The Wicked System: Path of the Devourer Chapter 24 The Gluttonous Feast

After a deep, utterly dark sleep, he awoke with his entire body aching. His joints felt incredibly weak, and his body practically felt like it didn't belong to him.

By dusk, he couldn't even manage to get out of bed. It wasn't until the sky fell completely dark that he finally mustered the strength to get up and take a shower. Zhang Wenbin knew clearly that these were the side effects. The only reason he could even stand once darkness set in was because of the power bestowed upon him by the Wicked System.

If an ordinary person had overdrawn their strength like that yesterday, they would likely be visiting the King of Hell by now. As expected, overusing power came with a steep price.

Godfather was already deep in slumber. While showering, Zhang Wenbin closed his eyes and sensed his internal state, and the resulting feedback deeply surprised him.

Currently, he could utilize exactly 1% of the ten thousand vengeful souls' total power. As for the Ancient Great Demon's power, he shouldn't even dream of it. Logically speaking, an ordinary mortal using even this much power should have suffered catastrophic physical collapse, and their soul should have shattered entirely.

However, after he killed that security guard, Godfather had forcefully intervened. He had taken the single attribute point Zhang Wenbin was supposed to receive and modified it, directly converting the deadly toll into 'Gluttony'—one of the Seven Desires. As long as he ate enough, he could successfully replenish the catastrophic deficit.

Otherwise, according to the original System's rules, after utilizing those abilities for a single night, he would have been damned to eternal torment without the possibility of reincarnation.

"Dad..." Zhang Wenbin was genuinely moved. He hadn't expected this to be the result, especially since the Godfather System hadn't said a single word about it.

The reason the Godfather System slept during the day was specifically to wage war against the original System's rules, completely eradicating constraints like 'attribute points' entirely. If Godfather hadn't forcefully intervened, Zhang Wenbin, as the host, would have already died countless times over.

Even just 1% of the power made him feel absolutely omnipotent. Zhang Wenbin was brimming with anticipation, constantly wondering exactly how insanely powerful he would become as he unlocked more abilities. That would definitely be the 'do absolutely whatever you desire' state Godfather spoke of.

Godfather System always spoke lightly, but even as an entity formed by ten thousand vengeful souls, he was currently bearing a crushing, unsustainable burden. Yet, he refused to mention his own hardships. This actually made Zhang Wenbin feel the profound, silent warmth of paternal love—a love as heavy as a mountain, yet moistening like a silent spring rain.

The Godfather System was currently very weak. Expending every ounce of his strength just to maintain that 1% power output for him was his absolute limit.

A wave of intense vigilance swelled in Zhang Wenbin's heart. My old man is too damn proud. I shouldn't grow complacent or lose my sense of direction right now. I need to follow his instructions and find a way to offer him some actual help.

With this thought cementing his resolve, Zhang Wenbin's previously slightly wandering gaze turned solid. Putting on the clothes they had sent over, he opened the door.

For a set of clothes worth several hundred, he normally would have enjoyed the luxury or lamented his lack of ambition, but Zhang Wenbin harbored no such thoughts anymore. Opening the door, he looked at them coldly and ordered, "Let's go eat first. I'm starving."

Lin Guoxiong hurriedly led the way. "Of course, of course! This way, Master! The restaurant here at Tianlong Hotel is extremely renowned throughout Binhai City!"

As he walked, Godfather's exhausted voice echoed weakly in his mind: "Son, I must enter a deep slumber. After exhausting every option, I've made the necessary arrangements. The divine power you overdraw will be replenished through eating and drinking..."

"Among the ten thousand vengeful souls, there are those who harbor immense greed for food and fine liquor. When empowered at night, you can satiate their gluttony, which will greatly diminish the resistance of a certain portion of the vengeful souls."

If that hadn't been the case, given Zhang Wenbin's utterly foundationless mortal vessel, he would have died of catastrophic physical exhaustion long ago after acting so recklessly yesterday.

As the highest-end hotel in Binhai City, Tianlong Hotel's restaurant was naturally incredibly famous. Its completely unaffordable prices intimidated the masses, acting as an absolute forbidden zone for poor people like Zhang Wenbin.

