Chapter 27: The Irresistible Taste~

Chapter 27: The Irresistible Taste~

The swift and ferociously delivered five slaps left all onlookers in an indescribable state of shock, staring at the young man who had acted, unable to recover for a long while.

It was only after Chen Sixin turned to place the young man’s stolen arms back by his sides that the singing girl, wiping away her tears, rushed forward to thank Chen Sixin.

Meanwhile, the five individuals who had been sent flying into the wall by Chen Sixin's slaps were groaning in pain as they got up, their voices making everyone warily look their way, only to see their extremely ghastly expressions.

"Ugh! Ugh!! I just, I just had the thought of eating, wanting to eat…" The plump young man who had licked the arm looked pale, utterly disbelief that he could have entertained such a lunatic idea.

Tangyuan and the other four also didn't look much better, clearly having regained their senses.

"Actually woke up with just a slap?"

Someone muttered in disbelief.

But what concerned them more was the information they could get from these five people.

"Are you fully conscious now? Do you feel anything unusual?"

The cautious lady stepped forward to inquire seriously.

The five initially shook their heads as if to say something, but then suddenly turned pale and clutched their stomachs.

Their loud stomach growls spoke volumes without them needing to utter a word.

Tangyuan, clutching her stomach, trembled in her voice: "I feel sane now, but I'm very hungry. Extremely, extremely hungry."

"In this state of hunger, I, might not last long before, before I…"

Her voice trailed off as her eyes reddened, leaving everyone in silence.

Clearly, even a momentary return to sanity doesn't eliminate the possibility of being overwhelmed by hunger again.

"Damn it, food without blood is not good enough, and food with blood drives us mad. Is this Gourmet World deliberately trying to kill us?!"

"Isn't that obvious? Did any Devourer swallow us up to play games with us?"

"Moreover, Gourmet World is a notorious high-level Devouring World on the leaderboard, with countless people dying inside. Surviving here is an extremely difficult task."

Thus, everyone fell silent once more, this time in contemplation of the hardships of survival, before quietly dispersing.

Soon, only Chen Sixin, Fish Brother, Luobo, the singing girl, and Tangyuan, the five under control, remained.

It was then Fish Brother stepped forward, lowering his voice to warn Chen Sixin: "Tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after, we need someone to keep watch while we rest."

Otherwise, these five, overwhelmed by hunger, might resort to violence against others in the night.

And it's not just these five who are starving; there are thirteen others who found their food rotted and inedible. Among these thirteen, there are certainly those who haven't managed to borrow food and are suffering from extreme hunger.

Tonight, who knows what these starving people might do.

Chen Sixin nodded.

He too wanted to see to what extent hunger could control a person and whether the survival task in Gourmet World was truly impossible to complete.

At this moment, Tangyuan and the others' stomachs growled even louder, the continuous rumbling sound somehow sending shivers down one's spine.

Clutching her stomach, Tangyuan sat despondently in a corner, feeling an indescribable despair, convinced she couldn't survive this time.

Although she had always known she would eventually die in a Devouring World, facing death directly still filled her with immense fear and sorrow.

Then, she heard a voice.

"Can you eat fried fish now?"

Tangyuan abruptly looked up.

She saw the young man holding a plate of golden fried fish fillets and involuntarily swallowed.

"Eat! I'll eat! I'll eat whatever you give me!!"

Then, Chen Sixin watched as Tangyuan devoured the plate of fried fish fillets with ravenous hunger.

Even though each bite of fish seemed to cause her immense distress, tasting like wax, Tangyuan, overwhelmed by hunger, gritted her teeth and finished the plate of fried fish fillets.

But after finishing, the look of despair on her face deepened: "Brother Sixin, what do we do? I still feel very hungry."

Chen Sixin shook his head: "No, it's just your tongue and brain that are hungry, but your stomach is full."

At least now, Tangyuan's stomach wasn't making those dreadful rumbling noises anymore.

Hearing Chen Sixin say this, Tangyuan seemed to realize this too, and the expression on her face slightly improved as she clutched her stomach.

But what about tonight?

She still felt so hungry.

"Let's tie you up tonight."

"And you'll sleep between us."

Tangyuan, looking at the gentle young man, nodded vigorously, her nose tingling with emotion.

