Chapter 2 - The Soup That Stole Forty-One Days
The sensible thing would have been to sleep.
Eli had never been especially talented at sensible things.
At 1:14 a.m., he stood in the kitchen holding an unopened carton of NourishNow "Restorative Chicken Broth" under the rice cooker's cracked display.
[APPRAISAL]
[Chicken: 11%]
[Salt: irresponsible]
[Preservatives: legal, unfortunately]
[Foreign spiritual structure detected.]
"Spiritual structure," Eli whispered. "Sure. Why not."
A black thread appeared around the carton.
It was not physically there. Eli knew that because when he reached for it, his fingers passed through. But some new sense inside him could see it twisting like smoke.
[Appetite Tax Seal — Grade: Crude]
[Effect: Converts 0.3% consumer vitality into stored Hunger Qi.]
[Repeated consumption compounds extraction.]
Eli's humor died.
His mother had received three cartons a week through a clinic partnership.
"How do I remove it?"
[Host lacks skill.]
"Helpful."
[Host may unlock Purifying Flame at Ember Body Realm.]
"How do I get Ember Body?"
[Earn Gratitude Qi.]
"By feeding hungry people."
[Host demonstrates unexpected pattern recognition.]
Eli glared at the rice cooker.
At dawn he spent almost all his money on rice, eggs, onions, chicken thighs, and cheap takeout containers. He cooked in batches until the apartment smelled like ginger and toasted sesame oil.
Then he loaded everything into an old insulated delivery bag and walked to a homeless encampment beneath the interstate.
A man in a Seahawks beanie eyed him suspiciously.
"Church?"
"No."
"Campaign?"
"Definitely no."
"TikTok?"
"My phone camera barely works."
That seemed to satisfy him.
Eli handed out bowls.
The first golden spark appeared when an elderly woman took a bite and closed her eyes.
[Gratitude Qi +1]
Then another.
Then five.
Then seventeen.
The warmth entering Eli's chest felt like hot tea spreading through frozen fingers.
[Quest complete.]
[Gratitude Qi: 31]
[Breakthrough available: Ember Body I]
He accepted.
Every pore opened.
Heat rushed through his muscles. His knees buckled. For three terrible seconds he thought the system had cooked him from the inside.
Then the pain vanished.
The world smelled sharper.
Oil. Rain. Exhaust. Garlic. Fear.
And hunger.
Eli looked up.
Black threads floated above almost half the people beneath the bridge.
Not from NourishNow cartons alone.
Different foods.
Different brands.
Same seal.
A woman holding Eli's rice bowl had three black threads around her heart.
A teenager had seven.
The man in the Seahawks beanie had so many Eli could barely see his chest.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
[Local Hunger Tax network detected.]
[Estimated affected population within 5 miles: 18,442]
Eli stared at the number.
He had wanted to save his mother.
The system had just informed him the curse was feeding on a neighborhood.
Then a black SUV stopped beside the curb.
A man in a charcoal suit stepped out and looked directly at Eli.
"Mr. Chen," he called.
Eli had never seen him before.
The man smiled.
"NourishNow would like to discuss your unauthorized food distribution."
---
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