At the restaurant’s front desk near the seafood display, the manager immediately rushed over the moment he saw Lin Guoxiong leading the way, his demeanor exceptionally enthusiastic.

Zhang Wenbin felt incredibly dizzy. Even when he had been poor, he at least managed to stay relatively full. Right now, he was starving to the point of dizziness and blurred vision, entirely relying on his divine power just to remain standing.

"Boss, today's batch of lobster is top-tier goods! The kitchen saved the absolutely massive, ten-pound one and kept it off the menu! And we have a few green mud crabs loaded with roe; it's the season when they are at their plumpest and most delicious..."

Before the manager could even finish his introduction, Zhang Wenbin interrupted impatiently, "Find us a seat first. I want to look at the menu directly."

"Yes, yes! Right this way, please!" Seeing Zhang Wenbin growing slightly irritable and not knowing what kind of eccentric temper the Master possessed, Lin Guoxiong hurriedly led the way.

As they walked, the manager continued his obsequious introduction. Zhang Wenbin growled furiously, "I don't have the fucking time to listen right now! Serve every single staple food dish you have immediately! It better be fast! If it's slow, I'll fucking eat you instead!"

Tianlong Hotel was renowned throughout Binhai City for its sheer luxury. Its main draw was premium seafood! As long as you had the money, you could eat the absolute rarest seafood or wild game. Nobody came here specifically to gorge on basic staple foods (carbs and grains).

"Did you hear him?! Hurry up and prepare! Delay every other order! Tell the kitchen to immediately cook every staple dish we have, right now!" Lin Guoxiong shoved the manager forward, looking exceptionally agitated as well.

The manager froze for a second but didn't dare to ask any questions. He instantly sprinted toward the kitchen.

Inside an antique-style private dining room, Zhang Wenbin sat down with a deeply gloomy expression on his face. The feeling of extreme starvation was unbearable. Accompanied by nauseating dizziness, it was pure torture.

The door to the private room opened. The manager led a line of waiters pushing dining carts inside. Since some staple foods were pre-made, the speed was exceptionally fast.

The manager found the scene incredibly bizarre. Yang Qiang and Lin Guoxiong sat in completely subordinate positions, subtly turning the teenager's seat into the definitive head of the table. Their intention to curry favor was glaringly obvious.

One had to understand: Lin Guoxiong of the Binhai Lin family was a titan capable of summoning wind and rain. Even if the Mayor himself visited, Lin Guoxiong would be polite but never this utterly subservient. Clearly, this teenager possessed an absolutely terrifying background.

Adjusting his tie, the manager signaled the first waiter to set the dish down. With a sense of grand ceremony, he introduced, "Honored guest, the first dish we are serving you is our restaurant's most frequently ordered signature staple: Seafood Soup Dumplings!"

"These six soup dumplings each have a different filling, including crab meat, sea urchin, grouper, and lobster. They are all crafted by our executive chef using the meat of the freshest seafood and an exclusive secret recipe. They are an absolute must-order for anyone dining here."

Before he could even finish, Zhang Wenbin cut him off: "Put the food on the table! Stop spouting useless bullshit!"

"Yes, yes, of course!" The manager, initially hoping to show off, felt quite embarrassed by the sharp rebuke. However, since Lin Guoxiong raised no objections, he completely lacked the courage to complain. He hurriedly ordered the waiters to place all the dishes on the table.

A massive table covered entirely in staple foods! Since Tianlong Hotel opened, such a bizarre event had never occurred.

Zhang Wenbin couldn't wait any longer. To hell with 'seafood soup dumplings'—a dumpling was a dumpling! Filling his stomach was the only priority! Grabbing the steamer basket, he swallowed them whole in two or three bites. Finding it unsatisfactory, he instantly grabbed the next dish and continued inhaling food.

Zhang Wenbin's current state could only be described as burying his head and grinding hard. Devouring food like a reincarnated starving ghost, his only distraction was internally cursing the restaurant for being a complete scam! The plates were massive, yet the portions were so pitifully small they couldn't even fill the gaps in his teeth!

