Chapter 16: The Cannibalistic Hot Pot Restaurant (Part Five)

Defective product?

Upon hearing those three words, Zhu Ning paused. The hot pot restaurant owner was a defective product, of the same kind as Zhu Ning. So he wasn’t really ill; his body was simply deteriorating because his time had come.

Later, Zhu Ning looked into information about defective products. In this world, everyone undergoes a comprehensive genetic screening at birth, which identifies genetic defects.

The downside of such advanced technology is that it can precisely predict your future. Genetic diseases can be diagnosed immediately after birth, and even estimated life expectancy can be determined.

Artificial humans, androids, and clones are all man-made beings, and their defective products are akin to manufacturing errors on an assembly line. Mass production inevitably results in some failures.

Defective products can be improved through genetic pharmaceuticals, but the effects vary individually and cannot guarantee normalcy. Moreover, thirty years ago, gene therapies seemed immature.

A man’s voice came through the recording: “I don’t know how much I can still remember. Ever since I came here, my memory has become chaotic.”

“Xiao Hui told me before to record my memories while still lucid. She’s been writing a diary every day lately, but since I live with Yang Tao, I can’t write, so I can only record audio and place it on the toilet seat. If someone destined hears this, don’t call the police. You probably won’t get out either.”

Xiao Hui was likely the cashier; the person recording was probably another employee.

A soft creak—

Zhu Ning pushed the door open. Behind it was a chaotic scene, with many white plastic sheets hanging from ceiling to floor. As she entered, a gust of wind caused the plastic to rustle sharply.

With a click, Zhu Ning closed the door behind her.

The room was large, with two rows of shelves lining the walls. The white plastic sheets partially obstructed her view. Moving through them caused a constant rustling noise, revealing one’s position at all times.

Holding her gun cautiously, Zhu Ning advanced slowly while listening to the recording in her earpiece.

“We usually answer to the store manager. I’ve never seen the boss’s face. That day, Yang Tao asked me to help move a huge rehabilitation pod into the basement. That’s when I saw the boss. He was paralyzed from the waist down, couldn’t even stand.”

“I felt sorry then. Such a young boss, yet a defective product. Yang Tao told me to keep it secret, said if word got out competitors would exploit it. I knew this place was successful, and many envied it, so I never told anyone. It didn’t concern me anyway.”

Zhu Ning brushed aside a piece of plastic. Shadows flitted behind the sheets, as if ghosts moved through the room.

“But that day, while resting alone in the staff dormitory, half asleep, I saw a figure standing before me.”

“I was startled awake. It was the boss, standing at my bedside staring at me. His gaze, how to describe it... it was like he was looking at a piece of meat.”

“When I called out to him, he didn’t respond and slowly walked away. I stared at him a long time before realizing—wasn’t he paralyzed? Why was he standing? Later, I learned he was... conducting some kind of experiment.”

Crack—

Zhu Ning’s boot crushed something; a glass bottle shattered beneath her foot. She picked up the broken vial, with four characters printed on the damaged label: Everlife Pharmaceuticals.

There was more than one bottle here. This was clearly a medicine storage room.

With a rustle, Zhu Ning carefully parted the plastic sheets. The shelves were densely packed with medicines: injections, bottled drugs, even a set of surgical scalpels.

A pink card was affixed nearby, bearing a smiling face and the words: Welcome to the Everlife Pharmaceuticals Free Experimental Project.

The man’s voice continued amidst static: “After that, things got weirder. The meat in the kitchen became stranger, the hot pot smelled more enticing. I grew more exhausted and confused every day, my memory worsening until one day—”

His voice broke with sobs: “Xiao Hui disappeared.”

“I wanted to find her, but Yang Tao didn’t care. He immediately posted new job listings, hiring not only cashiers but many chefs and servers. This place didn’t need so many employees.”

“They were like... reserves. I felt like, if I died, someone else would just take my place.”

Bang—

Zhu Ning spun around and bumped into something.

In the darkness, a three-meter-tall object towered inside the room, pressing against her back. Layers of plastic sheets concealed the giant figure, looming like a beast staring down upon her.

Her spine tingled with fear. She whirled around, instinctively ready to fire. But reason prevailed—she aimed the gun steadily at the creature, finger poised on the trigger.

The monster watched from above, its pitch-black shadow cast against the ceiling, as if the entire room belonged to it.

Don’t shoot. Don’t act rashly in a contaminated area.

“I wanted to call the police and quit, but I felt eyes watching me—Yang Tao, other employees, even customers. They watched me constantly. If I moved, they’d kill me. I couldn’t even sleep peacefully.”

