Great, now we are dead!

"Even if I bought the entire island, I wouldn't have many people I could trust. It would be impossible to control the movements of so many adventurers. Just persuading them to leave would be a huge hassle, but right now, both we and the labyrinth need time!"

Ninety-nine out of a hundred adventurers will follow the path of money. They will be wary of windfall gains, but they will never doubt the benefits they have worked hard to obtain. And I only need to tell them where the money is, and I can drive them at will.”

"I see."

Leos glanced at the island that was gradually becoming clearer in the distance and roughly understood Ye Shou's plan.

"So you're going to start your conquest of the dungeon master after driving away all the adventurers? But honestly, with just the few of us..."

"It's a challenge."

Ye Shou smiled and said, "But don't worry, it will be easier than you think. We won't even need to go through the maze."

Leos couldn't imagine how to defeat the Lord of the Labyrinth without entering the labyrinth, but Ye Shou was so confident, so he must have a way, right?

"still have a question."

Marushir suddenly raised her hand and asked, "You still haven't told me... Why do you know so much about these things? Even I, an elf, don't know so many ancient secrets."

"...This involves my family background."

Ye Shou stood up, placed his hand on his chest, and looked very serious.

"Because my ancestor once made a pact with a demon, leaving behind a curse that has been passed down through generations of my family!"

"demon?!"

"That's right—the demon called [Capitalism]!"

Chapter 70 Friend, it's delicious!

"...And so, my ancestor was defeated by the hero Dioruden, and the demon called [Capital] was banished back to its birthplace, that void world."

Ye Shou paused for a moment, then sighed, "But perhaps it's punishment for abusing demonic power. Our ancestor and his descendants were cursed with this curse, unable to escape it generation after generation!"

"The curse of capitalism? I don't understand it, but it sounds terrifying."

"This curse has caused our clan suffering for hundreds of years, and countless people have been destroyed because of it. In this generation, only I am left."

Ye Shou picked up his backpack and casually tossed it onto the deck. He said in a hateful tone, "The curse of capitalism has ensured that my family will always be well-fed and clothed, and that each generation will be able to amass a great deal of wealth. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we are richer than a country!"

"……well?"

Chilchuk was stunned. "A curse? Such good conditions?"

"Ha... Although we live a very wealthy life and seem to be able to do whatever we want, the negative effects of the curse have robbed us of one emotion—[satisfaction]. Capital is full of thirst for everything in the world, and this hunger is not relieved by eating. We are constantly looking for new prey to fill the endless emptiness in our hearts..."

"If you get one, you'll expect ten; if you get ten, you'll crave a hundred; if you get a hundred, you'll desire ten thousand!"

"Do you think ordinary people are like this too?"

"But ordinary people feel happy and proud after achieving their goals!"

"We won't!"

Ye Shou clenched his fists and said unwillingly, "Desire will continue to expand within our bodies, and even if we know this, we cannot stop it. We can only watch helplessly as we turn into monsters from the inside out!"

"Monster... if it's just a bit materialistic, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"...Do you like to eat?"

Ye Shou looked at Chilchak intently, then turned to Leos: "There must be some kind of favorite food, right?"

But for us, happiness is always fleeting. Even the most delicious food will become completely tiresome after a few meals, and we can never recapture the feeling we once had.

So we have to keep looking for new foods and new stimuli, again and again, but in less than three days at most, even the most delicious food tastes like cardboard in our mouths!

So naturally, one would go back to trying things that ordinary people would avoid: herbs, poisons, monsters… even humans, dwarves, goblins, elves… and finally, oneself.”

"!"

"!"

The halfling and the elf shivered and leaned back, moving away from Ye Shou.

Seeing this, Ye Shou could only smile bitterly: "I'm not that bad... although I have indeed seen capitalists who have been devoured by themselves."

This is just one example. Besides appetite, sexual desire and the urge to kill are themes that have plagued us for generations.

In short, the curse of capitalism will ultimately destroy itself; you just need to understand this and learn from it.

Never make a deal with the devil!

After speaking, Ye Shou let out a long breath, stretched his neck, and waited for everyone to slowly digest this huge amount of information.

"So, Ye Shou, you embarked on this journey to break the curse?"

As expected of the team leader, Leos was the first to react and raise a question.

"You could say that."

Ye Shou nodded. "According to an ancient book, these demons that appear all over the world are essentially clones of the same source... I don't know how credible that is, but as long as we search through each maze, we'll eventually run into the one who released the curse."

What do you plan to do if you encounter this?

"I don't know... I've made quite a few preparations, but to be honest, I have absolutely no confidence in defeating the demon."

Ye Shou smiled and said, "I've just done my best."

"Strong, awesome!"

Marushir covered her mouth, her cheeks flushing slightly with excitement: "This plot is just like something out of a popular novel!"

—Looks like a useless elf with a girlish heart.

But upon closer reflection, Marushir, being only twelve or thirteen years old according to the elves' psychological age, is indeed at an age where she enjoys reading fairy tales and picture books.

It seems that Ye Shou's heroic tragedy of "bearing the curse of his family and embarking on a journey alone" is very touching to these sentimental girls.

"You are not old, but you have a great responsibility on your shoulders."

Senxi came over and patted Ye Shou on the waist, "You're much stronger than I was when I was young, keep it up!"

"Well, thank you"

"that……"

"Leos? Is there any other question?"

