Chapter 247: "Have I Really Regressed?

Once the new security arrangements were settled, the two guards who were about to take over offered to come to the shop two days early to go over the various duties with Ye Fan and Lin Zhou.

Shen Lu found them to be quite responsible. Since Xue Can didn’t have much to do and was coming over for dinner anyway, he went back to the shop with them.

Ye Fan and Lin Zhou had no idea they were about to be replaced until they saw Huo Qian and Wu Jun.

"What? You guys are the new security guards starting next month?" Ye Fan’s eyes went wide. "Wait, we’re already pros at this. If you’re renewing anyone, it should be us!"

Huo Qian shot him a look. "Ye Fan, you’ve gotten fat lately."

"That’s nonsense! I’m not fat, I’m brawny!"

Wu Jun said with a sincere expression, "Brother Fan, your reflexes aren’t as fast as mine anymore."

"Now that’s just ridiculous. If I threw a punch, you wouldn’t even be able to dodge it."

"Don’t believe me? Wanna test it?"

"Fine, let’s test it."

Since it was a friendly spar between them, Ye Fan didn’t use his full strength. Fifty percent should be more than enough.

Ye Fan threw a punch, and Wu Jun dodged it with ease.

Ye Fan let out a surprised "Huh?" "You’ve improved a lot lately."

"I have improved, but it’s also because you’ve slipped, Brother Fan."

Of course, Ye Fan didn’t believe him. He threw another punch, this time using seventy percent of his strength.

To his surprise, Wu Jun still dodged it.

’What the hell?’

Ye Fan stared at his fist, confused. While he wasn’t a Superpower User known for speed, there was no way he should miss Wu Jun when using seventy percent of his power.

’Have I really gotten worse?’

’But I’m on the verge of a breakthrough.’

Wu Jun patted his shoulder. "Brother Fan, get too comfortable for too long, and your skills will start to slide."

Before dinner, Shen Lu received a digital red envelope from Huo Qian, who said it was for the meal.

Shen Lu accepted it.

Needless to say, Ye Fan and the others must have put them up to it.

With two extra people for dinner, Shen Lu made larger portions of every dish and cooked a huge pot of rice—enough to feed twenty people.

Dinner consisted of braised tofu with pickled mustard greens, twice-cooked pork with garlic sprouts, stir-fried bean sprouts with chives, steamed egg with minced pork, and several assorted pickles.

The pickles were the shop’s newly made pickled scallions and green onions, as well as their standard chilled radish peels.

Huo Qian and Wu Jun were completely stunned, and they shot Ye Fan and Lin Zhou a look of dawning comprehension.

’No wonder they both put on weight,’ they thought. ’It’d be a miracle not to get fat with food like this.’

The thought of losing his security guard position filled Ye Fan with a wave of sorrow, and he furiously devoured five large bowls of rice.

Lin Zhou still looked as cool and aloof as ever, but even he, a man who rarely ate much, had an extra bowl of rice today.

After all, once he was no longer a security guard at Little Deer Cuisine, it wouldn’t be so easy to get food that could soothe one’s Spiritual Sea.

The corner of Shen Lu’s mouth twitched. ’Maybe replacing Ye Fan isn’t such a bad idea after all,’ she thought. ’He eats way too much.’

At ten o’clock that night, Shen Lu was already lying in bed when the system suddenly spoke up.

"Host, someone in the shop is heading out."

"Who?" Shen Lu asked.

"The man named Song Zhigao."

The system pulled up the security feed. On the screen, Song Zhigao was seen walking from the employee dormitory to the main gate, pressing the button to open it, and leaving in a hurry.

’It’s already ten o’clock,’ Shen Lu wondered. ’Why is he going out instead of resting?’

’And in such a rush, without telling anyone.’

Shen Lu had Lin Zhou follow him.

Song Zhigao didn’t go far, stopping in front of a club called X Club on Gold Street.

