Chapter 49: Does the Boss Here Even Know How Invaluable This Food Is?!
“Right this way!”
Leading Zhou Xue and her squad through rough terrain and winding trails, Hall brought them all the way back outside the West Wall.
Fortunately, he had just traveled this path earlier that morning, making the return trek familiar enough.
“…When was a building like this ever erected here?”
Quick’s jaw dropped.
He wasn’t the only one; aside from Hall, the other five squad members stood frozen in disbelief.
Zhou Xue included.
And for good reason.
—Through all the years since the cataclysm, humanity’s collective consensus was that the zones within the high walls were the only viable habitats for survival.
Moreover…
Aside from the shelters provided by official authorities, who possessed the ability to raise a… restaurant like this out in the wasteland on their own?
Was she an Awakener too? But even if an Awakener happened to possess construction abilities, what was the deal with this dome of white light?
Zhou Xue could keenly sense an inexplicable, enigmatic power thrumming within that white protective barrier.
Could it be that the “Boss Ling” Hall spoke of wasn’t running this shop alone?
And what about those edible roasted potatoes—could there truly be an Awakener gifted with food purification powers?
Was there a formidable squad of Awakeners stationed here?
No. That couldn’t be right.
Frontier cities were strictly forbidden from harboring Awakeners; anyone who awakened an ability had to be reported upward to the Three Great Cities.
Yves had concealed the awakenings within their own organization and Heixi’s syndicate—a fact Zhou Xue knew all too well.
Then what in the world… was going on before their eyes?
“Is she… an Awakener?” Shelley voiced the very question swirling in Zhou Xue’s mind.
“Nope!” Hall replied. “Boss Ling isn’t an Awakener. Her eyes aren’t green at all! In fact, there isn’t a single trace of emerald green anywhere on her body. Last night she even asked me why my eyes were green. In my opinion, she’s probably a divine emissary sent from the heavens to save us!”
A divine emissary?
Zhou Xue cast him a sidelong glance.
The heavens had abandoned humanity long ago.
Through ten grueling years of torment, if a miracle were ever meant to descend, why would it choose now?
“Why are there so many people here?” Luo Xianghuai asked. “There must be dozens of them. Why are they all running over there?”
“Beats me.” That fell squarely outside Hall’s knowledge base. “Nobody was out here when I left this morning.”
Back then, the morning bells had only just chimed. Hall had hurried off to find his comrades right after finishing his Malatang, well before the first wave of customers arrived.
“Interesting,” Turner remarked. “A restaurant known to so many people in the city, yet we hadn’t heard a single whisper about it.”
“Come on, let’s take a closer look,” Zhou Xue said.
Checking her face cloth, she led her squad toward the perimeter of white light.
The closer they got, the more astonished they became.
Stepping into the white light, the surrounding air was noticeably devoid of emerald mist.
“The air here is completely pure.”
Luo Xianghuai’s nostrils flared beneath his face cloth, his muffled voice laced with wonder.
And the people inside the light… were sitting on benches, chatting away while munching on roasted potatoes?
In Seed City, the residents lived every single day numb and bone-weary; the scene before them felt like something out of a dream.
By contrast, the squad—still wearing their face cloths inside the barrier—looked like the odd ones out.
Rumble, clatter—
Scavengers hauling heavy sacks trotted across the clearing, lining up before a large metal box.
The person at the head of the line held a large tub, loudly tipping… toxic, mutated produce straight into the hopper!
The squad watched in awe as, moments after the produce was dumped, several coins rattled down into the dispensing tray below. City Coins?!
“You can trade contaminated crops for money here?!”
Though Shelley kept her voice low, the utter shock in her tone was unmistakable.
“You can trade energy crystals too!” Hall chimed in proudly. “Last night, the leftover crystals in my pouch were exchanged for over fifty City Coins! Otherwise, where would I have gotten the money?”
“Those few crystals in your pocket traded for more than fifty City Coins? That can’t be right.”
“The payout rates here are much higher! Boss Ling doesn’t use the standard exchange rate of five coins for medium crystals and ten for large ones.”
Zhou Xue stepped closer to the exchange box and read the plaque mounted on the side:
[Eligible for Exchange: Crystals, metals, and valuables accepted within the city; foodstuffs (including toxic and mutated flora and fauna); non-edible mutated flora; non-edible mutated fauna.]
Her pupils constricted sharply—
It even recycled the carcasses of mutated beasts and flora?!
“Captain…” Shelley had clearly spotted the text as well.
“Mhm.” Zhou Xue nodded. “I see it.”
She knew exactly what Shelley was thinking.
Though they had never personally interacted with the Awakeners from the Three Great Cities, Yves had mentioned that every elite Awakener unit in the central cities had specialists capable of disposing of mutated carcasses.
After a battle, they would eliminate all traces of the corpses to prevent other mutated entities from devouring the remains and evolving into far deadlier threats.
Zhou Xue’s squad lacked such specialists, and Yves couldn’t spare the manpower to handle field disposal either. They had no choice but to settle for second best: extracting and retrieving only the cores of the slain beasts.
Yet this establishment… Zhou Xue lifted her gaze to the hanging sign.
The box outside the Chinese Restaurant could directly convert the carcasses of mutated abominations into hard currency…
It seemed this “Boss Ling” possessed a background far more staggering than they had ever imagined.
“Hey? Why haven’t you taken off your face cloths? The boss’s white light is completely safe!”
“Whoa, your eyes are bright green! Your toxicity levels must be through the roof—hurry and buy some roasted sweet potatoes or roasted potatoes to clear it out!”
“First time here? If it’s your first visit, I strongly recommend trying the Malatang! It clears toxins too, and it’s delicious!”
The patrons queuing by the Item Exchange Box noticed Zhou Xue and her squad lingering nearby and began chiming in with well-meaning advice.
Since when… did the people of Seed City become so warm-hearted?
Watching the scavengers happily conversing, eating, and laughing together, the squad felt a surreal sense of absurdity.
In the past, whenever people stepped outside the walls, didn’t they tear each other’s throats out just to fight over scrap crystals?
Since when had they become so friendly and cooperative?
Yet an even greater shock awaited them inside.
Tentatively stepping through the front doors, Zhou Xue and her squad caught sight of the menu board mounted near the entrance.
The attributes of every single food item were laid out with crystalline clarity.
!
Roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes could purge toxins; the one-pot stew enhanced physical strength, stabilized body temperature, and boosted mental resistance!
Pickled white radish… reduced inhaled toxin absorption and granted permanent reflex bonuses with continuous consumption, all for just 1 City Coin?!
And Malatang skewers… that had to be the source of the intoxicating aroma wafting through the dining hall, right?
Zhou Xue glanced over her shoulder. The diners seated around the tables were laughing and chatting merrily, eagerly devouring skewers from the simmering broth.
The creamy, milky-white broth slicked with shimmering red chili oil was enough to make anyone’s mouth water on sight.
“Captain!” Shelley called out in an urgent whisper. “Look what it says here… Malatang skewers can convert internal toxins into energy!”
Zhou Xue whipped her head around.
Except for Hall, the entire squad stared at the menu’s detailed annotations in stunned silence.
Food capable of purging poison was already defying the laws of nature.
—Converting internal toxins into raw energy?
Perhaps only an Awakener could truly comprehend what that signified.
For ordinary humans, awakening an ability was a lethal gamble where nine out of ten perished, primarily because most bodies simply couldn’t withstand or assimilate the volatile energy locked within the crystals.
Yet these skewers… could convert toxins directly into energy!
Did the boss running this place have any earthly idea just how invaluable this food truly was?!
