Some ghosts also pledged their loyalty to Hui Shuo. On their way back, when they passed the commercial square, they would always bring the holy monk a bread or a chicken leg, determined not to let this clever ghost have all the credit.
After Hui Shuo had eaten and drunk his fill, the group set off again, heading towards the official road in a grand procession. Wang Yao discovered that this area of the underworld was probably several hundred kilometers in circumference, roughly the same size as a capital city in the human world.
After walking for half a day, his "sense" still hadn't reached the edge of the main road, but they did run into the shopping center, the very one Wang Yao had robbed earlier. The door was open, and there wasn't a single ghost guarding it, which made the group of ghosts extremely happy.
They rushed in one by one, finding food for Hui Shuo became a secondary matter. After all, human food was a luxury in the underworld, and Wang Yao had already robbed the shopping center. Even if there was any left, the quantity was extremely limited. On the contrary, there was an abundance of items for ghosts.
Things like reincarnation clothes, bowing devices, skateboards, and health supplements—normally, even if these ghosts wanted to buy them, they would have to think long and hard, since life in the underworld is incredibly stressful and there are so many places where money is needed. Now that they've encountered something that doesn't cost money, they're just taking it all.
The ghosts were overjoyed, as if it were New Year's Day. Wang Yao noticed that almost every ghost was wearing at least two sets of reincarnation clothes, and these were relatively particular ghosts who wouldn't take anything less than the best.
Some of the ghosts even dragged out bulging woven bags, regretting that they were too weak to move the entire shopping center. It was as if the rebels had invaded the big city and started robbing the rich. But what happened next made Wang Yao uneasy.
These ghosts have been busy for a long time since they came with the green-robed ghost to capture Wang Yao and Hui Shuo. They all need to replenish their energy. What should they use to replenish their energy? The first thing the ghosts thought of was naturally the items controlled by the underworld, such as yin energy and living human artifacts.
However, after searching the shopping mall, they found that all the controlled items had already been removed. It was probably the work of the underworld officials. After all, ordinary goods were fine for ghosts to use, but controlled items were different; using them could lead to serious consequences for ghosts.
Upon witnessing this scene, Wang Yao couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. He wondered whether the Underworld had removed the controlled items before or after he opened the shopping mall. If it was before, he had missed a crucial opportunity. He had left in such a hurry that he had forgotten to look for the Soul Lamp.
Once he had the Soul Lamp, he would have gained more freedom in the Underworld. Now that all the items under his control had been taken away by the Underworld officials, he could only sigh.
"Hey! You should eat some too. We ghosts occupy three of the twelve hours, so we're weak. If we don't nourish ourselves, we won't have the strength to work." A kind ghost handed a human hand to Wang Yao, while he himself was holding a lump of frozen meat and munching on it.
Wang Yao looked at the fair human hand and found that it was delicate and tender, with faint red nail polish marks that had not been washed off. He guessed that the hand must have belonged to a young woman who loved beauty.
There was a faint mark on her ring finger, indicating that she had once worn a ring. It was unknown whether the ring was a gift from her lover or something she had bought herself. Now that the ring was gone, it was unknown whether it had fallen into the hands of a ghost or into the pocket of the human murderer who killed her.
Looking at the cold, severed hand, Wang Yao felt a pang of sadness and silently shook his head. The ghost didn't insist.
"Don't like eating hands? These are women's hands, so tender! Let me tell you, human hands are the best to eat. Even though they're connected by rubber bands and hard to chew, they're chewy. Just one hand, you can slurp it down and drink half a jin of liquor."
As the ghost spoke, it sat down next to Wang Yao and continued to gnaw on the frozen meat in its hand.
Wang Yao looked at the ghosts that had been robbed from the shopping mall. Each of them was holding frozen meat or something similar. Some of them were clearly human limbs, while others were just lumps of flesh. He guessed that they were most likely human flesh as well.
Even stronger ghosts carried out a frozen, headless human corpse. Wang Yao estimated that it was most likely moved from the cold storage of the shopping center, just like in Ghost Paradise.
The thought of Ghostly Music Without End sent a chill down Wang Yao's spine.
He had just been wondering why, if the Underworld could move the controlled goods from the shopping mall, it didn't remove the other goods. To say there was no place to put them was nonsense; the Underworld was like a building, with plenty of empty rooms.
It seems unlikely that someone in the underworld would be so kind-hearted as to fear starvation during the darkest period of the year, or worry that the ghosts would become hungry ghosts without nourishment.
So there must be a reason why the Underworld left the shopping mall's supplies. What reason? It probably lies with these ghosts who are currently cannibalizing human flesh. Didn't you, the Old Man of the Moon, keep saying you wouldn't allow the Underworld to sell human replicas? Now your companions are replenishing themselves with human replicas, what can you do?
If you interfere, the ghosts will definitely be dissatisfied and will inevitably turn against you. Moreover, without nourishment, the ghosts will not be able to continue to escort Hui Shuo on his journey, and Wang Yao and his companion will lose a great help.
If you don't care, then aren't you, the God of Love, contradicting yourself by spouting righteous nonsense? When it comes to your own needs, don't you turn a blind eye to ghosts eating human flesh?
"Besides the human artifact, are there any other supplements inside?" Wang Yao secretly became suspicious of the Underworld's purpose and turned to ask the ghost sitting on the ground beside him, who was holding the severed hand in his left hand and chewing on frozen meat in his right.
"Hmm? I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it. It seems like the pig and chicken utensils we used to have are all gone... But human utensils are the most nutritious. If you have a human utensils, why would you need to eat those other things?" the ghost said after thinking for a moment.
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