Chapter 137 Mermaid Cruise

Before entering the kitchen, the strong smell of blood came out from the crack of the door.

The ingredients that had just had sad faces finally couldn't hold it in anymore. They were shrouded in fear and started crying and shouting. The scene was extremely chaotic.

"Ooooooooo help, no!"

"No, I don't want to go. I can do other things. Why do you want me to be a food ingredient..."

"Please, there are obviously people who are more suitable than me, why me?"

"Ahhhh I don't want to go in..."

The leader and other people responsible for delivering the food seemed to be accustomed to this kind of scene. They just looked at this group of crying and unfortunate people with expressionless faces, and some were even whispering about unimportant things with people around them.

These ingredients are going to die soon anyway, so there is no benefit in paying attention to them.

Xu Zhiyan stood to one side, looked at the amount of food, then looked at the transport team of only five people, with a puzzled expression.

"Aren't you afraid that the ingredients will rebel?" He asked, nudging the leader with his elbow.

“…They won’t resist.”

Although the leader didn't like the talkative young man around him, he still said a few words to him.

"The color of the bracelet has changed, and they have a new identity."

Seeing that Xu Zhiyan still had a confused look on his face, but handed him another box of cigarettes, the leader took the cigarettes, put them in his pocket, and began to explain in detail.

"On the ship, except for the guests, everyone who wants to survive in the black fog must have an 'identity'. Those without an identity will be killed by the fog."

After being selected, they no longer have their original identities and are all transformed into food ingredients.

"If they cannot become qualified ingredients, they will be killed by the black fog. Of course, if someone is lucky, they may survive and return to their original position."

Listening to the leader in front of him speaking, Xu Zhiyan's brows were furrowed and never relaxed.

"Can you survive by luck?"

What kind of luck can be called good luck?

Only then did he realize that the black coal burner's bracelet on his wrist had changed color at some point.

The bracelet turned red and white, like the texture of high-quality marbled beef.

The colors are appetizing.

The implications are chilling.

Seeing that the time was almost up, the leader asked his men to open the door and deliver the ingredients to the kitchen. He then turned to Xu Zhiyan and said, "For example, people like you are very lucky."

"…I'm lucky?"

Although he didn't know the basis for the other party's judgment, Xu Zhiyan expressed a little surprise.

After so many years, someone finally said that he was lucky.

The leader nodded slightly.

"This is a cannibal banquet. Every ingredient will be made into a dish and served to the guests."

"No matter what dish it is, as long as the customer is satisfied, their identity as ingredients ends. If they are lucky enough to survive, of course they can return to their original identity."

On the contrary, if the customers are not satisfied, the fate of the ingredients will be even more tragic.

Regardless of whether it is reworked or discarded, usually if the customers are not satisfied the first time, by the time the dish is served the second time, the ingredients are basically dead.

Xu Zhiyan nodded, secretly cursing what a perverted banquet it was.

Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are largely subjective judgments. No one can guarantee whether the diners will be satisfied with the dishes made with human flesh.

But this also reminded Xu Zhiyan.

Suppose he wanted to cause some trouble in the kitchen to ruin the banquet and force the ingredients to be taken away, it would be almost impossible.

"Squeak---"

The heavy metal door of the cannibal banquet kitchen was opened.

“Tick…”

“Tick-tock…tick-tock…”

Before entering the door, the sound of dripping water rang in my ears.

Xu Zhiyan followed at the end of the team, with the leader who was transporting the food standing next to him.

The entire kitchen was like hell on earth.

Near the door is a food storage area.

Rows of shelves are placed against the wall, piled with all kinds of food ingredients. In addition to fresh vegetables and fruits that are not common on ships, there are also some canned food, which are neatly classified and arranged.

A little further in is the area where meat is placed.

The bloody smell escaping from the crack of the door comes from here. In addition to the common fish on the ship and the dried meat hanging on the hooks on the ceiling, there are many other meats here.

There were cow legs with hair still on, whole chickens in cages, skinned lambs... and dead human bodies.

