Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 65: It’s a Familiar Taste

Starlight, W-City’s top hero, kept grilling meat from the box without pause while petting my head.

“Um... hey, I’m sorry, okay? You know I’m sorry, right?”

“Grrrrrrrr....”

“So... we’ve made up now, right?”

Is there even anything to be sorry about, when the meat tastes this good?

Made up? Did we even fight in the first place?

Isn’t it normal for heroes and monsters to fight?

She grabbed a big chunk of meat in one hand, flipped it skillfully midair after tossing it, and grilled it again.

Every time I opened my mouth, asking for more, happiness took shape and landed right in my mouth.

“Is it that tasty?”

“Wroooow~!”

There’s no doubt—I was born to eat this meat.

After devouring the melt-in-your-mouth meat, I savored the lingering flavor and licked my lips.

Then, right beside me, Starlight took something strange out and started talking.

“Black Cat...? Is it okay if we talk a bit?”

“Meow?”

“Um... I said this before, right? That you can talk?”

“Waoow.”

“Are you still mad at me? You don’t want to talk to me...?”

[Talking makes me hungry.]

I’d been letting out cat-like cries, but eventually used my ability to stir the wind.

In monster form, my speech wasn’t physical but the result of ability use.

The more I use my ability, the hungrier I get.

That’s why—unless it’s absolutely necessary—I don’t want to speak while in monster form.

“So you did speak before... a monster that can talk....”

“Wroooow?”

“Okay, the possibility that we can really resolve things through words just got a lot bigger.”

Starlight looked surprised that I could speak, but also slightly relieved.

Meanwhile, with her hands, she kept squeezing something onto a disposable plate.

What the hell is that?

It smells insanely good.

“Black Cat, as long as you don’t go on a rampage or anything, no S-Class hero will come after you. But in return... can you try not to reach Extermination-Class?”

What a weird request.

Monsters naturally evolve to the next stage just by eating other monsters and humans.

As long as I keep feeding myself and surviving, I’ll become Extermination-Class whether I want to or not.

Not eating humans just delays that day a little.

Maybe what she meant by “don’t reach Extermination-Class” was “don’t eat humans”?

That whisper in my core—the instinct of a monster—

I doubt Starlight knows the exact conditions of how I evolve in such detail.

Besides, asking a monster to resist instinct... isn’t that a bit much for a hero to say?

“If you promise, I’ll give you this.”

“Wrowrr...?”

Just then, Starlight held out a small plate filled with the source of that delicious smell.

What is this scent...?

Sniff sniff—drawn by instinct, I stuck out my tongue and gave it a lick.

“Ah—nope! Only if you promise! Promise first.”

“Wrowr...?”

What the hell is this taste...?

Oily, sweet, savory.

It doesn’t compare to the special 1++ grade beef, but still... it’s good.

Feels like comparing gourmet steak to cola.

A rich, overwhelming flavor lingers on my tongue.

“Promise me. Promise you won’t just eat any monster core you come across—try to stay Kill-Class, okay? If you promise, I’ll give you more.”

Lick, lick—after two more licks, the plate was clean, and Starlight looked down at the empty dish with a sigh.

Hmm... this isn’t bad.

It might not hit a human’s palate, but for a monster—in this current form—the taste was intense enough to be addictive.

...I want more.

[What is this? I’ve never tasted anything like it.]

“It’s called Churu, a puree made from meat and fat that cats love... um, a cat treat?”

[I’m not a cat.]

Sniff sniff—drawn by the Churu scent, I bit into Starlight’s bag.

But she grabbed the other end and pulled back so I couldn’t run off with it. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

“W-Wait! You smelled it again, didn’t you? I told you—I’ll give it to you if you promise!”

“Grrrrrr....”

“Ah—come on! No! Listen to me! You only get this if you listen!”

Rrrrip—

As the bag tore, Starlight pulled out a giant container from inside.

Still holding the empty bag in my mouth, I licked my lips when I saw the full tub of Churu inside.

“Okay, okay! Just hear me out on a couple things—just a little, okay? Then I’ll give it to you.”

“Wrooow.”

