Chapter 76: Fried Pork Cutlets

“Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is ready. Please proceed to the dining hall.”
A gentle, soft voice came from behind, and Miss Sayo, the hostess of the guesthouse, walked over. Her presence slightly eased the tense, terrifying atmosphere in the living room.
“Miss Sayo’s cooking is at the level of a hotel chef. We definitely can't miss this,” Daisuke Miyazaki perked up at the mention of food; for him, nothing seemed more important than a meal.
In his world, there was no trouble a meal couldn't solve; if there was, then two meals would do the trick.
As Su Cheng left the living room and crossed the corridor, he noticed a little boy with black hair and eyes standing at the end of the stairs, waving at him.
The boy still looked timid, as if afraid of strangers but longing for someone to play with him.
Su Cheng guessed this boy must be a ghost residing in the house, but he didn’t sense any powerful spiritual energy or malice from him—meaning he was just an ordinary wandering spirit, not a murderous fiend.
So what exactly killed the members of those supernatural enthusiasts' clubs three years ago?
The hostess led Su Cheng and the others through the corridor and courtyard, arriving at a beautifully furnished dining hall.
The floor was covered with soft tatami mats, making it comfortable to walk barefoot. Compared to some restaurants in Tokyo, the dining hall here was more spacious, with low tables neatly arranged on both sides.
At that moment, the tables were already laid out with steaming dishes.
Tempura, seafood sashimi, fried cutlets, rich soup with daikon and pork ribs…
The guesthouse’s dinner was so lavish that even Su Cheng, who was freeloading with a complimentary experience voucher for food, drink, and lodging, felt a bit embarrassed, considering whether he should pay the hostess a meal fee afterward.
However, the hostess didn’t seem to expect any extra payment from him, and warmly invited Su Cheng to take a seat.
Meals here were served individually, and across from Su Cheng sat a couple. He remembered the man’s name was Akito Yamada, a junior clerk at a bank. His girlfriend was a university student, and she had been posing for selfies since earlier.
“Hey, why is there no signal here? I can’t send my photos,” Natsumi fiddled with her phone, complaining.
Su Cheng picked up a piece of shrimp tempura and took a bite; the taste was refreshing, not greasy at all, and the shrimp was very fresh.
“Miss Sayo, your cooking skills keep improving. This fried cutlet tastes amazing,” Daisuke Miyazaki bit into a cutlet, rich juices dripping from his mouth, so delicious he almost swallowed his tongue.
“As long as you like it.”
Compared to Daisuke Miyazaki and the others’ feast, the hostess’s own dinner was simple—a bowl of rice, a piece of mackerel, and a bowl of miso soup.
“This cutlet doesn’t seem to be pork—the texture is especially tender. Is it wagyu beef?” Akito Yamada asked curiously after tasting the cutlet.
The hostess smiled slightly, “That’s a secret. If anyone guesses what meat it is, tonight’s meal is on the house.”
Hearing this, Daisuke Miyazaki and Yoshizawa immediately became interested.
“Beef? No, that’s too obvious. Lamb? No, there’s no gamey taste at all. Could it be horse or deer?”
“All incorrect.”
“Haha, hostess, you’re not about to say it’s human meat, are you?”
Akito Yamada swallowed the delicious cutlet, an expression of pure enjoyment on his face.
“How could that be? You’ve watched too many horror movies,” Yoshizawa was cutting a piece of cutlet, but froze at Yamada’s words.
“Hahaha, Yoshizawa really got scared.”
Laughter echoed through the dining hall.

