Don't Eat the Food on the Table

After the six of them introduced themselves to one another.

There was still one person who hadn't said a word.

They looked toward Bai Zuo, who was leaning off to the side.

Li Ke frowned slightly. He looked down on this kind of boy who didn't know his place, thought he was cool, and put on airs.

He hadn't been tempered by the harshness of society. Fawned over by everyone at school, he'd gotten so carried away that he thought he was something special. In reality, once he entered society, he'd be useless at everything except showing off that face of his.

"Judging by your age, you're still a student, right? Don't think this is just a game. You've seen it yourself: the people whose heads were chopped off by monsters, and the people who died in the elevator—they'll never return to reality or see their families again."

"Right now, our only option is to stick together and figure out how to clear the game. Aren't you afraid of dying? You don't want to end up like them, dying here for no reason, do you?"

Li Ke thought that after he finished speaking, the young boy would surely be frightened and obediently lower his head.

Li Ke had always controlled people this way—his family, his friends, and his subordinates.

Li Ke adjusted his glasses again, using the gesture to hide the triumphant smile on his face.

Han Shitao: "In a horror game like this, sticking together is the only way we might survive. What's your name, classmate? Join us, and let's get out of here alive!"

Qiang Ge said impatiently, "If the little brat doesn't know any better, let him keep quiet. Just make sure he doesn't expect us to save him when we run into danger."

The others also looked at Bai Zuo disapprovingly.

Under this kind of pressure, most people would introduce themselves without a fuss.

But after they finished speaking, Bai Zuo seemed to have seen something amusing and began to clap. "Clap, clap, clap! Bravo! That was quite a performance!"

"What a great show!"

Li Ke's face stiffened. What was going on? Why was this guy reacting like that?

Bai Zuo lowered his hands, as if their words had persuaded him, and introduced himself. "My name's Bai Zuo, but I'm not a high school student. As for my current job, well, that doesn't matter. And what I'm good at? I guess I know a little about everything."

The corners of everyone's mouths twitched. Aside from his name, he hadn't told them anything!

He wasn't a high school student? He sure looked like one!

He looked only fifteen or sixteen. If he wasn't a high school student at that age, had he dropped out?

Li Ke took a deep breath and tried to ignore that unimportant detail. "Let's analyze our situation first. I looked around the cafeteria on this floor. Apart from the kitchen, there aren't any other rooms. The Pig Head Man will probably hunt whoever is closest to the kitchen, though it's also possible that it kills someone every so often."

"While it's preparing the meat, we're safe."

"We've ruled out taking the elevator down as a shortcut, so our only option is to take the stairs."

"Still, I don't think this game will be that easy. Either there's a monster guarding the stairs, or there's some other danger waiting for us."

"We have two options: send someone to check whether the stairs are safe, or search this floor for clues and see if there's a way out."

The others exchanged glances. No one wanted to be the one sent to check whether it was safe, so they all agreed on the second option.

"Let's look for clues here first!"

Bai Zuo raised both hands in agreement. "Sure, sure, sure!"

The seven of them searched the hallway. Numbered private dining rooms lined both sides, six in all. Each one was a place for guests to eat.

They opened private dining room 2401.

It was furnished like an ordinary restaurant, with a huge round table surrounded by chairs. The table was laden with delicious-looking dishes, and steam still rose from them.

There were also cabinets for storing tableware.

They went inside and searched everywhere.

They found nothing.

Xu Rou: "Did you find anything?"

Han Shitao: "There's nothing here."

Qiang Ge: "Let's go to the next room."

Li Ke nodded. "Looks like there are no clues here."

Bai Zuo headed straight for a chair and pulled it out, its legs scraping against the floor with a grating sound.

The other six turned to look at him.

Then, under their puzzled gazes, Bai Zuo sat down.

The next moment, a strange voice sounded. "I'm so hungry! This is my second day here. We have to find the key hidden somewhere on this floor."

Everyone's expression turned grave.

Could it be...

Li Ke gritted his teeth. How had this guy known that sitting in the chair would trigger a clue?

No, it had to be a coincidence!

Maybe he was just tired and wanted to sit down for a rest, and had triggered the clue by chance!

Li Ke hid his frustrated expression. "Looks like we need to sit in the chairs to get hints. That makes sense. There's no one here, yet the table's covered in freshly prepared food with steam rising from it. It's obviously suspicious."

Li Ke went over and sat in another chair.

Another voice sounded. "The key on the top floor is easy to find, but the farther down you go, the harder it gets."

The other five saw this and each found a seat.

"That chef is terrifying. Every time it kills someone, it comes out to patrol two hours later."

"We need to find all the keys as quickly as possible."

"Don't eat the food on the table!"

"If you see a mouse, make sure to follow it!"

"Watch out for those cockroaches!"

These were all extremely useful hints.

Hua Zi stood up, his face bright with excitement, and praised Bai Zuo. "You sure got lucky, kid. You found the Dungeon hints just like that."

Xu Rou: "I never would've guessed the Dungeon hints would appear this way."

At first, they'd focused all their attention on the cabinets and the space under the table, where things could be hidden.

They'd overlooked the most obvious thing of all: the dining table.

Without Bai Zuo, who knew how long it would've taken them to find this hint?

They searched again, but didn't find a key, so they headed to the next room.

There was no food on the table in this room. Hua Zi plopped down in a chair, but this time, no voice sounded.

Li Ke: "Looks like only the rooms with food on the table trigger the hints."

They searched the rooms again, but still didn't find a key.

They'd searched all six rooms on this floor. Only the first one had food; the others were empty.

Strangely, no matter how much they searched, they couldn't find the key mentioned in the hint.

"Could that hint have been lying to us?" They'd been searching for so long that they were exhausted, and Qiang Ge was getting impatient.

"Yeah! Otherwise, why haven't we found the key?"

"A key is so conspicuous. It should be easy to find."

"Not necessarily. What if it's hidden in some obscure corner? It wouldn't be surprising if we missed it."