Entering Hungry Eyes Vendor Village.

Safe room rules do NOT apply in the main square.

Even in safe room areas, poisoning rules do not apply. Eat at your own risk.

After taking our leave of the bugbears and razor fox, we made our way through the portal. I was in my messages, attempting to find out everything I could about this arena thing on the eleventh floor.

We really needed to focus on this floor and the races, but the AI’s words had intrigued me.

This was what we knew so far. When one killed certain mobs on this floor, they were given an option to take the experience or have the audience vote. If the audience voted one way, the creatures would survive and get sent to this arena. But if the people voted another way, a “stand-in” was sent. It seemed these stand-ins were people outside the dungeon ecosystem. Like, people from the resort on the eighteenth floor.

The arena was on the eleventh floor.

Nobody knew anything beyond that.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. If we had a choice on who to send to the eleventh, what did that really mean? Who could we pick? The AI had dragged Princess Formidable from her spaceship to the Desperado Club. Could I pick someone from orbit and force them into the dungeon? Could I pick someone that was currently on the twelfth? Could I pick a liaison like that Harbinger guy? Could I pick Prime Minister Victory?

Who could I drag to the eleventh floor that would cause the most damage?

“Oi, don’t just stand there and block the portal, ass smear.”

I was pushed aside by a group of three Bactrian camels with old-school racing helmets as they emerged. These were clearly racers from a different group than our own. There was only one portal back to the cul-de-sac, and everybody used the same one.

“Well, excuse you,” Donut harrumphed as I closed out the chat and looked about.

“Eat my sandy ass,” one of the camels called without looking over his shoulder.

A large, bustling town filled with NPCs spread out before us with streets heading in all directions. It was dark outside, which was different than the midday appearance of our cul-de-sac, which was odd. As was the town’s appearance. Most of the towns here in the game had that faux-medieval style. Even Larracos had that grand old-timey feel.

This town was straight out of a 1980s neon-infused, cyberpunk fever dream.

To my left, a group of temples spread, all covered with gaudy flashing lights, including one right in the middle with a black “X” hanging over it. It took me a moment to realize the “X” was a game notification. It was the entrance to a Club Vanquisher, which I was now permanently banned from. Another street was full of flashing shops of all kinds with dozens and dozens of NPCs moving about. Shouting street vendors with food carts and what appeared to be glowing souvenirs littered the sidewalk. The majority of NPCs were gremlins with a smattering of Draconians.

Donut clicked her tongue. “You would think this pink-and-teal-and-purple aesthetic would be right up my alley, but it’s quite garish, don’t you think? Like I’m trapped in a clearance rack at a Claire’s. When you lean too hard into something, it just becomes a caricature of itself.” She gasped. “Carl, look! A hat vendor!” She jumped from my shoulder and bounded over.

Down a street with some shops and temples, a single storefront caught my eye. It was a blank storefront with no sign. The moment my eyes passed over it, a notification popped up.

C&W&U Location. Illegal Modifications and More. Grand Opening Soon.

I noted the store and turned my attention to our destination, a third street that held a group of bars.

Right in the middle of that street, a massive neon sign blazed, its shining light overpowering everything else. The sign featured a Formula 1–style race car in pink-and-purple neon. Under the car in blinking lights was the bar’s name. The Hairpin. And under it in smaller neon letters, it read, “Desperado Club entrance in the back.”

Imani had said everyone was avoiding the Hairpin for now, and we were to meet at one next door called the Lollipop. I spotted it almost washed out in the light of the Hairpin. The neon sign featured a gremlin waving what looked like a giant lollipop back and forth. And under it was another sign that made me groan inwardly.

Donut returned to my shoulder, grumbling. “Their selection is just abysmal. I did get a cheap trucker hat that says, ‘I’d Hang a Little with Chad.’ I don’t know what that means, but it’s green and yellow and is perfect for the mood wall I’m working on.”

She gasped, seeing the sign under the bar. “Carl, look, look! Karaoke!”

As we approached, I heard familiar shouting coming from a food vendor stall just outside the Lollipop.

“It is meat on a stick. Meat on a stick is my favorite food,” a voice called. Jurgen.

“I do not see any sort of health inspection certificate. Did you not see that warning when we entered town, you bumbling imbecile? I will not have you suffering from gastrointestinal distress while we race for our lives.”

“I did read it,” Jurgen said to Prepotente, handing a gold coin over to the Draconian vendor, who happily handed the meat skewer to the large bearded man. Jurgen held up a second finger and received a second skewer. “It also said some food items increase the mount’s speed, and since you insisted upon picking that thing, we need all the speed modifications we can get. I have an iron stomach, so if it’s a bad a result, we deal with it.”

“Hi, Prepotente! Hi, Jurgen!” Donut called, waving furiously from my shoulder. “Are you coming in to sing karaoke with me and Carl?”

“Well-met, Donut!” Prepotente called, waving back. “And, Carl, hello! I am so glad to see you both. Please talk some sense into my idiotic partner, who is insisting on sabotaging our next race.”

“I have a sixth sense about these things. Isn’t that right, Heidi?” Jurgen said.

“Did I hear that correctly?” Donut asked. “Your mount is named Sweety? That’s just adorable. What is she?”

Jurgen grunted and took a bite of the meat stick. The stall simply had a sign over it that said “Meat” with no further elaboration. I tried to examine the stick, but I received an error.

No food in Hungry Eyes may be examined. Good luck.

Jurgen chewed with his mouth open. “Is a big dud, is what our mount is. We should have chosen mechanical. I told him I was a mechanic before he picked, but he just doesn’t listen. Now we are stuck with the giant elephant pig. It’s slow, and it smells.”

Prepotente sniffed indignantly. “Our mount, Sweety, is a large-mount-sized mammal called a Perriso. She is similar to a creature called a tapir, but large enough to carry myself, this oaf here, and one or two more mercenaries, which I’m afraid we’re going to have to do once this idiot starts violently vomiting mystery meat over the sidewalk.”

Jurgen patted his stomach and then bit into his second meat stick. “If we are to be partners, then you need to learn to trust my intuition. Carl trusted me enough to make me a general on the last floor, and I don’t know why you⁠—”

And that’s when Jurgen started violently vomiting mystery meat all over the sidewalk.