He'd guessed right.
Lin Ye couldn't say for certain whether the additional event the Host Mask Man had announced was a mandatory one.
Beyond guessing and reading into that one sly retort — "What do you think?" — he'd gotten the sense that the Organizer was once again trying to trick and coax players into joining.
If it truly were mandatory, the Host Mask Man would have had no reason to be coy. He could have simply stated outright that this was a compulsory additional event.
As a player — even a veteran one — you'd naturally weigh your options. But the Host Mask Man hadn't said that. Instead, he'd offered something deliberately vague and noncommittal.
Combined with the fact that the Host Mask Man had never once been caught in an outright lie up until now, Lin Ye had essentially concluded that this was the Host Mask Man acting on his own wounded pride after losing — a last desperate gambit.
If the players agreed, the rules of this instance world would permit it.
But if the players flatly refused, the Organizer — represented by the Host Mask Man — clearly had no recourse whatsoever. They could only behave themselves, tally the results, and bring the Gourmet Sports Meet to a close, allowing the players to leave.
And the final confirmation had naturally come from his little test.
A quick probe was all it took to find out whether the Host Mask Man was bluffing or telling the truth.
Compared to before, when the Host Mask Man had resorted to intimidation again and again, the fact that he now fell completely silent and gave up without another word said everything about the state of his crumbling composure.
Facing Lin Ye, he had already lost almost all of his nerve.
The moment Lin Ye stepped forward and opened his mouth to push back, the Host Mask Man had already known his bluff wasn't going to land.
"What a shame, Mr. Host," Lin Ye said, his voice carrying a note of theatrical regret.
He smiled, looking at the Host Mask Man with a light curve at the corner of his lips, his amusement entirely unhurried. "Honestly, I wasn't all that sure myself. If you'd held your ground a little longer — even thrown in a threatening line or two — I might have actually believed you."
Host Mask Man: ???
He went completely still. His expression froze solid.
He'd been played by Lin Ye.
If he had just held on a moment longer, he could have fully roped in the remaining players into the additional event. But because he'd convinced himself he couldn't fool Lin Ye and had given up too early, he'd thrown away his last chance and lost utterly — comprehensively, with nothing left to salvage.
Sure enough.
It was all because of this one man.
In the Third Gourmet Sports Meet, the players had won a sweeping victory, and his side — the Organizer — had been beaten into the ground.
"That was a lie."
The follow-up line cut right through the Host Mask Man's rising fury.
He lifted his gaze to meet Lin Ye's eyes, and in those lightly smiling irises, he read the clear gleam of mockery.
He'd been fooled.
He really had been fooled — fallen headfirst and completely into Lin Ye's trap.
Clench. Clench. Clench.
The Host Mask Man ground his teeth, doing everything in his power to keep the surging anger inside him from boiling over.
Time and again he had eaten dirt in front of Lin Ye. Not a single win to his name. Faced with Lin Ye, he had lost the vast majority of his confidence.
There was simply nothing to be gained from Lin Ye.
If he kept pressing, he would only dig himself a deeper hole.
"Actually, what I just said — that was the real lie."
Another line.
The Host Mask Man said nothing more.
The other players around them were thoroughly bewildered by now, completely unable to tell which of Lin Ye's statements was true and which was false. All they could say was that only this kind of gloriously confusing verbal barrage could successfully confuse even the Host Mask Man.
"Brother Zero is just built different."
"I genuinely can't tell what's real and what isn't."
"Who cares! At least we know the additional event isn't mandatory."
"This bastard host — trying to trick us into that extra event again."
"This host. Absolutely rotten. Should be shot. Truly, he should be shot."
...
The players erupted into gleeful mockery, venting the pressure they'd been carrying and their long-simmering resentment toward the Organizer — especially their intense hatred of the Host Mask Man specifically.
