Throwing a Party Without Inviting Me, Huh?
Not many people in the Slums could afford a car, so the flashy orange pickup stood out especially conspicuously.
Croissant drove the car up a slope and did not start the engine to leave until she saw wisps of smoke rising from the old man's chimney.
Wang Ju had not come out after all this time, and there had been no complaint from Isu either. That proved Shi Lei's unorthodox plan had achieved fairly good results.
She sharply turned the steering wheel onto the main road, stepped on the gas, and spoke with a relaxed expression.
"Shi Lei, although things turned out well this time, I still suggest you do less of this in the future. The risks are too great if it fails, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're completely sure. For us Messengers, our main duty is to get the goods into the recipient's hands. Second is collecting the delivery fee, or finding a way to get it. As for the process in between, the boss won't interfere. You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't damage the company's reputation."
"I know. It was just that one of them was lying and didn't want to talk, while the other stayed silent and wouldn't talk. Since there was a problem with communication, I helped poke through that layer of paper."
"Shi Lei, I wasn't blaming you. I just wanted to make the risks clear and hoped you'd think things through more before acting."
"I know you're looking out for me. Think thrice before acting, got it."
This ordinary delivery had been profitable overall. The five framed daisy paintings had covered the 2,000 Lungmen Dollars fee after costs. One had been given to Wang Ju, and four remained to bring back to the company's Safe House.
But there were too few of them, so there was no need to make a special trip to sell them at the calligraphy and painting market. He could wait until he had time to set up a street stall someday, then sell them all together.
By the time they returned to Penguin Logistics, it was nearly seven in the evening. Croissant parked the pickup outside the building, opened the door, and let Shi Lei out.
"I stocked up on quite a lot of rust remover a while back, so I'm a little short on cash. I'll pack up some home-style dishes today. When next month's paycheck comes, I'll treat you to something good, okay?"
"No problem. Your call."
It was enough to be honest about being short on money. Everyone had times when their wallet was feeling light. As long as she was not making empty promises, Shi Lei had no objections at all.
He waved Croissant goodbye and headed to the first basement level. Taking out his employee badge, he swiped open the Safe House door.
There was no one inside. The employees had probably gotten off work and gone home. Shi Lei could not find a microwave, and he did not know whether Terra even had such household appliances.
He took out some sausages from the freezer and put them directly into the oven to thaw and heat. After studying the manual for over ten minutes, he adjusted the settings and flame, then pressed start.
"Sizzle... pop!"
Within a few minutes, he heard the crisp sound of sausage casings bursting. In an instant, a rich, fragrant smell seeped from the oven's cracks and filled the entire Safe House.
Shi Lei took two deep sniffs, wondering how the sausages here compared to those from before he had transmigrated.
"Oh wow, that smells amazing!"
Croissant returned to the Safe House and praised the scent as soon as she caught it. She carried packed meals in one hand, along with a bucket of takoyaki.
"You have to try the balls from this place. I always buy a serving whenever I pass by. They're really delicious."
Shi Lei twitched his lips, looking somewhat troubled.
"Uh, you should eat those yourself. I'm allergic to seafood. It makes my skin itch, and if I eat too much, my body turns red and swells up."
Based on the host's performance, gained 1 Roleplay Value
Seriously, system? You gave me points for that too?
As he grumbled inwardly, Croissant sighed.
"Ah, that's really a shame. Their takoyaki is so good too."
"Can't be helped. I once ate seafood at a company gathering and ended up in the hospital. Ever since then, I haven't touched the stuff."
"Tch, then I'll keep that in mind from now on. Come on, come on, this place's stir-fried dishes are pretty good. Eat while they're hot."
There were no knives in the Safe House, so Shi Lei used his chopsticks to split apart the burst sausages and divide them into several portions.
Suddenly, Exusiai's startled cry came from the entrance.
"Wow, you guys threw a party without inviting me, huh? Eating good food behind my back too? That's too much!"
The way she said it made it sound like they were throwing some fancy party.
Croissant patted the sofa beside her and laughed.
"We didn't buy food for you guys, but you can grab a pair of chopsticks and eat with us."
Exusiai walked over to the table and took a look. Completely treating herself like family, she reached out and grabbed some.
"Wow, it smells so good. What's this? Let me test it for poison for you."
What a trashy angel. If she wanted to eat, she could just eat. Why did she have to make a joke about testing it for poison?
"Mmm, hot! Hoo, hoo, hoo."
She licked the remaining oil from her fingers, then picked up a small piece of sausage and held it out to Texas as she entered. Texas looked at it disdainfully and turned her head away. Exusiai then casually popped it into her own mouth and gave her verdict.
"Not bad. It's salty with a little kick to it. It kind of tastes like Laterano grilled sausage. If you put it on a pizza, it might taste even better!"
Exusiai was incredibly efficient. Once she had an idea, she acted on it immediately.
She promptly dug out molds, high-gluten flour, butter, onions, and other ingredients. They looked like things she had prepared in advance but simply had not taken out recently.
While she bent over her work, Croissant took a mouthful of food and introduced what had happened to the two of them.
"Do you know what Shi Lei and I ran into while handling an ordinary delivery today?"
Texas remained silent the entire time and did not respond. Perhaps, just as she had said, she did not know what to say, so she simply said nothing.
Exusiai kneaded the dough and tilted her head.
"Ordinary deliveries aren't dangerous. Sometimes I make dozens of trips a day. What could possibly happen?"