Then Chen Sixin turned to the singing girl, who had been standing beside the corpse, unsure of what to do, "If you don't mind, I can cremate him, and then you can also sleep between us?"

The singing girl lifted her face, nodded, then shook her head: "Thank you, please cremate him. If I can get out, I'll let him rest in peace... But I probably won't be able to leave, so I don't want to burden you guys."

She truly didn't believe she could survive, especially since her special ability was very weak in combat.

Chen Sixin looked at her and Tangyuan, saying, "It's not over yet, so don't give up on yourself now."

"Who knows, maybe we can all make it out alive?"

"You have to keep going until the very end before admitting defeat."

The singing girl didn't respond, but Tangyuan nodded vigorously, though her eyes lacked firm conviction.

At night, the singing girl, clutching the young man's ashes, and Tangyuan, securely tied up, lay between Chen Sixin, Fish Brother, and Luo Bo.

Tangyuan's stomach started rumbling again. She tried to wrap herself in the blanket to prevent the noise from disturbing others' rest.

Fortunately, she wasn't the only one making such noises; otherwise, she would have been mortified, restless, and uncomfortable.

The fried chicken uncle and the elbow young man, among the four of them, were not allowed to enter the second floor.

Even though the elbow young man volunteered to be tied up, no companion was willing to watch over him, so he was left out.

That night,

Chen Sixin lay on the lounge chair with his eyes slightly closed, surrounded by others resting on their lounge chairs.

The rest room, lit only by dim floor lamps casting a faint glow, was supposed to be quiet, yet occasionally, "gurgling" noises could be heard from various directions.

Gurgling... gurgling... gurgling...

Chen Yijin let out a slight sigh.

So much for standing watch.

Joke's on me, there's no way I'm falling asleep.

A shadow moves silently through the dim rest area, then suddenly leaps—

Chen Yijin feels a weight on his chest and swiftly grabs the fate of a certain black cat by the scruff of its neck.

"Meow-wow," a tiny, sticky cat cry. The black cat, its fate grasped, shows no fear, flips over, and begins rolling and kneading on his chest.

Come on~ Snuggle up~

Chen Yijin grinds his teeth, what a shameless cat.

But its touch, warmth, even the purring sound it makes, are all more adorable than anything else around.

Nuzzle nuzzle, knead knead.

In the end, Chen Yijin gently strokes the back of the black cat's neck, not throwing it away.

Then, chaos ensues.

First, the sounds of hunger in the rest area grow more urgent and loud, then Tang Yuan starts to struggle wildly with eyes reddened, repeating a phrase over and over.

"I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, let me eat, let me eat, let me eat!"

As her voice grew louder and she was about to scream, Chen Yijin promptly stuffed a napkin into her mouth.

Instantly silencing all her protests.

The singing girl next to her, pale with shock: ...Ah.

This...

This gentle and innocent Brother Xiao Mo always has this surprisingly strong and decisive contrast at critical moments.

Just when it seemed the situation was under control, Luo Bo shouted in the darkness: "Boundless Heavenly Honor! Take my palm strike!"

At the same time, Fish Brother's side flashed a cold silver light: "No matter how fast you are, you're not faster than my blade! This blade has been bloodied for ten years!"

Thus, two muffled grunts were heard in the darkness, as the attackers quickly retreated. But soon, sounds of fighting and screams arose from other parts of the rest area.

"Who is attacking!"

"Turn on the lights! Quick, turn on the lights!"

But as if to mock them, someone rushed to the switch intending to turn on the light, and the entire area plunged into even deeper darkness.

The power went out.

Now, not even a sliver of light was visible.

This allowed some to act without restraint, using the darkness to conceal everything.

"Damn it. Stay alert!"

Chen Yijin: ...

Chen Yijin, sensing the encompassing darkness, his usually gentle eyes became filled with scorn and impatience in that moment.

With the darkness as his shield, aside from the black cat lying on his chest, no one could see the tremendous energy that suddenly erupted around him.

"And God said, 'Let there be light.'"

The deep blue eyes of the black cat suddenly lit up.

Bang—

The dark space was instantly as bright as day, the blinding bright light nearly blinding everyone who had their eyes open in the darkness.

"Ah! My eyes!"

"And my eyes too! Why did it suddenly get so bright!"

