Catastrophe Containment Facility
Chapter 114: A Delicious Steamed Bun Shop

Chapter 114: Chapter 114: A Delicious Steamed Bun Shop

"I don’t want to create that sort of thing, it’s an insult to me as a Puppet Master!"

Smack!

A whip unapologetically lashed onto Xu Hai’s body, wielded by a black-haired Beauty Puppet in a sailor suit. In the past, it had been Xu Hai who whipped this Puppet for fun, but now the situation had reversed.

Xu Hai hung in a cell, enduring the beatings he should not have to suffer.

Wen Wen stood by, directing the Beauty Puppet with his dead fish eyes, determined to make Xu Hai yield.

"If you don’t agree, I will use all of your precious tools on you, one by one!" Wen Wen played with those gadgets as he spoke viciously.

Xu Hai’s array of tools was nothing short of extensive. Using them all would surely break a man.

"I may be a monster, but I am also an artist. Making that thing is an insult to art!" Xu Hai still defiantly spoke his mind.

"If you don’t agree, I will find someone else to do it, and when that thing is made, you will be the first one I use it on!" threatened Wen Wen once more.

Xu Hai was on the verge of tears upon hearing Wen Wen’s words; the man was simply a demon.

"Or, I could send you to Hu Youling’s room and let you be turned into dregs!" Wen Wen added another line.

Xu Hai turned to look and shuddered at the sight of Hu Youling, busy adjusting her posture, even harboring a small hope.

But the thought of the consequences after the brief enjoyment quickly deflated him.

In the end, Xu Hai’s will was not firm, and after repeated threats from Wen Wen, he eventually capitulated. He asked Wen Wen for a large amount of materials and began the creation process.

Wen Wen wasn’t worried about Xu Hai pulling any tricks. As long as he was in the Sanctuary, he couldn’t cause any serious mischief.

To manufacture the Puppet, Wen Wen bought Xu Hai two sows, some silicone, and various items commonly used in beauty salons. He had indeed spent a fair bit of money. If Xu Hai failed to deliver a satisfactory product, Wen Wen would instead have him make dolls and sell them to pay off the debt.

It would take at least three days for Xu Hai to make this doll, so Wen Wen planned to use this opportunity to go and have some fun with a few Ghosts.

The Ghosts left by Yan Xiu all seemed difficult to deal with, and Wen Wen could only choose to go after the ones that seemed easier to handle.

However, the more difficult Ghosts were also indicative of greater Strength, which meant more benefits for Wen Wen.

Tonight, Wen Wen’s first target was a bun shop in the eastern suburbs, called Steamed Delights Breakfast Shop.

According to the Hunters Association’s information, the bun shop was run by a family of five, sustained by three generations. Initially, they were legitimate catering professionals.

Old Man Zhou and his wife Zhao Yan had made buns all their lives, with their son and daughter-in-law, Zhou Kaile and Mao Lingling, taking over the business. Finally, there was their granddaughter Zhou Xun, who often helped at the shop in her free time.

They made buns with conscience, always selecting quality ingredients and constantly refining the taste, which kept their popularity high.

The family was harmonious and happy, with a bright future ahead.

But everything changed with a single news story.

There was a time when the Capital District launched a food safety initiative, cleaning up shops that failed to meet hygiene standards or used illegal food additives and shutting down underground factories producing gutter oil.

Food safety had everyone’s attention, with endless exposures making headlines, delivering a heavy blow to the entire catering industry.

This was, of course, a good thing; at least it meant that people could be a lot more at ease when eating out.

Until one day, a social media news story about a Black Heart baozi (steamed bun) shop that added cardboard shreds to its fillings to save on raw materials, inexplicably went viral, attracting hundreds of thousands, even millions of views.

And the background image used for that news story was of the Steaming Delicious Breakfast Shop...

Although the news didn’t explicitly state that the shop using shredded paper to make buns was the Steaming Delicious Breakfast Shop, it still put them squarely in the crosshairs of public scrutiny.

The unblurred images made it quite easy for people to track down the Steaming Delicious Bun Shop. What was once a booming business plummeted. They were frequently visited by the health department for inspections, and the family endured the scorn of their neighbors and fellow townspeople.

Despite their repeated explanations and clarifications, nobody believed them.

When tens or even hundreds of thousands of people are convinced there’s something wrong with your shop, it might as well have an actual problem.

Just an ordinary family, no matter what they said, couldn’t change the situation.

Are the eyes of the masses clear? Well, sometimes what they’re able to see isn’t up to them to decide.

When the incident blew up and the truth finally came to light, the officials stepped forward to clarify for the Steaming Delicious Bun Shop, and a few rational netizens also spoke up to clear the Steaming Delicious Breakfast Shop’s name.

In this way, things calmed down, but the wounds the family suffered could never be healed.

The former friendly neighbors became distant, the online commenters who had lambasted them no longer mentioned the news, behaving as if they had never hurt anyone. And the self-media website that had published the false news, by simply deleting it, thought it was off the hook.

Latter, as the fervor died down, the little shop’s business did not improve, and the once happy family was on the verge of falling apart.

Then one day, there was a change in the texture of the buns from the Steaming Delicious Bun Shop, they became incredibly delicious. Even just passing by and catching a whiff of the aroma could arouse an irresistible craving.

The business of the small shop improved again, and everything seemed to be moving in a harmonious and happy direction.

This good fortune lasted for about a month. Then one early morning, when people came to buy buns, they discovered the entire family of five hanged together in the bun shop!

Police later got involved and confirmed it was a suicide. In the shop’s freezer, they found two bodies reduced to bones, one male and one female.

And a month before, the journalist and the photographer who had filmed that news segment mysteriously disappeared...

...

"Hmm, this case is rather intriguing, but there are still some doubts. Why would the family commit suicide? And how did these five ordinary people manage to kidnap two living individuals without being discovered for a whole month?"

Due to the thriving detective industry and the competence of the police, the Capital District had a very high case clearance rate. Cases of bizarre disappearances of two people, such as this one, would rarely remain clueless after more than a month.

"Could there be involvement of Supernatural Powers?"

"That’s uncertain. After all, these five Ghosts are not easy to deal with."

The records showed that after the police sealed off the bun shop, every morning, the now-desolate store would echo with the shouts of bun selling.

Once someone went in, they would come out having ingested something unknowable.

Filth and insects were tolerable, but some people ingested nails and sawdust. Those who were lucky could be saved by surgery; the unlucky ones simply died on the premises.

Such an apparent supernatural accident naturally caught the attention of the Hunter Association. After unsuccessful attempts at simple exorcisms, they sealed the place off.