Chapter 223
Chapter 223
The group set up a folding table near the Morgue.
With laughter in her eyes, Qingqing placed a covered tray on the table.
Zhang Bei sat down nearby, holding a lunch box in each hand.
“You have to finish everything!”
Manman nodded. “Don’t worry. If I can’t finish it, you can punish me however you want!”
As a famous competitive-eating streamer, she had once performed the legendary feat of devouring twenty-eight bowls of noodles and declaring herself only half full.
This tiny table? Manman was confident she could eat enough off it to fill an endless banquet!
Satisfied with her answer, Zhang Bei cheerfully lifted the lid.
A hideous human head stared back at her, its eyes wide and unseeing.
Steam rose from the red-and-white brain matter inside.
Manman.exe had stopped responding.
More than ten seconds passed before Manman stiffly raised her head.
“A-a-a human head!”
Amusement flickered through Qingqing’s eyes. She picked up a spoon and took a bite.
Keeping a sinister expression on her face, she stared at Manman.
“Go on, eat. Why aren’t you eating? Are you scared?”
Her eerie tone shattered Manman’s composure completely.
“I’m begging you! Please let me go!”
Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
In those few short moments, Manman’s imagination had run wild.
Was this amusement park actually the base of some criminal organization?
Were they all psychopaths?
They were eating a human head!
If she refused to eat, would she end up as a dish like this tomorrow?
She cautiously glanced at Qingqing’s vicious expression.
I trusted her so much! What am I supposed to do now?!
Playing along with Qingqing, Zhang Bei maintained a menacing expression as he forcefully shoved a spoon into Manman’s hand.
“Hurry up and eat!”
His vicious tone pushed Manman over the edge.
“Please, I’m begging you! Let me go! I have money! I can give you money!”
Seeing that Manman had been scared completely senseless, Zhang Bei burst out laughing.
Qingqing couldn’t hold back her laughter either.
“Go ahead and eat. It’s not a real human head.”
“Huh?”
The clouds parted to reveal the sun, and suddenly, there was hope in life again. (Lu Rencha)
Manman wiped the tears from her eyes and picked up the spoon with a trembling hand.
Suppressing her revulsion, she took a bite.
The fresh fragrance of beans mingled with a numbing, spicy flavor, instantly whetting her appetite.
Her mouth might have been small, but she ate fast.
One bite followed another, and in just two short minutes, she had completely hollowed out the head.
Manman wiped the chili oil from the corner of her mouth. “Delicious!”
Zhang Bei casually opened one of the lunch boxes beside him. “Want to try this?”
Manman turned to look.
Two human hands smeared with blood entered her vision.
“H-h-hands!”
“They’re edible!”
Qingqing reached out with one hand and pushed Manman back down just as she sprang to her feet.
After her experience with the head, Manman quickly accepted that these things were, in fact, edible.
She picked up one of the hands and put it straight into her mouth.
Zhang Bei also flipped on the head’s heating switch and brought out the hot pot ingredients.
As time passed, plate after plate of sliced meat vanished into the hot pot, only to disappear again at astonishing speed.
Zhang Bei let out a burp and fell silent as he watched Manman continue eating without slowing down in the slightest.
“Has she always been able to eat this much?”
Qingqing nodded, casting a worried glance at her wallet.
“I’ve always wondered where everything she eats even goes.”
A constitution that never gained weight no matter how much one ate was every woman’s dream!
“That’s not what I’m wondering about.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m wondering how she’ll explain her appetite to her future mother-in-law when she meets the family someday.”
Qingqing fixed Zhang Bei with a wide-eyed stare.
Of course. It had to be you!
No normal person could possibly come up with a thought process like that, okay?
Manman popped the last meatball into her mouth and let out a satisfied burp.
“Thanks for the meal, Sister Qingqing!”
“You’re full?”
Manman glanced down at her flat stomach. “Maybe fifty percent full. That’s enough for now.”
Zhang Bei silently turned his head to survey the battlefield beside him.
They had eaten fifteen pieces of tofu from the Human Head Hotpot, more than a hundred plates of sliced meat, and roughly thirty human hands. As for the other vegetables and meatballs, there were too many to count.
Fifty percent full?
He had to admit, this girl’s constitution was truly astonishing!
A girl with a constitution like that would probably cry for ages if she were thrown into the Underground Maze, wouldn’t she?
Once the group had cleared the battlefield, Zhang Bei was all smiles.
“Want to try our Maze?”
Qingqing went on high alert the instant she heard that.
But the innocent Manman had no idea what sinister intentions Boss Zhang was harboring.
“Is the Maze hard?”
“Not really. As long as you pay close attention, you should be able to clear it in about forty minutes.”
Zhang Bei wasn’t making that up, either. He had scientific evidence.
That evidence naturally came from the only person to have ever cleared the Maze: Ji Wei, the mortician.
Manman hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Then thank you, boss!”
Smiling, Zhang Bei reached out and snagged Qingqing by the back of her collar.
“Don’t run. You’re coming too!”
“I’m not going!”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing you say will make me go in-unless you go in too!”
A dangerous gleam flashed in Qingqing’s eyes.
She knew there was a good chance she wouldn’t escape today.
But she couldn’t simply surrender. At the very least, she had to drag this Demon Lord down with her.
Zhang Bei met Qingqing’s stubborn gaze and eventually nodded.
“Fine!”
Qingqing froze.
Wait, you’re agreeing just like that?
Weren’t you the one who flat-out refused to go inside last time?
Zhang Bei led the two women all the way to the entrance of the Underground Maze.
He handed out the glasses with practiced ease, then led them up to the passages.
“Pick one.”
Qingqing glanced up and walked into Passage 10 without hesitation.
At least this one was relatively easy.
Manman looked from side to side, then entered Passage 4.
There was a cherry blossom carved above the passage. Surely that meant it would be a little easier, right?
Zhang Bei took one look around and ducked straight into Passage 7.
The moment he stepped inside, a black shadow flashed before his eyes.
Zhang Bei completely ignored it. He turned and began knocking on the walls instead.
After all, he wasn’t just the owner. He was also the designer!
Before long, a hollow echo rang out.
But Zhang Bei showed no intention of stopping. He continued knocking and soon found the next hollow spot.
After a full minute, he had located all seven hollow spots. Only then did he stop.
He stood motionless and began to calculate.
One, three, five, seven, one, seven, three!
Following the sequence he had worked out, Zhang Bei swiftly knocked on the walls.
The moment he finished striking all seven spots, the floor split open.
A long, narrow staircase appeared before him.
Zhang Bei gave a bored yawn, then glanced at the zombie hopping around in the distance.
That thing was hopping a little too slowly!
He should consider tweaking its settings and making it faster.
While everything was going smoothly for Zhang Bei, Manman was already on the verge of fainting in Passage 4.
She had sensed something was wrong from the moment she entered the Maze.
Was this place… horror-themed?