Like most people in the noodle restaurant, Jiang Baimian only turned to look back at the streetside without leaving her seat.
Before long, the boss—who was in his fifties and reeked of oil and smoke—carried a tray and placed the four large bowls of spicy, oil-drenched noodles in front of Shang Jianyao and the others.
Amidst the intense fragrance that induced the munchies, Jiang Baimian couldn’t help but feel tantalized. She casually inquired, “The library caught fire?”
“Yeah.” The boss sighed and said, “But I don’t see any smoke coming from it. The fire probably isn’t big.”
Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao, who had already picked up the bowl and lowered his head to slurp down his food. She then ‘curiously’ asked, “Have there been any fires recently, or something?”
She didn’t mind that such a question would make her look like a foreigner. Most people in Weed City were foreigners.
“It’s not like we have scorching weather!” The boss shook his head in denial. “I think it was done by those lunatics?”
“Lunatics?” Jiang Baimian appeared more intrigued.
The boss sighed. “Just as winter started, a bunch of donkeys suddenly appeared in the city. They’d stuff some paper under your door all day. On it are words like ‘the Old World was destroyed because of knowledge,’ ‘don’t learn anything that exceeds your instincts,’ ‘stay away from books and don’t think.’ Did you get that? Is that even human language? Is the paper free?
“These lunatics really ended up burning the library!”
As Jiang Baimian listened to Shang Jianyao eat his noodles, she restrained herself and asked, “Are the nobles not going to do anything?”
“No one knows who it is! How can they deal with it?” The boss was very happy to discuss this topic. His sideburns were extremely white, and his hair was very short. There were already some wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
“That’s true.” Jiang Baimian lowered her expectations of Weed City’s public security. It was definitely incomparable to that of Pangu Biology.
Upon seeing that the boss was rather angry, she asked, “You guys seem to like that library?”
The boss wiped his hands on his white apron. “How can I not mind? The children rely on it for their studies and to recognize words.”
“There aren’t any schools in Weed City? That shouldn’t be the case.” Jiang Baimian had never heard Bai Chen mention this, so she tacitly imagined that they had schools.
The boss looked at the door. “There are, but ordinary people in North Street aren’t admitted. An ordinary family like ours can only rely on homeschooling. Fortunately, my grandfather’s generation knew a lot, and my father had undergone some formal education. Only then was I barely able to recognize most of Ashlandic and most words in the Red River language.
“How can I teach my child without books? The effects of doing so by solely relying on myself... Sigh, let’s not talk about it. I only hope that my grandson won’t be disappointing. I hope he will be able to recognize more words and read more books. He might have the chance to work at the municipal building. I don’t want him to be like his father, who doesn’t like books or know any words. He chose to be a Ruin Hunter and ended up losing his life!”
At this point, the boss recalled the library’s fire and cursed angrily. “That bunch of melon rind!”
Upon hearing the conversation between his team leader and the boss, Long Yuehong suddenly realized how difficult it was for Moat Town to maintain a public education system.
In the Ashlands, not everyone had the right to receive education. Most people couldn’t even read.
Upon realizing that there was the suspected existence of an arsonist, making the fire a coincidence, Jiang Baimian secretly heaved a sigh of relief and joked, “Boss, your dialect is pretty mixed.”
“Back when my grandfather’s generation established Weed City, people came from everywhere. They spoke all kinds of dialects, and some even spoke the Red River language. Over time, this gets into your head, and everything you say gets mixed up. Oh, hey there, what would you like to eat?” The boss stopped chatting when he saw new customers enter and went forward to welcome them.
Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao, who was digging at the bottom of the bowl. She raised her noodles and smiled at Long Yuehong. “How’s the taste?”
“Delicious... It’s just... a little spicy...” Long Yuehong replied vaguely.
Jiang Baimian had already mixed the noodles when she was chatting. At this moment, she took a bite. The noodles had already soaked up the red oil, making it fragrant and spicy. As she chewed, it carried the unique sweetness of starch and a perfect sourness. She breathed in air filled with the fragrance of shallots, oil, and spiciness.
“It’s just too little.” Shang Jianyao put down his bowl and chopsticks and ‘helped’ Long Yuehong add on.
Jiang Baimian never mistreated her team members. She turned around and shouted, “Boss, another bowl. No, two bowls.”
She felt that one bowl was probably not enough. Although two bowls were a little too much, she could share them with Long Yuehong and Bai Chen.
Just like that, they ate until sweat broke out on their foreheads. This was an indescribable enjoyment in the cold winter.
They later settled the bill—it cost 18 Drace.
The small bowl of spicy oil-drenched noodles was 1.5d, and the large bowl was 3d. The Old Task Force ate six bowls in total, putting the total cost at almost 2 Orays.
After getting back two one-Drace notes as change, Jiang Baimian counted the remaining notes with a pained expression. “Money really gets spent fast!”
They had only exchanged for 10 Orays, and a single meal had cost them almost a fifth of it.
This bit of money could only last two days.
Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao, who ate the most, “Let’s go to the Hunter’s Guild to take a look and get a badge. If we have to stay longer in the future, we have to earn money to support ourselves.”
At this moment, they had already returned to the streets and were in pairs again.
Shang Jianyao rubbed his stomach and said regretfully, “We should have replaced the second bowl with another type of noodles, the kind with meat.”
“As long as you can earn money, we’ll definitely do it next time.” Jiang Baimian didn’t mind that the fellow only had thoughts about eating. This was because their Old Task Force had taken a long detour and didn’t have much food left. Therefore, their current priority was to resolve the problem of survival.
Of course, there was a high chance that they had other means of obtaining supplies if they could contact the intelligence personnel.
On Weed City’s streets in the afternoon, the sun was no longer so hot. The howling, cold wind drilled into the pedestrians’ clothes.
This resulted in many people refraining from going out unless necessary. Apart from the Weed City patrolmen with submachine guns and the Ruin Hunters—who were in a rush to find food—the streets were abnormally empty and quiet.
After arriving at Central Square, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao turned into West Street. After taking a few steps, they saw the Hunter’s Guild that occupied an entire building.
Under the imitation flying eaves and corbeled columns were the words ‘Hunter’s Guild’—formed by mottled white walls and small light bulbs.
The latter had two languages. One could imagine how bright and eye-catching it would be at night after the electricity was switched on.
The rooms at the bottom of the guild were all connected, only leaving behind pillars and walls that couldn’t be knocked down. It formed a very spacious hall.
At this moment, a row of doors was open for people to enter and leave freely.
On the walls and pillars beside the different doors were the same black words: “Opening hours: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
“Note: Our guild’s employees have the legal permits to carry firearms.
“Warning: Please consciously maintain order.