Chapter 2360: Chapter 2360: Friendly Dining Time

There’s no food left in the room, but there’s a dining hall outside.

Xu Huo had already observed that the higher the floor, the better the living conditions. The first floor has only one banquet hall, while the tenth floor has five. There are also several small dining halls. From the window, the upper floors didn’t appear to be expanded, but once inside, you can clearly feel the space has grown larger.

There weren’t many people eating in the morning, and there were still empty seats in the dining hall.

Those who dared to leave their rooms in the morning to eat were naturally not ordinary people. However, once outside their rooms, no one took off their masks. The masks don’t completely hide the players’ faces, so it’s unclear if there’s an unspoken rule.

Xu Huo followed the crowd and stopped the Girl in the painting from taking off her mask, then chose the nearest dining hall to eat.

Of course, some players might have been forced to leave their rooms, like a player who entered the dining hall after Xu Huo and his group. His clothes were tattered, and he was disheveled. Upon entering, he shouted for the waitstaff to serve food until his table was piled high.

It was unknown how long he had been hungry, but he didn’t use chopsticks or a knife and fork, just poured food directly from the plate and bowl into his mouth, roughly chewed, and swallowed. Soon, only the sound of his eating remained in the dining hall.

Because of that, some players left the dining hall without finishing their meals.

"Reincarnated from a starving ghost?" Some players were unwilling to concede and mocked him openly, "Like a pig, if you want to eat, get out and eat!"

The player ignored them, not even lifting his head, seemingly leaving the woman who spoke hanging.

The woman sneered and stood up with two companions, heading towards the player.

They initially intended to throw him out but unexpectedly couldn’t lift him, instead their hands were stuck to his shoulders. They struggled a few times, ready to fight, when the eating man suddenly released them.

The two retreated two steps instinctively, feeling embarrassed, and a prop slid out of their sleeves the next second.

"Everyone." A player in a formal dress sitting in the center of the dining hall spoke up, his voice not loud but naturally attracting everyone’s attention. He calmly stirred the small dish he had just seasoned, saying in a flat tone: "This is a dining hall, a place to eat. If you want to fight, I hope you do it outside."

When he said the last word, he looked at the few people over there, his gaze shifting. The two players attempting to fight were hit by an invisible force and knocked out of the dining hall. Outside the hall, they made no further noise and didn’t return either.

"Consider yourselves tough!" The female player retreated two steps facing them, then turned and rushed outside, but still couldn’t escape the blow from the man in the formal dress, crashing into the dining hall’s doors and rolling into the corridor.

The imminent brawl dwindled away, and the man in the formal dress put a piece of his seasoned snack in his mouth, his lips twitching the next second. He paused, but still struggled to swallow the food. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"His food looks really bad." The Girl in the painting typed to communicate with Xu Huo.

"Don’t worry about it." Xu Huo signaled her to eat her own meal.

By the time they finished their meal, the formal dress player was still battling his snack. Anyone could see that he thought it tasted awful, hence eating it slowly.

However, other players wouldn’t mind someone else’s business.

Curiosity overwhelmed the Girl in the painting, and she couldn’t help approaching, asking him, "Since it’s so bad, why don’t you try eating something else?"

The formal dress player denied, "How do you know it’s bad if you haven’t tasted it?"

The Girl in the painting stared at the unidentified shapes in his bowl, seemingly eager to try them.

"Do you want to try?" The formal dress player took a clean small bowl from beside him, intending to share some with her.

"No." The Girl in the painting quickly refused, "Don’t try to trick me into helping you eat."

The formal dress player’s hand froze, silently returning the small bowl.

The Girl in the painting didn’t leave, simply sat beside him, with her chin on the table watching him eat, and added a jab, "Wasting food is shameful behavior."

The formal dress player nodded in agreement and continued to eat breakfast in the same slow manner.

It was clear he grew more pained as he ate, while the Girl in the painting grew happier watching. She even called Xu Huo over to watch.

"My young sister isn’t well-versed in social niceties, please forgive her." Xu Huo apologized first, to avoid a fight over indescribable items.

"Your sister is very cute." The formal dress player complimented, "I wish I had such a lovely sister."

The Girl in the painting, pleased with the praise, winked at Xu Huo and then asked the formal dress player, "Since I’m so cute, can you tell me where the most fun place in this building is?"

The formal dress player thought for a moment, "The most fun should be the carnival day that occurs once every ten days. On this night, all players will be cleared from their rooms. For three hours, no room will be open to the players. Everyone can only wander in the building, like stray dogs with nowhere to go."

The Girl in the painting disliked the analogy, "I’m not a stray dog; I can pitch a tent."

The formal dress player chuckled, "Just a metaphor, honestly many people are worse than dogs. Oh, you’re definitely different, you’re far better than a dog."

This seemed slightly sarcastic, but the Girl in the painting was completely unaware, asking when the next carnival day was.

"What a coincidence, it’s tonight." The formal dress player replied, "If you find it uninteresting, you can hide on the twentieth floor, there’s a hidden small maze there, it’s not a problem to hide for three hours."

"There are many hidden surprises in this building, never publicly disclosed. It’s quite fun to explore on your own."

The Girl in the painting nodded repeatedly, her eagerness already reflecting her interest, then promptly asked her second question, "I want to become a whale, how can I become a whale?"

In fact, the commonly used communicator in the game now can simulate human tone and pitch. Although it can’t judge the context of sentences, it’s no longer as flat and dull as the former mechanical beings. But the Girl in the painting preferred this seemingly less intelligent voice, so the query was devoid of emotion, much like her when asking.

Yet, players in the dining hall all looked up, surprised, vigilant, cautious, mixed with disdain and contempt.

The formal dress player was quite calm, "Whale masks are so ugly; why would you want to be a whale?"

"The whale can draw lots." The Girl in the painting’s reasoning was simple, "I want to be the one drawing lots. I want to draw all masks except for the mermaid, and let them fight."

The formal dress player stroked his chin, "That’s actually a good idea, but the boss rules only one mask can be drawn at a time."