Chapter Fourteen: The Barbecue Restaurant

Leaving the two girls aside, Mu Rongxun turned around to survey his surroundings, only to find that the area was nothing like the Painted Skin Ghost had described. It wasn’t a plaza at all, but a broad street, eerily empty and silent. He didn’t rush to explore, suspecting that the two women served some unusual purpose.

“Hey, wake up!” he said, with not a trace of tenderness. Squatting down, he slapped their faces a few times with his right hand.

Pain brought Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao groggily back to consciousness.

“Ouch!” they murmured, rubbing their cheeks as soon as they awoke, softly complaining about the pain. The next moment, they realized there was someone else here.

“Who are you?” they asked, supporting each other as they stood, summoning the courage to question Mu Rongxun loudly.

“If you want to draw those things here, feel free to keep shouting,” Mu Rongxun warned coldly, shooting them an icy glance.

Suddenly recalling the terrifying scene before they fainted, the girls wisely refrained from screaming.

“Where are we?” one of them whispered.

“Do you want to know everything?” Mu Rongxun replied curtly, his tone full of disdain. He never bothered to say his name.

Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao shrank back a little, fear mingling with resentment and indignation.

What kind of person was this?

In their eyes, Mu Rongxun was exceedingly bizarre—dressed head-to-toe in black, even his shoes were pitch dark.

Meanwhile, Mu Rongxun was scanning the street. It was unnaturally quiet, almost disturbingly so, and the temperature was cold, nothing like a place where the living should linger.

The two girls, dressed lightly, instinctively huddled together for warmth.

Mu Rongxun strode ahead, indifferent. The girls, frightened, followed him without realizing it.

Soon, they spotted a shop open for business.

“It looks like a barbecue restaurant,” Zhang Jiao said, sniffing the air and swallowing hungrily.

“Stay right here. Don’t move,” Mu Rongxun told them, pointing at their feet.

“There’s something off about this place. We shouldn’t go inside,” Xu Ying said quietly after a while. There was nowhere this desolate in Tianhai City.

Mu Rongxun didn’t answer, heading straight for the restaurant.

His arrival immediately drew the attention of the ‘customers’ inside.

The barbecue restaurant was shrouded in darkness, suffused with the scent of grilled meat. At the center stood a charcoal grill, but it was empty. Around it were four shadowy figures.

Aside from these four, in the dim corners lurked more strange presences. They didn’t interact, sitting before plates and utensils as though waiting for a meal.

Mu Rongxun estimated there were at least a dozen of these entities, though their strength was low—barely first rank, similar to those he’d encountered on the ghost bus.

According to the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs, Mu Rongxun knew these entities could parasitize human bodies, replacing their hosts without detection. Some preferred devouring human flesh and blood, while others tormented their victims in ways that bred terror. Once a victim died in anguish, their intense resentment became food for these creatures, boosting their power.

The barbecue restaurant entities welcomed Mu Rongxun’s arrival in varying degrees.

“New ingredients have finally arrived. Time to start the feast!” the four shadows intoned in unison.

“Whoa, whoa!” the other entities shrieked excitedly, some even lunging forward to sniff the scent of fresh humans.

Mu Rongxun seized the nearest entity, dragging it past the others. Amid their astonished stares, he lifted it and slammed it onto the grill.

Sizzle—

“Ah—!” The entity howled in agony, struggling desperately.

Mu Rongxun’s strength was overwhelming. One hand gripped its throat, the other held its arm, pinning it firmly to the burning grill.

By now, the four shadows had surrounded him.

“Let me treat you to some barbecue,” Mu Rongxun mocked coldly.

The grill was stained with blood, and judging by the expressions of the entities, it wasn’t the first time. Many must have met their end here.

Though indifferent to strangers’ deaths, seeing their own kind eaten invoked a deep disgust.

The four shadows ignored Mu Rongxun’s sarcasm, each drawing a knife and attacking.

Mu Rongxun grabbed the entity in his hands, using it as a shield against the four blades.

The entity’s body was half-charred, but its intact half-face still showed terror.

“No—!” it cried.

The four shadows felt no pity for their captive kin. With a single stroke, they cut it to pieces, silencing its screams.

With the obstacle gone, the four shadows attacked again.

Facing four foes, Mu Rongxun didn’t dare take them head-on. He ducked, slipped under the grill, and spun around to kick it over.

The overturned grill scattered burning charcoal everywhere. Sparks flew, and when they landed on nearby tables and chairs, those objects caught fire with unnatural speed, as if made of paper.

The fire spread rapidly, soon engulfing the barbecue restaurant.

The entities panicked, forgetting Mu Rongxun. They fled in all directions, vanishing into the darkness in the blink of an eye, ignoring Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao, who huddled on the ground, comforting each other.

The girls, heads pressed together, didn’t notice what was happening inside the restaurant behind them.

Within the burning restaurant, the four shadows, knives in hand, continued their relentless pursuit of Mu Rongxun. Even when sparks landed on them, they didn’t seem to care, acting like puppets obeying some program.

Mu Rongxun’s short sword appeared in his hand as he engaged the four shadows.

With the power of the Ghoul augmenting him, he fought with increasing ferocity. Despite being surrounded, he never faltered, always seeking chances to strike back.

Yet the short sword’s length limited his movements, making the fight feel cumbersome.