Eat It

“Crow… Big Shot Crow…” Hao Hao’s voice was as thin as a mosquito’s. Her smile was uglier than crying, and her fingers were turning white from gripping her knife and fork so tightly. “Are we… really going to eat this?”

Cheng Shuili shook her head slightly and scanned the room.

Panshi’s team was clearly well-trained. Although their faces were pale, their smiles remained relatively natural, and their movements were reasonably composed.

Players from other grand regions behaved differently; some were drenched in cold sweat, while others had flickering gazes, all desperately trying to control their panic.

But regardless, the current situation wasn’t too dire.

Rules are relative. While they restrict the players, they also restrict the dungeon boss. If the faceless jester wants to kill, the players must first violate the rules.

Thinking this, Cheng Shuili sighed in her heart.

The faceless jester’s slick voice sounded again, breaking the suffocating silence:

“It seems the guests are a bit reserved. Such delicacies—would it not be a disappointment to my intentions if you did not partake?”

It raised its gloved hand and snapped its fingers gently.

In an instant, the plates in front of all the players seemed to come alive. The food inside emitted an even more alluring fragrance. That scent seemed to possess magic, drilling straight into their noses and stirring humanity’s most primal appetite.

Several players’ throats rolled involuntarily, and their eyes clouded over for a split second.

“Eat… eat it…” A seductive whisper echoed directly in everyone’s minds. “This is the host’s good intention; to refuse is impolite… Eat it, and you will gain strength… the strength to live on…”

What is going on?

Cheng Shuili’s gaze sharpened; she immediately sensed that something was wrong with the aroma.

Her will was firm, yet she still felt somewhat agitated, let alone the other players.

A white player from another grand region swallowed his saliva repeatedly. His arm kept trembling, yet as if unable to control himself, he kept reaching toward the plate in front of him.

This is food…

Fragrant, overflowing food!

Since entering this world, he hadn’t had a single good meal.

These things smelled so good that he could almost taste the flavor his taste buds would feel once he put them into his mouth.

Despite trying his best to control himself, his self-control couldn’t match the temptation of desire.

As the table knife landed on the meat, that person completely transformed in an instant.

His expression became relaxed and satisfied, with a natural smile on his face. The struggle of trembling and swallowing vanished. His hands moved with gentle force, elegantly and neatly cutting off a small piece of meat and lifting it to his mouth.

He chewed gently, then swallowed.

He looked as if he had tasted some unparalleled delicacy, his eyes lighting up slightly, and his arm reached out again and again.

But everyone understood.

The moment he touched the food, this person…

Was no longer a player.

His expression was numb yet natural, identical to the guests at the other tables.

Eat the meat, or be bewitched into touching the meat, and you will become like this.

Cheng Shuili’s gaze landed on the dining table; she stared at a garnish, deep in thought.

“I… I don’t…”

The female player sitting next to Cheng Shuili had a struggling look in her eyes. The fork in her hand trembled as it slowly reached toward the meat patty, her smile having completely collapsed, leaving only terror.

Her teammate next to her wanted to intervene, but hindered by the rules of “keep smiling” and “do not refuse the host’s good intentions,” they didn’t dare make any large movements, only able to signal desperately with their eyes.

That was someone from Panshi’s team.

The smile on the faceless jester’s face seemed to widen. All the players held their breath, and even the music from the phonograph became hurried.

Everything, absolutely everything, was urging the players to eat the food!

Not eating was defying the “faceless host’s good intentions,” but eating would turn them into “the faceless host’s puppets.”

It seemed… they were truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

And…

Cheng Shuili’s gaze swept across the dining table. This time, the faceless jester had applied pressure starting from a random player—the white player. Then it rotated clockwise; the second victim was this female player from Panshi’s team, followed by all the members of Panshi’s team, and then Cheng Shuili and her companion.

They had to find a way to break the deadlock.

Cheng Shuili’s gaze landed on the guests at the other tables. After observing for a moment, she finally made a decision.

Just as the female player’s fork was about to touch the meat patty.

“Clatter.”

A soft, crisp sound.

Everyone’s gaze, including the faceless jester’s invisible stare, was drawn to it.

