Was this even allowed?
Lin Ye was very surprised.
Casually wandering the streets looking for a place, and in the end he'd walked into a Strange restaurant.
Was it pure luck, or some faint, intangible pull?
Lin Ye observed.
The restaurant's atmosphere was dim, the orange-yellow lighting suffused with a faint, subdued aura; the old-fashioned décor was full of character.
Grilling over the stove,
the sizzling meat overflowed with an enticing aroma, leaving the entire restaurant immersed in the scent of the ingredients.
Several waiters in gray uniforms stayed at their respective stations, busy with their own tasks, paying the two of them no attention.
"Student Lin, can you tell what animal this meat comes from?"
Rui Tachibana, sitting across from Lin Ye, spoke up to ask; she had noticed the shift in Lin Ye's expression and guessed he'd thought of something.
"Probably donkey meat!"
"Donkey meat? I really have never eaten donkey meat before."
The meats Rui Tachibana ate most in daily life were pork, beef, chicken, and fish, followed by mutton; as for donkey meat, across all of Japan there weren't many people who ate it, and restaurants serving donkey meat were even rarer.
A standard grill house like this should be serving pork, beef, and chicken—how could it be donkey meat?
But since Lin Ye had said it was donkey meat, Rui Tachibana accepted that explanation for the time being.
She picked up another piece, dipped it in some sauce, and put it in her mouth.
"Next time I'll bring my sister to eat at this restaurant too."
As she thought this, Rui Tachibana took out her phone and snapped a photo of the meat.
'Click…'
The photo was taken.
The meat looked no different from ordinary beef, but it really did taste good.
Rui Tachibana was very willing to share the joy of good food with her sister Hina.
At this moment, Lin Ye placed more of his attention on his surroundings, the several waiters in particular.
Up to now, the 'Strange Game' had not given any notice releasing a reality mission, which showed he hadn't yet triggered the conditions for a Strange Mission.
In other words, there was still a chance to leave this place right now.
Lin Ye actually wasn't worried about his own safety; what he cared about was that once the mission triggered and the restaurant entered Strange mode, this place would form an independent space, and Rui Tachibana would inevitably come face to face with a Strange event.
His current thinking was that if the girl could avoid contact with the Strange, then she should avoid it.
"Student Tachibana,"
"Student Lin, if there's something on your mind, you can just say it directly."
The blue-haired girl set down her chopsticks and, parting her red lips slightly again, said, "The reason I asked you out this time is actually…"
"Let's talk about that later."
Lin Ye cut off the words Rui Tachibana was about to say, leaving the girl stunned.
In the girl's view, wasn't this the very matter Lin Ye most wanted to know about?
Yet now that she was about to tell him of her own accord, Lin Ye had refused.
Why was that?
"Then you mean…"
"Let's leave this place first."
Lin Ye lowered his voice.
"Hm?"
Rui Tachibana blinked, baffled.
Why leave first?
"Wh-why… shouldn't we finish eating first?"
At the hint in Lin Ye's eyes, she too kept her voice very soft, at a volume only the two of them could hear.
Rui Tachibana couldn't understand—why should they leave first?
"You leave first."
"..."
I leave first?
Rui Tachibana was confused.
But at Lin Ye's request, Rui Tachibana nodded.
She rose and walked toward the restaurant's entrance door.
Lin Ye's gaze fell upon those several waiters.
'Tap, tap, tap…'
Rui Tachibana's footsteps echoed through the restaurant—very soft, yet unusually clear.
Even Rui Tachibana herself instinctively sensed a trace of the unusual, and couldn't help quickening her pace a little, even though she still wondered why Lin Ye had her do this.
He'd told her to go first, yet Lin Ye himself remained at his original spot, not even showing the slightest inclination to stand up.
Rui Tachibana glanced backward at Lin Ye out of the corner of her eye.
Lin Ye's expression was calm, his eyes signaling for her to keep going.
She pressed her lips together and continued striding forward.
