Bloodstained Food

The cafeteria is a separate facility. According to the map in the handbook, it is located in the very center of the school, surrounded by dormitories, teaching buildings, and other functional buildings. It takes about five minutes to walk there from the dormitory.

There is a dormitory manager's lounge at the dormitory entrance. When Director Gene brought us here earlier, the lounge was empty. But when the four men came down this time, they found another face in the lounge window.

A woman who looked quite young sat upright at the table in the lounge, seemingly making something. The window was right across from her, allowing her to see everything happening at the dormitory entrance with just a glance.

For example, right now, their act of going downstairs was noticed by the female dorm supervisor. The supervisor raised her eyes, pushed up her square glasses, and stared at them without stopping them. She probably knew that they were transfer students and had not yet officially started classes.

The pointed chin made the female dorm supervisor look exceptionally thin. Yu Xing felt the female dorm supervisor's gaze from yesterday, turned around, and cheerfully greeted her, "Good afternoon, dormitory supervisor!"

Dormitory managers, security guards, and cleaning staff are not considered teachers, so you don't need to be as cautious when talking to them as you would when talking to teachers.

The female dorm supervisor's gaze instantly locked onto Yu Xing, then she smiled gently, her tone even more peaceful and sweet. "Good afternoon."

It's so sweet it gives me goosebumps.

Wen Qinghuai was the second to react. Like the kind of student who's very outgoing, he went straight over and looked out the window at the dormitory supervisor's desk. "What is the dormitory supervisor doing?"

From his perspective, he could see some strange raw materials spread out on the female dorm supervisor's table, which looked like they were making felt, and they had already made a fluffy... child's head.

Wen Qinghuai fell silent.

Making small animals out of felt is a popular craft activity among many girls. As long as they're not particularly clumsy, the finished products are usually quite cute. This female dorm supervisor clearly has strong crafting skills, but unfortunately, the subject of her felting is a very realistic "human child," which makes it quite horrifying.

"I'm so bored sitting here. I'd like to do some crafts to pass the time. Would you like to join me?" The female dorm supervisor extended a very gentle invitation.

She readily referred to herself as "older sister," which was perfectly accurate. The sense of déjà vu wasn't so strong until she spoke; her voice instantly transformed her into a beautiful, approachable older sister, making people feel an immediate sense of closeness to her.

This intense emotion put all four of them on guard. As everyone knows, in the ruthless simulation dungeon, suddenly feeling close to an NPC that you know isn't alive must mean that the NPC has done something to them, and it's definitely not a good thing.

"Wool felt isn't suitable for us boys. Dorm supervisor, we're going to eat now, aren't you coming?" Wen Qinghuai changed the subject with a smile, his intuition telling him that getting the dorm supervisor's wool felt wouldn't lead to anything good.

"I don't need to eat, I've already eaten," the female dorm supervisor replied with a smile.

Yu Xing found this answer a bit strange, because the first and second halves seemed contradictory. Did she not need to eat, or had she already eaten?

They said goodbye to the dormitory manager amicably, but all of them developed a strong sense of wariness towards him.

As they left the dormitory building, they could still feel the dormitory supervisor's burning gaze following their backs until they turned a corner and disappeared.

"She's so strange," Zhao Yijiu said coldly.

"It is indeed strange, but it hasn't shown any signs of attacking yet. We can observe it further." Zhao Mou patted Zhao Yijiu, signaling him not to worry too much.

As soon as we got downstairs, the rain outside showed no signs of letting up. Fortunately, they all had umbrellas in their suitcases, so they wouldn't get soaked again this time.

The four of them opened their umbrellas and suddenly saw Qu Xuanqing returning from a distance, holding a black umbrella in one hand and hanging the other hand at his side, holding something that looked like a rag. The rag had some dark red color on it, as if he had just done something.

"You're here." Upon seeing them, Qu Xuanqing paused, glancing instinctively at the rag in her hand, before continuing to approach, saying calmly, "Are you going to the cafeteria? Wait for me a moment, I need to go back and put something away."

"Wait a minute," Yu Xing called out to her, "Whose blood is on this rag?"

Qu Xuanqing gave a strange smile.

In broad daylight, the laughter sent chills down the spines of the four men, no less terrifying than seeing the dormitory manager's human head felted wool.

