Chapter 35: Truly Irresistible
One day earlier.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
In a dim, shabby little restaurant, the harsh sounds of vomiting echoed.
After a moment, a middle-aged man with thick limbs, a round face, and wearing a French-style dining apron emerged from a narrow public restroom connected to the kitchen.
His complexion was pale, his eyes still flickering with lingering fear. With his left hand against the wall and his right clutching his abdomen, he staggered forward, bent over as if he had just endured childbirth, agony etched deeply on his face.
“Damn it! Damn the gourmet!”
He collapsed heavily onto a seat. Though a broad-shouldered man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, within seconds he burst into tears.
Cursing while sobbing, his tone full of grievance, he resembled a pure-hearted maiden scorned by a faithless lover.
He had never experienced such pain in his life!
Indeed, this was Wang Jing, a player soon to trade with Chen Ye.
His profession was Gourmet.
As the name implies, the role of Gourmet was to taste all the world’s delicacies.
At first, Wang Jing thought he was incredibly lucky—truly a chosen one!
A foodie who could unlock traits related to eating—wasn’t that like turning a passion into a profession? He could improve his role-playing just by eating!
Simple, enjoyable, and delightful…
Moreover, Wang Jing’s job was that of a taster, specifically to sample dishes prepared by other chefs.
For a Gourmet, tasting rare delicacies for free was a matter of course. This profession allowed them to request food without paying, outside the bounds of equal exchange.
Putting it all together, Wang Jing thought he had hit the jackpot!
But reality proved him very wrong—outrageously so!
None of the "chefs" who came to the shop were normal. The dishes were made from three-eyed centipedes, ten-legged spiders, and broccoli assembled from unknown mammal bones…
When Wang Jing saw these foods, he refused outright.
He would never eat such disgusting things!
But as time passed, hunger gnawed at him—so dizzying and overwhelming that everything began to seem delicious…
As he neared the point of fainting from hunger, the strange figure beside him coaxed persistently:
“Esteemed Gourmet, please sample my freshly prepared dishes!”
“These ingredients have been carefully selected!”
“These foods have been cooked with care!”
“These dishes are absolutely delicious!”
“Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!”
“You will be happy, joyful, and feel an unprecedented satisfaction, as if you’ve arrived in heaven, becoming a free little angel…”
---
Though one can’t solve math problems under duress, in the madness of hunger, one can muster the courage to become a second Bear Grylls!
Wang Jing was nearly losing consciousness. That unidentifiable lump on the plate suddenly appeared delicious in his eyes… He grabbed some random thing and stuffed it into his mouth.
But an extremely pungent, foul stench like liquid squeezed from countless insects oozed out, swirling in the drainpipe-made roller before turning into a sticky mush that flooded his mouth.
Instantly, Wang Jing snapped awake. His throat felt as if something was choking him. His eyes reddened, breathing became rapid, and he nearly suffocated…
Thankfully, beside him, a doll-like girl in a short skirt and beret, her skin deathly pale and lips as red as blood, handed him a cup of bright red liquid.
Her clear voice rang softly in his ears, yet carried the chilling coldness of falling into an ice pit:
“Drink this.”
Wang Jing felt he was about to die. His mind struggled to think, instinctively taking the crimson drink from the doll’s hand and gulping it down…
Gradually, the choking sensation faded. Fresh air filled his nostrils, his brain revived from extreme oxygen deprivation, and consciousness slowly returned…
A light voice whispered:
“Delicious? Tasty?”
“Ye… yes…”
Wang Jing wanted to spit out, “Go to hell,” but he couldn’t hold on and fainted.
Before his consciousness completely faded, he faintly heard the doll’s giggling:
“Ah, finally receiving a ‘good’ from a taster—consider this your reward…”
---
The next day, Wang Jing painfully opened his eyes and was shocked to find he was still alive!
In front of him on the table lay a bag of coins!
He opened it and counted carefully—two hundred coins in all!
He was practically rich!
“Am I dreaming after death?”
He tapped his face, feeling pain, gradually realizing he might still be alive…
He tried to squat then stand, his knees intact—at least proving he wasn’t turned into some kind of living dead.
For a moment, Wang Jing truly thought he was going to die.
Those two customers who entered were no ordinary people!
They were deadly phantasms!
Eating that ghostly thing and still living?
Wang Jing found it unbelievable to still be standing and even to have received a hefty pouch of copper coins, as if trapped in a dream.
He opened his blood-red phone to check the Gourmet traits carefully, suddenly wanting to smash the phone—
[Gourmet Traits:]
[Free Dining: You can sample all the world’s delicacies for free and provide reviews. Of course, you can also purchase food.]
[Professionalism: After your positive evaluation, a certain tasting fee must be paid.]
[Gifter’s Return: Chefs you praise can return a portion of the eerie value.]
[Delicacies: As a qualified Gourmet, you should sample all the world’s delicacies. When you eat different types of food, you gain eerie value rewards. If you eat forbidden foods, you won’t gain eerie value and avoid death, but your body will suffer temporary negative effects (non-permanent, short-term damage).]
Upon reading the last trait, Wang Jing finally understood why he hadn’t died.
His blood-red phone never popped up any eerie value gain notification.
After a while, his stomach suddenly twisted in severe pain, leading to relentless bouts of diarrhea…
It lasted for hours, leaving him paler than a corpse.
Who could possibly endure this!
Thinking of living every day as a Gourmet, forced to taste such cursed things…
Wang Jing couldn’t hold back any longer and broke down in tears, wondering what meaning was left to such a miserable existence.
Better to be dead!
In despair, he instinctively opened his blood-red phone, habitually wanting to watch short videos to numb himself. But after the blood-red countdown began, where was the entertainment?
Well, surfing the forums seemed like a good alternative.
Scrolling through, he found someone discussing Chen Ye’s sugar-roasted chestnuts, which apparently looked delicious?
Wang Jing paused, sneering in his heart: “How can there possibly be anything tasty in this ghostly world?”
Yet he instinctively clicked on the “sugar-roasted chestnuts” info. The pictures immediately captivated him.
The color, the shape…
They looked absolutely delicious!
However, the price was steep—five copper coins, already a considerable amount for an early-stage player.
After much hesitation, staring at the two hundred coins in his pouch, he gritted his teeth:
“If I’m going to live as a cripple, eating this cursed stuff every day, what’s the point?”
“I don’t want to live anymore. In the next few days, I’ll just wait for some phantom to end me!”
“I might as well go out in style before dying, no matter how expensive or tasty…”
The next moment, Wang Jing sent a trade request, exchanging five copper coins for sugar-roasted chestnuts.
But when he put the chestnuts in his mouth and chewed carefully…
[You have tasted an A-grade delicacy—Sugar-Roasted Chestnuts!]
[Eerie Value +100!]
“Delicious!”