CHAPTER 1370: CHAPTER 1371: THE EVER-EXPANDING RESTAURANT

The number tag on the ground quickly went unnoticed. Xu Huo bent down to pick it up, put it in his pocket, and followed the waiter to a table.

Because the restaurant was crowded, latecomers had to share tables. However, not everyone was so accommodating. At the table found by the waiter sat two fierce-looking, stern-eyed big men. Just as the chair was pulled out, the one on the left put a beautifully decorated gun on the back of the chair and motioned with his chin for them to move to another table.

The waiter smiled and said, "The Bauhinia Restaurant allows table sharing."

The man with the gun opened his mouth to say something, but the man next to him stopped him. "Since it’s the restaurant’s rule, we shouldn’t break it. If the later guests voluntarily request to change tables, that should be okay, right?"

"Of course, that’s fine," the waiter replied.

Then the man looked at Xu Huo and Dai Song, making his meaning clear.

Dai Song was about to step forward, but Xu Huo pulled his arm, "Let’s just change places. It’s not a big deal."

Dai Song was obviously unwilling. It wasn’t about big or small matters. With at least fifty to sixty people in the restaurant, backing down without a word would make them look like pushovers, inviting endless trouble. Wouldn’t that affect their chance of clearing the instance?

"Just let it go," Xu Huo repeated. "Breaking the restaurant’s things isn’t good."

Dai Song, being quick-witted, responded swiftly, "At worst, we’ll compensate at full price... Your place isn’t a shady business, is it?"

The last sentence was directed at the waiter. The waiter maintained a polite smile and pointed to the price list hanging on the wall. "The restaurant cannot interfere with guest behavior, but items broken need to be compensated for at full price."

Dai Song looked in the direction indicated.

There wasn’t just a price list of restaurant items hanging there; next to it was a ballot box and a board announcing the "Dish of the Day."

Yesterday’s "Dish of the Day" was "Antler Soup."

"Breaking dishes is hard to clean up too, let’s not make more trouble for the restaurant staff," a skinny young man at a nearby table stood up with a smile and pulled Xu Huo and Dai Song over to his table. "Come, come, there’s more room here!"

This time, Dai Song didn’t insist further and sat down accordingly.

"Don’t take it seriously," the skinny man whispered to them, "Those two are not weak. I happened to see them team up to kill three players when I came in this morning. The restaurant doesn’t care about players’ lives. If you lose, you lose your life, and if you win, you pay money. There’s no benefit."

"You’ve been here longer; do you know the rules of the instance?" Xu Huo asked softly.

"Sure, sure," the skinny man replied. "I’m also asking others. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it seems that when the restaurant closes at night, rooms will appear, and everyone wants to grab a room, so they’re very wary of others."

"Is there anything dangerous in the restaurant at night?" Dai Song couldn’t help but ask.

"I don’t know," the skinny man shrugged. "But before understanding the instance rules, grabbing a room is the safe bet."

Just then, the restaurant waiter came over to ask Xu Huo and Dai Song if they wanted to order food.

"I’ve already ordered, join me," the skinny man invited them. His dishes had just arrived, a rich mix of both meat and vegetables.

"No need, we’ll order ourselves." Dai Song grabbed the menu from the waiter and quickly ordered a few vegetarian dishes before handing the menu to Xu Huo. Xu Huo didn’t look at it and instead said to the waiter, "Just bring me what my friend ordered."

"When is the ’Dish of the Day’ voting?"

"You can vote any time before the restaurant closes during the day. Just write the dish name on the provided paper and put it in the ballot box," the waiter replied.

Xu Huo thanked him.

The waiter turned and left.

"Just ordering these few dishes might not work." The skinny man said while eating, "Think about it. Since they’re selecting a dish, you must have eaten it to choose, right?"

There’s logic in that, but with hundreds of dishes on the menu, even if they could eat them all, they might not afford it. They could only choose dishes ordered by most of the players present; obviously, the "Dish of the Day" had to be one most people had tried.

In fact, to avoid eating unclean things, at least half of the players chose to eat entirely vegetarian.

The skinny player seemed unaware of this, greedily devouring the chunks of meat on his plate, the vibrant food releasing steaming juices, with an intense aroma that whetted the appetite. Once noticed, it seemed impossible to smell anything but the meat’s fragrance.

Many people put down their utensils.

Dai Song gritted his teeth as he shoved food into his mouth and saw Xu Huo stop eating too. He couldn’t help but say, "You’d better eat more."

The more hungry you are, the harder it is to resist temptation.

Xu Huo shook his head, indicating he was done eating. He wiped his mouth and went to the small bar in the restaurant’s corner, ordering an expensive cocktail.

This spot wasn’t ideal because of a corner, so only half the restaurant was visible, but it didn’t matter much. To gather as much information as possible, most players stayed in their spots even after finishing their meals.

By the afternoon, the restaurant had almost a hundred people, and as more guests arrived, the restaurant’s space inexplicably expanded a bit. It was already twice the size when Xu Huo came in, and the spot by the small bar was now in the center as other players started to take notice.

Having vacated the spot earlier, Xu Huo moved to a table.

Earlier, Dai Song and the skinny man had left their seats, moving from the edges to the center.

Having surveyed around, Dai Song sat down and said, "There’s only this one restaurant. The doors inside lead to the kitchen, which guests can’t enter. However, I spent some money to ask a waiter and found out there are two storerooms and a freezer inside, and the storeroom and freezer rooms have passwords. Typically, the waitstaff doesn’t go in."

"How many people are in the kitchen?" Xu Huo asked.

"Three head chefs, ten assistant chefs, and five waiters specifically for kitchen duties. These eighteen people don’t enter the restaurant. There are only five responsible for the restaurant— one bartender and three for music performances," Dai Song said.

"There are seven waiters in the restaurant," Xu Huo added, "including two pairs of twins."

Dai Song and the skinny man both paused, the former asking "Which two?" and the latter "How did you figure that out?"

Xu Huo pointed out the two waiters who never appeared alongside their brothers and made up an excuse, "They got a bit of grime on their shoe edges when serving."

Whether it was accidental discovery or direct observation didn’t really matter, with only a small difference in numbers. The crucial point was that this restaurant had particular restrictions.