Inferior Goods

The fact that Yu Xing carried the body from the cashier to the kitchen attracted a lot of attention.

Those guests are not included; the guests are focused on the food in front of them, their mouths opening and closing as they chew on the roasted meat with pig, sheep, and cow faces.

The people staring at Yu Xing were the group of strategists at that table, and the other employees with animal-like faces.

Yu Xing felt various gazes, each with a different emotion, falling on his back. He lowered his head slightly, using the corpse to cover his face, and walked quickly.

Just as he was about to step into the corridor, he brushed past Yu Er, who was coming out of the restroom, separated only by a stiff corpse.

A gentle breeze carried the fresh, clean scent emanating from Yu Er, while carrying away the unpleasant smell of blood that clung to Yu Xing. They tacitly stared straight ahead, not exchanging a single glance with each other.

But Yu Xing heard Yu Er let out a strange, soft laugh.

Yu Xing's gaze darkened, and she quickened her pace toward the kitchen, bypassing the winding corridor that seemed strangely long, and pushed open a half-closed door.

The sound of a knife clashing against a cutting board rang out, and an irresistible stench of blood filled his nostrils, mixed with the aromas of cumin, chili, and other seasonings.

Yu Xing overheard someone saying, "Table 16, bring it up. Don't eat any, or I'll find out you did! Ha!"

The final, short laugh carried a hint of mockery.

With a low murmur of agreement, two food delivery staff hurried past Yu Xing with plates in hand; one of them was the man who had lost half his face.

The man walked without ever raising his head; his gaze was fixed on the meat on the tray, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Yu Xing could see an extremely strong desire in the man's only remaining eye. He seemed to really want to eat the sliced raw meat, but he had to suppress it because someone was watching.

That face was contorted to the extreme.

Because the man had his head down, Yu Xing couldn't be sure if he had seen her or not; in any case, this man was acting strangely.

Therefore, Yu Xing's gaze lingered on the man for a second longer before she carried the woman's corpse into the kitchen.

The aroma of food mingled with the stench of blood. A male chef with a sheep-like face was intently slicing meat. When he saw him arrive, he said with a look of nonchalance, "New ingredients? Put them in the cold storage. And while you're at it, call my apprentice over. It takes her so long to get something; all she does is slack off."

Yu Xing calmly surveyed the kitchen environment, and upon hearing this, he casually responded before carrying the corpse to the cold storage.

Qu Xuanqing must have used the pretext of getting something to explore the map, and now is a good opportunity to meet and exchange clues.

As Yu Xing pondered this, she continued walking and soon arrived at a cold door.

This is the cold storage.

The door wasn't locked. He turned the doorknob with one hand, and a cloud of cold air rushed in, swirling around him. He went inside, his eyes narrowing.

Many corpses.

The cold storage contained far more corpses than he had imagined; countless bodies were piled together, forming a mountain of corpses.

Without exception, all the corpses were dressed in the uniforms of barbecue restaurant employees; some wore red aprons, while others wore women's suits. At first glance, the scene appeared to be entirely red, but in reality, none of the corpses had bled.

Looking at the corpses, Yu Xing felt uneasy. He put the woman's corpse he was carrying down with the mountain of corpses and planned to check the cause of death of the other corpses.

He turned over the nearest corpse so that it was facing him.

The body belonged to a young girl; her skin was firm and radiant, and had not dried out due to death.

His dark hair was disheveled, with only one side showing the trace of a braid, but his face...

The corpse had no face.

Although the woman's head was still intact, her face, like the man who had lost half his face, looked as if something had gnawed at it, leaving only a layer of flesh and bone.

The wound was clean and there were no maggots present.

As Yu Xing had predicted, in this barbecue restaurant, humans and animals had switched roles; animals could be employees or customers, while humans would only be food.

But...

Looking at the corpse in front of her, Yu Xing slowly frowned.

He felt the corpse looked somewhat familiar.

He immediately examined several more corpses, including middle-aged men, teenagers, and young women... none of the corpses had faces.

Despite the various kinds of corpses, Yu Xing's sense of familiarity kept increasing.