The next second,
the instant the girl came within five meters of the restaurant's entrance door,
a sharp 'whoosh…' suddenly rang out.
Rui Tachibana started, and a uniformed waiter immediately appeared before her eyes.
The abrupt scene frightened her into stepping back two paces, the color draining from her lovely face, her heart pounding violently.
"Guest, may I ask where you're going?"
The waiter wore a faint smile, warm and approachable,
yet Rui Tachibana read a trace of faint coldness in it, one that seeped into the heart and left her flustered.
"I left something outside; I'm going to step out to get it and then come back. My friend is here."
She pointed at Lin Ye, indicating she wasn't dining and dashing.
Rui Tachibana was also afraid of being taken for a woman of bad character who skipped out on the bill.
"Guest, you cannot leave the restaurant before the meal is finished. Please understand."
As he spoke, the waiter raised a hand to gesture for Rui Tachibana to return to her seat.
He still maintained courtesy; only, his tone clearly carried an added note of command.
This made Rui Tachibana instinctively cast a pleading look toward Lin Ye.
Lin Ye realized that getting Rui Tachibana to naturally leave this dangerous place wasn't going to be so easy after all.
He rose and walked over to Rui Tachibana, coming to the girl's side.
"My friend isn't feeling well and wants to leave first."
Lin Ye spoke up too.
Given the situation, it was impossible for the two of them to leave—let alone the fact that he had no intention of leaving.
This place was a representation of experience and game points, after all.
He still wanted to keep leveling up!
"Apologies, guest. Please return to your table and continue your meal. The ingredients cannot be wasted."
The waiter's voice grew heavier, his attitude even more resolute and unyielding.
And the other waiters were also faintly turning and closing in.
Together they formed an invisible yet overwhelming aura.
An ordinary person would have lost their nerve long ago.
At the very least, Rui Tachibana was already in a fluster, unconsciously drawing closer to Lin Ye; only at Lin Ye's side could she feel any greater sense of safety.
Her hand had already, without her realizing, grasped the hem of Lin Ye's clothes.
Lin Ye met the waiter's gaze and slowly said, "Please let my friend leave first! I'll finish the remaining ingredients by myself—rest assured."
As he spoke,
Lin Ye used his Hypnosis superpower.
An invisible force took effect on the waiter.
His clear-minded expression suddenly softened, turning dazed. "Gu… guest, can… cannot…"
It was exactly as if he'd frozen up, forming a logical contradiction.
"Please…"
He extended his hand to see them off.
The Hypnosis superpower had taken effect once again.
On these waiters, who were suspected to be Strange, Hypnosis still worked.
"Go first."
But Rui Tachibana hadn't taken a single step for even a second when three waiters appeared up ahead.
This speed frightened Rui Tachibana all the more.
No matter how fast they ran, there was no way they could cover at least ten meters and reach her in such a short time!
Rui Tachibana had already begun to speculate, recalling certain urban legends that circulated among students.
This place wasn't one of those strange, dangerous, uncanny places, was it!
She suddenly realized why Lin Ye had told her to leave first—it was because Lin Ye had already sensed the danger and wanted her to get out one step ahead.
A faint, warm current of gratitude welled up in her heart,
and in an instant Rui Tachibana's impression of Lin Ye changed.
Previously, because of her sister's and Lin Ye's repeated refusals, she had held a deep prejudice against Lin Ye, but now, she suddenly felt that Lin Ye was a pretty decent person.
"Guest, please return to your table and continue your meal."
The three waiters had no idea what had happened to that colleague of theirs,
but the thing they had to do was very simple: stop the guests from leaving and get them back to their table to continue the meal.
Hypnosis, activate.
Lin Ye repeated it once more,
and the three waiters fell into the same state.
"Student Tachibana, go on."
"O-okay!"
But after two steps, new waiters appeared ahead again.
"Guest, please return."
Still the same words.
They would not allow Lin Ye and Rui Tachibana to leave.
