Life Game In Other World
Chapter 1152: At Jumeiduo Restaurant (Two Updates for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 1152: Chapter 1152: At Jumeiduo Restaurant (Two Updates for Monthly Pass)

"Damn it,"

The receptionist mopped the floor and rolled her eyes, "Every couple of days, a new married couple pops up around here, pushing a stroller with their kid, who knows what their name is, Miss something or other; it might be all made up by that Old Geezer Viko anyway.

"The big shots downtown write a couple of self-congratulatory articles, get some publicity on the news for the mess on the outskirts of the city, then put on this pretentious charity ball in fancy hotels, all booze and meat,"

"Those Old Geezers and their ladies stuff themselves with silk and fur at the ball, party all night, then shed a few crocodile tears and stuff all the fundraised money into their own pockets, how typical."

The receptionist spit, "Aside from saving people, these Old Geezers’ charity balls do everything else, oh,"

She paused a bit, "Though not entirely without saving. The uneaten steaks, shrimps, and crabs they have are fished out from the slop buckets, packaged into Packaged Meat, and sold to us, the poor, keeping those on the brink of starvation from actually starving to death. Isn’t that considered saving people?"

"Steaks, shrimps, and crabs scooped out from the slop buckets are still steaks, shrimps, and crabs. The Packaged Meat made from them, even if it smells a bit off, is still high-end stuff; can you afford it?"

The young man with gray hair chimed in.

"Go to hell,"

The receptionist rolled her eyes again, "That’s why I say, just have a look at those Old Geezers’ articles. The tears they squeeze out are like Aqua Regia, used to dissolve gold to line their own pockets.

"What, do you really believe that Viko genuinely wants to change this city?

"If he could keep my ass from getting fired, I’d be damned grateful; I don’t even expect him to get the company to provide me with a cleaning robot."

"Maybe,"

The young man with gray hair went silent for a moment and murmured softly, "Maybe."

"Stop dreaming,"

The receptionist shifted her body and began to mop the nearby floor. "If he could have done it, he would have done it by now. After all these years, has anything actually changed?"

Hearing this, the young man with gray hair fell silent.

He withdrew his gaze and looked through the window at the snow outside—a truck was parked on the street outside the window.

"Changing a city, maybe it’s not something that just one or two people can accomplish,"

He sighed and asked in a low voice, "So have you actually seen that ’Miss’?"

"What, you think by finding this person you can go to Heaven? Why are you incessantly asking around about it as well?"

The receptionist stood upright with her mop, looked at the young man with gray hair, and rolled her eyes, but she paused her movements as if considering something, "I think I’ve actually heard that name before?"

The young man with gray hair’s eyes lit up, looking at the receptionist, "Where, right around here?"

"What, you think I go other places?"

The receptionist paused, "Seems like there was such a couple, with two kids,"

She looked at the young man with gray hair, "But haven’t seen them for a long time, maybe they died a long time ago."

The young man with gray hair was slightly taken aback.

"Dying, a whole family dying, it’s quite common, isn’t it? Not surviving the winter or the summer, eating the wrong thing, not being able to afford an ambulance,"

The receptionist lowered her head, no longer looking at the young man with gray hair, and turned away to mop another area, "You know, as people, when we can’t live, we die."

The young man with gray hair opened his mouth as if to say something but failed to make a sound.

He looked at the truck outside the window.

A few people in white clothes were coming down from the truck, clearing away the ice and snow from a corner, revealing the curled-up corpse dressed in thin clothing.

This corpse didn’t die last night; it had been here for several days.

Then, these people in white lifted the corpse, tossed it into the truck, and drove off into the distance.

"Alright,"

The receptionist, who had already put her mop down at some point, stood beside him,

"You sure it doesn’t matter whether this ’Miss’ is dead or alive, even if you could confirm that Viko truly wants to change anything, what’s the use?

"Can Viko become the Mayor? He’s just a slightly bigger ant."

She sighed, "For me, unless that mysterious ’K’ circulating online really shows up, this ain’t going to happen.

"But then again, that ’K’ is just an urban legend, isn’t it? Even if he did show up, what’s the use? He can’t possibly be a god, can he?"

Listening to the receptionist talk as if to herself, the young man with gray hair did not respond.

He simply lowered his head, his eyes inadvertently glanced toward the corner on the right side of the restaurant. From his seat, he could see the entire corner clearly.

There, a figure with a slender build, wearing a black jacket, was sitting by the window, quietly flipping through a book.

This figure had been there from the beginning, quietly reading, undisturbed by the noise and chaos outside.

The young man with gray hair looked down at the message interface on his wristband.

"Holy shit, K really showed up!?"

And just at that moment, a cry of surprise brought him back to his senses.

"Huh?"

The young man with gray hair turned his head, looking puzzled at the receptionist who was exclaiming at her wristband.

"Great news,"

The receptionist, however, just patted his shoulder, and with enthusiasm, ran back to the reception desk, fiddled around, and turned on the now-off TV in the restaurant.