A small mountain of hands and dozens of feet were piled up in the corner of the shelf. There were so many of them that it was obvious that they were not delicious. The cut pieces of meat were neatly stacked, and yellow fat could be seen overflowing under the pale skin. A few internal organs were placed in the iron basin with dirty edges. Looking at it, they were all intestines, spleens and stomachs. At a glance, it was impossible to tell how many people they belonged to...

The disgusting smell mixed with blood, coupled with the increasingly loud shouting of the chefs, put the pressure on.

Before even leaving the food storage area, some people couldn't stand it anymore and vomited, holding their stomachs.

"Ugh—help—"

“Wow wow wow wow…”

Some people even collapsed to the ground, crying and gasping for breath.

The leader was not annoyed. He just stood there waiting for the ingredients to recover. Today had gone smoothly anyway, and there was still a lot of time, so he was not in a hurry.

What surprised him most was the ingredient with a blue bracelet.

After looking at the food storage area, the young man with a delicate face turned pale only at first, but he quickly adjusted himself. Not only was he not afraid, but he also looked around with great curiosity while waiting for other ingredients.

In the live broadcast room, the audience was unable to calm down along with the other ingredients. Instead, they followed Xu Zhiyan's perspective and began to explore the following content.

[Help... Ugh——]

[Ah, I saw someone with hair growing on his legs! White hair!]

[What's the fuss upstairs? Ugh, haven't you seen people with white hair? Ugh, the essence of human beings is flesh, what's wrong with having some white hair? Ugh——]

[I can't take it anymore. I want to take a break. I'm about to vomit acid.]

[Ahhh, Little Millionaire!! Can you please stop looking at this!!]

[Although I've said it once, but... but damn! Xiao Baiwan's mentality is really damn stable! He's not afraid of seeing a corpse. ]

[Gaming mentality? I think Xiao Baiwan’s state is more like that of the Joker…]

[Hey, Brother Chou published a book the day before yesterday and has already ranked tenth on the leaderboard. Who is he? He is just a newcomer with a small fortune of around one million. Don't be criticized.]

[The person above is talking about the gaming mentality? Before entering the game, Ugly King was a professional game player + anchor. He has played various horror games and is immune to horror scenes. He himself said that every time he sees a human corpse, he tells himself that this is a game and an NPC, and then he will improve a lot. ]

[Indeed... Xiao Baiwan should also have this kind of talent. ]

Unlike the audience who were forced to look into the kitchen scene and were about to suffocate and faint.

Seeing that the leader did not stop him, Xu Zhiyan strolled around and looked at the kitchen storage area and the partition and washing area at the back.

The kitchen utensil storage, as the name suggests, stores various kitchen utensils; the partition and washing area has a whole row of faucets facing a rectangular metal chopping board for chefs to divide and wash the ingredients.

Further in is the preparation and cooking area.

It was noisy and bustling with people. It was only afternoon, but the chefs were already busy preparing for the evening dinner.

Xu Zhiyan wanted to go forward, but was called back by the leader.

"Go stand at the back. I need to take you to meet the chef to confirm the list." Although the leader had already determined that the young man in front of him was telling the truth, according to the procedure, the leader still needed to confirm it.

"Okay." Xu Zhiyan shrugged and returned to the team.

Looking at the ingredients who were crying like fools, he pursed his lips and said nothing more.

Are you going to just leave it alone?

Although he knew that these people were just NPCs and consumables in the game, their appearance was almost identical to that of humans, so Xu Zhiyan could not completely ignore them.

Watching humans being killed and eaten was a bit too much for him.

Soon, everyone lined up and walked forward, where they met the chef who came out to greet them personally.

The moment he saw the chef, Xu Zhiyan thought of the man who had collected fees on the shore.

The tall man was wearing a chef's uniform and a tall chef's hat on his head. His upper body looked no different from a human, but his lower body had completely mutated into the appearance of an octopus.

The thick tentacles have round suction cups, each of which is covered with teeth. It seems that the mutation is still continuing, and it will sooner or later become a complete sea monster.

The leader smiled, showing his sharp teeth, and greeted the chef: "Good afternoon, I am not late today, but there are some unexpected things, and I need to confirm the menu."

The chef nodded: "No problem."

