The Bloodstained Restaurant

"Character card generating."

"ID:Liu Zheng(Modifiable)"

"Level:lv1"

"Strength:14"

"Physique:12?"

"Spirit:11"

"Perception:10"

Looking at the character panel before him, Liu Zheng was somewhat dazed.

He had merely filled out a survey and was selected by some Hell Game.

Are these Supreme Gods so casual about pulling people in nowadays?

Even door-to-door salesmen would inquire about a family's situation first.

"The instance will open in one hour, please prepare, player."

That mechanical voice sounded once more, and a countdown prompt also appeared on the panel.

"Making an ALS patient go down into an instance, isn't that a bit inhumane?"

Liu Zheng was somewhat speechless.

He didn't even have a few months left to live, and this outing was just to pick out a graveyard for himself.

He had already thought through his requirements.

It had to be a large unit, facing south, and preferably the neighbor would be a nineteen-year-old JK girl.

"The player has signed a Betting Agreement and must obey the rules of the game."

The system spoke indifferently.

"What Betting Agreement?"

Liu Zheng looked toward that survey, astonished to find that it had completely changed in appearance.

"Name:Betting Agreement

"Type:Item"

"Quality:???"

"Effect:The user's clearance rewards will be automatically replaced with ones related to their wish until the wish is fulfilled. The user will be forcibly converted into a player, and clearance ratings before the wish is fulfilled must not be lower than S/A, otherwise they will be erased."

"Remark:There is no child who cries every day, and there is no gambler who loses every day."

What was his wish again?

Liu Zheng scratched his head, then remembered.

Health and longevity.

A very rude request for a terminal illness.

"Fine."

He sighed.

A quick pain is better than a long one; being erased was slightly better than slowly waiting for death.

What can an hour do?

Watch a movie, eat a big meal, write a will, have a wild celebration.

Yet Liu Zheng did nothing; he merely turned on the car stereo and played a song, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Then.

He watched the countdown return to zero.

"Instance Name:Bloodstained Restaurant"

"Instance Type:Novice Trial"

"Instance Players:Solo"

"Task Objective:Survive for 72 hours"

As the system prompt sounded, a ball of black fire instantly enshrouded him, and he vanished from inside the vehicle.

When Liu Zheng awoke from the dizziness, he found himself standing at the entrance of a residential community, with an additional letter in his hand.

He looked toward the community gates; the sign for Jinxiu Xinyuan was covered in mottled rust, and the stone pillars were full of weathering marks.

He looked inside the community again; those buildings were still in their original places, but when Liu Zheng wanted to scrutinize them closely, he found that everything was blurred and indistinct.

At the same time, a sharp pain came from within his brain.

"Warning, rationality is declining."

The system's prompt followed closely behind.

Liu Zheng quickly looked away.

Since they wouldn't even let him look, getting into the residential area was even more impossible.

Thus, he raised the envelope in his hand.

The clue for his next action should be inside.

Liu Zheng tore open the envelope, finding a folded A4 sheet of paper inside.

Unfolding it, he saw it was actually a notice.

"Respected human citizen:"

"We regret to inform you that you have been without work for two months. Please follow the instructions to go to the designated location for an interview. Failing the interview will result in the loss of citizenship and entry into the processing procedure."

"City Hall Employment Security and Promotion Office."

Without a job you didn't even have citizenship; this Hell Game kept close to current events.

Wait, human citizen?

He suddenly noticed the crucial point.

Since there were human citizens, naturally there would also be non-human citizens.

Coupled with the so-called "processing procedure," things immediately became terrifying to contemplate.

"Interesting."

Liu Zheng felt a bit excited.

This was the world he wanted: a non-everyday, abnormal world.

Turning the notice to the back, there was strikingly a map.

There were a total of five red markers on it, one of which was a five-pointed star, while the other four were dots.

Without thinking, the place marked with the five-pointed star was the so--called designated location.

As for the other four places, they were probably subsequent quests or side missions.

If it were a player with a lively personality, they might go check out the four places marked with dots first.

However, given Liu Zheng's personality, he naturally went straight to the dragon's lair.

He proceeded along the map, seeing no pedestrians along the way, not even small animals, and the surrounding buildings all had tightly shut doors and windows.

Yet Liu Zheng always felt countless hidden gazes were staring at him.

Within the gaps of doors and windows and the shadows of buildings that he couldn't see clearly, many figures were stirring restlessly.

"I can't stay outside for long."

A dangerous intuition warned Liu Zheng, and he quickened his pace.

After walking briskly for half an hour through the dead, silent streets, he finally reached his destination.

A three-story Western-style small building, with no other buildings within a hundred meters of it.

And that feeling of being spied upon quietly vanished after Liu Zheng entered this area.

