Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1283: Meat, Meat, Meat!

The group's gazes wandered and collided for a while until a young man finally spoke up. He looked like he couldn't be more than twenty-five, with an ordinary appearance, but his hair and eyebrows were dazzling white, without a hint of the usual iron-gray color that comes with age. "Let's not rush to start. Everyone should think about what questions to ask. The more information we have now, the easier it will be to act during the activity," he suggested.

The grand prize leaned close to Lin Sanjiu's ear and whispered a few words. Lin Sanjiu glanced at him before turning to the chef to ask, "How long does it usually take for your hands to tire? After your hands get tired, do you stop immediately?"

It was a critical question; she didn't know why the grand prize wouldn't ask it himself.

"Good question," Greene, who seemed straightforward, praised her immediately.

"Hmm, that's hard to say," the chef pondered for a few seconds before answering. "Sometimes I get tired after five minutes, and other times it takes an hour... However, when my hands tire, I'll warn you and hold on for a few more minutes. But I can't hold on for more than a few minutes after my hands tire."

In other words, there would be a warning a few minutes before the barbecue time was over.

"Before you collect four pieces of meat..." The fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy who envied the grand prize hesitated before asking, "Are there any restrictions?"

The chef tapped the barbecue grill with the shovel, making a clanging sound that startled everyone. "You ask a good question, kid," he laughed. "Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot! If your plate already has four pieces of meat, you can't take a fifth one."

Indeed, there were hidden messages. The first step in Beach Barbecue seemed to be to extract the complete rules from this forgetful chef's mouth.

The boy was taken aback. "What if the four pieces of meat are not the same...?"

"You have to eat the different types of meat on your plate before coming to me for another piece. You can't throw them away, give them to others, or put them in your pocket. You must eat them yourself," the chef shrugged nonchalantly. "I barbecue so hard to make everyone happy. If you don't eat them and leave them on your plate, what's the point?"

Eating the meat provided by this suspicious pocket dimension in such a manner was a bit stomach-churning. At this moment, the grand prize approached again. Being shorter than Lin Sanjiu, he had to tiptoe a bit to whisper, and she wondered what made him go through all this trouble. "Sis, ask him how many pieces of meat there are in total."

Lin Sanjiu scanned the other villa residents and found that most were paying attention to the chef. She cleared her throat and asked the grand prize's question.

"One hundred pieces," the chef replied.

Even if the grand prize had not said anything, Lin Sanjiu could feel him freeze momentarily, as if he were surprised by the number.

'One hundred divided by four, isn't that exactly twenty-five? Does this mean there are 25 sets of identical meat in the bag...? This number seems quite reasonable.'

While Lin Sanjiu was thinking about the numbers, the villa residents started whispering and raising questions such as 'the order of taking the meat' and 'how the chef's influence is restricted.'

"Haven't I told you already? You can decide the order however you want, as long as you don't take meat consecutively," the chef sounded impatient as he slapped his thigh. "How about this! I'll give you some restrictions so you'll know what you can and can't do."

The twelve people moved closer to listen as he continued, "First, you cannot use items with combat capabilities, those that can cause negative effects on others, disguising items, or storage-type items."

As he said this, the villa residents began to move. Some checked their waistbands, while others gasped for breath. Lin Sanjiu tried calling out [Tornado Whip] and [The Power of Word Picture], but they seemed locked, and she couldn't summon them.

Ji Shanqing didn't forget to turn and explain to the people next to him, "My sister is an accompanying type, so she doesn't count." However, it seemed that not many people cared. After all, Lin Sanjiu was standing there just fine, which meant she wasn't a powerful item.

"In evolving abilities, only enhancements to one's own physiological functions can continue to be used."

As soon as these words fell, her several evolving abilities dimmed and fell into silence as if losing their illumination.

"Try to be gentle with your movements. The sand should not be lifted more than ten centimeters above the ground," the chef warned.

Immediately, someone crouched down to measure how high ten centimeters were. After comparing the woman's height with a childlike appearance in the air, everyone's expressions turned gloomy. Even if posthumans fought each other with force, the sand kicked up by a child's casual kick on the beach would be higher than that.

"Once the meat is cooked, it must be handed out immediately to the person on the yellow mark. It will be discarded if no one stands on the yellow mark when the meat is cooked. If someone stands on the mark after the meat is cooked, it doesn't count."

If their expressions were not good before, they now looked even worse.

"While you cannot trade meat, you can still do other things... For example," the chef said and suddenly grinned, his cheeks puffing up high. "If someone has three identical pieces of meat and is about to complete the set, you can push them and make them drop the meat in the sand. That's allowed."

