Chapter 577: Chen Nuo

Commercial District.

There were restaurants.

Certain players, tired of eating food manufactured by Skills, would come to restaurants to order meals.

Hell had one benefit, which was not having to avoid any foods. One could eat whatever one wanted to eat, without having to worry about high blood pressure, diabetes, or eating wild protected animals. For example, players who were from the Northeast while alive liked to order chick stewed with mushrooms at restaurants. But the chicks here weren't chickens, but hazel grouse. A single portion of hazel grouse stewed with mushrooms would cost 500 Points, simply because Skills capable of manufacturing hazel grouse were exceedingly rare in Hell.

Everyone said food-type Skills were useless in Hell, but they were truly strong at earning Points.

Other players worked themselves to death only to obtain a few dozen Points from an Instance. But for players with food-type Skills, it was nothing more than using their Skills a few times to earn it.

Moreover.

Among food-type Skills, the most special was the animal-type.

Simply because...

Logically speaking, this kind of Skill should be very strong in Instances. But the problem was that every player had Liar-Slayer Sanctuary, leading them to only be able to provide meat for some restaurants. It was painful yet happy: painful because it was useless in Instances, happy because they could sell animal meat. Especially protected animals from when they were alive were very popular in the restaurants on Commercial Street.

For example:

Panda meat stir-fried with bamboo shoots.

Charcoal-grilled tiger penis.

Braised lion's head (an actual lion's head, not the meatball dish).

Finless porpoise sashimi.

Golden snub-nosed monkey brains.

Dishes made from these precious and rare animals often sold for over 1000 Points.

Diners came in an endless stream.

They even had to queue.

This was very strange. As long as there were Deceiver's Tongues, logically speaking, meat could be supplied infinitely, and wouldn't lead to a situation of food shortage.

Then one has to mention the chefs in the shops.

While alive, they were all master chefs, and possessed signature ultimate skills, attracting an endless stream of diners and making the bosses earn pots full and bowls overflowing. But the problem was, for the chefs, they also had to go down to Instances sooner or later, and their craftsmanship was useless in Instances ah. Wanting to survive, they had to manipulate the boss. They started hunger marketing, making ten portions of their signature good dishes every day. If you wanted me to make more, then in the next Instance, you must dispatch experts to protect me.

Under normal circumstances.

These chefs were all stuck at One-Star. For ten more portions, the boss would have to dispatch a Three-Star Player to protect him. For twenty more portions, the boss would have to dispatch two Three-Star Players to protect him.

For a hundred more portions, they would have to dispatch a top-tier Three-Star Player!

This was the survival path of the chefs.

However, a restaurant's business drawing envy would definitely encounter the jealousy of other restaurants. Hunting and killing the chefs would also be placed on the agenda. Therefore, hunger marketing was also a kind of self-protection for these chefs.

…

The largest restaurant on Commercial Street was: The Starving Ghost Restaurant.

The varieties of food inside were numerous. Not only did it have the Eight Great Cuisines, but also famous snacks from when they were alive. Of course, these were all made personally by the chefs' own hands; not a single one was manufactured by Skills.

Starving Ghost Restaurant.

Looking from the outside, it wasn't large. But when diners walked inside, they would discover that the space inside was fully as large as three football fields. Furthermore, the first floor only sold snacks, such as oden, silkworm potatoes, octopus balls, barbecue, wontons, luzhu, mutton paomo, and the like. The second floor was various stir-fried dishes. The third floor was various precious and rare animal stir-fried dishes. The fourth floor had everything one could wish for, like the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

It was said that the Starving Ghost Restaurant's daily earnings were several tens of thousands of Points, making people envious. Once, a Floor Master wanted to strike with an idea on the restaurant, dispatching Reserve Teammates to snipe everyone except the chefs. But the result made everyone's glasses fall off in shock: not only did all the sniping Reserve Teammates die, even that Floor Master also died. Although this was a matter from a hundred years ago.

