Chapter 781: Lamb
“Sir, did you hear me?” The man at the restaurant waved at Han Fei. “It’ll take some time to cook the meat. Leave me your address, and I’ll deliver it to you.”
“I said I’ll wait here. Why are you chasing me away?” Han Fei’s train of thought was interrupted. He looked at the man’s honest face. If not for Han Fei’s good memory, he wouldn’t have recognized this man.
“Okay. Please wait here then.” The burly man was like a microcosm of a certain type of people. They had heavy labor jobs. They contributed the most but got the least in return. They struggled at the lowest level and had to suffer the fate of being stepped on. The dim light beside the wooden sign flickered. The chef wiped his hands with the dirty cloth and then walked to the kitchen with a sharp knife. Han Fei felt like the man was about to strike, so he touched his ghost tattoo. As he tried to communicate with Big Sin, a stuttering voice came from behind him. “Do you want a cigarette?” The blind hawker who curled up at the corner earlier materialized behind Han Fei. His eyes had been dug away, and he had more than a few scars on his face. Han Fei wanted to reject the hawker, but he noticed something weird. The blind hawker didn’t seem to be communicating with Han Fei but something behind Han Fei.
“What kind of cigarette do you have?” Han Fei spoke and startled the blind hawker. He seemed to just realize Han Fei’s existence. The blind hawker immediately opened the wooden box before him. It carried a lot of cheap cigarettes and a bag of brownish-red tobacco leaves.
“This is a cigarette unique to Red Alley. You can’t find them anywhere else.” The hawker said mysteriously, “If you bring them to the higher floor, you can exchange them for great stuff.”
“In that case, why don’t you go there yourself?”
“I can’t take the elevator, and I’m afraid to use the stairs.” The hawker handed one cigarette to Han Fei. “Why don’t you try one? The cigarette of Red Alley is like the services here. One try, and you’ll get hooked.”
“Alright.” Han Fei accepted the cigarette. When he touched the hawker’s finger, the system rang in his mind, “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered the hidden map’s blind merchant.
“Blind Merchants: A small part of the merchants on this map has been blinded. Perhaps this is God’s intention, as these people are trustworthy because they are blind.
“Warning! Each floor’s blind merchants will offer different things. There’s a chance for the player to buy unique items from them.”
After accepting the cigarette, Han Fei got another notification.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve obtained Red Alley’s unique item—Blood Cigarette.
“Blood Cigarette (Grade F Item): Lighting the blood cigarette will temporarily increase your stamina and numb your sense of pain. However, it will corrode your body and curse your soul.”
‘I didn’t expect this to be a unique item.’ Han Fei picked up the bag of tobacco leaves. “How are these sold?”
“One coin for five cigarettes, or you can trade them with items that contain the presence of God. If you have neither…” The blind hawker rolled up his sleeves to expose the arm filled with curses. “Your name can trade for ten cigarettes. You can also get one cigarette if you take one curse away from me.”
“There’s an economy inside the building?!” In just a few minutes, Han Fei got a new understanding of the skyscraper. He placed the bag back and patted the hawker’s shoulder. “Do you mind going there and waiting? I’ll go get the money.” After the hawker left, Han Fei entered the restaurant with Rest in Peace. If this were a normal shop, he would borrow the money politely. If not…
“Is the meat ready? How much longer do I need to wait?” He lifted the curtain to the kitchen and was hit by the fragrance of meat. Two big pots were cooking. There were various spices on the cutting board. In the sink were an oil-stained bowl and an exquisite wooden box. ‘The chef is the same man from the elevator.’ Han Fei gripped the knife and silently called Big Sin’s name. Han Fei lifted the lids of the pots. The meat inside had been cubed, so he couldn’t tell what kind of meat they were. “Is anyone here?” Han Fei continued to walk inside. He heard the sound of shackles. He turned the corner and saw a monster tied to the wall. The monster looked like a ram. Its limbs had regressed. Its body was grown with brownish-red fungus. It made no sound, and its body was large and fatty. It looked like livestock kept for food.
“There’s really a ram here?!” Han Fei was shocked. He thought the restaurant only dealt with human meat. Han Fei knelt down. This was his first time seeing this kind of monster. Its neck and waist were locked by chains. The shackles were put on the monster when it was a lamb. When it grew older, the shackles grew into its flesh, so it could never escape.
“This thing won’t bite, right?” Big Sin didn’t give any warning. Han Fei used the fastest speed to touch the monster’s head. The system didn’t say anything. “It’s not a special ghost or God’s creation. Is this… a human?”
Han Fei pushed back the fungus on the monster’s head. He saw an ugly face. There were some red tobacco leaves and syringes around the monster’s feet. “Is the Red Alley’s tobacco grown on this thing?” Han Fei held the shackles and attempted to cut them with Rest in Peace when footsteps came from deep inside the kitchen. The honest-looking man stood at the door with the newly-sharpened butcher’s knife. He looked at Han Fei and the honesty on his face slowly twisted.
