Universe Infinite Canteen

"Thank you," Yi Xiaxia said. "My name is Yi Xiaxia, and I am a student at Min University."

"Min University?" Ma Lu raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I know it, it's not far from my restaurant. Come with me; I can give you a ride back."

"Thank you for your trouble." Yi Xiaxia followed behind Ma Lu and added, "That... do you know what just happened? Why did the game suddenly end, everyone was released, and even the people who had died before came back to life? And who exactly planned this game?"

"I don't know," Ma Lu lied. "I'm just as clueless about what just happened to us as you are. That so-called Gold Medal Producer is probably just some bored person's alter ego."

"Judging by her appearance, she's probably not that old. Aren't all kids nowadays fond of messing around on the internet?"

"This doesn't seem like something a kid could pull off," Yi Xiaxia said seriously. "The level of technology she displayed in the game was anything but simple, especially the ability to make what she said feel real."

"When she mentioned staying up all night, my body genuinely felt the fatigue of sleep deprivation. Oh, right, why, um..."

"Ma Lu, my name is Ma Lu."

"Why were you, Brother Ma, not affected by her influence then?"

"Who said I wasn't? I felt just as sleepy to death."

"But why did your Mood Value hardly change?"

"Oh, you're asking about that. It's because that person idly decided to correlate Mood Value fluctuations with blood pressure, and coincidentally, I had eaten Gastrodia Elata stewed camel today," Ma Lu said.

Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

"What?"

"Gastrodia Elata stewed camel. The dish helps to keep the mind calm and lowers blood pressure."@@novelbin@@

"Ah, can just one dish really have such an exaggerated effect?" Yi Xiaxia's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Ma Lu thought for a moment, considering he had to pass by the restaurant to drop off Yi Xiaxia anyway, he added,

"You seem to have had quite a scare tonight. Coincidentally, Old Wang made an extra serving today and froze it in the fridge. I was planning to use it for the staff meal tomorrow, but it looks like you need it more."

"Is that appropriate?"

"Nothing inappropriate about it, I'm the owner, and my word is law at the restaurant."

Ma Lu brought Yi Xiaxia to the front of the car, and at that moment, he saw a pigeon perched on a nearby streetlight, staring at him.

He then opened the passenger door for Yi Xiaxia, saying, "Get in the car. You can watch something on Bilibili on the car's system while I go to the restroom."

"Oh, okay."

Once Yi Xiaxia had climbed into the seat, the pigeon unfolded its wings and flew into the alley behind the nearby convenience store.

Ma Lu also briskly walked there; as soon as he entered the alley, he heard the City Manager's voice in his mind, "To your right."

Ma Lu looked in that direction, and he saw the pigeon that had been on the streetlight now standing on an iron fence outside the residential compound.

"Why do you insist on staying up so high? Every time I talk to you, I have to look up."

"There are stray cats around here," the City Manager said.

"Alright."

"Anyway, I called you over to thank you for finding the Gold Medal Producer and alerting me in time. You also distracted its attention at the crucial moment, just as I told you to do."

"It wasn't me who found it; it found me."

Ma Lu said, "I was chosen by it to participate in that perverse little game. Why did you lie to me earlier, saying that people could die playing the game? I just checked, and there haven't been any strange deaths in City B recently."

"If I hadn't said that, who knows if you would have messaged me in time and tried to hold it off." White Dove glanced at the scarf around Ma Lu's neck. "But it seems you weren't too worried, anyway."

"On one hand, it's because I had Gastrodia Elata stewed camel meat today. On the other hand, it's because this scarf was given to me by the Wandering Sorcerer; it can provide protection three times when I'm in danger."

Ma Lu fiddled with the woolen scarf, "You told me that a guest from a Different Dimension was playing a killing game in City B, so I dug it out and put it on. However, when I was knocked down later and taken prisoner to be forced into the game, it didn't react at all.

"At that time, I started to suspect that this game might not actually result in anyone dying."

"You do have quite a few nice things on you."

"Well, mainly because I'm a pretty popular guy, hahaha." Ma Lu said proudly.

"Speaking of which, I thought you guys were going to have a big fight after you rushed over here. I expected it would be an earth-shattering battle, but it just ended without any fighting? Isn't that conclusion a bit too mild?"

"You've watched too many Hollywood movies. It's just hard to find, but it doesn't have much combat ability," Pigeon said.

"Is that so? But why is it so obsessed with creating games and getting people to play?"

"Do you want to know?"

"I did want to know originally, but now that you ask like that, I have a bad feeling about it. I think it's not a big deal not to know. Also, I'm not even asking for a reward for helping you out, but could you reimburse me for my loss.

"In order not to let it see the feathers, I burned everything including cash and my bank card. I can go to the bank and get the card reissued, but my wallet was brand new, bought just last week. It was Hermes, cost me over 8,000 bucks, not to mention the change inside.

"Brother Pigeon, could you just reimburse me ten thousand?"

"You want a reward," White Dove said. "You can just take whatever's in the cat nest."

"What is that?" Ma Lu had noticed the cardboard box early on, likely a shelter built by cat lovers for the stray cats nearby.

But the stray cat was not there now, and Ma Lu reached into the box and to his surprise pulled out a game cartridge.

It wasn't the kind of cartridge found on the Switch. It looked more like the old type from the Subor Learning Machine.

Ma Lu was initially confused, but then thought of something, "Wait a second, this thing isn't from that Different Dimension guest you caught, is it?"

"No," Pigeon shook his head, "It is that Different Dimension guest, the one that calls itself the Gold Medal Producer."

Ma Lu's hand shook, and he quickly threw the game cartridge back into the cat nest, "Damn, Brother Pigeon, can't you speak without panting? And why would you give me this dangerous thing?"

"It's not exactly dangerous, after all, it hasn't really killed anyone," White Dove said gravely.

"Give me a break, that's not what you said last time. Besides, I run a restaurant, not a refuge."

"I've just made an agreement with it. From now on, it will abide by the rules of living here. Objectively speaking, though, it needs a place to help it adapt to its new life on this Plane."