The ingredients were delivered on time without any delay, which made the chef very easy to talk to. The menu was delivered by a curled tentacle.

It contains the guests' names, photos, seats, and the main dishes they will be having at the dinner.

Xu Zhiyan also wanted to see, but just as he took a step forward, the chef's tentacle swung on the ground in front of him like a whip, making a "snap" sound and a crack appeared on the floor.

"Ingredients, I hope you know a few rules." The chef's voice was serious, full of disdain for humans.

Looking around, he found that all the chefs stopped their work at hand and looked at him seriously at the chef's voice. Xu Zhiyan decisively chose to be timid and took a few steps back instead of confronting him head-on.

There are too many people here, and if we confront them head-on, the evil spirits may not be able to defeat the offenders.

The leader had a strange expression after reading the menu. He ignored the looks from the people around him and approached Xu Zhiyan and whispered, "Didn't you notify your master?"

"What?" Xu Zhiyan was stunned.

"It says that the young master's taste is 'roll'... Well, although it should be the recorder's fault, but..."

The identity of the ingredients has been obtained, and if the customer is not satisfied, it will not be restored.

"Don't worry, he is rather shy and I didn't tell him in advance." Xu Zhiyan smiled and didn't take it seriously at all.

Seeing that he looked confident, the leader went to explain the situation to the chef.

A few minutes later, the waiter in charge of the transportation left.

As the heavy iron door closed, all the food that was delivered this time fell into deep despair.

…

Next to the stove, the octopus tentacles rolled up a spoon and scooped a spoonful of broth from the soup pot into the chef's mouth.

It savored it carefully and frowned.

An octopus tentacle rolled up a white bottle and poured some liquid into it. Then it manipulated the spoon to stir the pot and took another sip.

Just as the chef's brows relaxed, a kitchen assistant, sweating profusely, ran over cautiously.

"Chef, he...Ingredient No. 1, said, asked you to come over!"

"trouble."

The chef's brows, which had just relaxed, frowned again, but because of the man's special identity, he could only go over reluctantly.

When it arrived at the grocery warehouse, it looked at the young man picking carrots in the box. The veins on its forehead couldn't help but throb, but when it thought of the menu, it had to hold back and didn't even dare to say anything harsh.

"What can I do for you?" the chef asked.

Before attending the party, all guests on the ship must participate in the cannibal banquet. Of course, if there are those who particularly like this food, they can participate many times. After all, the cannibal banquet is held every night.

It knows something about that distinguished young master.

The other party doesn't like cannibalism and basically doesn't even look at these things. Every year, the waiter who records them is simply told to get lost.

Originally I was thinking that since the other party hadn't specified anything, I could just cook something this year to fool them. But I didn't expect that tonight's dinner specified that each guest at the table would receive a whole human... Using a whole human to make dishes that suit their professional characteristics would be too difficult for it!

I didn’t expect the chef to come so quickly. Xu Zhiyan was putting a few carrots into Yaya’s backpack.

"I have a small question. I hope Mr. Chef can answer it." He stuffed a few carrots in his hand into the bag as if nothing had happened and stared at the chef with a smile.

This guy's tentacles are very strong. Just a casual touch caused cracks in the tiles, which shows how powerful he is.

It is also said that the chef is in charge of the drinks and food at the party.

Just decided to control it!

The chef was confused.

The next second, the light bulb in the grocery room shattered and the door of the grocery room suddenly closed.

"Bang--"

After a loud bang, a strong fishy smell filled the room.

"What's going on!"

The chef sensed danger, and the tentacles on his lower body suddenly exploded and stretched out in all directions. He looked at the young man who called him over and wanted to yell at him, but found that the other party had jumped onto the bag of potatoes and was shrinking in the corner with his eyes wide open.

Xu Zhiyan stretched out his hand tremblingly and pointed behind the chef.

"Behind you, there's something behind you... on the ground... there's a lot of it on the ground!"

Attacking the person in charge on board was not an option, as he would be in big trouble if he was spotted.

So to be on the safe side, Xu Zhiyan planned to disguise himself as Little White Flower before the battle between the violator evil spirit and the chef was over. Anyway, the evil spirit was parasitic on the black box. If he lost, the worst that could happen was that he would return to the box and hide. If questioned, he would just say he knew nothing.

