Chapter Sixty-Two: The Calamity of Gluttony

“I’m going to skin them all and stew their meat to fill people’s bellies!”

Old Liao and I exchanged glances, utterly bewildered. What on earth had happened to Hu Three-Blades to make him harbor such an intense hatred for dogs?

He slumped over the table, his burly body leaning forward, collapsing onto the edge as he muttered to himself.

So it turned out that the transformation in Hu Three-Blades’ character was rooted in a truly tragic tale.

A few years ago, Hu Three-Blades was not yet the renowned entrepreneur of Southern Canton. He was merely a butcher at a wet market. Although the job was hard and the pay meager, he took genuine joy in his work each day.

He had a beautiful wife and a lovely daughter, and they kept an old yellow dog at home. The three of them lived a peaceful, blissful life. Though they were poor, he felt immensely satisfied.

Back then, he was not cruel by nature. In fact, he was a true dog lover. Though his work involved slaughtering livestock, he believed in karma and retribution. From time to time, he would even take his wife and child out to feed the stray cats and dogs.

But all of this was destroyed on a rainy winter’s day.

At that time, he still lived in an old house deep within a narrow alley. After closing his stall, he carried home a bag of freshly cut ribs, humming a cheerful tune as he walked, thinking how his wife could prepare something delicious for their child. His heart was full of joy.

As he neared home, the rain began to fall. It grew heavier, and he quickened his pace, only to suddenly witness a horrific scene: his wife and daughter were lying on the ground outside the alley!

His wife’s clothes were in tatters, her body covered in a dozen or more bloody wounds that looked as though they’d been inflicted by sharp fangs. Blood was streaming from her as she lay motionless on the ground.

Turning his head, he saw his daughter crawling on the ground, while their yellow dog, baring its teeth, was about to bite her.

He rushed forward, grabbed a wooden stick leaning in the corner, and swung it at the dog. The dog yelped in pain and darted away, barking madly from a distance.

“That beast bit my wife more than a dozen times! One of the wounds hit a major artery. By the time she got to the hospital, she was already…”

Hu Three-Blades gritted his teeth, tears welling in his eyes.

“If I’d been a moment later, my daughter would have… So I caught that dog myself. I beat it to death, skinned it, and ate it with my own hands! Before that, I had never eaten dog meat, but after that day, I swore I’d open a dog meat restaurant. Creatures like that deserve to die!”

“Woof, woof!” From outside came the excited barking of a yellow dog. Hu Three-Blades immediately grabbed a cleaver and made to rush out, but Old Liao held him down in his chair.

He didn’t lose control again, only rubbed his hair and waved us away.

“Go, and never come back!”

There was nothing we could do. With Hu Three-Blades so agitated, we had to leave.

But on the way back, the spirit of that yellow dog followed us.

Its tail drooped, and it whimpered softly as it trailed behind us. Whenever Old Liao and I walked ahead, it simply followed, quietly and without fuss.

They say animals have souls, but sadly, they cannot speak.

I stopped and squatted down; the yellow dog approached obediently and rubbed against my legs. I wanted to reach out and pat him, but my hand passed straight through—he had no physical form.

Just as we were about to leave the alley, the yellow dog suddenly halted, barked once at us, and ran off toward the factory without looking back.

“Do you think the yellow dog is trying to tell us something?” I watched its retreating figure and asked.

“Quite possibly. And I think I’ve figured out why its spirit is attached to someone.”

“What reason?”

“The dog spirit is confined to this alleyway. Haven’t you noticed? It can’t leave the street or enter the factory. This must be where it died, and now it’s trapped here. Also, animal spirits rarely possess people, so it must have found someone with a particularly weak will.”

“Huanhuan?!”

A child might be an appealing host for a dog spirit, after all.

“That’s right. Once it possesses someone, it can move freely. There must be secrets about Hu Three-Blades lurking in its heart—secrets it wants the world to know.”

Could that yellow dog really have done something as vicious as tearing out its master’s artery? It certainly didn’t seem that way.

Full of doubts, we returned to the restaurant.

“We’ll have to find another opportunity to ask around. There must be more to this story.”

As I pondered this, my phone suddenly rang.

“Boss Zhang! Save me!” It was Qi the Mukbang streamer.

The moment I heard her plea, I knew the ghostly tattoo must have gone awry—the Spirit Pestle!

“I really can’t eat anymore, I just… don’t want to keep eating! But it keeps making me eat—every day, more and more!”

