Chapter 157: Eater and Eaten

Tao Chengxin truly didn't have much money. The accommodation fee of several thousand White Bills per night was really difficult for her to afford. Stellar Corporation didn't interfere with guests fighting, so after entering, she began scouting for targets. Xu Huo appeared relatively weak yet had quite extravagantly taken the top floor suite, naturally making him the prime target.However, while she had the heart to kill and loot, Xu Huo didn't take the bait. Neither deception nor intimidation could lure him out of his room, and any single item in that room was valuable enough to bankrupt her completely, forcing her to retreat in defeat.

Complaints aside, they were now both in the same boat, so she still took out her item.

It was a two-meter-long fishing rod.

Tao Chengxin gripped the rod with five fingers and forcefully cast the fishing line toward the skulls. However, because her wrist couldn't move freely, she lacked accuracy. After several throws, she still hadn't hooked any of the skulls.

"Can you do it or not? If not, let me try," Xu Huo said from across the table.

Tao Chengxin ignored him and tried several more times, finally hooking one of the skull's eye sockets. But just as she slightly pulled it, all four skulls in the room suddenly levitated simultaneously!

"Holy shit!" Tao Chengxin cursed loudly.

The four skulls—two on each side—flew toward the two people beside the dining table. Suspended directly in front of them, one of the skulls opened its jaw, allowing the scroll inside to slide out and unfurl, revealing a blue-background menu—similar to Bear Claw Restaurant's menu.

However, the text on it had changed. The beginning read: "Everything can be eaten, everything can be eaten."

Below listed the dish catalog:

"Candied Black Melon—fresh and elegant fragrance that greets the nose."

"Charred White Fruit—crispy freshness with bursting juice."

"Pink Kiss—like a beautiful woman's kiss."

"Cherry Pie—melting sweetness that dissolves in the mouth."

"Fragrant Roasted Garlic Liver Slices—rich deliciousness that lingers on lips and teeth."

"Braised Fried Meat Steak—delicate texture like skin."

"Boiled Red Pulp—the scent of spring."

Seeing this catalog, Xu Huo immediately frowned. Bear Claw Restaurant wasn't a normal restaurant, so naturally the menu couldn't feature ordinary food. A faint light flashed in his eyes as his gaze shifted from the menu to Tao Chengxin across from him.

Over there, Tao Chengxin was also reading out her menu:

"Stir-fried Fragrant Slices, Stewed Red Heart, Ginger-steamed Mushrooms, Braised Fried Meat Steak, Boiled Red Pulp... Are they asking us to order dishes?"

"Bear Claw Restaurant's menu doesn't seem like this."

"Do we need to order before we can leave?"

"What are all these things?"

She was completely confused, but Xu Huo only needed to silently recite her menu once to understand. "Your menu is about me."

Tao Chengxin looked stunned, as if she hadn't understood. "What did you say?"

Xu Huo read out his menu. "Candied Black Melon is hair, Charred White Fruit is eyeballs, Pink Kiss is lips, Cherry Pie is breasts, liver slices and meat steak are easy to understand, red pulp is blood."

"This menu describes you."

"Fragrant slices might be tongue, red heart is the heart, mushrooms are male genitalia. Your menu describes me."

Only then did Tao Chengxin react, her face turning slightly pale. "They want us to eat each other? Is the restaurant going to turn us both into dishes?"

"No way!" She instinctively looked at the other menu. "There's still another one..."

Before she finished speaking, the second scroll unfurled. On crimson red paper, it completely changed style from the previous menu:

"Greedy and vicious eyes—chew them to pieces!"

"Tongue that spreads rumors—chew it to pieces!"

"Malicious and foolish lips—chew them to pieces!"

"Black heart, black lungs, black liver stew—eat it all!"

"Unrestrained and unprincipled tool—eat it!"

"Hands and feet stained with human lives—eat them!"