Cheng Shuili had, at some unknown moment, used her table knife to cut a roasted mushroom—used as a garnish beside the meat patty—into two halves. Then, she used her fork to spear one half, naturally dipping the edge of the mushroom into a solidified sauce on the plate.

Then, she put it into her mouth.

She chewed twice, and the smile on her face, which had been somewhat perfunctory, seemed to become… a little more sincere?

“The taste is not bad.”

Cheng Shuili swallowed the mushroom and even commented on it, her voice calm, with no hint of anything abnormal.

The entire hall was dead silent.

Hao Hao stared at Cheng Shuili in stunned silence, almost unable to maintain the smile on her face. The members of Panshi’s team were also full of astonishment.

She ate it?! She actually ate it?!

The arc of the faceless jester’s red smile seemed to stiffen for an imperceptible instant, but it quickly recovered its elegant tone: “It seems this esteemed guest knows how to appreciate fine food.”

Cheng Shuili didn’t look at it, instead casting her gaze toward the female player who had almost lost control. Her tone was casual, reminding her as if making idle conversation: “The garnish mushrooms are cooked to perfection, and the sauce is well-seasoned, too. You should try it.”

The female player gave a violent jolt, instantly understanding Cheng Shuili’s hint!

You cannot refuse the host’s “good intentions.” Although you must eat something, it didn’t say you must eat the main course!

You can start with the irrelevant, absolutely safe “garnish”!

Whether the meat is safe or not, nobody knows, but these vegetables—mushrooms, parsley, broccoli, and rosemary—they surely recognize these, right?

Even if they don’t taste good! It’s still much better than losing your life here!

The woman from Panshi’s team, almost with the relief of a survivor, immediately followed Cheng Shuili’s example, cutting a small piece of broccoli used as garnish and stuffing it into her mouth, forcing out a smile: “Ye… yes, it’s delicious!”

With Cheng Shuili taking the lead, other players instantly found a breakthrough.

For a time, the long table was filled with intermittent “praises” for the garnish dishes.

“This bread crisp is very fragrant!”

“The fruit is very fresh!”

“Mhm, this sauce has a unique flavor…”

The faceless jester “watched” all of this in silence. The red smile on its mask remained, but the surrounding atmosphere inexplicably turned a few degrees colder.

Its meticulous preparations had actually been resolved by this person in such a relaxed manner.

Hao Hao lowered her voice, filled with immense admiration: “Big Shot! You’re too awesome! How did you dare…”

Cheng Shuili picked up the water glass in front of her, took a sip, and whispered back: “The rules only said to enjoy the food; it didn’t specify that you must eat a certain part. It made this food taste good to imply that we should eat the main course, which in itself is a form of guidance. And look…”

Cheng Shuili picked up her knife and fork again, showing a natural smile: “The guests at the other tables turn a blind eye to these vegetables. They are monsters. Isn’t what they don’t eat exactly what we can eat?”

Hao Hao couldn’t help but secretly give her a thumbs-up. With the relief of someone who had just survived, she continued to pretend to cut the food, occasionally spearing vegetables with her fork and putting them into her mouth.

Time passed second by second, and the banquet atmosphere remained eerie.

The faceless jester spoke again: “The guests seem to have some doubts about the main course? This is truly heartbreaking. Perhaps… I should give you all some free time?”

After saying this, it turned its head to look at all the guests once, bowed elegantly, and said warmly: “Dear guests, see you in a while.”

As its words fell, it dissolved into a mass of shadows and melted into the darkness, just like how it had appeared.

The players’ table was very quiet. Although the guests sitting at the other tables were still eating, the sound was significantly lower.

A burly black man suddenly threw down his knife and fork, leaned back against his chair, and let out a long breath: “Finally gone, that was hellish.”

“Kyle!” his teammate sitting beside him warned in a low voice, seemingly trying to stop his movements.

But the faceless jester had indeed left.

Seeing that he wasn’t punished, others began to put down their knives and forks one after another, whispering and chatting.

The most eye-catching was naturally that white player. In the entire table, only he didn’t put down his knife and fork. He still maintained perfect dining etiquette, with the same standard, hollow smile as those “guests” around him, cutting and eating in small, slow, and determined bites.

The meat patty on his plate was already more than half gone. Sauce stained the corner of his mouth, but he was completely unaware, or rather, he didn’t care at all.

