"Uh……"
For some reason, after hearing the manager's question, Ji Zi suddenly showed an expression as if her thoughts were seen through by a stern elder.
That expression, mixed with guilt and a little bit of cowardice, gave Kiana, who was sitting at the edge of the hall, the illusion that she was looking at a mirror.
During her years at St. Freya's Academy, she often made similar expressions in front of her aunt and teacher Himeko after getting into trouble.
"..."
The store manager narrowed his eyes, touched his chin, and looked at Ji Zi, whose gaze was wandering, with a scrutinizing look. He suddenly asked, "Are you going to learn from my past self?"
Ji Zi straightened her upper body suddenly. She touched her face in panic, with a horrified expression: "How did you find out?"
"I guessed...but why are you so scared? I won't eat you." The manager was a little curious.
Ji Zi immediately lost her temper: "...I was a little worried that you would object."
"Because you've had an argument with your father over something similar?"
"That's partly the reason, but there's a more important reason..." Ji Zi laughed awkwardly, "I may need to borrow your help."
"I see. After all, you don't have special abilities like Brownie and the others. Without external help, it's quite difficult for you to even break through the barriers of the world. So you're afraid of arguing with me, and you're also afraid that I'll oppose your idea." The store manager nodded in understanding. "Can you tell me the reason?"
"You agree?" Ji Zi looked surprised.
"It's good to have a goal. I have no reason not to support you." The store manager said, "You are still young and have the ability and drive. It would be good for you to see more scenery you have never seen before and meet more people. Besides, those places outside the world are not necessarily that dangerous. Although there are definitely some risks, with your ability, it is not difficult to resolve those risks."
"I'm just a little curious, why do you suddenly want to travel to other worlds?"
"After all, it was my life goal in the past." Ji Zi looked fascinated. "Although the first 19 years of my life can basically be regarded as a prologue, I have no intention of immersing myself in grief and the past. However, preparing to move forward does not mean completely abandoning the past. I want to give an account of my past dreams."
——Murata Himeko, nineteen years old this year, has just graduated from university not too long ago and can barely be considered a young girl who has just passed her expiration date.
All along, Ji Zi has taken her father as an example and has devoted countless time and effort to be able to move forward side by side with those pioneers who explored the unknown.
Becoming a person like her father had been her life goal for the first nineteen years. Even though she knew the truth about the world bubble and that the outside of the world was not a place that could be reached after becoming an astronaut, Jizi was not prepared to let the time that had passed become meaningless.
"I see." The store manager paused, "So, are you here to say goodbye to me today?"
"You want to chase me away now?" Ji Zi laughed.
The store manager said helplessly: "I never said that, but when you came to the store and talked to me about your life goals, it's hard not to think that you are about to set off."
"How can it be so fast?" Ji Zi shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "I'm not a child anymore. After all, I'm going to travel outside the world. At least I have to be fully prepared before I set off."
"That makes sense. Do you want me to help you pack your luggage?" asked the manager.
"I'm so embarrassed..." Ji Zi scratched her fiery red hair and hesitated for a moment, "However, I may have to ask you about what preparations I need to make when traveling outside the world. After all, the textbooks in our world will never teach such things."
"I'll prepare an action manual for you when the time comes." The store manager nodded. "Let's not talk about this for now. What do you want to eat?"
"Let me think... first give me a glass of ice milk and a fruit salad," said Ji Zi.
"I was so hungry last night that you only ate this little?"
"Uh... I ate a little too much yesterday to give myself courage..."
"You should eat a little more for the first meal of the day. You're going on a long journey soon, so don't worry about controlling your weight. I'll give you another portion of fillet steak and pasta. If you have nothing to do in the afternoon, come with me for a trip." The manager planned Ji Zi's next itinerary without any hesitation.
"Going out..." Ji Zi blinked and suddenly realized, "Oh, yeah, you asked me if I was free this afternoon? Is there something you want to talk to me about?"
"It's nothing serious. I just want to invite you out to play for a while to help you feel better." The store manager said calmly, "I just didn't expect that you would adjust your mindset a little faster than I thought. But since you are going to travel far away, you might as well take this time to prepare the things you need to go out, so that you won't be in a rush when the time comes."
After finishing speaking, the store manager waved to the outside of the hall:
"Mei, go to the kitchen and help Rita prepare lunch for this customer."
“Huh?” Mei Raiden was obviously stunned for a moment when her name was suddenly called, then she stood up in a panic, “Okay, okay, I’ll be there right away!”
Kiana wiped her eyes quietly, and quickly stood up following Mei's movements: "Well, I too——"
The store manager looked deeply at Kiana's face and said earnestly, "For the sake of the customers' stomachs, you'd better not go into the kitchen and clean up the mess in front of you."
Kiana suddenly slumped: "Okay, okay..."
