Earlier, under Lão Hoàng's direction, all the defensive items had been piled up at the entrance of the alley, forming a protective wall. Now, all they had left were offensive items, but against these bosses—furious and starving—throwing everything they had was about as effective as scratching an itch.
They grabbed guns and clubs, surging into the narrow alley, barely able to stand.
Leading the charge was Khẩu Liệt Nữ from Garden Block 108, moving with an elegant air. She combed her curly hair with her long fingernails as she slowly entered.
Her voice was as soft as dripping water: "Which little baby ate my order, hmm? Was it that full cup of sweet tea over there, hehe? Come out and let me see you~"
The players huddled in the corner, trembling, none daring to speak.
She smiled with her eyes, circling the group, immediately locking onto her target: "Hehehe, little thief, I’ve found you!"
She stopped in front of the three frail men. "So it was you guys, huh? Three of you sharing one cup of tea—how pitiful!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than she lunged forward, mouth bloody as she roared, "You damn order thief, what did I ever do to you? I work all day, finally treat myself to something good, and you think you have the right to steal it?"
Khẩu Liệt Nữ leapt up, jabbing both middle fingers straight at the player's eyes.
"Ahhhh—!" The one who got hit clutched his eyes, screaming in agony again and again.
Seeing how dire things were, all the players looked to Lão Hoàng—the highest-ranking among them—for help.
In unison, the group shoved him forward. Lão Hoàng shot them a sharp glare, then gritted his teeth and pleaded with the bosses: "Distinguished sirs and madams, we're truly sorry. We just took the wrong order by mistake, it wasn't intentional. Please, show us some mercy this once!"
Even with death looming, he still refused to admit to stealing.
Chàng Trai Xúc Tua lifted his eyelids, his gaze icy cold: "Not on purpose... So you all just accidentally rushed out together, accidentally hopped on the delivery scooter, accidentally opened the package, and then accidentally ate everything... is that right?"
Lão Hoàng fell silent, completely mute.
The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier.
At that moment, a few other players mustered up the courage to stand and chime in: "We really didn't mean to, it was just a mix-up, please, strange sirs and madams, spare us this once!"
"That's right, we just misread the phone number, thought it was our order..."
Hearing this, Chàng Trai Xúc Tua's anger exploded: "Did you all memorize this excuse from some class? Everywhere I go, it's always 'I didn't mean to'... Well, tonight, let me 'accidentally' kill you all, how about that!"
Eight purple-black tentacles twisted into four thick bundles, and in a flash, snapped the arm of the one who'd just spoken.
Over the next half hour, more and more bosses tracked down the order thieves.
Jack The Ripper slit open the belly of a scrawny player, pulling out the mala hotpot they'd been craving. Chàng Trai Xúc Tua punctured a guy's stomach, dragging out several spicy eyeballs. Blood Baby hurled the player with braided hair to the ground, forcing them to spit out a lollipop...
After passing through the hands of these monstrous bosses, the delicacies the players had dreamed of for so long revealed their true form: the ground was littered with human eyes, severed limbs, and scraps of flesh.
Those lucky enough to escape for the moment turned pale, spun around, and vomited. No matter how frantically they jammed their fingers down their throats, nothing would come up.
It's fine...
Some bosses had their own methods, forcing the players to cough up everything they'd swallowed: "So which bastard stole my buns?"
The fury of those who'd lost their food made the air boil.
Headless ran all over the place, still unable to find the thief who'd stolen her rice.
I hid in the corner, helpfully pointing: "On the left, the man with the scar on his face—he ate almost all of your buns."
No sooner had I finished than Headless's rage erupted. She spun around, hugged her own head, and pressed it right up to my face, our eyes staring straight into each other.
"You're Emma Walker, aren't you? Phi Phi?"
I nodded. It was a small gesture, but both eyeballs immediately dropped to the ground with a soft "thud."
Right after that, I heard her roar: "Damn it! Who's got the guts to eat like this and dare to attack my sister!"
Hearing Headless's furious scream, the other bosses all stopped what they were doing and gathered around.
"Oh my god... Phi Phi, your neck... your eyes..."
Khẩu Liệt Nữ shouted as she bent down to pick up the eyeballs, carefully popping them back into my eye sockets.
Blood Baby hugged my arm and blew warm air on my neck: "Auntie Phi Phi, don't cry, baby will blow on it, it'll stop hurting~"
Quack Doctor looked at me, and I knew his professional instincts were kicking in again: "This stitching is all wrong—the thread's off, the technique's off, you'll have a scar later. After we finish off the players, come to my clinic. I'll redo it with cosmetic sutures, free of charge."
