Chapter 865

"Uh… long time no see…"

As the Water Bearer Director left the execution king's meeting, Leon, whose wrist had been pinned down by an old acquaintance… an old acquaintance dog, was also desperately trying to take his leave.

"After thinking it over, I won't bother you guarding the gate anymore…"

Looking up at the three dog heads, each the size of a round dining table, feeling the death-laden breath rushing at him, Leon's scalp prickled as he forced a nervous smile and pleaded:

"You know, it's still working hours for the Clearance Bureau—if I skip without cause, our director will definitely have something to say. So, could you possibly let me…"

"No."

Before Leon could finish, the Dog God flatly refused his request, then grinned wickedly:

According to the rules of the Death Realm, once you enter through the gate, you belong to me! And don't even think of using Blood Hair Ji to pressure me—though I truly can't afford to anger her, she dares not truly harm me.

Don't mistake me for just a gatekeeper dog—if I were gone, cultists of soul-thieving gods could roam freely, and countless dead would return to the living world brimming with hatred, throwing the entire mortal realm into chaos. Even if she's the Yellow Path Director of the Clearance Bureau, she couldn't tolerate such consequences!"

"Ah yes, yes, that's the logic."

Leon, whose life and death now hung by a dog's whim, naturally didn't stubbornly resist at this moment. After nodding in agreement with the Dog God, his soul struggled to reason:

"But even if you're not afraid of her, there's no need to provoke her, right?

Myself and that woman over there? We were merely caught in a surprise attack, our souls separated from our bodies, and accidentally wandered into the Death Realm. Since your duty is to guard the gate and keep out those who shouldn't enter, why not just let us go back?"

"Hmm, she truly wandered in—she can return."

After glancing at the female journalist's soul, the three-headed Dog God nodded, then opened his massive jaws, revealing a tangle of sharp, overlapping fangs, and grinned:

"But you? You can't leave. You'll stay here—inside my belly, nice and cozy~"

"Why?"

"Because you were always meant to be of the Death Realm."

As the Dog God spoke, he lifted his massive dog head, gesturing for Leon to look up at the sky above.

"For any living person, their Death Crow should rest in the 【Crows' Nest】 near the entrance. Once a soul enters the Death Realm, its Death Crow awakens and guides it toward the realm's depths."

After explaining this "common knowledge of the Death Realm," seeing Leon's tense expression, the three-headed Dog God grinned with all three mouths:

"The Death Realm is a place that values rules. Every living soul's head must have a Death Crow circling above—no exceptions. Only two cases are exempt.

One: the person has successfully crossed the boundary and become a true god—then their Death Crow flies away early. The other… is that they were already dead, and merely escaped from the Death Realm!"

"Uh…"

Leon knew all too well that his soul was an "illegal resident." Watching the Dog God's jaws grow wider and closer, pinned beneath the dog's paw and unable to move, he struggled to argue:

"Is there any chance… I might actually be a true god?"

"Gak gak~"

Amused by Leon's words, the three-headed Dog God chuckled twice, then all three tongues—black, white, and gray—shot out and licked Leon once each, drool pouring down like an endless river.

"You're a fascinating soul. I bet you taste just like Weird Flavor Beans. Now I'm even more eager to try you."

You're really not picky at all…

Hearing the Dog God's words, drenched in drool, Leon shuddered violently—not from fear of being eaten, but from sheer cold.

The Dog God's saliva was clear and transparent, with no suspicious suspended particles, yet it carried an overwhelming aura of death, freezing Leon's soul nearly solid.

"This… isn't very nice, is it?"

Watching the enormous dog mouth draw nearer again after licking away the drool like a stream, and realizing negotiation had failed, Leon prayed silently for his director to notice something was wrong, while desperately stalling:

"Weird Flavor Beans… are snacks… eating them's bad for your health. Why not… eat something else? Let me go deeper into the Death Realm on my own?

And you yourself said the Death Realm values… sss… values rules. So by the rules, you should let me keep walking inward—not just eat me outright."

"Tch, why do you talk so much?"

Watching Leon, trembling from the cold yet stubbornly refusing to surrender, the Dog God clicked his tongue in annoyance:

"My duty is to guard the gate—keep out what shouldn't enter, and keep in what belongs here. You, a soul that escaped, are the greatest violation of my duty. By the rules, I should eat you!

Besides, I'm bound to guard the entrance and can't leave casually—but as compensation, when I'm hungry, I have the right to devour any soul I fancy. That's the rule of the Death Realm. Today I eat you, and no one can object!"

"…"

Damn. This time I'm really done for.

Watching the three-headed Dog God, utterly fixated on "tasting" him no matter what Leon said, Leon cursed himself for being a soul and not a body—he couldn't just shit right into the dog's mouth and let it taste something real.

"Fine! Rules, huh!"

Realizing he was almost certainly doomed today, Leon silently cursed the Water Bearer traitor, glared at the Dog God ready to feast, and gritted his teeth:

"I'll remember your rules! This time I'm unlucky! But when you eat me, chew me good—leave even a fingernail-sized fragment of bone, and I'll carve through your dog guts!"

"Heh, I'll keep that in mind!"

All three dog heads nodded in unison. The impatient three-headed Dog God opened his fanged maw and sucked hard toward Leon, pinned beneath its paw.

"Wait!"

Just as Leon's soul began to grow faint, about to be sucked into the Dog God's mouth, a hand glowing with white luminescence suddenly grabbed hold of Leon's drifting soul.???

Facing the surprised gazes of man and dog, the female journalist—with a crimson deer-antler mark on her forehead—stood up unsteadily, gripping Leon's soul by the arm.

Pulling Leon back hard, her soul flickered and seemed ready to dissolve under the antler mark's tugging, yet she gasped out a plea:

"Lord Angxi, if you want to eat, take me instead—I'm willing to trade places with him!"