Chapter 203: Chapter Six: The Story of the Masked Beast

"Don't get excited yet, let me tell you a story." Looking at my face gradually turning ashen, Pangzi gave an embarrassed laugh, waved his hand, signaling me to calm down.

"Legend has it, this is a story that took place at the end of the Qing dynasty." Pangzi smoked a cigarette and slowly elaborated.

"This story is about a butcher in a small town. He ran a stall for a living, but business had never been good, until one evening just before closing time, when a strange customer came to his stall."

The customer was overweight, with a big belly, wearing oversized outer clothes and a hat, his wide sleeves tightly covering his face, as if afraid someone would see him. The butcher asked what he wanted to buy, but he just kept shaking his head without speaking. The butcher seemed to realize he was mute, so following his pointing, he used his butcher's knife to point at the sheep waist, kidneys, intestines… and other offal on the cutting board.

Unexpectedly, the butcher's tentative point was met with a firm nod from the mysterious customer. After the butcher cut those various sheep offal, the customer threw down a tael of gold, picked up the pork offal, and left proudly.

At this point, Pangzi suddenly stopped talking. He must have been thirsty, so he stopped and gulped down a big bowl of water with glugging sounds.

"And then?" I craned my neck, staring intently at Pangzi for the continuation.

After that, the mysterious customer would come to the butcher's stall every few days to buy meat. Each time he bought sheep kidneys, waist, intestines, lungs, and other pork offal. Moreover, each time the mysterious customer was generous, often throwing down a tael and a half of gold; though his behavior was strange, the butcher never thought much of it—until he felt as if his ancestral grave was smoking, as if heaven had sent him a big fish. Until one day……

"What happened one day?" I swallowed my saliva, staring intently and asked.

One day, the butcher felt that doing this was too stupid. Nowadays, who selling mutton would really be that foolish to sell actual mutton, and who wouldn't pad it with cheap dog meat?

The greedy butcher thought for a while, bought dozens of dogs from a dog farm, slaughtered them for their legs, then injected water, hung them on the cutting board, and proudly called it "hanging a sheep's head to sell dog meat."

Afterward, the butcher, following his usual practice, sold the dog offal as sheep offal to that mysterious customer.

"Just on the night when the mysterious customer took away the sheep offal," Pangzi deliberately lowered his voice, leaned in, and in a deep tone said slowly: "The butcher died, his intestines and kidneys were scooped out, and even his manhood was gone."

As Pangzi's words fell, the empty room suddenly blew a chilly wind. I immediately felt a cool draft between my legs and involuntarily clenched my thighs. Combined with Pangzi's deliberately lowered voice, this story truly made one tremble from the heart.

"You mean the mysterious customer in this story is related to the Masked Beast?" I asked tentatively.

Pangzi fiercely wiped his bewildered face and said: "No, not just related—I suspect that mysterious customer is the Masked Beast itself."

"But you said the customer buying sheep offal was a person, while what we saw last night was a complete monster." Not knowing if it's because I'm too stupid, Pangzi rattled on at length, and now I feel my brain all tangled up.

Pangzi didn't directly answer my question, but instead countered: "Among animals, which kind is the natural enemy of sheep, most fond of eating them?"

"Sheep's natural enemy? That's a question even elementary schoolers wouldn't ask—it's just the wolf, right?"

"Yes," Pangzi nodded heavily: "It's the wolf." Immediately he asked me: "Last night, when that lightning flashed, I estimate you also saw the Masked Beast's appearance clearly. Now I ask you, what did you see in that light?"

I lowered my head and thought for a while, then said: "That monster seemed to have an owl's eyes, a snake's neck, a monkey's face, and its cry sounded like a rat..." After recalling carefully, that's all I could remember.

"Wrong, you missed one thing." Pangzi interrupted firmly: "You missed its hands—his hands are definitely a wolf's claws, 100%."

While I was puzzled, Pangzi slowly stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

"The Proper Gods number three hundred and sixty, while a hundred Beast Gods are hidden among them. But in this world, aren't there not only Beast Gods but also Beast Souls?" Pangzi explained: "The Masked Beast we saw last night is the grudge formed after beasts die. It includes the wolf's bloodlust, the hawk's cruelty, the greed of snakes and rats, and the monkey's agility and cunning, so the Masked Beast is also called the Five Beast Souls."

