I Was Talking in My Sleep

Faintly, a loud boom could be heard coming from several walls away.

An aura of rage and malice caused the lights in the entire barbecue restaurant to flicker, and the animal-faced customers who were eating stopped and looked around in fright.

"What's wrong? Is there a circuit malfunction?"

"I don't know, it's making my eyes hurt... Waiter! What's going on!?"

At this point, they were like normal people again.

The waiters who came and went stood still, their faces beaming with smiles, but their eyes clearly held a look of fear.

They didn't answer, but instead looked as if sensing something, toward the entrance to the corridor at the back of the hall—which was also the exit.

A terrifying "person" is coming... their foreman, their superior.

All the waiters forced their lips to curve upwards with stiffness and difficulty, revealing a strange, almost unsettling, fake smile.

If their smiling service is found to be substandard, they will have their faces eaten—that's the only part of their bodies that's meant to be food.

However, before they could make any further preparations, a tall figure, over two meters tall, slowly emerged from the darkness.

The foreman's body hunched over, as if the constant provocations had eroded his elegance as a "human being." The axe in his hand was so large that it dragged on the ground, making a harsh, screeching sound.

The sheep-faced figure glanced around and quickly settled on the table where the deducers were sitting, over the standing waiters.

The male candidate covered his head and hid under the table like an ostrich. No one paid him any attention. The Little Heavenly Master rubbed his still sore wrist and stood ready. The assassin put his legs down, sat up slightly, and one could vaguely feel his anticipation.

Yu Xing and Qu Xuanqing, intending to avoid getting involved, watched from the sidelines, chins in hand.

As soon as their eyes met, the Sheep-faced leader glared at them, let out a sinister laugh, and strode toward them with his axe in hand.

"Ah!!"

Just then, a female guest who was closest to it screamed.

That cry froze the Sheep-faced leader in place. How piercingly harsh that cry was! It was like... like...

Just like the first piece of roast meat he ate.

A jumble of chaotic memories swirled through the Sheep-faced leader's mind, inexplicably making him nauseous. Enraged, he raised his axe and swung it down at the female customer.

With a gurgling sound, a rabbit head rolled to the ground, and the startled rabbit's eyes widened.

"Ah--!!!"

"Wang Erni!" The rabbit-headed male guest, sitting opposite the female guest, cried out in anguish. He slammed his hand on the table and pointed at the Sheep-faced leader, "What do you mean?!"

"How could your shop kill someone?!"

Give me back my Erni!

As soon as the words were spoken, more customers became agitated, screams rose and fell, and some even tried to run out of the barbecue restaurant.

As they ran, they chanted, "We'll never come back to this barbecue restaurant!"

"This barbecue restaurant is a killer! It's Zhang's barbecue restaurant, right? Post this online for everyone to see! Let everyone avoid this place!"

The Sheep-faced leader remained frozen in the pose of chopping off the rabbit's head, turning to look at the guest who had spoken.

One by one, the guests got up and left in a panic.

It realized something was wrong.

It had already appeared before the guests, and just now, in front of all these guests, it had killed an innocent rabbit-headed lady.

Because of past experiences and traumas.

No, no, this won't do!

The Sheep-faced leader opened his mouth wide and let out a silent shout, telling everyone not to leave, that no one should leave, but the guests fled even faster.

It began to feel fear.

No, if these people leave and expose what just happened, Zhang's barbecue restaurant will be finished.

This is... its father's life's work.

The door of the barbecue restaurant slammed shut!

Because the door closed so abruptly, it even severed the body of a diner. Amidst the flying blood and flesh, most of the diners were enveloped in endless darkness before they could even get out.

"What are you doing?!" a diner screamed.

"Now that you've all seen it, I can't let you leave." The Sheep-faced leader slowly straightened up, his gaze sweeping over each face with a sinister look.

The waiters trembled, and upon hearing its words, they all scurried towards the kitchen in unison.

The head waiter is about to lay a hand on a customer! But the waiters won't die!

The hall erupted into complete chaos.

Yu Xing had already followed the crowd and mingled among the diners, as had the other strategists.

The system gave him a notification the instant the door closed.

[Final mission triggered: Survive the foreman's indiscriminate attacks for ten minutes.]

[Completing the task will immediately end the simulation.]

Wow, a boss battle!

Yu Xing was completely relieved; now she really didn't have to do anything.

Surviving for ten minutes is difficult, but there are so many diners here. As the saying goes, when you encounter a bear with your companions, you don't need to run faster than the bear, just faster than your companions.

Even if you're a male candidate, as long as you make sure you're further away from the supervisor than others, you won't be eliminated by the supervisor.

Suddenly, the system added another sentence.

[Mission Hint: Killing the foreman will grant an extra reward.]

Suddenly, the seemingly uninterested assassin straightened his back.

The Little Heavenly Master's eyes lit up, and he silently took out a stack of yellow talismans radiating rich energy from his pocket.

It seems these two are planning to try and kill the foreman.

The male candidate scrambled to hide in a corner, vying for space with the crowded diners.

[You're not allowed to kill the boss; the extra rewards for this level of dungeon are trash to you!]

The system huffed and puffed before Yu Xing could react.

It also revealed some human emotions, seemingly turning its gaze towards the soon-to-end dungeon.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on that anyway," Yu Xing replied lazily in a soft voice, which sounded like she was talking to herself to others.

The assassin leaned closer. "What are you talking about?"

Yu Xing glanced at him. "I'm talking in my sleep."

Assassin: "... I see."

He could tell that Yu Xing had no interest in killing the boss, so he chimed in, "Then have a good dream."

Yu Xing and Qu Xuanqing watched the battle between the low-level deducers with detached indifference.

Deducers at this level don't have any special abilities; they rely more on sacrifices and props. Assassins are typical front-line combat talents, using physical skills to entangle with the leader at close range.

The Little Heavenly Master hardly used any offerings, instead pulling out a bunch of real-world props from his pocket: talismans, a peach wood sword, a Bagua compass...

Although the two were not familiar with each other, one was close and the other was far, yet they cooperated quite well.

The head waiter's giant axe kept falling on the diners, almost one blow for each one, turning the hall into a living hell. After a few minutes, his attention was completely drawn to two humans who were putting up a fight.

There is a disparity in strength between the two sides.

Perhaps due to the activation of "Rage," the Sheep-faced leader was now even more terrifying than when he captured Yu Xing, his skin and flesh turning red as if he were being roasted.

It opened its sheep-like mouth, revealing mutated, layered fangs. (End of Chapter)