Meng Chao sensed that something was wrong.
Closing his eyes, he pictured every face that had entered and exited the women's restroom over the past five minutes. He found that every woman who came out corresponded to one who had gone in.
Except...
A female cleaner pushing a cart.
Meng Chao remembered that she had been an auntie in her forties or fifties, extremely obese.
Having consumed large amounts of Synthetic Food made from Monster Offal, the excessive fat and calories had packed her face and body with folds of flesh.
Her ten fingers were thick and short. Long-term labor and corrosion from cleaning agents had turned them translucent red, like ten scar-covered carrots.
Her messy hair was tucked beneath a crooked work cap, which was speckled with stains—doing cleaning work in a place like the Monster Market, it was perfectly normal to look a little grimy.
Meng Chao also remembered that as she pushed the cart, she had muttered and grumbled angrily, as though complaining that the Monster Market's foot traffic had suddenly multiplied severalfold these past few days, making her work much more burdensome.
When she pushed her bucket and mop out of the women's restroom, she used too much force and nearly splashed the filthy water in the bucket onto the consumers waiting beside her.
When they complained a little, the clearly ill-tempered auntie immediately widened her eyes until they were bigger than bronze bells, looking as though she would love nothing more than to pick a fight with anyone at random and add a little seasoning to her dull, tedious work.
Without question, everyone would glance at this female cleaner.
But no one would look twice.
Just like Meng Chao himself. His gaze had merely swept over her, not lingering for even 0.1 seconds.
Only now,