After explaining the rules, Niu Ma paid no more attention to Liu Zheng and lay down to sleep soundly on the ground.
He looked around and found nothing to pass the time, so he started playing with his mobile phone.
An old mobile phone, unable to connect to the internet and devoid of apps, its only built-in game was Snake.
As Liu Zheng looked at the long snake made up of black and white pixels on the screen, he fell into thought.
A delivery driver's Combat Power was enough to kill him instantly, and with so many bizarre rules, it was clear this instance leaned more toward puzzle-solving.
Although he was not keen on deduction, he knew that everything in a puzzle game usually had a purpose.
How to know if a game was useful? Of course, he had to play it first.
He pressed the confirm button, and the game began.
A black pixel snake chased after randomly appearing circular pixels on the screen, growing longer with each one it ate.
At the bottom of the screen, the score was on the left, with a timer bar on the right.
Every few moments, a large flashing pixel would appear on the screen, and the timer bar would start to shrink.
A regular pixel was worth 5 points, while a large pixel could be worth up to 25 points, the score decreasing as the timer bar diminished.
When the score reached a certain limit, a square pixel would appear on the screen.
Guide the snake's head into the square pixel, and advance to the next level.
The rules were simple, and his strategy was straightforward: eat the large pixels as quickly as possible to keep the snake as short as possible.
Of course, there were risks.
As the snake grew longer, it was easy to focus only on the large pixels and accidentally run into its own tail.
Still, it was just a simple game, and Liu Zheng quickly made it to level 10.
At level 10, the difficulty escalated steeply, not only did the snake move faster, but the screen also filled with more obstacles.
As he was intently eating large pixels, he suddenly felt a warm breath by his ear.
He pressed pause and turned around, indeed it was Niu Ma's big head.
"You really played it, didn't you."
Niu Ma had a look of expectation.
"Is this game not supposed to be played?"
"It doesn't matter anymore anyway, humans can't refuse games."
Niu Ma shook his head.
"Since you've started, don't stop, and you mustn't lose,"
"Do I have to clear it?"
"You can exit after reaching level 20, but if you ever open this game again, you must play until you clear it."
"By the way, the highest record I've seen is 24 levels."
Liu Zheng looked at the upper part of the screen, where the level counter showed 10/25.
"How many people continued playing?"
Niu Ma did not respond, only looking toward the densely packed cabinets at the wall.
They all had had more than one owner.
"Alright then," Fresh chapters posted on novel⸺fire.net
Liu Zheng shrugged his shoulders and continued playing the game.
Niu Ma didn't go back to sleep either, standing beside him watching.
One level, two levels, three levels...
Liu Zheng changed his strategy to a steady and secure approach, slowly advancing to level 20.
At level 20, the difficulty spiked once again.
Not only was the snake's speed more than twice as fast as in level one, but the placement of obstacles also became extremely tricky.
The refresh of large pixels also became more unpredictable, making scoring heavily vastly more difficult.
The most terrifying part was that the screen would also refresh pixels bristling with spikes.
Although Liu Zheng did not know what that was, it was probably something akin to a mine.
After a tough struggle to pass the level, he was drenched in sweat.
"Impressive, no wonder your massages are so good,"
It couldn't even get past level one if it played Snake.
Fortunately, the curse of games was on humans; they, the Niu Ma, weren't affected by it.
"What's the reward for clearing it?"
Liu Zheng asked as he wiped off his sweat.
"No one knows; some say it's a huge sum of money, some say a promotion opportunity, others say it's a train ticket."
"Yes, leave the Bloody Restaurant, leave this city's ticket."
Niu Ma's tone seemed very longing.
Meanwhile, Liu Zheng quietly quit the game.
Although his curiosity was indeed strong, it was not to the extent that it would kill him.
After all, he wasn't a cat.
Suddenly, Niu Ma stood up.
Liu Zheng looked toward the door, where the board below was slowly pushed open.
A gaunt hand reached in, placed down a piece of paper, and then quickly retracted.
Niu Ma walked over leisurely and glanced at it.
"You're lucky, human."
It tilted its chin, signaling Liu Zheng to pick up the note.
He walked over, picked up the note and looked at its contents.
"Order: Deformed-eyed Salmon Head Pizza, one portion"
"Address: Merlin District Building 3, Room 503."
"Time limit: within one hour."
"Why do you say I'm lucky?"
"You'll find out later. Now, go deliver your first order,"
Under its supervision, Liu Zheng got dressed in his uniform, and took his phone and map.
Just as he stepped out of the break room, the wooden door closed automatically, silently.
A chill crept up the back of Liu Zheng's neck, the sense of unknown danger making his skin crawl.
"Truly caught between a rock and a hard place."
Liu Zheng thought helplessly.
He looked at the catering cart, on which there was a sealed packaging bag.
Upon opening it, inside was a square paper box, the lid painted with a blood-red iris.
Liu Zheng hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually opened the box.
Then, he saw a scene that made his scalp tingle.
More than a dozen salmon heads, each with a varying number of eyes, were squeezed onto a 9-inch pizza base, the black, juicy eyeballs staring at him as if they were still alive.
That gaze was so deep, it seemed to ensnare Liu Zheng's soul.
He harshly slapped his own face.
The physical pain brought him back to his senses, and when he looked at the pizza again, those fish heads had turned into pale, dead fish eyes.
That bizarre feeling had vanished, replaced by an uncontrollable nausea.
"Name: Deformed-eyed Salmon Head Pizza"
"Effect: Temporarily enhances the player's perception, a small chance of obtaining 'Spiritual Vision' status, permanently reduces Spirit."
"Note: When you gaze into the stars, what you see may not always be heaven, it could also be hell."
"Can be carried out of the instance: Yes"
This was actually an item, and one that could be taken out of the instance?
Liu Zheng looked at the system prompt, having a bold idea.
However, now was not the time to execute it.
He forcibly closed the lid, blocking out those almost imperceptible gazes.
He looked at the map, which showed that the destination was about 6 kilometers from the Bloody Restaurant.
If it were before, this distance would have been nothing, as Liu Zheng could easily run a half-marathon.
But now, this distance was a bit of a challenge.
Even if he could endure, his lungs couldn't.
Liu Zheng couldn't help but clench his throat, which felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.
He had been suppressing his discomfort all this time just so he wouldn't show his weakness in front of Niu Ma.
The physical contest was already lost, but the contest of will had just begun.