"Blood flowing with sin—drain it dry!"

Malicious energy overflowed from the chaotic catalog, startling Tao Chengxin so much that she instinctively leaned backward. However, since her body was restrained in the chair, she could only widen her eyes and desperately retract her neck. In her frightened state, she said, "Who is this one about eating?"

"Besides others, it could be yourself." Xu Huo responded. Everything can be eaten, everything can be eaten—humans can eat humans, and can also be eaten!

Once at the dining table, everyone becomes food!

Suddenly, his hands resting on the armrests lifted uncontrollably, each reaching toward the menu in front of him.

That restraining force was manipulating him to choose from the menu!

Xu Huo's gaze darkened as he immediately clenched his fists, trying hard not to touch the scrolls.

Choosing to eat others wouldn't necessarily allow escape—these two menus might not be single-choice questions. If you first choose to eat others, later you might have to eat yourself!

Absolutely must not touch these two menus!

But danger didn't only come from his own lack of control. There was also the person across from him—in extreme situations, people might do anything to survive.

He was just about to speak a warning when he unexpectedly found Tao Chengxin completely unable to stay calm. Panicking, she picked up her fishing rod to swat at the menu in front of her. In her haste, she didn't make a choice but accidentally hit the right-hand one!

The right side was the red menu!

The moment her item contacted the menu, that menu suddenly transformed into red smoke that poured into her mouth and nose. Several seconds later, blood flowed from her eyes, ears, and nose, followed by vomiting—first blood, then her chest and abdomen convulsing as if she were about to vomit out her internal organs too!

Xu Huo made a decisive move, using his thumb to break his uncontrollable index finger. After buying a brief moment of respite, he suddenly glimpsed from the corner of his eye the Rubik's Cube floating up beside his chair!

His eyes shone with startling intensity as he manipulated the piano wire that had been hovering below his stool to fly out, circling toward the air behind the Rubik's Cube!

The place that should have been empty was outlined by the piano wire, and then that outline struggled against the wire before being pulled to crash into the chair!

The moment the chair overturned, the force restraining Xu Huo suddenly disappeared. He kicked away the person pressing on him and single-handedly flipped over the long table in front of him!

As the long table overturned, Tao Chengxin also flew out. Simultaneously, the fragrant secret room suddenly plunged into darkness—not because the lights in the room went out, but because this was never a secret room to begin with. The place they were trapped in was the second-floor restaurant!

Like the diners who had been sitting properly at the tables earlier, they too had fallen into an illusion!

Kicking away the chair at his feet, Xu Huo looked at the person who had unintentionally helped him. The other person had already stood up, holding his Rubik's Cube with a guarded expression.

The moment their eyes met, that person grabbed a nearby table and threw it at him!

Xu Huo knocked the table aside and was about to advance when two kitchen knives suddenly flew in from the second-floor staircase, slashing toward him and the person who had taken the Rubik's Cube!

Both dodged separately, but when they looked up, they saw the Wooden Puppet from the first floor charging fiercely into the restaurant, wildly swinging two kitchen knives in a frenzied attack!

Xu Huo became its first target. He raised his Ox Shield to block the kitchen knives while lifting his right hand, the crimson sword horizontally slicing through the puppet's waist!

"Bang! Bang!" The Wooden Puppet was cut into two segments. When its upper body and legs hit the ground, its joints also broke apart, scattering everywhere with cracking sounds. But in less than a second, these wooden pieces automatically moved back toward the body, quickly reforming into the puppet within a few movements. It leaped fiercely onto the Ox Shield, its feet hooking onto the shield's edges as it madly chopped downward!

Xu Huo used his sword to deflect the attacks while slightly crouching, then slammed both himself and the shield against the puppet into the wall. When its body disassembled again, he took the opportunity to kick away one of its arms. Unexpectedly, that arm twisted direction mid-air, its five fingers loosening to throw back the kitchen knife it had been holding!