But it could be imagined how great the energy behind the Starving Ghost Restaurant was.

Chen Nuo, was the lobby manager of the Starving Ghost Restaurant's first floor, currently reprimanding those doing odd jobs on the first floor.

"Motherfucker, you bunch of bastards, can you work properly? I fucking saw quite a few stalls empty several times, can you not see it?"

Very strangely, Hell's Supreme Rule was that lying is forbidden. Chen Nuo actually dared to speak like this; was he not afraid of being judged by someone?

Then one has to speak of this shop. Seemingly it was on Commercial Street, but actually, the restaurant's main doors on Commercial Street were merely a passageway teleporting to this space.

That's right.

The entire Starving Ghost Restaurant was actually located in another space.

Any player who walked in here would have the lies on their body eliminated. This was also the reason diners were willing to come here.

It wasn't over yet.

The Starving Ghost Restaurant upheld the principle that the customer is God. Once someone told a lie in the restaurant, they would immediately be teleported through space and then teleported back, thereby eliminating the lie on their body. The speed was so fast that even the person involved couldn't react. Therefore, players could tell lies unscrupulously within the restaurant.

Being expensive has its reasons for being expensive!

Chen Nuo put both hands on his hips: "Remember for me, you are slaves that were bought. What end other slaves have, I don't need to say much about, right? And what about you? I'm just making you do a bit of work in the shop and that's fine. Go out and inquire around, which slave lives as comfortably as you guys ah? But some people are just asking to be treated harshly; if I don't keep an eye on you, you won't work, right? A bunch of bastards."

"Starting from tomorrow, if I see any more slacking off and shirking work, you'll be sold off immediately."

While speaking, he intentionally or unintentionally looked towards several Newbie slaves. It was exactly these few guys who still treated this place as the Living World and didn't have the slightest sense of service. He felt it was necessary to sell off one or two to make an example of them.

"Dismissed!"

After a bout of reprimanding, the slaves all returned to their posts. Some were making teppanyaki, some were making roujiamo, some were restocking goods. Their hands and feet were indeed nimble, and Chen Nuo couldn't help but nod.

He arrived at the back kitchen.

"Manager, there isn't enough panda meat. I estimate it can only last for another two days." The head chef opened the freezer and pointed at a small pile of meat inside that had been frozen for who knows how many decades, saying.

Chen Nuo frowned.

Panda meat stir-fried with bamboo shoots was indeed the shop's signature dish, one of the must-order dishes for high-star Sichuan-Chongqing players. But the problem was, players possessing the Skill to manufacture pandas were extremely few. Once one appeared, the major restaurants would basically all advance-order a few thousand tons first, freeze it in the freezer, enough to use for decades. They just feared that if the player died, the panda meat supply couldn't keep up.

"This is indeed a trouble. I'll dispatch someone to go to the two alliances later to ask and see if Hell has once again birthed a player with a panda Skill."

"Then you have to be fast." The head chef leaned in close and said in a low voice: "I reckon the inventories of the other few restaurants have also reached the bottom. If we are the first to find the panda Skill player, we can first advance-order a few thousand tons, and then we will..."

The head chef made a throat-slitting motion.

His meaning was very obvious. Whoever found the player with the panda Skill would preemptively advance-order decades' worth of quantity, and then murder them to silence them.

Thusly.

Only one's own shop would have it to sell, and the rest of the shops would have none to sell. Naturally, one would earn more.

Chen Nuo stroked his chin: "Do you think the leader of the Liar-Slayer Alliance has something wrong with his head? It's said his Skill is Almighty, how come he doesn't whip up some precious and rare animal meat to sell to us?"

Head chef: "..."

"Manager, I feel that actually we can find a player possessing a meat-copying Skill, and have him directly copy a few thousand tons of panda meat for us." The head chef pointed at the freezer and said.

"Ah, there's even this kind of Skill?"

"I estimate... there is..." The head chef was also uncertain.