Earlier, because the Gourmet Sports Meet hadn't ended yet, they'd been under the Organizer's thumb. Factoring in their own desire not to antagonize the Organizer, not to get singled out —
There was a vast gap between themselves and Zero. Zero could afford to offend the Organizer, could stand there and snap right back at them. They couldn't.
But now, the Gourmet Sports Meet was over. They were about to leave this instance world. There was absolutely no reason to keep suppressing themselves. They could freely express every genuine thought and feeling in their hearts. The damn Organizer could go to hell!
At this moment —
They were overjoyed.
"Mr. Host, let's get to the settlement. Even if you'd rather not hand out rewards, hand them out you must," Lin Ye said, and the other players immediately chimed in.
"Give us our rewards!"
"Every last coin we're owed. Not one less."
"I might not even want mine, but that doesn't mean you get to not give it."
"I'm counting on selling my Strange Coins for a good price!"
...
...
By now, even the newcomer players present all knew about the arrangement — that choosing to refuse the invitation would cost them their memories of the instance.
But accepting the invitation and becoming a full-fledged Strange Game player did hold a certain small appeal. After all, it meant formally stepping into a brand-new world and experiencing an entirely different kind of life.
Still, reflecting on their own strength and everything they'd lived through in this instance, the overwhelming majority of newcomer players had a clear-eyed understanding of their own limitations. Refusing the invitation and returning to their ordinary lives was the better choice.
And the Strange Coins they'd earned could be sold to veteran players for a tidy sum of real money.
The only concern was whether the veteran players would actually keep their word.
If it were Lin Ye, every newcomer present would have been willing to trust him without hesitation. But up until now, Lin Ye hadn't raised any plan or intention to purchase Strange Coins.
This led the newcomer players to suspect that Lin Ye simply had no interest in buying — after all, he'd already secured eight hundred Strange Coins. Why would he bother eyeing the few dozen they held?
The Host Mask Man waved a hand, and staff members quickly emerged carrying trays.
The Strange Coins radiated a faint, uncanny aura that made the heart sink slightly, a thin chill seeping in from nowhere.
For the newcomer players seeing Strange Coins for the first time, curiosity welled up endlessly inside them.
The staff moved quickly through the crowd, distributing Strange Coins to each group in turn.
"Let me have a look."
"There are four of us in our group — who gets that last coin?"
"Since all of us are going to refuse the invitation anyway and take the cash, we might as well split the value of that last Strange Coin evenly, right?"
...
...
Most groups didn't have members who knew each other beforehand.
But they'd been through thick and thin together all the way to this point. Unless someone had made an extraordinarily outsized contribution, most groups decided on an even split of whatever cash the Strange Coins would fetch — since they'd all worked together to make it here.
Only a small handful of newcomer players were still hesitating. This group seemed to be genuinely considering accepting the Strange Game's invitation — they had real thoughts about becoming official players, they just hadn't fully made up their minds yet.
The veteran players had also reached an agreement among themselves, moving from the initial bidding war to a structured allocation of purchase quotas, avoiding any pointless infighting.
The veteran players all understood that any one of them trying to buy up every single Strange Coin alone was simply impossible.
Unless it was Lin Ye.
And Lin Ye's attitude of non-involvement made it clear he had no desire to step into the buying process — which was, in many ways, a gesture of goodwill toward the other veteran players. Letting them have the opportunity was a way of building goodwill, of forging some degree of camaraderie.
Lin Ye already had eight hundred Strange Coins, after all. Fighting them over a few dozen more would just be petty.
It wasn't that the veteran players hadn't considered approaching Lin Ye to purchase or trade items and Strange objects for a certain number of Strange Coins.
A few had asked. They'd been turned down.
A single line — "I'm not short on items or Strange objects" — left them all in silence.
Their Strange objects weren't particularly exceptional or useful, and they genuinely understood that trying to trade something at that level for Strange Coins was simply not going to work.
They had no choice but to let it go.
After second and third place collected their twenty Strange Coins each, Lin Ye received what was owed to him as well — eight hundred Strange Coins and one Strange object.
