# Chapter 345: Spider Man
Everyone at the dining table looked up.
"I missed," Xu Huo said apologetically to He Pu with a smile.
"Just a cup," He Pu waved his hand, signaling the maid Hu Shan to clean it up.
Then a smoked duck was served, but He Pu stared at the plate and frowned. The servant looked a bit nervous, but Mr. Dong walked over and took the plate away, replacing the whole duck that had been cut horizontally into pieces with one that had its head and tail removed and was split vertically down the middle.
He Pu smiled at everyone, "Only symmetrical things can be called beautiful. This is my habit. Please forgive me."
The players could only force awkward smiles.
The final main course was brought up quickly. The servants carried a large roasting tray and lifted the copper lid, revealing a golden-skinned roast whole lamb that gave off a fragrant aroma with oil sizzling on the surface.
"The ingredients used for this roast lamb are all the freshest—a lamb just one month old, spices and fruits picked and washed on the spot. The meat is tender and full of juice."
The servant had already cut a piece and placed it on his plate. He Pu picked up his knife and fork, skillfully sliced the meat into thin pieces, forked one up, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.
This roast lamb was indeed fragrant. Several people at the table secretly swallowed their saliva.
"Everyone, eat," He Pu waved his hand. The servants took carving knives, smoothly removed the lamb ribs intact, and distributed the meat onto the guests' plates.
Xu Huo's gaze shifted from the lamb ribs to the meat on his own plate. He put down his knife, "The food doesn't suit my appetite. I'm afraid I can't stay."
He stood up and left without caring about the reactions of others in the dining room.
The Ma couple also fiddled with the lamb on their plates, exchanged glances, then stood up and followed him out.
After the three left one after another, the other players looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what had happened, until someone noticed the lamb ribs placed to the side.
"Ugh!" Wei Landeng's face changed drastically. She immediately bent over and spat out the meat in her mouth. This wasn't lamb, this wasn't lamb!
Her strong reaction made the other players realize something was wrong. Especially Liu Zhengping, who had eaten quite a bit of lamb, he flipped under the table and kept vomiting. The dining room was soon filled with a sour, foul smell.
He Pu, who hadn't minded Xu Huo and the other two leaving midway, now had an unpleasant expression, "What? Doesn't the food suit your taste either?"
In the dining room, He Pu looked slightly angry, Mr. Dong was expressionless, and Hu Shan and the other servants stood on either side, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on them.
At that moment, all the players felt their hair stand on end.
Wei Landeng and Liu Zhengping could only explain that they had stomach problems, but they couldn't eat anymore. He Pu left with a stern face, leaving Mr. Dong to clean up the mess.
"Let's go upstairs and talk," You Qiwen said as he stood up.
The group entered You Qiwen's room. Liu Zhengping leaned against the wall and dry-heaved again, "That was human meat!"
Several players who had eaten the lamb looked green. Yu Shuai said with a smile, "This isn't the initial train. Eating it doesn't matter."
"You didn't eat it, so of course it doesn't matter!" Liu Zhengping said angrily.
Yu Shuai pursed his lips and said no more. You Qiwen asked Wei Landeng, who had vomited first, "How did you know it was human meat?"
"I didn't know at first, otherwise I wouldn't have eaten it. It was only after that Xu guy spoke that I noticed the lamb ribs weren't normal."
"Animal ribs are flatter than human ribs. The bones that were removed just now weren't sheep bones," Fleur added.
"I've done so many instances, but this is the first time I've seen someone... make human meat into a dish and openly serve it to players," Chen Tu said with a grim face. "Can we still eat the food in the castle?"
"Bread and vegetables should be fine," Chen Nan said.
"Do you think the food on the table could be the missing guests?" Fang Min suddenly asked.
At the same time, in Xu Huo's room, Mrs. Ma said with a dark face, "Using human bones to skewer lamb—what does the castle mean by this? Testing us?"
"Testing what?" Xu Huo glanced at her. "We came in with bought invitations anyway. What's there to test?"
"Could it be that they want to see if we're cannibal players? Could the invitations given out by the castle be targeting cannibal players?" Mrs. Ma started to panic.
"Impossible!" Mr. Ma immediately shouted. "Otherwise, human bones wouldn't have appeared on the table. The person who invited us has only one purpose—to deal with players."
He had some brains. The missing guests were definitely related to the castle. The invitations sent to non-instance players could only be aimed at instance players. The appearance of human bones at the banquet was the best proof. Skewering lamb with human bones was essentially mocking the players.
"So that means they won't target us?" Mrs. Ma relaxed again. "That's good."
"Regardless of how the castle and the players deal with each other, let's not trip each other up, alright?" Mr. Ma changed the subject and asked Xu Huo, "We each do our own thing. When it's over, we all go our separate ways."
Xu Huo could see they were already planning to make a move. Informing him was just a reminder not to target the same objective.
He pointed next door.
The Ma couple quickly left his room.
Xu Huo closed the door, turned back to check the cabinet where he had stored the human skin—it hadn't been touched.
Thinking about Mr. Dong, who had been in the dining room the whole time, he still closed the cabinet door.
After making some preparations, he turned off the light and sat in a single chair in the corner of the room.
At midnight, the night lights in the castle suddenly went out. There was a slight noise in the castle when the lights first died, but it quickly subsided, and the entire castle was soon immersed in darkness.
Xu Huo didn't move, but the edge of the curtain swayed slightly.
The next second, he suddenly sprang from his seat. Almost at the same moment he left, a heavy force smashed through the sofa, breaking through the floor along with it!
As the "crack" of breaking sounded, a thick iron chain shot through the air, sweeping toward his back!
Xu Huo ducked and rolled behind another sofa. Just as he lifted his head, he saw the iron chain swinging down from above again. He swung his sword to block it, retreated several steps, and kicked a nearby lamp aside!
An arm similar to a human's but unusually long reached out from behind the curtain, steadily caught the lamp, placed it two meters away, then turned back and lunged at Xu Huo. At that moment, the large curtain was pulled down, revealing the figure hiding behind it—it was actually a two-meter-tall human-spider!
Its torso was a suspended human body, but its eight spider legs were actually four human legs and four human arms, capable of both crawling like a spider and coordinating like human limbs—except its face and body were covered in long hair, with only a pair of red eyes visible.
This was the thing that had been peeping at him through the window last night.
Xu Huo dodged its attack and glanced at the ruined sofa and floor. He suddenly laughed, "It's fine for you to break your own things, but others can't even break a cup. Quite hypocritical, aren't you?"
The "spider man" didn't pay him any attention. It swung its limbs, whipping the iron chain through the air with a whooshing sound. During this, the chain smashed the cabinet where Xu Huo had hidden the human skin. Seeing the human skin fly out, the spider man became even more enraged!