The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Dinner

(This chapter’s references to “parents,” “mom,” and “dad” are temporary titles used within the virtual game, and they have no blood relation to the protagonist nor are they of human species; they are a type of monster imagined into existence.)

Click!

The bedroom door swung open.

A middle-aged woman with golden wavy hair stood at the doorway, motionless, maintaining a ‘motherly’ smile on her face.

With the smile unchanged and lips unmoving, a gentle voice emanated from deep within her throat:

“William, have you seen Xue Rui?”

“No, Mom! I went upstairs to read after breakfast. Isn’t Xue Rui downstairs?”

Yi Chen sat upright at his desk, with his back to the door, one hand flipping through a book and the other ready to reach for the hand axe under the desk.

His mother did not pursue the matter about Xue Rui further, but changed the subject, “Do you know why our mailbox has been opened?”

“Hmm? Someone opened our mailbox?”

“It seems you are not aware of it. Don’t worry, Mom will find out… Once I determine who did this, they will receive the appropriate punishment. You can come down to eat now; we have your favorite braised beef tonight.”

“Okay, Mom.”

After confirming that ‘mother’ had left, Yi Chen got up to straighten his clothes, securing his hand axe and firearms in appropriate positions.

He descended the stairs lightly,

and found the tidy dining table already set for three, with the middle-aged couple already seated.

Looking at the pristine stove that had clearly not been used, he wondered how the ‘braised beef’ his mother mentioned would appear.

Takeout? Or perhaps quickly cooked in some unknown place?

His father held a newspaper in one hand and still clasped the morning’s cup of coffee in the other, which was steaming hot.

His mother sat upright, her palms resting on her knees, maintaining a smile and staring straight ahead like a wooden mannequin, completely motionless.

Yi Chen also wore a mild smile, his hands neatly stacked on the table and sitting upright like a well-behaved child in class, blending seamlessly into this bizarre atmosphere without any sense of discord.

It was quiet,

the only sounds were the ticking of the clock and the rustling of newspaper pages being turned by his father,

humming~

This state did not last long before Yi Chen unexpectedly heard a long-missed buzzing of a fly. He had rarely heard such sounds since his transcendence, and there were no flies at all in Zion City.

Glancing around with his peripheral vision, he spotted no trace of any flies,

until he cast a sidelong glance at his mother and noticed a green, shiny fly struggling on her nostril, rapidly flapping its wings, yet trapped by the dense nasal hairs.

Upon closer inspection, there was even a second and third one…

Just as Yi Chen tried to look more closely,

Ding-dong! The doorbell rang, and his mother quickly got up to answer the door.@@novelbin@@

There was a steaming hot metal pot at the door, clearly the ‘braised beef’ mentioned by his mother… The food was delivered by a burly man dressed as a chef, who was quickly walking back to the ‘delivery truck’ parked by the roadside.

To be precise, it was a large cargo truck, filled with ‘braised beef’ for each household.

With one hand, he dragged the metal pot effortlessly and placed it on the table.

Serving a portion of deliciously fragrant braised beef to each person, the tender large pieces of beef predominated the dish.

After a thorough check, the food was fine, and even the ingredients were very fresh, indeed real beef and not the unsettling meat one might have anticipated.

After the meal,

just as Yi Chen was about to get up, smack! His mother’s palm suddenly came down, firmly pressing on his shoulder.

“Wasting food is not good behavior, dear. You should eat everything on your plate like Dad.”

Turning his gaze toward his father,

he still held the coffee in one hand while the other held the plate up in front of him. His thick, fat tongue carefully licked around the plate, leaving it so clean that it didn’t even need washing.

Yi Chen maintained a smile, albeit somewhat stiffly, and turned to ask ‘mother,’ “Must I really do this?”

“Yes.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you will have to face the consequences.”

As his mother said this, her mouth also began to open.

Humming! An intense buzzing of flies instantly emerged from within.

The oral mucosa was riddled with cavities, in which dense swarms of flies were perched.

The just-eaten braised beef still had several chunks sticking in the mouth, providing food for these flies… Upon closer observation, one would find that these flies were somewhat different, as they had sharp teeth capable of easily crushing meat.

This sight once again stirred deep memories.

The Orphanage’s “three meals a day” were not so easy to eat,

sometimes it was just a normal meal in the cafeteria,

sometimes it involved scrambling for food in rooms full of rats,

and sometimes it coincided with a special event in the cafeteria providing random food for everyone.

Whenever there was some indigestible food, there were always some students who couldn’t eat it, even causing vomiting and dirtying the cafeteria.

These actions would be seen as ‘wasting food’.

If it happened three times or more, they would be sent to a special area, never to return.

Yi Chen, however, could always swallow the food because he was very clear about the Orphanage’s true purpose. Although it brutally treated everyone sheltered there, the Orphanage wouldn’t knowingly serve food that was harmful to the body.

As long as he thought about this, with the thought of surviving, no matter what, he could swallow it.

But in a certain cafeteria riot, Yi Chen accidentally knocked over his plate and was deemed to have wasted food, earning him a rare visit.

He was taken to an underground tunnel specifically for dealing with ‘waste’.

All the orphans who had disappeared due to food issues were gathered there, transformed by special drugs and environmental factors. They had merged with flies, developed some insectoid limb structures, and some had even completely devolved into ‘saprophytic organisms’.

…

As for Yi Chen’s father, he also corresponded to a type of Orphanage discipline.

For orphans who repeatedly wasted water resources, they were required to carry a full cup of water and go about a normal day, participating in various activities. After one day, the remaining water in their cups would be checked.

The more they had spilled, the more concentrated acid they had to forcibly swallow.

If all the water in the cup was gone, they would be taken to that special area, never to appear in the Orphanage again.

Sigh…

Yi Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the negative thoughts surging within him. It was just the beginning, and there was no need to fully release his true nature yet.

“Sorry, Mom! I’ll finish eating right away.”

Yi Chen instantly changed his expression, adopting the guise of a well-behaved child, miming readiness to lick the plate clean.

His mother also widened her eyes, staring intently at the process.

Just as Yi Chen was about to bite into his plate,

his wrist snapped powerfully, even making a crisp sound… Crack! The plate flew at high speed toward the middle-aged woman, completely covering her face.

While tossing the plate,

Yi Chen braced himself with one hand on the chair, contracting his core and kicking up forcefully! The table was directly kicked up.

The ‘hot coffee’ in father’s hands was spilled on his face.

Sss~ The strong acid directly burned through father’s face, revealing a terrifying white bone structure, and before he could react… a flash of silver passed by.

Snap! The brain, corroded by the strong acid, landed right on the plate he had licked clean.

Also, simultaneously,

the tossed plate heavily collided with the mother’s face… Dang!

As the metal plate slid off, and her vision was unobstructed again, a gaping shotgun barrel was already hovering in front of her eyes.

“Goodnight, Mommy!”

“Ah!”

The mother’s mouth opened as wide as possible, screaming and trying to call out the flesh-eating flies within.

Bang!

The dark, pitted debris splattered across the kitchen stove behind her.

The headless bodies of the middle-aged couple leaned forward almost simultaneously, collapsing heavily onto the table.

Yi Chen still wore a smile,

after spinning the shotgun in his palm, he slid it back into his waistband,

and after wiping the blood off the axe blade with a tablecloth, Yi Chen stood up and straightened his clothes, murmuring softly:

“The so-called ‘Orphanage Qualification’ means first becoming an ‘orphan,’ right? This should be good enough… Sadly, my memories contain no information about my parents, so this opening totally lacks a sense of identification.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been in the Orphanage.”