He stared up at the flashing sign, took a deep breath, and walked inside.

Lin Zhou followed close behind, but he was stopped by the bouncers at the entrance.

"Sorry, this is a members-only club."

Lin Zhou was speechless.

Since he couldn’t get in through the front, Lin Zhou decided to look for a side entrance.

But besides its front and back doors, X Club had no other points of entry or exit—not even a window.

’Aren’t they afraid of everyone burning to death if a fire breaks out?!’ Lin Zhou grumbled in frustration.

But then he quickly realized a fire wouldn’t be able to spread. Unless it was an explosion, any flame would be instantly detected, triggering a dry-chemical system to extinguish it.

Lin Zhou could only report the situation to Shen Lu.

"Just wait outside for a bit, then. See when Song Zhigao comes out."

An hour later, Song Zhigao emerged. His hair and clothes were disheveled, as if he had been in a fight.

The man’s fists were clenched at his sides, his jaw tight, as if he were desperately holding something back.

A short while later, Song Zhigao returned to the shop. It was Cai Su who got up and opened the door for him.

"Little Song, why would you go out so late at night without a word?" Cai Su had already been asleep and was woken by the noise.

"Sorry." Song Zhigao gave a strained smile. "A relative of mine had an emergency. I went to check on them."

Song Zhigao was the only one of the four temporary workers who owned a Light Brain, though it was a very old model. Cai Su didn’t doubt his story; she just opened the door for him and asked a few concerned questions.

Song Zhigao answered vaguely, his spirits clearly low.

Cai Su assumed he was just worried about his relative and didn’t think any more of it.

Lin Zhou returned and relayed the details to Shen Lu. But since he hadn’t been able to get inside, what happened in X Club remained a mystery.

Shen Lu had her suspicions.

’Song Zhigao doesn’t seem like the type to go clubbing for fun,’ she mused. ’Besides, a members-only club would be far too expensive for him.’

’So, he didn’t get in on his own. Someone must have been waiting for him inside.’

’The answer seems obvious,’ Shen Lu thought. ’It has to be the Commerce Association.’

’Calling him over so late at night... they must have given him instructions. Something’s probably going to happen tomorrow.’

「The next day was overcast.」 A howling north wind kicked up sand and dust from the ground.

After getting out of bed, Shen Lu first glanced out the window, then, for the first time in ages, she actually checked the weather forecast.

She was mainly checking the sandstorm’s severity level.

It was fine—a level 1, the lowest.

’It probably won’t affect business too much.’

Breakfast was hand-pulled noodles with two choices of sauce: tomato and egg, or stir-fried pork with chili peppers.

Shen Lu loved both, but she only had one stomach.

She’d been feeling a little under the weather lately and had a canker sore, so Shen Lu chose the milder tomato and egg sauce. Fu Cheng went with the stir-fried pork with chili peppers.

As she was eating, the aroma of the stir-fried pork with chili peppers kept wafting over to her, and her mouth began to water.

"Fu Cheng, are your noodles good?" she asked, blinking innocently.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she’d never had these noodles before.

Fu Cheng glanced sideways at her, and seeing the sparkle in her eyes, he instantly understood.

"It’s delicious. Want to try some?"

"Yes!" Shen Lu pushed her bowl forward. "Just a taste is fine."

’I’m already half-full, and I really shouldn’t be eating anything spicy right now,’ she thought. ’One little bite will be enough.’

Fu Cheng used his chopsticks to give her a portion, making sure it was more sauce than noodles.

Shen Lu pulled the bowl back and lifted the noodles to her mouth.

HISS...

The spiral chilies were just as potent as she’d imagined. That one bite felt like it was going to blow the top of her head clean off.

It wasn’t that Shen Lu couldn’t handle the heat, but her canker sore amplified the spiciness, making it feel five times hotter than it actually was.

Shen Lu grimaced, all her attention consumed by the searing pain from the sore, completely oblivious to everyone else staring intently at her.