Surviving in a Collapsed World, Is Something Wrong?

Seeing that Kiana had been tasting the food for a long time, everyone thought that he had eaten something very difficult to chew, so they asked with interest. Kiana answered while chewing the hot pot ingredients.

"Hmm, this is probably dumplings... Uh huh?!?!"

However, the next moment, Kiana seemed to suffocate before she could finish her words, and then fell backwards with a thud.

"Qi...Kiana?!"

"Hey, are you okay?!"

Faced with this unexpected situation, the living room in the villa was in an uproar. Jiang Ming didn't care about anything else. He carefully put down the moon and groped his way towards Kiana in the dark, shaking his shoulders constantly.

"Hello, hello——Kiana.......?"

“Hmm…uh…”

Jiang Ming kept calling out, and then Kiana groaned in pain as if she had a nightmare. It seemed that the food was not choking her throat, but she was just unconscious for a short time. Seeing her appearance, Jiang Ming breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems... I guess it should be alright..."

"Yes...yes...but what on earth is going on? Could it be...?"

An incredible imagination suddenly flashed through Jiang Ming's mind. Yes, Jiang Ming and others are now making dark hot pot, and they have no idea what kind of hell ingredients are put in it. Could it be that Kiana has drawn some kind of winning ingredient that is so strong that it can even make her, a member of the Kaslana family, lose consciousness?

Jiang Ming was thinking this in his mind, maybe everyone else had the same idea, the others shouted with an expression of disbelief.

"You must be kidding me... It's okay for others, but how could that big eater Kiana be like this?!"

"She actually fainted because of food... Eh? Is there poison in this pot?! One drop of the poison can kill even a whale instantly-?!"

"......"

————These two sentences are so ugly...

However, it is not difficult to understand their feelings. What could have caused Kiana, the unusually glutton, to faint?

“Hmm…?!”

Just as Jiang Ming was lost in thought, Ji Zi suddenly shouted.

"What's wrong, Himeko?"

"This... this... is probably the bowl that Kiana used? It feels a little..."

"what?"

Jiang Ming leaned his face towards the direction where Ji Zi's voice came from——

“Wow…?!”

Then, the same sound as Himeko's was made, but this was understandable, after all, the bowl believed to be used by Kiana emitted a foul odor of unknown origin.

"What's going on, this......?"

Jiang Ming couldn't help but pinch his nose and said, then a petite figure who looked like Bronya walked over, then she leaned her face against the bowl and sniffed the smell.

"...Bronya has smelled this smell before. I'm afraid it's canned herring. It's even stronger than normal."

"Herring... is that the famous smelly can?"

"That's right. Not only that, we can also confirm the composition of several other odors. Through complex mixture changes, it becomes an even more shocking weapon. If you smear its sauce on a handkerchief, it can easily knock people out."

"You don't have to say the last sentence..."

But why has no one discovered such a smelly thing before? Is Kiana too lucky? It seems that good luck is not necessarily a good thing.

Jiang Ming kept thinking in his mind. Suddenly, as if he thought of something, he suddenly looked in the direction of Mei.

Because Kiana seemed to say something about dumplings before she fell into a coma, which means that someone deliberately wrapped this ingredient into the dumplings and made it so that it would not be discovered until someone knew about it. All the ingredients were prepared by Jiang Ming and others themselves. As long as it was not a mysterious chemical reaction caused by the ingredients brought by everyone, and turned into a new substance, then the foul-smelling collection that Kiana ate should have been something put in by one of them.

Generally speaking, after someone eats a certain ingredient, they will describe the taste of the food, and the person who put the ingredient in will raise his hand to indicate that he put it in.

but.......

No one has signed up yet...

"..."

Someone is lying...

This possibility is probably hard to imagine. Even if someone really prepared that kind of thing as a prank, Jiang Ming doesn't think that there would be someone here who would make Kiana faint and pretend to be completely unaware.

The only people who had entered the kitchen to make dumplings were Mei and I. After eliminating myself, the real murderer was...

Jiang Ming told Yuexia to sit next to Lin and not to panic no matter what happened. Yuexia nodded obediently and did as he was told. Then Jiang Ming returned to Meiyi's side, quietly moved his face closer to Meiyi, and whispered in her ear.

"My Queen, you did this, didn't you?"

Jiang Ming looked at Meiyi with a slightly serious expression, and Meiyi was silent for a moment, then looked at Jiang Ming with an evil look on her face and smiled softly.

"Yeah, what are you dissatisfied with?"

......

Not long ago.

"Hmm...what should I buy?"

Mei stood in front of a pile of food with some distress. It must be said that the supermarket in St. Freya Academy really had everything. Even though Mei and Jiang Ming had been here many times, they still hadn't finished looking at all the products.

[What do you guys want to eat? ]

The voice of the Herrscher of Thunder suddenly came.

"Eh? Um...it's dark hot pot."

