Chapter 109 - 98: Member

Chapter 109: Chapter 98: Member

Connie burst out laughing and was about to speak when she caught sight of someone standing at the door out of the corner of her eye. Her expression immediately soured.

"Mr. Gates, what are you doing here again?"

Gates snapped out of it, adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and strode through the doorway on his long legs.

"What’s the problem? I’m a person, and I need to eat. Isn’t it perfectly normal to come to a restaurant?"

"You have so many incredible restaurants, and you wouldn’t have to travel so far. Wouldn’t those be more suitable than our place?" Connie said, tilting her chin up.

At the mention of this, Gates’s mood soured.

His master chefs had all taken turns eating here more than once. Afterward, they would even gather specifically to study Ning He’s signature dishes. But no matter how they tried, they could never replicate them perfectly.

Even the shredded potato fries, which should have been easy, never came out with the same crispy texture as Ning He’s. Although they were still delicious, ’not as good’ was still ’not as good.’ Gates absolutely refused to allow inferior imitations on his menu, and as a result, business at his several restaurants had taken a hit recently.

If not for the vegetarian buffet’s lack of meat, which kept customers from eating there for every meal, the impact would have been even greater.

Ning He herself never imagined that her customer base would overlap so significantly with the top-tier restaurants of Beiluo City owned by Gates.

"One gets tired of eating delicacies all the time and wants a change of pace. I heard you launched a premium membership. Why didn’t you send one to me?" Gates said, not thinking his request was the least bit unreasonable.

After all, every restaurant in Beiluo City was proud to catch his eye.

He was doing them a favor.

Connie was speechless. Just as she was about to tell him to get lost, Ning He stopped her and smiled at Gates. "Our premium memberships are only available to long-time customers who have made special contributions. Alternatively, if you were to make a one-time deposit of ten thousand original coins, we could also give you one."

’Ten thousand original coins! That’s daylight robbery!’

Connie shot Ning He an appreciative glance.

"Ten thousand?" Sure enough, Gates was taken aback.

But the next second, he pulled a card from his suit pocket and handed it over.

"Make it twenty thousand. Give me two cards."

Ning He & Connie: "..."

’Rich people are the worst!’

Ning He took the card and was entering the amount into the cash register when she heard Gates’s lazy voice say, "Remember to put Director Carolyn’s name on the other card."

Ning He’s hand paused.

"Director Carolyn?"

"Yes. You should have met her at Tom’s house that day."

A thought flashed through Ning He’s mind. She tapped the screen a few times, changing the number.

"Director Carolyn is my idol. There’s no need to charge for hers. Here’s the card; could you please pass it along to her for me?"

This time, Gates’s expression darkened.

’So my reputation isn’t as useful as that girl’s?’

’And now I have to be an errand boy?’

Connie handed the cards to Gates, a cunning smile on her face. "We’ll have to trouble you, then."

Gates was momentarily dazzled by her smile. By the time he realized what was happening, he had already taken the cards.

His mouth twitched a couple of times before he finally stuffed them into his pocket.

"I’ll be back tonight. Remember to save the best seat for me." He snorted, then turned to Ning He before leaving. "My offer still stands. Whenever you come to your senses, you can come find me. Otherwise, your current supply channels might just run into some problems one of these days."

Leaving this threat hanging in the air, Gates finally felt a bit better and strode casually out of the restaurant.

"That old man, what is his problem!"

Connie was furious, rolling up her sleeves but finding nowhere to vent her anger. So, she just rolled them back down and fiercely cursed Gates a few more times.

If Gates knew he was being called an old man, he’d probably cough up blood from anger. At that moment, he was sitting in his car, heading toward the Security Bureau building where Carolyn worked.

After the Great Cataclysm, life-forms across the globe mutated. Humanity was no longer at the top of the food chain, and biological security became the central focus of every safe city’s defense.

Beiluo City’s Biological Security Bureau was located in a pentagonal building in the northeast of the Third Ring. It housed hundreds of high-level personnel and a massive surveillance system responsible for the entire city’s control, defense, inspection, and the timely discovery and elimination of hazardous plants.

Carolyn had just walked out of a conference room when a staff member hurried forward to report something.

"...it’s about one of the subjects you specifically instructed us to monitor closely, Director. One of them recently opened a restaurant, and last month’s taxed revenue reached 450,000, far exceeding the warning threshold. Here is the relevant file."

Carolyn took the file and opened it. A familiar young face appeared before her.

"It’s her?"

Carolyn quickly recognized the person in the file.

"Director, does this require action?"

Just as Carolyn was about to speak, her secretary approached from behind.