The chef also discovered that the problem came from the surroundings.

Its powerful tentacles supported him as he catapulted to the side, holding onto the shelves to gain a foothold, but before he could find his enemy, he discovered that something had climbed up its tentacles.

A sticky touch came from the tentacles.

A light blue sea slug was crawling up the chef's body along the end of its tentacle.

"Snap!" The huge octopus tentacle slapped the tiny sea slug away, and the chef breathed a sigh of relief.

But after a few seconds, it realized that there was no point in slapping one away.

More and more mollusks appeared on the ground around us.

Their colors became richer and their speed became faster. The chef had no choice but to continue flapping his tentacles, trying to keep the sea slugs away from him.

But these soft and squishy little things seemed endless. When they were slapped in half, they became two. The more they were slapped, the more they appeared...

Xu Zhiyan sat on a pile of potatoes and watched, adding to the tense atmosphere from time to time.

"On the ground! On the left!"

"Mr. Chef, please be careful with your step!"

"Right, right, right! Chef, turn around and look. It's on the right..."

The chaotic command made the chef slap the floor of the grocery room like crazy, but the tentacles in his hands had already caught a lot of colorful sea slugs, and many of them fell on his neck and began to crawl into the facial holes.

When the chef remembered to open the door and go out, he found that the door was covered with dense sea slugs.

Glancing at the ceiling, Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief.

The plan is passed.

Just before calling the chef over, Xu Zhiyan asked the violator, the evil spirit, whether he could control the chef or take him down head-on.

The answer is no.

Half of the chef's body has turned into a sea monster, and its strength is no longer as weak as that of a human. The violating evil spirits are powerless against it unless they can get these sea slugs to drill into the chef's body.

In order to allow the chef to successfully become the subject of blood vessel control, Xu Zhiyan had to make arrangements in advance.

First, let the violator evil spirit create countless sea slugs and hide them on the surrounding shelves. When the chef is surrounded by chaos, the violator evil spirit hidden in the ceiling can take advantage of the chaos to throw them around the chef's head.

When the first sea slug burrowed into the chef's body, the chef began to panic visibly, and could barely move its tentacles as more and more of the slugs engulfed it.

The violator evil spirits on the ceiling are almost reaching their limit.

Among the three people present, only Xu Zhiyan was not affected at all. Even at this time, he still did not forget to buy some things, and from time to time he picked up some canned vegetables from the shelf nearby and stuffed them into his bag and took them away.

In the live broadcast room, the audience watched the monsters fighting each other nervously.

[Ahhh, this octopus chef is so awesome that the walls are cracked. ]

[Is this an S-level weapon? The damage is really high. A shelf next to it was flattened by it. If the evil ghost brother faces it head-on, he will definitely not be able to defeat it. ]

[I definitely can't beat +1. This is a small BOSS-level elite monster. It should be the strongest BOSS in the Cannibal Banquet line. ]

[…The player who was sent here this morning was the one killed by the Octopus Chef.]

[Gah, how could this be! Is it the player who didn't pay? ]

[It was him. He came on board as a kitchen helper. He probably thought he knew the kitchen better. I saw he had prepared some special tools to deal with octopuses, but they didn't work. The skin of this octopus was very hard and he couldn't penetrate it at all.]

[Xiao Baiwan probably decided to hire this cook because he saw that the evil spirit brother could devour from the inside...]

[srds, Xiao Baiwan made me laugh to death, he is such a bandit, why didn't he even let go of the potatoes! ]

[Hahahahahahaha, he even broke off the sprouts of the sprouted potatoes. ]

[Awesome, you even don't let go of sprouted potatoes, right? 】

Following the lively discussion in the barrage.

The battle between the octopus and the sea slug is coming to an end.

Xu Zhiyan had already changed two backpacks and started stuffing potatoes into the third backpack.

By the time he had finished packing the sundry warehouse into big bags, the Octopus Chef was lying on the ground, dying, and the violator evil spirit was also overwhelmed, with the sea slugs in his eye sockets already dried up.

