Chapter 223

Chapter 223: Rotten Heart

The instant the five sat down, eight dishes appeared on the table out of thin air.

At once, Yi Lan leaned close and warned: “Try not to look straight at the dishes. Since it’s your first time in Gluttony Hell, staring too long can make you feel afraid. If the fear lasts, your spirit can get polluted.”

She was still speaking when she saw Li Shuang calmly studying the dishes, her gaze as still as a deep well and showing not the least bit of fear.

Yi Lan froze.

She could not help glancing at the eight dishes in front of her. This was her third time entering Gluttony Hell. The first time, she nearly fainted. She had never seen anyone this steady.

[Is she really a newcomer?]

“Let me first introduce the main course,” a Human Skin Skeleton said with a grin as he lifted a beating heart.

No one knew how long the heart’s Master had been dead, but the organ still thumped nonstop.

Black-green swollen veins covered its surface. The clusters of lumps wrapped the heart completely, making it hard to look at.

“You think the main ingredient is this heart? No, no. The main course is these delicious vegetables.”

Smiling, the Human Skin Skeleton drove a claw into one lump after another. Each lump burst, and green juice dripped down, soaking the green vegetables underneath.

A foul stench exploded into the air.

The Skeleton sniffed and wore a blissful look: “This dish is Gluttony Hell’s top delicacy, Rotten Bracken. Every person must taste this main course.”

As he spoke, the dish was divided into five portions and set before the five.

Before each person lay a small, beating heart resting on a bed of sticky leaves.

“Hurry, eat,” the Human Skin Skeleton urged.

The smell was so vile and the sight so shocking that everyone’s faces changed.

The little girl showed clear disgust.

Rou Shan murmured an explanation to her. Though her face stayed sour, she reluctantly nodded.

Then Rou Shan pried open the swollen lumps; when the vegetables were fully soaked by the juice, his mouth opened wide and the leaves rushed to pour into it.

“Good, good!” all the Human Skin Skeletons clapped together: “Well done!” “We love someone who can eat like that!” “I like this lad. Let him stay forever.” “Stay, stay!”

Rou Shan swallowed with effort. In the next moment, his own heart thundered wildly.

Thump, thump, thump. His heartbeat sped faster and faster.

It felt as if a heart inside his chest was about to burst through his ribs.

Gritting his teeth, he used a Secret Art to barely calm it, but his face went chalk white. He was clearly badly hurt.

He ignored his injuries and carefully pulled out a pill for the girl.

She snorted, swallowed the pill without expression, and then ate the stinking leaves.

She had clearly never taken such punishment. Her face turned a ghastly green and sweat poured from her forehead.

But perhaps thanks to the pill, she fared better than Rou Shan. After a short rest, the girl’s color returned to normal.

“Good, good. Another obedient child.” “Obedient, obedient. I like obedient children.” “Such a good child should stay,” the Human Skin Skeletons shouted: “Next time, let’s use her to make the dish. How about it?”

The girl shot them an angry glare. Rou Shan quickly soothed her, and she barely held herself back.

“Your turn now, your turn,” the Human Skin Skeletons said as they looked in unison at the remaining three.

“If you don’t eat soon, you’ll die,” one Skeleton said with malice.

A sandglass had appeared in his hand at some point, and more than half the sand had already run out.

Clearly, if they did not finish the main course before the sand ran dry, the outcome would be ugly.

“This is the main dish, so it has to be eaten,” Yi Lan said softly: “Usually the main dish won’t kill you, but it will cause all kinds of side effects. In this place, once you’re affected, it will hurt you later. Use whatever methods you have.”

With that, she stopped minding Li Shuang and, together with Zi Guang, ate the main course.

Li Shuang looked at the still-beating heart without changing expression.

She lightly tapped the rim of the plate.

“Detected: Rot-Heart Greens. Rot-Heart Greens only grow when nourished by the heart of a Sixth Tier or higher demon beast. Eating them directly will slowly drive a person into confusion, and in the end, complete madness. Rot-Heart Greens can be refined into a Heart-Devouring Pill. Value: 400 Value Points, marked as vile.”

Li Shuang raised an eyebrow, then asked the host Human Skin Skeleton: “Is this dish mine?”

Perhaps no one had ever asked that before. The Skeleton froze, then stretched his lips into an odd grin and answered in a shrill voice: “Of course. I am very generous. This dish belongs entirely to you. Please enjoy it soon.”

Li Shuang smiled at him and said: “Thank you.”

“???” The Human Skin Skeleton stared.

This was new. In all this time, no one had ever thanked him.

He looked dazed.

Tilting her head, Li Shuang suddenly thought of something and asked again: “Besides this dish, can the other dishes also belong to me?”

She gazed at the other plates on the table and at the dishes the surrounding Human Skin Skeletons were holding.

“???” The Skeleton was speechless.

He had never heard such a ridiculous request.

For a moment, his skin slipped off and fell to the floor, showing the bone frame beneath.

He quickly flung the skin back on.

Then he gave Li Shuang a sly smile and said: “Making every guest satisfied is my greatest wish. If the guest wants them, of course all these dishes can be yours.”

Li Shuang’s eyes lit up.

[Really?]

[If each dish is worth several hundred Value Points, how many could all of them trade for? Wouldn’t I be rich?]

Perhaps her eyes looked too honest, because the Human Skin Skeleton added: “Of course, not just you. The other guests also need to leave satisfied.”

“Oh,” Li Shuang answered, her gaze holding a touch of regret.

The Skeleton seemed thrown off and then screeched: “So, aren’t you eating? Time is almost up!”