He obliterated more than twenty staple dishes in less than five minutes. He hadn't even tasted any of it. The only thing he remembered was that the portion size of one noodle dish was somewhat acceptable—at least it was half the size of a street vendor's ramen bowl.

"Bring another round!"

After enduring three complete rounds of staple foods, the gnawing hunger finally began to subside. Only then did Zhang Wenbin feel the food entering his stomach seemingly digest instantly, transforming into a warm current of energy that made his body finally feel comfortable.

He no longer felt starving, yet he didn't feel full either. Pulling out a cigarette, Yang Qiang immediately recognized the cue and rushed over with a lighter to light it. Smiling obsequiously, Yang asked, "Master, is the food here acceptable?"

"It's passable. But feeding it to me is a complete waste."

Zhang Wenbin took a drag of his cigarette. He was telling the absolute truth. With his hungry-ghost style of eating just now, let alone exotic mountain delicacies and premium seafood, even if he had been eating shit, he wouldn't have noticed the temperature.

Lin Guoxiong hurriedly offered an apologetic smile. "Master is surely joking. Having you visit Tianlong is the absolute fortune of our Lin family."

In the time it took to smoke half a cigarette, Zhang Wenbin felt all the food he had just consumed completely digest. Staring at the table full of empty plates, he felt deeply perplexed. The individual portions were small, but that was over sixty servings of staple food! That was easily equivalent to twenty massive bowls of ramen! Yet he still wasn't full! Was his stomach a bottomless pit?

Ignoring Lin Guoxiong entirely, Zhang Wenbin picked up the menu. "Tell them to clear the table. I need to order more food."

"Yes, right away!"

Hearing this, both Lin Guoxiong and Yang Qiang jumped in fright. Even if the portions were small, that was sixty servings of staple carbs! And he still wasn't full?! Was he even fucking human?!

The two exchanged a look, their scalps tingling with creeping terror. It seemed Uncle Chen hadn't been exaggerating after all. The teenager sitting before them wasn't some harmless youth, but a terrifying ancient monster who had stolen a boy's body in a Duoshe!

Looking at the menu, Zhang Wenbin suddenly felt an intense, primal craving for specific types of food, as well as a craving for hard liquor. He knew perfectly well this was the gluttony of the ten thousand vengeful souls manifesting.

"Spicy Stir-fried Beef Tenderloin in Hang Pepper, Horse Meat in Savory Sauce, Sizzling Short Ribs, Spicy Fatty Beef Hotpot, and this Golden Broth Mutton..."

Following those primal instincts, he ordered a full twenty meat-heavy dishes without a single seafood item among them. Most likely due to the scarcity of resources in ancient times—combined with the fact that slaughtering warhorses or plowing oxen was a capital offense, and mutton was a rare import—these souls possessed a fanatical, deeply entrenched love for red meat.

The only seafood he actually wanted to eat was salted fish! That used to be a heavily relied-upon military ration in ancient eras; ordinary commoners back then rarely ever got to eat it.

Zhang Wenbin's head was full of question marks, a million alpacas stampeding through his mind. Eating this much meat... it better miraculously digest itself! Otherwise, if I can't take a shit tomorrow, it’s going to be a fucking tragedy!

The entire situation was far too bizarre. Lin Guoxiong ordered his men to close the doors and personally stood guard inside. He and Yang Qiang sat off to the side, watching in silent horror while cold sweat poured down their backs.

Plates of fragrant, mouth-watering meat dishes were served. Zhang Wenbin immediately resumed his ravenous, wind-sweeping assault. Eating almost continuously for close to an hour, he devoured another twenty-plus heavy meat dishes, completely separate from the carbs.

A monster... He is absolutely not human...

Feeling thoroughly satiated, the soreness in his muscles vanished entirely. Re-energized and brimming with power, the euphoric feeling of omnipotence returned. Wiping his mouth in deep satisfaction, Zhang Wenbin lit a post-meal cigarette and casually remarked, "Not bad. Being seventy percent full is enough; eating too much makes you uncomfortable."

That was only seventy percent full?! Lin Guoxiong stared in cold, sweating terror at the dozen or so empty liquor bottles on the table. Each held a full jin (500ml) of extremely high-proof baijiu! He had drunk ten pounds of hard liquor, yet his face hadn't even turned slightly red!