“...Lift your head. If you lunge for it, I really won’t give it to you, got it?”

Tch. I clicked my tongue and lifted my head, giving up on snatching the tub.

As I sat down properly, Starlight smiled proudly and began squeezing out Churu onto a plate.

“Good. Churu is for good kitties who behave and listen, got it?”

I’m honestly too tired to keep saying I’m not a cat.

As she kept refilling the plate with Churu for me to lick, Starlight kept talking.

“Listen carefully. Lately, there’ve been weird people targeting you. So even if a stranger offers you something delicious, don’t follow them, okay? Even if they seem hurt or helpless—don’t follow. Got it?”

“Wung-wung-wung.”

“Thank you so much for saving so many people until now, but... there are people who want to exploit you, so be careful. Especially anyone who calls you a god or begs for salvation or weird stuff like that—wait, are you even listening? Ow!”

Jeez, so noisy. I’m trying to eat.

As the plate emptied, I bit Starlight’s hand firmly, and she, filled with some sticky emotion, petted my head.

“I-Is this affection? I heard cats bite gently when they like someone.”

[Hurry up and refill it. The plate’s empty.]

“Ah, okay...”

It’s not that I bit her gently. It’s just that her hand is tough.

With a disappointed tone, Starlight started refilling the plate like a chef at a revolving sushi bar.

“Anyway... the heroes are going to keep giving you meat, so I hope you’ll follow their instructions a little.

If you just fill your belly with all the beef and pork you love, then you won’t need to eat monsters or humans, right?”

“Nyam-nyam-nyam.”

“And remember—Black Cat, as long as you don’t do anything bad, the citizens of W-City and the heroes will all keep giving you meat and delicious things. So don’t do bad things, okay?”

By "bad things," I assume she means eating humans.

I don’t have any particular intent to, but Starlight’s definition of "human" and mine are different.

If she means I shouldn’t eat trash who technically count as human—

Well, that’s not something I can agree to.

...Unless she gives me that special 1++ beef every day.

[If I listen to you, will ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) I get that beef every day?]

“Eh? That... no, that’s not possible... it’s not about money—it’s a production issue.

Even at best, we can only give you that much once a month.”

“Wrowwr... oooowr...?”

The moment I heard those words—that I could only eat it once a month—

Even before the disappointment finished settling in, the anticipation of being able to eat it once a month filled me.

“Instead... I’ll give you Churu every time from now on, with the meat. How’s that?”

On top of that, Churu snacks too...

Still, unless I could eat until I was full, it wasn’t quite enough.

Would it be possible to eat until full, like at the soup kitchen?

Come to think of it...

Wasn’t the soup kitchen run on Starlight’s personal funds too?

And the meat the heroes gave me...

If I could eat special 1++ beef once a month, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

It didn’t seem all that different from what I was doing anyway.

“You remember, right? Don’t follow strange people, okay?”

At that moment, the plate was completely empty.

I silently stared at Starlight, waiting for her to refill the dish that now stayed empty.

“Wraow.”

“You want more Churu? There’s no more today.”

...What, there’s none left?

Beef and dessert—though I wasn’t full, it had been a satisfying meal.

Yawning, I began to groom my fur.

Well then. If I’m done eating, time to go.

“W-Wait! You’re leaving just because you finished eating?! What about an answer?!”

Whoosh—

I jumped down from the rooftop, leapt past the murmuring people on the ground, and vanished straight through them.

As I escaped into the shadows, Starlight shouted after me.

“Black Cat! Even if someone shady offers you food, don’t ever follow them! Got it?!”

Hearing Starlight’s voice grow distant, I thought to myself—

What kind of monster follows a human just because they’re offered food?

Just what do they think I am?

****

Electrice’s ability and space manipulation made a good combination.

The technique of detecting bio-signals by spreading electromagnetic fields was more delicate and far-reaching than simply using monster core pulses to locate monsters.

Once detected, the monster could be remotely blown up and killed using spatial manipulation.

When used correctly, spatial manipulation could override the usual limitation where power weakened the farther it got from the core.

