Don't talk to strange people

"I can eat, but the way I do it is ugly," Roman said. "I don't want you to see."

Lu Mi nodded and cut the fried chicken in half. "We'll get this packed up to take back later. You can eat it on your own... Could you stop looking at me like you're so touched you're about to cry?"

Just then, a commotion broke out in the cafeteria. Crowds of people, both inside and outside, rushed toward the entrance.

Lu Mi tilted his head to take a look too. The person drawing all that attention seemed to be a young man with yellow highlights near his ears.

He heard the girl at the next table shout, "Cheng Cheng! Cheng Cheng, I love you!!!"

Cheng Cheng? Lu Mi remembered him-the big shot who dominated the rankings in first place.

Cheng Cheng glanced their way and said coldly, "Do a 360-degree spiral launch into the sky, then give me three million, and I'll consider leaving your daughter to be with you."

The girl at the next table laughed so hard she pounded the table, telling her companion, "I never thought I'd run into Cheng Cheng in the cafeteria today. From now on, this place is my holy ground."

Her companion was snapping pictures frantically on her phone too. "Cheng Cheng likes messing with ghosts and monsters. Every time he enters an instance, he stays ages before coming out. We're really lucky today."

Lu Mi quietly looked away. "I'm guessing the guards will be here to restore order soon. What do you think?"

Roman propped his chin in both hands and stared at him without blinking. "Lu Mi, you take such tiny bites when you eat. You're really just like a little kitten."

Lu Mi: "..." He immediately guessed what Roman would say next and said expressionlessly, "I'm sleeping tonight. No petting the kitty."

Just as Lu Mi had predicted, the guards arrived quickly. "Move along, move along! Don't block the entrance!"

Order gradually returned to the cafeteria, but Lu Mi hadn't expected Cheng Cheng to walk straight over and sit beside him. "You're Lu Mi?"

Roman, sitting across from them, instantly stood up. Only after Lu Mi coaxed him gently for a bit did he sit back down with his arms folded, glaring at Cheng Cheng.

"I am. Can I help you?" Lu Mi asked.

Cheng Cheng took a card out of his backpack and handed it to him. "Let's get acquainted. I'm Cheng Cheng."

"I actually already knew that... But there's nothing on this card."

"That's normal," Cheng Cheng said, taking out a pen and biting its cap. "I haven't written anything yet."

He wrote a string of numbers on the card. "Remember to call."

Lu Mi had already learned a little about phones and such. There was no internet here, but people within the game world could communicate by phone. "Is this your number?"

Roman stood up again.

Cheng Cheng waved a hand. "No, it's a girl friend of mine's number. She has something to tell you."

"Who is she?"

Cheng Cheng said, "She asked me to pass it on if I ran into you."

"So who is she?" Lu Mi slowly began to catch on. "Don't tell me you don't know her?"

"What kind of thing is that to say? Everyone under heaven is a bro-" Before he could finish saying "brother," Roman hoisted him onto his shoulder, carried him away, and dumped him onto a table at the other end of the cafeteria.

When Roman returned, he told Lu Mi earnestly, "When you're out and about, don't talk to strange people."

After returning to the dorm, Lu Mi called the number anyway.

Before that, he opened the wardrobe and pulled out a bundle of red and white plastic bags, peeling them away layer by layer. When he finally took out his phone, Roman couldn't help laughing. "Why don't you take it into the instances?"

"Because phones seem fragile," Lu Mi said. "And they must be expensive."

It took a while for the call to be answered. A cool female voice came through. "Shen Yiwen. Who's this?"

"I'm Lu Mi."

The other person was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I'm sorry."

Lu Mi said, "Huh?"

"I was in a hurry to get my friend into the Healing Area, and my glasses had broken in the instance. I didn't see that you and your boyfriend were holding hands and bumped into you. Sorry."

There was a lot to unpack. Lu Mi sorted through his thoughts for a moment before speaking. "First, I hope your friend has recovered. Second, he's not my boyfriend. Lastly, there's an optician's in the Central Plaza."

She answered each point in turn. "Thanks for your concern, but he was already dead when we came out of the instance. Okay. Okay."

Lu Mi was now willing to believe that she and Cheng Cheng were close friends.

People died constantly in this game. Hearing how calm she sounded, and unable to help himself, Lu Mi offered a few simple words of condolence and hung up.

Only after putting down the phone did a question occur to Lu Mi. "How did she and Cheng Cheng both know my name?"

Roman said, "You're first on the popularity ranking. Your name and profile picture are both on the big screen in the plaza."

Lu Mi walked to the window and looked down over the plaza. The big screen faced his window directly. "That's strange. Didn't it only show names and rankings last time?"

Just then, his Wristband flashed a few times. Lu Mi raised his hand, and a panel automatically popped up.

The Divine Punishment Game has received a major upgrade! Details below.

Lu Mi skimmed it and found that it really did include an entry about adding more information to the plaza screen, along with a notice that the Plaza General Store was recruiting a limited number of part-time workers.

Aside from these minor details, one new Wristband feature caught his attention:

Players who have cleared a total of two or more instances can receive exclusive messages from viewers!

Following the instructions, Lu Mi enabled the messaging feature. Sure enough, he saw a long string of messages viewers had left while watching the show.

Anonymous user: Lu Mi looks so cute when he practices his spells so earnestly. I want to eat him. [Tipped 200 gold coins]

Big Fish: Leaning against the table like that makes his waist look so slender. Slurp, slurp. What a shame the system automatically filters out bathing scenes to protect underage ghosts.

Deathly Face: Baby, stop eating meat buns... Buy yourself something nice to eat. [Tipped 50 gold coins]

Zombie King: The new fan above doesn't know this, but he's missing Ning Zhuangzhuang.

Anonymous user: So loyal and affectionate. Now I want to eat him even more.

...

Roman couldn't see his panel and asked what sort of messages they were.

"If I ever run into them, I'll rip their mouths apart." Lu Mi's expression was cold. When he discovered that this feature couldn't be disabled once activated, it grew colder still.

Then he looked at Roman, sitting obediently cross-legged, and his gaze softened despite himself. "Take that half of the fried chicken back with you to eat."

Just then, someone knocked on the dorm door.

Lu Mi remembered that anyone could find a particular person's dorm location simply by contacting staff through their Wristband. Since he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, he couldn't help growing wary.

There was no peephole in the door, so he asked through it, "Who is it?"

A woman's voice came from the other side. "It's me. Lu Mi, I found a good gig where we can earn some gold coins. Want to come?"

"No."

"You turned me down so decisively. There's only one spot, and you were the first person I thought of. Of course, I have my own selfish reasons too," Jin Bi said, her soft voice sounding a little pitiful. "After all, we'd be helping out in the plaza, and I'm still a little scared..."