By the time Cen Yao finished her last soup dumpling, the gazes in the factory building had shifted from blatant staring to what they thought were stealthy glances.
She lowered her head and took a sip of the eight-treasure porridge. The warm, sweet fragrance at the bottom of the bowl slid down her throat, finally soothing her nerves, which had been wound tight for a whole day and night.
Since entering the dungeon yesterday, they had barely had any proper rest.
They were either being chased by monsters or slaughtering them in their nests, and then they had traveled through the night, arriving here just as dawn broke.
Now that she had finally managed to eat a hot meal and settle her stomach, her exhaustion caught up with her all at once.
Cen Yao put away her empty bowl, wiped her hands, and swept her gaze across the factory building.
Most of the players here were not in good shape.
Some had torn clothes and bandages wrapped around their arms.
Others had pale, sallow faces, clearly lacking sleep for a long time.
A few others leaned against the corner with their eyes closed to rest, yet their hands still tightly gripped their weapons, not daring to relax even a fraction.
No one who could enter an A-rank dungeon was a fool.
But precisely because they weren't foolish, they knew just how important information was.
Cen Yao withdrew her gaze and lowered her voice. “I have an idea.”
Zhu Lingxi was slowly sipping her soup, and she looked up upon hearing this.
Pei Tinglan covered his instant noodle cup, his fingertips idly tapping the armrest of his wheelchair.
Xie Zhouxing had just finished his soup dumpling and was fumbling around for a tissue. Hearing Cen Yao speak, he turned his head over as well.
Cen Yao said, “We need information, and we also need rest.”
“These people arrived earlier than us, so they should have a lot of information. If we ask them directly, they might not tell the truth. It's better to trade food for it.”
Xie Zhouxing found a tissue and wiped the corner of his mouth.
“You want to trade food for information?”
“Yes.”
Cen Yao looked toward the players in the factory.
“They are very short on food.”
She spoke very calmly, but it was the truth.
In the Horror Game, sometimes even a single piece of compressed biscuit could be traded for life-saving information.
Not to mention that what they had laid out just now wasn't compressed biscuits.
It was hot food.
Zhu Lingxi thought about it seriously and nodded. “It's feasible.”
“When people are starved for too long, their minds easily wander, making it easier for malevolent energy to exploit them. Giving them some food in exchange might not be a bad thing.”
Pei Tinglan glanced at her. “Are you trying to accumulate good karma for them?”
Zhu Lingxi shook her head. “No.”
Her tone was very serious. “It's to give them the energy to speak more useful words.”
Pei Tinglan let out a short laugh. “Now that sounds more like it.”
Xie Zhouxing listened for a long while before finally catching on.
“So we're setting up a stall?”
Cen Yao: “...”
She thought about it, and that didn't seem wrong.
“Pretty much.”
Xie Zhouxing instantly grew excited.
“Then this young master can be in charge of drumming up customers.”
Pei Tinglan said expressionlessly, “You just be responsible for sitting there.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you open your mouth, you'll probably drive people away.”
Xie Zhouxing was indignant. “This young master treats people with sincerity and warmth. How would I drive them away?”
Pei Tinglan said coldly, “Sincerity and warmth are one thing, but being loud and annoying is another.”
Xie Zhouxing: “...”
Just as he was about to retort, Cen Yao had already stood up, not giving them the chance to continue bickering.
With a wave of her hand, a long table landed steadily on the open ground.
The table was much larger than the one they had used for eating just now. The moment it appeared, it drew the gazes of all the struggling players in the factory.
Cen Yao didn't rush to put things down. Instead, she looked at Zhu Lingxi and Pei Tinglan first.
“Just take out some things you don't like very much.”
Zhu Lingxi nodded and began pulling things out of her storage bag.
First were a few packs of biscuits, several cartons of milk, and some dry buns, followed by jelly, nuts, and a few individually wrapped fried dough twists.
As Cen Yao watched, her expression turned subtle.
“You don't like any of these?”
