Chapter 133: Little Chu’s City Adventure

Chapter 133: Chu Fu's Strange City Adventure

On the third day of the game instance, Chu Fu stepped out of the school gate and found the streets strangely empty.

This was the result of the first wave of residents evacuating. Centered around Guiyin University, the city's inhabitants would gradually leave within two weeks at the latest.

They might return soon—or never set foot here again, becoming people who had lost their hometown forever.

On the streets, the barber shop's spinning red-white-blue poles still twirled, neon signs flickered with dazzling lights, and even some of the coin-operated ride-on toys outside shops continued to play cheery nursery rhymes on loop. Yet, almost no human figures could be seen.

Through the thin morning mist, only the colorful neon lights danced like stars, appearing extraordinarily vibrant and surreal.

Chu Fu strolled through the fog, his voluminous curls soon dampened and flattened. He carelessly brushed them back.

Passing by a shopping mall, he spotted someone in a Hello Kitty costume standing at the entrance, holding a bunch of jet-black balloons.

Noticing Chu Fu, the costume shambled toward him, attempting to hand him one.

Chu Fu glanced up. The black balloons swayed in the air, occasionally pressing against each other. At a glance, they resembled a dense cluster of human heads.

Upon closer inspection, they *were* human heads.

As if sensing his gaze, a few of the balloons turned, their thick black hair rustling in the wind to reveal twisted, grinning faces staring straight at him.

"...This disguise is way too sloppy," Chu Fu muttered. "The mall's closed today—why would there still be staff handing out balloons?"

Did this creature think he was stupid or blind?

The costume stubbornly extended its arm, insistently pushing the balloon toward him. The headpiece looked cute, but the seam connecting it to the body was stained with blood, crimson spots soaking into the white fur—a chilling sight.

Not to mention, when it leaned closer, its two black beady eyes loomed like dark voids, casting an oppressive shadow.

Seeing it was determined not to let him leave, Chu Fu suddenly chuckled. Amidst a barrage of "OMG RIP" in the stream chat, he turned and pulled out a pair of scarlet high heels from his backpack, placing them before the costume.

"You've worked hard sticking around till today," he said, patting the shoes. "Here’s a lovely gift for you—make sure to take it."

The costume froze for a few seconds, as if registering what was happening. Meanwhile, the human-head balloons in its grip let out piercing shrieks, frantically trying to distance themselves from Chu Fu and the red shoes.

Jolted back to awareness by the noise, the costume stumbled backward. But the high heels had already begun walking with eerie grace, relentlessly pursuing it.

Soon, the creature was sent fleeing, a chorus of screaming heads trailing behind it.

"So lively," Chu Fu remarked, nodding with quiet amusement as he watched them disappear.

He genuinely thought the streets had been too empty before. Now, with a wailing creature on the run, things felt much livelier—and more pleasing to the eye.

Continuing forward, a figure suddenly darted out from around a corner.

Chu Fu took half a step back and saw a middle-aged man—gaunt-faced, eyes bloodshot with exhaustion, dark circles under his eyes, and a rough stubble covering his chin. He looked utterly haggard.

Spotting Chu Fu, the man immediately stiffened, eyes wide with wariness, his posture tense as if ready to attack or flee at any moment.

After scanning his surroundings, the man’s expression brightened. "You’re a player too?"

"*Too*?"

Chu Fu’s expression turned odd, but he nodded anyway.

"Thank heavens! Finally, another player!" The man exhaled in relief, his demeanor instantly more friendly. "Ever since I entered this instance, I’ve been trapped in this slaughterhouse-themed creature. Only barely escaped alive—I’m exhausted!"

"I was terrified I’d fallen behind the game’s progress. At dawn, I started wandering around, hoping to bump into another player. Lucky me..."

He clung to Chu Fu like a lifeline, rambling nonstop about his ordeal, complaining how this instance was a deathtrap.

"Standing here talking isn’t ideal," the man said apologetically mid-rant. "Come on, let’s grab a seat over there. There are still a couple of small mom-and-pop shops open—might as well eat while we chat."

The diner was a tiny mom-and-pop shop, its sign cramped with shrunken lettering. But it was clean enough for Chu Fu to tolerate.

With business winding down, the owner doubling as chef wasn’t particularly warm, but the man didn’t mind. He immediately ordered a table full of meat dishes.

Once the food arrived, he wolfed down the food, face practically buried in his bowl, narrating between bites:

"Besides the slaughterhouse, I ran into another creature—really terrifying..."

"The system called it a 'Doppelganger.' Looked like a shapeless mass of flesh at first. Took chunks out of me, then grew into a fully human form in the blink of an eye—an exact copy of me!"

