Chapter 475: 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 smile, 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, slowly expounded.

"This story is about a butcher in a small town. The butcher ran a stall for a living, but business had always been poor, until one evening, just before closing, a strange customer came to the stall."

"The customer was fat, with a big belly, wearing oversized outer clothes and a hat; his wide sleeves constantly covered his face, as if afraid others would see it. The butcher asked what he wanted to buy, but he just kept shaking his head, silent. The butcher seemed to realize he was mute, so following his pointing, he pointed with his butcher's knife at the mutton waist, kidneys, intestines… and other offal on the cutting board."

Unexpectedly, the butcher's probing gesture made the mysterious customer nod firmly. After the butcher cut those various offal, the mysterious customer threw down a tael of gold, picked up the pork offal, and left proudly.

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

"What happened next?" I craned my neck, staring intently at Pangzi, waiting for the continuation.

"Afterwards, the mysterious customer would come to the butcher's stall every few days to buy meat. Each time he bought mutton kidneys, waist, intestines, lungs… and other pork offal. Moreover, the mysterious customer was always generous, often throwing down a tael and a half of silver; though his behavior was strange, the butcher never suspected anything. He thought his ancestors' graves were smoking auspiciously, that heaven had sent him a big fish. Until one day…"

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

One day, the butcher felt that doing this was too stupid. Nowadays, who selling mutton is really that foolish to sell actual mutton, and who isn't using cheap dog meat to make up the numbers?

The greedy butcher pondered 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."

Afterwards, the butcher, following his usual custom, sold the dog offal as mutton offal to that mysterious customer.

"Just on the night when the mysterious customer took away the mutton offal," Pangzi deliberately lowered his voice, leaned in, and in a low tone slowly said: "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 makes one tremble from the bottom of 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 himself."

"But you said the mysterious customer buying the offal was a person, whereas what we saw last night was a total monster." Not knowing if it's because I'm 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?"

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

"Yes," Pangzi nodded firmly: "It's the wolf." He then immediately asked me: "Last night, at the moment the 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 carefully recalling, that's all I could remember.

"Wrong, you missed one." Pangzi affirmed, cutting me off: "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.

"There are 409 righteous gods of the heavens, with a hundred beast gods 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 a beast's death. It includes the wolf's bloodlust, the hawk's ferocity, 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 somewhat dumbfoundedly laughed, this world doesn't eat people, but you say chickens, ducks, beef, pork, mutton, dog—who doesn't eat those?

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

"So… the mysterious customer in the story would then die miserably 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 resentment. And the dog is the utmost yang thing, the nemesis of any yin-laden resentful entity. Surely that butcher, after selling dog meat, provoked the Masked Beast, leading to his fate of being flayed.

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

"Alright, stop always imitating QingSongShu. If you want to show off, wait until you grow a beard." I gave him a white eye without hesitation, then turned the conversation back to the main topic: "So now, where should we go to look for the Masked Beast?" Although we've figured out the Masked Beast's origin, the vast sea of people makes finding him not easy.

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

"Ah… uh, it seemed like a gambling den, she said she was chasing after him from there!" Seeing Pangzi's face about to darken again, I hastily corrected myself,

"Exactly, it's a gambling den." Pangzi said: "Besides having the wolf's nature and liking to eat mutton, the Masked Beast also has the snake and rat's nature, 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 hiding 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; instead, first think about where Chen Biao's gambling den is. The world is huge, finding a gambling den isn't easy either." I patted Pangzi's shoulder.

Who would have thought, Pangzi gave a hehe smile and said: "Finding a gambling den 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 can't travel far. So Chen Biao's previous location must not be far away.

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

Pangzi frowned and said: "It's not that we all go to the gambling den; you go to the gambling den, 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 sighed dejectedly and said: "Let's first go to the hospital to see Granny Huang."

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