Lin Ye realized that relying on Hypnosis alone would make it very hard to leave this place.
Hypnosis could hypnotize the Strange—this point had already been tested and confirmed.
So, next it was time to use his most useful skill.
Time Stop,
activate.
The door was open;
he'd just carry the girl over and send her out first, then return himself, and that would do.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Ye scooped up the girl and strode toward the restaurant's entrance door.
'Thud…'
An invisible wall blocked the way ahead.
No matter how Lin Ye exerted himself, he couldn't break through.
"It's already a zone with restricted exit."
Ordinary methods could no longer get them out.
Lin Ye returned to his original spot and set the girl down, placing her back where she'd been.
A few seconds later, the Time Stop duration ran out, and everything resumed its normal motion.
Rui Tachibana merely felt a strange sensation on her body; she patted herself but found nothing out of the ordinary.
At this time,
facing the aggressively bearing-down waitstaff, she was so frightened she retreated several steps and once again returned to Lin Ye's side.
Staying by Lin Ye's side was what put her at ease.
"Guest, please return to your table at once and continue your meal. There isn't much time left."
The waiter's words were very calm, yet carried a sense of conviction—indeed, within them was a feeling that he was doing it for their own good, wanting them to be safe and sound.
Rui Tachibana looked at Lin Ye hesitantly; at this moment, her mind a jumbled mess and not knowing what she should do, the girl only wanted to follow Lin Ye.
Whatever Lin Ye did, she would follow along and do the same—that way there definitely wouldn't be any problem.
In this instant, Rui Tachibana's trust in Lin Ye rose to an unprecedented height.
"Let's go back."
Lin Ye didn't continue, but simply agreed outright.
Rui Tachibana followed Lin Ye back to her own seat.
There were no longer any ingredients on the grill.
As if nothing had happened, Lin Ye picked up the rest of the meat and placed it on the grill rack; with a 'sizzle, sizzle,' grease seeped out, the enticing aroma spreading.
The waiters returned to their posts, busying themselves with their own tasks, as though what had just happened had never taken place at all.
"L-Student Lin, what is this place…"
Rui Tachibana couldn't restrain the curiosity within her and chose to ask directly.
She wasn't certain whether she could get an explanation from Lin Ye, but by asking there was still a chance of getting one; if she didn't ask, then Lin Ye definitely wouldn't give her any explanation at all.
Rui Tachibana was already certain there was something wrong with this place.
How could a normal human's speed be that fast—there was absolutely something wrong here.
"A restaurant."
"Besides a restaurant!"
She knew this was a restaurant too.
"It's best you don't know."
"..."
"From now on, follow me. Whatever I tell you to do, you do—that way, Student Tachibana might just be able to leave this place safely."
"..."
Rui Tachibana believed Lin Ye, but she still couldn't immediately agree to him to show her resolve and attitude.
"Student Tachibana, you don't want to never see Hina-sensei again, do you! And you don't want to see Hina-sensei get the terrible news that something's happened to you, do you!"
Two rhetorical questions crushed the last of the misgivings in Rui Tachibana's heart.
She still wanted to see her sister again, and even more so she didn't want her sister to grieve and shed tears.
"I understand. I'll be obedient."
"Good, Student Tachibana is being obedient. I'll do my best to get you out of here safely."
She nodded heavily.
At the very least she could be sure Lin Ye wouldn't harm her; earlier, the moment Lin Ye sensed the problem, the first thing he did was tell her to leave this dangerous place.
And from that alone, Lin Ye's attitude toward her and his own character could be made clear.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…"
The grilling continued.
Piece by piece the ingredients were laid on the rack, and under the charcoal fire's heat, juices oozed out, giving off an enticing aroma.
"The first thing we have to do is finish all the grilled meat here. We can't waste the ingredients."
A reminder from the waiter.
Whether this was a well-meaning reminder or just ordinary conversation, Lin Ye wasn't sure, but these ingredients had to be finished.
