Chapter 1282: Beach Barbecue!
"So, we were just fooling you before," Ji Shanqing concluded his explanation with a statement that would surely irritate anyone. Apparently, if it wasn't for Lin Sanjiu's order, he wouldn't have said anything to Mr. Ito. After explaining, he didn't care whether the other person believed him or not. He just pushed Lin Sanjiu's elbow and said, "Sis, I'm hungry."
Mr. Ito stood about five or six steps away, his face even darker than the night. Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly, nodded at him, and followed the grand prize to walk a few steps away. It seemed like everyone's gazes followed them wherever they went, as if they all sensed they were new villa owners.
"You see." The grand prize lifted his chin and ignored the surrounding gazes, saying, "This is a real beach barbecue. Even the chef is ready."
The beach was scattered with sporadic round yellow lamps, and the light and shadows made it appear both elusive and muted, like a fog rising at midnight. A black barbecue grill stood tall in the distance of the hazy halo. A chubby man wearing a white chef's uniform wrestled with a few big bags on the ground, and it took him quite some effort to finally open one.
"Everyone, please wait a moment," the chef shouted. "Feel free to chat with each other. Once I have all the barbecue ready, we can start!"
He happily grabbed several pieces of charcoal and placed them in the grill. Although he was an NPC, his appearance and demeanor made him indistinguishable from a living person, just like the doorman.
"Newcomers?"
While the two looked at the chef, a woman's voice sounded not far behind them, "Replace the one with a curly beard? Who else?"
Lin Sanjiu turned her head and found she actually knew the person speaking—the villa owner in her sleepwear, with the name 'Greene' written on the doorplate.
Of course, she wasn't wearing loose sleepwear now. Wrapped in a tight-fitting suit of some unknown material, her slender limbs and delicate shoulders were all clearly visible—yet both Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize's gazes fell on her stomach.
"Oh, right," Greene said, lowering her head and glancing at her slightly protruding belly. "Four and a half months."
Both of them were taken aback. Lin Sanjiu stammered first, "C-Congratulations... S-So, when's the due date?"
"Congratulations? What's there to congratulate? Would you want it if you were me?" Greene suddenly became angry and waved her hand. "Don't think I'm defenseless just because I'm pregnant. Let me tell you, I've been the villa owner for fourteen consecutive days!"
Although she was the one who initiated the conversation, her temper flared, and she turned and left, not even giving Lin Sanjiu a chance to speak again.
"She's been here for fourteen days and still can't leave the pocket dimension?" the grand prize asked in a low voice.
Lin Sanjiu naturally had no answer. She scanned the surroundings and found that the villa owners on the beach seemed to know each other. Some were chatting in groups of two or three, some had tense atmospheres between them, and others were strolling through the crowd. There was also a seemingly friendly, chubby guy who greeted everyone he saw, walking straight toward Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize.
"You just moved into the villa, right?" He looked young, with a long, narrow dimple sunken into his bulging cheeks, which made him look quite endearing. "Which one of you is the owner?"
He seemed more alert than the short-haired pregnant woman, quickly realizing twelve people were already there. Thus, among Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize, only one could be a villa owner. Since one was a humanoid posthuman, the other could not be human. The chubby guy had been looking around since earlier and couldn't seem to determine which one was the human.
"It's me," the grand prize answered before Lin Sanjiu could speak. "This is my sister, a humanoid, companion-type Special Item."
Lin Sanjiu gave him a sidelong glance. He had answered too smoothly, making her feel like he had planned everything in advance.
"Nice to meet you." The chubby guy's attention immediately shifted to the grand prize. "I'm Li Xing. May I know your name?"
"Ji Shanqing."
"Nice name!" Li Xing clapped his hands. "Very poetic."
"Everyone here is so friendly." The grand prize interlocked his fingers and smiled, asking, "Are you all familiar with each other?"
"Except for you two, there's one more newcomer. The rest have experienced several events," Li Xing shrugged. "Whether we cooperate with each other or not, it all depends on the situation. There are various types of cooperative activities in these events."
"Have you participated in a beach barbecue before?" Lin Sanjiu asked.
Apparently, not expecting a humanoid Special Item to be this proactive, the chubby guy looked them up and down with some surprise before replying, "No, each event is completely different. Once villa owners have experienced all the activities arranged in the mansion, they can leave... I estimate it takes about a month, once a day."
As he spoke, he turned to Ji Shanqing, gesturing for both of them to follow him. "Come, let me introduce you... Everyone is curious about you."
