ICUGW Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Man-Eating Hot Pot Restaurant (4)

The power of the gun was about ten times that of an air bullet.

After the shot, the pig man's entire head exploded, but he didn't die.

So, the pig-headed man was not the source of pollution?

In the scene shown in her talent, Danger Premonition, there was still a tentacle monster inside the trash can. Zhu Ning also shot at the trash can then turned around and ran away.

The killing power of the pig man and the tentacle monster was very strong, completely different from the level of the fish man. In the danger warning, it only took them thirty seconds to deal with Zhu Ning.

Zhu Ning didn't want to confront them head-on.

The backyard was also enclosed, so Zhu Ning couldn't get out and could only return to the hot pot restaurant. The pig man struggled to get up and cursed, "You actually, don't want to eat."

Zhu Ning ignored whatever he was saying and went back straight inside. As soon as she entered, she heard screams coming from the lobby of the hot pot restaurant.

A monster squirmed out of the hot pot, its long tentacles crawling up dragging diners into the hot pot. Screams and blood enveloped the hot pot restaurant. They were too lazy to even pretend.

The lobby is out of her options now. The pig man behind her should still be adapting to the fact that he no longer have any head.

But after that, she knew. He was coming for her.

There are eight doors in front. One is the kitchen, one is for the freezer, and one is the back door leading to the trash can where she came from. How to choose which of the remaining five doors is the safest?

Zhu Ning took a quick glance and saw five words written on the door of one of the rooms: Female Employee Dormitory.

Do normal things in abnormal places.

Zhu Ning's identity right now is a cashier employee of the hot pot restaurant. Since the recruitment notice mentioned that food and accommodation was provided by the restaurant, she should be living in the female employee dormitory.

With a bang, Zhu Ning opened the door then locked it quickly.

Basic rules should still work inside contaminated areas. The room was labeled as the female employee dormitory, and the pig man is a man, so he has no reason to come in.

Zhu Ning moved a cabinet to block the door. It was dark inside, but she had no intentions of opening the lights. She relied on the night vision function of her helmet to survey the entire dormitory.

This was a double dormitory with two bunk beds, but only the top bunk had a bed, while the bottom was fashioned to be a desk. One bed was covered in dust, while the other looked like someone was using it. Zhu Ning quickly searched the dormitory and found a work logbook hidden in the corner of a cabinet.

A clue.

Zhu Ning opened the bright red logbook. It was originally a work logbook that many companies would issue, but its owner used it as a diary.

[January of the 50th year of the new calendar.]

The first line of words.

Zhu Ning frowned. The 50th year in the new calendar was the year when the hot pot restaurant disappeared.

Zhu Ning remembered that the store closed down in April of that year. The grave post she saw was uploaded on April 13th, 50th year of the new calendar. This diary entry was made earlier than the time of the "crime."

[January 2nd, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[I've been working as a cashier at the Come Again, Okay? Hot Pot Restaurant for three days, but this restaurant is so weird. I need to write something down in my diary, or I'm afraid I'll lose my mind.

[Business at Come Again, Okay? was booming, and standing at the cashier every day was so tiring. I even thought of quitting. But the staff meals were so good I couldn't bear to leave.

Our staff meals were made with leftovers from preparing meals for guests, pretty much the same as what guests eat. I don't know what kind of meat it is, but maybe it's a secret recipe that got the boss to open this place.]

[January 10th, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[I can't take it anymore. I've had so many nightmares and I feel so anxious every day. Lately, I always catch myself in a trance. I thought I was just too tired and that I just needed to rest for a couple of days.

But I took a day off today and my condition didn't get better. It even got worse. Should I see a doctor?]

[January 14th, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[I'm losing my mind. Today, when I was checking out, my drawer was filled with fingers.

What was that? Am I hallucinating?

No, I can't do this anymore. I'll go crazy if I continue.]

[January 19th, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[I told the store manager I wanted to quit and go home to recuperate, but he disagreed and told me to reconsider.

