"Huh?"
Inayat looked bewildered. Hesitation and conflict surfaced on his savage, wolf-like face. "But the wolf... the boss said to hurry."
He paused, glanced at the boar beneath Fan Gan—a creature too small even to whet his appetite—and volunteered, "How about I carry you?"
Fan Gan couldn't help sighing:
"How much does he pay you to make you work this hard?"
"What pay?"
Inayat looked puzzled, then puffed out his chest, utterly unconcerned.
There was even a hint of pride.
Pay?
Pay is what you use to fob off outsiders. Working for the Wolf Lord is my honor, okay? Don't sully my loyalty to the Wolf Lord with your filthy worldly notions!
"..."
The old geezer shook his head. He was out of ideas.
A perfectly good wolf, acting like someone had put a hex on him.
You deserve to spend your whole life working for that beast of a boss.
"Slow down, slower. It's different up ahead. There's something there."
He wiped the coal dust off his face, sweeping a bizarre-looking mirror around in his hand. "Go right, smash through one wall, then head down. That should get us there."
"Sure thing."
The moment Fan Gan pointed the way, Inayat vanished without a trace.
Even the sound of his passage couldn't catch up.
Another bloody storm swept through the corridor beyond. Plastic mannequins that abruptly appeared around corners, eerie figures draped in black robes, and copious blood and hands seeping through cracks in the walls—he tore them all out by the roots!
The two barreled deeper like a train, chug-chug-chug-chugging along, cutting through everything as easily as chopping vegetables.
Unlike Old Tang, who headed wherever the crowds were thickest, these two had a destination. More precisely, Fan Gan was taking Inverse Scale out for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
After all,