"It tried disappearing into crowds, but I couldn’t just let it go. Lured it somewhere deserted and took it down with my powers and items."

The man devoured the dishes at an alarming speed, yet his stomach showed no sign of filling.

"*So hungry*..." He muttered between mouthfuls of juicy, sauce-coated meat, his appetite seemingly insatiable.

"*So hungry*..." He rubbed his stomach, momentarily dazed before snapping back. "Anyway, that Doppelganger was vicious. It tried everything—stabbing, burning, strangling—to kill me."

"Luckily, I outsmarted it. Before dying, it glared at me, babbling about how *it* was the real human... Didn’t pay much attention. Creatures are all not right in the head, I guess."

In what felt like no time, the man emptied the entire table, his teeth now stained red with meat fibers, giving him the appearance of a ravenous beast.

Finishing the meal, he clutched his hair in agitation, pulling hard enough to tear hair out, muttering in distress:

"No... Why am I *still* so hungry?"

"*So hungry... So hungry!*"

"*Why won’t it stop?!*"

He slammed the table, making the flimsy table shake and rattling the dishes.

Standing abruptly, he snapped at the kitchen: "Got any more meat dishes?"

The owner hesitated, clearly rattled by his outburst.

After a pause, a trembling voice replied: "W-we’ve got salt-cured duck, stewed pig's feet, spiced beef..."

The list continued: "Sautéed pork liver, leeks stir-fried with chicken hearts..."

"Liver... hearts..." The man repeated blankly, his eyes clouding over with unconscious greed. "All of it. Hearts, lungs, livers, guts—bring everything!"

In a panic, the owner hastily cooked and served the dishes, some offal still pink when served.

Taking a bite of the rare organs, the man was shocked to find them mouthwateringly good—a thousand times better than regular meat.

Seeing Chu Fu hadn’t touched his chopsticks, the middle-aged man directly pulled the plate under his nose and wolfed them down ravenously.

"Delicious! The proprietress’s cooking is really good!" He didn’t hold back on praise, finishing the newly served dishes in no time, yet still craving more. "But... I’m still so hungry..."

Just then, Chu Fu, who had been sitting quietly across from him the entire time, spoke up: "I know why you’ve been feeling so hungry."

"Why?" The middle-aged man froze for a moment before hastily explaining, "There’s never been anything wrong with my body. Maybe I was just starved half to death back at the slaughterhouse a couple of days ago, and now I can’t stop eating..."

"No," Chu Fu shook his head, dismissing his explanation. "You must have sensed it too, deep down. The reason you’re hungry is that none of this is your real food."

"You prefer organs—freshly ripped from the belly, still dripping with blood and steaming hot. And of course, the most delicious for you... is freshly harvested human organs."

The middle-aged man’s expression instantly stiffened. His lips quivered in disbelief. "Wh-what do you mean?"

He was terrified. What did "human organs" mean? How could he possibly eat something like that? Wasn’t he human himself?

But then, something even more horrifying dawned on him:

As he recalled Chu Fu’s words, an unprecedented craving surged from the depths of his heart. His mouth even began to water uncontrollably, as if anticipating the act of devouring something...

These instinctive bodily reactions made it impossible for him to keep deluding or deceiving himself.

"You immersed yourself too deeply, too obsessively."

Chu Fu watched him, his tone laced with a trace of pity. "You kept reliving the memories and emotions of the player you copied, constantly analyzing his thoughts and feelings. While you were imitating and learning from him, he was also influencing you—like a seed taking root in barren earth..."

"To the point where you even deceived yourself, believing you were him—a player from the Gods' Playground."

"You’re the most human-like copy I’ve ever seen," Chu Fu remarked. "You were the most successful at imitation among them—but also the most tragic, the most pitiful."

"I..." The middle-aged man twisted his lips, his gaze grew vacant, nearly hollow. "How is that possible? I’m me! How could I just be some shoddy copy?"

With a sigh, Chu Fu didn’t even need to waste words arguing to instantly pierce through his delusion.

"What about the system?"

Chu Fu stared straight at him, his piercing blue eyes—though resembling the depths of the ocean—now searing like flames, threatening to melt away his body, soul, and sense of self.

Chu Fu murmured, "Take a good look. Do you really have a system?"

The middle-aged man completely broke down.

Tears spilled from his eyes, streaking through the grease and bloodstains at the corners of his mouth, smearing into a grimy blur—too pathetic to tell whether it was wretched or pitiful.

Only now did he suddenly realize with dawning horror that he had never been bound to the system. He had never been a player at all.