Gluttony mask, is your intelligence really okay?

Under Hell Mode, my suffering points should be relatively easy to accumulate.

If you count this time, this is probably the third consecutive time I've gotten a Hell-level dungeon. My luck has really circled around.

"Heh."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Fortunately, it's me; if it were a normal person, they probably wouldn't be able to handle this kind of arrangement.

[Hello, esteemed players.]

[I am your host for this session, you can call me Great Tom.]

[Welcome to the Demon Hospital.]

[Of course, it's also fine if you refer to this place as a prison.]

Lu Ce looked at the tin robot in front of him and suddenly asked:

"Tom? Are you the same entity as the voice from the previous game?"

[Great Tom! Watch your wording, kid!]

Lu Ce felt the other party's voice, and it did feel somewhat familiar, but he didn't want to waste effort by offending the robot unnecessarily.

So, he didn't respond, but instead opened his live stream screen to check for valuable information from the audience's perspective.

[: It's started! I specifically skipped class to watch the expert's perspective.]

[: I straight-up quit my job to watch. Once I learn enough, I won't attend this crappy class and will join the game too.]

[: This is a high-level match. I just checked, all five players in this game instance have cleared games before; no rookies.]

[: And besides this guy, that foreigner over there is also a perfect clear player!]

[: This is going to be good.]

[: Wait, did I see that right? Why is the mask color the expert is wearing different from last time?]

Lu Ce briefly scanned the comments and realized that more and more people were paying attention to him.

This feeling of being watched wasn't great, but the advantage was obvious; for example, he could always quickly get information about people around him.

A high-level match...

It seems the people this time might not be as easy to deal with as last time.

Wait, mask color?

After being reminded, Lu Ce turned his head to look at the tin robot. On its mottled chassis, he could faintly see his own blurred reflection.

It was a red mask!

Red (MEIKO) — Gluttony!

[Personality Influence: Greed amplified in terms of appetite, mental confusion, can eat anything, all disgusting things in the world become incredibly delicious in his mouth.]

[Benefits: Astonishing digestive ability, everything consumed is converted into energy, all negative effects are offset.]

[Side Effects: The more you eat, the higher the harmfulness of what you eat, the greater the mental confusion, and the energy within your body does not belong to you; to a certain extent, if not released, you will explode.]

"Hiss..."

Lu Ce took a deep breath, surprised that this time he was thrown into the deep end.

Last time, with the Greed Mask, there were still Normal and Overload modes to choose from, and he didn't feel much of a difference in Normal mode.

But Gluttony was different; among the seven masks of the Seven Deadly Sins, it was the only one without mode selection.

Food, sex, and desire – lust and gluttony were the two that had the greatest impact on the mind, meaning they had the highest negative effects.

However, looking at the description, its functionality was also absolutely monstrous, making it a bug-level superpower in the early game.

As expected of an S-class sealed artifact, both the effects and side effects were top-tier. He still didn't know what the other states and Overload mode would be like...

But high risk, high reward, which fits the game's principles.

At least for now, he didn't feel any mental impact.

[Alright, I'm sure those who have arrived here are no ordinary players.]

[You can get to know each other, or communicate with each other, to familiarize yourselves with each other's abilities.]

[After all, in a sense, you are all partners as well as competitors.]

"What do you mean?"

After the tin robot finished speaking, the foreigner among the players spoke up. Based on the earlier comment reminder, Lu Ce knew this was a perfect clear contestant.

[Literally. You guys get acquainted first.]

The red light on the tin robot flickered twice, then its treads rolled, dragging its body towards the door.

"So what's the task in this game?"

[Don't rush! Also, you must address me as Lord Great Tom!]

The tin robot seemed very angry about the player's disrespect. Without looking back, its "footsteps" continued as it left.

After the door closed, in the damp space of a few dozen square meters, only these five players remained.

The atmosphere fell into silence, and due to the game being on Hell Mode, it was even a bit oppressive.

The foreigner who had spoken earlier, now with a furrowed brow, said somewhat strangely:

"What is the purpose of this robot ing here...(What's this guy's purpose for coming here?)"

"He didn't say anything. FUCK! (He didn't seem to say anything, damn it!)"

"Perhaps it's here to act as a mirror," Lu Ce replied, listening to the foreigner's muttering. He touched his mask. "Also, can this international friend understand Chinese? If so, why aren't you speaking it?"

After all, what the robot said seemed to be in Chinese. Or perhaps, in this foreigner's ears, it was in English mode?

The foreigner was taken aback by this. He raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful expression on his face, but casually replied:

"I don't want. (I don't want to.)"

Lu Ce ignored him, and the atmosphere once again became awkward.

"There are a total of five players in this game. It seems none of them are rookies, which is quite fitting.

Although everyone looks like they've eaten shit, it's good enough that they didn't cry for their mommies and daddies upon hearing about Hell Mode.

There's a foreigner who looks very arrogant. He seems to understand Chinese but doesn't want to speak it, and his expression suggests he's imitating some movie star, playing the role of someone deep.

On the left is a big guy. He looks physically strong, but he's probably a useless player. However, his physical characteristics are quite distinct, so we don't need to remember his name; we can just call him Big Guy.

There's also a woman. Since she entered, her eyes have been darting around everyone. She might not be a simple person either, but hopefully, she'll drop some gold coins.

On the far right is the flashiest one. A 1.9-meter tall man. Everyone else has the basic clothing provided by the game, but he somehow managed to get his own outfit, all in red with patterns on it. Let's call him Flashy Guy."

Silence...

The man in red, whom Lu Ce called Flashy Guy, stiffly turned his neck. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked at Lu Ce and said:

"Dude... can't you just think these things in your head? Why are you narrating them out loud?!"

Is there something wrong with your intelligence?

Where am I being flashy? This is the uniform the organization required!