Zhu Lingxi placed a pack of hawthorn strips on the table and said slowly, “They're alright. Relatively speaking, I just don't like them as much.”
She paused, then added, “I picked things that don't take up too much space.”
Cen Yao stared silently at the snacks that piled up across nearly half the table.
Yes, they indeed didn't take up much space.
Pei Tinglan's side was much simpler.
What he took out from his storage bag was either instant noodles or bread.
The bread was the kind of individually wrapped bread with a long shelf life, dry and completely unappetizing.
At least, in the eyes of Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi, it wasn't.
But for the surrounding players, it was entirely different.
Especially the instant noodles.
Even without hot water, just the words "Braised Beef," "Spicy Ribs," and "Pickled Cabbage" printed on the packaging were enough to make people's eyes glaze over.
The aroma of instant noodles had always been incredibly potent.
Earlier, Pei Tinglan had opened a cup, which had already sent the stomachs of many in the factory into a frenzy.
Seeing him pull out another pile now, some players even subconsciously licked their dry, cracked lips.
Cen Yao also took some things out at the end.
Bread, energy bars, canned luncheon meat, ham sausages, spicy gluten strips, chocolate, and several bottles of mineral water.
As the items were laid out on the table one by one, the players who had barely been managing to restrain themselves could no longer sit still.
Some stood up straight, while others took half a step forward.
A few others had already reached for their weapons, but upon seeing Cen Yao, they forced themselves to pull back.
They watched like hawks, yet they didn't dare to make any rash moves.
Cen Yao wasn't surprised by these looks.
She placed the last bottle of water down and turned to give Pei Tinglan a look.
Pei Tinglan looked up at her, as if saying: Can't you speak for yourself?
Cen Yao returned an equally innocent look.
You're better with words, you're suited to hold down the fort.
Pei Tinglan stared at her expressionlessly for a few seconds.
In the end, he still spoke up. “Let's make a trade.”
His voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough for every player in the factory to hear.
“The goods for trade are these food items.”
From the opposing group of players, a man in his thirties stepped forward.
He was tall, with an old scar running from his brow bone to his cheekbone, and he held a cleaver in his hand.
He didn't look like someone easy to talk to, but since he was the first to speak, he clearly held some authority among these players.
“What kind of trade?”
Pei Tinglan said, “You trade information for food.”
“Information about the dungeon?”
“Preferably this dungeon.”
Pei Tinglan cast a glance at them.
“If it has value, you get more food. If it's worthless, don't waste our time.”
The man frowned. Before he could speak, a female player next to him suddenly opened her mouth.
“Does it have to be information about this dungeon?”
She looked to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with her hair tied in a low ponytail, her face exhausted, and a bloody bandage wrapped around her wrist.
As she spoke, her gaze lingered on the water and chocolate on the table, but it quickly shifted to Cen Yao.
Pei Tinglan narrowed his eyes, and Cen Yao also looked over.
The two exchanged a glance. Just as Pei Tinglan was about to refuse, the female player hurriedly added, “I mean, would information about the player space work too?”
Cen Yao paused. The player space.
She hadn't been in the Horror Game for very long, so her understanding of the player space was indeed limited.
Some information could be found on the forum.
But the truly useful things were often hidden in the word-of-mouth trades between players.
Pei Tinglan had clearly thought of this as well.
He fell silent for a moment, then said, “That works too.”
Hearing this, the players opposite them visibly relaxed.
They exchanged looks, and soon, some began to murmur in low voices.
Most people who could enter an A-rank dungeon had spent a decent amount of time in the player space.
Dealing with all walks of life on a daily basis, they might not have top-tier intel, but they definitely had plenty of miscellaneous news.
Trading that news for ready-to-eat food was a win-win deal no matter how they looked at it.
Cen Yao raised her hand and set up a translucent soundproof barrier beside the long table.
The barrier wasn't large, just big enough to accommodate two or three people sitting down.
Rate on N.U.
