Chapter 30: Devouring Containment Objects

After returning home.

Lu Xiu opened one of the Black Boxes, took out a small silver key, and said, “Eat this first.”

I took the key and tossed it into Big Mouth.

Big Mouth chewed twice, then stuck out its tongue. “Ugh…”

I frowned at the same time.

“So bitter… It’s going to kill me with bitterness…”

“Is it working?” Lu Xiu leaned in, watching me closely.

“Hmm…” I touched my belly. “Still a little hungry.”

“…Who asked about that! I meant your emotions—are you still feeling really guilty?”

“…A little, I guess.”

“Looks like a Level 3 containment item works on you, but not much.” He stroked his chin.

“Lu Xiu, am I really annoying…”

“You only just realized?”

I pouted. “Can’t you say something nice to me?”

“What do you want to hear?”

“I want you to praise me.”

“…Then I’d rather give you another round with the Hanged Man.”

The second item was a red and white fake smiling mask. From the front, the eye sockets were pitch black; from the back, you could see a colorless world through them.

“It’s a little choking… Ah-choo—!”

I couldn’t help but sneeze.

“Hehehehe…”

My mood suddenly lifted a bit.

“Does it balance out like this?”

But not even three seconds passed before the sadness surged back, even stronger.

“Hahaha—Lu Xiu, wuwuwu… I feel… hahaha… I feel a bit… wuwuwu… strange…”

I couldn’t stop smiling, but tears streamed from my eyes.

In the end, Lu Xiu opened the last Black Box, took out something wrapped in white cloth.

“Remember, don’t unwrap the cloth. Just eat it as is.”

“Hahaha—Why?”

“I don’t want to be killed by a rampaging containment item. That would be too humiliating.”

I stuffed the white cloth into my mouth, frowning.

It’s so hard—

“This thing is like a rock!”

“It is made of stone…”

“Oh.”

Well, that’s fine then.

I chewed with effort, and in an instant, a strange feeling flooded my entire body.

My face stopped smiling, and my eyes stopped crying.

My whole body felt like it had entered a…very peculiar state.

Seeing me so calm, Lu Xiu scribbled in his little notebook. “How is it? Any strange feelings?”

“…Feels…” I pondered, “I shouldn’t indulge in desires like hunger.”

“Huh?”

I looked up. “Lu Xiu, I want to become a monk.”

“Form is emptiness and emptiness is form… Namo Bodhisattva Gatling, six senses pure Poor Uranium Bullet. With every breath, three thousand six hundred turns, great mercy and compassion to save all beings. Another round with the Grenade Launcher, to ferry all suffering in the world. Amitabha.”

“Stop reciting, stop reciting… I’m begging you, okay?”

“But your heart isn’t calm.”

“Isn’t that all because of you?!”

“I’m helping you cultivate.”

“Cultivate? I think you can’t wait to send me off!”

“Benefactor, your words are truly excessive.” I shook my head, feeling he just didn’t understand my good intentions.

“Have you ever seen anyone block someone’s bathroom door to recite the Sutra?” Lu Xiu’s voice cracked.

“That’s because you always hide from me.”

“You know I’m hiding from you?!”

“I’m very smart.”

The bathroom went completely quiet.

Seeing he’d finally calmed down, I nodded.

Today’s cultivation was complete.

Just like that, it lasted about three days before I finally broke free from that state of total detachment.

“Lu Xiu, Lu Xiu! I want to drink Kuyan Fire Village!”

I immediately clung to him. After days of eating Abstinence Meals, I was about to suffocate—I had to have meat and fish right now!

“No.” Lu Xiu refused without hesitation.

“Why not?!”

“You really need to ask?” He forced his dead-fish eyes open wide, the dark circles beneath them looking downright scary.

“I don’t know.”

Because of Lu Xiu’s moody and bad temper, I didn’t get any Kuyan Fire Village today.

I could only gnaw on an apple.

“Lu Xiu.”

“What is it now?”

“The place I told you about before—did you find it?”

“…You mean that really abstract place?”

“I already told you, it’s very specific!” I angrily bit into the apple and chewed hard.

“No. After all, places that fit aren’t too many, but not too few either. But the green door… It’s probably that old city architectural style; they used to like painting doors green. But even so, it’s still like looking for a needle in a haystack—there are a lot of old city buildings.”

“What’s ‘needle in a haystack’?”

“It means you’re really dumb.”

“You’re dumb?”

“No, you’re dumb.”

“You’re dumb.”

“…Forget it. Arguing with you is pointless.”

“So you admit you’re dumb?”

“…No way. If I can’t even win an argument with you, I won’t sleep tonight.”

“You’re so childish.” I pouted.

Lu Xiu turned red with anger.

As a result, I didn’t even get to eat the last apple.

But that’s fine!

I still have backup hidden energy!

I reached into Big Mouth…

Nothing?

Oh!

Sudden realization.

My old body was chopped up, so the fruit I stored inside was gone too.

After realizing this.

I looked at Lu Xiu, my face deadly serious:

“Lu Xiu, I was wrong.”

“…How can you say something so cowardly with such a serious face.”

Life returned to normal after that.

Eating, drinking, washing, sleeping.

Occasionally dealing with some bizarre incidents.

But I always felt like something had changed.

The most obvious thing was my appetite.

Before, just three and a half bowls of rice would fill me up.

But now, even after four bowls, I was just barely half full.

Lu Xiu even took me to Monkey Doctor for a check-up.

Monkey Doctor’s exact words were, “The kid’s just growing.”

Lu Xiu dismissed that with, “Unreliable.”

During this time, every week there would be a new Freeloading Incident with Qu Le.

And for some reason, he always managed to pick the meal with the richest dishes.

It made me so mad I wanted to eat him up.

But I was afraid if I ate him, no one would pay Lu Xiu, and then Lu Xiu wouldn’t have money, and I wouldn’t have food.

So I had to let him go for now.

Besides that, Lu Xiu also took me to a few other places.

A few ordinary families.

Lu Xiu said they were the families of the Third Hound Squad, and as usual, the Response Division would support the families of the fallen.

But even so, the families couldn’t even get the remains.

“That’s just how it is. Keeping the body whole is something to brag about for eight hundred years after death.”

He sat by the dam, looking at the distant reeds, and said.

I said nothing, just gnawed on the Sauced Bone given to me by Laughing Face’s family.

“So, do you want your body kept whole too?”

I tilted my head at him.

He choked. “Does that mean I have to die?”

“Oh.”

I kept gnawing on the bone.

“But… if that day really comes… at least try to keep me in one piece, alright?”

He smiled a little.

“I can’t help you.”

Ssshh… so spicy…

“Why?”

He looked at me.

“Because if you die, I’ll die too. So we’ll both become Monster Poop then.”

Lu Xiu froze, looked at me, wanting to say something, but in the end just shook his head helplessly.

“What is it?”

“No, nothing.”

He said nothing more.

Nor did I.

In the silence by the dam, we watched the sunset and dusk.