"Where did this slotted spoon come from? Wasn't here before, was it?" Chen Ke picked up the spoon and looked towards Li Bo.
Li Bo stepped forward, took the spoon with a puzzled expression, and inspected it for a long while. "I'm not sure... All the stuff for making noodles here looks like this. Suddenly asking me, I can't remember..."
"How many slotted spoons do you have here in total? Just count to see if there's an extra one," Chen Ke suggested.
Li Bo slapped his forehead and began rummaging around the kitchen, tallying up the cooking utensils. Sure enough, this slotted spoon was an extra.
"Damn, you're awesome! How did you know there was something wrong with this slotted spoon?" Li Bo exclaimed in surprise.
"We demon hunters have specialized tools; they sense something off when we get close," Chen Ke explained seriously, pulling out a Nokia 1208 mobile phone with its battery removed and shook it. "Just now, this thing in my pocket kept vibrating, so I knew this slotted spoon definitely had a problem."
"Amazing, much better than the Administration Bureau!" Li Bo praised.
Combining what Li Bo said with the photos in Pihom's phone, Chen Ke already had a rough idea of the situation.
Emaciated monsters coerced the noodle shop owner to provide aid to the poor; the foul-smelling slotted spoon acted as a kind of target selector.
But there were two things that didn't make sense.
First, the transformation—the noodles had a curse that gradually turned people into monsters. This power wasn't present in the spoon; where did it originate?
Second, the result of the transformation—based on the partial transformations observed in the diners so far, Chen Ke found it hard to imagine they'd turn into emaciated monsters. They were more likely to become another species.
The biggest suspicion in the whole matter ultimately fell on the motive.
Why were the transcendent monsters doing this? Was their real goal just to aid the poor?
Chen Ke knew it wasn't that simple, but for now, at least, they had found the source of the foul smell. As long as they stopped using that slotted spoon, Li Bo's noodle shop could operate normally.
Now, those monsters were the only trouble.
"What should I do now? Even though you've identified the source of the smell, those monsters won't just give up..." Li Bo was somewhat worried.
"Let's talk about the payment; demon hunters aren't free," Chen Ke said with crossed arms.
"Of course... but you don't charge by the day, right?" Li Bo asked anxiously.
Chen Ke shook his head, "A one-time payment in full, cash only, no transfers."
Li Bo pondered, his head bowed as he seemed to struggle internally. Finally, he said, "If you can solve this problem once and for all, I'll give you 5000 union coins."
Chen Ke was satisfied with the price; with the 5000 from Pihom, he'd make ten thousand from this job.
"Deal. I'll come to collect the money once the job is done," Chen Ke nodded.
"That's great! How will you find them?" Li Bo asked, very pleased.
Chen Ke picked up the slotted spoon, "They'll come to find me."
He walked out from the kitchen to the entrance, under the astonished gazes of the servers and diners, holding the slotted spoon and pushing open the door of the noodle shop, leaving only a figure behind.
Meanwhile, a strong killing intent surged from behind Chen Ke; he knew the subject had taken the bait. It had been hiding among the diners all along.
At 8 in the morning, the streets were still quite empty. Chen Ke crossed the road, leading the entity following him into a secluded, shadowy alley. Between the old residential buildings, which were barely three people wide, filthy water flowed and garbage bins were overturned, with rats scurrying among the trash.
He suddenly stopped walking, the follower only a dozen steps behind.
The killing intent, initially singular, split into four streams. Chen Ke looked up, noticing three red outlines hidden inside the dilapidated buildings on either side.
"If you refuse to accept charity, then why not quietly leave?" the voice of a female diner came from behind.
"This isn't charity, this is robbery," Chen Ke turned around, casually flipping the slotted spoon into an L-shape and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
"Nobody cares about their lives; what you're doing will only starve these people," the female diner lamented.
"You also shouldn't ignore the life and death of that noodle shop owner," Chen Ke said with a smile.
"+30 minutes"
"+30 minutes"
"+30 minutes"
"+30 minutes"
"Maximum limit reached..."
