Chapter 1382: The Game Treats Players Fairly
The female player's words weren't entirely useless. At least Xu Huo agreed with the rule that public voting couldn't be rigged. Since they accepted this rule, they had to accept the restaurant environment as it was. The restaurant and the head chef needed votes that benefited the establishment; everyone voting the same would render the process meaningless.
Additionally, although the waiters' daily recommendations mostly differed, looking at the overall situation, not many people actually asked for the daily recommendation. Most people, upon hearing that several waiters gave different dish names, judged this method ineffective and stopped wasting time. Instead, they either chose randomly or directly picked pre-arranged dishes. In fact, the answers the waiters gave yesterday were rarely repeated today.
This was very likely because the head chef had changed today.
Therefore, it was best to choose the dishes recommended by the waiters when ordering.
"That makes sense. The Bauhinia Restaurant does good business." Li Kun grinned as he took a bite of food. "Mm, I like this sweet and sour flavor."
"The pigeon soup is very fresh," Xu Huo wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief. "But the grilled meat is even better."
"Is that so?" Zhou Donghe had a considerable appetite too. "I think the meat pie is better."
"I agree with Mr. 172. The grilled meat is superior," Maris interjected at this point.
At his table, his two companions—Xiao Wan thought the pigeon soup was best, the scarf-wearing player also liked the grilled meat, the two injured players preferred the roast chicken, and the woman undergoing evolution was too busy eating to care much about taste. The dishes beside her quickly piled up.
"Don't stuff yourself to death," Xiao Wan pulled her back. The woman kept shoving grilled meat into her mouth, speaking indistinctly through greasy lips: "Grilled meat is the most fragrant..."
Among those sitting around them, some found it strange, but others found it interesting and called over a waiter to ask for the daily recommendation before ordering.
Before long, a food connoisseur appeared among the guests. He praised a particular dish highly and recommended it to those around him.
This lively atmosphere was certainly limited in scope, but for Xu Huo, it was enough.
"Aren't we technically cheating by doing this?" the Cat Player whispered.
"Not at all. It's normal for friends to gather and discuss which dish is better," Maris placed another book on the table and said meaningfully, "It's not like we're forcing others to change their tastes."
This kind of situation did exist in the restaurant. Some players who arrived earlier formed cliques and forced later players to make the same choices.
Although it was unclear whether the restaurant voting was absolutely fair, as long as it was genuine voting, this would count as a violation.
Of course, all of this was speculation. How to clear the instance would depend on tonight.
But after tonight, even if no one cleared it, they could at least eliminate one or two possible clearance methods.
"I have a question," the woman who had been too busy eating to talk earlier looked up. "Would cannibal players be excluded from daytime voting? Invalid votes could also come from cannibal players."
"Probably not," Xiao Wan said. "The game treats all players fairly and doesn't discriminate against red players."
"You misunderstood her meaning," Xu Huo spoke up. "She means the restaurant is also open at night, but ordinary people can't find it. Perhaps it's specially prepared for cannibal players."
The Bauhinia Restaurant was different from the train restaurant. The train restaurant explicitly stated it only sold normal food, but the Bauhinia Restaurant was a place that ordered "pig with skin"—it had a menu specifically for cannibal players.
What Zhou Donghe said earlier might not be true, but the nighttime restaurant definitely had something else going on.
Maris couldn't help but frown. "That possibility exists."
"Distinguishing red players from other players is meaningless," Xu Huo said. "Black players and white players can also be guests of the restaurant at night."
Moreover, the guests who could enter the restaurant at night would likely come from among the players who had secured rooms. It was just unknown whether the restaurant would divide different areas.
At night, the entire restaurant was probably a space shaped like a flower, with a hexagonal room as the center and semicircular warehouses around it, all connected by the central large warehouse.
Yesterday, Xu Huo had only walked through three "flowers." There might be more ahead. Judging by the corridor connecting to the daytime restaurant, these "flowers" wouldn't completely detach from the main restaurant. They were likely arranged around it. The more players there were, the larger the area would expand.
As for the back kitchen and staff rest areas, they were probably hidden within the restaurant section as well.
Maris deliberately glanced at Zhou Donghe. "You believe this person? With all due respect, I don't think he entered the restaurant last night."
Like Xu Huo, he hadn't found a passage to the restaurant. If one of the conditions for entering the nighttime restaurant was related to daytime ordering, then many people who left their rooms or moved around in the warehouse last night would have done so. The situation clearly wasn't like that.
"You think everyone has the guts to leave their rooms and wander around the warehouse?" Zhou Donghe said with a hint of sarcasm. "If you don't believe me, see for yourselves tonight."
"Are you really telling the truth?" Maris suddenly looked at him seriously.
Zhou Donghe instinctively opened his mouth but couldn't immediately form any words. After a pause, he said, "Like I said, if you don't believe me, try it yourselves."
Maris turned to look at Xu Huo. Their eyes met, and both understood that Zhou Donghe wasn't speaking much truth.
However, Maris didn't ask Xu Huo why he was ignoring it. Instead, he turned back to discuss with his companions about dividing the restaurant area to track players' voting patterns.
Occupying the ballot box was such a bold move that no one dared to do it yesterday, and even fewer dared today.
Players who had successfully stayed in the restaurant until the second day had witnessed the restaurant staff's prowess last night. Offending them was not a wise choice.
Another group of people arrived at the restaurant. As the seating expanded, 201 and 202, who had crossed paths with Xu Huo last night, sat nearby. After greeting the others, they said, "It seems the restaurant staff who work at night don't come out during the day."
During the day, the only people moving around the restaurant were the waiters taking orders, the bartenders, and the performers. These people didn't seem to be the same as last night's staff. Besides, the waiters had said they didn't work at night.
"The waiters are off duty, but the kitchen isn't necessarily," 201 said. "There are quite a few people in the back kitchen. I wonder how many will come out tonight."
The worst-case scenario was that as time passed, the number of nighttime restaurant staff would gradually increase.
Xu Huo looked toward the restaurant entrance. "There are more guests today than yesterday."
Yesterday, there were about a hundred people total. Today, before noon, there were already nearly eighty.
The more people there were, the harder daytime clearance might be. And judging by the situation, the number of guests at the restaurant would only increase daily. If clearance was delayed, no matter how dangerous the opportunity, someone would try it.
(Chapter End)