A Fragrant Feast

Qiang Ge fought back his fear and said, "What payment? I have money. I'll give you money."

The waiter pulled out a dagger, his mouth stretching into an exaggerated grin as he repeated mechanically, "Guest, it's time to pay!"

Qiang Ge finally succumbed to his fear. He grabbed Xu Rou, who was hiding behind him, and shoved her forward. "Take her! Take everything! Just don't come after me!"

Xu Rou let out a terrified scream. "Ah!"

She never thought that the man who had promised to protect her would push her forward so easily.

The waiter didn't hesitate. He seized Xu Rou and sliced off one of her ears.

Xu Rou screamed again. The intense pain and terror made her eyes roll back, and she fainted to the floor.

While the waiter attacked Xu Rou, Qiang Ge had already escaped through the balcony.

After collecting his payment from Xu Rou, the waiter turned and chased after Qiang Ge.

He moved like a ghost.

In almost an instant, he was right behind Qiang Ge.

Qiang Ge grabbed a nearby chair without hesitation and slammed it into the waiter.

"Stay back!"

The blow caved in the waiter's head. Red and white matter ran down his face, but he remained unfazed, stepping closer to Qiang Ge one step at a time.

"Guest, it's time to pay!"

Qiang Ge was terrified.

No matter how he attacked the waiter, the man wouldn't die.

The strength he had always relied on was useless against him, and Qiang Ge immediately lost his nerve.

He let out a strange cry and tried to run.

But the waiter quickly caught up. His hand looked as thin as a withered bone, yet his grip on Qiang Ge was strong enough to crush his bones.

The waiter grabbed Qiang Ge's left hand and brought his knife down.

A section of Qiang Ge's arm fell to the floor.

Clutching his arm, Qiang Ge let out a scream.

The waiter picked up the severed arm and placed it on his cart, then continued pushing it toward the next private room.

Hearing the screams, Li Ke and Han Shitao turned pale and huddled together in fear.

The waiter found them one after another.

He cut off one of their fingers.

Li Ke watched the waiter push his cart away.

Only then did he tremble as he took a towel he'd found in the bathroom and wrapped it around his wound.

The last people the waiter found were Bai Zuo and Du Jiashi.

Du Jiashi had heard those screams, too.

He had wanted to block the doorway with a chair to keep the waiter out, but Bai Zuo stopped him.

"Did you find what I asked you to look for?"

Du Jiashi pointed to the corpses of several cockroaches in the corner. "I did. I put them on the floor."

Under Du Jiashi's puzzled gaze, Bai Zuo picked them up with his chopsticks.

He stirred them into the food a few times.

Du Jiashi suddenly understood!

Just as Bai Zuo put down his chopsticks,

The waiter walked in. He was splattered with blood, and with a knife in hand, he looked like a bloodthirsty killer. "Guest, it's time to pay."

Before the waiter could approach, Du Jiashi seized the initiative. He slapped the table and shouted, "What kind of restaurant is this?"

The waiter paused.

The hand holding his knife grew hesitant. "Guest, is there something you're dissatisfied with about our restaurant?"

The waiter's expression was terrifying. It seemed that if Du Jiashi didn't give him a convincing reason, he would stab someone.

Du Jiashi was a superb actor. He imitated the unreasonable behavior of a difficult customer perfectly. "The food in your restaurant should at least be fit for people to eat, shouldn't it?"

The waiter replied mechanically, "The food in our restaurant is absolutely the most delicious in the world. Every guest who tries it praises it without exception."

Du Jiashi picked up his chopsticks and fished a cockroach out of the dish. "Look at what's in your food! A bug! Is this what your restaurant serves its guests?"

The waiter froze. He had never expected to find something like that in the food.

Looking at Du Jiashi, who was furious and determined to make a scene unless he got an explanation, the waiter said, "Our restaurant has failed to provide proper service. We'll have the chef remake this table's dishes immediately, and we'll waive the cost of your meal today."

The waiter immediately came forward and cleared away the dishes.

Then he pushed his cart out of the room.

After seeing him leave, Du Jiashi's legs gave way, and he sank into a chair. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Bai Zuo smiled and propped his feet up on the table. "Well done."

Du Jiashi gave an awkward laugh and praised him sincerely. "You're the clever one. I never would've thought of a solution like that."

Bai Zuo stood and left the private room, finding one with a sofa where he could sleep. Du Jiashi stayed nearby to keep watch.

That night, everyone except Bai Zuo and Du Jiashi spent the hours in fear and pain.

The next day, the sun rose.

Li Ke and the others left their hiding places to look for their companions.

Li Ke saw Xu Rou walking toward them, her ear covered with a towel and resentment on her face.

"Where's Qiang Ge?"

Thinking of how she'd been shoved forward as a scapegoat, Xu Rou rolled her eyes in annoyance. "He's over there eating."

Li Ke's face lit up, but he quickly hid his delight. "Why is Qiang Ge eating? Weren't we told not to eat the food on the table?"

"I don't care if he dies!" Xu Rou cursed as she told them what Qiang Ge had done when he pushed her toward the waiter the previous day.

Li Ke could barely keep from laughing. Qiang Ge, Qiang Ge—Li Ke hadn't even made a move yet, and Qiang Ge was already digging his own grave.

Li Ke pretended to be concerned. "Then let's go talk some sense into him."

They went to the private room.

Another table of food had been laid out.

The dishes on the table smelled delicious, making everyone's mouths water.

They all swallowed.

With his back to them, Qiang Ge kept eating without looking up.

"Qiang Ge, stop eating. You can't eat the food on this table."

"Yeah! Who knows if it's poisoned?"

Qiang Ge ignored them and kept shoveling food into his mouth.

He had even given up on using chopsticks, grabbing chunks of meat with his hands and stuffing them into his mouth.

The sounds of chewing and swallowing made the hungry stomachs of the others rumble, too.

The warning had clearly said not to eat the food on the table.

But they had gone hungry for a day and a night. They were starving.

Seeing Qiang Ge eating so heartily,

they couldn't take their eyes off the table.

It smelled so good!

The meat looked delicious!

Li Ke swallowed again.

He moved closer to Qiang Ge. "Qiang Ge, are you okay?"

Qiang Ge still didn't respond.

He kept stuffing food into his mouth, as if he had an enormous stomach that could never be filled.

"Qiang Ge?"

Li Ke nudged him.

Only then did Li Ke notice that Qiang Ge was missing an arm. Blood still dripped from the severed limb, and he was so pale from blood loss that he looked like a corpse.

But Qiang Ge seemed unable to feel pain or fear. He kept eating the meat without even looking up.

Li Ke stumbled backward in fright, and his ravenous appetite diminished a little.