"No problem. My appetite is still pretty good; just these few ingredients—for the two of us it's more than enough."
The two of them combined had actually ordered very little.
When Rui Tachibana ordered, she'd been rather restrained, striving not to waste ingredients; as it turned out now, this notion of hers had, in a roundabout way, helped her too.
The blue-haired girl had little appetite, but she used her chopsticks to pick up the finished pieces of grilled meat one by one, dipped them in sauce, put them in her mouth, chewed slowly and carefully, and swallowed them down.
One piece,
two pieces,
five pieces.
All of a sudden,
Rui Tachibana felt a slowly building fullness coming from her stomach.
She was full—stuffed, even.
She was utterly puzzled.
"So full,"
She held her belly with one hand. "I clearly didn't eat much—six pieces of meat altogether, that's not much at all, so why… am I so full?"
She rubbed her belly.
This wasn't the fullness from drinking a carbonated beverage caused by carbon dioxide; it was the real, genuine fullness that comes only from eating too much.
Rui Tachibana was a girl, eating less than the average male, but she was certain her own food capacity was definitely more than this much.
For just this little bit of ingredients to leave her stuffed—it was completely unscientific.
"Stop eating for now."
Lin Ye had hit upon a hypothesis and made a bold conjecture.
In a Strange instance, what mattered was association and guesswork.
Rui Tachibana eating only a little yet developing such obvious fullness was clearly a problem.
Stopping and eating no more was the best choice.
"But these…"
Compared to herself, who'd gotten stuffed on six pieces—if Lin Ye finished the rest of these ingredients alone, what would Lin Ye have to endure?
"I can still eat a bit more."
Rui Tachibana gripped her chopsticks and was about to pick up the next piece of grilled meat, but with a 'smack,' she let out a sound of pain.
"What did you hit me for?"
The blue-haired girl drew back her hand, looking at Lin Ye with a wronged expression, her eyes brimming with a sulky mood.
"When I tell you not to eat, don't eat. Did you not take to heart what I said just now?"
Rui Tachibana felt even more wronged, but she also knew it was her own fault.
"These aren't ordinary ingredients. Eat too much and it'll cost you your life."
Lin Ye guessed the ingredients contained a Strange aura,
and once consumed in excess, it would inevitably cause the human body to be affected by the Strange and mutate.
Unlike Rui Tachibana,
his physical constitution, his resistance to the Strange, and other aspects far surpassed the girl's,
and therefore,
he could leave the remaining ingredients to himself.
While eating, Lin Ye also used the skill 'Devour.'
After Devour had changed from a superpower into a skill, its ability had weakened considerably, but now was the time to use it to digest the ingredients, remove the Strange aura, and aid digestion.
After several rounds,
Lin Ye felt his body grow weary,
while the ingredients on the table were continuously wiped out and eaten at a steady, orderly pace.
By the later part of his eating,
Lin Ye had already begun to feel the feedback from his body—fullness.
He too felt the fullness.
"These ingredients put a far greater burden on the body than ordinary ingredients."
An ordinary person really wouldn't have the ability to wipe them out in a short time.
Rui Tachibana took in Lin Ye's every action.
He had shouldered everything by himself,
which made the blue-haired girl feel all the more guilty inside; she wanted to do something to contribute her own worth and share the pressure for Lin Ye.
"Smack…"
Finally,
Lin Ye finished the last piece of grilled meat.
All the ingredients the two of them had ordered were now eaten up.
And at this very moment,
Lin Ye heard the long-awaited Strange Game notification sound.
[Detected that the player has eaten a sufficient quantity of Strange ingredients.]
[The conditions for triggering a mission have been met.]
[Now releasing mission,]
[Mission Name: Strange Restaurant.]
[Mission Type: Reality Regular Type.]
[Mission Objective: Successfully leave the Strange Restaurant.]
[Accept?]
[If no answer within five seconds, it will default to automatic refusal.]
The mission had finally come.
Lin Ye had waited a long time.
