Strange Food, That Meat Was So Delicious

As for the missing people, it didn't mention them at all.

It was an utterly ordinary news report.

Normally, Yang Su would have glanced at it and then forgotten all about it.

At most, she might have grumbled that developers were inhumane.

But after hearing that conversation, the report took on a different meaning in her eyes.

She even thought of the mysterious members of the Execution Department, whose jobs she couldn't begin to guess at, and the unbelievably generous benefits they enjoyed.

Execution Department members had no base salary, only vague rewards for completing missions and different reimbursement limits each month.

The Lamp Mansion Festival on Anyang Island—wasn't that the same name as a Dungeon announced by the Horror Game?

What if this mission wasn't an ordinary one?

Yang Su had always been clever.

Her breathing grew heavier.

How strange. She'd seen it long ago, but it was as if something had blocked her thoughts, keeping her from connecting the two.

So that was it. If those people were doing "work" like this, no wonder they were paid so well.

After all, if the pay for risking your life wasn't high, why would anyone willingly do it?

At once, Yang Su abandoned all her curiosity about the Execution Department, along with her plan to join it for the generous pay.

She wanted to make money, but she needed to be alive to spend it!

The Logistics Department was great!

Now Yang Su wasn't worried about the company going under at all.

With such a mysterious and powerful backer, how could the company go under so easily?

Yang Su threw herself into her work.

At a company like this, perhaps she could look forward to a better future.

Meanwhile.

Bai Zuo wandered down the street.

He yawned listlessly, unlike the people at the bustling breakfast shops around him, who ate and chatted with one another.

He walked alone, an air of distance separating him from the lively street, like a world-weary person who couldn't fit in.

Bai Zuo looked up at a particularly popular shop. A crowd had gathered to buy what it sold. By comparison, the two breakfast shops beside it looked rather quiet.

The food here must be delicious.

Anyone passing by would think the same thing, so people who had originally planned to buy breakfast naturally joined this shop's line instead.

Bai Zuo waited off to the side, bored. Quite a few people in line kept glancing back at him curiously.

"He's so handsome!"

"Is he some kind of celebrity?"

"Who's he waiting for?"

"He looks so gloomy. Is he in a bad mood?"

But no one dared approach him. Perhaps they sensed the faint malice radiating from Bai Zuo and instinctively kept their distance.

"Hey! Why are you cutting in line?"

The man who'd cut in shot the person a menacing look.

The other person muttered a few words but didn't dare argue, accepting the man's place in line.

Bai Zuo seemed to spot something. The corners of his mouth, which had been drooping listlessly, lifted.

Finally, they were all here!

Where no one else could see, Bai Zuo opened his hand. A spider smaller than his palm dangled from it, its red eyes fixed on the people in line.

Silent. Still.

They had each come here for different reasons, then been drawn in by the breakfast shop's enticing aroma and joined the line together.

The prey didn't even know they'd fallen into a spider's web.

By the time they realized, they'd lost their last chance to escape.

Bai Zuo approached the owner, who was chopping meat. While the man stared in surprise, Bai Zuo snatched the knife from his hand.

Then he swung it at the owner.

The owner threw up both hands in shock to block the blow. As blood splattered, a mechanical voice rang out in everyone's minds.

"Ding! You have triggered a Multiplayer Dungeon—Strange Food."

"Level: D."

"Dungeon hint: I'm hungry. I always want to eat something. That meat is so delicious! Just smelling it makes my mouth water."

"Clear conditions: One, escape the International Grand Hotel within seven days. Difficulty: Normal."

"Two, kill the boss. Difficulty: Hard."

"Completing either condition will clear the Dungeon. Afterward, the Dungeon will close temporarily. During the closure, the creatures inside won't be able to leave. Only by killing the Dungeon's final boss will it close permanently."

"Conquerors will receive rewards of corresponding value, depending on the difficulty of the clear condition they fulfill."

The hotel owner, the customers, and Bai Zuo were among the seventeen people pulled into the Dungeon.

When they opened their eyes,

they found themselves standing in an unfamiliar, lavish banquet hall.

The hotel owner clutched his arm in shock. A long gash was still bleeding profusely.

"Murder!"

The fat on the hotel owner's face quivered. Especially when he saw that the one who'd attacked him was a skinny boy who looked quite young, a menacing glint flashed in his eyes.

Shouting as he charged, he tried to snatch the knife from Bai Zuo's hand.

The people nearby, still too stunned to react, hurriedly got out of the way, afraid they'd be dragged into it.

Bai Zuo nimbly spun aside, avoiding the hotel owner's reaching hand, then lightly hopped back a few steps. A nasty grin spread across his face. "Hee~"

"How does it feel to be cut by your own knife? Does it hurt?"

"That wound isn't deep enough. If the blade had landed a little lower, it would've hit your artery. Such a~ sha~me~"

With every word Bai Zuo spoke, the hotel owner grew angrier. His face turned red as he glared furiously at Bai Zuo, his eyes so fierce no one dared meet them.

He kept chasing Bai Zuo, trying to attack him.

"Haah! Haah!" The hotel owner ran until his face and neck were red, while Bai Zuo led him in circles around the banquet hall.

His strength rapidly waning, he was soon drenched in sweat. But the sharp pain in his arm sent him into a frenzy, and he attacked Bai Zuo recklessly.

"Ah!"

Seeing the hotel owner's crazed appearance, the others fled in every direction. But some invisible restriction kept them from escaping the banquet hall.

After leading the hotel owner around for another lap, Bai Zuo finally seemed bored with the game. He tossed the knife away.

Eyes bloodshot, the hotel owner lunged forward and snatched it up.

"Hahaha! I got it!"

He bared his teeth in a feral grin, glaring at Bai Zuo with venomous hatred. Then he raised the knife and, blinded by rage, swung wildly.

A chorus of screams erupted around them, filled with terror.

The hotel owner was thrilled. Yes, just like that. Scream! Be afraid!

You're nothing but a bunch of squealing pigs!

Thud!

The hotel owner's body, racing forward, suddenly froze. His mind sluggishly wondered, Why is my vision flying?

He saw himself standing there with the knife raised. His body remained in place, but the head that should have been on his neck was gone.