Apart from Mr. Ito and Greene, the remaining seven people included both men and women, young and old. One of the men was so tall that even Lin Sanjiu only reached his chest. Another man, after exchanging names, suddenly opened his windbreaker in front of the grand prize. Startled, Lin Sanjiu even prepared to take action, only to find that he was wearing clothes underneath; however, his body was almost transparent, like being obscured by strands of smoke.
"Don't be surprised, don't be surprised," the man called Crane laughed heartily, probably having seen such reactions from others before. "I'm about to teleport."
"Teleport?" Ji Shanqing raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been like this?"
"Two days." Crane didn't seem to care at all. He even reached out and explored the gap in his disappearing body. Then he lifted his finger and said, "I don't feel a thing." He nodded at the other villa owners and smiled at the two of them. "They all know. Originally, I should have teleported away earlier, but I don't know if it's because of the Great Deluge; I've been stuck here for two days."
Crane closed his windbreaker, turned around, and showed his back to them. "Look, I only put on this windbreaker before leaving tonight."
It was no wonder the windbreaker looked intact from the front; he had only put it on a short while ago. However, it already showed the intention of leaving with its owner. The windbreaker behind him was covered by the 'smoke,' it seemed like it wouldn't be long before it teleported completely.
After glancing at Crane's back and discreetly surveying the other villa owners, Lin Sanjiu suddenly understood.
Indeed, if it were her, she would have done what Crane did—let everyone clearly see her situation and implicitly say, "I might leave at any time, and there's no need to compete to the bitter end." Similarly, other villa owners would naturally treat him more amicably.
"This is quite nice," Lin Sanjiu sincerely said. "We still don't know when we can leave yet."
The more she downplayed her status as a Special Item and behaved like a human, the more others seemed to believe she was a powerful Special Item. A boy of fifteen or sixteen even seemed a bit envious and asked Ji Shanqing, "Did you buy her in the Twelve Worlds?"
"You can't find a second one anywhere in the world," Ji Shanqing said seriously. "I made her out of clay."
Fine, Lin Sanjiu rubbed her forehead.
"Um, everyone—" from a distance, someone called out.
The eleven villa owners and a humanoid Special Item stood within a radius of about ten meters. When the distant shout suddenly sounded, everyone knew who it was. They turned around and saw the chef waving a shovel at them.
"Tools and meat are ready," he said, smiling with a red face over the hot charcoal. "Look, I've prepared such a big pack of meat. It should be enough for everyone to eat."
Following his gesture, Lin Sanjiu's gaze fell on a large plastic bag beside the barbecue grill. Through its semi-transparent material, she could vaguely see the layers of meat inside, but she couldn't tell what kind of meat it was.
"Here you go, let me introduce today's activity rules," the chef said while weighing the shovel in his hand. "Today, I've prepared four types of meat for you: skewers, beef ribs, lamb leg, and chicken sausages."
Ji Shanqing looked at the bag of meat and then at Lin Sanjiu – even without speaking, she understood his meaning. His eyes seemed like two screens displaying the words, "Sis, let's have a barbecue next time."
"Tomorrow, I'll make it for you," she whispered. The grand prize nodded, satisfied.
"To be honest, I can only barbecue one piece of meat each time," the chef said shamelessly, waving his hand over the long, empty barbecue grill. "So, each person can only take one piece of meat from me each time. You have to take what I barbecue for you; you can't request a specific type of meat, and you can't take two pieces in a row... Picky eaters won't do!"
No one said a word among the twelve people.
"If someone collects four identical pieces of grilled meat in advance, they win the game and can sit aside to enjoy their meat and drinks. However, if you are in the bottom three, or when my hand gets tired and I don't want to barbecue anymore, and you still haven't collected four identical pieces of grilled meat, I'm sorry, but you must leave the villa."
The chef chuckled, "Only at the moment when each piece of meat is grilled do we know what kind of meat it is. After it's cooked, the person standing on the yellow marker has to take it away... Hey, excuse me, you stepped on my marker."
A middle-aged woman with dark skin and slender limbs grumbled as she stepped aside by two steps. A yellow paper marker shaped like a dinner plate, with a knife and fork drawn on it, was exposed in the sand.
"The person standing on this yellow marker is the one who gets to take the grilled meat. How you determine who goes first or last, whether it's by queuing or arm-wrestling, is none of my concern. Don't affect me, kick up sand, or knock things over. Oh, and one more thing: you can't exchange grilled meat with each other. Is there anything else...? Hmm, that's all I can remember. So, are you ready to begin, or do you have any questions?"