The air in the back kitchen grew increasingly viscous, the sour, acrid taste not just assaulting the nose but seeming to seep into the pores. John felt his shoulders growing heavier, as if something was trying to crawl up his back—resentment seeking a new host.

  "Master, look at this... can you send it away?" Baker cowered at the door, daring not to step foot anywhere near that oven.

  John ignored him. He walked up to the oven and took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves.

  According to the Standard Exorcism Protocols taught at the Academy, the most direct method for dealing with this kind of low-level earthbound spirit was a "Forced Requiem Charm" or "Spirit Fire Purification." Basically, smash the ghost apart and make it disappear thoroughly. This was also the Guild Mages' favorite method—efficient, clean, and leaving no loose ends.

  But watching that young figure on the screen, mechanically kneading dough over and over, John felt a discomfort in his chest that outweighed even his hemophobia.

  This apprentice hadn't hurt anyone. He was just... working.

  He didn't even know he was dead yet.

  "I'll give it a try."

  John fished a crumpled talisman from his pocket—it was the basic [Requiem Charm] from the starter pack Daoist Singularity had given him.

  He closed his eyes, recalling the incantations from class.

  "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, let the living..."

  However, when he opened his eyes again and looked directly at the ghost through the tablet screen, an accident happened.

  The apprentice, who had been keeping his head down kneading dough, suddenly stopped moving.

  He slowly turned his head.

  It was a pale, bloodless face. His eye sockets were sunken, with dark circles so heavy they looked painted on with ink. Dried white foam clung to the corners of his mouth, his eyes empty and glazed.

  But that wasn't the scariest part.

  The scariest part was that the moment the ghost saw John, it was like some kind of stress response had been triggered.

  "Orders... not finished yet..."

  The ghost made a sound. It didn't sound like it came from a throat, but rather like the static of an old radio—rasping and broken.

  "Can't sleep... Boss will scold... dock wages..."

  The ghost's body began to tremble violently. His originally translucent form suddenly swelled, and that dark red resentment spewed out of him like ink, instantly filling the entire oven.

  [WARNING! Spirit emotion out of control!]

  [Resentment Index Spiking: 300%!]

  The tablet let out a piercing alarm.

  "Not good!" John's hand shook, nearly dropping the tablet.

  This wasn't an ordinary wandering spirit; he had been mutated by the fear and pressure he felt in life. The moment he saw John (an outsider), he mistook him for a foreman coming to chase an order. That bone-deep fear of exploitation instantly converted into aggression.

  The ghost let out a piercing shriek. The iron door of the oven was slammed open, and a wave of scorching, sour-smelling heat hit John in the face.

  Instinctively, John raised the Requiem Charm and shouted, "By the Order of the Heavens!"

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  Before the talisman could even stick, it ignited in mid-air. It puffed into black smoke and instantly turned to ash.

  This kind of low-level Requiem Charm couldn't suppress the rage of a ghost who died from overwork.

  "Useless?!" John panicked.

  The ghost crawled out of the oven. His body elongated and twisted; his originally thin arms became as long as withered tree branches, fingers sharp as knives, clawing straight for John's throat.

  "Give it back... that's my dough... I have to finish... or I'll get fired..."

  The suffocating sensation rushing toward him instantly threw John back to yesterday's anatomy class.

  He wanted to dodge, but his legs felt filled with lead. He wanted to fight back, but his hemophobia drained all strength from his body.

  "Master! Help!" Seeing the situation go south, Baker screamed, scrambled out of the kitchen on all fours, and slammed the door shut.

  John was locked inside.

  In the cramped space, it was just him and this frenzied apprentice.

  "Don't come closer... I'm not the boss..." John backed up against the cold wall, desperately holding up the black tablet as a shield.

  The ghost's sharp claws were only centimeters from his eyes.

  John could clearly see the chaotic, mutated pain in the ghost's eyes. It wasn't a desire to kill; it was a desire for release, yet locked tight by some invisible chain.

  "I want... to sleep..."

  The ghost mumbled to himself, claws frozen in mid-air but still trembling violently. "But I can't sleep... five hundred baguettes... five hundred..."

