Chapter 23: My Rules Are the Law
This was the scrawny man’s first time here.
Yesterday, after the bells tolled, he had heard the bustling commotion of his neighbors—a family of five—returning home.
Normally, this family barely scraped together enough to eat, and the atmosphere was always suffocatingly bleak. Old Rhodes was a picture of dejected despair. The thin wooden walls of their shack could never muffle the ceaseless rows: “Might as well starve to death!”, “That’s all you managed to scavenge?”, “You dare criticize me? If you’re so capable, why don’t you bring back something useful for once?!”
All of it accompanied by the violent crashing of thrown objects.
Yet last night, the family hadn’t sighed or groaned once. Instead, every single one of them wore a smile as they filed merrily into their home. Even after the curfew inspection and lights-out, faint, excited murmurs kept filtering through the wall.
It was an eager, longing tone.
The scrawny man guessed they must have stumbled upon some lucrative honey hole.
So early this morning, he tailed them in secret, slipped out through the west gate, and ended up here.
One look had nearly scared his soul out of his skin.
This wasn’t just a good place—it was an outright paradise!
Edible roasted potatoes… If word of this got out, the entire population of Seed City—no, all Seven Great Cities—would drop their jaws in sheer disbelief, wouldn’t they?
Not to mention the bewildering array of things he had never even laid eyes on before… The scrawny man had truly had his horizons expanded today. Ever since arriving in front of this stall named “Chinese Restaurant,” his jaw hadn’t closed once.
However.
This boss seemed remarkably careless.
Who knew if she was an Awakener using a bizarre ability to whip up so many edible foods, but she was selling them so ridiculously cheap!
On top of that, she had the gall to put up a wooden sign telling people to pay on the honor system and take the food themselves?
What a joke. This was the apocalypse! Anyone still drawing breath was either exceptionally capable, or a master at conning, looting, and fighting for scraps.
Those who scavenged beyond the walls every day operated on the default principle of “finders, keepers.” Who in their right mind would obediently follow the rules?
Inside the city, the guards kept order. But out here in the desolate wilderness, with the boss not even watching him, who would ever notice if he quietly swiped a roasted potato?
The folks in line ahead of him were utter fools. She told them to drop money in a box, and they actually did it?
Sneering inwardly, the scrawny man waited until his turn came. He deliberately picked a moment when Ling Jing was turned halfway toward the wok, faked a dropping motion with his hand, pulled his coins back, and reached straight for a steaming potato.
Hah, sure, one potato isn’t that expensive, but when a chance for a free five-finger discount presents itself, what kind of idiot actually pays!
Just as his fingers were about to close around the potato, an invisible barrier stopped him dead in his tracks.
Huh?
Immediately after, a floating line of text flashed before his eyes.
[Attempted theft detected. One warning issued. A repeat offense will result in immediate blacklisting from the restaurant.]
His vision blurred, and an unseen force shove him away from the roaster, ejecting him clean out of the queue.
“? What was that?”
“How did he suddenly end up over there?”
The onlookers nearby were equally baffled.
Ling Jing looked up at that moment, her gaze landing squarely on the scrawny man. Speaking in a clear voice that carried across the entire crowd, she said, “Trying to take food without paying earns you one warning. Do it twice, and you’re permanently barred from setting foot in this restaurant.”
Well, it was technically still a rudimentary stall, but calling it a “restaurant” sounded far more commanding.
“Didn’t pay?”
“He tried to steal!”
“I knew he looked shady! He pretended to put money in and pulled it right back!” the customer who had stood behind him called out.
Auntie Yun planted her hands on her hips, barking in fury, “Are you out of your damn mind?! If you piss the boss off and she leaves, and no one sells these delicious things anymore, I swear I’ll flay you alive!”
“Exactly! Four City Coins isn’t even expensive—why are you stealing?!” Jia Si chimed in at the top of his lungs.
With the two of them speaking up, the rest of the crowd seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.
Accusations and scoldings rained down from every direction.
“Where else on earth are you going to find roasted potatoes to eat?!”
“Don’t be angry, Boss!”
“What an absolute piece of trash, trying to steal from such a wonderful place!”
“Sick bastard!”
“Shameless vermin!”
The chorus of jeers and curses rose like a tide, turning the scrawny man’s face bright red in an instant.
What was going on? Every single one of them was a scoundrel scraping by in this godforsaken apocalypse! Who didn’t know who they really were? How had stepping into this place called “Chinese Restaurant” suddenly turned them all into paragon citizens preaching civilized behavior?!
Fortunately, the black cloth over his face hid his flushed, sickly-green complexion. With a wildly shifting expression, he shouted back defensively, “Who stole anything?! I just… I just forgot to drop the coins in!”
“Whether you forgot or not, you know best!”
Long Shi jeered loudly. “Go ahead and try to fool us with that crap, but don’t end up fooling yourself!”
“I—I just forgot to pay!”
Clinging stubbornly to this single excuse, the scrawny man slunk dejectedly back to the very end of the line.
Though he desperately wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole, leaving was completely out of the question.
Getting your hands on a roasted potato was an impossible stroke of luck; he was definitely going to buy one.
Buy it! This time, he would pay cold, hard cash!
…
“Boss, you were busy cooking just now—how did you notice him stealing?” a customer at the front of the roaster asked as he picked up his potato.
Ling Jing pointed toward the Restaurant Rules.
“Rule 3: The interests of the restaurant are sacred and inviolable. The manager possesses absolute authority over everything within the scope of operations.”
Any disturbance within the perimeter of her business couldn’t escape her eyes.
Or rather, the system’s eyes.
“To put it simply: my rules are the law here,” Ling Jing stated flatly.
“Whoaaa…”
Murmurs of awe rippled through the crowd.
In everyone’s eyes, the owner of this Chinese Restaurant grew even more enigmatic.
Mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful!
…
Today’s foot traffic was noticeably heavier than yesterday’s.
Upgrading the roaster had undeniably been the right call.
Compared to yesterday’s relentless scrambling, having a fully automated roaster that sold sweet potatoes and potatoes on its own genuinely liberated Ling Jing’s hands.
Following the scrawny man’s little incident, the line became far more orderly.
Perhaps others had entertained similar thoughts, but with an example made right before their eyes, no one dared to push their luck.
Besides, trying it would only trigger a system warning anyway.
Ling Jing was free to focus on her own prep work while watching the revenue counter on the cash box tick up on its own.
A single pot of stew yielded sixteen portions; she set one aside as her own lunch.
After selling four portions in the early morning, she steadily sold another six over the course of the morning rush.
Making a few extra runs to the farmland meant survivors quickly had coins in their pockets, so splurging on a “premium” item was only natural.
Plenty of people unloading contaminated produce into the Item Exchange Box craned their necks on tiptoe to ask, “Boss, do you still have any of that stew left? I’ll have enough coins after one more run!”
“Save a bowl for me, Boss!”
Ling Jing agreed to each request with a warm smile.
That meant sales would likely be even better in the afternoon.
Over the lunch hour, she sold three more bowls. Once Ling Jing finished her own meal, she set about brewing a second pot.
Fifteen portions a pot, fifteen coins each—selling it out yielded 225 City Coins in revenue.
Two pots meant 450 points.
Rounded off, that was practically half the cost of a proper brick-and-mortar storefront.
The very thought flooded her with boundless drive.
Fire up the wok and heat the oil!
Let’s get to work!
