Chapter 70

A Female Player climbed onto the high stool next to Lu Li.

The back of her clothes was bulging, as if she was carrying something.

Panting, she sat down and leaned over eagerly. “Lu Li, are you going to join Feng Shan’s team?”

Lu Li asked in confusion, “Do we know each other?”

“I know you! Your moves in the previous Instances were incredible.” The Female Player introduced herself. “I’m Yu Ying. If you don’t want to join Feng Shan, is your team still looking for someone? Would I be good enough?”

Lu Li replied, “We’re not short on people. I also don’t team up.”

Yu Ying didn’t give up. She pushed up the back of her clothes, revealing a Gold Brick tied with a Hemp Rope.

“I saw you and your companion didn’t take any treasure in the last Instance. I searched for a long time and picked out this Gold Brick worth 500,000 Points. If we clear the Instance and can exchange it for Points, I’ll give you half.”

“Its only drawback is that it’s a bit heavy.” Yu Ying grimaced as she tightened the Hemp Rope around the Gold Brick, apparently unfazed by the bloody marks it left on her body.

Because she was carrying the Gold Brick, she had to hunch over at the dining table.

Lu Li replied politely, “Thank you, but I don’t need it.”

Luo Jia Bai, his friend, sat down right next to Lu Li, puzzled by the player’s actions. “Why don’t you leave the Gold Brick in your room at night?”

“If I leave it in the room, the Evil Spirit will definitely steal it. I barely slept last night, spending the whole night fending off the Evil Spirit so it wouldn’t steal it. That’s why I tied the Gold Brick to myself with a rope, so I can carry it everywhere.”

She pointed at several other Players at the table, whose sitting posture also seemed unnatural. “Everyone’s doing the same.”

“You may begin eating. Maid, serve everyone,” Mrs. Qiao said disdainfully. “Food touched by poor people’s chopsticks must not come near what I’m going to eat.”

Each Player had a Maid standing beside them, identical in appearance and nearly synchronized in their movements.

Each Player’s plate was piled high with food like a small mountain.

Almost every dish in the center of the table had already been served by the Maids.

Only the large soup pot in the very center remained untouched.

Most of the cut fruits and vegetables on the Players’ plates were overflowing with juice.

The Maid poured white Salad Dressing from above.

On Lu Li’s plate, the dressing flowed down the food, but in one direction it moved the slowest.

He turned the plate to observe.

Then he picked up the fork on the table.

Luo Jia Bai, swallowing his saliva, pressed down on Lu Li’s hand. “It looks delicious, but don’t eat anything from the Instance.”

During Game Night, he had been frugal: only eating Compressed Biscuits, occasionally buying a bucket of Instant Noodles, and even sharing soup with his Evil Spirit.

This kind of feast was extremely tempting.

“I’m not eating,” Lu Li said. “There’s something in the plate.”

He stirred the fruits and vegetables with his fork, peeling back several layers, and the corner of a piece of paper slid out from the Salad Dressing.

Lu Li put down the knife, wrapped the square piece of paper in a napkin, and pulled it out, wiping it clean.

It was a Hand-drawn Card carefully covered with a waterproof film.

On the card, a wide blue sea was drawn. By the shore was a reef, and on the reef, with his back turned, sat a long-haired man, half his body soaking in the sea.

The man’s hair was curly and thick, smooth like seaweed.

Lu Li felt embossed marks on the back of the card.

He turned it over and saw a few lines written on the back.

[I was practicing the piece for the Masquerade Ball by the sea when I met him.]

[He was so beautiful, but he left too quickly.]

[Who is he? How can I see him again?]

Lu Li stared at the card, lost in thought.

Now there were two questions.

Who is the person drawn on the card?

Who drew the card and left the message?

Lu Li and Luo Jia Bai’s Wristbands vibrated simultaneously.
[Key Item Exploration Progress: +0.2]

“There was actually an Item hidden in here!” Luo Jia Bai watched Lu Li’s entire set of actions in disbelief, then hurried to rummage through his own little mountain of fruits and vegetables.

“Nothing, I even checked the sauce. There’s nothing in my dish.” Luo Jia Bai came up empty-handed and sighed, “What kind of heaven-defying luck do you have?”

“This tastes awful!”

Mrs. Qiao was chewing fruit when she suddenly shouted, angrily spitting several bits of pulp onto the table. “The fruit looks beautiful, but it has no flavor at all!”

She vented at Mr. Qiao, “Just like those ugly things you bring home! Dyed, fake, tricking me!”

The more she spoke, the angrier she became. Her plump face squeezed together, her features shifting with rage until her eyes moved to the very top of her head.

Mrs. Qiao threw the fruit at the maid. “I gave you so much money, and you only bring back things that taste bad?”

Mr. Qiao quickly embraced her. “Darling, don’t be angry. Let the maid buy them again! She’ll bring back better ones!”

Mrs. Qiao leaned gently against him. “We once took in a Hunter and the child he found. I wonder how they are now, living among the Nobles? I remember they came up from the Poor Village too. How many years ago was that?”

“Darling, I don’t remember. You know, every day with you is so sweet, it feels like the first day we fell in love.”

Mrs. Qiao beamed with joy, no longer blaming the maid, and began reminiscing. “The Hunter’s child used to help me grow fruit in the garden. It always looked ugly, but tasted wonderful.”

Mrs. Qiao shoved a handful of produce toward her nostrils, sniffed it, then suddenly flew into a rage, smashing the plates onto the floor. “Why does today’s food also taste so bad? The maid’s cooking has gotten so much worse-I want to replace her! Damn it, why am I never satisfied even after hiring more than twenty maids?”

She stood up, grasped a spoon with her thick arm, and with the other hand lifted the steaming soup pot, showing its mouth to the players.

“The food is terrible, so guests, have some of the soup I made first.”

The large spoon kept stirring the milky soup.

Soup splattered everywhere, spraying onto each player’s face.

Gurgling-

A strange sound came from the bottom of the soup.

“I’m speechless.” Luo Jia Bai’s glasses were splashed with soup. He immediately took them off and searched for paper to wipe them. “She dares to scold the maid, but she can’t even stir her own soup properly.”

“Usually there are only two people at home, and we can never finish this pot of soup. But with so many guests today, we should be able to finish it.”

Mrs. Qiao served a bowl of soup to each player.

White steam rose from the bowls, emitting a tempting aroma.

The soup pot in Mrs. Qiao’s hand was gradually running empty.

Gurgling-

The sound from the bottom of the pot grew louder and louder.

Yu Ying, weighed down by the gold ingot on her back, thought the milky soup in front of her smelled more and more delicious, and she couldn’t help but press her whole face closer.

She told herself that nothing in the instance should be eaten.

But she still couldn’t help but lick the soup splashed onto her face with her tongue.

It was so delicious.

When she looked up, she happened to see the now-empty soup pot.

At the bottom of the pot lay a dead infant, curled up and clutching its knees.

Yu Ying’s stomach churned and she couldn’t help but vomit.

Mrs. Qiao looked at the pot with the eyes atop her head and began to cry. “Darling, isn’t this our only child who went missing years ago? He’s not dead! He’s here! He still has a faint breath-I’ve finally found him!”

She turned around and commanded the players, “Go quickly and find the real Red Coral to save my child!”

All the doors and windows around the dining room slammed shut one after another, making a thunderous noise.

Mr. Qiao said, “If you don’t find the Red Coral, you’re not allowed to leave!”