Chapter 1373: Closed After Eight
"Brother Dou!" The gun-wielding player who was about to make a move was called off, and he couldn't help but look at his companion with dissatisfaction.
"I said that's enough," his companion, Brother Dou, said with a deep gaze. After the man obediently calmed down, he turned his attention to the table beside them.
The female player in the peaked cap had already returned to her companions, but she wasn't the focus of everyone's attention. All eyes were on the man who had just intervened.
This man, with his curly brown hair, tucked the bookmark he had retrieved back into the book he hadn't finished reading, looked up, and said with a smile, "We're all newcomers here, no need to make things too ugly and let the seniors in the restaurant laugh at us."
Brother Dou understood his meaning. It was nothing more than the fact that players who had entered earlier might have already figured out the rules and could use that advantage to deal with later arrivals. The more people who survived until night, the better—even the ordinary people could be used to test the restaurant's rules.
"Even trash has its uses." Brother Dou signaled his companion to release the two people from earlier.
The injured man and woman supported each other and went to thank the peaked-cap female player, but she waved her hand dismissively, showing no concern and no intention of offering them protection, before lowering her head to play a game.
It was the curly-haired man beside her who invited them to sit down and introduced himself, "My name is Maris. What should I call you two?"
The restaurant had returned to normal. Seeing that no one else was coming in, players began to communicate and trade information with each other. However, since the newcomers today accounted for more than three-quarters of the total number, most people were on the same starting line. Especially those who arrived later didn't even know which players had come yesterday and which had come today. Whether they could gather information was one thing; asking recklessly could easily get them killed.
Therefore, the exchange between everyone was very limited.
Of course, even if you didn't want to listen, some information would inevitably drift into your ears.
The most talked-about topic was the night. Everyone had already seen the restaurant during the day. Aside from potential conflicts between players, as long as you didn't clash with the waitstaff, you probably wouldn't violate any taboos. The important part was the night.
Regarding the fact that there was accommodation for the night, many people had managed to find out from the waitstaff. Since the first three days of entering the restaurant were free of charge, the rooms, like the food, could be taken freely by the guests.
However, no one had asked exactly how many rooms there were.
This was essentially an admission that the rooms were insufficient.
"Can't multiple people share a room?" Dai Song said. "The restaurant hasn't stipulated that only one person can stay in a room."
"That's hard to say," the thin player Zhou Donghe chimed in. "The restaurant definitely won't let all of us stay in rooms. Who knows where the danger will be? What if it's inside the room? What if there's a difference between single rooms and shared rooms?"
That made sense too. Dai Song looked at Xu Huo. "What do you think?"
"Since there are few rooms, maybe the restaurant's layout will change at night," Xu Huo said. "If the players are forced to separate, they might not even be able to get into the same room. The safest method is for each person to find their own room and find a place to hide first."
"I feel like the restaurant might be very dangerous at night," he added with a hint of concern. "My intuition is usually pretty accurate."
Hearing this, Dai Song became a bit nervous. "What if I can't find a room..."
"Isn't the communicator in the restaurant usable?" Zhou Donghe said. "Anyway, there are a few of us. When someone finds a room, they can notify the others."
The three exchanged contact information. Zhou Donghe felt it wasn't secure enough, so he recruited two more people from nearby to join them. One of them was the scar-handed player, who pretended not to know Xu Huo and greeted them, "Li Kun. Let's all take care of each other."
His companion, a long-haired man, merged into another temporary player team.
The other person was called Zhang Zhaogang.
The scar-handed player Li Kun stared at the voting box for a while. "There are quite a few votes already. When will the 'Best of the Day' be decided?"
"It'll probably be announced tomorrow," Zhou Donghe said. "I just don't know how they choose this 'Best of the Day.'"
Under normal circumstances, the dish with the most votes would win, but this was a dungeon, so it couldn't be that simple. If it were, just a dozen or so players forming a small group could clear it.
So the difficulty would have to be increased a bit. It should require reaching a certain number of votes or a certain number of people. In this situation, it would be harder for players to cooperate. Either the players would have to amicably agree on which dish to choose, or someone would have to take charge and get everyone to vote for a specific dish. Otherwise, it would be difficult to unify.
And this was just the normal difficulty. What Xu Huo anticipated as more difficult was the restaurant tampering with the menu, such as limiting the range of dishes—more than one player had asked about this, like asking the waitstaff what the restaurant's signature dishes or daily recommendations were, but each time, every waitstaff gave a different answer.
Of course, this didn't mean the waitstaff's answers were worthless. Whether the dishes they mentioned overlapped, which page of the menu they were on, what flavor they leaned toward, and the arrangement of meat and vegetables could all be information. If there was absolutely no pattern and they simply didn't repeat, that would be very significant.
But whether the players could be organized to vote would have to wait until tomorrow to see.
The players in the restaurant waited until nightfall.
"Dear guests, it's almost eight o'clock. The restaurant will be closing soon. Please take your personal belongings. The restaurant's rooms are unassigned, and you may choose any one you like." A female waitstaff announced from in front of the kitchen door.
As soon as she finished speaking, the players erupted into noise. Everyone tried their best to gather more information, but the waitstaff only repeated one sentence: "This is not within my scope of duties. I cannot answer."
The players were furious but helpless, and there were only three minutes left until closing.
"I'd like to ask," Xu Huo raised his hand at this moment, "can we order room service at night?"
The waitstaff maintained a perfectly appropriate smile. "I'm sorry, sir. After eight o'clock is the waitstaff's rest time."
"Thank you." Xu Huo said calmly.
The waitstaff left the restaurant, and everyone heard the sound of the kitchen door being locked.
"What's the use of asking that?" Dai Song whispered.
"What do you think is the most dangerous part of this dungeon?" Xu Huo didn't speak, but the scar-handed player Li Kun turned around and asked.
"Of course, it's this restaurant," Dai Song said without thinking.
"You said it yourself, it's the restaurant. Even the waitstaff don't come out at night. Doesn't that just prove that the danger at night might be beyond our imagination?"
The waitstaff in the restaurant were definitely not people that players could kill casually. Ordinary players wouldn't actively attack the staff either. If it were just players fighting among themselves, it wouldn't interfere with the restaurant, so there was no reason for the waitstaff to avoid them.
(Chapter End)