Chapter 42: The Red Table and Blood

Chapter 42: The Red Table and Blood

Under the pale light of the corridor, several empty audio-visual rooms appeared before the players.

The mission conditions did not mandate that each player complete the task independently, which meant they now had to decide whether to tackle it alone or work together.

Meng Siyou, who came from official Ability circles, habitually leaned towards the latter. However, before he could speak, the bald man grabbed the frail glasses-wearing man by the collar as if he were a chicken, lifting him up.

“I am a member of the Burning Pure Land, a 5th Rank Fire Ability user,” the bald man grinned, introducing himself. “You wouldn’t want to fight me over such a weakling, would you?”

As he spoke, he shook the glasses-wearing man’s collar, watching him stumble helplessly, his voice dripping with disdain: “If you behave, I might let you live after you test the advertisement for me…”

“Otherwise, I’ll kill you right now and find someone else to take your place!”

Meng Siyou's expression darkened.

In the Gods' Playground, some people managed to carve out a path to survival through their own efforts and struggles, while others tried to exploit loopholes in the face of endless danger, willing to use others' lives as stepping stones.

The Burning Pure Land was notorious as a “nursery for villains.”

Most of its members revered crime, violence, and slaughter, often using their abilities to bully other players, making them take the risks for them.

Meng Siyou thought, his first impression was indeed correct; the bald man was no good person.

“Hey, kid.”

At this moment, the woman dressed like an office worker spoke up, her tone casual, “Do you want to go with him? Just say ‘no,’ and I can help you.”

Meng Siyou nodded solemnly, “While Fire Abilities are highly destructive, in terms of rank, he is no match for me.”

In fact, Meng Siyou was still being conservative in his statement.

As everyone knows, a single level difference in abilities can be as vast as the gap between a pond and an ocean; especially for high-level ability users, the higher they climb, the harder it becomes. Thus, even a slight difference can feel like an insurmountable chasm.

Meng Siyou, at the 7th level of ability, could easily crush the bald man, even if his Silent Domain is not particularly adept at combat.

"Oh?" The bald man, unable to tolerate defiance from strangers, immediately raised one thick eyebrow, his breath seeming to carry a scorching anger that made the surrounding air temperature suddenly rise.

Realizing that Meng Siyou and his companions might not be easy to provoke, he chose not to confront them directly but instead turned his aggression toward the bespectacled man, interrogating him harshly, "Tell me yourself, did you voluntarily agree to test my advertisement?"

The bespectacled man, pale-faced, glanced around nervously before timidly replying, "I... I did it voluntarily..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than there was a loud "bang."

Meng Siyou and the others only saw a blur before the bald man had dragged the bespectacled man into a media room, slamming the door shut with force.

The gust of wind from the door sweeping past Meng Siyou's face made him helplessly touch his nose, looking at the other two, "Shall we work together?"

Chu Fu finally tore his gaze away from his phone screen—a behavior consistent with the report on his habits submitted by Wen Shang.

For a moment, Meng Siyou couldn't help but think that the "Narrator" might also use phones to communicate with players across different scenarios...

Could Chu Fu, suspected to be a former divine favorite, be communicating with the Narrator?

But he quickly dismissed this thought, reasoning that no deity would be so idle as to maintain constant contact with their former favorites, unless they were just chatting...

Chu Fu exchanged glances with Meng Siyou and the office worker, each assessing the other's strength and character through their gazes.

In the end, Chu Fu curved his lips into a superficial, distant yet friendly smile, nodding, "I can."

"Then I have no objections," the office worker shrugged, "it's just teamwork..."

After reaching an agreement, the three of them swept past a room with humanoid bloodstains on some chairs and entered a clean, tidy audio-visual room free of any foul odors or suspicious crime scene evidence.

If one were to forget about the bloodstains in other rooms and ignore the inherent dangers of the dungeon, this company’s audio-visual room could be considered luxuriously decorated.

Adjustable soft lighting, a spacious and clear large screen, a plush red carpet, and several rows of ergonomically designed seats.

Even in the corners, there were a few lush potted plants, and along the walls, an embedded bookshelf took up half the space, with a few old books scattered about, perhaps purely for decorative purposes.

"If my company had such good treatment, I’d wake up smiling from my dreams."

The office worker sighed wistfully, "Unfortunately, such a nice place appearing in a dungeon only makes it seem like the system is offering a final indulgence..."

After confirming there was no danger near the seats, Meng Siyou sat down to experience it.

The height and angle of the seat were just right; when he tilted his head back to look at the screen, his neck rested perfectly against the headrest, feeling no strain at all.

Just as Meng Siyou was about to praise it, he saw Chu Fu slowly approach another seat, scrutinizing it with a critical eye, then taking out a tissue to wipe the seat before finally sitting down.

"Is it really that dirty...?"

Meng Siyou muttered in surprise, gradually beginning to doubt his usual standards of cleanliness.

Thinking for a moment, he shook his head vigorously—no, it wasn’t that he was too careless, but that Chu Fu was overly meticulous!

Was this the level of refinement expected from a Constructor and a Divine Favored?

On the right armrest of each seat, there was a palm-sized electronic screen, allowing players to select the advertisements they wanted to inspect.

Before truly selecting and playing them, they could only see the covers and product names of each advertisement, making it difficult to discern the varying levels of danger among them.

