Chapter 2352: Lottery Mermaid
It seemed an emergency chip had been installed in the body. Such chips could be placed in the brain or heart, used not only for tracking but more often for controlling people. If Xu Huo used his spiritual power to interfere with this person, unlike ordinary props, spiritual interference might cause him to leak information about the Fish Feast, so the owner of the Fish Feast had prepared countermeasures in advance.
The man was already dead. Xu Huo took the lusterless jellyfish mask from his head and put it on his own. The jellyfish mask did not glow faintly as before—it had likely failed.
He crushed the mask and found some micro-devices inside, probably used for identity verification.
He then took out his own invitation and exchanged it with the Painting Woman. Afterward, the mask on his head changed back to a clownfish, while the mask on the Painting Woman's head became a piranha.
The invitation symbolized identity. To obtain someone else's identity, one had to take their invitation.
Xu Huo swapped the invitations back, and the mask on the Painting Woman's head reverted to a mermaid. "Someone will come soon. Let's leave first."
An ordinary server being killed here might not trigger an immediate reaction, but this person had been sent specifically to receive guests, so someone would likely notice his absence.
Sure enough, as soon as the two left the corridor, several people wearing shark masks rushed over in a hurry.
Xu Huo did not linger to watch but merged with the Painting Woman into the flow of other guests.
This place, judging by its name, might be thought of as a large banquet hall. But from the layout where they entered, it looked more like an extremely luxurious hotel. Both sides of the corridor were lined with numbered rooms, though few people came out of them, and those outside could not peek into the rooms' activities.
Xu Huo did not rashly open any doors but followed two other guests forward. From their conversation, they were heading to the banquet hall to "hunt for prey."
As they passed a side corridor, he saw the outside scenery through a window.
It seemed to be a building constructed at a high elevation. Outside, mist filled the air everywhere, visibility was low, but he could vaguely sense there were no other buildings nearby. Looking further down, the howling wind indicated that this structure stood alone on a very high platform, isolated from its surroundings, completely independent.
After winding through several corridors, Xu Huo and the Painting Woman soon arrived at a massive banquet hall—different from what he had seen in the video, and the guests wore different masks too.
The masks currently visible in the banquet hall included jellyfish, sharks, clownfish, piranhas, mermaids, as well as octopuses, whales, and several unknown but aggressive-looking mutated fish.
These people drank, ate, and conversed, each subtly sizing up those entering the hall. Only a few had blatantly unrestrained gazes, openly displaying the words "hunting for prey."
A minority faced this situation with wariness and tension, but most remained calm and composed. Here, everyone was both prey and hunter.
For now, Xu Huo could confirm that jellyfish were the Fish Feast's servers, sharks were security, and the other fish were mostly guests. The server who had received him earlier cared more about his piranha mask than his invitation, suggesting that those who obtained piranha masks were either stronger individuals or held certain privileges in this game.
Of course, he couldn't directly extract information from the people in the banquet hall.
As the crowd in the hall gradually grew, a whale mask stepped forward to the front. After the crowd quieted down, he spoke with a smile: "I believe many here today are new friends visiting for the first time, not very familiar with the Fish Feast. But after just one day here, every new friend will fall in love with this place."
"Because every inch of air here is steeped in the breath of freedom. Things you could never obtain outside—here, as long as you have strength, you can get them all! You could even take my place!"
Applause rang through the banquet hall, and some even cheered.
No one explained the rules. Those familiar with the rules seemed to harbor malice toward every newcomer.
"Next, let's select today's lucky winner!" The whale mask produced a lottery box. "To show fairness, we'll use the most primitive method—writing on slips of paper. I declare here that absolutely no high intelligence will interfere with the words on these papers!"
Laughter rose in waves, high and low. The whale mask used two fingers to pick a slip from the box, opened it, glanced at it, and then displayed it to the crowd. "Today's lucky winner… is the mermaid!"
People in the banquet hall shouted, and some whistled.
Then the whale exited, without anyone explaining what this lottery actually meant. But immediately afterward, everyone in the hall turned their gazes toward those wearing mermaid masks.
The Painting Woman beside Xu Huo was among them.
She was still picking food by the dining table, seemingly completely unaware of the danger. Xu Huo grabbed her and left the banquet hall.
Unexpectedly, the wolf-like crowd in the hall did not pursue them. Instead, another female player wearing a mermaid mask followed.
"Stop!" Xu Huo halted her a few meters away. "Come any closer, and I won't be polite!"
To show sincerity, she spread her hands where he could see them and explained, "I mean no harm. I just want to cooperate with you. There are two of you, but only one of me. If I fight alone, I might not survive tonight."
Xu Huo hesitated, saying nothing.
"You're new here, right?" the female player said. "You must not know the rules yet. Not knowing the rules is very dangerous. If we cooperate, I can tell you."
Xu Huo exchanged a glance with the Painting Woman before gesturing for her to come closer.
She approached happily. "Let's talk as we walk."
"Actually, you don't need to worry about others wearing mermaid masks. Once the whale selects someone, those with the same mask are almost in the same camp. Only by keeping others alive can you divert the attention of the other fish masks. You'll be safer yourself."
"I didn't see many mermaid masks in the banquet hall," Xu Huo said.
"Mermaids, as the name implies, are only given to players with relatively good looks," the female player said. "Few meet the standard, so there are fewer of us."
"What does selecting a mermaid mean?" Xu Huo asked. "Is the mermaid tonight's prey?"
"Sort of," the female player said. "Do you know how many floors the Fish Feast has?"
"Dozens?" Xu Huo guessed.
"One hundred floors," the female player said. "We're on the first floor now, which is the bottom of the food chain."