Chen Nuo rolled his eyes at him, secretly saying you motherfucker came to Hell a dozen or so years earlier than me, and even you don't know if this kind of Skill exists, where the hell am I going to find this kind of Skill for you?

The head chef smiled awkwardly: "I'll go see if the soup has finished stewing."

Saying that, he ran off like a wisp of smoke.

Chen Nuo shook his head. He arrived outside the back kitchen doors, fumbled a cigarette case from his pocket, pulled out one and lit it. Taking a deep drag, he saw a woman wearing a red bridal gown also smoking not far away, although she was holding a smoke pipe to smoke.

Chen Nuo hastily jogged forward: "Greetings, Lord Mengpo."

The woman turned her head and sized him up from top to bottom. Staying silent for a moment, she said: "There is a Quest that needs you to go on."

Hearing this, Chen Nuo's heart lurched.

He hadn't gone on a Quest for seven or eight years. Moreover, Quests that could have him go do them, without even thinking, were basically all narrow escapes from death.

"Can I not go?"

The woman took a puff from her smoke pipe's mouthpiece and asked in return: "Have these few years been comfortable?"

Chen Nuo nodded noncommittally. These past few years were even more comfortable than how he lived while alive. He had no opponents when going down to Instances or whatever. In the Starving Ghost Restaurant, he ate whatever he wanted and did whatever he wanted. Also not having to abide by the rules of the 18th Level, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say this place was Heaven.

The woman no longer spoke.

Chen Nuo closed his eyes and pondered for a while. Immediately he opened his eyes, determination in them: "I'll go."

"This is the tracking document."

Taking the document, Chen Nuo scanned it.

[Chen Ran]: Five-Star, Half-Step Superego.

Seeing the first person's information, he bantered: "Yo, it's actually someone from the same clan ah."

He continued looking down.

[Qiu Yinong]: Five-Star, Peak Ego, Psionic Attack Half-Step Superego.

[Jiang Zhe]: Five-Star, Half-Step Superego.

Seeing this, he was quite satisfied, but...

[Lin Xuan]: Five-Star, Ego.

"Ego Mental State. No, this guy called Lin Xuan, is he a nepotism hire?" Chen Nuo's brain somewhat crashed. Motherfucker, among a group of Half-Step Superego players, an Ego Mental State popped up. No matter how you looked at it, he was the kind of goods meant for delivering free kills.

The woman thought for a bit, and then nodded seriously.

"Alright." Chen Nuo stopped fretting. Judging from the information on the document, the tracked party could also be considered a luxurious lineup. What kind of international joke is this—among these four people, there were actually two Five-Star Half-Step Superegos, and there was also one who, although only at Peak Ego Mental State, had psionic attacks that reached Half-Step Superego. It was simply a monster-level party.

"Protect, or kill?"

"Protect." The woman took out another piece of document and handed it to Chen Nuo.

Hearing this, Chen Nuo's heart sank into the valley bottom. This kind of monster-level party needed protection?

It meant the opponent was terrifyingly strong!

Sure enough, after he saw the information on the document, his pupils shrank sharply.

[Yue Guanshan]: Seven-Star Ghost Immortal.

"Seven-Star... Ghost Immortal!!"

"Hey hey hey, Great Big Mengpo, did you grab the wrong one? A Seven-Star Ghost Immortal is a Superego Mental State ah. With this kind of powerhouse hunting a Five-Star party, a single glance could insta-kill a Five-Star party, right? Even if it is this kind of monster-level Five-Star party. Did they violate the Heavenly Laws? Did I violate the Heavenly Laws?" Chen Nuo was thoroughly anxious. Openly in Hell, there was only this one Seven-Star Ghost Immortal. Whenever he took the field, it meant an absolute kill against the prey.

What fucking Five-Star monster party, in front of a Seven-Star Ghost Immortal, they were just dregs.

"Wait, don't tell me that among these four people, there is one who is a legendary True Self Player, right? Only True Self Players have the qualifications to encounter the pursuit of this monster Yue Guanshan."

