Outside the infirmary, Himeko saw Himechi Cat fiddling with something outside and walked over.
"What are you doing?"
"I just saw a caterpillar. It ran toward the Wax Museum."
"A caterpillar?"
Himeko thought little of it, assuming Himechi Cat had simply been distracted by all sorts of interesting things, just like she had been as a child, curious about everything.
She looked up at the exploration progress. After the contestants' voluntary or forced advances over this period, it had reached 20%.
At this rate, she estimated that in another five or six hours, the other contestants would be able to leave the amusement park and head to the next stop.
But Himeko would not.
As someone who followed the Trailblaze, she would never settle for the mission's required 80%.
Even when playing a game, she would do everything she could to fully explore the map without consulting a guide, let alone when exploring a new world.
"Miss Himeko, where should we go next?"
Washana naturally had a map of the park too. She opened it and asked Himeko's opinion.
"How about the Restaurant? Even if we aren't hungry now, we should prepare for later."
For once, Taco offered a suggestion Himeko felt she could accept.
Honestly, Himeko had thought he would suggest going to the gym for a thorough, invigorating workout.
"That's a good idea. I also want to look for things we can use on the train."
The lack of various kitchen utensils had remained on Himeko's mind. It ranked third among her concerns.
Coffee beans ranked second, and above those were the Nameless missing from the train.
"No objections here." Washana had wanted to go to the Restaurant to gather supplies anyway, so naturally she would not object.
With unanimous approval, the three headed toward the Restaurant.
The Restaurant was not far from the infirmary. An ordinary person walking at a normal pace could reach it in five minutes.
There was only one Restaurant in the amusement park, and every contestant whose first priority was food had come here.
As a result, many people lay sprawled outside its entrance. Some had been attacked by the park's monsters, while others had been beaten into this state by other contestants.
Himeko checked them one by one, confirming that they had all lost their vital signs and were well and truly dead.
"What a bloodbath."
Himeko shook her head regretfully and turned her attention to the Restaurant. It had two floors and occupied a sizable area.
The Restaurant's front entrance consisted of a glass curtain wall, but the glass was now shattered beyond recognition, with shards scattered all over the ground. Its interior was also similar to a university cafeteria, with shops lining the perimeter and seating in the center to accommodate diners when the shops were full.
Now, however, those tables and chairs lay toppled in all directions. Himeko judged that some monster had forcibly scattered them with its massive body while chasing a contestant.
There were two corpses inside the Restaurant as well. One had only half a body left. The other half seemed to have been smashed flat by something, smeared straight onto the floor and splattered across a wide area along with fragments of bone.
Himeko frowned, fixing her gaze on the figure wandering through the center of the Restaurant.
It was a bowl of... pig trotter rice with arms and legs?
Its bloated shape and the broth nearly overflowing from the bowl were proof enough that the chef who had created it must have been a good chef of the people, especially generous with the ingredients.
"What the hell is that?"
Taco had also spotted Pig Trotter Rice, his eyes filled with uncontainable shock.
[Pig Trotter Rice: Danger level 2. Generous ingredients, delicious flavor, fair pricing. Just a little difficult to tame.]
Only then did he notice the half-person on the ground, and he shook his head repeatedly.
"That poor bastard."
One glance was enough to make his stomach turn. Washana followed close behind, and when she saw the half-corpse, she dry-heaved twice.
"You have the guts to kill people, but you can't look at a corpse?" Taco expressed his disdain for Washana's reaction.
"That's different."
"All right, you two, make sure you protect yourselves. Himechi Cat, I'll leave them to you."
Himeko stopped dwelling on the corpses. She needed to deal with the enormous Pig Trotter Rice, then gather kitchen utensils and ingredients and return to the train to cook for Pom-Pom.
Pom-Pom had only just returned and had to maintain the train before even getting a proper rest, and there was nothing edible aboard either.
Poor Pom-Pom must have really missed her cooking.
Rather than conceal her movements, she strode brazenly inside, the Monomolecular Saw already extending from her suitcase.
Watching Himeko's retreating figure from a distance, Taco suddenly raised a question he had long been curious about.
"Every time Himeko takes out her chainsaw, it's already running. Wouldn't that saw up the other things in her suitcase?"
Washana gave her answer to his question. "Is your brain broken?"
Hearing the noise, Pig Trotter Rice shifted its enormous body and looked toward Himeko.
The bowl filled with a large quantity of white rice actually had a nose and eyes on its front, looking just like a person.
Two arms hung from the rim of the bowl. Only on closer inspection did it become clear that they were not pig trotters at all, but human arms cooked in braising liquid.
Himeko's frown deepened. The aroma of food drifted over, but knowing the truth made her feel faintly nauseated.
"For the navigator's image, I'd better make this quick."
Without hesitation, Himeko lengthened her stride and charged swiftly toward Pig Trotter Rice.
"How do you think she runs so fast in high heels? Is there some secret? Chinese kung fu?"
"Who knows? Aren't you going to help? What did you grow all those muscles for?"
"Help? No, no, no. These muscles are all just for show."
As they chatted and joked, Himeko's saw had already struck Pig Trotter Rice, carving a wound deep enough to expose the white rice within.
After just one hit, Pig Trotter Rice understood that Himeko was absolutely not someone it could handle alone.
The face carved into its bowl began to wail, calling for reinforcements.
Food emerged from the various shops, one after another.
"Pizza, Hamburger, Steamed Bun, Youtiao, Rice with Topping..."
Himeko inspected the foods emerging one by one. Those who knew what was happening would call it the King of Hell taking attendance; those who did not might have thought she was placing an order.
"What a shame. Not one of you is fit to eat. That's just as well. At least getting rid of you won't count as wasting food."
The danger emanating from the other foods was far below Pig Trotter Rice's.
Pig Trotter Rice was the king here, and all the others were its underlings.
"But why is Pig Trotter Rice the boss?"
Puzzled, Himeko looked up at the price list.
[Pig trotter rice: Blowout price, 8.8 per serving] [Youtiao: 5 yuan each] [Hamburger: 24 yuan each] [Pizza: 88 yuan each (16-inch) (16-inch out of stock, now replaced with two 8-inch pizzas)]
"That makes sense, then."
Five yuan for one youtiao. That was downright robbery.
And why could two 8-inch pizzas replace one 16-inch pizza? Who was going to make up the other two 8-inch pizzas?!
More and more foods came out to aid Pig Trotter Rice, but dealing with them was no harder for Himeko than stomping on cockroaches by the roadside.
Soon, thanks to Himeko's exquisite culinary skills, all the foods that had come to help had been combined into one.
"Hmm... A little salt in the soy milk, then two slices of bacon, and finally some coffee beans... Hm? How did I put in rat poison by mistake?"
Before you continue