The restaurant was empty, and the servers quickly directed Xu Yintang and his team to a five-person table.
Xiao Qing said to Huahua and Tiantian, “You two can sit on the couch, and the three of us will sit on the chairs.”
Despite the recent episodes where they lost some sanity, even though Xu Yintang had put the tentacle back into his pocket and tried to put the psychological trauma behind, it was still there. Nevertheless, no matter how you looked at it, they could still sit together for a meal. After all, food was undeniable.
Xiao Qing didn’t know about the state of his other teammates, but he felt better with his self-assurance.
He asked Xu Yintang, “I’m going over there to get some seafood, do you want to come with me?”
Xu Yintang followed his gaze to the other side of the restaurant, where a three-tiered glass fish tank was lit up by ultraviolet lights, with various fish swimming around and even the lobsters, king crabs, snow crabs, and others that Xiao Qing had mentioned, showing their claws and pincers. It was like a small underwater world.
“Sure,” Xu Yintang agreed.
Xiao Qing stood up and said to the other teammates who were sitting still, “The steak, fried chicken nuggets, and salmon over here are delicious. As for ice cream, I recommend green tea and white peach flavors. They said the lamb and roast chicken are a bit tough, so I wouldn’t recommend them.”
This was a buffet, and the food wouldn’t magically appear on the table while they sat idly.
“Ah? Oh, okay!” Tiantian was still a bit dazed, and she responded absentmindedly while sneakily looking at the pocket of Xu Yintang’s clothing. His pocket was only slightly bulging, as if it contained a pack of tissues, and there was no sign of the horrifying tentacle, which was thicker and longer than her arm.
Tiantian still shuddered when she thought about the appearance of that tentacle, especially those numerous white-tipped protrusions, resembling a cluster of pustules or pimples, making her feel both disgusted and uncomfortable, crawling with ants all over her body.
But, that, well…
Tiantian didn’t know if her other teammates had noticed the biggest issue in Xu Yintang’s statement, and that was the phrase, “once they’re born, you can’t just abandon them.” It sounded like this monstrous pair was Xu Yintang’s own children.
Terrifying thoughts.
Tiantian was deeply troubled, and she had little appetite for the array of delicious food before her. When she lifted her head, she saw Xu Yintang, and in her heart, she lamented her incurable tendency to be charmed by handsome men.
This teammate of hers was undoubtedly extremely handsome, a front-runner in any glitzy entertainment industry. He had a tall and slender figure like bamboo, with clear and languid eyes carrying a faint hint of coldness. His lips had a natural and gentle curve that hinted at a smile. At this moment, as he crouched by the fish tank, he displayed a hint of youthful and naive charm, making Tiantian’s teenage heart flutter uncontrollably. It briefly eased the psychological trauma from the terrifying tentacle.
Out of self-interest, she didn’t want to imagine the possibility of a handsome man turning into a tentacled monster, so she could only attribute the child’s ugly appearance to the genes of the child’s father. But with someone as stunning as him, producing such a child, she doesn’t even want to imagine what the other party looks like.
Moreover, if you carefully thought about Xu Yintang’s words, “once they’re born, you can’t just abandon them,” it didn’t sound like a consensual relationship… As Tiantian thought about it, her thoughts began to deviate, and after running through a multitude of possibilities in her mind, she glanced back at Xu Yintang. He looked like a poor, beautiful single mother who was raped by monsters and had to give birth in tears. If he were a 2d character, she would have already declared herself a loyal wife.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The fish in the tank swam in circles, and some even seemed to be tired and sank to the bottom, releasing strings of bubbles. Xu Yintang was engrossed in watching them, and when Xiao Qing turned back, he suddenly seemed like he was looking at his own five-year-old nephew at home who couldn’t help but be fascinated by fish.
He couldn’t help but laugh for a moment. His nephew was like this too, he couldn’t move when he saw fish and even kept several small turtles at home.
“Like fish?” Xiao Qing squatted down beside Xu Yintang and initiated a casual conversation.
Xu Yintang shook his head, saying, “I used to wish I could live underwater when I was a child, to be able to breathe even when submerged.”
Xiao Qing chuckled, “Who hasn’t thought that at some point? I have a friend whose transformation direction is a mermaid. She can stay underwater for several hours at a stretch.”
“Right,” Xu Yintang nodded. He couldn’t help but feel that Xiao Qing didn’t pull him aside just to talk about these trivial matters.
Xiao Qing maintained eye contact with him in silence. After a few seconds, he raised his hands in surrender, saying, “Alright, it’s just an immature idea.”
“I have a few friends who can establish some connections with the Laundry Detergent and Cat Group. They are willing to pay a high price for first-hand information about this blank instance. Since your offspring seem to have a strong appetite for what’s in this hotel, would you be interested in collaborating to make some money?”
With Xu Yintang’s two creatures on their team, the survival difficulty of this instance would decrease significantly, providing more room for gathering information and trial and error. Selling information from a D-rank blank instance like this to the strategy group could easily fetch a six-figure sum.
“Both of us?”
Xiao Qing smiled and said, “If we decide to go through with it, we’ll involve the entire team, but I’d like to hear your opinion first. If you agree, I’ll talk to them.”
“What do you need me to do?”
Xiao Qing replied, “Try your best to protect your teammates from dying, and also, could you ask your offspring to keep a low profile? As you mentioned, the creatures in this instance are quite alert, so we need to lure them out first to gather information.”