“The boss’s spirit grew stronger every day, vibrant and alert like a normal person. But the healthier he got, the more terrified I became. I felt he was no longer human. Today, he said he was closing the shop to focus on curing himself, and that the closure compensation would be shared among a few of us employees.”

“When I heard about the money, I hesitated, thinking maybe I should just take it and leave.”

“Later, the shop closed, but customers still came late at night. The manager told us to serve them well—they were our VIPs.”

His voice grew faint and trembling: “The customers started acting strange. One day I saw a customer dip his index finger into the hot pot, burning it badly, yet he just kept smiling.”

“I began to wonder what they were eating. Was I an accomplice? Had I... killed them?”

“Am I a murderer?”

“Wang Ming!” someone called him on the recording. “Where are you hiding? Yang Tao’s looking for you.”

Panicked breathing followed, then the recording abruptly ended.

Ding—

System alert: [Mental stability decreased by 5]

Listening to the recording was a form of contamination. After hearing it, Zhu Ning’s mental state faltered. The pollution level in this recording was far higher than in the diary. An ordinary person might be driven insane by it.

She snapped off the recorder and deleted the entire folder.

The recording’s author was Wang Ming, who seemed to have encountered the same problems as Xiao Hui.

Zhu Ning had been facing off against the massive creature for a while, but it remained motionless. She realized the mental contamination had warped her perception; the thing might not be a monster at all.

Covered in plastic sheets, people often frighten themselves. The greatest fear is the unknown; imagined terrors can kill you.

She clenched her teeth and decisively tore away the last plastic sheet, revealing what lay behind.

Sure enough, it was not a monster but a large cultivation pod.

The three-meter-tall pod was transparent, tube-shaped. Its glass had been violently smashed, and whatever was inside was gone.

What had been here? Where was it now?

Wang Ming’s recording lasted two minutes in total.

Combining it with the cashier’s diary, Zhu Ning formed a rough theory: the hot pot restaurant owner was a defective product who had taken part in Everlife Pharmaceuticals’ free experimental project. Clearly, the experiment had failed.

Zhu Ning guessed he might have become a source of contamination. Employees Xiao Hui and Wang Ming both suffered varying degrees of mental pollution.

And the pig-headed man Yang Tao may have initially obeyed the boss for money, but now seemed more like a host to parasitic spores.

However, this theory was uncertain, since Xiao Hui and Wang Ming were mentally compromised, making their accounts unreliable. Many things remained unexplained: why hire so many employees? What about the bounty?

The bounty on heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and mutant genes—was that for experiments?

The hot pot shop’s internal alarm had been ringing for at least six minutes. Pollutant levels were rising sharply; Zhu Ning had to act quickly.

If the system was right and a survivor remained here, that poor soul was likely near brain death.

Zhu Ning inspected the cultivation pod carefully and confirmed it was empty.

A light source behind the pod cast its shadow onto the ceiling, creating the illusion of a monster.

This was a trap for the mind, unlike the grotesque finger in the hot pot or the tentacles in the trash bin—those were amateurish compared to this.

The light came from a fist-sized hole behind the pod, hacked into the wall, allowing a view into the basement.

Who did this?

Peering through the hole, Zhu Ning saw the basement bathed in warm orange light. She squinted to adjust.

The pig-headed man and other employees were gathered below, kneeling in orderly ranks.

The pig-headed man knelt at the front, servers behind him, and the customers—who should have been gods—knelt in the last row. Their formation resembled... a Wi-Fi symbol.

At the smallest point of the symbol was a hospital bed.

On it lay something Zhu Ning couldn’t even name. A mass of rotting flesh shaped vaguely like a human writhed continuously, each patch seemingly growing.

The decaying flesh slowly spilled off the bed and, at this rate, might engulf the entire hot pot restaurant.

If her guess was correct, the figure on the bed was the boss. The pig-headed man led the employees in kneeling prayers before it, as if worshipping a deity.

While bowing respectfully, the pig-headed man pulled out a knife.

What was happening? Internal conflict?

With a sharp slice, the pig-headed man cut a chunk of flesh from the bed. Even detached, the piece writhed.

An employee behind held a black plastic bag reverently to receive it. Each time a piece was cut, the employees and customers behind smiled with satisfaction.

Zhu Ning was speechless.

So that was the source of the strange meat. Was the boss a bit too magnanimous? Supporting a popular hot pot restaurant all by himself?

Having understood the situation, Zhu Ning needed to get out of the contaminated area quickly. As she rose, a sudden click sounded.

She knew that sound all too well—a gun being cocked. A firearm emerged from the darkness, pressed against the back of her head.

Sure enough, someone else was in the room.