Chapter 508: Attempts to Exploit Loopholes

After a fierce internal struggle.

Wu Xian ultimately chose the vegetarian meal.

At this point, the queue had thinned considerably; Wu Xian joined a short line and soon faced the woman who would serve his food.

The woman was extremely muscular; her exposed forearms were knotted with sinew, nearly matching Su Mi’s build.

“Sister, I’m not hungry this morning—please give me just a small portion.”

The woman offered a stiff, lifeless smile: “How can I give you less? You’re so thin—you need to eat more and put on some weight.”

Then.

She plunged her large ladle deep into the dishes and lifted it with careful precision.

Finally.

Wu Xian received his meal.

He already missed the annoying cafeteria ladies from his school days who trembled while serving food.

Earlier, watching others eat had only made him feel nauseated; now that the tray was in his hands, Wu Xian truly grasped how dark this food was.

His tray held three items.

The staple was noodles—white and green, short like knife-shaved noodles; at first glance, they looked vibrant, but upon closer inspection, the white noodles resembled silkworms, and the green ones looked like the larvae of bean moths.

The second item was pickled vegetables—roots of some plant, each twisted into human faces, steeped in dark red brine; their faces occasionally moved! The final item was fried food, likely some kind of mushroom, shaped vaguely like the “dead fingers” Wu Xian had seen in the underground cave, but shorter—perhaps dead toes…

Wu Xian found it impossible to swallow.

Since class was still some time away, Wu Xian decided to stall and observe how others reacted after eating the vegetarian meal.

But everyone who had chosen the vegetarian meal—locals included—held the same thought: no one wanted to be the first to try. The cafeteria courtyard fell into a brief stalemate.

Meanwhile, those who had chosen the meat meal were already devouring their food.

Steamed lamb, smoked chicken, braised pig’s head, roasted deer legs… Though each person’s meal differed, all looked appetizing; no one cared whether breakfast was greasy—the only drawback was the sheer quantity, requiring one to overeat to finish a full portion.

The man sitting across from Wu Xian was a college student named Sun Qian.

He had a smooth face, deep eyes, soft features, and wore silver-rimmed glasses—a classic handsome man. His breakfast was a tea-smoked chicken emitting a rich, sweet aroma.

Looking at the chicken, Sun Qian hesitated; he was neither a meat-eater nor a vegetarian—he was someone who found both types of food problematic.

But he was starving, so he gritted his teeth and bought the meat meal.

With Wu Xian’s envious gaze upon him, Sun Qian tore off a chicken wing; the meat was firm and delicious, the skin fragrant, satisfying his taste buds utterly—it was the most delicious food he had ever eaten in his life.

Sun Qian speeded up his eating, quickly finishing half the chicken, then flipped it over.

Within seconds, sweat poured from his handsome face.

The chicken’s leg had broken off and bent outward.

This was a disabled chicken.

Logically, since the chicken was fully cooked, obsessing over its disability seemed odd.

But when Sun Qian registered for school, he had stood at the very front of the new arrivals—and he remembered clearly: the person ahead of him was a woman with a broken leg!

And that woman’s leg had broken at the exact same angle as this chicken’s! “N-no… oh, oh!”

Sun Qian gagged.

His stomach churned violently; the urge to vomit was uncontrollable, yet nothing came out—as if the half-chicken he’d eaten had already been digested!

The gagging noise made everyone around him stop eating.

Sun Qian’s hair was soaked in sweat; he raised his head, scanning the crowd with a pleading look.

“I… I can’t eat this anymore—what should I do?”

Wu Banqing, who had chosen the vegetarian meal, turned her eyes twice before speaking to Sun Qian: “The cafeteria rules say you must finish your food—this rule cannot be broken. But if you truly cannot eat it, you might try exploiting a loophole. I don’t know what consequences that might bring.”

“Exploiting a loophole?”

Sun Qian stared at the smoked chicken, thinking.

“Must finish it… finish it… right! The rule only says you must finish it—it doesn’t say who must eat it. I can give the food away!”

He grabbed the chicken leg and waved it toward the distance.

“Suck suck suck.”

The dining area was an open square, and the immigrant school kept many free-roaming animals.

Sun Qian’s plan was to call over a dog and feed it the remaining chicken.

But as he raised the chicken leg, every animal nearby—whether meat-eater or herbivore—froze, their eyes locked onto the leftover smoked chicken.

That gaze.

Not the cute, hungry stare of small animals.

But the deep, sinister stare of a human serial killer spotting prey!

Whirr! The animals surged forward—over twenty of them rushed to Sun Qian, tearing and fighting over the half-chicken; within moments, every scrap was gone.

Sun Qian exhaled in relief—the food was gone, and the cafeteria woman showed no sign of attacking him.

But he immediately sensed something was wrong.

The animals had not dispersed; their eerie eyes now fixed on him.

Crack! Ssshh! A muntjac deer suddenly bit off Sun Qian’s nose!

Before he could scream, a fat little pig bit through his Achilles tendon—he collapsed in agony, helplessly watching a rooster’s sharp beak inch toward his eye, drawing closer…

Sun Qian died.

In the cafeteria, before everyone’s eyes, torn apart by over twenty animals.

Moments later.

The animals scattered.

Blood stained the ground nearby, flowing under Wu Xian’s shoes; only a skeleton, marked with countless tooth impressions, remained at the table.

Wu Xian’s pupils dilated in shock.

When Sun Qian chose to break the rule, Wu Xian had thought the tactic might work—but now, mere moments later, Sun Qian lay dead.

But Sun Qian wore a badge—shouldn’t it have saved him from death?

Why did it fail here?

Wu Banqing turned deathly pale, her limbs icy, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Though she and Sun Qian attended the same university, they weren’t acquainted—but the loophole suggestion had come from her, so Sun Qian’s death bore her share of blame. If she had tried the same trick, she would surely meet the same fate.

Wu Banqing had just believed she could adapt to the Blessed Land and survive here—but this brutal scene shattered her naive illusions.

Wu Xian ignored Wu Banqing.

He lowered his head to his tray, staring at the grotesque food, knowing he had no other choice—whether it was dangerous or not, he had to finish every bite. So.

In the cafeteria, everyone began wolfing down their meals.

The cafeteria woman picked up a mop and broom and, before everyone’s eyes, cleaned up Sun Qian’s blood.

(End of Chapter)