The dark gray Porsche 911 glided smoothly through the layers of aerial traffic in the Upper Zone until it began its final descent toward the Entertainment Sector.
Lohan kept his hands steady on the wheel, enjoying the sense of calm and comfort that came from driving that machine, and beside him, Isabella, still hidden under the urban jacket, the white beanie, and the filter mask, watched the horizon with apparent calm and serenity, without Lohan knowing that beneath her chest, the girl’s heart was beating much faster than normal.
The car hovered for a few seconds in front of the minimalist, imposing facade of the Xylos-Zero Restaurant, Lisa’s favorite establishment whenever she wanted to escape the standardized cuisine of Earth and its nearest colonies.
The place was famous for serving only dishes typical of the planet Xylos-8, a world located in a distant nebula, whose biosphere was unlike anything humanity had ever colonized.
For the human elite of any planet that had a restaurant like this, dining there was more about flaunting status and feeling the sensory experience of consuming something truly alien than about actually eating one’s fill.
But for the two of them, that was exactly today’s goal.
Lohan, a Devourer, to eat his fill would need to eat an amount of food equivalent to the standard for dozens of people, which was why he still kept eating nutritional solutions to this day.
Coming to this restaurant didn’t need to fill his stomach, just bring a new gastronomic experience, and being accompanied by someone special was already more than enough for him.
Lohan then parked the vehicle on the reception platform.
As soon as the ion turbines stopped humming, a valet, dressed in an impeccable silk uniform and maintaining a posture of extreme subservience, approached the car with a professional, expectant smile.
In that employee’s mind, whoever was driving a Porsche 911 with that configuration had to be, at the very least, a third-line heir or a senior executive of some major company.
However, when the pneumatic door opened and Lohan stepped out, the valet’s expression changed in an almost comical way.
The man’s smile instantly wilted, giving way to a grimace of disgust and disdain that he barely bothered to hide.
Lohan was still wearing the worn black overcoat and the loose clothes that tried to hide his muscles, the classic style of the people from the Lower Zone, and combined with his imposing physique and the cold aura he exuded, it made the boy look even more like just some thug from the Lower Zone who had either stolen that car or bought it with illegal money.
When Isabella got out of the passenger seat, the valet’s confusion grew, but his judgment stayed the same. Even though her clothes were stylish and her face was beautiful, it wasn’t as if there weren’t beautiful people in the Lower Zone too, but the beanie and filter mask she wore were clear signs, to the trained eyes of the elite, that those people didn’t belong in that luxurious environment.
Lohan noticed the change in treatment and felt a twinge of irritation, but ignored it, handing over the virtual keys to the man through a holographic touch.
They walked toward the entrance, feeling the weight of the stares from the other guests chatting outside the establishment. These were people dressed in fabrics that cost a factory worker’s yearly salary, adorned with jewels that gleamed with an arrogant light.
The murmur of conversations died down as Lohan and Lisa passed, replaced by whispers full of scorn.
"Halon, try to ignore the static from these useless people." Isabella transmitted privately to him through the mental link, even though they were standing right next to each other. "The people here mostly measure others by what value they can observe in that person. Shortsighted people like that never rise above mediocrity."
If it had been any other person from the Upper Zone saying that, Lohan might have rolled his eyes, knowing the words could be hypocritical, but coming from Isabella, he still nodded in agreement, since this girl was one of the few exceptions to that.
"Don’t worry, Bella, I’m already used to being the ’trash’ of the room, even though I’m slowly getting tired of having to deal with it." Lohan replied mentally, feeling Mana circulating calm and cold in his veins. "But seeing how they look at you, that bothers me more than I’d like to admit."
Isabella let out a short laugh, muffled by the mask, her golden eyes shining with amusement behind the dark lenses. "Heh, haven’t you wondered why I have clothes like this in my wardrobe? This isn’t the first time I’ve gone out dressed like this, this is the only moment I get to see the true face of our ’nobility.’"
As they entered the main hall, the aesthetic of Xylos-Zero hit Lohan like an intense shock.
Even though his previous life had been financially comfortable, because of the illness he had, Lohan had been forced to stay in a hospital bed his whole life, never having had the chance to set foot in a restaurant, let alone a restaurant like this one, with an aesthetic unlike anything he had ever seen in his life!
The ceiling was a holographic projection of the crimson nebula surrounding the planet of origin of the cuisine, and the tables were made of a dark rock that seemed to float above jets of cold vapor.
The maître d’, a man who looked as if he had been carved from ice, hesitated for a split second upon seeing the couple, but the priority reservation record under Isabella’s coded name forced him to lead them to a reserved table in one of the most secluded and comfortable areas of the hall.
Lisa sat down and finally took off her mask and beanie, revealing the cascade of red hair and a face of overwhelming beauty that made Lohan freeze for a second, even though he was already used to her appearance.
She opened the holographic menu floating above the table and began browsing the options with an ease that showed just how familiar she was with the place.
"Halon, you have to try the Plasma Medusa." Isabella suggested, pointing to an image that showed something resembling a jellyfish made of bluish light and liquid gold threads. "It tastes like drinking static electricity and wildflower honey. It’s hand harvested from the atmospheric oceans of Xylos-4 and transported in stasis chambers so it doesn’t lose its texture."
Lohan looked at the price of the dish and his core nearly leaped out of his biomass.
Eight thousand five hundred credits!