【Huh? What is that? 】

"Everyone chooses their favorite ingredients first, then puts them all in the pot. Finally, turn off the lights and use chopsticks to pick up the food in the pot and eat it. Because you don't know what kind of food everyone will choose, it feels mysterious and fresh."

[I see... You just said that you don't know what kind of food others will choose, right? ]

"Eh? Is...is that so?"

[Oh, that's easy. Just listen to me and choose those things.]

"Those ones?"

Mei followed the instructions of the Herrscher of Thunder and came to some ingredients, but her eyes widened soon, the reason was very simple. Because the ingredients in front of her...

"It's not something you can eat normally, right?"

[Why do you care so much? If you want to get something, you must sacrifice first. Just listen to me. First this... then that...]

"Oh oh... okay......."

.......

Time returns to the present.

[Yes, are you dissatisfied? ]

Hearing the nonchalant tone of the Herrscher of Thunder, Jiang Ming frowned slightly. He was already a little unhappy.

"My Queen, if you want to join us, you can, but... isn't it a bit too much to put these ingredients that can knock people down instantly?"

[Haha, so what? What can you do to me? ]

"......"

"Himeko."

Jiang Ming looked in Ji Zi's direction and said.

"Because of some special reasons now, could you please turn on the light?"

"Oh, good."

Ji Zi seemed to understand that the matter was serious. She stood up gently, walked to the entrance of the living room, then quickly found the switch and pressed it.

but......

“Eh…?”

Although the switch had been pressed, the living room was still dark. Ji Zi pressed it several times suspiciously, but the result was the same.

"What's wrong, Himeko?"

"Could it be that the power supply has tripped?"

"......"

It seems that the Herrscher of Thunder is secretly using electromagnetic fields to cause trouble.

"........what do you want?"

There was already a hint of caution in Jiang Ming's tone, and then the Herrscher of Thunder let out a teasing laugh.

[Haha, weren't you all very happy just now? Especially you, you hang out with women every day and play so many games with them, it doesn't matter if you call it playing with women.]

"ha......?"

Jiang Ming couldn't help but make a puzzled sound. Although she said it was okay, she always felt jealous or like a child who couldn't join the group and was upset.

But the Herrscher of Thunder has a very tough personality, and simply coaxing him probably won't have much effect. Jiang Ming continued speaking while feeling slightly nervous and helpless.

"So... since you've also chosen the ingredients, that means... you want to join in the game, too, right?"

[Huh? I never said I wanted to...]

"Since you have chosen the ingredients, that means you have joined them. Could it be that the proud Queen doesn't even know this little rule? This is really a disgrace to the Herrscher~"

Before the Herrscher of Thunder could refuse, Jiang Ming interrupted him and used a provocation that no normal person would be fooled by, but...

[Who do you say doesn't know the rules? Come on, do you think your human stuff can knock me down? ]

"Hehe, thank you very much, Your Majesty."

......

"I'm sorry everyone, but I'm afraid the lights won't be on for the time being."

Seeing that the light couldn't be turned on no matter what, Himeko had to go back to the kotatsu to inform everyone.

"If it's just an electrical failure, let Bronya take a look. If it's a large-scale power outage, go to Bronya's room, where she has prepared a generator for emergencies."

"...How should I put it, it's Bronya as expected."

Everyone spoke with a mixture of stunned and hopeful voices. But Jiang Ming kept shaking his head and said something that made everyone unbelievable.

"——Everyone, let's continue eating the dark hot pot."

At present, everyone is in a dark living room. Although it is impossible to see Jiang Ming's expression... everyone seems to feel the unusual atmosphere accompanying this sentence. Everyone swallowed their saliva or exhaled in disbelief.

"What are you talking about, Jiang Ming? Kiana has already fainted. How dare you challenge Dark Hot Pot?"

"Jiang Ming, what happened?"

Theresa and Himeko were the first to notice something was wrong.

"Well, there's someone who wants to join us and play with us. I hope you won't refuse."

Jiang Ming looked at Theresa and Ji Zi, and even though they were in the dark, they felt Jiang Ming's gaze and instantly understood what he meant.

"Haha, I didn't expect she wanted to play too. Do you really think we are easy to bully?"

"In that case, we have to continue playing no matter what."

"What about the others? You can quit now, I will make something else for you to eat later."

Jiang Ming looked around and asked this question. After all, he didn't want other people, especially children like Yuexia and Lin, to get sick from eating.

Everyone looked thoughtful for a while, then breathed a sigh of relief, and finally followed Ji Zi and the others in expressing their agreement.

"Since Jiang Ming wants to do this..."

"Bulangya will not admit defeat (? ? ?)"

"Everyone......."

Jiang Ming nodded slightly in thanks, then raised his head with determination.

"Okay, let's continue. Next...is it Theresa's turn?"

"Well, let me go then."

Theresa responded to Jiang Ming and put the ingredients in the pot into the bowl. Judging from her voice, she was not shaken at all.

"Theresa, be careful."