Chapter 11: The Bride of the Enigmatic King (11)

At this moment, the headless ghoul chef picked up a cleaver, clearly intending to attack Tang Mu and the others. But just as it moved, the ghoul granny snapped at it, her expression fierce, her voice harsh and grating like scraping sand.

"Get back to your work!" she barked.

The chef, obviously terrified of the ghoul granny, hesitated, suppressed its hatred for Tang Mu, and reluctantly returned to its station to continue preparing food.

The ghoul granny then took out a dagger and handed it to Tang Mu. In her box, there were more than a dozen identical daggers.

"You can use this dagger to kill the Ghoul King, but only if you survive until the day you leave this haunted ship."

As for the male players... even if they held the dagger, it was useless. They wouldn't live long enough to approach the Ghoul King.

"Then, Granny," Joseph couldn't help but ask, "how can us male players survive until the end?"

"Figure it out yourself!"

With that, the ghoul granny turned and left, offering no further clues. After all, you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. If any other brides were willing to save Yaya, the ghoul granny wanted to give them a chance as well.

Joseph, rebuffed, could only rub his nose in frustration.

As soon as the ghoul granny departed, the headless chef's younger brother made a move. It had already devoured four people, and the taste was exquisite. The player before it was also the murderer of its twin brother. It was determined to chop Tang Mu into pieces while she was still alive, then savor the taste of her flesh and blood as it spread across its tongue...

However, Tang Mu seized a pair of scissors and stabbed them, one after another, into its left and right hands. The scissors entered white, emerged red.

"Ahhh!" the headless chef shuddered in pain.

"You want to eat me? Here, eat this!" Tang Mu transformed into a furious queen, and in just over ten seconds, stabbed the chef more than a dozen times.

"Still hungry?"

The headless chef cowered miserably, clutching its belly, trembling in terror. "No, I don't want to..."

"Then why aren't you handing over something edible and drinkable for us?"

Shaking, the chef crouched down, rummaged in a cupboard, and brought out some steamed braised meat and plain drinking water, placing them respectfully in front of Tang Mu.

Tang Mu narrowed her eyes at the food. "You eat first."

"It's all... all fine..."

"Eat!"

The chef dared not protest. It quickly took a piece of meat and swallowed it, almost choking with fear, forcing down some water as well.

Seeing that the chef suffered no ill effects, Tang Mu divided the food between Xue Fen and Joseph.

Xue Fen, Tang Mu's teammate, only got to eat the braised meat thanks to his partnership with her. As for Joseph...

Joseph was overwhelmed with gratitude.

"So Miss Tang does care about me after all!" he was moved to tears.

Tang Mu, however, looked at him with disdain. "A pair of bloodstained scissors (F)."

Joseph, confused, asked, "What?"

"A bowl of braised meat and this drinking water, in exchange for your scissors item."

...

Suddenly, Joseph found that the food and water before him had lost all appeal. He protested, pointing to the portion in Xue Fen's hands. "Why does he get meat and water without doing anything?"

Most would understand that Xue Fen was a teammate, and keeping him fed was essential for everyone’s survival. Joseph simply wanted Tang Mu to say this aloud.

However, Tang Mu didn't play by the rules.

"Because he's cute," she replied, rolling her eyes at Joseph. "Is that really so hard for you to see?"

Xue Fen, far from offended by being called cute, was actually delighted. Joseph, meanwhile, was left muttering under his breath.

The group ate heartily, while the headless chef shrank into a corner, trembling. It yearned for a piece of braised meat, too. As an F-grade ghoul, when there was no ghoul meat to be had, it would settle for venison, pork, or lamb.

But just as it reached out, Tang Mu raised the scissors threateningly.

"Want to die?"

The chef shook its head frantically. "No, I don't!"

"Then you want to live?"

It nodded desperately.

"If you want to live, then hand over the item for passing the stone wall ghoul. Or do you truly understand nothing about human nature?"

How could a ghoul be expected to understand human nature?

...

After eating their fill, the group packed up the remaining food and water and returned to the cabins on the second floor.

There seemed to be fresh bloodstains on the walls. It looked like several more people had died.

Wang Qing cowered in the corner of her room, trembling with fear. She was terrified—outside, people were dying constantly.

After so many rounds of fleeing and slaughter, the players' stamina was utterly depleted. They hadn't even had dinner and were all starving.

Some tried to go out for food, but barely stepped outside before the stone wall ghoul massacred them. And the ghoul's digestion time was getting shorter and shorter.

From ten to fifteen minutes, it dropped to five to ten, then from five to ten down to zero to five. Now, after eating a few people, it only needed a minute or two before it started hunting for new victims.

Usually, it would pick a room, smash the door open, drag everyone inside out, and swallow them.

Wang Qing and her teammate had survived this long purely by luck. But their luck was about to run out.

"Ding-dong, I have a friend, and it's not happy. Why is it unhappy? Because it's hungry..."

"Ding-dong, to fill its belly, it must be proactive. Why proactive? Because it's time to start catching people!"

"Which room should it go to next? Ah, I've got it—how about this one? Room 01~"

Room 01 was where Tang Mu and Wang Qing stayed. Xiao He and Ai Zhuzhu had already died. Tang Mu was out. Only Wang Qing and her teammate Wu Hao remained.

When Wu Hao heard they were next to be eaten, he burst into tears. "No, don't eat us! I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." A grown man, so scared he lost control of his bowels.

The air was thick with a foul, acrid stench...

Wang Qing was thoroughly disgusted with him. But then she remembered she was also in Room 01, about to be dragged out and devoured by the stone wall ghoul outside, and couldn’t muster any joy.

The water of the River of Forgetfulness was useless against E-grade ghouls. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so helpless.

But in the next instant, the stone wall ghoul’s attack suddenly halted.

"Oh? There are still those not afraid of death?"

It had discovered Tang Mu’s group.

"Heh heh... Bold, aren't you? But I like that! Your bones and flesh will surely be tastier than those cowering, trembling mice hiding in their rooms."

At least they wouldn’t have that sour stench!

Just as the stone wall ghoul approached, Tang Mu swung her rusty hammer at the wall.

[A Rusty Iron Hammer (F)]: Specially effective against stone wall ghouls. Use it to smash the stone wall, and you might be surprised by the results.

The stone wall ghoul hadn’t even started to eat, nor opened its eyes, before it was soundly bashed on the head.

The solid wall cracked open from the blow.

The stone wall ghoul was left utterly stunned.