Chapter 5: Permanent Closure

Wanfu City, South District, Old Street of Tianji Workshop.

Outside the Jiao family meat shop, with a loud clang, the doors swung wide open.

But the customers who wanted to buy meat early in the morning did not see the familiar Jiao Qing or Sun Sanniang at first glance, but rather a strange young man.

Even if their eyesight was poor and they could not clearly see the two evil eyes on the youth's forehead, they could still feel a non-human, forbidden, and evil aura emanating from him.

Immediately, the crowd began to clamor.

Judging by the previous curses, many neighbors clearly knew of Li Yu, or rather, the existence of that "little bastard."

It was precisely because of this that they were so astonished.

Many of them were struggling desperately to advance to [Sequence 8], so they naturally knew how much the couple valued their adopted son; they had kept him confined in a vat the moment he came of age for fear he would run off, so how could they allow him to come out and greet customers?

Suspicion arose, and they all wanted to step forward to ask.

Li Yu ignored them, and in a cold, stiff tone, he said to everyone present:

"Jiao Qing and Sun Sanniang are both dead."

"Everything here is inherited by me."

"The Jiao family meat shop will be closed permanently; if you want to buy meat, go somewhere else."

After speaking, Li Yu stepped over the threshold and slapped the notice he had written the night before directly onto the door frame of the meat shop.

Without any surprise, his decision immediately sparked great dissatisfaction.

The gaze of every single person looking at Li Yu turned malicious.

Even those civilians who were originally timid now had ferocious faces, staring fixedly at Li Yu with venomous eyes as if they wanted to kill him.

Among them, almost none were normal people.

The delicacies they craved daily and had become addicted to were suddenly gone and could no longer be bought, so naturally, they were all furious.

"On what grounds? You say close, so it closes?"

"Where did this little bastard come from? Did Boss Jiao have a son? How come we didn't know?"

"A shop that's been here for over a decade, you say close and it closes? Are you crazy?"

"You say they're dead, so they're dead? Where are the bodies? We want to go in and see."

"Right, we want to go in."

Amidst the noisy commotion, a group of people surged forward, intending to force their way into the courtyard.

Li Yu had long anticipated this scene; this was also the reason why he had deliberately not sought out breakfast despite being hungry enough to feel his stomach sticking to his spine.

At this moment, he abruptly relaxed the willpower he had been using to suppress the forbidden egg in his belly, letting that terrifying and horrific appetite surge up.

In an instant, the change he had expected occurred within his body.

"Hmph!"

Accompanied by Li Yu's non-human cold snort, his originally thin and weak frame suddenly expanded, and his hands turned into sharp claws.

His mouth full of sharp teeth opened, drool stringing from his lips, a meat tongue embedded with sharp teeth protruded, and the two evil eyes on his forehead that had originally been tightly shut slowly opened.

Even a blind person could feel that a terrifying entity had appeared before them.

That deep malice and evil aura had almost condensed into substance.

With a swoosh, the crowd rushing forward suddenly stalled, then scattered in all directions.

These South District civilians who were addicted to "two-legged sheep meat" all looked ferocious, but in reality, they were all cunning cowards who bullied the weak and feared the strong; seeing Li Yu transform, how could they still care about their appetites?

They only wished their parents had given them two more legs, fleeing as fast as they could.

Although most of the customers were scared away, Li Yu still maintained his state.

The reason?

Among the crowd, there were still some who had not dispersed.

Without exception, they were all evil cultivators who possessed extraordinary powers.

Of course, most were also unranked.

According to the memories of the original body and comparing them with the mutterings in Sun Sanniang's ledger, not a single one of these people was a "Sequence 8" transcendent.

And so, in the next instant, Li Yu reached behind his waist and pulled out that filthy boning knife; while his cold gaze swept over them one by one, his mouth, as if out of his control, automatically began to chant that terrifying "Song of the Vegetable Person."

Immediately, an aura at least several times more insane and ferocious than before surged out like a storm.

One must know that the evil cultivators present had abilities similar to the late Jiao Qing and Sun Sanniang, and most were even worse; how could they withstand such power?

Li Yu guessed!

The Child of the Forbidden God, holding a filthy boning knife after transforming, should have combat power similar to a Vegetable Person, or perhaps even stronger.

Although his transformation was fake, like a paper tiger, it was enough to bluff people.

The evil cultivators, who had originally harbored malice, indeed had their expressions freeze and retreated one after another.

If they had united, or even if just one of them had truly attacked, they could have exposed the lie before them.

Unfortunately, no one would take the lead.

It was just failing to buy meat; at worst, they could switch to another meat shop. Why risk their lives?

In this place where the strong prey on the weak, everyone was very ferocious, but also very cautious.

