Chapter 14: Food doesn't show up for free
---
Yin Zhe could feel his breath caught in his throat. He felt his heart drop.
"She… she suspects something?" The thought hit him like a strong wave. "Why me?.. What did I do?.. Does she know that I'm from the Yin clan? Did I expose myself?.. is she related to someone I've offended??"
His mind raced fast with thousands of thoughts.
"No no no… I can't die here. I just got my memories of earth back… I haven't even gotten to understand the system properly… I haven't even become stronger yet… I haven't even begun anything… I need more time" His palms became sweaty.
He looked away quickly not wanting her to notice his fear. But she kept on staring.
Ren Tie whispered beside him, "Why is she looking at you like that…?"
"I… I don't know…" Yin Zhe said, voice shaking slightly.
The maid slowly blinked once. Then she crouched down and touched the floor with the token.
Crackle… crackle… fsshhh…
Blue light streaked across the floor. Drawing patterns.
The lines spread fast, wrapping around the tiles like lightning veins. The air felt a bit warmer. The ground shook and vibrated.
Grummmm!!!.
All the lines and circles that had streaked across the floor had now formed an array.
A bright circle lit up around their beds and slowly expanded.
"What's happening?!" Bao Zi screamed.
"Ahhh!!" Tian Zuo almost jumped out of his bed.
Ren Tie's eyes widened. "A teleportation array?!.. Why inside a room?!"
Yin Zhe felt the pressure hit his legs first. The air around him twisted, squeezed, and pulled.
"Wait.. hmm.. this is… too strong.." he could feel his body shifting unnaturally.
The maid calmly stood by the door, her face was devoid of emotion. She watched all of them without speaking.
The light grew so bright it swallowed their shadows too.
Vrrrmmm… vrrmmm… CRACKLE!
The floor glowed harder, and the atmosphere felt warmer.
Yin Zhe could feel his body lifting slightly. His stomach flipped upside down. And his ears rang.
Then.
FLASH.
They vanished from the room and appeared somewhere else.
A big dining table.
*****
The bright light faded away with a soft crackle… and all of them appeared on different seats around a long dining table. The chairs looked and felt clean and smooth. All the chairs were placed in a neat circle around a table. Plates and bowls filled the table. There were warm soups, steamed meat, fruits that released sweet smells, and shining dishes that looked expensive.
For a moment, no one moved.
Yin Zhe sat straight in his own seat. His hands were resting on the sides of the chair as he looked around. His heartbeat felt slow but heavy. thump… thump… He felt like the entire situation was a bit awkward .
The others, Ren Tie and the rest, also froze. Their eyes bounced from plate to plate, then to each other. Every expression carried the same confusion.
A soft hmm… escaped one of their mouths. Then another made a low ahem…, like they were trying to steady their breathing. None of them understood what was going on. They had been asleep. Then they woke up in strange new clothes. Now they were here, in front of food.
Ren Tie looked around first. His lips parted. And he spoke. "What's this place?" he whispered. His voice had a small shake. "Why food?... Why like this?"
Wen Chong who was beside him hissed, "Is this another trick? Are they trying to fatten us before killing us?... That's the oldest trick in the book... and it's supposed to be used for goose not humans"
Bao Zi let out a soft hpmh, rubbing his face with both hands. "I don't get it. Why teleport us just to make us sit down?.. not just sit but to sit around delicious looking dishes"
Yin Zhe kept quiet. His eyes had been lowered all this while, but his mind was sharp and active.
His thoughts moved like threads weaving together. Trying to make sense of the situation.
"They used a teleportion array… hmmm… this house must be full of arrays… maybe every door, or every floor tile is one… that sounds rather unrealistic. even to me"
He didn't want to say anything too early. Words always brought attention. Right now, he felt like he shouldn't get in the spotlight.
The room remained silent for a few more breaths. Then, the door at the far end opened with a soft creak…
An old man walked in.
He wore simple clothing and a wide straw hat that hid half of his face. His steps were slow but steady like an old turtle. tap… tap… tap… His presence filled the room in a strange way. Calm, but also suffocating.
No one dared to talk when he entered.
He sat in the main chair. Which was at the head of the table. The chair made a tiny thud as he settled in. He placed his hands on the table, and folded gently, and looked at all of them one by one.
His voice was low and rough.
"You may eat."
That was all he said. Three words.
No long speech. Or a welcome. He did even introduce himself. Or gave them an explanation. All he gave them was permission.
But his words had made the room even more tense.
All of them stared at the food. Their stomachs growled quietly.. grrr… grrr… but their hands stayed still. None of them dared to grab anything. There was a war between Hunger and fear inside their chests.
Wen Chong whispered, "What if it's poisoned?"
Tian Zuo muttered, almost shaking, "Maybe they want to test something on us. Like a new experiment"
Ren Tie clenched his jaw. "Food doesn't show up for free. Hmph…"
Yin Zhe who was silent right from the start, lowered his gaze to the table. His mind turned again. As he began to mumble to himself.
"It must be him who would have bought us… that mist guy must have sold us to him… so poisoning us doesn't really make sense… I don't see the benefits"
He took a slow breath through his nose.
shhh…
A faint smell brushed past him. The smell wasn't from the food. But From the room. The smell of spirit Essence.
Turns out that his nine breath cycles technique remained on all this time. And he can't switch it off. It almost felt like it was something passive.
He felt the spirit essence moving in the air like thin layers of wind. He couldn't see it, but he smelled it with the Nine Breaths Circle Reactive Technique.
"The whole house is full of essence… it wasn't natural… it smelled like it was placed there. Thinking about the spirit array we had seen earlier. So I'm guessing that it must be another array… nope not array. It's arrays with a S"
He looked towards the plates and dishes again.
"If he wanted to kill us, he wouldn't waste money or time using poison and so much food. He would trap the room, or seal it with arrays. And neither is he trying an experimental Poison or something like that. Because Poison can be tested on animals. Even a mad alchemist would have better ways to test it than wasting food and so much money. But this man doesn't feel like an alchemist… his presence feels different… an array master maybe…"