Zhang Chenzhe''s eyes widened in shock, and she couldn''t say a word. She instinctively took several steps back.
"What''s wrong?" Qiao Jiajin was blocked from seeing anything by Zhang Chenzhe and didn''t know what had happened.
The proud lawyer, Zhang Chenzhe, took a few steps backward, then fell on the dirty ground.
"You... you..." Zhang Chenzhe pointed at the female shop assistant.
Everyone turned to look, and they saw that the shop assistant was holding a small severed arm in her palm. The arm was very small, not like an adult''s, and the fingers were distinct, definitely not from an animal.
It seemed that the shop assistant had indeed cooked a baby.
The baby’s arm emitted a tempting aroma.
Qi Xia saw this and immediately connected it with the strange environment of the room. He quickly realized something.
"Is this... the piglet?" Qi Xia tentatively asked.
"That''s right." The shop assistant nodded. "Don’t you want some?"
Qi Xia kept his face serious and asked, "So, when you say you want us to sleep with you, does that mean you eat piglets like this one?!"
"Yeah." The shop assistant looked at Qi Xia blankly. "Piglets taste really good."
The air was heavy with the smell of blood, and there were stains on the shop assistant''s thighs and bed. If Qi Xia guessed correctly, she had just given birth and then cooked the child.
She asked the men to sleep with her just to eat her child.
"I can only eat a piglet once a year..." The shop assistant smiled, revealing her dry yellow teeth. "I was just wondering if any of you would like to sleep with me? I can trade you for pig''s feet..."
"We... we don’t want any." Li Jingguan shook his head.
"Well, if you don''t want it... then forget it." She fumbled around, stuffing the cooked baby’s arm into her clothing pocket and wiping the oil off her hands.
Zhang Chenzhe, seeing her own clothes covered in oil, couldn’t say a word. Before this, she had never imagined that cooking human flesh would result in so much grease.
Tian Tian slowly walked over to the shop assistant, her expression complicated as she said, "Girl, what you ate was not a piglet; it was a child..."
"A child?" The shop assistant''s lifeless eyes turned around. "Well, that''s a piglet! It suddenly jumped out and even hurt me."
Everyone looked at each other, unable to respond.
"Hey... I''m hungry again." The shop assistant raised her eyebrow. "I''m going to drink some pork soup. It''s so nice to eat my fill."
With that, she turned and walked back into the staff room. Just before closing the door, she seemed to remember something and, with a silly smile, said to the group, "Feel free to pick whatever you want!"
Then she slammed the door shut.
Everyone remained silent for a long time, the atmosphere incredibly oppressive.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Finally, it was Qi Xia who broke the silence and spoke.
"Everyone, even if this place doesn''t destroy itself in ten days, we won''t be able to return to the real world." Qi Xia rubbed his forehead. "If we stay here forever, we will end up just as mad as her."
This time, Li Jingguan didn’t argue with Qi Xia.
He too hesitated. In this obviously abnormal city, under the dark red sky and yellowish sun, how long could humans maintain their sanity?
Sounds of clattering kitchenware came from the room, and it seemed the shop assistant had served herself another bowl of delicacies, loudly enjoying her meal.
Just a door away, a woman was eating her own newborn child.
Everything about this place was abnormal.
"I want to go outside and see." Qi Xia spoke up. "Aren''t you curious? What is this place? Who are these people? Does the city have an edge? What''s outside? How did we get here, and how do we leave?"
Instead of curiosity, the expressions on everyone''s faces seemed more like fear.
"I just feel like there’s danger everywhere here..." Xiao Ran shook her head, saying to Qi Xia, "Rather than going out to play those ''games,'' I’d prefer to find a safe place and stay there."
"Beauty, there’s no food or drink here." Qiao Jiajin rubbed his stomach. "If we want to survive, we can''t seriously consider eating that piglet, right?"
His stance was clear. Rather than stay here and wait to die, he’d prefer to go outside and see.
At this point, the group seemed to have split into two factions: some wanted to leave, while others wanted to stay.
Dr. Zhao looked at Han Yimo beside him and said, "It''s fine to go outside and look, but the injured can''t leave. He’ll have to stay here. As a doctor, I should stay and take care of him."
"I’ll stay with you guys." Xiao Ran whispered.
"Are you all out of your minds?" Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "A patient, a weak girl, and a doctor... Are you three planning to live here?"
"I''ll stay too." Li Jingguan suddenly spoke up.
Dr. Zhao and the others turned to him. They knew that having the strong Li Jingguan stay would make it safer.
Li Jingguan nodded at Dr. Zhao and said, "This thug is right. You three staying here alone is too dangerous. Not to mention those animal masks, even if the woman goes crazy, you can’t deal with her."
Now, those choosing to stay had already reached six. The group turned their attention to Tian Tian, Zhang Chenzhe, and Lin Qing.
These three women hadn’t yet made their decision.
"I’ll definitely stay." Zhang Chenzhe smiled faintly. "I''m a lawyer. Until I have all the information, I won’t make a move. It could lead to an incorrect judgment."
With that, she stood up and joined Li Jingguan and Dr. Zhao.
At this point, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin seemed like outliers, wanting to venture into this world full of dangers, as though they were children who hadn’t grown up.
Tian Tian looked at Lin Qing beside her, then walked over to Qi Xia, but didn’t say anything.
It seemed she didn’t need any reason to join Qi Xia’s team.
"Mm?" Qiao Jiajin raised an eyebrow. "I thought you would stay?"
"Stay?" Tian Tian smiled wryly and shook her head, then pointed to the ground and said, "Can’t you see? There’s a wall here, and it forces me to leave."
"A wall?" Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked down, but they didn’t see any "wall."
"On the other side of the wall are the police, the lawyer, the doctor, and the writer. On this side are the liar, the thug, and the prostitute." Tian Tian’s tone was calm as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Our ''camps'' were decided from the start, right?"
Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin were taken aback and understood what Tian Tian meant.
Yes, even though all nine of them were forced into this place, they still had their own "camps."
Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, and Tian Tian were all people who lived in the gray area of society, which made them naturally incompatible with the others.
Now, the only one left without a camp was Lin Qing.
With her "psychologist" identity, she should have gone to the other side of the "wall."
But what surprised everyone was that she slowly walked over to Qi Xia and the others.
Qi Xia had a faint feeling that something was off with this girl, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
"You too?" Tian Tian looked at her in confusion. "You''re not one of us. Following them might..."
"But I''m useful." Lin Qing covered her mouth and nose and smiled at Tian Tian, interrupting her. "I understand human nature. Maybe I can help."
Qiao Jiajin stretched and slowly said, "Alright, with two pretty girls around, I won’t be bored with this liar."
"Don’t call me a liar." Qi Xia frowned. "I don’t need you two following me."
"Fine, fine..." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "When do we leave? Now?"
"I..."
Before Qi Xia could finish, Lin Qing spoke up, "It’s really getting late. Personally, I suggest we wait until tomorrow to leave."
"Tomorrow?" Everyone turned to look outside, and indeed, the sky was getting dark.
The sky was an even darker shade of red, exuding a sense of danger.