Lin Ye looked at the Strange object now in his hands, and its information appeared almost instantly.
[Name: Admission Ticket — Gourmet Ingredient Hunting]
[Category: Strange object]
[Ability: Using this ticket grants entry to the Gourmet Hunting Zone of the Inner World. Duration: two hours. Cooldown: seven days.]
[Usage Requirement: None]
[How to Use: Hold the ticket in your hand and silently recite 'Enter the Gourmet Hunting Zone.']
[Note 1: This is an admission ticket to the Gourmet Hunting Zone. You will have the opportunity to obtain a wide variety of ingredients.]
[Note 2: One misstep — insufficient strength, bad luck — and you may become an ingredient yourself.]
[Special Warning: The weight of ingredients that can be carried out is limited and is tied to player level. Please take note.]
...
Similar to the Movie Ticket and the Royal Casino Admission Ticket — an entry pass.
He could use this ticket to enter that world and hunt for ingredients.
A good thing, this.
He had an intense craving for the ingredients that came from the monsters of this world. Consuming them could directly raise his attribute points.
But Lin Ye noticed the last line — the Special Warning.
"The weight you can carry out is tied to player level."
"Leveling up still needs to keep moving forward."
...
...
Lin Ye suspected that more and more equipment, items, and Strange objects going forward would have their effects tied directly to player level.
Leveling up. That was simply the right move.
This admission ticket also told Lin Ye that he could now make good on his promise to Erina Nakiri —
Bringing the special ingredients of this instance world to the girl.
A golden-haired young girl who adored cooking would undoubtedly love that.
And he, in turn, could use the occasion to taste whatever new dishes she cooked from those ingredients.
Lin Ye was looking forward to it. Of course, he was equally looking forward to tasting Erina Nakiri's cooking in the real world too.
When it came to good food, Lin Ye had not a single objection to offer.
"What Strange object is it?"
Cold Frost was curious.
From the look of things it appeared to be some kind of ticket — she had no idea what it did.
"An admission ticket to the Gourmet Hunting Zone."
Cold Frost's eyes lit up with undisguised envy.
Tickets that granted access to the Inner World and instance worlds were exactly the kind of Strange objects that players and major factions alike competed fiercely to obtain. Never mind that its rarity was only White — it was still enormously valuable.
"That's a great one. Better than a lot of Strange objects out there."
"Mm," Lin Ye agreed.
The other veteran players were equally envious.
They wanted one too.
A few of them had even been tempted to open their mouths and offer a trade for the ticket in Lin Ye's hands.
But one look at their own meager resources reminded them it was hopeless.
The veteran player with organizational backing couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward to ask directly. "Mr. Zero, our side is willing to offer two Blue-quality Strange objects plus ten million USD in exchange for the admission ticket in your hands."
Two Blue-quality Strange objects and ten million USD.
The former meant nothing to the newcomer players. But the latter — for newcomer players — was an absurd fortune.
More money than they could earn across multiple lifetimes of work.
Ten million USD!
That one Strange object ticket was worth that much?
Insane.
The newcomer players stared at Lin Ye with nothing but envy, while their understanding of veteran player wealth jumped to an entirely new level. Opening with tens of millions in USD — every one of these veteran players was loaded.
"I'm not short on money, and I'm not short on Strange objects," Lin Ye said with a smile, declining graciously. "I'm more interested in hunting for ingredients here myself. So please, everyone — drop the idea."
Those words extinguished any lingering thoughts among the veteran players.
It wasn't that no veteran player had considered trying some other method to get their hands on the ticket. But given the current balance of power between them — last night, two veteran players had launched a sneak attack on Lin Ye and ended up dead — the ones who still harbored designs quietly suppressed those impulses.
The ticket was a wonderful thing. But it only had value if you were alive. If you couldn't even stay alive, what was the point of a ticket?
They had no choice but to give up.