“Sir, how can you come in here?” He slowly approached Han Fei. He moved faster and faster.
Han Fei only had one life point, so he couldn’t be too careful. He summoned Big Sin to face the first enemy in the building. The large body crashed through the wall. Big Sin was very excited. The presence of tragedy flooded everything. The chef was overwhelmed by Big Sin. The next second, his head was swallowed by Big Sin. “The system hasn’t given me the notification that he’s dead!”
Han Fei had Big Sin inject Soul Poison into the chef. Even a Pure hatred could be hurt by Big Sin’s ambush, much less an unknown chef. The black Soul Poison flowed through the chef’s body, torturing his soul and body. When the poison reached his heart, something inside the chef’s soul cracked!
As the chef disintegrated, a deep red name was carved on Big Sin’s back, Zhu Wu.
“The suspect from that case is called Zhu Wu. Why would his name appear on Big Sin after Big Sin killed him? Is this a curse?” Han Fei communicated with Big Sin. Big Sin didn’t feel any discomfort. In fact, it felt stronger.
“The slaughter is over, but not the mission.” Han Fei hurriedly cleaned up the blood and ran to the deepest room of the kitchen. The dark room was like a prison cell. There were many tools used for slaughter. The chef had added hooks and shelves for convenience. However, there was no lamb in prison but a thin, young woman. Her mouth was sealed. Her body was slathered with spices like she was being marinated. Han Fei walked toward the woman with the knife. Her eyes were filled with fear.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve reached the key point for How to Murder a Lamb. Your different choices will lead to different rewards.
“Choice 1: Unleash your inner sin and commit murder. You will gain double EXP and start the next stage of cooking the lamb!
“Choice 2: Cook the lamb and finish what Zhu Wu started. Continue to deliver the food to the other citizens. You will gain a permanent unique ability from Zhu Wu! You will also start the next stage of cooking the lamb!
“Choice 3: Save Xiao Zhu. Fail the quest and gain no EXP. Gain friendliness level with Xiao Zhu by 3 and with Sister Hong by 1!
“Warning! Please make your choice within the next ten seconds!”
Xiao Zhu was a stranger to Han Fei. Killing Xiao Zhu could advance the mission and gain a permanent reward. The system seemed to be convincing Han Fei to kill. But Han Fei was conscious that he was not a killer. Han Fei undid the rope and told Xiao Zhu to remove the layer of marinating on her body.
“Move faster! We can’t stay here.” Han Fei made his choice. He wouldn’t become a murderer even if he could get a new ability. When Xiao Zhu changed, Han Fei was busy too. He looked through the cabinets and eventually found ten coins made from human bones inside the hidden compartment of the cupboard. The coins were of differing sizes. The similarity was all of them had the carving of an altar made from dead bodies. When Big Sin saw the coins, it charged at Han Fei like it had smelled something delicious.
“Do you want to eat the coins?” Han Fei knew that Big Sin liked to destroy altars. It was obsessed with the presence of Unmentionables and liked to eat anything related to them.
Han Fei selected the smallest bone coin and tossed it to Big Sin. It immediately started chomping happily.
“What kind of monster have I been keeping?” After feeding Big Sin a few more bone coins, he tricked Big Sin back into the ghost tattoo. Han Fei continued his search and found an elevator card inside the chef’s coat. The card had the number 11.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve found the hidden map unique item—Elevator 11 Card.
“Elevator 11 Card: The owner can now use Elevator 11! The different elevators will lead to different floors. Taking some of the elevators will trigger special events.”
“This is a good thing.” Han Fei put the card away. He helped Xiao Zhu get out of the restaurant before he ran back into the shop to replace everything. After doing this many times, Han Fei became very good at this. After dealing with everything, Han Fei exited the small restaurant. He originally wanted to find the blind hawker, but the man was gone.
He went back to the small house. When the middle-aged woman saw Han Fei lead Xiao Zhu back, the dullness in her eyes became shock and awe. “How did you manage to convince Zhu Wu to let her go?”
“Who is Zhu Wu? When I was there, I only saw her.” Han Fei didn’t clarify the details, but the woman understood everything. She jogged to close the door and handed her clothes to Xiao Zhu.
“You two should hide here first.” The middle-aged woman offered. Her attitude changed. At the same time, Han Fei got a new notification. “Notification for Player 0000! The mission, How to Kill a Lamb, failed! The effect of Lapidarist has been triggered. Your charm has doubled. Your friendliness level with Xiao Zhu increases by six. Friendliness level with Sister Hong increases by two!”
Han Fei planned to have a good chat with the two citizens and really began to understand this scary skyscraper.
