A Cappuccino for the Lady

Chen Feng's jaw dropped. He had always thought that once he was cursed, his only option was to fight the Landlady to the bitter end. Who knew there was another way to clear the scenario?

Come to think of it, She Qingqing really was a good person.

No, a good snake.

When Chen Feng had first arrived in this world, She Qingqing had tried to drive him away. At the time, he had thought she was chasing off a vagrant. Now he realized she had been urging him to leave this deadly place. He simply hadn't understood her intentions then.

"There's no time. Come with me!"

A pair of fair, delicate hands grabbed Chen Feng, their smooth skin cool against his.

She dragged him out of the Internet Cafe.

Leaving like this didn't sound so bad.

But damn it, I can't bear to give up those nine Points.

If this had been his first run, Chen Feng would have bolted without hesitation.

But he had already spent Points on Warlord's Protection, which was single-use, and he still needed to complete the Water Ghost's task. If he didn't fight the Landlady, the Water Ghost would leave as soon as the task failed, and he would have bought the Blessing for nothing. Then there were the Points for destroying the Happiness Internet Cafe itself.

All told, he would lose a fortune.

After hesitating again and again, Chen Feng said, "I'm sorry. I can't leave."

As soon as he spoke, a pair of cold, slick, greasy hands suddenly closed around She Qingqing's throat.

"Do it," Chen Feng said.

Then he added, "Don't kill her. Just knock her out."

A little while later.

When She Qingqing still hadn't returned, Zhu Xianxian asked irritably, "Where did she go?"

"Bathroom, maybe," Chen Feng said, brushing her off.

Zhu Xianxian was annoyed. Even without counting Chen Feng, the Internet Cafe had six employees, but the four Imposter attendants were useless apart from telling people to restart their computers. That left the front desk staff with plenty to do. Now that one of them had disappeared, all the work had fallen on her.

While Zhu Xianxian was busy, Chen Feng opened the cash drawer and borrowed five hundred yuan.

"I'm heading out. I'll be right back."

After calling that out, Chen Feng grabbed an umbrella by the door and found a nearby Supermarket.

The Supermarket owner was sitting in a chair, playing on his phone.

Chen Feng walked over. "Hey, got any insecticide?"

The owner looked up. "Yeah. It's all on the shelves at the back."

"How effective is it?" Chen Feng asked.

"I run a store. You think I'd sell you fake insecticide?" the owner assured him. "Don't worry, it's very safe. Even indoors, it hardly irritates people."

Chen Feng turned to leave. "Then I don't want it."

"Are you messing with me?" The owner blinked. "You don't want the safe stuff? You want something more dangerous?"

Chen Feng nodded. "Exactly. I like the strong stuff."

"Fine."

The owner went into the storeroom out back, rummaged around, and brought out a sealed white plastic bucket with no label. "Take this. Guaranteed strong."

Chen Feng checked again. "What if this stuff doesn't kill the bugs?"

"Bring it back and I'll drink it myself. Happy?" the owner scoffed. "It's an organophosphate pesticide. Ever heard of methamidophos? This stuff is so toxic you have to dilute it with water before spraying it on a field. Forget bugs—fish, shrimp, and frogs will all go belly-up."

"It was banned ages ago because it's so dangerous. I got this on the sly. Satisfied now?"

"Very. Couldn't be happier." Chen Feng tossed him the money. "Give me a kilo. I'll see how it tastes."

After returning from the Supermarket.

Chen Feng began the next step of his plan. "Xianxian, want something to drink?"

"I don't drink coffee," Zhu Xianxian said.

Of course Chen Feng knew Zhu Xianxian didn't drink coffee. Biologically speaking, caffeine was almost deadly to the nervous system of an invertebrate spider.

So Chen Feng said, "It's juice."

Zhu Xianxian happened to be a little thirsty, so she nodded. "I'll have a glass, then."

"Sure."

As he spoke, Chen Feng dumped a hefty amount of instant coffee into the juice.

One cappuccino for the lady!

He gave it a shake.

Chen Feng brought the spiked juice to Zhu Xianxian.

Next, it was time to clear out the audience.

Chen Feng snapped his fingers, signaling the Water Ghost to cut power to the entire Internet Cafe.

"My pentakill!"

"What a drag. I'm out!"

Once the customers had left, Zhu Xianxian's face gradually turned red, and she grew increasingly agitated. "It's so hot. What did you give me?"

"Coffee. I added coffee."

As he spoke, Chen Feng picked up the white plastic bucket of pesticide. According to plan, he would unscrew the lid, dump the undiluted, full-strength pesticide straight onto Zhu Xianxian, then stroll away.

But something went wrong.

Chen Feng couldn't unscrew the lid.

The thing was sealed tighter than a jar of canned fruit.

The moment turned painfully awkward.

Zhu Xianxian's face darkened. "Why did you deliberately put coffee in my drink?"

"Uh, if I said you'd been staying up too late and your eyes were so red that I made you some coffee to perk you up, would you believe me?" Chen Feng backed toward the Internet Cafe's entrance as he spoke.

Crash!

Glass shattered. A cold wind swept rainwater in through the Internet Cafe's entrance.

Zhu Xianxian sensed trouble. "Water Ghost?"

A fight was about to break out, but Chen Feng held out the plastic bucket. "Here. Help me open this."

The Water Ghost: "..."

Zhu Xianxian: "..."

Pop! The lid hit the floor, and Chen Feng flung the bucket's contents over Zhu Xianxian!

The pungent smell of pesticide instantly filled the Internet Cafe.

After a brief silence, Zhu Xianxian let out an insect-like shriek. Her whole body split apart, scattering into clumps of crawling little spiders.

"How dare you! Ah!"

Zhu Xianxian trembled all over, trying to pull herself back into human form. But as the pesticide ate away at them, the little spiders draped in scraps of human skin scattered in every direction, ignoring her commands.

Meanwhile, the Water Ghost had snapped the necks of all four Imposter attendants, leaving them lifeless.

Chen Feng watched Zhu Xianxian collapse, twitching as she became a messy heap of dead spiders.

She's a monster, but just like the Water Ghost, she's not so tough once you know her weakness, Chen Feng thought.

Just then, a thread too fine to see shot toward Chen Feng.

Chen Feng was caught off guard, but the Water Ghost wasn't.

With lightning-fast reflexes, it caught the thread, yanked a spider noticeably larger than the others from the pile of corpses, and crushed it underfoot!

That was Zhu Xianxian's true body!

Chen Feng felt a sting on his face. He touched it and found blood. A chill ran through him. The thread had only brushed his cheek, yet it had drawn blood. If the Water Ghost hadn't blocked it, his head would probably have been severed from his body, and he would have had to Load Save.