Chapter 75: “So Cheap? So Surprised?”
Yves led his city guards through the doorway.
Pristine tables and chairs, bright, clear illumination.
And the faint, unmistakable aroma of cooked food.
Before the cataclysm, an eatery of this scale was an ordinary sight on any street corner.
Yet here and now, a diner this seemingly unremarkable was an anomaly down to its very foundation.
“Greetings,” Yves spoke first, his tone deliberate and measured. “I have a few matters I would like to inquire about.”
“You have questions?” Ling Jing glanced at him. “Apologies, but I’m in the middle of something right now.”
“We can wait.”
“Alright then. Take a seat. The menu and house rules are right by the entrance.” Ling Jing pointed toward the cashier counter. “This establishment welcomes polite guests. Please refrain from doing anything detrimental to the restaurant’s interests, or service will be refused.”
“Understood. Please, attend to your tasks first,” Yves replied, his expression turning solemn.
“Mhm.”
Ling Jing nodded and stepped into the back kitchen.
…
Yves and his men watched her disappear into the room behind the partition.
And that robot.
…A boxy contraption of an unrecognizable model, completely distinct from anything manufactured by the pre-cataclysm Federation.
The design was distinctly retro.
Yet its locomotion was remarkably fluid.
As it rolled past their squad, its screen displayed an expression of (O ︶ O) before it trundled dutifully after the woman into the back room.
A moment later, singing drifted from within.
—“Good fortune arrives, wishing you good fortune arrives~ Bringing joy and boundless love wherever it thrives~”
An entirely unfamiliar melody, set to lyrics they had never heard before.
Inexplicably, it sounded festive and uplifting.
Almost like a sacred, ancient chant drifting from an era long past.
Yves held his breath and listened for a moment. Looking at the spotless furnishings throughout the dining hall, he didn’t order his men to sit down either.
“Set the cases down,” he instructed the four guards behind him.
“Yes, sir.”
The metallic containers were lowered softly to the floor. Judging by the tension in the guards’ forearms, the load was anything but light.
These men were disciplined soldiers, handpicked by Keith himself.
Every man bore a single silver star upon his shoulder rank.
Ironclad obedience was second nature to them.
Still, the sheer oddity of their current surroundings proved too much to resist; standing in formation, the guards couldn’t help casting discreet, curious glances in every direction.
Yves understood his subordinates’ reactions and made no move to reprimand them.
Instead, he turned to Keith and asked in a low murmur, “How many City Coins did we bring?”
“Four thousand,” Keith whispered back, as if terrified of offending the proprietor. “Excluding the mandatory reserves required for daily city operations, that is the maximum liquid capital we could muster.”
“…Did you bring energy crystals?”
“You didn’t instruct us to bring crystals, sir.” Keith’s eyes drifted toward the wall.
Yves: “…”
Before arriving, he hadn’t known crystals could be redeemed for coin here either.
The decrypted letter had merely babbled about earning coin this and raking in cash that, failing completely to detail how the funds were made or what was being traded.
As a result, their logistical preparations were woefully lacking.
A mysterious diner, dishes capable of purging toxins and bestowing unique enhancements, an unfathomable proprietor… He had no idea whether the funds they carried would suffice.
The situation at the South Wall was deteriorating by the hour; these tactical provisions had to be dispatched to the front immediately.
Four thousand City Coins… Heaven only knew how much that would purchase, or whether it could sustain the six operational strike teams and the supplementary reinforcements deployed there.
That was nearly thirty combatants.
The owner had stated that nighttime orders incurred a double surcharge… yet waiting until sunrise was out of the question.
Mutant activity raged far more fiercely under the cover of darkness. He couldn’t gamble the lives of his soldiers just to pinch pennies, letting them bleed or perish in the dark.
Yves’s brow furrowed into deep ridges.
Now that they were inside, finding that the proprietor harbored no open hostility and was willing to receive them was a massive relief.
Yet a harsher dilemma immediately took its place.
How much of this miraculous, priceless food could four thousand City Coins actually buy?
The man who penned the letter had claimed he toiled like a dog for days on end just to smuggle out a single quilt’s worth of provisions…
“Commander.”