Finally, he stopped when he observed the seventh body.

It was repeated.

Before me lay the body of another young girl, but her figure and the marks of her braided hair were exactly the same.

Yu Xing pulled the two corpses together for comparison and realized she was right.

It really was a repeat.

The two bodies were completely identical, yet they were definitely two bodies, not one.

Wait, could it be...?

He had a vague suspicion and began to search purposefully among the pile of corpses.

After searching for a long time, he finally dug out a corpse that he knew all too well.

The corpse was tall with long legs, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, with slightly long black hair, but no face.

Yu Xing stared at "him," lost in thought.

This is his own corpse, but...

He looked around; among the entire mountain of corpses, his body should be the least numerous, so he still had to put in a lot of effort to find it.

The three candidates had the most bodies, possibly dozens.

Without exception, all the corpses came from these eight people, meaning that all the ingredients in the barbecue restaurant were actually from these deducers.

But is that really possible?

Whether it was an illusion or not, the cold air in the cold storage was getting stronger and stronger, and the temperature kept dropping, until frost gathered on Yu Xing's eyelashes.

The already dim light grew even darker, and suddenly, the corpse in front of him raised its hand and gripped his wrist tightly.

Clatter

The lights went out completely at that moment, and Yu Xing felt his consciousness becoming hazy. He vaguely saw the corpse sit up, and the bloodied and mangled face slowly approached, as if it wanted to say something.

However, the corpse had no mouth, and it quickly realized this, so it started writing on Yu Xing's chest with its finger.

Yu Xing carefully perceived each stiff stroke, discerning them—

Run?

The word written on the corpse was "run"?

After writing a single word, the corpse let its hand fall limply. In its place, another cold hand rested on Yu Xing's neck.

Yu Xing slowly turned her head and was met with a young girl's scarlet, fleshy face.

Splash...

The corpses beneath him began to writhe, some even rising to their feet. The cold storage's dim blue light shone on the bodies, making the scene look like something out of a nightmare.

Yu Xing blinked. Logically, he should run away immediately to avoid the riot of corpses.

But simply thinking that this makes sense is already a pathetic flaw.

In that instant, Yu Xing suddenly realized.

No wonder he'd always felt something was off; the problem wasn't with the barbecue restaurant, but with himself.

Why was he thinking of running away instead of using his curse to suppress all the corpses?

Why is he so familiar with the layout of the barbecue restaurant, and why does he go there without even thinking?

Why would a corpse of someone with his immortality end up in the cold storage?

He originally thought it was time; the overlap of different times caused this instance to malfunction, leading him to meet the guest "Yu Er," and forcing all the deducers to confront another version of themselves.

Now he knows.

It's not that complicated. From beginning to end, he was Yu Er.

He was an employee at the barbecue restaurant who could be used as food at any time, a member about to enter the mountain of corpses, and a pathetic ghost who thought he was a predictor.

He is not Yu Xing; he only possesses a portion of Yu Xing's memories. The abilities in those memories are not something he deliberately avoids to ensure the deduction continues, but rather something he simply cannot use.

He is a poor-quality clone.

Every employee with a human face is a clone of the deducer; they are ghosts who will eventually find a way to kill their real "self" and take their place.

Yu Xing... no, Yu Er, calmly facing the corpses' outstretched hands that seemed to be demanding his life, suddenly wondered what would happen if he died.

So he didn't move.

Thanks to the real Yu Xing, he was able to discover the truth so quickly after gaining these memories, and face death with such calmness.

In the instant before he was swallowed by the corpse, Yu Er was still wondering, just how powerful was the real Yu Xing? Was he even more formidable than he had sensed?

The locker room was quiet when Yu Xing opened her eyes.

He heard the system notification that the dungeon had officially started, pursed his lips, glanced at the deduction requirements for a while, and then casually started looking for clues in the cabinet.

Soon, he found a note that read—

[Who I am?]

Yu Xing muttered to himself, why would his character leave such a clue?

He stuffed the note into his apron pocket and walked straight into the barbecue restaurant's main hall. (End of Chapter)