At least on the surface, every ad appeared harmless, no different from those they had seen during breaks in TV programs before.

"Baby moisturizing cream, forest fire prevention public service announcement, Universal Peace Medical Center..."

Scanning through the diverse ad covers, Chu Fu muttered the products they introduced, feeling a bit intrigued.

Perhaps due to the influence of the High Priest's ability, even though he couldn't fully use the power of "Future Definition" at will, he could still faintly perceive the future trajectories of all things.

These possibilities from the future were like different branches growing on a tree, lush and dense, spreading beneath his eyes, allowing him to easily predict the near future.

Meng Siyou asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

"We still don't know how the instance operates or what makes these ads dangerous... If necessary, I can be the first to choose an ad," the office worker yawned. "I am a devout follower of the venerable Tree of Life and the Goddess of Creation, so I'm quite capable in terms of vitality and recovery."

"—Shh."

Suddenly, Chu Fu placed his index finger to his lips, his gaze directed towards the neighboring audio-visual room.

Though his line of sight was blocked by the wall, Meng Siyou, looking at his expression, felt that he must be able to see something clearer, more ethereal, and grander through it.

Under their watchful eyes, Chu Fu chuckled softly, "The two over there should be about to choose an ad. Let's wait and see the results from their side."

He had already foreseen that the "baby moisturizing cream" ad would soon disappear from the selection list.

This indicated that in the near future, it would be chosen by some player and enter the testing phase.

"Let's wish them good luck."

Chu Fu murmured, "But in my vision, the outcome probably won't be too pleasant..."

Against his already pale complexion, his sapphire-blue eyes unfocused, gazing vacantly at some point, like a madman muttering to himself.

What came from his mouth was unclear—whether prophecy or delusion.

Before Chu Fu's eyes, two bloodied, terrified faces alternated—one belonging to the bespectacled man, the other to the bald man.

These fragmented images flashed increasingly faster, crimson stabbing into his retinas, bringing waves of dizziness, yet he didn't look away. Instead, his smile deepened, letting the visions of possible futures burn his eyes.

The vision finally settled on one face, confirming his inevitable death.

The office woman silently studied Chu Fu for a moment before concluding, "He's from the Fate Domain, right?"

—That explained it. In her experience, Ability users from the Fate Domain were always this cryptic.

...

Next door, in the screening room.

The bald man glanced around, carelessly dumping the bespectacled man onto the nearest seat before impatiently urging, "Quit dawdling! Hurry up and pick an ad!"

As he spoke, he quickly skimmed the seat's touchscreen and suddenly scoffed:

"Ha, 'Baby Moisturizing Cream'? Why don’t you pick this one, Four-Eyes—"

"After all, you’re just like a baby, utterly helpless, probably wishing you could suck on a pacifier in this game, waiting for Mommy to take care of you."

Listening to the cruel taunts, the bespectacled man twitched his lips but still lowered his head meekly, offering no retort.

He even forced a dry chuckle and muttered, "T-then I’ll pick this one..."

On the screen, a rosy-cheeked baby sat in a bathtub filled with bubbles, gazing directly at the bespectacled man.

The floating bubbles reflected the baby’s innocent, toothy grin—deceptively harmless.

The moment the bespectacled man selected the ad, the overhead lights snapped off, plunging the room into darkness.

The large screen ahead glowed to life, revealing a woman holding the same baby from the cover, grinning widely: "Baby Moisturizing Cream—your best choice..."

As the slogan played, the woman placed the baby onto a dining table draped in blood-red cloth, set with pristine white plates and polished silverware.

Waving plump little arms, the baby was arranged on the plate like a meal.

"It makes your child’s skin smoother, more radiant..."

As she spoke, the woman’s fingers trailed slowly down the baby’s spine, her tone laced with eerie admiration—as if she weren’t handling a living child, but a tender, delectable delicacy.

The touch tickled him, and the baby sucked its thumb while giggling, utterly oblivious to fear.

Throughout it all, the woman’s smile remained radiant, yet her eyes locked onto something beyond the screen—as if staring straight at the two players.

Even the bald man, who prided himself on fearlessness, couldn’t suppress a faint shiver under that predatory gaze.

"See..."

On-screen, the woman raised a knife and fork. Metal flashed coldly as she drove them downward without hesitation—

In an instant, like peeling the thin skin off a tomato, she neatly flayed the baby’s back, separating flesh from skin soundlessly, the latter fluttering into her palm.

A puff of crimson mist bloomed, spattering her hands and face, staining the baby’s guileless cheeks.

Yet the child, seemingly painless, giggled and reached out, catching handfuls of blood like bubbles. The more oblivious its expression, the more it chilled the spine.

The woman’s smile brightened impossibly as she held the skin up to the light, displaying it to the players: "Just like this—giving skin a dewy, radiant glow!"

A surge of dread gripped the bespectacled man’s heart.

His eyes widened in horror—the woman’s bloodied hands clutching knife and skin, the baby’s gore-streaked grin, the scarlet pooling on the plate...

All of it burned into his vision, twisting, swirling...

Gasping, he tried to look away but found his eyes glued to the screen, forced to witness the source of his terror.

In his daze, he seemed to stand beside that table, red cloth and searing blood surging beneath him—while against his back, a knife pressed silently into his skin, the blade sinking deeper...

"AAAAHHH—"

A piercing scream echoed down the hallway, lingering endlessly.