"That explains its strange, repetitive behavior of killing but not eating."

After a pause, Yang Qi continued, "I’ve already given it a veterinary antidote I had on me, so the toxins in its system have been mostly cleared."

"But the notion that ’killing chickens feels good,’ which formed under the influence of the toxin, might not have disappeared just yet. So, I came up with an idea."

At his words, all eyes focused on Yang Qi.

"I’d like to buy two chickens from the village chief."

Yang Qi looked at the old village chief. "I’ll give them to the weasel and have it ’kill’ one more time, in front of me."

"What? This is..."

The old village chief and the others were all taken aback.

"Once it does the deed itself, without the abnormal sensation from the toxins, it will truly understand that killing chickens doesn’t bring the ’pleasure’ it once experienced. That was just an illusion caused by the poison."

Yang Qi continued, "This way, we can fundamentally eliminate its urge to attack poultry."

He paused, then added, "The weasel has already promised me that if I give it a chicken and let it try one more time, it will stop sneaking into the coop for now."

The plan sounded so novel, with an almost indescribable "scientific experiment" quality, that it left everyone present a bit dazed.

But upon further thought, it seemed to make a lot of sense.

Solving an animal’s behavioral problems sometimes really does require correcting its flawed perceptions.

Yu Bo was the first to recover, saying quickly, "Advisor Yang, we can’t let you pay. I’ll cover the cost of the two chickens!"

"I’ll do it, I’ll do it! How can we let Yu Station and Expert Yang pay!"

"Let me do it."

"Don’t fight over it, I’ll pay."

Chen Shuangquan and the others also started speaking up.

"No, no, everyone stop arguing."

The old village chief, finally recovering from his shock, waved his hands dismissively. "This is our village’s business, so the village will provide the chickens. Big Class!"

He turned his head and shouted to a village official in his forties, "Quick, go to your coop and grab two half-grown chickens. Hurry!"

The village official called Big Class acknowledged with a shout and took off running toward the village.

Before long, he returned, panting, carrying two flapping, half-grown chickens that weighed about two or three pounds each—one male, one female.

"Expert Yang, here!" Big Class handed the chickens over.

"Thank you."

Yang Qi said his thanks, took the two slightly panicked young chickens, and turned to walk towards the corner of the low wall.

Huang Daxian, who had been hiding in the corner, saw the flapping chickens in Yang Qi’s hands, and its eyes lit up in an instant!

That familiar "sense of a target," the one that made its blood quicken, seemed to return.

Yang Qi stopped a few steps from the weasel, squatted down, and gently placed the hen on the ground.

The hen, free from his grasp, instinctively tried to run, but Huang Daxian’s intense stare rooted it to the spot, where it spun in circles, clucking in terror.

"Go on, give it a try."

Using his Basic Spirit Communication Technique, Yang Qi said calmly, "Kill it. See if it still feels ’good.’"

Huang Daxian let out a low, predatory cry, kicked off with its hind legs, and shot forward like a yellow blur.

Its movements were still lightning-fast, and it precisely sank its teeth into the hen’s neck.

With a faint SNAP, the hen’s struggles and squawks ceased abruptly as its body went limp.

Huang Daxian released its jaw, stood beside the dead hen, and waited habitually...

Waiting for the anticipated "pleasure"—the feeling that made its body feel weightless and its head fill with wonderful sounds.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Nothing happened.

Only the unpleasant, lingering taste of feathers and blood remained in its mouth, along with the chicken’s body on the ground, which was gradually growing cold.

’Why don’t I feel good anymore?’

Huang Daxian lifted its head in a daze and looked at Yang Qi, its tiny eyes filled with immense confusion and disappointment.

’Why?’

Huang Daxian was utterly bewildered.

Where was it? That ultimate ecstasy that it found so irresistible, that drove it time and again to venture into the territory of the Two-legged Beasts?

’But I did the exact same thing as before.’

Yang Qi looked at its dazed, rather pitiful expression and understood completely.

With the toxins gone, the faulty neural connection was broken.

What the weasel was experiencing now was the true sensation of killing poultry.

Perhaps there was a little bit of instinctual satisfaction from a successful hunt, but absolutely none of that distorted, addictive "pleasure."

The experiment was a success!

This Huang Daxian’s "killing addiction" could be considered cured.

"You see?"

While maintaining the Spirit Communication Technique, Yang Qi spoke gently, "This is the real sensation. You felt ’good’ before because you were sick. You were poisoned."

"Now that you’re better and the poison is gone, killing a chicken is just killing a chicken. It won’t give you that strange feeling anymore."

Huang Daxian stared blankly at the dead chicken on the ground, then back at Yang Qi, as if still struggling to process this "cruel" truth.

Its limited intellect finally began to connect the dots: "poisoned," "cured," "feeling disappeared."

"So, don’t do such dangerous and meaningless things in the future."

Yang Qi took out a paper cup, put in some Hundred Beasts Detoxification Powder, poured in some water, and placed it in front of the weasel.

"Here, drink up."

The weasel stood frozen for a moment before instinctively drinking the water with the antidote.

After it finished drinking, Yang Qi put away the paper cup and mineral water, stood up, and gently placed the other chicken, the cockerel, on the ground not far in front of it.

"This chicken is for you too, as ’compensation.’"

Huang Daxian looked at Yang Qi, then at the two chickens on the ground.

After a long moment...

’Thank you.’

Huang Daxian expressed its thanks.

It lowered its head and picked up the hen it had just killed, leaving the young cockerel untouched. After a wary glance at the distant crowd, it turned and dragged its prey into the nearby bushes, quickly disappearing into the darkness of the mountain forest...