Chapter 62
Lu Li watched the villagers devouring their food and calmly remarked, “Maybe they’re just busy right now.”
Busy eating, of course.
The female villager was half sprawled across the table, her Tentacles stretching from her neck to gently stroke the fish Luo Jia Bai had placed on his plate. The mouth at the tip of the Tentacles kept licking the fish with its tongue, over and over.
She looked so reluctant to eat it that she couldn’t bring herself to take a bite.
Her hands didn’t stop, either. After finishing her own food, she reached toward Luo Jia Bai’s plate.
A branch of her Tentacles slid over.
The mouth at the end opened and closed, and slime dripped onto Luo Jia Bai’s arm.
Her voice sounded muffled, as if underwater. “There’s still so much left. Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’ve seen thousands of Zombies before… This is nothing,” Luo Jia Bai muttered quietly to encourage himself. When she called out to him, he forced a couple of awkward laughs. “I’m on a diet, not really hungry.”
The female villager’s hand reached out impatiently.
Lu Li fixed his eyes on her hand and said, “There’s a line on her wrist.”
Luo Jia Bai looked down as well.
Sure enough, there was a line on her wrist. Above the line, her hand was pale; below it, her arm was much darker.
Luo Jia Bai analyzed, “She must have worn gloves for outdoor work, so her hands didn’t get tanned and are much lighter.”
Lu Li’s gaze dropped lower.
The female villager pulled her leg from under the tablecloth. She wore black rubber boots that came up to her knees, tightly pressed against her black pants. Whenever she got excited eating, she stomped her feet, making a faint sound.
If they hadn’t been sitting so close to the villagers, they wouldn’t have noticed these boots at all.
Lu Li leaned back in his chair, looked past the female villager, and observed the villagers behind her.
Everyone was wearing the same kind of rubber boots, differing only in color.
“Mom! I want some fish!” A villager child, about half as tall as an adult, ran around the dining table, tugging at the female villager’s clothes. She kept her head down, eating intently, and ignored him.
The child was wearing ordinary shoes.
As he ran, his head suddenly fell off.
It rolled to a stop behind Lu Li’s chair. The boy reached out, feeling his way through the air in confusion.
His stomach growled with hunger as he searched for the table.
Lu Li grabbed his arm, turned him around, and pointed him toward the table. “Here, you were going the wrong way.”
The boy’s shoulders shook with happiness. “Thank you, esteemed guest.”
His headless neck stared fixedly at Lu Li, and suddenly he said, “You’re really good-looking. I have a story about this place. Would you like to hear it?”
Lu Li glanced at the other Players, turned sideways, and whispered, “Go ahead.”
Luo Jia Bai didn’t dare move, straining to listen.
Just now, his Wristband had grown hot and vibrated.
It seemed Lu Li had triggered a dialogue with the Instance NPC by discovering a key clue in the previous stage.
“When the Moon rises, lots of food is delivered. When the Moon sets, we can eat. But after the Moon brings punishment, we have no more food, and we lose our way.”
Lu Li asked, “There are two Moons in the sky right now. Which one do you mean?”
The child giggled. “Two? There’s only ever been one Moon!”
–
The man who had guided them had his head roll several times across the table before finally stopping when it bumped into the plate of fish.
He turned to the Players, each showing a different expression, and spat a Fish Bone from his mouth.
“Why aren’t the guests picking up their chopsticks yet? Are the dishes not to your liking?”
He suddenly seemed to remember something, his head swaying proudly.
“The guests shared a whole fish with us. To express our gratitude, today we’ve specially asked the chef to prepare two dishes for you.”
From both sides of the table, eight villagers in chef uniforms filed in, each holding a pair of covered dishes.
The chefs approached the eight Players one by one, stopping in front of each, bowing slightly as they presented the two covered dishes.
“The first dish contains abalone, and also sea cucumber.”
The man licked a piece of fish, his tone excited. “Is it in the dish on the left or the right? I can’t remember either.”
“But if you answer the question correctly, perhaps it will jog my memory.”
“The first guest to answer correctly will also receive an extra reward.”
The man announced an additional rule with a sinister smile. “After the dish is uncovered, you must eat it.”
“This is our Village’s signature dish. The guests have just arrived, so you might not be used to our flavors yet, but once you’ve tasted the signature dish, you’ll fall in love with everything on your plate!”
At the mention of an extra reward, the Players grew restless.
The extra reward could be a Key Item crucial for this stage or the next.
Everyone wanted it, for survival.
The man asked the first question, raising a hand to point at the sky. “We live by the grace of the Moon. Tell me, what is our profession?”
Lu Li looked up.
Right now, the two Moons in the sky overlapped, radiating dazzling light.
After speaking, the man became motionless in the center of the table, staring at everyone with a chilling gaze.
A Player couldn’t help but speak up, “Where’s the Item? Where’s the clue? Your question has no context – there are so many professions, how could we possibly guess?”
“You haven’t set any boundaries for the question! Are all the villagers of the same profession, or does each have a different one?”
“He’s finished asking. He won’t respond now. The clue must be somewhere in this scene.”
“The Moon might not literally mean the Moon,” Feng Shan said after a moment of thought, breaking the noisy atmosphere. “The living environment here is harsh, especially with the lack of water. The ground in the Prison was cracked, but today, looking at the Village, I noticed the soil here is a bit more moist than in the Prison. On the way, I also saw a large orchard behind the houses.”
“The Moon’s grace might mean the grace of nature.”
“So, carpenter, fruit farmer…” Wu Bin, the Player who had opened the way for Lu Li in the previous stage, sat beside Feng Shan and listened to the analysis. He used his wristband to exchange points for several life-saving items.
Eager to try, he said to Feng Shan, “I have plenty of points and I’m willing to contribute them to the team. Why don’t I try guessing one by one?”
Without waiting for the others to respond, Wu Bin turned to the man and said, “Carpenter? Are you carpenters who make a living by chopping trees?”
The man shook his head regretfully. “Incorrect answer.”
The chef in front of Wu Bin moved.
The chef uncovered the left dish. Inside, the sea cucumber and abalone had turned into mush.
Black liquid teemed with writhing worms.
Wu Bin’s expression shifted slightly.
The man said, “Whether you answer correctly or not, you must eat it.”