After drawing cards, the evil god became my source of吐槽 (tu cao, a form of humorous commentary/criti

Chapter 56 Catfish Boss Hot Pot Restaurant (4) Rules

Before the catfish vendor could finish speaking, the air seemed to freeze.

Those trapped people who had ordered vegetarian dishes all changed their expressions.

"It's over," Xu Xiaoyi said in a low, almost inaudible voice, "There really was a problem..."

Even seemingly safe vegetarian dishes can be traps.

Bloating from vegetarian food might just be the beginning of another punishment.

Meanwhile, the diners who ordered meat didn't look much better either.

The dishes on their table were served one after another: lamb rolls, tripe, duck blood... but what was served made many people's expressions change instantly.

"What, what is this?" someone asked, their voice trembling.

That's not a lamb roll.

The texture of the meat rolls is abnormal. Upon closer inspection, some even have fine hairs and blood vessel-like lines. What kind of normal ingredient is this?
On one of the sliced ​​beef cuts, there was a pale finger joint.

"vomit--"

Some people couldn't help but gag on the spot and tried to push the food away, but quickly realized that was against the rules.

They could only grit their teeth, suppress their nausea, and dare not move any further.

At this moment, the entire restaurant became extremely quiet.

No one discussed the rules anymore, and no one dared to stand up.

Everyone huddled in their chairs, like prey trapped in a snare, awaiting their fate.

An Jing watched as the three vegetarian dishes in the pot gradually cooked and slowly floated to the surface.

The tofu remained snow-white, the enoki mushrooms floated on the surface of the soup, and the winter melon was cooked until translucent.

Nothing unusual.

But she didn't believe it.

She used a slotted spoon to scoop out all three dishes, placed them on plates, and gave one portion to each person.

"Eat," she said casually.

The three of them looked at her hesitantly.

"I'll go first." She picked up a chopstickful of enoki mushrooms and put it in her mouth.

As she expected, the taste was no different from ordinary hot pot broth—spicy, slightly numbing, and with a familiar seasoning flavor; it was even quite delicious.

But on her third bite, something strange happened.

The enoki mushrooms seemed to be some kind of activated structure, rapidly expanding in her mouth.

The amount of chewed vegetable bits didn't decrease; instead, it increased with each chew, like ever-growing vines. A mouthful of food that could originally be swallowed was suddenly filled with food.

"Cough." An Jing almost immediately sensed something was wrong and forced herself to swallow.

My esophagus was a little blocked, but I still managed to swallow it.

She quickly said to the three of them, "Don't chew, just take a bite and swallow. It's still very delicious."

She didn't forget the rules.

You should feel happy when you enjoy your food.

The three were startled and quickly did as instructed.

Xu Xiaoyi's face turned pale. The small piece of tofu felt like it was stuck in her throat, but she dared not spit it out and could only swallow it down.

Shao Ling frowned, her expression calm, but she still coughed lightly as she swallowed.

Bai Tianjiao suffered the most.

She was already emotionally unstable, and she panicked a bit when following instructions.

As soon as he swallowed the first bite of enoki mushrooms, his expression suddenly changed.

"I'm full."

Her voice held an almost terrified fear, "Really, I'm so full."

Even though I only ate a few bites, my stomach felt like I had eaten ten bowls of rice.

An Jing immediately reached out to stop her from picking up any more food.

Not daring to let her continue, I simply smiled and asked, "Is it delicious?"

"Um…"

"Stop eating, don't move, I'll do it." An Jing spoke very quickly, stopping them when she saw they couldn't eat anymore, "I'll eat the rest."

She turned around, picked up the winter melon and tofu, stared intently at them, and ate them almost in one gulp. Even though they were hard to swallow, she forced herself to finish them.

The plates on the table were empty.

Nothing left.

The air seemed to freeze for a second.

The shadowy waiter standing in the corner glanced at the room silently, seemingly checking its cleanliness, then nodded and disappeared.

At the dining table, An Jing finally let out a soft sigh of relief.

They were all slumped back in their chairs, completely exhausted.

"What...what the hell is this?" Bai Tianjiao's face was pale, her hand was still clutching her stomach, and her eyes were full of fear.

“The vegetable is multiplying.” An Jing said solemnly, “Or rather, it’s not really an enoki mushroom, but a food that can expand in volume inside the human body.”

Xu smiled and shrank back, saying in a low voice, "If we chew for too long, won't we get so full that we can't finish eating?"

"Yes." Shao Ling nodded, her face extremely grim. "That means punishment."

“So,” An Jing looked at them, her voice firm, “we can’t rely on eating in the next round. We need to find a loophole in the rules. If we just rely on eating, we won’t even finish the second round.”

After saying that, she closed her eyes and her mind raced.

At this moment, the shadowy waiter walked up to the three of them and handed them menus.

An Jing quickly took it and found that there were more rules on the menu.

The latest one is:

"Vegetarian dishes are very filling, so if you want to feel full, vegetarian dishes are the best choice."

"Meat and vegetables are not very filling, and you may even feel hungrier the more you eat, so don't eat too much."

After turning the page, you see the total bill for the dishes, along with three large characters.

"Shall we pay the bill?"

An Jing stared intently at the abrupt "Checkout?" line, her heart instantly tightening.

She subconsciously glanced around, and sure enough, everyone's menus had changed. A shadowy waiter stood beside each table, waiting for each guest to make their choice.

No one moved.

An uneasy silence filled the air as everyone stared at the line of text on the menu, no one daring to be the first to click on that eerie option.

at the same time,

The red countdown timer in the bottom right corner of the menu reappeared.

"Select dishes/Payment?"

Countdown: 01:59…01:58…

Time is counting down once again.

"This is forcing us to make a decision." An Jing felt a chill run down her spine.

Without hesitation, she swiped through the menu. Sure enough, the menu selection at the bottom was still available. Instead of choosing any vegetables, she quickly selected three meat dishes: cumin beef, stir-fried chicken gizzards, and tenderly braised pork kidneys.

She remained calm, as if she didn't care at all what the flesh and blood might be made of.

"Are you crazy?" Shao Ling grabbed her hand, her voice trembling uncontrollably despite its extremely low tone. "You're choosing meat dishes? What if it's not normal meat?"

"I haven't forgotten," An Jing replied.

She whispered, "It's okay, trust me."

“But that is…” Shao Ling gritted her teeth.

"We'll know once we get there," An Jing said, looking into her eyes and uttering each word clearly.

The menu submit button lit up, and she pressed it decisively. The next second, the menu disappeared automatically, and the shadowy waiter nodded and took it away.

at the same time,

The first table of people chose to pay the bill.

“I’m not eating anymore.” A middle-aged man stood up, looking utterly dejected, but with a resolute expression. “I don’t want to go into the next round.”

The shadowy waiter silently took the menu, and the next second, he pulled out an extremely thin, sharp knife from behind him and plunged it into the man's abdomen without warning.

"what-!"

Blood splattered on the table, the man's body convulsed, his face contorted almost unrecognizable.

The shadowy waiter moved with practiced ease, as if performing a familiar procedure: gutting, removing entrails, weighing, and packing. A bill automatically popped up on the menu page beside him.
(End of this chapter)