Everyone looked at each other, and their faces showed a few traces of vigilance. Then the young boy raised his hand and asked, "So... in that case, if the meat falls into the sand..."

"It's invalidated. You can't eat it once it touches the sand, even if you pick it up," the chef said indifferently. "The unlucky one will have to start over and collect four pieces again."

The villa residents exchanged glances for a while, and finally, the woman with dark skin spoke up. She seemed to have African blood, with broad shoulders and long legs. Her small face had thick lips, and her expression remained unchanged as she spoke, "I don't have any more questions. Compared to previous activities, the number of eliminations this time is not significant, only three people. I don't think it's too difficult, so we might as well start as soon as possible."

"Wait!" The young man with white hair raised his hand—Lin Sanjiu remembered; his name was Senping. "I have a few things to say."

When everyone's attention turned to him, Senping continued, "The older ones who have been living in the villa might all know that during our activities, we always maintain a minimum level of courtesy with each other... We compete because the pocket dimension forces us to, and we must, but there's no need to fight to the death. Even if someone leaves the villa, it doesn't necessarily mean they have no chance."

Someone cleared their throat, but no one interrupted him.

"Although we are not cooperating in groups this time, we need not become hostile toward each other."

Senping spoke calmly and logically, giving people the impression that he was thoughtful. "Think about it. If we only need to collect four pieces of any kind of meat, it doesn't really matter what meat we get for the first and second pieces. The competition for positions only becomes necessary when we reach the third piece... So, I suggest we line up to collect the meat according to our villa numbers in the first two rounds. This way, we don't have to rush and can observe the situation more."

Lin Sanjiu looked at the others. Greene slightly frowned, seeming to be contemplating something. The woman with dark skin remained calm and without expression. The young boy nodded, stopped for a while, and then nodded again. Mr. Ito noticed her gaze and shot it back like an arrow.

"I think it's a good idea," Crane, who was about to be sent away, agreed quickly. "Let's do it."

Everyone felt that this proposal had no problem. When everyone started to report their villa numbers, Lin Sanjiu whispered to the grand prize, "Didn't the chef say that no one would know what meat is being cooked until it's done? And we can't grab positions after it's cooked. If everyone has to fight for positions blindly, why not just line up and take turns from the start?"

Ji Shanqing glanced at her and sighed. "Sis, if you think that way, it's going to be difficult to collect four pieces of meat."

Before she could ask, the first four villa owners had finished reporting their numbers. As they waited for the next person to speak, the grand prize hurriedly shouted, "We're F05!"

"F06," the fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy said immediately.

The people who reported their numbers quickly lined up in front of the barbecue grill, forming a long queue. Villa F01's owner happened to be chubby Li Xing. He stood on the yellow mark, holding a plate, and waved his hand vigorously toward the people behind him, saying, "Please allow me to go first. Watch carefully, everyone."

"Can we start now?" the chef asked. He had been roasted by the charcoal all this time and was wiping off the sweat.

Li Xing nodded. Everyone in the queue craned their necks to see. The villa owner standing behind the tall man even complained and asked him to bend his knees. Under everyone's eager gaze, the chef took out a dark piece of meat from the bag and threw it on the barbecue grill. Its shape was irregular and couldn't match any categories: skewers, beef ribs, lamb leg, or chicken sausages.

With the sizzling sound of the charcoal grill, accompanied by the gradually clear aroma of the meat, it soon wafted through the air above the beach. The grand prize couldn't help but swallow his saliva, like a ferret, standing on tiptoe and stretching his neck forward while grabbing Lin Sanjiu's arm to maintain his balance.

It didn't take long to barbecue one piece of meat, just half a minute. The meat was now ready. The chef in front announced, "It's a chicken sausage!" Immediately, chubby Li Xing turned around and showed everyone the plate in his hand. The meat that had no shape before had now turned into a short, plump, shiny, and steaming hot chicken sausage.

As Li Xing passed by Lin Sanjiu, she heard him muttering, "I'm getting a bit hungry."

"The second piece," the chef said and threw another dark object onto the barbecue grill. The second villa owner, Crane, quickly picked up a plate from the nearby table.

The second piece was also cooked and turned out to be beef ribs. Mr. Ito was the third person, and he got skewers. The fourth person got lamb leg. When Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu went up, they also got a lamb leg each. At that moment, she felt that the grand prize might have lost his rationality due to hunger because he made a suggestion she hadn't even thought of.

"Sis." He looked at the lamb leg and the chicken sausage on the next person's plate and said, "Do you want to eat it?"