You Will Surely Love It

In the office.

Ji Xiting happily maneuvered his character across the map with agile jumps, glancing at the surveillance mirror in a spare moment.

“A custom serving cart just for a fancy presentation, huh.”

He let out a snicker: “Well then, let’s hope it wows every horror creature out there.”

A buzzing static noise came from the speakers, sharp and grating—clearly the Dragonfly had started its cutting work.

Ji Xiting, still gaming, irritable stretched out a fist and slammed it against the speaker.

With a sizzling crackle of electricity, the speaker went silent.

“So damn noisy.” He shook his neatly trimmed sidelock bangs. “As soon as this match is done, I gotta go change. God, why are there so many idiots in the V-zone too?”

The Doppelganger glanced at the [toad venom] oozing down the table.

These stains looked like crystallized honey, but greasier and tackier.

What is this?

How did this come out of the speakers?

Still…

The Doppelganger thought of that Dragonfly from [Lazy Man’s Craft Shop].

Probably some new technique all the rage—that shop was famous for its fine workmanship anyway.

It walked over, dutifully wiped away the mess, and tossed it all into a nearby trash can.

“Alright, boss.” The Doppelganger answered with full deference, standing behind Ji Xiting and focusing on the phone screen.

“I’ll remind you when it’s time.”

…

Inside the [Kitchen].

The Dragonfly took off its welding mask and patted the brand-new serving cart.

“Done.” It showed Zhu Yan the hole at the front of the cart, then produced a piece of red velvet cloth from somewhere.

“Spread that on top to cover the hole. Pose your puppet in a kneeling stance, and have its head come through here like this…”

Zhu Yan checked the time and, with a wave of his hand, brought out the puppet.

Only 40 minutes remained until the feast began.

According to what the Dragonfly had been muttering to him secretly, once a gallery of horrifying creatures had taken their seats and the service bell rang, he was to push the cart upstairs bearing the dishes.

Zhu Yan struggled to shove the puppet under the cart, leaving only its head sticking through the hole.

He tested it, making sure the puppet could easily be withdrawn back into the ring in that position, then carefully arranged the red velvet cloth around its head as decoration.

“Perfect, absolutely crushing it.” The Dragonfly said. “Now put the cleaned body on top. Hey—what are you doing?”

Zhu Yan chopped away the man’s ruined ribs at the chest, revealing a fully hollow, empty thoracic cavity.

“To keep it from looking suspicious.” Zhu Yan said. “This body has no [Trembling Ecstasy] in it. Serving it as-is would be too ugly, and easy to smell out.”

The Dragonfly shot Zhu Yan a somewhat startled look, then bent down and continued repairing his insect legs.

“How many dungeon runs have you cleared? Lots of folks in Bairu City wouldn’t know this little trick.”

“Never counted.”

Truly lost count, but in such a short time, he seemed to have changed a lot.

Zhu Yan dragged the meticulously groomed corpse up onto the dining cart, bending its stiff hands into a clasped praying position.

Then, from his ring, he pulled out a pile of food bags holding Feng Yaozu, Feng Qiang, and the others, and dumped a huge batch of piping hot sweet-and-sour spare ribs—prepared by the [Human-Spider Supervisor]—into the empty chest cavity.

A thick, rich aroma rose up, mingling with the scent of blood and slime in the room, enough to make Zhu Yan gag once.

The Dragonfly froze completely.

Its huge compound eyes stared in shock at Zhu Yan: “Where did you get THAT dish from?!”

That smell—clearly not from any ordinary kitchen.

How on earth did this [Hunter] have access to something like this?

Were those creatures from the [Court of the Many Faces] giving it to him, or…

How could he be blessed with such an honor?

Zhu Yan pulled out a bottle of the Bartender’s premium custom [Trembling Ecstasy], and sprayed a few spritzes over the meat inside the cavity.

“I’ll pay you two bone coins to do a smell test.”

He pulled two palm-sized gold coins from his ring and tossed them over. “This is business, not taking sides. Just tell me—is this aroma rich and full enough?”

The Dragonfly flattered beyond expectation.

It swept up the coins with an insect leg, pocketing them with refined skill, then strode over with a composed air.

“Ohh, ohh.” The Dragonfly stretched its head forward, sniffing left and right.

“Take my command. One spray here, and here… shift left, that’s less... yeah, keep going just like that…”

Watching Zhu Yan carefully arrange a bloody dish that bordered on art, the Dragonfly suddenly sighed.

“Someone with talent like yours dying is such a waste.”

“What?”

The Dragonfly sighed once more: “You have prepared everything to the last detail.”

“But you’re dealing with the [Eye of the Abyss].”

“You can certainly handle Ji Xiting. But toying with the [Eye of the Abyss]—the only way out is death.”

“Besides, they won’t be handing over [Key Fragments] so easily.”

Zhu Yan didn’t respond, just lowered his head to check the arranged puppet, and took out the tube of [Copy Paste] the Dragonfly had given him.

Carefully, he replicated the [Hunter] mark of identification onto the right palm of the corpse.

Who says they won’t hand it over?

These creatures intended to put the [Key Fragment] into a dish.

From Zhu Yan’s perspective, if he wanted to balance “artistry” and “dramatic impact,” the number one choice was none other than this “ [Hunter] Sashimi.”

The preferred body part would be…

Zhu Yan looked left and right, kneading the puppet’s face into a slightly parted lips expression.

The preferred part went without saying—the [Hunter]’s MOUTH!

…

Forty-five minutes later.

Zhu Yan wore the pure white new uniform, with a golden halo floating above his head—gotten from a pocket in the old head chef’s outfit.

He pushed the serving cart, following the directional signs along the hallway, crossing a corridor spread with black soft carpet, moving briskly toward the banquet hall.

“It’s been centuries.”

Seated at the table, a man with a long, triangular face droned wearily.

His head had a strange shape—as if it had been roughly hacked with an axe.

On his pale, near-gray face were two thin goat’s beard mustaches.

“…Humans’ approaches to fear don’t change at all in the slightest. No creativity whatsoever. Those players in our game today—less mature than the kids back when we were around.”

Beside him sat a fully festering, dark red gown-clad woman.

Half the rotten mess of a face had been dusted over with heavy white lead powder, faintly showing the purplish-gray skin beneath.

“I think it’s quite amusing, though. Nearly half of these players survived, and the other half are just in time to play our little games.”

Her half-decayed eyeball swiveled, precisely locking onto Ji Xiting across the table.

“Still, the youngsters have imagination. Isn’t playing with human hearts fun?”

“Food’s food.” A masked horror creature mumbled heavily. “…Hmmmpf. I don’t care for these tricks; kill a large enough batch of people, and you’ll pick up the pattern.”

“I only care about THIS meal!”

The dull, gritting sound of cart wheels rolling across the carpet reached every creature’s ears.

“Today’s dish is specially refined, quite exquisite.” Ji Xiting rushed to say.

The other creatures’ presences were like a deep, deathly still pool, while his clearly simmered more restless and anxious than the rest.

"Just as I told you gentlemen, the first Hunter is dead."

"I turned him into a dish... You're all going to love it!"