Xu Zhiyan was very grateful after taking out the box and collecting the violator's evil spirit.

"Thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to me!"

The evil spirit looked at him with its eyes pricked up, perhaps wanting to say something, but since there was no medium to communicate, it could only shut up and disappear.

Squatting beside the chef, Xu Zhiyan poked the octopus tentacle hanging on the ground with his fingertips, took out a dagger, and cut a gash on his fingertips.

A small piece of black blood flowed from the wound and fell onto the body of the Octopus Chef.

This is to prevent other players from noticing that the blood vessels are similar to those in the Nightmare District.

I saw a ball of blood wrapped in black blood vessels slowly crawling onto the face of the chef, and then drilling into the chef's eye sockets. A small bulge protruded from the eyelid and moved towards the forehead.

Xu Zhiyan felt that the scene around him changed for a moment. It seemed that in the judgment of the gap space, the chef had been "defeated" by him.

Ten seconds later, the unconscious chef suddenly opened his eyes.

It opened its mouth wide and spat out a dozen sea slugs that had drilled into its body. After that, it slowly stood up. Compared with its huge body, the humans in front of it looked particularly small.

"Owner."

The chef bent down, all the octopus tentacles spread out, and spoke respectfully to Xu Zhiyan.

Xu Zhiyan let out a long sigh.

Smooth implantation and smooth control.

Seeing the chef's hat rolling down, he bent down to pick up the hat and planned to hand it to the chef.

As a result, the moment he touched the hat, a new side quest appeared.

[Congratulations to the player for triggering the branch quest - Chef's Hat]

[Note: It is detected that the player has gained control of the cannibal banquet dishes, and the chef's task indicators are now transferred to you. ]

[Note: For the entire dinner, 80% of the guests need to be satisfied.]

[Tip: Please prepare dishes according to the menu]

[Reward: When a guest selects "satisfied" on the rating form, you will receive 5,000 points. ]

[Reward: When satisfaction reaches 100%, you will receive the item [Delicious Soup Spoon]]

When he saw the front, Xu Zhiyan was shocked at first, thinking that he was tricked by the system again, but when he saw the back, he found that the rewards for this hidden branch were unexpectedly rich.

"Well, let's talk about the dishes for a while."

He narrowed his eyes and took the customized dinner menu from Chef Octopus.

…

Bai Jin hates cannibal banquets.

He didn't understand why anyone would be so keen on holding a banquet where humans were used as food.

But he had to come.

Before the party started, he needed to stay at this disgusting dinner for a while until the disgusting dishes got cold and were taken away.

In the luxurious banquet hall, guests were toasting each other, and everyone's glass was filled with bright red liquid.

It is fresh human blood.

A strong smell of blood filled the hall.

Bai Jin unscrupulously released low pressure to drive away the guests who wanted to come up to him and chat with him.

The appetizers appeared with the aroma of food.

There was piping hot and fragrant soup, and exquisitely presented bread. The guests reacted differently. Some were very interested in the main course, while others were chewing bread and waiting to leave.

Pure white candles were burning on exquisite silver candlesticks, and the flickering flames seemed to burn even more vigorously in the lively atmosphere.

Finally, it was time for the main course.

One by one, the waiters brought up the main dishes that were meant for the guests.

When the lid was opened, everyone was stunned.

There is a bowl in front of everyone, and in the bowl there is half a bowl of... water?

Bai Jin frowned.

He was different from others. There was no bowl on his plate, only a piece of paper.

[Please give a five-star praise~]

It was Xu Zhiyan’s handwriting, with a heart drawn behind it.

“…”

Just before Bai Jin came to his senses, a sudden and clear voice came from the door.

"Good evening, everyone. Now the chef and I will introduce to you the main course for tonight."

Xu Zhiyan was wearing a white chef's uniform, a chef's hat in his hand, and an apron that tightened his waist, making him look extremely thin. At first glance, it seemed as if he could be grasped with two hands.

Bai Jin's heart was pounding.

He wanted to scold the other party for not staying in the room obediently, but seeing Xu Zhiyan like this, he couldn't say a word.

The young man's flamboyant smile attracted the attention of all the guests present.