Letting the body wash slowly flow over his body.
Next, he turned on the hot water, adjusting it to an uncomfortable temperature.
Thinking that the hot water could kill the germs, he let out cries of pain but still endured the burning sensation on his skin.
Slowly, bit by bit, he turned the knob to a higher temperature.
...
...
Wen Xiangge wasn’t turned away this time.
In fact, except for 42-7 which was relatively hard to visit, every neighbor in this task, as long as certain lines weren’t crossed, was not difficult to interact with.
The obese man was named Bai Dongsheng.
Ever since childhood, he had been greedy for food. He weighed 245 pounds in high school and longed for love and the opportunity to partake in activities like bungee jumping and skydiving.
However, hardly any coach would take on someone of his weight.
Lately, Bai Dongsheng’s obesity issue led to repeatedly being rejected on blind dates. His ego took a massive hit, making him crave delicious food for comfort.
The things he couldn’t do because of his weight made him feel miserable, and whenever he felt down, he wanted to eat. After eating, he gained even more weight...
Bai Dongsheng was trapped in that vicious cycle.
Then he came to Miracle Mansion.
Unlike other desires, appetite is about survival. Even a fat person can starve to death. In the presence of food, it is actually difficult for a person to starve to death.
The sight of Bai Dongsheng opening the door gave Wen Xiangge a fright. Even though he knew that fear opened the door to the eerie...
Wen Xiangge was still scared because Bai Dongsheng’s face was pale, his whole body was trembling slightly, and... he was crawling to open the door.
He was very weak, prompting Wen Xiangge to push the door wider, deciding to help Bai Dongsheng.
Yet Wen Xiangge didn’t know that he was about to fall into a disgusting predicament, and soon his stomach started cramping.
Because Bai Dongsheng’s house was filled with the smell of stomach acid and food.
Before entering the house, Wen Xiangge had thought of many plans, even preparing the most scientific guide for weight loss exercises. His preparations should have been effective.
Wen Xiangge wasn’t stupid, just unlucky. In the first interaction, any other resident of Inverse Seven would’ve allowed Wen Xiangge to gather some intelligence successfully.
This time, Wen Xiangge’s luck seemed no better.
He completely underestimated the horror after the eerie influence on appetite.
All Wen Xiangge’s lines, all his preparations, were completely destroyed by the odor once he entered Bai Dongsheng’s house.
The eerie made Wen Xiangge begin to hate food. Gourmet food was nauseating enough, let alone the stuff corroded by stomach acid and then vomited out.
He began to vomit, vomiting like crazy.
He didn’t understand how this was happening, but as he threw up, he suddenly got it.
The conflict between the instinct to survive and the aversion to food.
Bai Dongsheng’s binge-eating was replaced by a revulsion to food. He resisted eating, but his body craved food.
In a state of extreme hunger, Bai Dongsheng began to eat.
But in his aversion to food, he started vomiting. The revulsion to food combined with the disgust of vomit made Bai Dongsheng fall into a coma.
When he woke up, he felt extremely hungry again. He started eating and vomiting... repeatedly.
After this cycle happened several times, Bai Dongsheng had little strength left. He wanted to survive and sought help.
But he needed food to regain his strength.
He no longer had the strength to get his massive body to stand up and fetch fresh food from the fridge.
Fortunately, there was vomit around. Sticky, the proteins in it hadn’t been entirely absorbed by the body. Its dissolved state made it easier to digest and absorb.
Bai Dongsheng plunged into his own Hell.
More intense hunger and more intense vomiting awaited him.
The repeatedly chewed and swallowed, then regurgitated food began to take on a disgusting yellow-green hue. That was the color of bile mixed in.
The Hell that Bai Dongsheng experienced was supposed to extend to Wen Xiangge as well.
Wen Xiangge indeed went through bouts of frantic vomiting.
But fortunately...
An hour later, the eerie force forcibly took over his body. His interaction with the neighbor ended, and he returned to his own house.
Looking back at the sight of the house just then, Wen Xiangge was filled with not only disgust but also deep fear.
When deprived of appetite, a person could end up that way!
When the will to survive outweighed the aversion to food, it led to situations like Bai Dongsheng’s. Thinking of that scene, Wen Xiangge rushed to the bathroom and started vomiting.
He would rather his will to survive be weaker than his aversion to food... at least he could starve himself to death.
Ordinary people experiencing such scenes would find it unforgettable for life.
But Wen Xiangge, after all, was called the Venerated One.
He soon mustered up the courage and began to psyche himself up:
"It’s okay, you are the Venerated One of the Xishu Divine Teaching. You have to save many people! You cannot be defeated by the obstacles before you!!"
"My idol is the one who saved countless people in the depths of the Bunker! The suffering he endured surely far exceeds mine!"
A man filled with a strong sense of faith cannot be defeated.
Wen Xiangge soon began to think about how to persuade Bai Dongsheng to leave that Hellish, vomit-ridden environment.
This seemed like an impossible task.
He could only wait for the next meeting to get Ah Shu’s opinion; he held Ah Shu in high regard.