"If that's the case, wouldn't this world be full of Five Beast Souls, Six Beast Souls?" I laughed somewhat speechlessly; this world doesn't eat people, but when you say chickens, ducks, beef, pork, mutton, and dog, who doesn't eat those?

Pangzi glanced at me and said slowly: "You can't say that! The combination of the Five Beast Souls is also quite ingenious. First, one needs five beasts that died in a yin-gathering place to condense their grudge into a form. Second, the five beasts must correspond to the five phases. You know, the interplay of yin-yang and the five phases holds endless mysteries; if things align with yin-yang five phases and the geographical environment, then nothing is impossible."

"So… the mysterious customer in the story would meet a grisly end after selling dog meat?" With Pangzi's explanation, I gradually clarified the context in my mind. According to Pangzi, the Five Beast Souls are entirely a grudge. And the dog is the utmost yang thing, the nemesis of any yin-laden grudge-bearing entity. Surely that butcher provoked the Masked Beast by selling dog meat, leading to his fate of being flayed.

"Exactly, as you said! The butcher would die miserably because he sold dog offal as sheep offal to the butcher. From this you can easily see the Masked Beast's latent wolf nature. Ordinary people think wolves eat sheep by gulping them down whole. Actually, wolves eat sheep by ripping open the belly, first devouring the intestines and kidneys, then slowly eating the meat… So whether it's a wolf or the Masked Beast blended with wolf nature, they both have a special fondness for sheep's kidneys." Pangzi stroked his beard in the manner of an old scholar painstakingly teaching students. Putting it politely, he felt gratified, thinking I was wise despite appearing foolish, a child who could be taught. Putting it crudely, the look in his eyes meant: you've finally become smart.

"Alright, stop always imitating QingSongShu. You want to show off? Wait till you grow a beard." I rolled my eyes at him without hesitation, then steered the conversation back to the main topic: "So now, where should we go to find this Masked Beast?" Although we've figured out the Masked Beast's origin, the vast sea of people makes finding him no easy task.

Pangzi gave a light smile and once again countered me: "Do you still remember what Han Duo's first words upon joining were, besides mentioning the Masked Beast?"

"Ah… uh, it sounded like a casino, she said she came chasing after it from the casino!" Seeing Pangzi's face about to darken again, I hastily corrected myself,

"Exactly, it's a casino." Pangzi said: "Besides the Masked Beast's wolf nature and liking to eat mutton, it also has the nature of snakes and rats, being greedy. You also know that since ancient times there's the saying of snakes transforming into flood dragons, so snakes are naturally fond of gold and silver."

"The Masked Beast is no exception; being greedy by nature, that's why I suspect it's hidden in the gold, silver, and jewelry that Chen Biao brought back last night. But it's too cunning, and we didn't anticipate it, so we missed it." Saying this, Pangzi clenched his fists, filled with regret.

"Don't dwell on regret; first think about where Chen Biao's gambling casino is. The world is huge, finding a casino isn't easy either." I patted Pangzi on the shoulder.

Who would have thought, Pangzi gave a hehe smile and said: "Finding a casino is simple; I'm sure it's right in the nearby town."

"Why do you say that?" I had been eyeing Pangzi suspiciously earlier, but when I carefully recalled Chen Biao's appearance from last night, I also understood.

Last night, Chen Biao brought back not only a big bag of gold, silver, and jewelry, but also reeked of alcohol all over. If someone has been drinking, they definitely couldn't travel far. So, Chen Biao's previous location must be not far away.

"Since that's the case, what are we waiting for? Let's set out now to find the casino!" I sprang up eagerly, but Pangzi grabbed me and pulled me down.

Pangzi frowned and said: "It's not that all of us go to the casino; you go to the casino, I go to the mutton-butcher's stall—we'll split up. Moreover, before splitting up, we still need to go to one place!"

"Where?" I asked doubtfully.

Pangzi let out a weary sigh and said: "Let's first go to the hospital to see Grandma Huang."