Lin Ye's gaze settled on Cold Frost. "Miss Cold, for the Strange Coins distribution — I originally planned to give you and Miss Nakiri two hundred each. However, Miss Nakiri just told me she wanted her share split between the two of us, so I'll be giving you three hundred Strange Coins."
Three hundred Strange Coins.
Cold Frost herself had known Lin Ye wouldn't be stingy — but such a staggering sum of Strange Coins left wave after wave of shock washing through her.
Not stingy — this was downright extravagant. Far beyond anything she'd anticipated.
She'd thought receiving a hundred Strange Coins would already be plenty. But the final figure in her hands was a full three hundred — and even if a portion of that came from Erina Nakiri's gift, the shock and joy she felt were no less real.
"Any problem with that?"
Watching the girl standing frozen in place without any response, Lin Ye asked with a slightly puzzled tone.
"No, no — if anything, I think it's too much," she said.
"Should I take some back, then?"
"Sure," Cold Frost replied.
She didn't put on any false modesty — she agreed straight away.
"Never mind. Three hundred is three hundred. No taking back."
Lin Ye counted out three hundred Strange Coins and handed them over to Cold Frost.
Feeling the heavy, solid weight of the Strange Coins pressing into her palms, Cold Frost felt like her hands might actually tremble from the effort of holding them.
An enormous haul of Strange Coins.
She had never in her life seen this many Strange Coins at once.
If people in the real world ever found out, she couldn't imagine how many players would try every means possible to rob her.
"Thank you," Cold Frost said.
"As for the Strange object admission ticket —"
"That's yours," Cold Frost said plainly.
Three hundred Strange Coins was already a gain far beyond her expectations.
She wasn't going to reach for more.
"Alright."
Since Cold Frost had said as much, Lin Ye didn't push the matter.
He'd find a way to make it up to her later.
"As compensation —"
"Hm?"
Now it was Lin Ye's turn to be surprised.
Cold Frost offering compensation on her own initiative — that was unexpected. But since she'd brought it up, and as long as it was reasonable, he had no intention of refusing.
"After we get back to reality, take your… no, wait —"
The girl with long black hair seemed to think better of what she was about to say and immediately corrected herself. "Come find me."
As she spoke, Cold Frost stepped toward Lin Ye and pressed a folded slip of paper into his hand.
On it was her contact number and address in the real world.
Lin Ye understood — with this, he could find Cold Frost. Anyone with even a modest network of connections could track her down.
In other words, she had just exposed her vulnerabilities to him.
Family was often a player's weak point.
"The trust you're placing in me with this… I'm almost not sure I deserve it."
The weight of it was enough to make Lin Ye genuinely uncertain how to respond.
"If I can't trust you, who am I supposed to trust — some other player? Or are you saying you don't actually trust me, Zero?"
Not trust Cold Frost?
Lin Ye shook his head.
"You're someone I'd trust my life with. How could I not trust you?"
"Then… consider it settled. Come find me in reality. Buy me coffee and dinner."
Cold Frost smiled and extended her hand toward Lin Ye.
The girl with long black hair was radiant in that moment — her smile bright and open, a stark contrast to her usual reserved image.
One second later —
Lin Ye took her hand. "Alright. I'll come find you."
"Good. But don't keep me waiting — don't pull a 'I'll come by in a month, or half a year' on me."
She said it as though she'd already guessed a particular scenario and was getting ahead of it.
That made Lin Ye smile wryly.
Funny — she wasn't entirely wrong. That thought had briefly crossed his mind, though he'd dismissed it almost immediately.
Since he'd made the promise to Cold Frost, using that kind of delay tactic simply wasn't right.
And why did he need to delay at all? There was absolutely no reason for it.
Lin Ye's gaze, which had rested on Cold Frost, shifted to Erina Nakiri.
Those two had been talking to each other just now — he was a little curious about what they'd discussed.
He wondered if it had anything to do with Cold Frost now proactively sharing her contact information and address.
"Probably not," he thought.