"Accept."
There was simply no reason for him to refuse.
Mission accepted.
And after just a little while,
the 'tap, tap, tap…' of footsteps rang out.
A waiter had come.
"Sir, madam, would you like to add more ingredients? Our restaurant has just received fresh ingredients—both the quality of the meat and the flavor are the best. I strongly recommend the guests give them a try."
The waiter was making a sales pitch, his words excited, containing a faint, intangible bewitching power.
Lin Ye merely frowned slightly and waved a hand, about to refuse, but he noticed Rui Tachibana looking groggy, about to speak, her red lips moving.
In this instant,
he immediately thought of something; quick of eye and hand, he shot out like lightning to cover Rui Tachibana's mouth, and at once said, "No need, we've already eaten our fill. We don't need any more ingredients."
"Are you… really sure you don't need any? Our restaurant strongly recommends it."
"We don't need it. If you recommend it again, I'll choose to file a complaint."
Whether it would work or not, Lin Ye spoke up first.
A Strange instance also followed its own rules,
and since the other party was a waiter, he must have rules belonging to a waiter.
And generally speaking, what a waiter feared most was a 'complaint' from a guest.
"I… understand. If the two guests need anything, please contact me."
With that, he turned to leave,
but Lin Ye suddenly recalled something—the earlier waiter had mentioned a 'meal time.'
Without explicitly stating the time after the meal ended, what kind of time did that count as?
"We've finished our meal."
This made the waiter, who had his back turned, turn around again. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, we've finished eating."
"All right, I understand. I'll bring the bill right away."
In less than half a minute,
the waiter returned,
and the bill was set down.
"This is the bill, please take a look."
Rui Tachibana leaned in to look,
and when she saw the final figure, she froze for a moment.
10 yuan?
This cheap?
All that meat for only 10 yuan—wasn't there something wrong with this?
"It's only ten yuan?"
Rui Tachibana asked hesitantly.
"Yes, only 10 yuan."
"Good, I have it—I happen to have it."
As she spoke, Rui Tachibana fished through her pocket and took out a coin with a face value of 100.
"Keep the change."
Having said that, she still had quite a bit of confidence.
But,
in a moment, she sensed the change in the atmosphere on the scene.
"Guest, please don't joke with us. What we need is Strange Coins, not this kind of coin of yours."
"St-Strange Coins?"
What was that?
It was the first time Rui Tachibana had heard of them.
"Does the guest not have Strange Coins?"
She didn't!
Rui Tachibana grew anxious; she turned a pleading gaze toward Lin Ye,
and at this moment Lin Ye was grim, showing no reaction, which made Rui Tachibana realize that Lin Ye probably didn't have any Strange Coins either.
Something she'd never even heard of—how could she possibly have it!
Was this restaurant making things difficult for them!
"The guests don't have Strange Coins—are you trying to skip out on the bill?"
As the words fell,
the waiter stared fixedly,
and the other several waiters not far off were also staring at the two of them.
The atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Rui Tachibana had never experienced this kind of situation;
she even thought these waiters might kill them for being unable to produce Strange Coins.
"I, I… can work it off,"
Racking her brains, the one thing Rui Tachibana came up with was this.
And what Lin Ye was thinking about was what these waiters' true objective was.
Strange Coins were absolutely not their objective.
It was impossible for an ordinary person who wandered into this place to have Strange Coins, so what the waiter said afterward was their real objective.
"Work it off?"
The waiter shook his head, and at the corners of his mouth there spread a faint smile—a smile of mockery.
"Pay it off with your body."
"Ha!"
Rui Tachibana's eyes went wide in shock.
Her body—pay it off with her body?
This, what kind of thing was this.
These waiters had designs on her.
"No, impossible, absolutely impossible."
Rui Tachibana loudly refused, her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes brimming with a wary, disgusted look.
Even though she held considerable fear of the other party, at this moment, with her own purity at stake, she also displayed the side of her intense emotions.
"Unwilling?"