Everyone knew that once they were injured, the fellow Daoists around them would not only fail to sympathize but would instead tacitly swarm forward to divide and eat them.

Sure enough, before long, the evil cultivators either retreated with expressionless faces or left after throwing out mocking remarks. "To think that Old Jiao and Sanniang failed in the end."

"It actually benefited this little bastard; did he get a blessing in disguise and advance to [Vegetable Person]?"

"Hmph, there's no such good thing. I'm afraid he's currently being possessed by that forbidden egg; it won't be long before another man-eating demon is running around the South District."

"Forget it, it has nothing to do with us, let's all disperse."

"The Jiao family meat shop closing is fine; without him, Butcher Jiao, are we only to eat hairy pigs? This is Wanfu City, after all."

Amidst the jeers, the area outside the Jiao family meat shop, which had been bustling and crowded, soon became empty.

This conflict over the permanent closure of the meat shop ended in this way.

It also meant that Li Yu, this "successor," had gained a foothold in the Old Street of Tianji Workshop in the South District for the first time.

Regarding this, he had no time to rejoice.

=9+Book_Bar

He snorted coldly as if nothing had happened, then immediately closed the door.

The moment the outside scene was blocked by the door, Li Yu erupted with extremely fast speed, ghost-like, and darted toward the kitchen.

Halfway there, his abdomen visibly swelled, his skin stretched until it was transparent, blood spots sprouted in patches, and a face identical to Li Yu's was trying to drill its way out.

"I'm dying, I'm dying!"

"Don't come out, I'll eat something right now, I'll feed you, you damned thing."

As the angry cursing and complaining fell, Li Yu was already moving his hands and feet quickly, stuffing everything he could find in the kitchen—black cured meat, yellowed and worm-eaten old rice, and stinky pickled vegetables—into his mouth all at once.

In his past life, he wouldn't have even bothered to look at such rotten trash.

Now, in order to survive, he wished he could teleport it directly into his stomach.

Fortunately, this parasitized body had sharp teeth and a perverted digestive speed.

Before he had even finished eating all those things, his belly began to shrink back, and that violent restlessness and cold malice hid themselves once again.

Having recovered, Li Yu leaned against the dirty stove, gasping for air.

Successfully established a foothold on the street!

The crisis of his belly being ripped open was temporarily resolved!

But there was not much joy on his face; instead, he touched his stomach and said with a solemn expression:

"This shitty forbidden egg must be dealt with as soon as possible!"

"If I eat too little, who knows how many times a day it will try to rip open my stomach?"

"If I eat too much, it successfully gains nutrients and continues to mature... I can't possibly rely on self-torture to survive forever, right?"

After muttering, Li Yu looked around.

The last bit of rotten food had been eaten by him.

If he didn't procure more, he wouldn't survive today, let alone his subsequent plans.

Thinking of this, Li Yu didn't delay any longer; he straightened his body, rolled up the saliva to swallow the foul smell in his mouth, and then went to the main room.

He happened to see that crudely made bronze chicken coming out, head held high and chest out, its body still surrounded by choking smoke.

It completely ignored him, its "master," and walked into a small, inconspicuous wooden shed in the corner of the wall on its own.

Accompanied by a click-clack sound, its wings retracted and it crouched down, seemingly entering a standby state.

"This troublesome thing actually has its own chicken coop?"

Li Yu entered the room with an absurd expression.

Too busy to complain further, his gaze swept over the two yellow-talisman wooden boxes on the table.

In his mouth, he muttered:

"The boning knife can still be used to hack people; it cannot be sold."

"The human skin scroll is one of the symbols of the Forbidden God Sect; it cannot be sold either."

"Jiao Qing's brain marrow is extremely poisonous; keeping it might be useful later?"

"Only Sun Sanniang's intestines—hehe, I'd rather raise that bronze chicken as a pet than need a blood sausage that has come to life."

When he finished speaking, Li Yu had already made up his mind.

Then, not minding the tightness, he stuffed both wooden boxes into his bosom, tucked the boning knife behind his waist, and covered it with his clothes.

As for the human skin scroll engraved with the "Song of the Edible People," he simply stuffed it into the sole of his shoe.

There was really no other way; he was currently penniless, and these four terrifying and disgusting curiosities were, in his view, already very valuable and could not be lost under any circumstances.

Now that he had to go out, if he left them at home, he would inevitably worry about them being stolen, so it was safer to carry them on his person.

After confirming everything was correct, Li Yu took advantage of the forbidden egg in his stomach still digesting his "breakfast," grabbed his keys, and locked the house door and courtyard gate in turn.

The next moment, he officially stepped onto the streets of this terrifying, alien world.

(End of chapter)