Jia Liangcai rushed over when he heard the news.
After hearing the plan, Jia Liangcai astutely realized this was an opportunity!
This time, the restaurant’s exit actually connected directly inside a major city!
And during a time of chaos, no less.
This was their chance.
Their Home had only a few thousand people in total—a drop in the ocean compared to Bianzhou.
Whether it was grain or people, including artisans, laborers, the various workshops in the city, the seed grains in the storehouses, weapons and Armor, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, or cloth and clothing.
Any resource that could be found in the city would be useful; it was merely a question of how valuable.
If they could just bite off a piece, it would be enough to let the Gated Community feast until their mouths were dripping with grease.
"Do you think he’ll come?" Qin Ziwen asked, gazing at the main door.
Jia Liangcai pondered for a moment. "I’ve never seen this Heaven-Reaching Grand General they speak of, so I can’t say for certain. But even if he doesn’t come in person, he’ll surely send someone."
"It’s a shame we can’t go through that door to the other side." Qin Ziwen looked at the main entrance of the Wanfu Grand Restaurant. The doors were wide open, but outside was the dark night of their Home.
Only people from that world could enter through this door.
The commoners who had just fled inside tried to sneak out through the main entrance, but Cao Biansheng stopped them. "You barge in without knocking, and now you try to leave without a word. Where do you think you’re going?"
The terrified commoners trembled. Finally, an old man stepped out from the crowd. He took some Silver Coins from his robes, placed them on the ground, and said with a quavering voice, "My lord, this is to compensate you."
Cao Biansheng looked at the silver. Its surface was actually giving off a faint yellow glow.
’Interesting.’
’However...’
Cao Biansheng shamelessly pocketed the silver. "I’ll take the money. I did just save you, after all. But you still can’t leave. This isn’t a place you can just come and go as you please."
"My lord, please, I beg you, let us leave." Someone stole a glance at Mogu and was so frightened they immediately started pleading for mercy.
Another person looked outside, their face filled with anxiety. "My lord, you all should leave quickly too! I’ve heard the Cannibal Army really does eat people! Their leader is named Xue Wang. They say he’s ten feet tall with a massive girth and delights in eating people. When Le’an County fell, tens of thousands of people in the city were turned into rations."
"We can’t leave. And begging me is useless. In this entire restaurant, only one person has the authority to let you go." Cao Biansheng looked toward the President.
The commoners followed Cao Biansheng’s gaze and quickly ran over to beg Qin Ziwen for mercy.
"You’re afraid of him, but not of me? You think I’m too good-natured to kill people?" Qin Ziwen said slowly. He pointed to Mogu beside him. "That Xue Wang is supposedly ten feet tall. I wonder how he compares to the one standing next to me?"
The old man stole a glance at Mogu. Their eyes met for an instant, and he was so frightened he quickly looked away.
’This giant isn’t just ten feet tall,’ he thought. ’He must be over twenty.’
He didn’t dare speak another word.
Cao Biansheng drawled lazily, "Your coming here is fate. It means this calamity was destined for you."
Qin Ziwen shot him a look.
Cao Biansheng coughed twice and quickly corrected himself, "It means this blessing was destined for you! Our hotel is called the Wanfu Grand Restaurant—’Wanfu’ means ’Ten Thousand Blessings.’ Coming here means you’ve stumbled upon incredible luck, the one-in-ten-thousand kind! Outside, you could die at any moment. But here, as long as you can work, you won’t have to constantly worry for your lives."
Hearing Cao Biansheng’s words, a stir went through the commoners.
A few of them calmed down, but others thought Cao Biansheng was lying to them.
’It’s just an ordinary restaurant. It’s probably not even as secure as a Dock Fortress outside the city.’
Just then, a few spearheads poked through the doorway.
They were followed by a dozen or so soldiers in clearly superior Armor, who entered cautiously. Among them was the same squad leader who had left earlier.
Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing they saw was Mogu, standing like a giant by the door. The sight terrified several of them, who collapsed to the ground.
"A monster!"
Mogu’s brow furrowed slightly. He gave the soldiers a dismissive glance before looking away.
The soldiers fled in a panic.
"Commander! There’s a monster inside! A huge monster!"
Outside the door, a burly man with a fleshy face, mounted on a white horse, was surveying the restaurant with his cold, triangular eyes.
"Commander, there’s something strange about this restaurant. I asked the nearby residents. They all said it wasn’t here before; this spot used to be an empty lot." A scholar in white robes, also on horseback, leaned in and whispered into his ear.
"Hmph." Xue Wang grunted noncommittally.
He sized up the large restaurant before him.
From the outside, it was an extremely luxurious restaurant, the likes of which he had only ever seen in the Capital City.
As soon as he’d heard about it, he had immediately mustered his troops and surrounded the building.
But whether they attacked with ballistae or shot at it with Bows and Arrows, the projectiles seemed to hit nothing but air, vanishing as they struck the restaurant’s surface.
That included the wide-open main doors. Inside was pitch-dark, though one could vaguely make out what looked like people and hear the faint sounds of a lively crowd.
But the strangest part was that even if you walked right up to it, standing just a foot from the entrance, you couldn’t see anything inside clearly!
The report from the men he had just sent inside confirmed his suspicions: this restaurant was haunted.
The white-robed scholar said, "Commander Xue, this reminds me of something I heard from my clan long ago."
"Speak."
"I heard that decades ago, the current Royal Family was searching far and wide for a strange object called a Card. This object could only be seen, not touched. If anyone was found who could touch a Card, the Royal Family would have their entire clan, down to the ninth degree of kinship, exterminated."
"Nonsense," Xue Wang said flatly.
He had traveled all over for years and had never heard of any such glowing Card.
"There’s another rumor. In recent years, it’s said that traveling merchants and soldiers would often stumble upon strange places in the wilderness—some looked like taverns, others like roadside teahouses, and some were just ordinary inns. At the time, the Court even issued a decree defining them as ’heretical shrines,’ forbidding anyone to enter. Colluding with the demons inside was a capital offense."
"That, I have heard of." Xue Wang mused, "Are you saying this restaurant is one of those heretical shrines?"
"It’s just a possibility," the white-robed scholar said with a nod.
"Hah. I don’t believe it. If my men can go in and come out, there’s no reason I can’t," Xue Wang said slowly.
"Commander!" The white-robed scholar tried to stop him.
Xue Wang waved his hand dismissively. "I’m rather curious to see what a place forbidden by the Court looks like on the inside."
He had gotten to where he was today by breaking the rules.
Whatever the Court forbade, he made a point to try.
Besides, since they had specifically asked to see him, what was the harm in meeting them?
"I have an army of three hundred thousand men! Why would I be afraid of a mere evil spirit?"
...