Chàng Trai Xúc Tua raged, his tentacles flailing in the air: "You bastards, don't you know a midnight delivery guy is like an emperor? How dare you lay a hand on our Phi Phi—I'll kill every last one of you!"
Before, the bosses still followed the rules, only punishing the players. But now, they didn't care anymore—they just wanted the players' lives. A real massacre targeting the thieves had just begun.
Realizing they couldn't escape, the players stopped begging and showed their true, ugly faces, spewing vicious curses. There wasn't a hint of remorse for stealing—only rage that their secret had been exposed.
Suddenly, a blinding light shone from the east, and time itself seemed to freeze. All the NPCs and players lost control of their bodies.
Instinctively, I glanced down at my watch—the hands pointed to 7:45. Right after, a cold, mechanical bell rang out, and the system announced: "All dungeons are about to open. Countdown: 15 minutes. NPCs and players, prepare yourselves."
When time and space returned to normal, the NPCs and players were separated by a barrier put up by the system.
On the other side, the four surviving players cheered in relief, unable to hold back their excitement. Lão Hoàng, his hand severed, laughed arrogantly.
He even taunted, "What strange bosses? No matter how tough you are, you still have to play by the game rules!"
The four of them leaned on each other, one limping, making their way toward the safe house, looking every bit like victors. Before they even got there, they popped open champagne and turned back to flip off the strange bosses, cursing them out.
A roar erupted nearby—I couldn't hold back. Before they could even pull their fingers back, a massive tentacle came crashing down, slicing all four of them in half.
Quack Doctor quickly grabbed some gauze from his bag and rushed over to press it against Chàng Trai Xúc Tua's wound. "You cut off your own tentacle—your life is basically over now."
Chàng Trai Xúc Tua didn't care at all, smirking, "It's just one. I've got plenty more."
He lifted his shirt, revealing his eight-pack abs. Around his waist, a ring of small tentacles bounced shyly.
The game system detected an anomaly in the area: NPCs had left the dungeon to fight players, a serious violation of staff rules. According to the old regulations, this would warrant severe punishment. But since there was a reason for the incident, the final verdict was: all NPCs involved in this event, regardless of rank, would lose their year-end bonus.
On top of that, we had to clean up the scene before 8:00, so it wouldn't affect the next dungeon session. After reading the long announcement, all I remembered were the words: "Year-end bonus canceled." Thinking about my meager reward, my heart broke all over again.
With the sun about to rise and only ten minutes left until 8:00, everyone grumbled as they reluctantly got to work.
We had to sort out the limbs, flesh, and organs, stack them separately, then notify the waste station to send someone to haul it all away. It was all non-recyclable trash—one truck would be enough.
Headless put away her phone and rushed over to me. "Hey, sis, don't move—let us handle this. You're still hurt."
He snatched the broom from my hands and handed it to Chàng Trai Xúc Tua. "Hey, hey, hey, I'm injured too, you know."
Headless shot back, "Don't you have plenty of limbs to spare?"
Chàng Trai Xúc Tua looked shocked, his heart broken. He lowered his head and drew little circles on the ground. "Why isn't there a single janitor around here?"
"Next time we run into thieves like that, drag them into the dungeon and finish them off—then we wouldn't have to clean up after ourselves!"
Khẩu Liệt Nữ kicked him. "Quit whining and get to work. I've still got to clock in later, and I want to squeeze in five more minutes of sleep."
I sat on the steps with Blood Baby, acting as supervisors. More and more strange bosses grabbed brooms and dustpans, coming over, looking like they wanted to say something but holding back. Some were big, some small, men and women, some familiar, some not.
Suddenly, a tall ghost with an indistinct face floated over and timidly asked, "Phi Phi, can I ask you something?"
I blinked, embarrassed, touching my cheek and lowering my head. "Uh... this might be awkward... I already have eight kids."
My eye fell to the ground—I quickly picked it up, and right after, I heard him ask, "Are you still going to deliver food?"
Startled, I looked up. "Oh, that's what you meant... I thought you were..."
He tilted his head, stepped closer, his eyes shining brightly.
I nodded firmly. "Absolutely. I have to support my family—if I don't deliver, we won't make it."
The bosses nearby perked up their ears, spinning around in delight when they heard that.
"That's fantastic!"