The Bait

"Ha. You'll definitely get what you wish for."

Dragonfly gave a slight bow.

This bastard—it had to set up surveillance for him without receiving a single gold coin, essentially working for free.

But the Hunter had paid it over four hundred bone coins, and the surveillance fee was already covered by the Hunter.

Now that was what a good member of the Lazy Crafts Shop looked like—a proper customer!

Since its fine customer also wanted the freeloader to witness the footage of "the Hunter's death," Dragonfly naturally had to go all out to fulfill that request.

"The Lazy Crafts Shop is always at your service. Do you have any other needs?"

Ji Xiting squinted his eyes in delight, watching the Hunter turn the corner of the corridor and nimbly hide in a spot very close to the head chef's workstation.

"Fun," he commented with relish. "Ah, right. It just occurred to me. You said earlier that the Hunter knocked you out, didn't you?"

...That damn brat really got a good deal out of this. So much nonsense.

Dragonfly smiled on the surface while gritting its teeth inwardly.

Ha—this piece of trash could only see the Hunter's footage thanks to the Hunter's own contributions.

What a lucky bastard!

Dragonfly cursed Ji Xiting's ancestors eighteen generations back in its heart, yet on the surface remained perfectly courteous.

"That's right," it said. "I mentioned that the Hunter has a high-grade weapon."

"Oh—" Ji Xiting let out a drawn-out, mocking sigh.

"Gee, my homeroom teacher always used to scold me for being careless. Look at me—so careless indeed."

"Your body should be level 14, right? You're saying the Hunter's weapon is level 14 or higher?"

"That's not good at all." Ji Xiting sighed deeply, tousling his bangs and stroking the bone bead necklace around his neck.

"It just hit me—the corpse minions I sent over were only level twelve or ten. Shouldn't I send some level fifteen ones over?"

Dragonfly stammered, its expression turning sour.

Damn it. It had forgotten about that too.

Who knew this freeloader's reaction time was so long? The good Hunter had already wiped out most of the corpse minions by now, and only then does this brat think of the loophole?

That wouldn't do.

As the Hunter had said, if Dragonfly didn't provide cover for the Hunter, Dragonfly itself would die a miserable death.

If Ji Xiting really sent reinforcements, then the fake surveillance would be exposed as well.

At that thought, Dragonfly awkwardly stepped forward with a grim face and quietly admitted its mistake.

"Uh, well, actually, that's not true."

"I only said that to get my vacation approved... In reality, I've seen the Hunter's blade. It's only level eight."

Right—level eight before the upgrade.

Ji Xiting raised one eyebrow. "Oh."

He then stood up, grabbed one of Dragonfly's insect legs, and yanked hard.

Riiip—

The joint connecting the leg to the body tore apart.

Fluid mixed with shattered chitin dripped down, while Ji Xiting simply looked up to admire the scene for a moment, then casually tossed the leg into the wastebasket.

"That's what happens when you lie." He flashed his canine teeth with a grin, but at least he dropped the matter of sending more troops.

"Fine then. Get lost. I'm watching TV—do whatever you want."

Dragonfly dragged its broken body, yet the corners of its mouth curled upward incongruously, revealing a row of jagged, uneven teeth.

"Boss, I've learned my lesson."

"How about I stay here and watch TV with you?"

"That way, I can fix any surveillance issues at a moment's notice."

This perfect puppet had been ruined by Ji Xiting just like that.

It wasn't taking sides, of course, but it had to endure humiliation to protect the rights of its esteemed member.

After all, its member had demanded that Ji Xiting watch the Hunter's head get chopped off.

Once all that was done, it would go deliver the head chef's uniform to the distinguished Hunter.

"Not a bad attitude, but your smile's a bit ugly."

Ji Xiting waved dismissively, pulled out a bucket of popcorn, and let Dragonfly stand behind him.

On the surveillance feed, the Hunter had already ditched the pursuing corpse minions and taken another corridor to reach the room where the porcelain doll was.

Then, the Hunter's appearance shifted rapidly, transforming into a Doppelgänger.

"This is a setting I specially added," Dragonfly quickly covered. "So you can clearly see every trick the Hunter pulls."

Inside the kitchen.

Zhu Yan gathered the meat chunks, planning to hand them over to the Human-Spider Supervisor after leaving the dungeon.

He leisurely prowled around the head chef's workstation and came across a large refrigerator against the wall.

Inside the fridge were countless strange black flesh-fruits and other ingredients Zhu Yan had never seen before, along with a bizarre fish with human eyeballs.

Zhu Yan rummaged through the fridge repeatedly until he found a frozen-stiff manuscript in a drawer full of various sauce bottles.

The handwriting on the manuscript was sharp and twisted, but just like the earlier Lease Contract, Zhu Yan could understand what the words meant.

"Recipe: Sliced fish cursed by the water god. Place No. 13 secret sauce into a pot, bring water to a boil, then add the fish and cook..."

This recipe spanned five full pages.

Zhu Yan skimmed through it rapidly, finally catching crucial information at the end of the recipe.

"Be sure to make enough to fill the bellies of 15 high-grade horror creatures, and generously include plenty of fresh human meat..."

Fifteen.

Meaning, the number of participants in this "feast" was fifteen?

Zhu Yan pondered thoughtfully.

If it was fifteen horror creatures, the stock the Feng family had should be enough, right?

Zhu Yan cleaned out all the ingredients in the fridge and found a cabinet with serving carts and a large assortment of plates of different sizes next to it.

Good.

With these, he could almost just wait quietly for the feast to begin.

Zhu Yan casually pulled over two soft chairs and pieced them together into a makeshift bed.

He lounged comfortably, bent his knees, and logged into the Player Forum.

...

Inside the Lazy Crafts Shop.

Yang Zhanbai's forehead was dotted with cold sweat as he stared intently at Zhu Zeyu's avatar.

Why? Because the video Zhu Zeyu had sent over was absolutely terrifying!

At first, the Hunter only stood in the distance amid a pile of shredded flesh.

But then he quickly spotted Zhu Zeyu and walked toward the camera with a swaying, drunken gait.

Yang Zhanbai had merely wanted to warn Zhu Zeyu to be careful.

What he hadn't expected was that after the Hunter got close, he suddenly threw back his hood, revealing the face hidden in the shadows.

It was a face with a creepy smile—identical to Zhu Zeyu's!

"What's going on?"

Yang Zhanbai clenched his fists, growing anxious.

"Why does it feel like the Hunter has latched onto Zhu Zeyu... Wearing his face like that, how are we supposed to tell them apart when we get there?"

Qi Yinming finished watching the video Yang Zhanbai had forwarded.

"Go after him?" He shook his head. "At this rate, if we go, we might die the moment we reach that floor. I think we should trust Zhu Zeyu's luck first and wait for his next update."