Noticing the heavy gloom hanging over Yves’s face, Keith couldn’t help giving him a gentle nudge.
“Speak.”
“Look at the menu.”
“Hm?”
Yves finally directed his gaze toward the menu board mounted by the entrance.
Roasted Potato… Wait a minute.
4 City Coins?!
Roasted Sweet Potato… 6 City Coins!
Even doubled for the night surcharge, a roasted potato was a mere 8 City Coins, and a sweet potato only 12!
That was barely any different from the cost of an official city ration brick—and it purged toxins?!
Yves’s eyes widened until they were round as copper bells.
“This—!” A booming syllable tore from his throat before he caught himself, instantly dropping his voice to rein in his composure.
“…is so cheap?”
Within Seed City’s allocated quota, every single vial of detox serum required sixty small energy crystals to barter from the Three Great Cities.
—Two months ago, central command issued a revised directive: a vial of serum now demanded one hundred small crystals plus ten medium crystals.
Strictly rationed, and exceedingly scarce.
Even though its therapeutic ceiling was modest at best.
The documentation provided by the Three Great Cities claimed that clinical trials proved twenty vials of serum could restore a fully corrupted human to baseline.
Expressed in percentage terms, a single injection purged roughly 5% of systemic toxicity.
That was the sole method known in the post-cataclysm era to cleanse poison from the human body.
Exorbitant as it was, every frontier outpost had no choice but to pay the toll.
Converted into City Coins, what did that equate to?
Inside the walls, a small crystal redeemed for 2 City Coins, while a medium crystal went for 5.
Sixty small crystals amounted to 120 City Coins.
One hundred small crystals plus ten medium crystals came to 250 City Coins.
For a single dose of detox serum.
Both the overseers and the city guards thinned it with saline for field use. At first, one vial was stretched into five doses; now, it was diluted into ten, sometimes even twenty.
All to ensure more dying soldiers received an injection.
Yves knew full well that Zhou Xue and Heixi diluted their allocated vials just the same.
Administering an undiluted dose was an unspeakable luxury.
Yet in this diner, five roasted potatoes—even with the nighttime price doubled—cost a mere 40 City Coins.
Yves’s gaze traveled down the menu board.
The further he read, the faster his pulse raced.
Beyond the corn, sweet potatoes, and rice porridge he had already cataloged, there were dishes that… enhanced physical strength and bolstered mental resistance?!
Reduced inhaled toxins?! For 1 City Coin?!
…Wait.
Malatang Skewers… converts toxins into 1% energy?!
Yves couldn’t hold it back any longer.
The hardened Commander, a veteran of countless blood-soaked campaigns, gasped aloud in sheer disbelief.
Tender shredded pork and glossy, emerald-green runner bean strips were tossed evenly in the savory sauce, speckled with flecks of bright red chili. With a flick of the wrist, a hearty, appetizing plate of shredded pork stir-fried with runner beans was turned out of the wok.
Plated on fine porcelain, Ling Jing checked the dish’s status profile.
[Shredded Pork with Runner Beans (Purges 3% Toxicity. For 24 hours post-consumption: Wound infection rate reduced by 50%. For 1 hour post-consumption: Strength +10%.) Stir-Fry Trait: Five senses enhanced by 5% for 24 hours post-consumption (Excellence in color, aroma, and taste). Recommended Retail Price: 30 City Coins]
Not bad.
The Di San Xian from earlier was quite impressive as well.
[Di San Xian (Purges 6% Toxicity. For 24 hours post-consumption: Mitigates negative effects of plant toxins, mental paralysis, and radiation by 50%. For 1 hour post-consumption: Armor +10%.) Stir-Fry Trait: Five senses enhanced by 5% for 24 hours post-consumption (Excellence in color, aroma, and taste). Recommended Retail Price: 26 City Coins]
One meat, one vegetable; both purification and physical enhancement accounted for.
“What?!”
Just as she finished reading the stats, a loud exclamation erupted from the dining hall.
The shout was sharp enough to drown out the festive chorus of Good Fortune Arrives.
Peering through the glass of the service window, Ling Jing blinked.
What was the commotion about? Why so surprised?