I think I'm hallucinating more and more. The store manager's head was becoming more and more like a pig's. I couldn't stand it any more.

But the manager wouldn't let me go. He said I would love this place. Bullshit! I've been feeling weak lately and my body feels like its dying. There's definitely something wrong with this store. I keep hearing strange noises coming from the basement.

The boss is sick. Something must have happened to him. I think they're researching a new medicine.]

[January 30th, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[Today I finally knew what I've been eating. It was disgusting. How could they feed such food to their guests?

I wanted to call the police, but I don't dare. I can't even protect myself, how could I dare? I want to run away.

I want to run away!

Run.

Run.

Run!]

[February 15th, 50th year of the new calendar ]

[I made a detailed escape plan. Every Wednesday, the store manager and the boss would have meetings, which was the best time to escape. I am dying, and this is my last chance.

I must succeed.

I must succeed!]

Zhu Ning flipped through the pages again, but unfortunately there was nothing further to read, the diary came to an abrupt end.

Screak–

A dragging sound came from outside. It should be the pig man with a blasted head.

Zhu Ning took the diary with her. The cashier's experience was similar to hers; it seemed like it was a common tactic used by hot pot restaurant.

There was a peephole on the dormitory door, and when Zhu Ning looked through it, it distorted the entire corridor.

Yang Tao was dragging the axe in his hand; a new "head" grew on his broken neck - if that could be considered a head.

Apparently, his contaminated spores were too impatient to grow a new head. They only grew something that resembled a head: a pair of eyes, a mouth, and an ear sprouted from his neck.

'They didn't even give him a nose?'

"W h y . . . "

Yang Tao made that strange sound again,

". . . d o n ' t y o u w a n t t o e a t h o t p o t ? "

Zhu Ning: “…”

Is he sick? Why is he forcing her to eat hotpot?

"W h y ? "

Yang Tao was checking the rooms one by one. He opened the first room and didn't see Zhu Ning.

"Y o u d o n ' t w a n t t o p a y ? "

She tucked the diary in her belt, opened the cashier employee's drawer, and counted the fingers while her mental level dropped.

Bang!

Yang Tao pushed open another door. His patience was running out, exhausted by Zhu Ning.

He spoke viciously.

"W h y d i d n ' t y o u l o o k i n t h e g a r b a g e b a g ? "

Yang Tao slashed the wall with his axe, making a sharp sound.

"O t h e r s c a n d o i t , w h y c a n ' t y o u ? W h a t ' s w r o n g w i t h y o u ? "

Zhu Ning: “…”

She suspected that this idiot was using PUA on her. His accusatory tone made her sound like a scumbag. Like it was her fault that she didn't follow whatever he says.

Why did it become her fault?!

Eating hot pot, checking the cash register, and asking her to throw away the rotten meat were all ways this contaminated area tried to pollute Zhu Ning.

But Zhu Ning was unmoved.

The contaminated area couldn't wait any longer and decided to strike first. The pig man wanted to kill her directly with an axe and put an end to Zhu Ning, the outsider.

The logic of the contaminated areas are all the same. When they realized that mental pollution is useless, they choose physical attacks.

"W h y ? " 

The pig man stopped in front of the female staff dormitory.

" A r e y o u d i s o b e y i n g m e ? "

The pig man's voice came through the door, and the next moment there was a loud bang. The pig man swung his axe and smashed the door.

Wood chips flew everywhere and a big hole was made on the door.

'.....The Shining...?'

The pig man had no legitimate reason to enter the female employee dormitory, but he could use an improper reason. Behind the door, Zhu Ning held the gun coldly, directly pointing it at the door.

As long as the pig man dares to come in, Zhu Ning doesn't mind blasting that whatever abominable head it had again. There was no need to waste time talking to this scumbag who breaks into the girls' dormitory.

Bang!

The pig man swung his axe again. One more blow, and the fragile door would fly open. The pig man raised his axe and prepared to strike for the third time.

Zhu Ning behind the door applied slight pressure on the trigger, ready to shoot.

