Chapter 43: Morning Plans.

He had reached a level of hunger that a human would feel and say, "I am so hungry, I could eat a tree."

In his case, he was so hungry he could eat a human. And the human to eat was also right in front of him. All he needed to do was reach out to take it.

But against all odds, he tore his gaze from her and stood up.

Then he said, "Let’s go to the mess hall."

Without waiting for her reply, he marched out of the room. Behind him, Jessy slumped, breathing heavily as if she had just finished a marathon.

He wasn’t there to terrorize her anymore, but the tears just kept coming. It was as if something had opened the floodgates in his absence.

But she didn’t let herself cry for too long. She remembered her job and quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve. Then she stood up and ran after him.

She found him in the bathroom having a bath. The bathroom door was closed, but she could hear water splashing inside. So she stood guard by the door.

A few minutes went by like that with her standing in place and waiting. This time, she didn’t doze off. She was wide awake and alert.

For the rest of the morning, she followed Alexander about as he got ready for breakfast. She stayed nearby while he put on his clothes. And she was there to open the door for him.

By the time Alexander was preparing to go to the mess hall, one of his servants had gone ahead to tell them he was coming for breakfast so his food would be ready when he arrived.

He didn’t think he was walking quickly, but he noticed that the girl was struggling to keep up with him. She jogged along on her tiny legs, taking more steps in a short amount of time. Beads of sweat beaded on her forehead, and she was breathing heavily.

This made him frown in frustration, as it was yet another proof that if he pursued her, she wouldn’t be able to escape from him. This understanding of her physical capabilities made the intestines in his stomach coil hungrily, and his heart beat hard as adrenaline surged through him in preparation for a fight.

But he ignored his instincts and kept walking toward the mess hall. He tried to ignore her too, but it was difficult. Her huffing and puffing was too distracting, and he nearly snapped.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. He said to her, "You’re too slow. Meet me at the mess hall."

Then he took off.

He ran ahead without looking back. In a few seconds, he was gone.

She stood there frozen for a few seconds, her eyes widening in shock. Then she also began to run when she realized that she wasn’t supposed to be idle.

Alex rushed into the cabin and up the stairs without looking at anyone around him. He didn’t want to see any potential food, hungry as he was.

He didn’t relax until he reached the second floor, where only Apostles were. Being surrounded by fellow predators quieted his instincts to feed his hunger by hunting.

Not that the allure of hunting was gone. It had only been tempered now with the reality that the hunt wouldn’t be as easy as before. Now potential prey could fight back, so he had to be careful who he fought.

Small Bosses mostly occupied the floor. But one of them was a Big Boss, eating stripes of bronze like a human eating jerky. Their metal teeth bit into the metallic strips, crushing and tearing them before chewing and swallowing.

The Big Boss was a male with green skin, green hair, and green eyes. He was one of the two Big Bosses who oversaw his last test with Tessa yesterday.

Everyone else was quiet because of the Big Boss. Alexander couldn’t blame them because he too had become timid because of the presence of the Big Boss.

Instinctively, he recognized the Big Boss as a bigger, more powerful predator worthy of caution. Plus, logically, he recognized the hierarchy of the Meat Brute Order brooked no disrespect, so he had even more reasons to be careful with his actions.

’This is good,’ he thought, nodding in satisfaction. ’There is no threat of losing control with so many threats here to kill me if I lose control.’

The Big Boss’s presence helped him calm down considerably. His mood improved as soon as his restless craving for hunting calmed down. But then his mood hit a roadblock on its ascent when he saw Barnabas.

Barnabas also saw him. The two of them glared at each other for a while. Then they sneered and scoffed at each other.

They did nothing beyond that. Alexander turned away from his nemesis to look for where to sit.

He was examining the tables when he saw a normal human in a room meant for Apostles. It was a human girl with blond hair, pale skin, and red eyes, so nothing about her seemed special. If there was anything particular about her, it was that she looked like someone he knew.

His mood soured immediately, and he would have frowned unconsciously if he were not in his meditative state.

’Why is a human here?’ he asked, displeased.

’Is she part of the menu?’ the worm asked him, hopeful. ’It is high time we ate a living human.`

’Don’t you think it is time we try something new? It would be nice to clear our palate,’ it asked Alexander.

Alexander ignored it and kept looking for a place to sit. His main criteria now was to sit away from that human girl. But as he looked around, he saw that the seating arrangement wasn’t favorable.

There were 25 tables in total on the second floor. They were arranged in a square formation with five tables in a row and five tables in a column.𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