"This...this works too?" Little Snail was dumbfounded as he watched the young man and woman exchange phone numbers and even sit down together at a table.
"This is purely an accident, don't learn from him," Ma Lu said, "In most cases, you'd just be seen as a hentai."
"Boss," Little Snail pushed up his glasses, "Does the food here really have that effect? If so, then I..."
"Forget it, even without eating, I already know what you'll see at the crater," Ma Lu patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "You don't earn money easily. Save that four hundred bucks."
"Oh."
"However, the Mushroom Pot and Bacon Corn Chowder are quite suitable for you. Hmm, let's make an exception today and have these two dishes as an employee meal to welcome you and Wu Peipei."
"Thanks, senior."
"We're all family here, no need to be polite. Alright, now chin up and go work hard for me."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Little Snail and Wu Peipei were busy from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., and it was only after the lunch rush that the number of customers finally decreased. Then Ma Lu closed the restaurant for half an hour to take a look at an apartment.
It wasn't for himself to live in, but to house the upcoming new employees—more precisely, the Valkyrie People.
Ma Lu had promised to find them a place to live.
Although Liliem said two shoeboxes would suffice, the question remained where to put those shoeboxes.
Ma Lu's own rental was already full of stuff, and the door couldn't keep out those tiny people the size of fingers; they could basically go wherever they wanted.
Having Old Wang in the house had already taken Ma Lu a month to get used to, and he feared he couldn't handle a hundred more people.
It wasn't a good idea to put them in the kitchen either, as that was Old Wang's territory. Old Wang was easygoing most of the time, except when it came to cooking, where he became very strict.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
He could accept the Valkyrie People working in his kitchen, but when Ma Lu asked him, he couldn't accept them living there.
Phasic Space... well, that was an option.
But access to and from Phasic Space was inconvenient for the Valkyrie People, and since there was no sunlight there, Ma Lu didn't want them living with a bunch of freezers and machines. People who didn't know any better might think he was mistreating his employees.
"That's me," the man in the suit nodded.
"Oh, welcome, welcome," Ma Lu led the man in the suit into the restaurant and pulled back a screen for him.
The man in the suit sat down and glanced at the menu on the blackboard.
Ma Lu explained, "Oh, that's for the regular customers. As for you, we've already discussed it earlier. Tonight, the chef will create three dishes for you, taking mushrooms as the theme."
"Thank you for the effort," Chen Zhengyi took off the rabbit head mask, revealing a face underneath that was not much different from the mask.
Ma Lu was trying to control his facial expression, but upon seeing the furry Chen Zhengyi, his eyebrows still twitched involuntarily.
Seeing that Ma Lu was at a loss for words, Chen Zhengyi was quite generous, "Ask whatever you want to ask."
"Why do you wear a head mask? And one that looks exactly like your face, at that?"
"Good question. Superheroes all need a mask to conceal their identity. Plus, if I ever forget to wear it, or if someone accidentally captures my real face, people will instinctively think I still have the mask on," Chen Zhengyi explained.
"That... actually makes sense. Wait, did you just say your identity is that of a superhero?"
"I prefer to call myself a vigilante, fighting for the justice of this city," Chen Zhengyi said gravely, "Besides that... I also have a formal job."
"What job?"
"Buying lottery tickets."
"Uh... I always thought the lottery was just a scam."
"For ordinary people like you, it is probability-wise," Chen Zhengyi nodded in agreement, "As long as you play enough, you'll eventually regress to the mean and definitely lose money, but I'm different."
"What's different about you?"
"I'm lucky."
"Huh?"
Ma Lu thought Chen Zhengyi would offer more explanation but soon realized he was only stating a fact.
After a pause, Ma Lu asked again, "So our City B has its own vigilante like New York now? What do you usually do?"