Lv Mingkun found No. 64 Ming Garden Road, a large house, and just standing outside, he could smell the stench and the scent of blood.
He used the Bamboo Leaf Blade to cut the latch of the wooden door and pushed it open to enter.
Inside the house, corpses lay across the floor, a middle-aged man collapsed beside the frying platform.
The middle-aged man was Li Youfu. In the morning, when he had delivered Li Chusheng’s body to the Zhou Family’s Jingyi Shop, he still appeared somewhat normal. But now, only half of his head remained.
Lv Mingkun lifted his long robe slightly and walked to the side of the tea-frying counter. As he looked into the pot, he saw the contents: charred eyes, smoked blackened bones, shriveled ears... The horrifying sight not only failed to nauseate Lv Mingkun but unexpectedly evoked a sense of hunger, stirring within him.
"Have a bite. It’s almost mealtime."
Lv Mingkun advised himself.
The Bamboo Leaf Blade sliced open a cut in his palm, and Lv Mingkun instantly regained clarity. Without caring about his demeanor and unbothered by the bloodstains, he lifted his long robe with both hands,
If lifting the robe upon entering was to avoid soiling his clothes, lifting it now was to prevent the hem from catching on something and making him stumble,
Lv Mingkun understood very well that if he were to stumble and fall in this house, that bizarre hunger would surely consume him right here...
The short distance from the stove to the door was incredibly difficult for Lv Mingkun, with each step feeling like he was treading deep mire,
—Plunging in with a thud, and then using all his strength to slowly extract his leg from the mud.
But fortunately, he made it out of the house,
The hunger within Lv Mingkun’s body changed, transforming from "pleasurable hunger" to "unbearable hunger," as if he truly had not eaten for several days.
Enduring the discomfort, he went to the main road, hailed a rickshaw, and said, "Take me to the nearest pastry shop."
East Market Street, Zhou’s Purification Shop,
Zhou Xuan, Si Ming, Little Fuzi, Yun Ziliang, sat in a row across from the shop.
None of them dared to enter; spending even a short while inside the store would cause that "pleasurable hunger" to spread within their bodies.
This hunger sensation seemed impervious to Perception and Incense Fire Level.
Si Ming had a sufficiently high Incense Fire Level, yet he couldn’t resist the hunger.
Zhou Xuan’s Perception was outstanding, but after doing a small piece of the "Flower-picking Handprint" tattoo in the inner hall, he could no longer resist the hunger.
Thus, the four sat across the street, waiting for Lv Mingkun to return.
Zhou Xuan guessed that there had likely been some mishap at Li Chusheng’s home, and if it was a minor issue, his family should quickly take Li Chusheng and his "Human Stomach" away to stop troubling the Jingyi Shop.
Even if it meant paying the penalty specified in the paperwork, it was worth it.
"What if it’s a major issue, like the whole family getting wiped out?" Yun Ziliang asked.
"Lao Yun, try to be more optimistic," Zhou Xuan advised Yun Ziliang to stop saying ominous things.
But playing it safe, if things were indeed as Lao Yun suggested, then Li Chusheng would effectively be a corpse without an owner, and it would need to be cremated immediately—bringing things to a tidy end.
The "hunger" that even Si Ming couldn’t resist would surely make Zhou Xuan choose to "not stand under a precarious wall."
Lv Mingkun had not yet returned, but instead, Li Chengfeng arrived.
Li Chengfeng didn’t see Zhou Xuan and the others, standing at the door of the Jingyi Shop, peering inside.
"Mr. Li, stop peeking at my doorstep, we’re over here," Zhou Xuan shouted to Li Chengfeng.
"Why are you all sitting outside?" Li Chengfeng put a stack of ancient books from his arms onto the counter and, shaking his sleeves, approached Zhou Xuan.
"A very special customer visited my shop today."
Zhou Xuan gestured while recounting today’s event to Li Chengfeng, whetting this scholar of the Bone Elder Association’s curiosity greatly.
"Is there such a strange occurrence? I must go take a look."
"Mr. Li, be careful," Zhou Xuan cautioned.
Li Chengfeng entered the Jingyi Shop, and shortly thereafter, he came out, exclaiming, "Devilish, too devilish, never seen such a thing before."
To make even a scholar of the Bone Elder Association say "devilish," this matter truly needed handling.
"Junior brother, I’m back."
At this moment, Lv Mingkun disembarked from a rickshaw, looking quite disheveled. Always one to mind his appearance, his clothes were now speckled with crumbs, pastry oil, bloodstains, and his hand was bandaged.
"Fifth brother, how did it get so bad?" Zhou Xuan asked.
"Don’t even ask! Li Chunshui’s whole family is finished, they cooked a pot of human stew at home."
Lv Mingkun pointed to the shop, saying, "Hurry, hurry and deal with the body inside, burn it, bury it, toss it, anything, just don’t let it plague our shop, it’s not ordinarily devilish."
"Certainly can’t just toss it."
Li Chengfeng interjected, "This is an unprecedented creature, I must find someone to take it back for research, Young Master, may I have the body and stomach?"
"Absolutely, as long as you can take it far from our store, do as you wish."
Zhou Xuan readily agreed.
He never imagined things could be so unlucky today, with a customer .
Li Chengfeng whispered some taoist spells, and a very small White Lantern floated up in his hand.
Li Chengfeng shouted, and the White Lantern shot skyward. After reaching a great height, he said, "The Bone Elder Association will soon come, take the body for study."
"Don’t forget the stomach!"
"Rest assured, it’s all valuable research material." With that, Li Chengfeng hurried off to Sister Cui’s snack stall, also feeling the pang of hunger.
In less than half an hour, a carriage appeared in front of Zhou’s Purification Shop. Four men in long gowns disembarked and placed Li Chusheng, along with the "Human Stomach," into a pre-prepared coffin.