Jiang Ling was only momentarily dazed when Sun Yixin, who had been leading her, vanished. Unfortunately, now was clearly not the right time to retreat. She could only mentally resent Sun Yixin's lack of moral integrity. She bravely walked into this chaotic place, like a pure lamb falling into the abyss.
Jiang Ling lowered her head and hurried across the open space at the entrance, trying not to draw attention to herself. She scanned her surroundings with the corner of her eye and avoided obstacles. For a moment, she felt that she had come to the wrong place, or perhaps she had cast a stone to the wrong person. Perhaps this school cafeteria existed in multiple places, with filthy corners like this one, and clean, tidy, and beautiful places.
After all, screening is a science. No rational person would seek out nice girls in the red-light district or rich men in the slums. Associating with bad people darkens one's worldview, frequenting illegal websites subtly alters one's personality, and reading too many mindless articles naturally makes it difficult to think independently.
Fortunately, those gambling addicts didn't care about the new guests. Jiang Ling safely passed by several groups who used tables put together as temporary gambling tables and entered the deep area of the cafeteria.
The environment here is even darker, messier, and dirtier. The ground is sticky and covered with various stains from different periods. The walls, windows, and ceilings have been spray-painted, like a wild party of ice-skating artists. All the hidden surveillance cameras in the corners have been destroyed. Some of them even have only two wires for transmitting signals left, hanging alone in the air, swaying slightly with the indoor air flow.
It’s so hard to come for lunch, Jiang Ling thought.
She made do with the light coming through the few unpainted windows and scanned her surroundings. She only found two places where food might be served. One of them was at the cafeteria's self-service window. The list of dishes above was covered with a piece of white paper with an extremely ugly word "wine" written on it. A group of guys who looked difficult to deal with occupied that place, so it didn't seem like there was any opportunity for opportunism.
On the other side, a barrier made of tables and chairs blocked the view. Two shirtless men wearing white masks were guarding the entrance and exit of the area protected by the barrier. Behind them was a long black curtain. A small amount of ambiguous red and pink light was seeping out from the gap under the curtain, giving people a sense of temptation and intoxication - it was obviously not a decent place.
Jiang Ling suddenly felt full, and she wanted to leave the cafeteria through the back door, but there were two guard dogs squatting at the back door with vicious dog tattoos on their arms.
She was caught off guard and caught red-handed.
"What are you doing? You are not allowed to leave now!" Zuo Menshen shouted, standing in front of the exit with his hands on his hips.
Let’s explore the maggots in front later?
"Hey, Brother Qin, this girl is pretty! She has long straight black hair. Is she new here? I haven't seen her before." The right door god slowly leaned against a trash can, blocking Jiang Ling's retreat.
Do you need to leave combat to log off safely?
Jiang Ling had no intention of retreating. She took a step forward expressionlessly, and then took another step forward with the same firm and slow pace.
"If you come any closer, I'll scream!" Unexpectedly, Zuo Menshen didn't have the courage to block the way as before. When Jiang Ling took the third step, he half moved aside and warned with non-threatening words.
The right goalkeeper behind him had no intention of following up and just said some more despicable trash talk - Jiang Ling just treated it as his fart.
When she was almost close to Zuo Menshen, Zuo Menshen directly opened the sliding door for her. In the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared at the same time, as if they had never existed.
The back door of the cafeteria led to a corridor with benches on either side, where students sat in groups of three or four. Their spirits and demeanor were much better than those in the cafeteria, but they were still far from being "normal." In general, their expressions were dull and their movements were stiff, like those of idiots. Some of them even had extra organs, like deformed children who had given up on treatment.
This time, Jiang Ling chose a straight line without dodging or evading, but everyone who blocked her path would consciously make way.
The corridor connected to another building, which could also be part of the cafeteria. The style of the painting here was relatively normal. Although she hadn't seen many smiling faces along the way, it did have some of the appearance of a school.
Because this place was too ordinary, she just leaned over to the door and took a look inside, then climbed up the stairs attached to the outer wall.
The railings at the edge of the stairs displayed some long holographic projections. Every time she stepped on a step, the projections would automatically change content and never repeat themselves.
The decoration on the second floor is obviously better, and the students dining inside are more orderly. The only difference from downstairs is that there are occasional queue-jumpings here.
Going further up, the style of the cafeteria began to change. In addition to the increasing number of decorations and signs, the internal environment gradually became brighter. When Jiang Ling stepped onto the top floor (the fifth floor), it had become an aerial garden-style theme hotel.
She stopped in front of the transparent sensor door. The surveillance camera above shot a green laser beam at her, which immediately turned into a flashing red, and an image of "Please show the student terminal according to the illustration" was displayed on the door.
He took out a brick and followed the instructions on it. The laser finally turned green, and the sensor door slid to the sides. Fresh air with a hint of fragrance blew out, causing Jiang Ling's bangs to rise slightly.
As soon as she walked in, a voice announcement sounded at the door, "Welcome Jiang Ling..." The students who were having lunch in various places stopped talking at almost the same time and focused their attention on her.
Jiang Ling, who had experienced many ups and downs, had seen everything. She ignored the prying eyes around her and walked straight to the bar in the center of the hotel.
There were two young girls in staff uniforms sitting at the bar. Jiang Ling initially thought they were contract workers hired by the school, but after a brief exchange, she discovered that they were also students.
"Hello, do you have an appointment?" one of them asked her politely.
Jiang Ling shook her head: "No, is there any vacancy here?"
"Yes, please show me the student terminal." Another waitress came over holding her own terminal. The moment the screen turned towards her, Jiang Ling saw a scanning box displayed on the terminal screen. "Oh, you already have an appointment. Didn't that 'person' inform you in advance? It's in the 'He' box. Please come this way." They gestured with their hands.
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