Chapter 23
Chapter 23
“How much?” Lin Yinxi’s stomach growled. “Hurry up and tell me. Stop getting in the way of my meal.”
Keep staring. Keep those eyes fixed on the Barista.
Nothing outranked a rule with an official seal.
After a brief standoff, all the malice in the Barista abruptly deflated like a punctured ball.
With extreme reluctance, he turned, took two shriveled, rock-like pieces of white bread and two unpackaged cups of distilled water from a metal box beneath the counter, and slammed them onto it.
He had quite a temper.
“Thank you for your custom… glug, glug… Ten Rabbit Coins per set. Twenty for two.” With a sinister air, the Barista pulled out a sheet of paper. Coffee sprayed from the corners of his mouth onto it, leaving it covered in stains. “If you have no Rabbit Coins, sign the Pledge Agreement here. Leave your memories or fingers.”
“I’ll pay.” Lin Yinxi used her phone to pay for her own set and finally received her white bread and distilled water.
Food at last. She could have cried.
Any longer, and she would have shriveled up.
The white bread was hard.
Distilled water lacked minerals and nutrients. Drinking it for a few days was fine, but she could not live on it indefinitely.
Yang Shu did not take out any Rabbit Coins. Buying his admission ticket had used them all up.
“Happy memories…”
Yang Shu wiped the blood dripping down half his face with the back of his hand and looked down at the Pledge Agreement. His soft black hair concealed his eyes. Within the narrow confines of his miserable life, he seemed to have no happy memories to exchange for Rabbit Coins.
Lin Yinxi leaned closer too. “Let me have a look.”
She needed to see it as well. If she ran out of Rabbit Coins later, she might have to sign one herself.
The Pledge Agreement also bore Deep Blue Aquarium’s seal.
“Wait…”
Lin Yinxi noticed that when the aquarium’s rainbow lights turned purple or orange, colors produced by mixing in red light, faint writing appeared beneath the coffee stains at the bottom of the Pledge Agreement.
She picked it up and held it toward the light.
“Yang Shu, there’s writing down here.” Lin Yinxi pointed to a line of tiny gray print at the bottom. “It says… Customers who order the basic set and cannot afford to pay may choose to help in the kitchen. Washing ten coffee cups with red stains will cover the cost of one meal.”
“Guest, your meal is ready. Please choose your payment method.” The Barista began pressing him for payment.
Lin Yinxi hastily stepped aside to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Yang Shu took the Pledge Agreement and told the Barista decisively, “I’ll work in the kitchen.”
“Young man, come with me if you’re helping in the kitchen.” A woman appeared without warning behind Yang Shu, her footsteps silent.
Lin Yinxi turned to look. The woman was an entity, almost two meters tall, with long, thin limbs and a translucent dress. The dress resembled a jellyfish’s bell, its hem slowly rising and falling.
“I’m the Pastry Chef here. Are both of you coming to help in the kitchen?”
The Pastry Chef slowly drifted closer. Her skin was a cool white, and her hair consisted of translucent jellyfish tentacles that hung to her waist. Fluorescent blue liquid faintly flowed inside them.
“Just me.” Yang Shu looked at the Pastry Chef. Her body was supple, and her neck bent at an impossible angle as she looked at him.
“Yes, just him.” Lin Yinxi planned to go to Zone B shortly and did not intend to linger in Jellyfish Café.
The Pastry Chef’s eyes had no pupils. They glowed a faint, eerie blue.
“Come with me.” Her hair writhed and wound around Yang Shu’s wrist. “Some customers ordered the basic set a few days ago too. But then they wouldn’t wash the cups properly. They kept trying to run away, making me fish them out of the tanks at night.”
Still complaining, the Pastry Chef led Yang Shu away.
With her food in hand, Lin Yinxi found a seat at a table with a blue tablecloth. She bit into the dry white bread and browsed her phone as she ate.
The bread had a faint wheat aroma, and its crust tasted slightly salty.
In the main phone group, Lin Yinxi saw the Pastry Chef’s latest photo.
Unlike Jellyfish Café’s clean, tidy exterior, the kitchen was filthy. Numerous stained coffee cups soaked in a sink full of murky dark red water.
Yang Shu stood at the sink in rubber gloves, about to start work.
Lin Yinxi finished gnawing her bread, unscrewed the plastic water bottle, and took a couple of swallows of distilled water. At last, her stomach felt a little full.
She put the remaining half bottle into her bag.
Just then, she heard the wind chimes at Jellyfish Café’s entrance ring urgently.
The speakers, previously playing slow music, switched to a welcome for a distinguished guest.
The tablecloths outside began turning from blue to red.
The red spread rapidly.
Remembering rule five, Lin Yinxi immediately stood to leave.
The moment she stood, the tablecloth in front of her had already turned scarlet.
She heard heavy breathing overhead. A rotten stench filled the air, and an enormous dark shape loomed over her. A low, cloying voice sounded eerily above her head. “Hiss, hiss, hiss… You’re in my seat.”
None of Jellyfish Café’s other employees were here. Lin Yinxi quickly put the blue wristband back on.
It was certainly too late to run now.
Lin Yinxi took a cloth from her crossbody bag without turning around. Whether the table was dirty or not, she made a show of working diligently, wiping and wiping with an expressionless face.
“Esteemed guest, my apologies. Another guest’s vomit soiled this table. As a member of the aquarium’s cleaning staff, I couldn’t bear to leave it that way, so I came over especially to clean it for you.”
The huge dark shape overhead slowly lowered its body toward her.
Lin Yinxi was a little nervous. She was an aquarium cleaner, while the café was an independently contracted business. Her wristband might not work here.
After a token wipe, she respectfully stepped aside and gestured for the guest to sit.
“Look, the table’s spotless now. Please have a seat. I won’t disturb you while you enjoy the finest deep-sea coffee. Have a lovely meal!”
She even obligingly pulled out a chair for the dark shape.
She wanted to run.
The entity’s countless compound eyes, hidden in the dim, dreamlike lighting, rotated. Its gaze settled on the blue wristband on Lin Yinxi’s wrist, which emanated an employee’s aura.
Then a banknote worth twenty Rabbit Coins fluttered down from above her head.
A tip!
What a classy person… No, a classy VIP.
The atmosphere around Jellyfish Café had changed. Red light descended. Lin Yinxi accepted the tip and quickly left before the café’s other employees could arrive and expose her.
Finding the route to Zone B cost her a little more time.
Now there were only fifteen minutes left until the aquarium closed.
Closing music began playing inside.
The female announcer spoke clearly and precisely. “Attention, visitors. Happy moments always pass quickly. Deep Blue Aquarium will close in fifteen minutes. Visitors who have not rented tents, please leave the aquarium in an orderly manner…”