Sliced into Mince

Liu Zheng did not stand on ceremony and inspected the pots one by one.

The things floating on the surface were all the same: onions, carrots, celery, rosemary, cilantro, and so on.

Beneath the broth lay a thick murkiness, impossible to see through.

At the same time, the system gave no prompts whatsoever.

After some thought, he extended a tentacle.

"You can look, but wherever you touch, I chop."

Oink could not bear to watch any longer.

"It doesn't cost money."

After a pause, it added.

"Tch."

Liu Zheng smacked his lips.

"Then this one."

He pointed at the pot in the very middle.

For no other reason than symmetry.

"Looks like your luck isn't very good."

Oink shook its head and took out some tableware from the cabinet behind it.

Before long, a brimming bowl of meat soup was placed before Liu Zheng.

"Drink up. Then you can get on the chopping block."

The Pig-headed Man spoke gently.

Liu Zheng looked into the bowl. The broth appeared much clearer than it had in the pot. Several red-eyed flies floundered inside it, as though they were still alive.

Name: Hell Dragonfly Spicy Soup

Type: Item

Quality: Inferior

Effect 1: Loss of taste. Duration depends on constitution.

Effect 2: Constitution permanently reduced by 5 points.

Can be taken out of the instance: Yes

He looked troubled as he stared at the spicy soup.

It was not because it contained Hell Dragonflies. He had even eaten eyeball sashimi before, so this was nothing.

The main issue was that every effect was negative, especially the permanent Constitution reduction.

Liu Zheng's actual Constitution was only twelve points. This would wipe out nearly half of it in one go.

If he cleared the instance and cleansed the Flesh Mutation state afterward, he would probably become half-paralyzed on the spot.

"Can I get it to go?"

Liu Zheng asked seriously.

"I can package you up."

Oink answered just as seriously.

"Sigh."

He sighed, lowered his head, and took a sip.

The extreme spiciness punched his taste buds hard, while the lingering sulfur flavor dealt a second heavy blow to his brain.

"Hiss, ha! Hiss, ha!"

Liu Zheng stuck out his tongue. Saliva poured from his mouth, but it was only a drop in the bucket.

"Is it good?"

Oink asked.

"Not. Spicy. Enough."

After recovering a little, he spoke one word at a time.

"With that mouth of yours, you'd need to stew for at least eight hours."

Oink laughed despite itself.

"What, can't you bite through sashimi?"

Liu Zheng continued to talk tough.

"I don't eat people, even though you humans have eaten me. After all, half of me is human."

Oink shook its head.

"But I'll sell your meat to them, just as you did to me."

It spoke flatly.

"For example, Bloodstained Restaurant?"

The instant those words fell, the firelight in the room dimmed.

Oink's shadow stretched and swelled without end, transforming into a demon god wielding a massive axe.

"You didn't tell him?"

It tilted its head and asked Cow-Horse.

"I didn't expect him to ask, either."

Cow-Horse looked helpless.

No, how did they end up talking about supplying a restaurant with meat?

You're the ingredient here. Why are you so full of initiative?

"Bloodstained Restaurant used to have a signature dish: live-roasted suckling pig."

The flames in Oink's eyes blazed brightly again.

"I was that pig."

Amid the suffocating silence, Liu Zheng slowly opened his mouth.

"Was it fragrant?"

"Fragrant my ass!"

Cow-Horse cursed and kicked Liu Zheng over with one hoof.

After knocking him down, it viciously stomped him several more times, crushing all four tentacles into meat paste.

"Ever since he stopped being human, it seems like his brain has gone bad too. Please don't take offense."

It shouted as it kicked him.

"You want to protect him?"

Oink saw through its intentions.

"After all, he calls me boss."

Cow-Horse said humbly.

"You can't protect him."

Oink shook its head as well.

"Let's give it a try. We all came from the farm, after all. You wouldn't beat me to death, would you?"

Cow-Horse lay on the ground and exposed its belly.

It even wagged its tail.

"You learned that move from Black Claw, didn't you?"

Oink frowned deeply.

"Black Claw died ages ago."

Cow-Horse said.

"Oh. No wonder I haven't seen him come to sell meat in so long. Was he made into dog meat hotpot?"

Oink asked.

"He went to the landfill to open treasure chests and got his guts turned inside out."

Cow-Horse replied flatly.

"He was still as stupid as ever."

Oink sighed.

"I told him back then to stay obediently in the Sewer. If that didn't work, he could have come here and been a guard dog."

The Pig-headed Man shook his head.

"Dogs always want to be strays."

Cow-Horse said.

"Mm."

Oink answered indifferently, and its shadow shrank back beneath its feet.

"Alright, lie down."

It dragged over a wooden butchering table from the corner, its surface soaked through with layer after layer of bloodstains and filth.

"Hurry up."

Cow-Horse kicked Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng walked over and lay face-down on the butchering table.

"Why won't you look at me face-to-face? Are you scared?"

Oink mocked.

"Every pig I've seen slaughtered was facing down."

He replied in a muffled voice.

"You seem very eager to anger me."

Oink sneered.

"I'm not doing it on purpose. I just can't control myself. What Cow-Horse said is true. There's something wrong with my brain."

Liu Zheng explained.

Irritability made his anger impossible to control, and sometimes he could not help provoking others as well.

"It's fine. You won't need to control it soon."

As Oink spoke, it raised its cleaver.

With the first cut, it removed his head.

With the second cut, it removed his hands and feet.

With the third cut, it removed his internal organs.

With the final cut, it split him in two.

Liu Zheng clenched his teeth and did not make a sound from beginning to end.

He treated himself as a tree, while Oink was merely pruning away his stray branches.

Perhaps that self-hypnosis worked. Liu Zheng's senses grew increasingly dull, until the final cuts barely hurt at all.

"All done!"

Oink called out, tore off its filthy apron, and covered Liu Zheng's face with it.

Liu Zheng's eyes were wide open.

He saw nothing and heard nothing.

So this is an Empty Shell.

That final thought flashed through his mind before he fell into eternal silence.

"Emergency Rations" has been automatically used.

The system's cold voice suddenly rang out.

A writhing lump of flesh appeared out of thin air, then crawled into Liu Zheng's mouth by itself.

"So that's what he was relying on."

Oink watched with its arms folded, a cold sneer on its face.

"You never said it wasn't allowed."

Cow-Horse grinned.

"This is the first time, and the last time."

Oink said sternly.

"Of course, of course."

Cow-Horse wiped away a cold sweat.

Although it had dared to do this because it knew the Pig-headed Man's temperament, it was not truly relieved until it heard those words.

Who knew whether Oink might suddenly lose its mind? Back then, it had hacked down half the restaurant.

"You think highly of this human?"

Oink suddenly asked as it looked at the still-unconscious Liu Zheng.

Otherwise, Cow-Horse would never have dared to risk provoking its wrath for a little trick like this.

"He got me a couples' vacation voucher for Paradise Island, and he got Airplane Head's vest from that tree."

Cow-Horse's smile faded.

"I think this kid might really accomplish something."

"Is that so?"

Oink suddenly walked over to a stove and lifted up the entire pot.

Then it pried open Liu Zheng's mouth and poured all the soup from the pot into it, completely ignoring how his mouthparts were scalded until they changed color.

"Then I'll look forward to it for now."