...
Three enemies lurking in the building were slowly approaching. They emerged from the windows and crawled down the external drainage. Chen Ke couldn't see them, but he could feel the movement trajectory of their murderous intent.
"You're a heartless man; this world has too many heartless people..." The female Diner said coldly as she snapped her fingers.
"Snap!"
Three shadows leaped from the wall and pounced towards Chen Ke. Simultaneously, a Wide-blade Sword suddenly appeared in Chen Ke's right hand!
He turned around, sliding to dodge the attacks of the three knives.
Chen Ke then saw the three attackers clearly; they held fruit knives, were about the same height as him, wore black tracksuits, and white masks under their hoods.
Without catching his breath, Chen Ke swung his sword at the nearest monster's left arm. The force of the hard objects colliding traveled from the hilt to his palm. The monster's left arm, bones and flesh together, was severed. Chen Ke followed with a second strike at the monster's neck, chopping its head off unobstructed. The mask fell to the ground, cracking in half, and a hairless humanoid skull rolled on the ground without spilling a drop of blood.
One.
The other two attackers rushed at Chen Ke. He sidestepped, pulled out a Colt Python with his left hand, aimed at one of the monsters' heads, and pulled the trigger. An exaggerated gunshot echoed through the alley. A Flame Magnum Bullet shattered the mask and penetrated the monster's head, like inserting a small thunderclap into a watermelon.
The monster's head exploded, and simultaneously, flames burst forth, igniting the monster. Flesh and clothing burned together, and sticky chunks of flesh splattered on the wall, not spilling a single drop of blood even in fragments.
Two.
These Flame Magnum Bullets were indeed powerful and they were just civilian imitations. If they were official goods from the Administration Bureau, combined with the enhancement of a Spiritual Ability Pistol, they would undoubtedly be more formidable.
Consider Parker's .45 caliber M1911A1—the power was actually not much different from the large-caliber revolver Chen Ke used with the Magnum Bullets. If only there was a way to evade the Administration Bureau's tracking of Spiritual Guns.
The last monster's mask fell off in the confusion, revealing a ghastly pale face and sinister eyes that sent shivers down the spine.
Though Chen Ke, who had endured the initiation by a Human-faced Dog, felt a bit hairy under the gaze resembling that of Sadako, these monsters could not harm his rationality, and he was already familiar with the sensation of fighting these creatures.
"Killing Intent Trigger!"
Chen Ke infused his killing intent into the last monster attacking him, but it did not affect its movement in the slightest. These monsters had no emotions—they knew no fear!
Even so, Chen Ke dodged the monster's attack, found an opening, and with one sword swing, cut off the monster's knife-wielding arm, followed by another that bisected the monster at the waist.
"The third one," Chen Ke said.
More like monsters than wild dogs, but much weaker than Human-faced Dogs, Chen Ke evaluated these gaunt beings.
The fight didn't last long, merely six or seven seconds. The female Diner hadn't expected Chen Ke's combat strength to be so astonishing and was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Are you... from the Administration Bureau?" the voice of the female Diner revealed fear, but her cloudy and dim eyes betrayed no emotion.
"Say whatever you like." Chen Ke played with the revolver's hammer.
Thinking that Chen Ke was about to shoot her, the female Diner turned and fled in panic.
"Right, just like that, take me to your hideout."
Chen Ke retracted the Bleeding Short Dagger, then noticed the diamond's luster had dimmed.
What's happening?
He looked closely, and a message box popped up from the diamond:
[Executioner's Bleeding Dagger]
[Durability: On the verge of breaking]
[Perpetual Wounds: Caused wounds never heal]
[Bloodletting Groove: Piercing causes significant blood loss]
The sword was already low on durability when it first came into his possession, and after slashing dogs all night, its condition had worsened considerably; the sword was now on the brink of disintegration.
Although the sword was effective against monsters, he would need to use it sparingly from now on. He'd better consider using the Glock 17 and Colt Python in the future instead.