Universe Infinite Canteen

Ma Lu drove to the location Lao Hei had mentioned, a funeral parlor situated on the outskirts of City B.

It was now past 11 p.m., and the funeral parlor had long since closed for the day. Devoid of the daytime bustle, it appeared very quiet against the dark night sky.

However, through the main gate, one could see the sporadic lights inside, indicating that there were still people on duty.

And just before Ma Lu and his group arrived, a deep blue car had driven in, likely transporting a body. It seemed that bodies brought in after hours would incur a 50% surcharge on the transportation fee compared to those brought during the day.
Your journey continues with empire

But, obviously, outside vehicles weren't allowed in.

Ma Lu dialed the number Lao Hei had given him, and after about ten minutes, a man roughly 40 years old in a coffee-colored leather jacket came out from behind the doors.

He surveyed Ma Lu and the Wandering Sorcerer with a wary look, then glanced around to make sure there were no other people before lowering his voice, "Where's the body?"

"In the trunk." While he spoke, Ma Lu opened the trunk of his ES8.

The sight in the trunk gave the man in the leather jacket a start.

A mass wrapped in tinfoil, so encased it was unrecognizable, leaned against the folded-down back seat.

"Why so much tinfoil? What are you planning to do, marinate it and put it in the oven?"

"It's a new car, brother."

To keep blood from staining his newly bought car, Ma Lu had given it much thought but was limited by the materials at hand.

Unable to find a body bag and lacking even a large plastic bag, he had to improvise with the few boxes of tinfoil he found in the car to wrap the body.

Ma Lu then passed over a plastic bag, "Here."

Because it was very dark, the man in the leather jacket didn't realize what was inside at first, not until he took it into his hands and discovered it was a head.

He was taken aback again, "Isn't your car pretty big? Why did you pack them separately?"

"Didn't I tell you, we encountered an attack on the road, and Old Man Zheng's head got separated."

"What about Lao Hei?"

"He's also in that pile of tinfoil, looking very weak. On the way here, I asked him what song he wanted to hear, and he didn't answer me."

"He probably hasn't received nutrients for too long. Bring the body and follow me," said the man in the leather jacket.

"Sure thing." Although Ma Lu said this, he didn't move, instead glancing again at the duty booth not far away.

Seeming to understand what he was thinking, the man in the leather jacket said, "Don't worry, they're with us. I call the shots here."

Then the two men set to work, each lifting one end of the body.

The Female Sorceress had little interest in assisting the Corpse Parasite with the body exchange and chose to stay in the car, continuing to enjoy the massage and warmth.

Ma Lu followed the man in the leather jacket through a small square and along an adjoining cloister, eventually arriving outside a small cottage.

The man in the leather jacket opened the door to reveal over twenty stainless steel cabinets, each with a number attached to it, which appeared to be the morgue.

However, the man didn't stop there. He kept walking towards one of the cabinets, gestured for Ma Lu to place the body on the floor, and then he moved that particular cabinet aside to reveal a small door behind it.

Ma Lu uttered a soft "huh."

The man in the leather jacket proudly said, "Actually, most of the corpses in the morgue can't be touched because the family has to perform a final farewell before cremation, so the ones I really collect are the bodies that have been cremated.

"Swapping them out just before they enter the cremation chamber is the safest. I've rigged the chamber with a system that swaps in similar bones of cattle and sheep for the bodies meant to be burned. After all, once they've been turned to ashes, even close relatives can't tell the difference."

Ma Lu clicked his tongue, "That's rather despicable, isn't it? Then when people come to pay their respects to their loved ones during the holidays, with all that grieving and food offerings, even the paper money they burn is just benefitting those cattle and sheep."

Thinking of widows crying over a box of sheep bone powder, children calling out 'Dad' to a pile of cow bone powder, or younger kin offering beef jerky to cattle slaughtered in an abattoir, Ma Lu's expression grew strange.

The man in the leather jacket still spoke justifiably, "In the end, no one is really going to open it and look. What's inside the box doesn't really matter. Even if it were real, they wouldn't receive the paper money and food offerings anyway. Besides, after a while, when the bodies are no longer usable, we'll quietly switch the ashes back."

"Really?" Ma Lu asked skeptically.

"Hmm... when I'm in a good mood, I occasionally swap them out. Digging and refilling graves is also quite troublesome, after all. In the end, as long as no one exposes it, there will be no impact. Besides, our cemetery's prices are cheaper than others; we've already paid the usage fee for the bodies."

"And these days, isn't the government constantly promoting a low-carbon economy and recycling? Our operations align with the national call to action."

"Recycling doesn't mean recycling corpses," Ma Lu looked at the man, "Speaking of which, are you a Corpse Parasite too, opening this funeral home for the sake of having bodies to use?"

To his surprise, the man in the leather jacket shook his head, "I'm not a Corpse Parasite. While Corpse Parasites can repair bodies to a certain extent and restore basic functions, even a particularly good-looking corpse can only be used by a Corpse Parasite for three or four years at most. Constantly changing identities doesn't allow for running a legitimate business."

"As for the boss, strictly speaking, I'm just one of the partners. There's an even bigger boss above me. He has many businesses, and the funeral home is only one of them. He doesn't come here more than twice a year and leaves me to manage this place."

As the man spoke, he lifted Old Man Zheng's body and stepped through the small door.

Ma Lu followed him inside, where the setup was much the same as outside but on a smaller scale, less than half the size, with only about a dozen stainless steel cabinets and two small tables.

The man placed the body he was carrying on one of the tables, stripping off the layers of tin foil that wrapped it.

He then picked up a notebook from another table and flipped through a few pages. "Let me see... Yesterday afternoon there was a girl, just 19 years old, who apparently jumped into the river due to relationship problems. Her body was quite well preserved, which I've kept. Quite the deal for Lao Hei."

"Wait, a female body works too?" Ma Lu asked.

"What's the problem? Corpse Parasites as a species don't have distinct genders. That Lao Hei lived as a bar hostess for two years before, frequenting various nightclubs in City B.

"I even went to sing with him. He generously let me touch his thigh without charging me. At that moment, I thought he was a true friend. It's because of this relationship that I didn't hesitate to find him an uncremated corpse to use in an emergency when he said he was in trouble and being chased.

"But unexpectedly, he ended up damaging it to this extent." The man in the leather jacket looked at the headless corpse on the table and sighed.