"Bloodstained Restaurant"

When Liu Zheng saw that huge sign, his pupils involuntarily constricted.

That was because the restaurant's name wasn't painted with pigments, but composed of limbs.

Long strokes were arms, and short strokes were fingers.

They were nailed to the wood by rusted iron nails, and were still constantly twisting, seemingly saying welcome to him.

"Warning, sanity is decreasing."

The system reminded him once more.

Liu Zheng hurriedly lowered his head, refusing to look at that sign anymore.

"What is sanity?"

He distracted himself by asking a question.

"A hidden attribute. When sanity drops to a certain degree, symptoms such as reduced intelligence, mental trance, fainting, or even temporary madness will appear."

"Then what if sanity drops to zero?"

"Permanent madness or"

The rest of the words, Liu Zheng couldn't hear clearly.

"Those madmen in the psychiatric hospital, wouldn't they all be players whose sanity dropped to zero?"

He made a joke.

Unsurprisingly, the system did not answer.

Liu Zheng let out a long breath, stepped forward, and walked into the restaurant.

"Clap, clap, clap"

A succession of crisp cracking sounds rang out behind him, caused by those fingers snapping.

He didn't know whether they were welcoming a new colleague or celebrating something.

He walked into the restaurant, and the scene before him left him somewhat surprised.

Unlike the hellish scene he had imagined, the main hall of the restaurant was extremely clean and bright, and the decoration was also grand and imposing.

The air was filled with a delicate fragrance, and cheerful piano music even drifted to his ears.

Though, Liu Zheng didn't see the person playing.

"Is anyone here?"

He shouted.

"We aren't open for business yet, guests please come back later."

An indifferent voice answered him.

Liu Zheng looked up to see that a woman wearing a high-collared inner layer and draped in a white woolen coat had appeared on the second floor at some unknown time.

Her hair was coiled into a high bun, and she possessed a face of national peace and security, looking just like a noble matron who had stepped out of a Republic-era drama.

A teardrop-shaped blue sapphire wound around her fair neck, slipping into a bottomless cleavage.

Such a great beauty would capture the heart of any man at a glance.

Yet for some reason, his heart felt only a slight chill.

"I'm here for an interview."

Liu Zheng raised the notice in his hand.

"City Hall has thrown more trash at me again."

The woman frowned.

At her evaluation, there was not the slightest ripple in his heart.

Because he had heard things much uglier than that.

"I am Si Xue, the owner of this restaurant. There are three positions left right now, which one are you applying for?"

The woman glanced at him and said.

"May I ask what the three positions are?"

Liu Zheng asked politely.

"Delivery, assistant cook, waiter."

Si Xue said indifferently.

Among these three, being a waiter sounded the safest.

After all, the kitchen itself represented bloodshed and violence, and delivering takeout meant going to the world outside the restaurant.

Although nothing had happened all the way here just now, that should have been plot protection.

However, judging from the decoration of the Bloodstained Restaurant, the guests here must be either rich or noble.

Rich people in reality were already troublesome enough to wait on, and the rich in this bizarre world would definitely be even harder to deal with.

"Boss, I will do whatever you arrange. With your vision, the position you arrange for me must be the most suitable one."

Liu Zheng thought for a moment and said.

"Interesting, a piece of trash with a bit of cleverness."

The corners of Si Xue's mouth hooked up slightly, and the sudden, brilliant bloom of her smile made him somewhat dizzy.

Liu Zheng quickly held his breath and quieted his mind, managing to suppress that surge in his heart.

A single smile had almost made him lose his composure; it was too dangerous.

This woman was definitely not human.

"Then you can go deliver takeout."

Si Xue's smile came and went in a flash, turning back into an ice-cold expression in the blink of an eye, making people suspect that just now was merely an illusion.

"Alright, Boss."

He nodded and said.

That was fine too; he used to deliver takeout and had experience.

"Cow-Horse, take him to do the handover."

Si Xue said indifferently, then stepped up the stairs step by step, disappearing around the corner of the corridor.

"Yes, Boss."

Following a muffled voice, a cow-horse ran out from a corner.

It had the body of a horse and the head of a cow, its two horns reflecting a dark, oily sheen.

Yes, a cow-horse in the literal sense.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a cow-horse before?"

It said in an unfriendly tone.

"Sorry, I've never seen such a handsome cow-horse, I didn't react in time."

Liu Zheng withdrew his shocked gaze and quickly apologized.

"You have an eye for things, I forgive you."

The cow-horse snorted.

It was easy to tell that it was extremely satisfied with Liu Zheng's compliment.

"The boss is right, as a human, you really are very smart."

The cow-horse raised its front hoof and patted his shoulder.

"Work hard, human, and don't let me eat you."

It opened its thick lips, revealing the sawtooth-like sharp teeth inside.