Ye Shou smiled faintly, his face showing relief after being frank: "Don't be shy, just ask whatever you want to ask."

"Well, I just want to know... how did your ancestor prepare demi-human flesh?"

"..."

Leios asked with great interest, "Are there any leftover notes that I can borrow to take a look?"

"……what?"

Ye Shou blinked: "Cooking method?"

After hearing so much, is this the only thing I remember?

—Marshiel and Chilchak looked at their captain with what could be described as "horrified" eyes.

Farin then struck her brother on the head with a mace, causing Leo to immediately shut his mouth in pain.

"You can't ask that, Brother Leos!"

"Why, why?"

"Because it's very inappropriate!"

Marushir rebuked him loudly, "Besides, this kind of question is completely meaningless!"

"How could it be meaningless!"

Leos leaped to his feet and shouted righteously, "The cooking method is very important!"

"Ugh?"

"Listen carefully, cannibalism is not uncommon in nature, but humans are not wild animals. Normal humans will process their food before eating!"

Therefore, whether Ye Shou's ancestors ate raw food, fried food, or steamed food, their different choices reflected their different mental states at the time!

Eating it raw means completely degenerating into a beast, while cooking it properly simply means having a distorted worldview, choosing a different way of life, and even feeling guilty...

"Ye Shou, if you can find their recipes in your ancestors' diaries, you can deduce the time needed for complete degeneration and the stages of transformation based on the changes in cooking methods—then when you explore the world later, you can compare them and know your own state, and you'll have more confidence!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The room was completely silent!

Ye Shou opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again, opening it once more and muttering incoherently. He repeated this three times without managing to form a coherent sentence.

Finally, with great difficulty but sincerity, he said, "Thank you!"

"You are welcome."

Leos sat down intimately next to Ye Shou. After learning that Ye Shou was a "cursed being," he seemed to be surrounded by an inhuman halo in his eyes, making him even more charming.

"We're best friends!"

"……Um."

Ye Shou looked at the large hand on his shoulder and suddenly realized that the devil of capital was nothing more than that; in the end, he couldn't scare the real demon.

"That's right... my dearest friend."

What should I do? I'm worried he'll say something like, "Friend, this is delicious!" in the future!

Chapter 71 Gold Doesn't Lie

Compared to long-running manga, the plot of *Delicious in Dungeon* is neither complex nor drawn-out, with the main storyline concluding within a month. Despite their seemingly leisurely lifestyle of eating and drinking along the way, their daily progress is actually extremely tight.

For Ye Shou, this is even more of a race against time!

Leios, Farin, and Marushir are the core characters and the focus of the "force of destiny." The biggest turning point in their lives is "Falin's resurrection."

This wouldn't normally be a problem; it's common for adventurers to be resurrected. However, due to limitations in the original story, Marusir could only use the flesh of a fire dragon to resurrect Farin, resulting in a portion of the dragon's soul being inserted into the girl's body.

Later, she encountered the Lord of the Labyrinth (a mad magician), who activated Farin's dragon soul, turning her into a chimera!

This led to a series of chain reactions, preventing the main characters from returning to their daily lives.

In the end, Leos cleverly banished the demon, fulfilling the prophecy, and became the new king of the island, thus protecting Marushir and Farin, who were associated with black magic.

Now that Ye Shou has removed the initial trigger and Farin has been resurrected, the fates of these three have been significantly reversed, but it's far from being completely changed:

Their connection with black magic and labyrinths remains unbroken!

What Ye Shou needs to do is to eliminate the crazed magician in the days leading up to the arrival of the [Canary], thus extinguishing Leos's future as king!

Although this might sound like a bad thing for Leos, it's actually a good thing for him:

Leos himself was neither suited for nor had the ambition to become king. In the original story, he was also unable to come into contact with monsters due to a curse, which became a lifelong regret.

—This guy is a monster fanatic!

If he were to choose for himself, he would definitely be happy to follow the path provided by Ye Shou.

The biggest problem now is time, because it won't be long before [Canary] arrives, and Ye Shou didn't pay attention to dates when reading the original work, so he has no way of knowing. At most, it will be about a week, and maybe they'll arrive in two or three days.

If that's the case, he won't be able to deal with the "Lord of the Labyrinth," and at most he can only get ownership of the island.

After all, that's the Canary, the most elite and most insane force in a magical superpower, led by a ruthless character—and the key is that they're not easily fooled!

These people are disciplined, purposeful, and have no attachments. The captain is literally "desireless," having no motivation to live except for his hatred of the devil.

Ye Shou can use all sorts of methods to manipulate people's hearts, but it's useless against the captain of [Canary]!

Once they land on the island, given Ye Shou's current strength, even with the addition of the Leos squad, it will be impossible for him to control the course of the entire event. It will evolve into a negotiation and compromise between him and [Canary].

To avoid this situation, he prepared more than one contingency plan, but without a doubt, the more time he saved, the more room he had to maneuver!

Therefore, he led the Leos team to this deserted island far from the maze today.

"...Why choose this place?"

"Because the distance is just right, adventurers can rent a small boat to get here, but it's not so bad that they can travel back and forth at will."

Senxi didn't seem to understand, so Ye Shou patiently explained it to him.

"Now, the adventurers on the island are immersed in the dream of getting rich quick and will not let go of any opportunity. But they do not know the ins and outs of this matter and can only assume that the labyrinth itself has great potential value that has not been discovered before."