At this, the "woman" froze.
Its movements of skinning the corpse paused, and it rolled its two gleaming eyes to look at Zhu Yan.
What did this low-level [Demon] mean?
No, or rather, what did the [Lord of the Feast] mean?
Did a workshop responsible for processing player meat also need to gather instance information?
The "woman" stared at Zhu Yan, trying to find some clues from him.
But there were none—
No matter how hard it stared, the other party was merely a low-level demon!
For a [Demon] of this level to even know the name [Lord of the Feast], it could only be because a high-level thriller creature had taken the initiative to tell it.
Furthermore...
The "woman" looked down at the corpse in its hands. The knife sliced precisely into the subcutaneous fat, continuing to carefully peel the skin off the back.
The grade of this player's meat was not high, so it certainly wouldn't make it to the dining table of the [Lord of the Feast].
It could only be meant as a gift for other low-level things.
"Understood."
The "woman" mumbled its reply to Zhu Yan, complaining endlessly in its heart.
"After I finish skinning, I will go report to the supervisor. Please wait a moment."
Compared to just now, its attitude was much more respectful.
Zhu Yan nodded, saying nothing.
He stood silently outside the courtyard gate, and a female voice chimed in at exactly the right moment.
"Player, you have cleared the instance [Family Feast]. The abilities available for capture are as follows:"
"Ability [I Must Take This Advantage] Lv.5, Ability [To Each Their Own Fate] Lv.3, Ability [Must Be Injured to Reflect Double Damage] Lv.5, Ability [I Want to Eat Cockroaches] Lv.5."
"You may freely choose the abilities you wish to capture."
Bright red text jumped onto his retinas, overlapping with the figure of the "woman" laboriously peeling skin.
Zhu Yan looked at the last two bizarre ability names and fell silent.
The fourth ability looked like something for a masochist.
However, reflecting damage upon being injured could still be somewhat useful at a critical, life-threatening moment, right?
But then again, Zhu Yan did not want to get hurt.
The fourth ability... the fourth ability...
Zhu Yan thought of the scene where Chen Zhaoxing grabbed two cockroaches and stuffed them into his mouth. At that time, the wings of those two cockroaches reflected a faint light in the corridor, looking very much like thin caramel.
Blech.
Zhu Yan gagged.
He could get healing potions, so why would he rely on eating cockroaches to restore health?
Moreover, Chen Zhaoxing and Xu Tongguang didn't have any deep grudges against him; they minded their own business.
There was no need to strip them of their abilities and cut off their means of survival.
Zhu Yan decisively locked his gaze on the first two abilities.
The female voice rang out cheerfully.
"Very well, player."
"You have successfully captured Ability [I Must Take This Advantage] Lv.5 and Ability [To Each Their Own Fate] Lv.3."
"Additionally."
The pitch of the female voice rose merrily.
"In the instance [Smash and Grab] and the instance [Family Feast], you used the Ability [Bringing Honor to the Ancestors] Lv.5."
"This ability has been upgraded to level six. Please check the Player Center later."
Oh, this was an unexpected pleasant surprise!
Zhu Yan felt a burst of joy in his heart.
"This ability did not trigger any hidden attributes, so it is merely a level upgrade,"
The female voice reminded him.
A level upgrade was still pretty good!
"In the instance [Family Feast], you used the Ability [Telekinesis] Lv.5."
"This ability is one instance away from upgrading to level six."
This was good too.
Not hard at all!
"The broadcast will not elaborate on the levels of the remaining abilities."
"Note that upgrading an ability from level six to level seven also requires 3 instances."
Three instances, that was acceptable.
Zhu Yan let out a breath of relief.
When the time came, if he wanted to slack off, he could go to the [Nightmare Bookstore] and grind some easy, small instances.
The female voice seemed to chuckle.
"Since the player entered an ability capture instance, [Carnival Paradise] will no longer provide specific monetary rewards or extra rest days."
Oh well, that wasn't a problem either.
He had robbed plenty of money anyway!
As for rest days...
Zhu Yan revealed a bitter smile.
When had he ever gotten a proper rest?
"Player, please keep up the good work," the female voice encouraged steadily. "After the next large-scale instance concludes, [Carnival Paradise] will launch a global public beta."
"We sincerely hope to see your name on the leaderboards!"
Holy crap.
Leaderboards? What leaderboards?
Global public beta... Is everyone going to enter the game?
Zhu Yan frantically asked questions in his mind, but the female voice had already disappeared.
The "woman" finished peeling the few human skins Zhu Yan had requested.
It hoarsely said, "Wait a moment," and snapped its fingers at those bloody, mangled bodies.
Zhu Yan couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea.
He watched helplessly as several lumps of dead meat floated up, drops of fresh blood falling one by one. It wasn't until the "woman" banished them, making them completely disappear behind the courtyard gate, that he blindly gathered the skins from the ground without even looking at them.
A few minutes later, a strange noise came from ahead.
Zhu Yan pulled his hood up and looked forward, discovering a creature—no, a "person"—
Walking in a reptilian posture.
The limbs of this "person" were stretched thin and long, each measuring a full two meters.
They were wrapped in exquisite fabric, supporting a body with a large belly yet distinct, protruding ribs.
Atop the body was a pointed, slender head. Even though the skin had the texture of human skin, the face only bore three pairs of compound eyes.
The "woman" walked respectfully behind it, its shriveled head bowed low.
"Supervisor, it is him." It pointed at Zhu Yan.
The eyes twitched and finally locked in unison onto Zhu Yan's hood.
"A request from the Lord of the Feast?"
A deep, robust voice sounded, as if it were coming from the creature's abdomen.
"Yes." Zhu Yan lowered his gaze submissively, inevitably feeling a bit nervous.
He definitely couldn't defeat this thing.
The [Hunter] mark on his right hand was also in a hidden state.
If he were exposed...
Would calling it Daddy be of any use?
Unexpectedly, that robust voice simply grunted meaninglessly twice.
"Very well. The information on the [Metabolism Module] isn't too hard to get. We will send it over tomorrow afternoon."
"Please ask the Lord of the Feast to take good care of our business, and preferably..."
The supervisor's compound eyes rolled, its four limbs crouched low, and its entire body suddenly leaned close to Zhu Yan's hood.
"Preferably, put in a few good words for me so I can get a promotion, or perhaps some other rewards. Because I did this all by myself."
The creature's tone began to turn very bizarre.
"Of course, you can't say that I asked for all of this myself."
"You know I could easily crush you to death, right, demon?"
The last sentence was a blatant threat.
But no matter what it threatened, everything was just a lie anyway.
As long as he obtained the precise information for the next instance, Zhu Yan's goal would be achieved.
"Of course."
Zhu Yan submissively lowered his head.
"I will properly convey your dedication, hard work, and selflessness!"
The "supervisor" snorted.
It retracted its body, raised a front claw to wave, and the courtyard gate slammed shut with a bang.
At the same time, the female voice unexpectedly rang out again.
"Congratulations, you have completed the [Hunter] quest!"
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
