I...I can ask my father to send people to you. You can have as many people as you want, my father can provide them!"

"Get in there!" With a forceful push from the red-scaled snake demon, the girl was shoved into the cell.

"Ah!" The girl screamed in pain. The demons had no sympathy, and simply pushed her to the ground.

The red-scaled snake demon re-locked the door with an iron chain and didn't care how heartbroken the girl was crying, he just turned his tail and left.

After about two or three hours, the girl finally stopped crying from exhaustion and started to take in her surroundings. Her red and swollen eyes looked around, and when they landed on Sylvia, her heart skipped a beat.

Sylvia's upper body was all covered in blood, the blood on her body had coagulated and turned black, making her appear particularly terrifying. Sylvia's messy hair was stuck together by the coagulated blood, her upper body's clothing was soaked in blood, her face was buried in the crook of her arm, only revealing a pair of eyes as fierce as a wild dog's, staring at this newly captured girl.

The girl was startled and tears welled up in her eyes again. She found Sylvia scary, so she whimpered and found a spot as far away from Sylvia as possible to sit down.