Truth

Just now, Dragonfly said that the horrifying creature outside was a full Level 12.

Right on the nose, exactly one level lower than Zhu Yan’s blade.

But Zhu Yan remembered that during the meeting, that “Boss” had mentioned that the creature outside the door was “carrying a prop.”

Without knowing what that prop was, he had to be even more cautious.

The head chef could stay alive for a few more minutes.

When they called again to rush him, he could just let the chef answer for him.

So Zhu Yan continued torturing the head chef at a leisurely pace.

He deliberately fell silent, and as expected, the chef took the bait, eagerly spilling more information.

“They—they… if you go up there recklessly, you’ll be walking to your death! And they care a lot about the No. 5 [Key Fragment]. They’ve got some amusing games planned!”

Zhu Yan nodded, his tone flat and unreadable. “Oh. So earlier, when you encouraged me to go up, you wanted me dead—”

“Absolutely not!” The chef hurriedly denied it and immediately changed the subject. “That No. 5 [Key Fragment], they plan to pick a dish and put it in right on the spot.”

“And then?”

Interesting.

If he were there in person, he could just use [Telekinesis] and take it away, couldn’t he?

“Then… after the party ends, those dishes—along with the leftovers—will be used as the feast for [Chaos Game].”

“What exactly is this [Chaos Game]?” Zhu Yan was genuinely curious. “Why does the game even have a feast?”

Seeing that Zhu Yan was interested, the chef eagerly spilled everything.

“It… it was the Boss’s idea. I hear it’s a tribute to some movie he really likes? A… a flick?”

“Basically, there are 108 floors. Each floor gets a fixed number of players.”

“No food or water is provided. The main trunk will open, and the stairs will disappear. That feast table descends from the 108th floor through the center of the trunk—it’s their only source of food.”

“It moves from top to bottom, stopping at each floor for a set amount of time.”

“No new food is added along the way.”

Zhu Yan vaguely recalled this movie.

He hadn’t watched it; his younger brother had. He’d glanced at it a couple times while standing nearby.

A huge table piled with food slowly descending from the first floor, and that food was the building’s only survival resource.

But in the movie, this kind of torment only worked because people had no other way to get food.

“What if the players hoard food in their dorms?”

The chef shrugged, looking unconcerned.

“The reason [Metabolism Module] is called [Metabolism Module] is because the relationship between the main trunk and the rooms is fluid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rooms can be added or removed freely. The main trunk is alive, too.”

Oh, the main trunk really was alive.

Zhu Yan remembered when he first entered it—the dark red floor, soft and sticky, and the overwhelming smell of blood.

It really did feel like flesh.

“If a player hides in their dorm and won’t come out, that room gets metabolized immediately.”

“Even if the room is on the first floor and the fall doesn’t kill them outright, [Jubilant Paradise] will rule the instance a failure.”

Zhu Yan asked, “So all players have to gather in the corridor?”

“Yes.” The chef answered with deference.

“What about other things? What if players bring their own food?”

“As a [Hunter], how can you overestimate human nature so much?” The chef asked, somewhat stunned, despite the blade still embedded in his body.

“What food could possibly last them a full three days? Wouldn’t they fight over it?”

“And not everyone hoards food. Some will survive, but…”

Even though he was deeply afraid of Zhu Yan, the chef’s tone still revealed a flicker of cruelty.

“…a lot of players will die because of it. Especially those on the lower floors. Killing each other for food…”

“And every floor has hungry horror creatures watching.”

Zhu Yan understood.

What a crappy game. He wanted no part in it.

He just wanted to extract more information, finish the instance as quickly as possible, and go get a good night’s sleep.

“So why put the No. 5 [Key Fragment] in the feast?”

Zhu Yan continued asking. “If a player gets the [Key Fragment], they might have a way out.”

The chef gave a cruel smile.

Enduring the cold blade, he couldn’t help shifting his body to the side again.

Now, the wound on his chest was even bigger.

“But the stairs in the main trunk are gone,” he smiled at Zhu Yan. “The trunk only has the feast table. They can’t go up or down through the trunk.”

“If they jump onto the feast table, once it starts descending, the player on it gets eaten by the trunk.”

“…,” Zhu Yan was silent for a moment. “What about the floor change code?”

He didn’t move the blade anymore.

The chef seemed to relax a little.

He explained unhurriedly, “Under the Chaos Order, not even the office knows which code corresponds to which floor.”

“Everything is completely scrambled.”

Chaos Order.

“What about the [Chaos Order] fragment?”

Zhu Yan asked casually, glancing at the wound on the chef’s chest.

The blade was still very close to his vital spot.

If Zhu Yan wanted to, the chef would be dead in seconds.

It was a safe distance.

“…”

“How do you know so much—No!”

The blade suddenly stabbed toward the chef’s vital point.

The chef screamed, staring at the stopped knife in terror, still panicked.

“I don’t know! The fragments are deployed separately. That’s not my business!”

“The Order fragments are collected by them, with special guards! That’s the highlight of the process—”

“Then how are they deployed?”

“I’m just a cook!” The chef’s face twitched, on the verge of tears.

“How would I know? Let me go serve the dishes, and I promise I’ll find out for you.”

“I’ll stay until the feast ends and the game is about to start! I’ll come down in time and report to you—”

“Shut up,” Zhu Yan cursed.

The world fell silent, but the chef’s legs shook like sieves.

He couldn’t figure out this [Hunter]’s attitude anymore.

It seemed like he didn’t want to kill him.

But that knife he held, swinging left and right, its cold aura threatening his vitals—it scared the hell out of him.

Zhu Yan was deep in thought, waiting for the next phone call from outside.

The Order fragments were collected by them, with special guards.

Where could they be?

Could he trick them into revealing it?

No matter what, he had to solve the immediate problem first and get upstairs smoothly.

The other horror creatures here should be easy enough to handle. Only Dragonfly, with its high level, was tough.

If he could find some leverage to threaten Dragonfly, that would be perfect.

Yang Zhanbai had been upstairs all along, staying with Dragonfly.

He wondered if Yang Zhanbai might have some clues…

Zhu Yan kept calculating until the sound came from the tiles again.

“Chef, did you send a subordinate?”