Chapter 129

"Hey, there's still a lot of food left in the break area kitchen." Yi Ying beamed as she opened the box she'd brought over, revealing yogurt, sweet tea, juice, ice cream, a box of cream puffs, sweet-and-sour spare ribs someone had made, some lettuce, and a boxed meal she'd grabbed from the fridge.

"I found instant noodles, self-heating hot pots, and self-heating rice in the cabinets," Guan Suixing said, dumping her backpack's contents onto the table: two half-empty boxes of instant noodles—over a dozen cups total—six self-heating hot pots, and four boxes of self-heating rice.

"I scavenged some stuff from the kitchen and the entertainment area," Hei Mawu said, opening a plastic bag filled with individual snacks: egg yolk cakes, flower cakes, soda crackers, boxed milk and coconut milk, potato chips, and the like—about half a bag's worth.

"Don't look at me," Peng Yuanzhi waved a hand. "I got here late, so I didn't have time to collect anything."

"That's fine," Lin Tu said as she helped Luo Yongzhi and the others pack up the supplies, then suddenly asked, "They said you're also from the Art Department. Do you remember who was outside talking loudly about the 'New Combo' when Mingming Chicken called?"

"I don't really remember... I was focused on my own call at the time..." Peng Yuanzhi said apologetically.

"How could you not remember? Do you remember what I said?" Lin Tu stared at him, but he only shook his head in apology.

The atmosphere tensed for a moment.

"Sister Lin," Hei Mawu cut in, "if you have something to say, just say it. My friend here is a bit slow."

Luo Yongzhi and Yi Ying both stayed silent, also watching Peng Yuanzhi. Finally, Guan Suixing tugged at Lin Tu's sleeve and whispered, "Sister Lin, if you have something to say, just say it. If there's a problem, I'll definitely stand by you."

"It's nothing," Lin Tu smiled, finally breaking the deadlock. "I just wanted to know, after I left, did you order from Mingming Chicken? Did any player eat it?"

"Oh, that," Peng Yuanzhi let out a long breath of relief. "We all ordered. One player ate it, but the rest of us didn't."

Lin Tu gave a small "mm," and, ignoring Peng Yuanzhi's awkwardness, lowered her head to continue helping Luo Yongzhi and the others sort their supplies. The others exchanged puzzled glances, not understanding Lin Tu's intent.

Soon, the food was packed away.

This time, Lin Tu took Yi Ying and Guan Suixing by the hand and left the meeting room first.

What came into view was the clean, tidy company break area—hard to imagine it had looked so different just moments ago.

The group waited a bit, and soon good news came from the other side—

"It's really edible!" Liu Sheng sent a WAW emoticon, expressing his excitement.

Luo Yongzhi sent a photo, showing the pile of yogurt and instant noodles still in their original state: "I'll organize this and split it into seven portions to distribute at the next meeting. Next time, try to gather as much food as you can—we need to stockpile more."

Yi Ying: "Don't worry. Now that we know it's edible, we'll skip work and just search the company for food!"

"Same here," Guan Suixing added.

Lin Tu said nothing, quietly following Peng Yuanzhi back to the Art Department.

Meanwhile, in the Creative Department below the Art Department, Kou Lin had just received a phone call—

"Kou Lin, are you busy?"

Kou Lin suppressed the urge to curse. "Not busy. Something up?"

"Yes," the voice on the other end continued. "The company is planning a food festival soon, and our Creative Department is in charge of selecting ingredients. But the thing is, the ingredients require a fee, and I can't get away. Could you be a dear and pay 100,000 yuan to the Procurement Department?"

Kou Lin: "Sure. Where do I pick up the money?"

"Pick up money?" The other party sounded surprised. "We're all members of One Big Happy, Joyful, Beautiful Family. Isn't it only right that colleagues care for and help each other? For the company's food festival, are you really unwilling to put up 100,000 yuan?"

Kou Lin's face went green. "So you want me to take out a loan to pay for you?!"

"As long as you can help me pay the fee,"—Kou Lin's computer screen flickered, and the other party sent a loan platform link—"it's urgent. Please do it before the next clock-in."

Kou Lin checked the time—about forty minutes left.

With a dark face, she applied for the loan, and the money quickly arrived. A stack of paper money suddenly appeared on Kou Lin's desk. She pinched it with some disgust and headed upstairs.

The Procurement Department occupied the twelfth and thirteenth floors—one for the workspace and one for storage.

The Procurement Department stored the company's important supplies, so from the eleventh floor upward, there were no more elevators—ordinary personnel had to take the stairs.

"Goddamn Guan Suixing..." Kou Lin muttered curses as she entered the dim stairwell, glancing around warily. "She went silent the moment we got here. She's not dead, is she?"