The range of my ability was about half a zone—

But by connecting space from that range and applying other powers through it, I could deliver powerful abilities even across long distances.

Unfortunately, connecting space required extremely precise control, so I could only link one space at a time.

That meant it took longer to detect and eliminate distant monsters one by one—

The only downside.

Lately, I’d gotten hooked on this combo of space and electric manipulation, hunting down monsters before the alarms could even sound.

After clearing an area while basking in the sunlight in a good spot, no monsters would show up in that zone for a while.

I called this hobby: Monster Purge Yarikirī.

“Don’t you think monster appearances have dropped a lot lately?”

“Monster damage? That’s all thanks to Black Cat....”

“No, I mean the number of monster appearances itself. Isn’t that down?”

“Huh? Now that you mention it... that is weird....”

As monsters stopped appearing in the areas I showed up in, day after day, the heroes began to notice something strange.

Eventually, the heroes figured it out—

Wherever I took a nap, monsters never appeared.

“It’s probably space manipulation.”

“Using Bad Cat’s ability to hunt monsters one by one from a distance.”

“So what you’re saying is, he’s not really napping—he’s sniping monsters while pretending to nap?”

“Ah, there it is! Did you feel that? The ability’s wavelength....”

“Damn, his powers keep getting stealthier by the day... scary.”

“Seriously though—at this point, isn’t he like W-City’s guardian deity?”

Soon after, rumors started spreading among civilians too.

Wherever Black Cat naps, it’s safe.

People began lying down for naps themselves wherever I was, enjoying a peace that didn’t fit in this age of monsters.

And day by day, more people began thanking me.

“Black Cat is no longer just Black Cat. He is Lord Black Cat.”

“Anyone who dares speak to Lord Black Cat informally will be treated as an enemy.”

“Thank you, Lord Black Cat.”

“Ooooooh... Lord Black Cat~ Please show up here every day and bless us with a real estate miracle.”

To the citizens, thanking me had become a sort of playful, exaggerated ritual.

Overblown reverence, nothing that felt too sincere—

That’s how it came across to me, and I didn’t think much of it.

But the heroes reacted... very sensitively.

“Calling him ‘Lord Black Cat’ is now prohibited.”

“Sorry, can I see your W-City resident ID?”

“This is Zone 8—we need backup here.”

“I-It was just a joke! Just messing around!”

I thought their reactions were too extreme, but when I tasted the anxiety behind their emotions, I remembered what Starlight had said—

Be careful of anyone who calls you a god.

So far, there weren’t really any people like that. Yet.

After finishing another day of underground monster hunting, I was bounding over rooftops when a strange sensation flickered in my core, and I stopped.

Kill-class monsters flying above the sky... and quite a few of them.

Bug-type monsters were clumped together in swarms.

Since they were coming from outside my detection range, up in the sky, I couldn’t deal with them in advance.

“RRAAAH!”

BZZZKT! WHOOOOOM!

Unleashing lightning into the air, I burned the swarm in a single strike.

In that instant, a few bugs dodged the attack and began diving toward the city.

Once they crossed into the monster alert zone, the sirens began wailing.

The descending cluster of monsters quickly disappeared into a dark, empty alley.

Following them—

BZZZT! CRACK!

With each burst of space swallowing them whole, the swarm’s numbers dwindled as they fled.

Then one of them turned and flew straight toward a human.

The person fell to the alley ground, flailing their arms.

BOOM! I blasted the bugs away with a shockwave, then scorched them all with fire.

“Ah... th-thank you. Oh, Lord Black Cat....”

What’s this?

A strange scent—a kind of emotion I’d never sensed before.

The man stood up and, like others before him, pulled something from his pocket: a sausage.

“Please... I hope you’ll eat it....”

Used to this kind of offering by now, I opened my mouth.

The man, holding the sausage with both hands, cautiously fed it to me.

Was he worried I might bite him?

As I took the sausage into my mouth, the rich, sticky flavor made my mouth water instantly.

Crunch—one bite, and the taste made me think:

Out of all the meat I’d eaten lately, this might be the best.

This taste...

I know this taste.

Human.

This is... human sausage.