Chapter 14: Haunting at the Dining Hall

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The Community Assistance Canteen was once the liveliest place in the neighborhood. But now it lay abandoned. Tables and chairs were scattered haphazardly, utensils thrown about carelessly. Water dripped incessantly from a corner, nurturing a patch of moss, and even in broad daylight, the canteen exuded a strong, unsettling odor.

Wu Xian and Shi Ji stood at the entrance of the canteen.

“Yesterday, I wanted to find some ingredients to cook a warm meal for everyone. While searching, I came across this place. Outside the canteen, in the freezer, I found some frozen pig intestines and some utensils to use for cooking,” Shi Ji explained.

“After that, I went inside the canteen to look for more ingredients.”

“Everything seemed fine at first, but suddenly I felt unbearably hungry, as if something was tempting me, urging me desperately to find something to eat.”

“At that moment, I lost all reason and clutched the pig intestines…”

Wu Xian’s expression grew strange. “If I remember correctly, the intestines you found weren’t cleaned.”

“Luckily they weren’t!” Shi Ji exclaimed excitedly, slapping his thigh.

“Because they weren’t cleaned, I couldn’t bring myself to eat them and finally came back to my senses.”

“When I woke up…”

“I saw a gaunt, skin-and-bones man clinging to me, biting frantically. His eyes were a glossy green, and as he bit, he kept crying out, ‘Hungry… I’m so hungry…’”

Shi Ji lifted his shirt to show Wu Xian dozens of dense bite marks across his left chest and abdomen. Had he remained unconscious any longer, he might have been torn open.

“I barely managed to escape from inside. The fear I felt was indescribable…”

Wu Xian suddenly recalled that Shi Ji had worn different pants in the morning and evening yesterday…

Suppressing the uneasy thought, Wu Xian looked into the canteen.

He vaguely made out two blurred statues placed on the counter at the very back, confirming that Shi Ji hadn’t lied.

As he withdrew his gaze, Wu Xian caught sight of a half-skeletal face peeking from behind a pillar. Drool streamed from its mouth, and its eyes seemed to devour Wu Xian.

Wu Xian asked Shi Ji, “From what you’re saying, this evil spirit is quite difficult to deal with. Once someone ventures deep into the canteen, it ensnares them so completely they don’t even realize they’re being devoured. So how do you plan to worship the gods?”

Shi Ji held up a bag. “Of course, with this!”

He opened the bag to reveal it packed full of pig intestines emitting a pungent stench, looking half-cooked.

Wu Xian frowned in confusion. “You’re going to strangle it with intestines?”

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“No, I’m going to bait it with intestines!”

“Bait it?”

Shi Ji sneered coldly.

“Yesterday I didn’t survive for nothing. I gained two useful pieces of information.”

“First, this thing’s ability to confuse people only works inside the canteen, in areas not directly exposed to sunlight. Second… its teeth aren’t that strong.”

“Teeth… I see now!”

Wu Xian pondered for a long moment before understanding, his eyes taking on a strange gleam. What kind of twisted genius could come up with this plan?

Shi Ji’s face twisted with hatred, as if he bore an unrelenting grudge against the evil spirit.

“Since this thing is a starving ghost, it definitely can’t resist food. Pig intestines, when half-cooked, are the toughest. I’ll use them to lure it out of its effective range, and then…”

“I’m going to make it pay for what it did to me yesterday!”

From Wu Xian’s observation, Shi Ji’s personality was honest and straightforward, not the quick-to-anger type. Whatever he encountered must have been far worse than he let on.

For example, when he tried to eat the intestines, it wasn’t that he couldn’t bring himself to do it…

…

Though the plan to bait the spirit sounded ridiculous, Wu Xian had no better ideas.

After a brief discussion, the two set their plan in motion.

The half-cooked intestines were tossed into the shadows. Wu Xian had thought the spirit’s intelligence would be at least higher than a fish’s — it should wait a moment.

But before the intestines even landed, a mouth snapped at them.

Feeling the tugging force from the other end of the intestines, Wu Xian and Shi Ji hurriedly pulled together, yanking a gaunt figure flying out.

The figure was male.

He wore only tattered beach shorts, his body so emaciated it was barely human — bones covered by just a thin layer of sinew, skin deeply yellowed and rough. His legs were splayed like a frog’s, enabling him to move on all fours like a beast.

As soon as he was pulled out, black smoke billowed from him, accompanied by pitiful howls. His body shrank back, but unwilling to release the pig intestines in his mouth, he retreated grudgingly.

Seizing the opportunity, Wu Xian held the intestines while Shi Ji raised a mop handle and struck at the starving ghost.

Shi Ji’s expression was fierce and terrifying, teeth clenched as if about to shatter. Each blow was delivered with all his strength, but his frail body soon began to sweat after only a few swings.

After receiving several strikes, the starving ghost could no longer endure it and retreated like an injured puppy into the shadows.

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Wu Xian watched in disbelief. Shi Ji’s assault was like a fierce tiger’s roar, but it only inflicted superficial wounds. After all that, the starving ghost’s head was barely grazed.

However, this gave Wu Xian a new insight.

First, the weapons distributed by Qi Zhiyong were indeed useful, but only to an extent.

It was like lovers playfully whipping each other.

Does it hurt?

Yes, but it’s hard to cause any serious injury.

Also, when dealing with the Refrigerator Ghost King before, after exposure to sunlight, the ghost emitted black smoke. Wu Xian had guessed that sunlight harmed or even could kill evil spirits.

But now, that wasn’t the case.

This starving ghost had been exposed to sunlight for a while and still showed no fundamental injuries — only a slight weakening, its vitality lower than before.

Perhaps sunlight is merely an uncomfortable environment for such spirits. Perhaps different spirits have varying tolerance to sunlight. Perhaps…

There were many possibilities. But whatever the truth, clinging to the belief that sunlight guarantees safety would only lead to losses.

The starving ghost retreated again.

Neither of them worried this time. The myth that fish have only seven seconds of memory was false; creatures driven by desire might have even shorter memories.

Shi Ji tossed the intestines again, and soon the spirit bit down once more.

This time Shi Ji held the intestines firmly, while Wu Xian swung a blood-stained cleaver, carving deep wounds into the ghost’s body.

After several back-and-forths, Wu Xian grew impatient.

Shi Ji’s plan was sound, but killing it with ordinary weapons was painfully slow. Who knew how long it would take to wear the starving ghost down? It suited Shi Ji, but for Wu Xian, it was a big loss.

So Wu Xian drew his bronze coin sword, ready to reveal some trump cards.

But this time, the starving ghost refused to bite, letting the intestines swing endlessly in the canteen, utterly unmoved.

Wu Xian’s anxiety spiked.

If it doesn’t come out, what about all the time wasted before?