The last time, at the very end, Cold Frost had made that remarkable declaration — that he should get close to her, even date her. This time around, after meeting again, they'd forged an even deeper friendship, and her asking to meet in real life was a perfectly natural step.
"I'll be waiting."
Cold Frost released his hand and stepped back.
Based on Lin Ye's reaction so far, she was fairly confident he wouldn't break the promise. She'd wait for his message.
She found herself wondering exactly how long Lin Ye would take before reaching out.
Right after getting back? Or after a few days?
Generally speaking, the sooner, the more it meant.
Cold Frost thought to herself.
All rewards had been distributed.
The Host Mask Man spoke once more. "All rewards have been dispersed. Congratulations, esteemed guests. This edition of the Gourmet Sports Meet has been the highest-performing in its entire history."
"I suspect it will be quite some time before another meets this level."
"I hope this event has left each of you with fond memories."
Fond memories? As if.
"Finally, I extend one sincere last invitation — the additional event is exciting, and the prizes are even greater."
But no one responded.
Everyone knew this was the Host Mask Man's final desperate struggle.
Anyone who believed him deserved whatever they got.
The only person who'd dare take him up on it was Lin Ye — but Lin Ye was absolutely not going to accept.
"Then… esteemed guests, until we meet again."
The Host Mask Man's gaze fell upon Lin Ye one last time. He moved his lips almost imperceptibly, words passing through the air without a sound.
"I'll remember you, guest."
Lin Ye read his lips.
['Gourmet Sports Meet' instance completed. Counting down three seconds. Players will be departing the instance world.]
[Three…]
[Two,]
[One,]
Lin Ye saw Cold Frost wave goodbye. He saw the golden-haired young girl, Erina Nakiri, offer a final small smile — and the trace of quiet sadness that drifted into her eyes.
She clearly wasn't taking the coming amnesia well.
"Don't worry. I'll bring you the ingredients," he told her.
"You'll definitely be able to make another glowing dish."
He still remembered the golden-haired girl's final murmured words.
Her lingering attachment to that glowing dish.
For a chef — to have made a glowing dish within your lifetime, and then to have the memory of that success taken from you — was, in its own way, a rather cruel thing.
[You achieved a top-three total score and completed the 'Strange Invitation Mission — Gourmet Sports Meet.']
[Difficulty: Two Stars]
[Base Rewards: 2,000 Points, 500 EXP, 2 Free Attribute Points, 1x Random Purple-quality Item]
[You completed the following hidden missions, triggering additional rewards.]
[You achieved 1st place in Event 1 'Rice Bucket.' Game Points +500.]
[You achieved 1st place in Event 2 'Brisk Walking.' Game Points +500.]
[You achieved 1st place in Event 3 'Hunting.' Game Points +1,000.]
[You achieved 1st place in Event 4 'Cooking.' Game Points +1,000.]
[You achieved 1st place in overall rankings. Game Points +2,000.]
[Total players who cleared this round: 52. Game Points +5,200.]
[Due to your 'Outstanding Performance' in this game, and due to the effect of your Blessing 'Point Splitting,' your Game Points receive a 300% bonus. Your final Game Points total: 30,600.]
[You have achieved the following accomplishments.]
[Iron Stomach: Whatever enters your belly seems destined to be digested, no exceptions.][Constitution +1]
[Shock After Shock: Your performance left countless players stunned and in awe.][Charm +1]
[He looks forward to your future performance.]
[Settlement complete.]
[Your current EXP is 700/600. You may expend EXP to level up. Do you wish to level up?]
"Level up."
[Congratulations. Your level has increased to LV5.]
Another level up.
The Strange Invitation Mission was finally over.
Lin Ye was back in his own apartment once again.
A familiar ceiling. A familiar smell.
With just the faintest trace of a delicate, pleasant fragrance woven in.
A girl's scent.
Different from Cold Frost's and different from Erina Nakiri's.
He knew exactly whose fragrance this was.
"I'm back, Senpai."
A gentle smile spread across Lin Ye's face.
____
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