Jizi glanced at Mei Raiden who was hurriedly walking around the bar, then glanced at Kiana who was calmly cleaning up the table, then she leaned close to the manager's ear and lowered her voice, "Your new girlfriend... clerk? She looks unfamiliar."
The store manager shook his head: "They are just temporary employees, just staying here temporarily, they won't stay for long."
"Temporary clerk? Your store is short-staffed?"
"How is that possible... How many customers can there be in this cafe?" The store manager said, "It's just that they have some problems that need my help, so I temporarily requisitioned their labor."
"Oh~"
"...Your subtle pronunciation makes me feel uncomfortable."
Chapter 4: Cocolia, imprisoned! (k)
At ten o'clock in the afternoon, after Ji Zi had finished a breakfast that was perfectly timed, an uninvited guest suddenly broke into the cafe.
"Listen up, everyone inside! You are surrounded! Release our people immediately—"
The stern and loud alarm sounded suddenly stopped halfway through, and the air in the cafe became silent as if it was frozen.
Everyone in the hall focused their attention on the intruder. Mei, who was cleaning up the dishes, was startled and spoke with a sense of surprise and strong embarrassment: "Dr. Tesla, why are you here?"
This question filled with guilt made the intruder standing at the door feel dizzy and his ears buzzing.
She stared at Raiden Mei, her fiery red twin ponytails standing up like blazing flames:
"Why am I here? You dare to ask me this question? You disappeared for a whole night, how can I not come? !! What on earth are you doing! The communication is not going through! You disappeared for a whole night for no apparent reason! Do you know how painful it was for me to wait for your news on the Helios?!"
As he was talking, the intruder suddenly caught a glimpse of a white-haired figure trying to sneak away from the corner of his eye, and his eyes suddenly became fierce:
"And! Over there! Stop right there! Don't even think about running away!"
"..."
Kiana's figure that was moving towards the curtain behind the bar suddenly froze. She smiled awkwardly a few times and turned around reluctantly: "Ha... Hello, hello, um..."
"Hello you ghost! Hello!" the intruder roared. She looked at Kiana's embarrassed smile with a hint of confusion on her face, and suddenly laughed out loud in anger, "Huh, hehe, Meiyi hasn't told you about us yet, right!?"
"Uh...this...this..." Mei Raiden was speechless for a moment, sweating profusely.
It stands to reason that with Mei Raiden's serious attitude towards everything, she shouldn't make such a low-level mistake, but the series of events that happened last night were so explosive that even a careful person like her was thrown off guard.
"..." The intruder held his forehead, feeling as if his soul had been crushed. The strong feeling of powerlessness made the hot-tempered Dr. Lobster unable to even breathe.
She rubbed her brows, calmed her heartbeat and breathing, and then gently exhaled the breath that was stuck in her chest: "Anyone is fine, can someone come and explain to me what's going on? What is the origin of this weird coffee shop? Who is in charge?"
The store manager sitting behind the bar glanced at the time on the wall clock, suddenly stood up, turned around and lifted the door curtain of the kitchen: "Rita, the cafe is temporarily handed over to you. I'm going to go out and help Ji Zi prepare her luggage for departure. I will probably be back before three o'clock in the afternoon."
The moment he heard the word "Rita", the intruder's body trembled violently, as if he had recalled some psychological trauma: "What - Li -"
"I understand, store manager, you can go with peace of mind. I will take good care of the customers who come to the store."
The gentle voice coming from the kitchen made the intruder take a step back.
"Thank you for your hard work. Is there anything I can bring you?" asked the store manager.
"It's not a gentleman's behavior to think about other girls on a date." The gentle voice said with a hint of teasing, "If the store manager really wants to compensate Rita, why not spend more time in the middle of the night with Rita?"
The store manager came out from the kitchen with his head covered in dust, and the charming maid with long hair followed closely behind.
She glanced at the stiff intruder, then at Kiana and Raiden Mei, whose faces were filled with embarrassment, and smiled: "So it was the elder of the temporary clerk you hired who came to visit. I thought someone was yelling in the cafe, but the store manager didn't even respond. Are you embarrassed?"
The store manager shook his head. “I’m just too lazy to explain everything about this cafe to everyone who comes in. Since she knows someone in the store, let them explain it themselves.”
After saying that, the store manager turned his gaze towards the two girls with embarrassed expressions and said, "While I'm away, you two should follow Rita's instructions. As for what this uninvited guest wants to ask, you can handle it on your own. Anyway, there's nothing shameful about my cafe, so it's okay, right?"
"..." Kiana and Raiden Mei looked at each other and nodded at the same time.
This can be called a weird scene. Tesla was completely confused. She widened her eyes and said, "Hey! Why do you listen to that person so much? That person over there must be Rita!"
"Also, you really are Jizi? How come you suddenly look so much younger after only four months of not seeing you? I couldn't recognize you at first."
"Um... I'm Himeko, yes, but..."