“If that spirit insists you keep eating, you must do as it says! Listen to me: whatever it tells you to eat, you must finish it! Otherwise, you’ll…”

Before I could finish, she broke down crying.

“At first it wanted me to eat two eggs, then a plate of fried rice, then a whole roast chicken. Now, it makes me eat more than twenty dishes at once! I feel sick just looking at food—I really can’t eat anymore…”

She hung up.

What if something happened…?

Panic-stricken, I called a cab and rushed to her apartment, which I knew well.

Strangely, just as I got in the taxi, Qi’s live stream went online.

“Big-Eater Qi is bringing you a taste of the city’s hottest dog meat delivery! The stream is live, click for more!”

Fearing for her safety, I tapped into the stream.

“Hello, everyone! Qi is here with another midnight food attack! Tonight we’re trying the most famous dog meat hotpot in Southern Canton—Hu’s Dog Meat House! I’m sure many of you have tried this old favorite. Today I’m challenging dog meat hotpot, dog meat roast, dog meat casserole, red-braised dog, and dog meat stuffed pancakes!”

The camera panned across the table, piled high with all kinds of dishes.

Qi introduced them one by one with practiced ease. But then I noticed the Spirit Pestle ghost on her neck slowly opening its mouth…

“Driver, please, faster!” The ghost tattoo was clearly out of control. If Qi felt even a hint of revulsion, her life would be in danger!

“Let’s start with the red-braised dog meat! Tender and flavorful—the chef clearly knows his way around dog meat.”

Qi’s sweet voice filled my phone as she devoured the food in great gulps.

“Where is this place? I want to try it too!”

“Looks delicious—I’ve never eaten dog meat before!”

“What’s special about it? I have a pet dog at home—I’d never touch dog meat.”

“If it’s farmed, maybe it’s fine…”

“Why do you eat dogs? They’re so cute!”

The stream was lively, with all manner of comments scrolling across the screen. The topic was controversial, but plenty of viewers were showering Qi with gifts.

“Thanks for the plane, boss!”

“Thank you for the rocket! Mwah!”

“Are you in Southern Canton, boss? Give me your address and I’ll send you a Hu’s Dog Meat meal!”

Qi responded cheerfully to each gift, her face aglow with excitement, which eased my nerves a little.

She looked perfectly fine—why had she sounded so desperate on the phone?

When I arrived, I hurriedly paid and got out. Qi promoting Hu’s dishes wasn’t that surprising; after all, her apartment was near Hu’s shop, technically still in the same alley. Hu Three-Blades must have sought her out for some influencer marketing.

But then—

A strange noise came through my phone. Looking down, I saw the Spirit Pestle ghost moving on Qi’s neck!

It twisted out from under her collar as if floating free, its blood-red eyes narrowing, its massive mouth full of jagged teeth, emitting sinister little chuckles. Qi slumped in her chair, head tilted back, utterly silent.

The ghost hovered over the table, gnawing at the food. The viewers seemed oblivious.

“What’s wrong with the streamer?”

“She’s just overstuffed, taking a quick nap.”

“Napping on stream? I’m a fan now!”

“Come on, wake up and eat—I’m starving just watching!”

The stream glitched, Qi’s image warping and freezing, yet the food on the table steadily disappeared.

“What’s going on? Anyone else lagging?”

“Switch to a different stream, this one’s too laggy. Thumbs down.”

“Look, the food is vanishing—she’s probably still eating off camera.”

Only I could see that the one gorging itself at the table wasn’t Qi, but the Spirit Pestle ghost, while Qi herself was limp in her chair.

I rushed to her building as fast as I could.

Though the apartments were expensive due to their location, the buildings were old and dimly lit. Several stretches had no streetlights at all, so I used the glow from my phone’s livestream for illumination.

The ghost devoured the feast in a whirlwind, but still wasn’t satisfied. It turned to Qi, its blood-red eyes glinting with greed, licking its lips and grinning, baring sharp fangs.

Qi, though slumped in her seat, was still half-conscious. She stared in terror at the ghost capering on the table and cried out, “I really can’t eat anymore—please let me go.”

Her voice was choked with despair, but the ghost ignored her pleas, lunging straight for her neck with its gaping maw!

Faster—hurry!

I scrambled up the stairs, finally reaching her floor, and reached for the doorbell.

“Woof! Woof!” Before my finger touched the bell, a strange dog’s bark erupted from within the apartment.