Then, the exiles, unable to resist shielding their faces with their hands, barely made out the sight of that familiar, innocently looking young man lying on a lounge chair, holding an ultra-bright, oversized hernia lamp.

A thought simultaneously flashed through everyone's mind—

Why is it always you?!

"Ah. Sorry, could we not fight and kill at night? I just happen to have an ultra-bright, eye-blinding emergency lamp on hand."

Everyone involved in the active attack and passive defense: ...

What an ultra-bright, eye-blinding emergency lamp, it's so bright, how could anyone continue fighting?!

Those who chose to act in the darkness due to hunger ran off without a word. Chen Yijin didn't get a clear look at their faces, but it appeared to be seven or eight people.

"Damn it, it was them." A man with a buzz cut spoke up: "I specifically noticed this afternoon that there were seven people who hadn't managed to borrow any food."

So they became desperate for food at night.

"...But I counted, and it seems like eight people left?"

"There might have been one more who was in cahoots with them."

"What do we do now? Continue to rest?"

"How can anyone sleep now. Let's just sit, it's 2 AM, staying up for another three hours till dawn isn't too bad."

And with it being so bright, sleeping was impossible anyway, but no one mentioned turning off the light.

After all, if everyone's awake, no one can sleep.

Then, faint breathing sounds were heard by everyone.

？？？

Searching for the source of the sound in the bright light, they saw the young man closest to the light source comfortably lying on the lounge chair, seemingly sleeping sweetly?

He actually had a fluffy black eye mask over his eyes?

Oh, it's a black cat.

A cat?!

…

"Meow-wow~"

When Chen Sixin opened his eyes, he saw a group of people sitting around him, their faces pale as ghosts and filled with resentment.

？！

Chen Sixin suddenly sat up.

Even with his invulnerable shield, this atmosphere was too much to bear.

"Why are you all looking at me like this?"

The people who hadn't slept all night chuckled in unison.

"We were just admiring your peerless beauty all night."

Of course, those who had gone a whole night without sleep were heavier with resentment than ghosts, for having the Cat Food Critic as an eye mask under such bright lights, guarding him as he slept.

But when the harsh light was removed and natural light once again filled their vision.

The darkness and brutality of the previous night became apparent to them—

Out of thirty people, discounting the youth turned to ash, the four not allowed into the second-floor rest area, and the eight who had fled, there should have been seventeen people in the rest area.

But now, only fifteen gathered together.

The two missing individuals were found dead on their lounge chairs, missing several pieces of flesh from their arms and faces.

Another lounge chair was soaked in blood, but the person who had been lying on it had disappeared.

And when these fifteen people cautiously went downstairs to the kitchen restaurant, they found the bodies of the elbow youth and two others who had eaten the bloodied food.

The three of them died from cannibalizing each other.

The disfigured state of their bodies gruesomely showcased the power of hunger.

"Ugh!"

"Burn it!"

Unable to bear the sight, a refugee promptly incinerated the three corpses that had mutilated each other.

At this moment, a young man with beast ears suddenly twitched his ears and, with a changed expression, ran outside.

The crowd quickly followed him outside the Royal Restaurant, only to witness a scene that left them astonished—

"Make way, make way! Don’t push! If you push any further, my bear palms won’t show mercy anymore!"

"Damn it, the aroma of tea is overwhelming! Stop coming closer! Aside from my cousin, I won’t let anyone else join the queue!

"We’ve been lining up here since 3 AM! Nobody is getting ahead of us!"

In front of the neighboring food supermarket, at least a thousand refugees stood packed, with those at the back trying to push forward and those in front using various special abilities to fend off the efforts of those behind them.

The crowd was so dense, one might think the supermarket was offering everything for free today.

Chen Sixin and his group: ……

"Great Buddha… can we even get any ingredients?" Luo Bo muttered.

Can't buying groceries be less competitive for once?!

After exerting Herculean efforts to push through the crowd to the seafood section, Chen Sixin faced the largely emptied seafood glass wall, finding not a single Atlantic salmon left.

Only an exceedingly large and ferocious octopus swam back and forth in the aquarium, aggressively slapping its eight tentacles against the glass upon seeing Chen Sixin, demonstrating its formidable fierceness.

Chen Sixin: ...

Today, even with his exceptional charm, no enthusiastic fish jumped out for him.

Sigh, one only values things after losing them.