The words were calm, but a trace of coldness surfaced,
and at this point the waiter dropped his earlier polite attitude.
The other several waiters likewise revealed a piercing coldness one after another.
"Eat without paying, pay with your body—flesh payment is our restaurant's rule."
'Gulp…'
Rui Tachibana's stress instantly mounted; her whole body trembled. Facing several waiters with abnormal auras, exuding the abnormal, the courage she'd so hard-won vanished without a trace, leaving her without the slightest sense of safety.
"No one can escape it, no one can refuse."
'Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…'
Some bizarre aura was continuously spreading.
Rui Tachibana's pleading gaze turned toward Lin Ye once more.
She now thought of another matter—namely, how would Lin Ye, being a man, pay it off with his body.
Surely, surely it wouldn't be…
A chill suddenly ran down Lin Ye's back.
He keenly realized that the cause of this chill was not the imposing waiters who had surrounded them, but the strange, fleeting look Rui Tachibana had just shot him.
This woman must have thought of something unsavory.
"And what if we refuse!"
Unlike Rui Tachibana,
Lin Ye was already accustomed to facing the Strange.
These waiters exuding a gloomy, cold aura, carrying a touch of oppressive force—against an ordinary person, intimidation alone would be enough, but for Lin Ye, they still fell far short of qualifying.
At the very least, these waiters should transform too, taking on the form of hideous monsters; that would carry a bit more intimidation.
"Refuse?"
The waiter looked as if he'd seen a joke, the corners of his mouth lifting even higher.
"Here, no one can refuse."
"You… must pay it off with your body."
The waiter stared at Lin Ye,
the focus of his gaze shifting in an instant onto Lin Ye,
and Rui Tachibana's stress eased greatly; she let out a breath of relief, but then, because of that very feeling, she fell into a state of inner conflict—she felt she shouldn't think that way.
Thinking that way—wasn't it too awful? There was always a sense that she was being very selfish.
The atmosphere on the scene grew ever more tense.
Rui Tachibana had a premonition that a conflict was about to erupt.
But, weak and alone, would the two of them be a match for these waiters with their strange faces and great strength?
On top of that, they were numerous,
and no matter how well Lin Ye alone could fight, two fists are no match for many hands—he'd come out the worse for it.
"Student Lin,"
Rui Tachibana tugged at Lin Ye, her words full of worry.
"It's fine, just listen to me."
Lin Ye gave Rui Tachibana a reassuring look,
and the blue-haired girl was slightly reassured, but it was still far from enough.
She felt she ought to do something, rather than hide behind Lin Ye.
But what could she do?
Rui Tachibana pressed her lips together in distress.
"The guests at Table Three have no money to settle the bill, and now need to pay it off with their bodies,"
Accompanying a shout,
the 'thump, thump, thump…' of footsteps rang out.
From the direction of the restaurant's back kitchen,
a burly, muscular man appeared.
Lin Ye's first impression was tall—just burly.
Over two meters in height, with an enormous build, the white chef's uniform he wore stuffed full and taut with muscle, splotches of red bloodstains scattered across the chef's uniform.
As he walked, he carried a massive cleaver over one shoulder.
Drip, drip, drip…
With each step, a black-red liquid dripped from the cleaver's blade.
That was fresh blood; the restaurant had gained a faint, bloody smell.
Rui Tachibana felt only a murderous air rushing at her face.
"Chef Li, it's them."
A waiter immediately pointed at Lin Ye and Rui Tachibana.
"No money to pay, so flesh payment is required."
The chef looked toward the two of them.
He began sizing up Rui Tachibana,
and Rui Tachibana felt her skin crawl under his stare,
appraised by a gaze that regarded her as though she were merchandise.
Inwardly she was filled with disgust, but at this moment it was more fear.
Could it be,
that today she really couldn't escape this calamity?
If that were the case, she might as well give herself to Lin Ye!
At this moment,
Rui Tachibana thought to herself.
...
...
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