Alcohol tolerance aside, where exactly did all that food and liquor go physically?! The sheer volume he had consumed was more than enough to feed twenty grown men!

Seeing that Zhang Wenbin had finished eating and appeared to be in a good mood, Lin Guoxiong immediately stepped forward. Standing respectfully in front of Zhang Wenbin, he bowed slightly from the waist. Holding something out with both hands, he presented it carefully. "Forging a destiny with Master is my absolute fortune. Please, Master, do not disdain this meager, insignificant token of respect."

After all, he was a titan of his generation. Even though he knew when to yield, aggressively currying favor with a teenager was still psychologically uncomfortable for him. But after witnessing Zhang Wenbin consume food like a legendary Taotie, Lin Guoxiong was absolutely convinced the entity before him was a horrifying, ancient monster. Instantly, all his psychological burdens vanished into thin air.

What he offered with both hands was an odd, exquisitely printed piece of paper. Taking it, Zhang Wenbin furrowed his brows and asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Lin Guoxiong quickly explained, "Senior! This is a bank check! It’s a meager sum of money I prepared to show my filial respect!"

"A check?!"

This item was not inherently 'relatable' to the working class. Forget Zhang Wenbin—many ordinary citizens lived their entire lives without ever seeing what a real check looked like! In his mind, these were strictly items used by ultra-rich people in movies.

Moreover, in those movies, it was always 'deposit this in my Swiss Bank account.' Thinking about it, the logic held up. If you took a massive pile of money and said, 'Deposit this in my rural credit union passbook,' it would completely destroy any semblance of prestige or dominance.

Zhang Wenbin handled it curiously. That was when he finally noticed the bank's letterhead on it. As for the amount, it was 880,000 RMB—an extremely auspicious number. To the old Zhang Wenbin, this was an astronomical sum he might never earn in an entire lifetime of grueling labor.

Yang Qiang hurriedly leaned in and chimed in, "Senior! It's the modern equivalent of an ancient silver note!"

Acting completely ignorant of the modern world would normally be extremely embarrassing. But thanks to Yang Qiang's 'save,' the narrative fit perfectly! Zhang Wenbin immediately let out an 'Oh!' of realization. "When you put it that way, I understand perfectly! It's just like a silver note! A piece of paper you can use to withdraw money, right?!"

"Yes, exactly! Silver notes! Checks are exactly what silver notes used to be!"

Lin Guoxiong hurriedly echoed agreement. The two didn't overthink it at all. In fact, Zhang Wenbin's look of genuine, utter confusion further cemented their belief: This motherfucker is a walking, breathing ancient monster who has lived for god knows how many eons!

880,000 RMB was far more than he had initially anticipated! As expected of a titan from the Lin family—his generosity was shocking! It almost made Zhang Wenbin—a first-time extortionist—regret he hadn't asked for even more.

He should have resorted to underhanded sabotage first—caused a few deaths in the Lin family or severely disrupted their businesses—before stepping in to save them. If he had done that, he could have demanded a truly astronomical price!

"Your filial piety is noted. I will slowly take the time to learn these modern contrivances. Bring your Gold Seal; let's head up to the roof!"

"Yes, yes! Please, Senior!"

Lin Guoxiong's trusted confidant, Ah Hu, was standing guard by the door to the top floor. As an outsider, Yang Qiang originally wanted to tag along out of sheer curiosity, hoping to watch the spectacle. However, Lin Guoxiong stopped him, smiling politely but firmly: "Bureau Chief Yang, this concerns the internal affairs of the Lin family. I believe it is inappropriate for you to be present."

Yang Qiang was momentarily rendered speechless. Logically speaking, Lin Guoxiong was absolutely right. Nobody wanted outsiders spying on their family's supreme Feng Shui territory.

"It doesn't matter. Let him tag along," Zhang Wenbin intervened. "It'll put his mind at ease. Besides, you can witness the Gold Seal Paper Fall layout of your own house with your own eyes. I imagine you haven't seen its true form in your entire life either."

"Then please, come in!"

Overjoyed, Yang Qiang eagerly scurried behind them like an obedient puppy.

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