He just ate quietly, as if only he and the food in front of him remained in the whole world.

This eerie scene caused the atmosphere that had just loosened up to solidify once again.

“He… he’s beyond saving, isn’t he?”

Hao Hao’s voice trembled; she turned her eyes away, not daring to look anymore.

The teammate sitting next to him pursed his lips tightly, but didn’t even dare to let his gaze fall on that white player.

“We have to hurry,” Cheng Shuili said flatly, “and figure out our factions.”

Panshi and his team chatted a bit, then suddenly leaned toward Cheng Shuili to thank her: “Thanks to Miss Crow just now! If it weren’t for your timely reminder at the critical moment, our little teammate might not have survived.”

The woman who had been saved by Cheng Shuili also looked over, her face showing gratitude.

After this incident, Panshi’s team seemed to have changed their view of Cheng Shuili and her companion, although Cheng Shuili didn’t care.

Panshi understood what they should be doing now and immediately took a deep breath: “Although everyone comes from different grand regions, we have a common enemy now. Before we figure out the mechanics of this dungeon, I hope everyone can temporarily put aside their hostility toward each other and share information.”

“Share information?” the player who had put down his knife and fork first scoffed. Cheng Shuili remembered his name was Kyle.

Kyle’s gaze swept back and forth over those few people from Panshi’s team, then suddenly landed on Cheng Shuili: “I only like the strong. Only the strong have the right to speak. This… old gentleman? To me, you don’t have the right to speak yet.”

Panshi’s expression instantly darkened. His teammate standing beside him rose abruptly, his hand already on the weapon at his waist.

The atmosphere at the table suddenly tightened, and the intention to cooperate that had just eased was wiped away.

“Kyle!”

His teammate warned him again in a low voice, but Kyle didn’t care. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and challenged Cheng Shuili: “How about it? Mysterious Eastern lady, I think you’re much more interesting than this old man. Do you want to join us? We only recognize fists; we don’t engage in those pretentious alliances.”

The people on Panshi’s side all looked over, but Cheng Shuili didn’t even raise her eyelids: “Does your theory of the strong refer to the person who was the first to put down his knife and fork, showing off how relaxed he is?”

Kyle’s smile froze on his face.

Cheng Shuili finally raised her eyes to look at him, her gaze devoid of any emotion, yet it made Kyle feel a strange sense of contempt.

“That monster only left temporarily; the rules still exist. Does your action just now count as impolite? Does it count as disrupting the pleasant dining atmosphere? Tell me, if it comes back now, who do you think it will target first?”

Cold sweat instantly seeped from Kyle’s forehead.

He looked around violently. Those “guests” who had been eating quietly had all stopped their movements at some unknown time, their hollow gazes focusing on him in unison, their mouths curling into the exact same, eerie smile.

A silent sense of oppression surged like a tide.

“I…”

Kyle opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but realized that his behavior just now was indeed reckless.

He subconsciously picked up his knife and fork again, his movements stiff.

Cheng Shuili stopped looking at him and turned to the captain of Panshi’s team, nodding slightly: “Information sharing is indeed necessary. Before we find our identities, I think we should be allies.”

The atmosphere at the table became warm again as everyone introduced themselves.

There were thirty-two people in this dungeon in total, divided into six teams.

Unexpectedly, the Dragon Country grand region had two teams: Cheng Shuili’s duo and Panshi’s group of six.

Although the remaining players didn’t introduce their grand regions, one could tell from their skin color and some facial features that they didn’t belong to the same grand region, and there was plenty of tension between them.

“We won’t find clues sitting here; we should stand up and explore the environment.”

“What were you doing before the banquet started?”

The person speaking came from the team that arrived last. He said with a mean expression: “Those who came early didn’t work hard, which is why we now have to risk our lives to find clues!”

The ones who arrived first were a white team, all elites from their respective grand regions. Who could tolerate such an obvious accusation?

“What we were doing has nothing to do with you!”

“Mind your own business.”

“If you had spent the time you spent blaming others on exploring, we would have found clues by now!”

“This temporary alliance of ours is truly ridiculous; the most reliable ones are actually those people from the Dragon Country.”

These people argued back and forth, and it was unknown which sentence went wrong, but the white player who had been eating quietly suddenly stopped his movements.