Lanterns with the chinese character for Meat hung from the ceiling. The simple wooden tables were painted dark red. Unrecognizable bugs crawled between the cracks in the ground. The smell of meat assaulted one’s senses. Han Fei stood at the door and his instinct told him that the shop was not safe.
From the outside, the dumpling shop looked unassuming but once Han Fei stepped through the door, he realized the interior was much larger than he anticipated. The haphazardly arranged tables still had food residue and oil stains visible on them. The empty tables looked like they had just been vacated and the servers still hadn’t had the chance to clean them. Han Fei looked around and took in the other customers. The other customers though did not show much interest in Han Fei. Their focus was fully on the food. They shovelled the food into their gullets like they had been starving for days.
“This way please.” Standing at the door, Han Fei who hesitated about his next step, suddenly was greeted by a man’s voice. Han Fei turned to the voice and saw a man wearing a pig’s mask walk out from the curtain that supposedly led to the kitchen. He was carrying a large tray that had 3 lidded bowls. The delicious smell wafted out from underneath the bowls. “Please take a seat. What would you like to eat?”
The man served the 3 bowls to a table occupied by a single customer. The customer directly pulled the lids off and used his bare hands to grab at the food inside the bowls. He engorged himself on the food. Based on the large stomach that looked like it was about to burst and the towers of empty bowls on the table, the customer appeared to be here for a long time already.
“I’m sorry but do you mind if I ask you a question?” Han Fei halted at the front door. His heart shivered, staring at the man in the pig’s mask. While Weep and Drake did not give off any alarm, it did not mean that there wasn’t any danger, it might simply mean that their senses were disrupted by some other influences.
“There’s always time for questions after you have some food in you. I’m sure you must be hungry already!” The man pulled out an oily rag to clean the table. Han Fei took a seat that was close to the front door. Han Fei couldn’t help but perceive a more sinister meaning behind the man’s words. The man in the pig’s man sounded welcoming and kind but he gave off the presence of an executioner. A butcher would carry the smell of blood and fat around them after working in a slaughterhouse for a long time; it was the same thing with an executioner. The only difference was the former worked with animals while the latter with humans.
“The menu is on the wall. Do have a look.” The man stood beside Han Fei. Being scrutinized by the strange face, Han Fei was discomforted. He felt like it was not a pair of human eyes that stared at him from behind the mask.
“Then, I’ll have a bowl of fresh meat dumplings.” Han Fei pointed at the recommended item.
“Just 1 bowl?” The man did not leave. His eyes wandered to the urn Han Fei was holding, “1 bowl might not be enough.”
“We’ll just try 1 bowl for now. We’ll order more if we like the taste.” Han Fei answered without a shift to his expression even though his heart was shaking. The man managed to identify the spirits inside the urn.
“Alright then.” The man nodded agreeably. He gave the table another wipe with the rag. “One moment.” He placed a thermos before Han Fei. “You can find an assortment of tea leaves at the front counter. But I’m afraid you’ll have to prepare them yourself.” Then he turned to shout at the direction of the kitchen, “One bowl of fresh meat dumplings please!”
After the man in the mask left, Han Fei hurriedly opened the urn to communicate with Drake. But when he saw what was happening inside the urn, Han Fei noticed how awful the situation was. Han Fei merely felt pangs of hunger but the spirits inside the urn had taken bites out of their own bodies. Their last shred of rationality was grinded down by the torment of hunger. Their eyes were mad with gluttonous desire.
‘This shop is cursed!’ Tearing at their own bodies, the spirits desperately needed to eat. They had to consume to remain sane. Their current state reminded Han Fei of Xu Qin at the verge of madness. Last time when Xu Qin exhausted all of her power, and the curses exploded all over her body, she had to consume all the food inside her home before she returned to normal. ‘If I stay here any longer, I’m afraid they will start to go after one another.’
Lingering Spirits were made from pain and despair, it was already hard for them to remain sane. This situation was basically driving them to go mad. Hunger was the element that could most easily evoke malice and madness. When one was extremely hungry, one could do anything. Han Fei stood up and prepared to leave when the front door was shoved open.
A chill wind dispersed the smell of meat inside the shop. A middle-aged man with pale face and long hair stepped into the store. He wore a pure black shirt, the shirt appeared to be weaved out of hair. The shirt carried strange patterns which upon closer inspection would reveal themselves as human faces.
‘Things can’t be that coincidental, right?’ The middle-aged man was carrying a blood-stained wooden case. He had a horrid stench about him. The smell was a mixture of perfume and decomposition. After he entered the shop, the man found a random table to sit. Then he opened the wooden case. Instantly the smell of meat was overwhelmed by the smell of blood. The customer close to him even stopped to glance dumbly at the middle-aged man. The latter did not seem to mind all the attention. When the worker in the pig’s mask came out from the back kitchen, the middle-aged man reached into the case and took out a human head.
“Is this him?” The worker studied the head. His pig’s mask was morphing with minute expression, it looked like he was smiling. “Close but no cigar.”
Hearing that answer, the middle-aged man tossed the head harshly back into the case. “Who the hell is the butcher? This was already the 4th one. To get this, I was even targeted by that mad woman.”
“She’s still not dead?”
“No, but she’ll be soon.” The middle-aged man said darkly. With hatred in his eyes, he took out a table knife from the wooden case. “I’ve swiped one of her knives from her. Her curse is not complete anymore.” The pale finger was nicked by the blade and blood leaked out. However, the middle-aged man did not let go, if anything, he gripped the knife tighter. “There is nothing more that I hate more than curses!”
“Don’t be mad, how about you eat something to calm down?” The worker suggested kindly.
“You’re not going to get me that easily. Your meat here…” The middle-aged man halted when he saw the dangerous glint in the worker’s eyes. Instead, he closed the wooden case and headed towards the door. The worker did not stop him and returned to the kitchen. “Such a difficult customer.”
The middle-aged man escaped from the dumpling shop. Han Fei followed closely behind him. To be honest, the middle-aged man already noticed Han Fei when he first stepped into the shop. The young man made him feel uncomfortable but he could not place his finger on the reason why. Turning into a smaller alley, the middle-aged man stopped when he realized Han Fei was still trailing behind him.
“This should be the first time we’ve met, yes?” The middle-aged man turned to stare at Han Fei. His voice was cutting and cold.
“Uncle, I have some questions for you.” Han Fei’s eyes fixated on the wooden case. “Where did you get the table knife that you took out in the shop earlier?”
“I pulled it out from a dead person.” The middle-aged man sensed a few more presences in the alley with them and he was not delighted by it.
“My friends are at the brink of insanity, I can’t promise what they might do next, so I’d advise you to answer my questions honestly while we can still communicate reasonably. Let’s not do anything that any of us might regret.” Han Fei stared at the man’s face. His face was scarily devoid of expression.
“Move away, I’m going home.” The man with long hair gripped the wooden case tighter. He did not look like he was going to cooperate. He glared back at Han Fei.
“Sorry, can’t do that. If you don’t give us a satisfactory explanation, the only place you’re going tonight is inside this small container.” The giant black anaconda slithered into the ghost tattoo as Han Fei took out the red paper doll from his inventory.