  Suddenly, an emotion stronger than fear surged in his heart.

  Was this the underlying logic of this city?

  Even after becoming a ghost, one was still dominated by the fear of "work or die."

  "Is this the so-called 'blessing'?"

  John looked at the cowering boss outside, then at the weeping ghost.

  He suddenly realized that the problem with this "Sour Sourdough" couldn't be solved by physical means.

  This wasn't just a ghost.

  This was a debt owed in blood and tears.

  "You don't have to do it anymore," John gasped, shouting loudly. "The order is canceled! The boss went bankrupt! No one will scold you anymore!"

  He tried to wake the other party up with words.

  But the ghost just paused, then shook his head, the red light in his eyes growing more intense.

  "Liar... Boss said... if I don't finish... no money..."

  "I need money... to buy medicine for Mom..."

  That sentence hit John in the chest like a sledgehammer.

  Buying medicine for Mom.

  Turns out, he and this apprentice were the same. They were both struggling in this hellhole for the exact same reason.

  Except this apprentice had already fallen, and John was still holding on.

  A shared anger allowed John to temporarily suppress the dizziness of his hemophobia.

  John gritted his teeth, his fingers digging hard into the edge of the tablet.

  Talismans won't work.

  His half-assed magic definitely won't work.

  This ghost was locked down by obsession; conventional methods couldn't exorcise him. To stop him, he had to use a tougher, more unreasonable method to break this deadlock.

  "Since you won't listen to reason..."

  John looked down at the tablet in his hand.

  On the screen, the red [One-Click Backup] icon glared in the dim kitchen.

  Daoist Singularity had said: If you can't handle it, call for backup.

  "Then let's get a professional to 'reason' with you!"

  John hesitated no longer. With trembling fingers, he tapped open the [HellPath] app.

  [Recommended Summons:]

  Zhong Kui (Status: Busy. Cost: 5000 Merit/Time) — Can't afford him.

  Black & White Impermanence (Status: On Vacation. Cost: 3000 Merit/Time) — Too late.

  Random Match (Status: Online. Cost: 500 Credits/Time. Note: Satisfaction not guaranteed, enter at your own risk.)

  Exactly the deposit Baker had just given him. It was also his entire net worth.

  If he failed, he was completely bankrupt. Not only would he fail to save his mom, but he’d also die right here.

  But looking at the ghost raising its claws again, on the verge of losing control...

  John steeled his heart.

  "I'm betting it all!"

  "God or ghost, as long as it stops him, I'll take it!"

  He closed his eyes and slammed his finger down on the [Random Match] button.

  A crisp notification sound rang out.

  The tablet screen instantly erupted with golden light.

  [Searching for Cross-Planar Responder...]

  [Responder Codename: Berserker.]

  [Summon Tag: Hunger.]

  The air in the kitchen vibrated violently. A fierce wind carrying the salty scent of the sea, the smell of burnt meat, and the thick stench of blood rose from nowhere, blowing all the trays off the shelves.

  A massive, ancient-looking blue teleportation circle lit up between John and the ghost.

  Then, accompanied by a roar like a wild beast...

  A figure... rolled out of the circle.

  He didn't make a cool superhero landing. He tumbled out, clutching his stomach, stumbling.

  "Meat... give me meat..."

  It was a giant of a man, two meters tall, dressed in rough furs with a face full of beard. He held a double-edged battle axe that was dripping with some unknown liquid, but he wasn't swinging the axe right now. Instead, he was clutching his flat belly tight.

  "Odin above... I'm starving to death..."

  John was dumbfounded.

  This was the savior he spent his life savings to summon?

  However, the apprentice ghost clearly sensed something. He instinctively took a step back, shaking with the intuition of prey facing a predator.

  The giant climbed up from the floor. A pair of green, glowing eyes filled with ferocity scanned the surroundings.

  Finally, his gaze skipped over John, skipped over the shivering ghost...

  And locked dead onto... that oven emitting the sour stench.

  It wasn't a battle cry.

  It was the venting of pure gluttony.

  [Message from Singularity]

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