Chapter 51: And Look at That—Fat Sheep Served Right into Our Mouths!
“Nobody was blaming you,” Shelley told Hall.
She stepped up to the Cash Box, pulled a thick pouch from her rucksack, and poured all thirty medium crystals into the hopper in one swift motion.
Three hundred and sixty City Coins was a hefty sum, and looking at the meager stash they had pooled, it might not even be enough.
Across the five of them, they only had twenty-two medium crystals and three large ones left.
Adding those to what she had just poured in, the grand total would only come out to around two hundred and ninety City Coins… If worse came to worst, they would just have to cut back on their order.
To their sheer disbelief, Boss Ling looked up and said, “That brings your current credit to 272 City Coins. You still owe 88.”
What… Weren’t thirty medium crystals supposed to yield one hundred and fifty City Coins?!
Two hundred and seventy-two… A single medium crystal was worth nine City Coins here?! That was practically the value of a large crystal in the city!
“I told you guys earlier, Boss Ling gives way better exchange rates than the city!” Hall chimed in.
“…”
Had he said that? He probably had.
They had been too busy drowning in shock back then to listen closely.
Besides… unless someone saw it with their own two eyes, who on earth would believe such a thing?!
It was no exaggeration to say that the exact same crystals yielded nearly double the coin here compared to the city exchange counters!
Clatter—
Shelley continued dropping the crystals they had pooled into the box.
Just as the ninth crystal tumbled in, Boss Ling raised her hand in a “stop” gesture. “That’s enough. Here’s your change.”
The Cash Box actually spat out three City Coins for them!
After counting out their change, Ling Jing offered the high-rollers a bright smile. “Please wait a moment while I pack everything up for you.”
With that, she turned and headed into the kitchen.
It was best to give these new customers a moment to catch their breath; even through their face cloths, she could see their eyes bugging out one wider than the next.
Ling Jing redeemed two tall cylindrical takeout containers from the Mall, then walked over to the communal table to ladle out the skewers.
Business had been splendid today.
With a ceaseless supply of fresh skewers, the broth simmering across the Malatang tables was perpetually topped up.
Without long waits, tables turned over briskly, sparing the patrons waiting behind from lingering indefinitely.
The atmosphere was infinitely better than yesterday’s frantic, battle-like scramble for food.
Over the course of the morning, virtually every patron eager to taste the Malatang had managed to get their fill.
Ling Jing even spotted several diners who had eaten skewers first thing in the morning, headed out to dig up wild crops to cash in, and returned just past noon for round two of Malatang.
Seating wasn’t tight anymore anyway.
If people wanted to eat their fill, they were welcome to indulge—the money went straight into her pocket, after all.
She didn’t let the automated assembly line in the kitchen idle, either. Whenever a batch of skewers was consumed out front, she simply keyed in the number and let the machine churn out replacements.
It was effortless.
Scooping out ten skewers of each variety, Ling Jing portioned the hundred Malatang skewers into the two containers and snapped the lids securely into place.
She then redeemed several large carrier bags, packing the roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, one-pot stew, and pickled white radish together before handing the entire haul over to her big spenders.
“Boss Ling, I noticed people over there eating… rice porridge? That doesn’t seem to be on the menu.”
Ling Jing followed Zhou Xue’s gaze. Indeed, a patron seated at the tables to the right was currently enjoying a bowl of rice porridge alongside some of the one-pot stew.
“It isn’t on the regular menu. That was today’s limited special—only twenty portions, and they sold out first thing this morning.”
“Then, what does the rice porridge do?”
Ling Jing retrieved a small wooden board from behind the cashier counter—the very sign she had propped by the pot during the morning rush.
“Our friend Hall here had some; he probably knows already.”
“Mm-hmm! I ate a whole bowl last night,” Hall said, gesturing animatedly. “Though there wasn’t a sign propped up back then!”
Reading the text inscribed upon the board, Zhou Xue’s heart pounded fiercely.
—Slows mutation and death caused by toxic overload?!
The agonizing writhing of comrades succumbing to sudden corrosion upon ingesting energy crystals remained seared into her memory. The sole reason she had bought such an enormous quantity of roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes was to carry them back and grant them a wider margin of error.
A margin of error between life and death for her companions.
Yet the attributes of this rice porridge were undeniably far more potent.
The Dark Star organization had originally numbered fifty-two souls, but twenty-one had perished over the past month alone.
Every single one had succumbed swiftly in the throes of absorbing crystals.
Excluding herself, a mere five members had successfully awakened.
A devastating, blood-soaked toll.
God knew how many times she had confronted Yves and how many grueling negotiations she had endured just to extract the Commander’s agreement to delay further awakenings and restrict the number of candidates subjected to the process.
There were still twenty-five unawakened comrades remaining within the city walls, seven of whom had only barely been dragged back from the brink of death using diluted detox serum, now permanently bedridden.
If only… if only those fallen comrades had been able to eat rice porridge capable of staving off the lethal onset of toxins… No, she couldn’t allow herself to spiral down that path.
Zhou Xue lifted her gaze.
Her surviving comrades in the city still depended on her. They had to press onward, carrying the weight of those who had fallen.
There was no point dwelling on impossible “what ifs.”
One could not be blessed with fortune only to grow greedy for miracles that never were.
“Boss Ling, will there be more of this limited rice porridge tomorrow?” Zhou Xue asked.
“Most likely, yes,” Ling Jing replied.
Her remaining stock of grain was enough to brew porridge for another two days. If her scouting run tonight went smoothly and she tracked down mutated paddy stalks or wild rice creatures, she might even be able to offer it without daily limits.
“Understood. Thank you.”
Taking the bags, the green-eyed squad members stood in silence as Zhou Xue offered her thanks.
Her tone was solemn and heavy with gratitude.
Ling Jing smiled warmly. “Thank you for your patronage. Please come again.”
Outside the Chinese Restaurant.
“Hey, hey, psst—look!”
Behind an unassuming boulder, a man masked in a face cloth jabbed his elbow into his partner, who was nodding off on watch.
“What is it?”
The awakened lookout grumbled, thoroughly annoyed.
“Stragglers! We’ve finally got stragglers!”
“Huh? Where?”
The groggy man snapped to attention, squinting in the direction his partner was pointing.
“Well, I’ll be. Why aren’t they heading to the farmland? Why are they heading north?”
“Who the hell knows? Look, look closer! They’re carrying bags!”
“Holy crap, is that… food from the Chinese Restaurant?”
“Roasted potatoes! Roasted sweet potatoes! The one-pot stew! And… what are those tall containers?”
“That’s gotta be that Malatang everyone’s been raving about these past two days! The stuff that smells so damn good!”
“One, two, three, four, five, six—there’s only six of them! Talk about ballsy. Do they think we slacked off and stopped watching? Why aren’t they clinging to the herd?”
“I’ve got it figured out! They think if they don’t enter the gates and steer clear of the farms, we won’t spot them. Trying to take the long way around, aren’t they?!”
“With our lookouts posted everywhere, they’re practically begging for it. Heheheh.”
“Quit your snickering! Keep your eyes glued to them and see which way they’re heading! I’m running over to the farmland to fetch Second Brother!”
“Right, go, hurry! We’re hauling in a massive score this time!”
“Once we pin these six down and beat the snot out of them, all that gourmet food is ours. You make damn sure you don’t lose them!”
“Relax, consider it done!”
As he spoke, the lookout swallowed a thick mouthful of drool.
The Big Boss had been right all along. Those toxic strays had lived like cowards for years; where would they find real solidarity?
And look at that—fat sheep served right into their mouths!
