# Chapter 149: Want Something to Go With Your Meal?
"Let's take a car." The burly man who never left her side pointed at the call button beside them. "There's autonomous driving service here."
Xu Huo, who had been leaning against the bulletin board, sidled over. "The starting fare is two hundred white notes. That's so expensive!"
The female player stepped back to put distance between them and signaled for the burly man to call a car.
The burly man pressed the button, and Xu Huo, not to be outdone, pressed one as well. Soon, two driverless mini RVs arrived.
Just before getting into the car, Xu Huo waved his discount coupons at the female player. "Want to go together?"
The female player didn't even glance at him as she got straight into her car.
"Can we carpool?" the young man said to Xu Huo.
Xu Huo lifted his eyelids and looked him up and down. "Alright."
The two had just gotten into the car when two burly men rushed out from somewhere, squeezing in before the doors closed. Each pressed a gun against Xu Huo and the young man's sides, growling, "Shut up and move!"
The mini RV's cabin was fully transparent, so everything happening inside was visible from outside. The couple who had originally wanted to hitch a ride turned and left immediately upon seeing this, while the female player, who had already pulled ahead, coldly withdrew her gaze.
Once the car started moving, the young man couldn't help but say, "Brothers, let's talk this out. I've got some money on me..."
The crew-cut burly man next to him slapped him across the face. "I told you to shut up!"
The young man's head hit the car, and when he turned back around, two streams of blood were flowing from his nose. What a miserable sight.
"And this is what passes for a player?" The eyebrow-pierced burly man holding Xu Huo hostage sneered, then turned back to Xu Huo. "Hand over your stuff."
"I don't have any money!" Xu Huo quickly shoved the coupons in his hand forward. "This is all I've got!"
The two were after exactly that. The eyebrow-pierced burly man grabbed them, exchanged a glance with his companion, and asked, "Where'd you get these coupons?"
"An old lady on the same car gave them to me," Xu Huo said. "She recommended these two places for lodging."
The two coupons were for "Bear Claw Restaurant" and "Beauty Aromatherapy Shop."
"Do these look like legitimate places to stay?" the crew-cut burly man muttered to himself.
"They do offer lodging," the young man spoke up again. "The notice board said most shops here provide accommodation. The Beauty Aromatherapy Shop is even a four-star recommendation."
"You're players too, right? Tourism City is huge, and it's not easy for players to gather together. More people means better chances of finding clearance clues."
"I'm still completely clueless about the instance mission."
The two burly men clearly weren't much better off. But rather than simple confusion, they seemed more irritable—especially the crew-cut one, who didn't hesitate to slap out again.
When the young man looked up again, blood was flowing even more freely from his nose.
"Big brother, do you think these two places are reliable?" the crew-cut burly man asked.
The eyebrow-pierced burly man looked very hesitant. After a few seconds, he said, "Still better than what that damn tour guide recommended."
"We've got two ready-made test subjects here. We'll try one place at a time."
Xu Huo's eyes widened at this, and he immediately shouted, "These places aren't dangerous, are they? I'm not going!"
"This city is huge, you can stay anywhere. What difference does it make?"
"If it comes down to it, I'll just squat somewhere for the night!"
"What do you know?" The eyebrow-pierced burly man raised his hand to slap, but then noticed several obvious scratch marks on Xu Huo's arm as he raised it to protect his face. He quickly pulled his hand back. "Where'd you get those injuries?"
"A monkey scratched me."
"Was it that tour guide who sold you?" the eyebrow-pierced burly man immediately said. "Was the monkey from the contaminated zone?"
Xu Huo nodded suspiciously, only to see the two big men practically shrinking into the corner of the car. They pointed at him and said, "Stay away from us!"
"I've already applied medicine," Xu Huo said, reaching out, but this only made both of them raise their guns to aim at him simultaneously.
Xu Huo had no choice but to sit back, exchanging a look with the equally bewildered young man.
"You're not injured, are you?" the eyebrow-pierced burly man asked the latter.
The young man shook his head, and after confirming this, both men moved to sit on his side.
"Being scratched by an animal from the contaminated zone... are there any bad consequences?" The young man, not having learned his lesson, started talking again.
But this time, the crew-cut man didn't hit him. He exchanged a glance with the eyebrow-pierced burly man and fell silent, instead keeping a close watch on Xu Huo.
Xu Huo nervously touched the wounds on his arm, occasionally glancing at the guns in their hands.
Both sides maintained this state until they arrived at the Bear Claw Restaurant.
The four got out of the car. The crew-cut man hid his gun in his clothes, pointed it at Xu Huo, and forced him inside.
Xu Huo struggled a bit but finally, "under duress," entered the shop.
It was a busy time in the restaurant, and most of the food being served looked the same.
He looked at the menu.
This restaurant only had two set meals: red and blue. The red set was a simple Bear Claw Rice Set, while the blue set was Bear Claw Steak with a pumpkin soup.
Just as he ordered the rice set and sat down, a nearby diner mysteriously leaned in. "Young man, want something to go with your meal?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Sure."
The man directly reached out his hand. "Fifty white notes."
"How do I know if it's worth the price?" Xu Huo didn't pay.
The diner sat down next to him, lowering his voice. "I know some inside information. About this restaurant."
"But that'll cost you white notes. You look like a good sort, so I'll give you a discount first. That wound on your arm—it's from a contaminated zone animal, isn't it?"
"You can tell that just by looking?" Xu Huo asked in surprise.
The diner smiled smugly. "Only you out-of-towners would be careless enough to get scratched by contaminated zone animals. We locals would never touch those things."
"Why?"
"Do you know how xenomorphs came to be? At first, they were contaminated people too, slowly turning into xenomorphs. All contaminated people either get locked up in breeding zones or put in exhibition parks. Good people, really pitiful."
The diner said "pitiful," but there wasn't a trace of sympathy on his face. He looked at Xu Huo with schadenfreude. "Contaminated people can spread it one to ten, ten to a hundred. Your injuries aren't severe, so it's not obvious."
"If it were worse, the government mercenaries would definitely catch you and lock you up. Once you degenerate into a xenomorph, they'd throw you into the xenomorph zone to generate revenue."
"In our area, tourists often go missing. I reckon they've all been caught."
"Is there any way to save me?" Xu Huo asked.
"We locals have been living here since the Great Contamination twenty years ago. Those of us who survived have mostly developed immunity. We're not afraid of contamination. Getting injured just means being sick for half a month at most, so no one sells any potions..." The diner continued, "But I do know a place selling antidotes smuggled in from other zones. You could give it a try."
As he spoke, he rubbed his fingers together, clearly indicating he needed money for the information.
Xu Huo smiled and gave him fifty white notes. "First, tell me the inside information."
The diner gave him a thumbs up. "Young man, you know what's what."
Then his tone shifted, and he lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "The bear claw steak here is made from human meat."