"I was in the dorm just now. My new roommate wasn't feeling well, so I got her some supplements."

"Supplements?" Yu Xing narrowed his eyes, glanced at Qu Xuanqing a few more times, and then nodded. "Go on, let's go to the cafeteria early."

The girl holding the blood-stained rag nodded to him; her slender figure was accentuated by the suit and skirt of the St. Johnis Middle School uniform.

"Something's not right." Zhao Mou felt suffocated. "She's acting strangely."

Zhao Yijiu had just described the dormitory manager a dozen seconds ago.

"Indeed... I don't know what she's up to. Let's observe first." A thoughtful look flashed in Yu Xing's eyes, but Zhao Mou had just said the same thing a dozen seconds earlier.

Wen Qinghuai: "Don't you guys feel like Qu Xuanqing was inexplicably possessed just now?"

Have.

They could all see it.

And it's very obvious.

The problem is that it's extremely difficult for Qu Xuanqing to be possessed by a ghost, even more so than for Zhao Yijiu who doesn't use her ghost form or Yu Xing who doesn't resist with curses. Her body is just a shell; Yu Xing she truly controls is a soul hidden in another dimension.

For a ghost to possess someone, it means that the ghost must displace Qu Xuanqing's soul.

How is that possible? It's only been a morning.

Therefore, no matter how strange Qu Xuanqing's behavior was, they could only suspect that Qu Xuanqing was deliberately pretending, or that Qu Xuanqing had a reason to act in this strange manner.

Yu Xing remained silent, then blinked.

Soon, Qu Xuanqing came down from the girls' dormitory building next door, holding an umbrella, and walked up to them, saying, "Let's go eat."

It only takes less than five minutes to get from the new dormitory building to the cafeteria. With the sound of rain pattering in her ears, Yu Xing felt slightly dazed, and in that daze, she caught the sound of Qu Xuanqing Xianqing's naturally cold voice.

The five people's footsteps echoed haphazardly in the rain. As Yu Xing walked, she asked softly, "Shouldn't students be in class at this hour? Why are your roommates in the dorm?"

"She told me she asked for leave because she's cleaning the school rooftop tomorrow, so the teacher approved the leave," Qu Xuanqing said with a smile. "But she has no intention of being friends with me."

Yu Xing: "Tell me the specifics?"

"No, I don't think so," Qu Xuanqing said. "There's nothing special about it, no need to go into detail."

Yu Xing found it increasingly strange, but there were too many possibilities. He didn't think Qu Xuanqing had necessarily become like this passively.

The problem must be in the girls' dormitory; he should go check it out when he gets the chance...

We've arrived at the cafeteria.

They arrived early; the last class of the morning was still a few minutes away, and the cafeteria opened early, so no one was competing with them for seats.

They brought money with them when they came out, intending to use the cafeteria fees to gauge the price levels in this instance.

The school's cafeteria windows are arranged in a row, each selling only one type of dish. The windows are covered by colored partitions with the names of the dishes written above them. At a glance, there are hot dishes like beef stew with potatoes, as well as fast food like sandwiches and potato patties, and drinks like sweet drinks. What they all have in common is that they are all expensive and each one contains meat.

Opposite the food window, there are many seats. The school rules clearly state that students must eat in the cafeteria and are not allowed to bring out food or eat any food on their own.

It's like forcing everyone to buy food from the cafeteria; if they don't eat, they'll starve.

"Check them separately," Zhao Mou said.

The group scattered throughout the cafeteria. Yu Xing wanted to stay close to Qu Xuanqing to see if he would do anything unusual, but then he noticed that Zhao Mou had already followed.

He felt at ease leaving the observation to Zhao Mou, so he turned and walked away to the other side.

Yu Xing picked and chose, and finally looked at the sandwich window. She bent down slightly, leveling her gaze with the unobstructed space under the partition. She saw another young woman standing in the window, wearing a white chef's uniform that had been modified into a chef's skirt, only covering her mid-thigh.

She wore a strange-looking white bib around her neck, which was completely free of any oil stains.

The young lady has a more Chinese appearance, not very three-dimensional. She stands upright with her hands clasped together in front of her abdomen. She looks more like a trained waitress than a chef.

"This student is here very early." The chef smiled slightly; although not as sweet as the dorm supervisor, she was still very friendly. "Would you like a cute sandwich?"

