CHAPTER 1372: CHAPTER 1373: CLOSING THE STORE AFTER 8 PM

"Brother Dou!" The gun-wielding player who was about to make a move was stopped and couldn’t help but look discontentedly at his companion.

"I said that’s enough." His companion, Brother Dou, glanced over with a deep gaze and only looked towards the dining table beside him when the player calmed down.

The female player with the Duck Tongue Cap had already returned to her companion, but she wasn’t the focus of everyone’s attention. All eyes were on the man who had just made a move.

The man with brown curly hair tucked the returned bookmark back into the book he hadn’t finished reading, looked up with a smile, and said, "We’re all newcomers here, no need to make a scene and become a laughingstock for the veterans in the restaurant."

Brother Dou understood his meaning; the players who arrived earlier might have already figured out the rules and could use this advantage against newcomers, so the more people who survive the night, the better. Even those ordinary people could be used to test the restaurant rules.

"Even waste has its uses." Brother Dou signaled his companion to release the two from earlier.

The injured couple supported each other to thank the female player with the Duck Tongue Cap, but she waved them off, unconcerned and showing no intention of sheltering them, as she lowered her head to play her game.

It was the brown-haired man who invited them to sit down and introduced himself, "I’m Maris, how may I address you two?"

The restaurant had returned to normal. Seeing that no one else was coming in, the players began to communicate and trade information with each other. However, since three-quarters of the total number had arrived today, most were on the same starting line. Especially those who came last, didn’t even know who had arrived yesterday or today, making it risky to enquire aimlessly.

Thus, the exchanges were quite limited.

Of course, even if you didn’t want to listen, some information would make its way to you inevitably.

The topic discussed most concerned the night. Players had already witnessed the restaurant during the day, and apart from conflicts among players, as long as there was no conflict with the service staff, no taboos would likely be infringed. The important part was the night.

From the service staff, quite a few players learned about the accommodations available at night, as the consumption during the first three days in the restaurant was free, and just like food, the rooms could be taken at will by the guests.

However, no one managed to find out exactly how many rooms there were.

This implicitly confirmed that there weren’t enough rooms.

"Can’t multiple people share a room?" Dai Song asked, "The restaurant hasn’t specified that only one person can stay in a room."

"That’s hard to say," Skinny Gamer Zhou Donghe replied, "The restaurant certainly won’t let us all stay in rooms. Who knows where the danger could be, like what if it’s inside the room? What if there’s a difference between single and shared rooms?"

There was some truth to it. Dai Song looked at Xu Huo, "What do you think?"

"Since there are few rooms, perhaps the restaurant’s layout will change at night," Xu Huo said, "If players are forced apart, it might not be possible to enter the same room; the safest way is for each to find a room, find a hiding place first."

"I feel the restaurant might be very dangerous at night," he said with a slight worry, "My intuition is usually spot-on."

Hearing this, Dai Song was a bit nervous, "What if we can’t find a room..."

"Isn’t the communicator usable in the restaurant?" Zhou Donghe said, "Anyway, there are a few of us. Whoever finds a room first can inform the others."

The three exchanged contact information, but Zhou Donghe felt it wasn’t safe enough, so he persuaded two more over to join them, one being the Scar-Handed Player, who pretended not to know Xu Huo and greeted both, "Li Kun, let’s all look out for each other."

His companion, the long-haired man, joined another temporary team of players.

The other was called Zhang Zhaogang.

Scar-Handed Player Li Kun stared at the ballot box for a while, "Quite a few people have voted, when will ’Dish of the Day’ be chosen?"

"Most likely the results will be announced tomorrow," Zhou Donghe said, "but no one knows how to choose this ’Dish of the Day’."

In general, it would naturally be the dish with the most votes, but this is an instance, it won’t be that simple. If it were, just a dozen players forming a small group could clear the game.

So, the difficulty needs to be increased a bit. Reaching a certain number of votes or people must be required, in which case, cooperation is even harder, unless players can amicably agree on which dish to vote for or someone could take charge to steer the choice.

And that’s just normal difficulty. Xu Huo expected something trickier, like the restaurant tampering with the menu, perhaps designating dish ranges— which several players had inquired about, like asking the service staff what the restaurant’s signature dish or today’s recommendation was, but each service person always gave different answers.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the service staff’s answers are without value; the repetition of dishes, their specific page in the menu, or their flavor profiles and meat-to-veggie ratios could provide information. If there’s no pattern whatsoever, just non-repetition, that becomes quite significant.

But whether they could organize a vote among players would have to wait till tomorrow.

Thus, the players in the restaurant awaited the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is almost eight o’clock, the restaurant will soon close. Please take your personal belongings. The rooms in the restaurant are unregistered, and you may choose any." A female service staff member announced from the front of the kitchen.

As her words fell, players became noisy, each eager for more information, but the service staff repeatedly said, "That’s not in my jurisdiction, I can’t answer that."

The players were angry but helpless, and there were only three minutes left until closing.

"May I ask," Xu Huo raised his hand, "Can room service be called at night?"

The service staff, with a perfectly timed smile, said, "I’m sorry, sir, after eight o’clock is the service staff’s rest time."

"Thank you." Xu Huo replied impassively.

The service staff left the restaurant, and everyone heard the back kitchen door being locked.

"What use is asking that?" Dai Song whispered.

"What do you think is the most dangerous part of this instance?" Xu Huo didn’t speak, but the Scar-Handed Player Li Kun turned back and replied.

"It’s definitely the restaurant," Dai Song replied without hesitating.

"You’ve already said it’s the restaurant. The fact that not even the service staff come out at night indicates the dangers the restaurant poses at night might be beyond our imagination."

The service staff in the restaurant are definitely not people whom the players can easily kill, and generally, players also wouldn’t attack people in the restaurant. If it were merely player conflicts, the restaurant wouldn’t intervene, there’s no need for the service staff to avoid it.