"I shouldn't have believed your bullshit—'Come in with me, we'll clear it together, it'll be fine'... How could I trust a pig like you? If you're not dead, great! But if you are, I'll dig you up myself just to show you what I'm capable of!"

The stairwell was silent, empty... Kou Lin paused, took out her phone again, and saw it was still empty—no messages. The last one was in the group chat, where Guan Suixing had asked Luo Yongzhi to add her, and she'd replied, "I already joined ages ago!" Then no one responded.

Kou Lin sent three more messages—"What department are you in?" "Make sure to complete the tasks your coworkers give you!" "Let's find a place to regroup?"

But all three went unanswered, and even now, they were still lost in the void.

"This game's opening kill is bullshit. She can't really be dead... but that shouldn't be. Guan Suixing's unreliable, but her teammates can't be that unreliable too..."

Kou Lin thought as she climbed the stairs, but without a reply, she had no way to find them. All she could do now was try her best to clear the game on her own.

After climbing two floors, she finally reached the twelfth floor.

Kou Lin walked toward the office, holding the money she'd just borrowed from the loan platform.

The people here were all fat, looking well-fed. Kou Lin wasn't sure if she was being overly sensitive, but she felt that everyone—men and women alike—looked at her with lecherous eyes.

"Creative ingredients fee?" The staff member took the 100,000 yuan and said haughtily, "Only 100,000? What good stuff can you expect with that? Whatever, since it's the company's own food festival, I'll just treat it as feeding the starving ghosts and rack up some merit."

He lowered his head, quickly wrote out a slip, and handed it to Kou Lin: "Go to the thirteenth floor. Give this to the staff there, and he'll show you around. Pick the ingredients yourself."

Kou Lin nodded.

Thirty minutes remained. Kou Lin climbed the stairs to the thirteenth floor and, following the man's instructions, went with the staff member to the ingredient storage.

"This is all the ingredients we have in stock. Technically, with 100,000 yuan, you can choose ten items. Of course..." the staff member said with a grin, "since it's our company's own food festival, you can take twelve items. Just give me one, and the extra one—you can eat it yourself or do whatever you want with it. I won't mind."

Kou Lin was speechless: They even do bribery and corruption for food?

As if the stuff inside is that tasty?

Out of politeness, Kou Lin didn't roll her eyes. She thanked him and walked into the warehouse.

Kou Lin's core skill was [Doomsday Mechanical Engineer]. As an engineer, her skill gave her certain cognitive advantages—in short, it made her more focused at work, less susceptible to external distractions, and her intuition leaned more toward rationality.

For example, when someone called earlier asking her to pick up a package, she realized from the reactions of those around her and the caller that it was likely a mandatory task. Again, when Mingming Chicken pushed a forced sale of takeout, Kou Lin noticed from the food's shape, temperature, and other indicators that it was probably something completely inedible. Furthermore, during her Creative Department task of 'selecting products,' her extreme rationality prevented her from realizing the so-called products were brainwashing people—she only thought they looked very strange.

That was also why Kou Lin accepted Guan Suixing's invitation. She knew her strengths and weaknesses well. In a disaster like [Extreme Company], her mind would stay constantly active thanks to her skill, which was undoubtedly a huge advantage.

So she was lucky enough to avoid the ravages of hunger. While Lin Tu and the others were desperately searching for food, she never felt hungry.

Until she walked in here...

Kou Lin looked up at the dense shelves and the various foods placed on them.

Among these foods were uncommon ones—like human brains, human thigh bones with some meat attached, human palm flesh, human eyeballs, human tongues... and common ones—like smoked ham hocks, cured meat, oil, rice, snacks such as chicken jerky, dried chicken, and dried fruits like dried strawberries and raisins...

These items were mixed together, and the pressure they exuded hit her like a mountain, leaving Kou Lin momentarily unable to think.

Her mind went blank for a long, long time. When she looked at the clock again, only ten minutes remained until the task was due.

"These things do look delicious," Kou Lin couldn't help but feel guilty for mocking the staff earlier. She really had failed to appreciate their kindness, and she chided herself. "If this is what it takes to get food, I can understand the bribery and corruption. I was too aloof just now—who knew I'd get hungry the moment I saw all this?"

Seeing time was short, she quickly walked to the shelves and began selecting ingredients—

Two portions of brains—there must be plenty of people who love brains; one portion of cartilage—it's crunchy when you chew it while chatting... Finally, after taking eleven portions, it was time to pick her own...

Pork brains or human brains? Kou Lin hesitated.

Her intuition told her to take pork brains, but she was really hungry and really wanted human brains.

"Human brains, then," Kou Lin finally decided.