Su Cheng excused himself halfway through the meal, saying he needed the restroom, then wandered around the house and unwittingly ended up outside the kitchen.
“So this is the kitchen,” he noted, seeing the door ajar and pushing it open effortlessly.
The kitchen wasn’t large, but it was spotless and tidy, with nothing obviously suspicious.
He circled the kitchen and found a huge freezer for storing meat and seafood.
For such a small kitchen, the freezer seemed unusually large.
Just then, Su Cheng saw deep red blood seeping from the freezer, pooling on the kitchen floor.
“Strange, at freezer temperatures, the blood should have frozen solid—how can it be flowing out?” he murmured, then walked over and opened the freezer.
As expected, inside lay a cold female corpse.
Her chest and abdomen had been cut open with a kitchen knife and shoved into the freezer. The organs had been hollowed out; the meat around the ribs was missing, leaving only an empty skin.
Normally, the blood would have already been drained from a corpse stored in a freezer, but now it flowed ever more abundantly, quickly spilling over the freezer and soaking the floor.
When Su Cheng’s gaze landed on her face, his heart spasmed violently, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
The corpse was the hostess, Miss Sayo.
So who was the woman dining with them just moments ago?
“Could the hostess’s ghost have cooked herself into cutlets for the guests? What a bizarre twist,” Su Cheng thought, trying to ease his anxiety.
But just then, the corpse in the freezer suddenly opened her eyes.
A chilling, eerie cackle echoed in his ears as Miss Sayo’s pitch-black eyes fixed on him, a terrifying smile spreading across her face. “Cheng-kun, cheating is bad, you know. Now do you understand what meat the cutlet was made from?”
Seeing the corpse about to crawl out of the freezer, Su Cheng took a deep breath and decisively slammed the lid shut. He placed a heavy cutting board on top to keep her inside.
Thump, thump, thump—
Terrifying banging, accompanied by howls and curses, came from inside the freezer. Su Cheng’s tools and skills were sealed; he couldn’t even summon spirits. Facing such a malevolent ghost head-on would be a losing battle and risk triggering a death trap.
As he reached the kitchen door, the banging grew louder—the cutting board would not hold her for long.
Sure enough, the board was flung aside, and the hostess crawled out.
“I’m so cold!”
Her ethereal voice rang out, her expression growing ever more horrific as blood dripped from her body.
In the next instant, the vengeful spirit lunged straight toward Su Cheng.
As she reached him, Su Cheng slammed the door shut, the heavy door smacking her face and stunning her for a few seconds.
Taking advantage, Su Cheng darted out of the kitchen.
“This corridor should lead to the living room, but something’s off.” After escaping, he found himself facing a pitch-black wooden hallway, not a trace of light.
There was only this passage in front of him, so he had no choice but to press on.

Strangely, he ran through the dark corridor for about a minute but still couldn’t see the end.
Fortunately, the vengeful spirit didn’t seem to be following.
“I remember this corridor is only about twenty meters long; theoretically, I should have hit the wall long ago.” At his speed, even running in darkness, he would have covered over a hundred meters in a minute.
There was no way the house had such a long corridor.
“No, there’s something strange about this house.”
A flash of insight struck Su Cheng as he realized something.
He stopped, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, slowed his steps, and walked forward along the corridor.
After moving about ten meters, the space around him twisted.
Bright lights shone down, and when he opened his eyes again, he was outside the living room.
Daisuke Miyazaki and the other photography club members had finished dinner and were now gathered around a table, playing games.
“So it’s like this,” Su Cheng smiled slightly. The house contained numerous distorted alternate spaces. Some of these spaces would create terrifying scenes like what he had just experienced. If Su Cheng got lost in one, he might never escape.
It seemed the kitchen was the entrance to an alternate dimension.
Escaping was simple: don’t be fooled by appearances and follow your feelings, and you’ll find your way out.
“Su Cheng, where did you go? Miss Sayo thought you were lost and was searching for you everywhere,” Daisuke Miyazaki said, patting him on the shoulder.
“You’re playing games?” Su Cheng saw some playing cards on the table, and everyone was enjoying themselves.
“Yes, King’s Game. Want to join?”
King’s Game is a popular group game here; the King’s commands are absolute, and participants must obey without question.
The rules are simple. Everyone draws a playing card; the number on the card is their number, and whoever draws the joker becomes the King.
The King can command any numbered participant.
This round, Akito Yamada drew the joker and started issuing commands.
At that moment, Su Cheng noticed a sinister, eerie expression on Yamada’s face. His voice seemed to change, as if he were someone else.
“I command Number Two to slit their throat.”
The chilling command echoed in the living room.
The youths playing King’s Game froze, unable to react.
Moments later, everyone revealed their cards.
Just then, Tomoko Matsumura, who had drawn the Two of Spades, suddenly picked up a sharp fruit knife from the table, smiling as she sliced open her own throat…