"I'd like to ask first," Yu Xing said with the same smile, "What are the ingredients for the sandwich?"

The window only had the word "sandwich" written in Chinese above it, without any pictures. He wouldn't buy food he didn't know what it looked like, since school rules stipulated that they had to eat all the food they bought and couldn't waste it.

"Ah." This question stumped the chef. She tilted her head, seemingly recalling for a moment, before saying uncertainly, "There's bread, vegetables, eggs, and meat, I think..."

"Didn't you make it?" Yu Xing smiled, appearing even more gentle than the chef. "How could you not know the ingredients?"

The female chef bent down towards him, her face instantly getting close. Yu Xing couldn't feel her breath at such close range.

The chef, who couldn't breathe, said, "Because my memory isn't very good."

She bent over, and the oversized neckline of her chef's uniform slid down, revealing a patch of white skin on her chest, which was quite eye-catching. Along with it, her seemingly identical smile also seemed to carry a strange sense of ambiguity.

Just as Yu Xing was wondering if she was overthinking things, the chef twisted her slender waist and leaned forward, making the curve of her chest more obvious.

"..." Yu Xing didn't press further. He stood up straight with a smile and took a step back, "Give me a sandwich, please. I don't like meat, so please put more vegetables and less meat, thank you."

"Okay," came the chef's voice from the window.

Not long after, the sound of chopping ingredients came from the window. Yu Xing glanced down again, but before she could see what was happening inside, a spray of blood splattered from the exposed area, and a few drops landed right on Yu Xing's face.

The remaining blood splattered on the ground, forming a blinking mark.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, wiped the warm liquid from her face, and insisted on looking inside. "Are you injured?"

This time, he noticed a pair of slender hands first.

The chef's hands were on the cutting board, her right hand holding a knife as she chopped vegetables, her left hand pressing down on the vegetables, a piece of her index finger missing from its knuckle, blood gushing down, a small piece that had been bitten off falling to the other side of the knife.

"You're not injured."

Meeting Yu Xing's gaze, the chef casually picked up the severed finger and set it aside, repeating, "You're not injured, it's just a piece of flesh."

She opened her mouth, which seemed to be adorned with lipstick, and slowly licked the severed finger with her tongue. Blood stained her lips, and she spread it evenly, soon turning it a deep crimson color.

She became extremely beautiful.

She glanced at Yu Xing, who was watching her with a half-smile, then lowered her head to continue making the sandwich. The rest of the process was normal, but in the last step, she smiled seductively and added the severed finger to the sandwich in front of Yu Xing, instantly staining the beautiful sandwich with blood.

"Your sandwich is ready, that'll be forty yuan in total." The chef quoted an exorbitant price.

Based on this price, the 800 yuan that Yu Xing brought with him was only enough for 20 sandwiches, two meals a day, and only for ten days. This 800 yuan was clearly the living expenses given to him by his character Roy's parents for the entire semester.

Yu Xing knew the price because the food here was clearly priced, with the price written on the bottom right corner of the food name on the partition. Sandwiches were considered relatively inexpensive.

Zhao Mou, who had the most money among them, only had 2,000 yuan. No matter how you looked at it, this amount of money was definitely not enough for them to survive for a semester.

"Looks like there are ways to make money at this school..." Yu Xing thought to herself, while asking, "If, and I mean if, there's one ingredient in the food I buy that I don't like, can I not eat it? Would that be considered wasting food?"

The chef exclaimed in surprise, "Is that even a question? Of course!"

Sorry to bother you.

Yu Xing took her sandwich, but she wasn't in a good mood. If she had to eat things that the ghosts had deliberately tampered with during mealtimes in this instance, she would be in agony every day.

As he walked to the food window next door, Spiritual Sense suddenly struck him. Following his impulse, he bent down and looked down at the partition of the window next door.

A female chef, looking exactly like the one at the sandwich stand, stood in the new window. Her lips were a pale color, and she gave him a cute smile, "Would you like a potato pancake, new student?"

Exactly the same...

Yu Xing shook his head at the new female chef without changing his expression, then walked towards Zhao Yijiu, who was closest to him. Along the way, he slightly hunched over and openly scanned one window after another.

In each window, the familiar face stands upright with the same smile, asking the same question.