The sky was dark, but the town was brightly lit, with a steady stream of players and NPCs coming and going, as if it had truly reached the busiest time of the day.
Yusei and Shiro wore matching fox masks, a precaution against the many desperate players who always wanted to cling to the legs of Kendo Champion… literally, in the physical sense, hugging his legs.
With the masks serving as a disguise, it would save them a lot of trouble.
Shiro walked beside Yusei, looking left and right at the snacks and food being hawked by street vendors… she seemed almost unable to move her feet.
"Shiro, are you hungry?" Yusei rubbed her head affectionately.
"Yes. Fighting is too tiring. Needs replenishment."
"Alright, let's find a nicer restaurant to eat at."
Over the past few days, Yusei and Shiro had been grinding monsters extensively and had actually accumulated a considerable amount of wealth.
During this period, just after entering the death game, when most players were desperate to split every single Col into two halves to buy equipment, Yusei appeared extremely well-off.
Under the envious and jealous gazes of numerous passing players, Yusei led Shiro into the most luxurious restaurant on the first floor.
After Yusei entered, many players outside began to mutter.
"That guy is so rich, yet he spends it on food?"
"Isn't he afraid he might die at any moment?"
"He must be one of those damned Beta Testers."
"Exactly! Why do they monopolize the good resource spots and leave the scraps for us?"
"Let's go reason with him!"
Driven by jealousy, many players became agitated. Even though they couldn't afford the gourmet food in the restaurant, the restaurant didn't actually prevent poor people from entering.
Just like that, they swarmed into the restaurant in a large group.
In this upscale restaurant, apart from the NPCs, the only players were Yusei and Shiro.
In the system menu display, the green icons belonging to players were quite conspicuous.
"He's over there!" Someone shouted, and a crowd quickly surrounded Yusei's table.
At that moment, Yusei was feeding Shiro. Shiro was too shy to act spoiled at the family dinner table, but now, in private, she was being very clingy, insisting that Yusei feed her.
"Nii, Shiro wants to eat that."
Shiro pointed at one of the many delicious dishes on the table, a meat dish.
Yusei lovingly speared a piece of meat, cut it into small portions, and fed it into Shiro's mouth.
The players who approached and saw the food on the table in front of Yusei almost had their eyes pop out.
'This... this entire table of food? Can you two even finish it all? And these seem to be all the signature dishes of this restaurant, right? How much Col must this have cost!'
Jealousy made them forget how formidable someone who could afford such an expensive dinner must be.
One short man with spiky hair jumped out, pointing at Yusei and shouting loudly.
"You're one of those Beta Testers, aren't you! You need to apologize to all of us players, and then hand over all your money to us!"
Yusei, who was in the middle of feeding Shiro, suddenly paused his fork and knife. He turned to look at this group of players glaring at him.
"Beta Testers? Leaving aside whether I am one or not, even if I were, so what?"
"Apologize? Hand over my money to you? Do you really think if you treat me as your father, I'll give you Otoshidama?"
Yusei never lost to anyone in verbal sparring. Of course, he preferred action over talk whenever possible.
But right now, they were in a town, under the player protection system, where players couldn't harm each other.
"Pfft!"
Someone at the back of the group couldn't hold back a laugh.
Everyone turned to look and saw a short figure hidden under a cloak.
Seeing everyone looking at her, the figure quickly pulled down the hood of the cloak, covering her face, and hid further back.
But with Yusei's sharp eyesight, he could tell it was a petite girl with paint on her face resembling whiskers, making her look like a little mouse that had been stealing food.
The faces of these players turned green and white, seemingly furious at Yusei's words.
Yusei swept his gaze over them playfully and called over the waiter.
"Waiter, these dishes aren't tasty. Bring us one of everything that hasn't been served yet. As for these..." he gestured to the current dishes, "...just throw them away."
In an instant, Yusei used his actions to show everyone what true extravagance and waste looked like.
'Was he deliberately trying to anger us?'
The players had that thought. They were sure of it.
'This guy was deliberately provoking us!'
'Damn Beta Testers!'