Wen Wen, whose neck was gripped, suddenly grabbed Old Mike's hand.
Old Mike sensed something was wrong. This new employee was too calm. Could he be the legendary 'demon hunter'?
He hadn't thought of this initially because he had always been 'law-abiding'. Demon hunters usually dealt with more troublesome monsters.
Anyone who publicly expressed disdain for demon hunters had been brutally executed by them in public.
Thinking of this, Old Mike immediately increased the force in his hand.
With his strength, even an iron ingot could be easily deformed, let alone human bones.
But his palm was held by Wen Wen's slender hand, and he couldn't squeeze any further even with all his might.
Wen Wen's fingers were like steel pliers, digging deep into Old Mike's palm, cracking his metacarpals.
Then, with a sinister smile, Wen Wen broke his fingers one by one. Old Mike let out pig-like screams, but the crematorium was in a remote location, so no one could hear his pained cries.
In unbearable pain, Old Mike used his other hand to push Wen Wen away fiercely. Wen Wen flew out swiftly, but landed as lightly as a falling leaf.
He touched the ground with his toes, rapidly advancing to Old Mike's front, and with his five fingers pressed together at Old Mike's throat, he immediately fainted.
"Phew, done."
Wen Wen clapped his hands, looking at the fallen Old Mike with a strange expression.
"The next step is simple. I hope my makeup skills can fool those idiots."
...
In the eerie and cold cellar, hundreds of human corpses were neatly piled.
There were men and women, old and young among them, all bodies that had been sent for cremation.
In the midst of these corpses, a bearded man wearing only underwear was bound by thick chains. Small iron plates engraved with runes hung from the chains, rendering the bearded man powerless.
The bearded man grunted twice, opened his eyes, and after seeing his predicament, his face changed drastically.
"What do you want?"
This bearded man was naturally Old Mike. His injuries had healed while he was unconscious. Ghoul-like monsters possessed strength far exceeding humans, and as long as their brains were not destroyed, they wouldn't die, and other parts could recover slowly.
In front of Old Mike stood a slightly thin Old Mike. This Old Mike's face had many wrinkles and spots, and his eyes were smaller than the real Old Mike's.
At first glance, he looked similar to Old Mike, but upon closer inspection, the flaws were apparent.
"Are you blind? I'm impersonating you," Wen Wen retorted without hesitation.
Old Mike sneered, "Then your impersonation skills are truly terrible. Do you really think this can fool anyone?"
"Ghoul-like monsters have a peculiar characteristic: once a month, they become emotionally unstable and their forms become abnormal, making it impossible for them to fully conceal their appearance."
"I call this characteristic 'coming during the great aunt's visit.' With this excuse, I can fool many of your acquaintances."
"And..." Wen Wen paused, "the most important thing in impersonation isn't appearance, but aura."
Black smoke billowed from Wen Wen's body, and a terrifying, sinister aura emanated from him.
Old Mike was horrified. This guy in front of him seemed more like a monster than he was.
Seeing that preparations were nearly complete, Wen Wen was about to leave the cellar when Old Mike called out to him.
"You didn't kill me, you must have some use for me. As long as you let me go, I'm willing to do anything."
Wen Wen stopped, his body trembled twice, and then he let out a cackling laugh.
"Cherish your final moments. I plan to starve you for five days first, then cut off all your limbs, leaving only your head, and make you eat yourself."
Upon hearing Wen Wen's words, Old Mike shuddered. Ghouls needed to eat daily; if he didn't eat for three days, he would lose his mind. With Wen Wen's plan, he might truly end up eating himself.
Wen Wen chuckled, "I didn't want to do this, but you said you liked eating raw, so I'll let you eat yourself."
Old Mike trembled and asked, "Then, what if I had said I liked eating cooked..."
"Oh, then I'd kidnap a monster and have them cook your body before feeding it to you," Wen Wen said, pushing open the cellar door and walking out. "It's good that you like raw food, otherwise I would have had to catch extra monsters."
The heavy iron door closed, and a chill ran down Old Mike's spine.
There was food everywhere, yet he could only endure the hunger until it consumed him, leading to his demise.
This new demon hunter was probably the most wicked existence to have appeared in Aran City since its founding.
The powerful monsters hidden within the city were like pure maidens compared to him.
...
Under the guise of Old Mike, Wen Wen's movements became much more convenient. He once again arrived at the manor outside the city.
The guard saw Wen Wen and extended his hand to block him, saying in a gentle tone, "I'm sorry, sir, I cannot let anyone in before the meeting begins."
Wen Wen glanced at the guard. The sinister and brutal gaze made the guard shiver.
"I'm here to see Istan. I can't go in, so call him out."
Upon hearing Wen Wen's request, another guard hurried in to notify him. After a moment, a fat goblin less than a meter tall, carrying a golden sack, walked out of the manor and looked at Wen Wen haughtily, "So, you're the one looking for me."
Wen Wen immediately changed to a smiling face and pulled Istan to a corner.
"I've come today to discuss a business transaction with you."
"What business?" Istan asked impatiently.
"It's like this, the meeting tomorrow will definitely require a large number of living people as food, right?" Wen Wen revealed a shrewd merchant's expression. "However, the cost of living people is too high. I have over a hundred stored corpses."
Istan's eyes lit up. The meeting organizer had indeed given him a considerable amount of money to buy living people. If he could exchange them for corpses, he would make a substantial profit.
"No, no, corpses don't taste good," Istan pretended to refuse.
Wen Wen took a step forward, "Trust me, I guarantee there will be no problem with the taste. However, this requires me to personally process the corpses before the meal. You know, I am a ghoul, and I have a way to make the corpses fresh for a short period."
Istan suddenly realized, "I remember now, you are Old Mike from the crematorium. I trust you to handle it."
After a conversation, they happily reached an agreement. Istan didn't notice the loopholes in Wen Wen's words; he just thought it was normal for a ghoul to be able to make corpses 'come alive'.
Two hours later, Wen Wen, draped in a pink gauze robe, hired people to transport over a dozen cartloads of corpses into the manor.