The TV screen at that moment displayed an image of the Mayor’s Mansion with a huge hole blown out of it for some unknown reason.

A lean figure stood in front of the Mayor’s Mansion, centered in the frame, with a group of soldiers standing solemnly behind, making a somber scene.

He raised his head, looking into the camera, "I am Viko, the Minister of Food, and I’m sorry to inform everyone that the current Mayor Lokte was assassinated by the Church of Chaos last night and has left us forever."

The young man with gray hair could no longer hear the rest; he could only feel the entire restaurant dive into a peculiar noise after a brief silence.

"What did he say?"

"Lokte is dead?"

"That Old Geezer Lokte wasn’t dead yet?"

"He died last night."

"Good riddance!"

"Are you an opponent of Lokte?"

"No, my brother was his opponent."

"What happened to him now?"

"Dead, because he organized opposition against Lokte, lost his income, and was later beaten to death by gang members on the street."

"That’s terrible, then you’re a supporter of his?"

"No, my uncle was his supporter."

"And how is he now?"

"Dead, because he supported Lokte’s policy to cut taxes for consortia and reduce staffing, he was fired by the consortium without any compensation, evicted from the consortium’s apartment and last winter, he froze to death on the street, and his body was taken away by the Scavenger to be burned."

"That’s terrible, so were you originally a supporter or an opponent of Lokte?"

"I neither support him nor oppose him, I just want him dead."

"Great, we are on the same side."

"New news, Lokte also died on the street, found by the Scavenger, who didn’t dare to burn him, and carried him back to the Mayor’s Mansion."

"Do you think this is good news or bad news?"

"I can’t tell, I just feel the world is so wonderful, I want to open a bottle of wine to celebrate."

"I still have some money, we can buy a bottle of wine together to celebrate."

"Does anyone know who the new mayor is?"

"It’s always some old fellow from the Cabinet or the consortia."

"It seems to be this kid on TV."

"Who is he? Lokte’s lapdog?"

"The internet says he didn’t get along with Lokte, an opponent of Lokte."

"Opposition, opposition, I know this, heh, Lokte used to be opposition too."

"This kid looks a bit familiar, has he been here before?"

"You know, he really does look familiar."

"Can he make sure we get a full meal? Fresh one is fine too, I want to eat something that isn’t rotten."

The entire restaurant quieted down in an instant.

At this moment, the figure on the TV just finished speaking about the previous mayor. He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the screen, seeing every person watching this screen,

"Next should be my inaugural speech. My colleagues at the Mayor’s secretariat have prepared a very nice script for me, to articulate my governing goals, beautifully written and meticulously worded.

"This speech can make even someone with little speaking talent like me say some moving words.

"But a senior told me that the real effectiveness of a speech is not in the grandeur of its wording, but in speaking from your heart,

"When your thoughts are in sync with those of the audience, even the simplest and most ordinary language can make everyone listen carefully to what you say.

"So with that, I might as well take this opportunity to have a chat with everyone."

He paused, and continued,

"I believe many people, especially those from the chaotic districts, must have seen me before, we bought Packaged Meat together.

"In the years I have been acting as the Minister of Food, I’ve tried every Packaged Meat in our city, to be honest, the ones from the north are indeed tastier than the south, and the center of the city has a less stale taste than the outskirts.

"But we all know that no one likes to eat Packaged Meat.

"We eat this because we want to survive, even if it means getting sick, even if it’s painful, we still want to live.

"So, my governing goal is also very simple, that is ’to live’.

"As long as I’m still alive, I will do everything I can to ensure that no one in Minte City freezes to death, no one starves to death.

"I know, this goal is difficult, but I will strive to achieve it, and I believe it will be achieved.

"Thank you."

The whole ’speech’ had no superfluous words, with the end of the last sentence, the screen in the TV also calmed down.

"Is he joking?"

Someone in the crowd asked.

"Doesn’t seem like it."

"Politician, you never know no matter how convincing they seem, he can’t really be eating Packaged Meat, can he?"

"I think I’ve met him before, ate with him."

The crowd quieted down once more.

No one cheered, nor did anyone object; they simply watched and murmured quietly.

——

Among a group of abandoned buildings, a haggard mother wrapped her two sleeping children in the shopping cart tightly in blankets.

"Is that Mr. Viko?"

She shifted her gaze towards the image on the screen her husband held in his arms.

"Seems so,"

Her husband quietly watched the screen, "He has gotten thinner."

——

District 53, Jumeiduo Restaurant

A woman dressed in simple trousers and a jacket pushed open the door of the restaurant and walked to a corner sitting opposite a man in a black jacket who had been quietly reading a book. She smiled and said,

"Mr. Suote, it’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Xiya, you must already know, I come from the wilderness."

As she spoke, the man in the black jacket slowly closed the book in his hands, revealing the script on the cover,

"At Jumeiduo Restaurant".