"Why do you care about her questions? Take care of your own business first." The store manager grabbed Ji Zi's hand and pulled her up from her seat. "Let's go."
The moment the other person's hand was held, the store manager clearly felt Ji Zi's body stiffen uncontrollably, but she did not resist. She just hesitated for half a second and then immediately shook it back.
The two walked towards the door of the cafe, one in front of the other.
"Is it really okay to just leave them in the store like this? I can see that the two of them know a certain 'Muliangta Himeko' from a different world, right?"
"This is the first thing I want to teach you. You will encounter similar situations many times after you embark on your journey. Don't act like you know someone well just because they look like you. This will create a psychological burden on both of you."
“Is this the experience you gained from traveling?”
"It would be more accurate to call it a lesson, but the price is that there are more and more things to manage."
"So you just reshaped the rules of the entire Quantum Ocean? You want me to do something you can't do yourself?"
“Haven’t I already worked hard for this?”
"...Yes, those two temporary store clerks can testify, right?"
"Can't you tear down my stage a little less?"
"You were first."
"..."
The sound of conversation coming from outside the door gradually became lighter and finally became inaudible. Looking at the backs of the two men and women with similar features walking away from his sight, Dr. Tesla gently adjusted the round-framed glasses that had fallen on the tip of his nose and swallowed his saliva with a gulp.
I always feel that... the conversation between these two people seems to have inadvertently revealed a lot of incredible things to her.
——2013, Changkong City.
The girl in a slim-fitting suit pushed open the door of the rental house with an expressionless face.
The furnishings in the house could only be described as boring. Not to mention decorations, there were not even many pieces of furniture necessary for daily life. There was only a wooden bed that looked like it was about to fall apart, standing alone in the middle of the room.
The petite girl with a calm expression closed the door, walked to the bed, gently lifted her calf wrapped in exoskeleton armor, clamped the edge of the wooden bed with the gap between her heel and sole, and then pushed the wooden bed forward.
Pushing open the wooden bed, a tightly assembled steel secret door appeared from under the bed. The girl walked to the top of the secret door and squatted down, pressing her thumb against the fingerprint lock in the crack of the door. At the same time, a faint scanning light penetrated her iris.
The biometric identification was passed, the secret door opened, the girl stood up again, stood on tiptoe, and her whole body suddenly floated up, then floated into the pitch-black underground dark room.
This is the temporary base established by Cocolia in Changkong City. It is one of the few secret spaces that even ME has not discovered. Compared with the inconspicuous rental house on the upper floor, this underground space can be completely described as science fiction. The walls are covered with format weapons and a translucent virtual screen is suspended above the workbench.
The girl walked to the edge of the workbench and quickly tapped a few times on the touch keyboard, trying to connect the video communication to Cocolia's private channel.
One second, two seconds... thirty seconds passed, but Cocolia, who should have been connected immediately, did not respond.
"..."
The girl couldn't help but move her eyebrows slightly, and a hint of slight confusion flashed across her expressionless eyes.
Cocolia mother, why didn’t you respond?
As Cocolia's daughter and one of her most trusted subordinates, Bronya is one of the few people who knows Cocolia's entire plan. She is well aware of the importance of the Third Herrscher, so after Cocolia completely took over ME and Anti-Entropy's entire power in Sky City from Raiden Ryoma, Bronya rushed to Sky City as soon as possible so that she could cooperate with Cocolia's subsequent plans at any time.
In their original plan, Bronya had to secretly monitor the status of the Third Herrscher's body at all times, so that as soon as Raiden Mei lost control, she could take advantage of the gap when the Third Herrscher had not yet fully adapted to the Herrscher's power and control her and bring her back to Cocolia.
Because she has to monitor Mei Raiden in secret, in order to eliminate all hidden dangers of being discovered, Bronya must also avoid contact with Cocolia as much as possible.
Therefore, after arriving in Changkong City, Bronya immediately contacted Cocolia, hoping to obtain detailed information about the mission target from Cocolia.
However, Kokolia, unusually, did not respond to her calls.
After the communication was cut off, Bronya did not make a second communication immediately, but immediately hacked into the ME company's monitoring system.
There were no accidents in the ME building.
——Except that Cocolia was nowhere to be found.
"..."
Bronya had a rare and awkward feeling.
Cocolia's mother is missing.
Where had she gone? Why was there no response to her communications?
While thinking this, Bronya's fingers did not slow down at all. She reached into the database of ME Company and found the work log of the past week.
Cocolia's mother arrived at the ME Club yesterday afternoon. She first asked about the condition of the Herrscher's Body, and then learned from the fourth researcher that the Herrscher's Body had suddenly disappeared...
Afterwards, she brought the participants to the place where the observation team witnessed the disappearance of the elemental body, and she herself disappeared in that space.
After reappearing from that space, she set up a tight encirclement around that strange space, and then—
--Um?
