Manager, you have to believe me.

Li Changluo was completely dumbfounded. The old man who had been boasting about his superior seniority just a moment ago suddenly fell to his knees in front of Peppa Pig.

"Lord Wujie, I have finally found you..."

"How did you end up in this body... The old man here has been searching for you for a long time. I tracked you down to Jinhui Residential Area last time, but unfortunately, I was a step too late. I heard that Bai Xiaoni brought you back to the tavern..."

"I came here this time specifically to take you back..."

The bound old man knelt on the ground, looking at Peppa Pig before him, tears streaming down his face with emotion.

"Pig Leftover, do you know him?"

Li Changluo asked Pig Leftover.

"Master, I don't know him."

Pig Leftover looked at the old man in front of him and answered respectfully.

"You young punk, how audacious! Do you have any idea who it is? How dare you address it like that..."

The old man grew somewhat anxious, shouting incessantly at Li Changluo.

"How am I supposed to know all that? Does knowing get you free meals? You are really too noisy. Pig Leftover, make him shut up..."

Li Changluo was getting annoyed. He loathed people who constantly tried to pull rank by claiming close relationships, seniority, or status...

"You brat, just wait until Bai Xiaoni comes back. I'll show you how I'll deal with you. Never mind killing a few small demons, even if I were to wipe out every single demon in this tavern today—"

"Alright, Master..."

Pig Leftover gave a crisp response, cutting the old man off mid-sentence. Then, it tugged at its hat, revealing the small pink pig head beneath...

And abruptly swallowed the old man in front of it in a single bite...

Every single monster in the tavern was dumbfounded. Before they could even process what had just happened, they watched the little pink pig lick its lips and emit a couple of oinks.

Li Changluo never imagined that this seemingly cute Peppa Pig could possess such a bloody, cavernous mouth filled with sharp teeth...

Moreover, it was so bloody and violent, devouring a wicked old man whole in one bite, complete with a crisp crunch...

Yet, what Li Changluo expected even less was that after Pig Leftover ate the old man, its body seemed to grow just a tiny bit, and two small, adorable canine teeth peeked out from its mouth...

"Master, do you have any other instructions?"

Pig Leftover burped contentedly and looked respectfully at its bewildered master.

"No..."

Li Changluo had not yet recovered from the scene he had just witnessed. He suddenly felt that this world was truly terrifying. Would you believe that a pig this cute could scare you until you wet your pants?

"Alright, Master..."

Pig Leftover put its hat back on and vanished from the main hall without the slightest warning.

The tavern was in utter chaos, practically completely trashed by the old man...

***

Few of the eight-immortals tables remained intact, and almost all the decorative furnishings in the tavern had been smashed into smithereens by the old man.

Li Changluo gazed at the devastation before him, a vague sense of impending doom stirring in his heart...

If the proprietress, White Lotus, came back and saw all this, would she...

However, sometimes worrying about something makes it happen, almost like a metaphysical law. Before Li Changluo could even figure out how to deal with the mess in front of him...

The tavern doors suddenly flew open...

A slender figure appeared at the entrance. White Lotus, the proprietress, stood dazed at the doorway, staring in disbelief at everything inside the tavern.

"Oh my god, what—what on earth happened here?"

"My dear tavern, how did you get hurt this badly..."

"My heart aches so much I can barely breathe."

White Lotus's eyes welled with tears, and her pitiful appearance moved the monsters in the tavern to...

Raise their hands and point straight at Li Changluo amidst the tavern ruins...

"He did it, Proprietress..."

"Proprietress, we were just eating when we got knocked out by flying chairs..."

"I think I saw that little demon fighting fiercely with a stool..."

"Bah, shameless wretch, fighting with tables and chairs."

While reporting Li Changluo, the group of monsters in the tavern slipped away toward the door in a flash of smoke...

"What the actual hell..."

Li Changluo was so angry he wanted to silence this group of monsters...

I bloody went out of my way to protect you...

And you repay me by kicking a man while he's down...

Desolation.

"Proprietress, I can testify..."

Blackie stepped forward with an expression of righteous justice.

Li Changluo felt deeply comforted and warmed. In times of crisis, it was still one's own brother who cared.

"Proprietress, I just remembered I have some unfinished business. I'll come back another day to testify..."

Blackie suddenly changed his tune, gave Li Changluo a stiff, sheepish cupped-fist salute, and hurriedly scurried away...

Because White Lotus had just picked up a dropped kitchen cleaver from the floor and was looking at Blackie with a gloomy expression...

Although she wore a smile, her eyes radiated a bone-chilling murderous intent, terrifying Blackie—who had wanted to exonerate Li Changluo—into making a hasty retreat.

***

"Hey, old man, I've finished my homework, you..."

Lin Dandan, the tavern's accountant, came running out enthusiastically at that moment, clutching those colorful exercise booklets...

However, when he saw how chaotic the tavern had become, and then looked at his proprietress, who was also gently gripping a kitchen cleaver with a murderous look on her face...

"Uh, what's wrong with me? My head is spinning. Proprietress, why have you turned into two..."

Lin Dandan pushed up his glasses, and with a soft thud, collapsed straight to the ground, fainting dead away.

Li Changluo felt a sudden urge to walk over and plant a kick on him...

Yet, before Li Changluo could even recover from Lin Dandan's shameful feigned faint, he saw the maiden in the light shirt rush out, holding a smartphone playing a cooking video...

She was happily searching for the old man, but upon seeing the current state of the tavern—and noticing her own proprietress looking at her with a concerned gaze—she was so startled she dropped her phone straight to the ground...

"Ah, I've lost my memory. I can't remember anything at all."

The maiden in the light shirt suddenly adopted a blank gaze, spun a clumsy lie, and ran off with cheerful, skipping steps...

Running straight into the kitchen...

Leaving the sound from the video on the phone echoing inside the tavern...

Mix the ingredients together...

Imagine it as the face of your idol, knead it, chop it...

Delicious food means zero calories...

Li Changluo froze in place, utterly tempted to applaud this troupe of drama queens...

Where did your passion for doing homework go just a moment ago...

While the tavern was descending into utter chaos, you sat unmoved at the counter doing your homework...

And now, you've bloody fainted?

And as for the maiden in the light shirt, could you at least put some effort into faking amnesia?

"Li Changluo, care to explain what exactly you've done?"

"Don't worry, to err is human. As long as you bravely admit it, all of this..."

"All of this is just a minor issue..."

White Lotus started speaking to Li Changluo in a gentle tone, but as she went on and caught sight of the horrifying state of her tavern, she began gnashing her teeth while forcing herself to comfort him.

Li Changluo knew all too well what kind of temperament his proprietress possessed. The sweeter and gentlier she smiled at you, the more painfully her knife would twist...

"Proprietress, you have to believe me..."