Upon hearing Zhao Mengmeng's attempt to shift blame, the anomaly manager did not believe her. In fact, the manager's tone grew even angrier:
"Are you trying to fool me like a fool?"
Pointing to a corner of the room where an eyeball-like entity was staring at every move in the private room, the manager continued, "I see everything you've done! What exactly have you all been up to?"
Seeing her attempt to blame Chen Mu fail, Zhao Mengmeng's face turned pale with fear, and her body trembled uncontrollably.
Suddenly, she remembered something and frantically searched her pockets. She pulled out the 10 soul currency tip she had just received from the anomaly customer. Despite her extreme reluctance, Zhao Mengmeng had no choice but to reluctantly raise the 10 soul currency tip in her hand and shout at the anomaly manager:
"I have soul currency! I'll compensate for the broken plate!"
Seeing Zhao Mengmeng's soul currency, the anomaly manager responded, "Are you sure you want to use your soul currency to compensate for the cafeteria's plate?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhao Mengmeng nodded repeatedly, afraid that the anomaly manager might change her mind, and hastily handed over the soul currency.
Taking the soul currency, the anomaly manager nodded. Zhao Mengmeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she could survive this ordeal.
However, Chen Mu shook his head because he knew that Zhao Mengmeng had missed her last chance at survival!
Now Zhao Mengmeng was undoubtedly doomed!
Indeed, before Zhao Mengmeng could even rejoice for a few seconds, the anomaly manager's tone turned angry again:
"However, your soul currency is not enough! This plate requires 20 soul currency, and you only gave me 10. If your soul currency is insufficient, I'll need half of your body as compensation."
At these words, Zhao Mengmeng's eyes widened, overwhelmed by fear and despair. She had never expected that 10 soul currency would not be enough to compensate for the plate! The anomaly customer sitting at the table was clearly toying with her, intending to see her demise!
She collapsed to the ground, a puddle of steaming liquid flowing from her, clearly scared out of her wits.
Seeing this, the anomaly at the table clapped its hands in satisfaction, highly interested in the spectacle. It enjoyed watching attendants transition from fear to joy and then to despair.
The other girls all looked pale with fear. They realized that the anomaly customer was extremely dangerous and wanted to kill the attendants. Moreover, the cafeteria was heavily biased towards customers; even if a customer deliberately tripped an attendant to break a plate, the attendants were required to compensate.
Unfortunately for Zhao Mengmeng, if any of the other girls were chosen by the anomaly customer, their fate would be the same as hers!
It was an utterly hopeless situation!
Would the anomaly customer strike again? Could they really survive until the end of the task?
A sense of despair overwhelmed everyone, enveloped in helplessness and fear.
Except for Chen Mu.
At this moment, Chen Mu remained as calm as ever, looking confident as if he had already seen through everything.
Chen Mu had soul currency, and what's more, he knew that this seemingly hopeless situation was not without an escape route. The way out lay within the rules! And he—Chen Mu—had already seen through the path of the task!
The anomaly customer licked its half-lips, seeming somewhat unsatisfied. The despair of just one attendant collapsing was not enough to satisfy it; it wanted to see more...
Suddenly, the anomaly customer pointed at Chen Mu and pulled out 10 soul currency from its pocket, placing it into Chen Mu's hand without hesitation.
"Hehehe, this is your tip," the anomaly customer chuckled.
Several girls gasped in shock; they realized that the anomaly customer had no intention of stopping. It had already selected its second victim—Chen Mu!
Zhao Mengmeng, lying on the ground, showed a gloating expression on her face. She knew she was doomed, but witnessing Chen Mu join her in this fate brought her a sense of revenge and satisfaction.
"You refused to send me to my death just now, now it's your turn to die!"
Under everyone's gaze, the anomaly customer picked up another plate and smashed it to pieces on the ground. Pointing at the shattered plate, it said to the restaurant manager, "This plate was broken by this attendant. I want this attendant to compensate for it."
The "attendant" referred to by the anomaly was naturally Chen Mu.
Seeing the anomaly's unreasonable behavior, one of the girls, under the pressure of fear and anger, finally couldn't help but shout, "Chen Mu didn't break this plate; it's unfair to make him compensate!"
Chen Mu glanced at the girl, named Ye Chuxue, who was the class monitor.
Ye Chuxue spoke out not only out of a sense of justice but also out of a sense of self-preservation, fearing that if this continued, she would be next after Chen Mu.
In any case, Ye Chuxue did have some sense of justice. Chen Mu had encountered people like her before—people with a sense of justice who spoke up for others. However, after one year in the anomaly apocalypse, Chen Mu had never seen anyone like that again. Because those with a sense of justice had all died in the anomaly tasks.
However, the anomaly manager did not listen to Ye Chuxue's argument. She looked at Chen Mu and said, "Attendants must obey all customer commands. If the customer wants you to compensate for the broken plate, then you must."
To the surprise of the anomaly manager, Chen Mu not only did not argue but calmly nodded, "Of course, I have 10 soul currency."
"10 soul currency is not enough to cover the cost of the plate."
"I know, but I never said I would compensate for this plate," Chen Mu said slowly.
Several girls looked at each other in confusion. They couldn't understand Chen Mu's words. Did he really not want to compensate for the plate? Was he preparing to openly confront the anomaly manager?
Had Chen Mu gone mad?
The anomaly manager frowned, and blood seeped from the corners of her mouth. She seemed ready to tear Chen Mu to shreds. "If you don't want to compensate for the plate, then I'll have to send you to your death."
"I understand that you're in a hurry, but hold on," Chen Mu said with a brilliant smile, waving the 10 soul currency in his hand. "Bring me your menu; I'd like to order a dish to taste."
The other girls were still puzzled by Chen Mu's words. Some even thought Chen Mu had been scared silly. What was he thinking, wanting to order a dish at a time like this?
But seeing Chen Mu's confident demeanor, they were unsure what Chen Mu was really up to.
The anomaly manager's expression changed slightly; she seemed to understand something, looking at Chen Mu with a mix of surprise and apprehension.
Chen Mu continued slowly, "I've already seen through the path of this task."