The woman didn't answer him directly, changing the topic: "Your teammates are four Seven-Star players. They are all of the Half-Step Superego Mental State. The entire party only has you as a Five-Star."

As everyone knew.

For a Seven-Star party to want to track a Five-Star party, then there must be a Five-Star player within the party.

But in this kind of peak match, that Five-Star player in the party was basically always cannon fodder—the kind of cannon fodder that had no room for resistance.

"I'm cannon fodder?"

"Chen Nuo, Five-Star Ghost Whisperer, Skill is considered the food-type. Has been in Hell for fifteen years, stuck at Five-Star the entire time. Cultivated Mental States include: Supreme Perfect Enlightenment, Half-Step Superego; The Highest Goodness is Like Water, completed [Joy] and [Sorrow]; Unity of Man and Heaven completed the cultivation of the first realm. If you are cannon fodder, are you still going to let other people live?"

Actually, regarding letting Chen Nuo take the field, the opinions of the Underworld's upper echelons were not unified. Although he had been stuck at Five-Star for fifteen years, and couldn't compare to Chen Ran's monster-level talent, Chen Nuo's talent also wasn't far off. In the future, he would absolutely be able to cultivate his heart to the Superego Mental State. Even without the Superego Loss of Self trigger, for the other two kinds of Heart Cultivation, he also had the possibility of cultivating his heart to the third realm, rivaling the Superego.

This kind of genius, if they let him take the field, regardless of whether Yue Guanshan or Chen Ran won in the next Instance, they wouldn't let him leave the Instance alive.

It was simply a loss for the Underworld.

But there was no other way ah. Yue Guanshan was only Seven-Star, Chen Ran was only Five-Star. Wanting to match with Chen Ran, the party had to have a Five-Star player. If this Five-Star player's Mental State was too poor, it would be wasting a quota. Put it this way: even if Chen Nuo took the field, and Chen Ran also found the last party—so fifteen people were all of the Half-Step Superego Mental State—they still might not necessarily be able to withstand Yue Guanshan's first wave of psionic attacks.

"I have a question. Why not have Chen Ran break up his party? For example, we dispatch a party where all five people are Seven-Star, have one of those Seven-Star players go to Chen Ran's party, and have one Five-Star player from Chen Ran's party come to the Underworld's Seven-Star party. In this way, wouldn't we then not need to dispatch a Five-Star player anymore?" Chen Nuo spoke his doubt.

The woman shook her head: "Some things cannot be placed out in the open."

Simply put, exchanging benefits was okay, but if the Underworld didn't even act anymore and openly took sides, it would be equivalent to declaring war on the two alliances. Moreover, declaring war wasn't cost-effective for the Underworld. From beginning to end, what the Underworld cared about was merely this backup option, Qiu Yinong.

Hearing this, Chen Nuo rubbed the space between his eyebrows: "This is still less than three parties, what about the other party?"

For two parties to want to block Yue Guanshan's first wave of psionic attacks was simply daydreaming.

"That one among the Death Row will have a non-Death Row party take the field. I estimate the configuration won't be as good as ours. To be exact, their Five-Star player is not as good as you." The woman told the truth.

Seeing Chen Nuo not speak, the woman asked: "State your conditions, right? The Underworld Emperor has said, no matter what condition, as long as he can do it, anything is fine."

"How truly generous ah!" Chen Nuo had to admit, if Hell would ultimately have an ending, then the Underworld Emperor was undoubtedly the best leader. Thus he said: "I only have one condition. If I die in the next Instance, have the Underworld Emperor immediately resurrect me. Of course, if he is not at ease, he can erase my memories from the next Instance."

"Yes, but there is a hidden danger."

"What hidden danger?" Chen Nuo was alarmed and doubtful.

"In the next Instance, you must absolutely not die within the effective time of a certain Skill. Otherwise, even Immortals won't be able to save you."

Chen Nuo: "..."