Ding-ling-ling—

Right at the moment that the axe was about to swing down, a bell suddenly rang, like the bell that sounds at the end of class.

Why does a hot pot restaurant have a bell?

The contaminated area must conform to basic logic. The fact that a bell rang means that the hot pot restaurant had a bell installed before.

Who in the world would add a bell in a hot pot restaurant? Unless this is actually a hot pot training school, where the bell signalizes the start and end of classes...

But after the bell rang, the pig man outside the door stopped moving. He was tall, and he stood frozen like that, he looked like a giant boulder blocking the door.

He was silent for two seconds, then turned and left as if he had received some kind of call.

Not only that, but everyone else in the hot pot restaurant also moved: the waiter, the diners who had been half-eaten by the hot pot, all moved. They stumbled and walked straight in one direction—the stairs at the end of the corridor.

They were going to the basement.

Zhu Ning recalled the diary entry: the store manager and the owner would be meeting in the basement, which would be the cashier employee's only chance to escape. Was the sound of the bell ringing a way to announce the meeting? What was being kept in the basement?

'Were they summoned?'

Based on limited clues, she can summarize the rules within this contaminated area and find that the power structure of hot pot restaurant seems to be like a pyramid. Employees have more authority than diners, and diners must eat hot pot if they are told to.

The pig man, Yang Tao, has more authority than the other employees. He can order other waiters around and maintain order in the store. But, the bell has more authority than the pig man. Whenever the bell rings, Yang Tao must stop whatever he is doing.

She's just not sure if there's something higher than the bell.

Zhu Ning cautiously pushed the door open. The corridor was empty; everyone had gone to the basement, but the ringing still continued. It was unclear how long it would last.

Zhu Ning assumed that she should be relatively safe while the ringing continued. She planned to take this opportunity to take a closer look at the other rooms.

Now that she had the ability to foresee danger, she could search boldly. She already knew what was behind four doors, only the other four was left.

The pig man smashed open two doors. Behind the fifth door was a cleaning room full of dishes to be washed and cleaning tools such as mops.

Behind the sixth door was the male staff dormitory.

Zhu Ning wanted to go in and look for clues like the diary. Perhaps Yang Tao was still living there? But she searched around and found nothing. Zhu Ning opened the second to last door. It was a public restroom with showers and toilets.

The conditions of the hot pot restaurant's interior was not very good. There are water dripping inside the bathroom and some messy marks on the walls.

She didn't want to miss any blind spots, so to be on the safe side, she opened every toilet and bathroom stall to check.

Above the toilet lid of the second toilet cubicle, a waterproof bag was fixed with tape. It seemed that it was specially hidden by someone.

Inside was a very old voice recorder.

It was too old and looked like something that doesn't belong to the technological development of the wasteland world. But it was still more advanced than the recorders of Zhu Ning's previous world.

The shell was hard and the overall design was smaller, about the size of a thumb. The recorder has a plug at the bottom that can connect it to other device.

Zhu Ning's new work clothes has an interface on the inside of her wrist. Her helmet is still running, so Zhu Ning herself can barely be considered a "device."

The recorder has a high chance of being a mental pollution item like the previous fish man’s mobile phone. Remembering her sky high mental value, Zhu Ning decided to risk it.

She inserted the recorder into her wrist, and the helmet announced:

[Importing audio data...]

[Audio data import completed.]

The audio loaded. What she heard was the mixed sound of static and someone running and panting. It took a long time before it got to the point.

Zhu Ning listened to the recording, intending to search the room as she listened. She had already reached the last door, which had a sign saying:

[Restricted Area, No Trespassing.]

Zhu Ning had just grasped the doorknob and was about to push it open when a voice suddenly rang out from the recording: "I know the secret of the hot pot restaurant owner."

"He–he's a defective product."

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The translator has something to say:

She suspected that this idiot was using PUA on her - In Chinese slang, PUA usually means emotional manipulation. Kind of like lowering someone’s self-esteem to control them. I forgot what its equivalent in English but you kind of get what I mean!

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