“We’ll have to assess the specific situation later tonight, but I have a strong feeling it might involve vengeful spirits or ghosts. I have experience in dealing with those, and once we’ve collected the information, we can use it to feed your offspring.”
As long as he avoided mentioning the names “Little Darling” and “Second Treasure,” he wouldn’t experience that eerie chill and stickiness in his soul. Xiao Qing kept his tone casual, treating this situation like dealing with friends who kept spiders, scorpions, and big cockroaches as pets.
This would make it difficult for him to compliment the creatures’ cuteness, but it wouldn’t affect their friendship.
Xiao Qing signaled his friendliness to Xu Yintang, “Shall I add you as a friend on the forum? Starting from C-rank instances, we can form teams with friends, and I’m usually quite free, so feel free to reach out to me whenever you need assistance.”
A player who could take two creatures around the D-rank instance was definitely a potential asset, and securing a friend position on the forum could only be beneficial.
“Sure,” Xu Yintang agreed. He paused for a moment and added, “I’m open to cooperating, as long as the others agree.”
A deeper smile appeared on Xiao Qing’s face, “Great, I’ll talk to them later. What’s your forum nickname? I’ll add you when I get back.”
Xu Yintang told him his nickname, and Xiao Qing nodded, indicating that he’d remember it. Then, he asked, “Can your offspring eat seafood?”
“It seems like they can’t,” Xu Yintang replied. “I tried feeding them with my food, but they both found it unpalatable and refused to touch it.”
“Alright, we’ll enjoy the delicious seafood ourselves then. The seafood here is of high quality. I’ve ordered some scallops, oysters, and dried scallops. Later, I’ll make snow crab seafood congee for you both.”
Xiao Qing appeared like an experienced foodie, arranging the seafood dishes with clarity. The lobster was baked open-back, tender, and fragrant with a creamy texture. The oysters and scallops were paired with garlic and vermicelli, and the thick meat of the shellfish was succulent and elastic.
The star of the show was the steamed king crab, where the finest ingredients often required the simplest preparation. The crab legs and claws were piled up into a small mountain, and the crab shell was filled with white and fresh crab meat, sweet and delicious. To enhance the flavor, a few drops of ginger vinegar were added, making it so delicious that it made your eyebrows want to fly off.
Finally, they finished with a bowl of snow crab seafood congee made from crab meat and shrimp roe, which was warming, soothing, and left the whole person feeling comfortable and relaxed, with the soul floating lightly and free of all worries and troubles.
At a time like this, the discussion about selling instance information to the strategy group was undoubtedly passed unanimously.
There was nothing that a good meal couldn’t resolve.
Old Wang leaned back in his chair, unceremoniously letting out a seafood-flavored burp.
Huahua and Tiantian shared a scoop of white peach-flavored ice cream, and with the courage that desserts provided, they brought up the topic of “Little Darling,” “Second Treasure,” and giving birth.
Xu Yintang’s response was too straightforward, leaving Tiantian unsure of how to respond. Huahua chuckled dryly a couple of times, trying to avoid glancing at Xu Yintang’s stomach. A man being forced to give birth was already quite miserable, and poking at his sore spot wouldn’t be a good idea.
But as a gynecologist, her professional ethics made her genuinely curious about how children in the game entered and exited the body. It just wasn’t scientific.
Well, forget it. There was nothing scientific in this game world.
Huahua sighed and pulled Tiantian up to prepare to get some more dessert.
Xiao Qing immediately raised his hand and said, “Can you also bring me a mango pudding?”
Listening to this conversation, Xu Yintang remembered that he wanted to drink cola, even though he didn’t know what it looked like.
Xu Yintang learned.
“Could you also get me a cola?” he asked.
Tiantian readily nodded and said, “Sure, do you have any other requests? We’ll bring them back together.”
Old Wang waved his hand to indicate he didn’t need anything else. He had a slower digestion at his age, and eating too much would make it hard to run when they needed to later.
Just then, the restaurant’s empty stage came to life with the sound of a piano, followed by the addition of a violin. A woman’s voice began singing a melodious and charming song, and the music filled the entire restaurant.
“It’s 8 o’clock,” Xiao Qing checked his watch and reported the time precisely.
The band’s figures appeared slowly on the stage, playing instruments and singing songs in a very cheerful manner.
In the blink of an eye, many figures appeared in the restaurant, looking like ordinary people with a mix of men and women. They had contented smiles, swaying gently to the rhythm or enjoying their meals at the tables.
Laughter and dancing, a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.
It was as if, as soon as 8 o’clock struck, they had suddenly crossed into another world.
Author’s Note –
Xiao Qing: Look, here’s a wild potential asset. Let’s approach quietly…
Tiantian: It’s a male mom! A loving wife! [whispering in her heart]
Thank you for the chapter! ❤❤❤
Thank you for the chapter
And now I am hungry
Me too, I love seafood!! 🤤
Tiantian girl I really hope you survive 😭
She’s so cute, with that thought process. I bet she’s the first one in the group who will genuinely call the kids cute
😂I’m glad they haven’t earned the wrath of angry mommy tangtang
Awwww idk why but I am so emotionally attached to Tangtang 😭😭
Its definitely his innocence or naiveness due to his environment and how he was raised.
I cried inside when I read that he asked for a cola.
Awwww idk why but I am so emotionally attached to Tangtang 😭😭
Its definitely his innocence or naiveness due to his environment and how he was raised.
I cried inside when I read that he asked for a cola.