As she ate and drank, Croissant slowly recounted the story of Old Man Wang and Wang Ju.
At first, Exusiai did not think much of it. As a Messenger, all she needed to do was deliver the goods. If the other party could not afford the fee, they simply had to find a way to gather it. Everything else was irrelevant.
But when she heard that they had encountered thugs collecting protection money at the calligraphy and painting market, and that Croissant had endured electric batons and daggers under the protection of the shield, she immediately became interested.
"It's that strong?"
Exusiai brushed the flour from her hands, took out the gun on her back, aimed it, and ordered, "Shi Lei, put up a shield first."
"What for? I'm eating right now."
"Eat later. Cooperate with me, please, please. Don't worry, rubber bullets won't kill anyone."
Shi Lei was utterly helpless. He summoned a Rock Spine and put up his shield.
"You really do whatever pops into your head. Weren't you making pizza? Why do you suddenly want to test this?"
Seeing the light brown film-like shield appear over his body, Exusiai's gaze sharpened. She swiftly retreated to increase the distance and maximize the rubber bullets' power.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat..."
Every bullet struck the exact same point, increasing the penetrating force, but they still could not harm Shi Lei.
"I already told you—"
Suddenly, a flash of cold light swept past behind him!
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Texas made her move!
Shi Lei had not noticed at all where she had drawn her weapon from.
Her sword passed by the left side of his neck, but it was still blocked by the Jade Shield.
The sword tip seemed to strike an invisible wall. It was stopped by unseen force and could not advance even an inch further.
After suffering that sudden attack, he instantly let out the voice of a certain little black guy.
"Ow, what are you doing~?"
When Texas made deliveries in the past, she always fought with the sword sheathed. Only when she had to kill an enemy, or when she was outside Lungmen, would she draw the blade.
She had used nearly eighty percent of her strength with that strike, yet she still could not break through Shi Lei's shield. She could not even see a single crack in it. That was enough to prove how remarkable the protection of this special Originium Art would be in actual combat.
Seeing Exusiai empty her magazine and prepare to load live ammunition, Texas immediately spoke up to stop her.
"Exusiai, stop! Even I can't cut through his shield, so live rounds won't make a difference. If stray bullets damage the Safe House, they'll deduct our pay again."
The moment she heard the words "deduct our pay," Exusiai looked utterly miserable. Her performance pay for the month had nearly all been deducted, and she could only barely get by on her base salary.
"There's only one day left until payday. I'll endure it. No more testing. Shi Lei, the strength of your shield is even tougher than those heavily armored Iron Guard. Good thing you're our teammate, or you'd be incredibly hard to deal with."
She put away her gun and went back to working on the pizza.
"I don't know about heavy weapons, but it's definitely more than enough against ordinary thugs. Tomorrow when I go to work, I'll ask the boss to let me go on missions with you."
"That's not possible."
Croissant shook her head and explained the reason.
"Do you think the boss would feel at ease letting you take him on a mission alone? Under normal circumstances, Texas or I would definitely be there. But missions that require two Messengers to deploy at once are rare to begin with, and they're difficult too. How could you run into one so easily?"
Seeing Exusiai's dejected expression, Croissant smiled and steered the topic back to the ordinary delivery.
When she got to the part about Shi Lei tricking Wang Ju into going home to visit, and spouting useless nonsense like "every day alive is one day less," Exusiai's happy energy returned.
"Hahahaha, that's way too ridiculous!"
Texas rarely showed the faintest trace of a smile, but she paid close attention to managing her expression. Before long, she returned to her usual icy look.
Exusiai took the sausages to use as pizza ingredients and even tossed some takoyaki in as well.
Croissant told her about Shi Lei's seafood allergy, but it was already too late. Exusiai had put it in already, so all they could do was say they would bake him a fresh pizza next time.
"Mmm, ding!"
The oven's chime was the switch that began the enjoyment of good food. Exusiai put on specialized gloves, took out the fragrant pizza, and used a mold to divide it evenly into eight slices.
"Ta-da! My special sausage, octopus, butter, and onion-ring pizza is fresh out of the oven! Who wants a slice?"
Shi Lei was already full, so he shook his head to say he did not want anything extra. Croissant raised her right hand high and took two slices to bring back as a midnight snack.
"Texas, open up, ah~"
"Childish."
Texas gave her blunt assessment, picked up a slice of pizza in a plastic bag, and quietly tasted it.
Exusiai nodded in satisfaction. As she chewed, she looked at Croissant and blurted out a question.
"This sausage tastes really good. Do you have the exact recipe?"
The Wang father and daughter had not seen each other for years and were finally reunited tonight. Calling them at a time like this to ask would be rather impolite.
"I don't know. We'll ask tomorrow. If I get it, I'll text it to you."
"Okay, then it's settled."
Shi Lei was not worried at all about Wang Ju's future career prospects. If she wanted to stay in her current position, skipping overtime work for a reason would not be enough to get her fired. But she would definitely go home more often in the future.
If she wanted to quit her job later, Shi Lei would suggest that the father and daughter open an art studio. Then Croissant could decide whether to cooperate with them or teach them the packaging process. Selling the finished paintings at the calligraphy and painting market would be a good path. They would not become rich and powerful, but they would not have to worry about food or shelter.
The old man had bragged several times about his daughter's painting skills. Perhaps Wang Ju could take on higher-priced commissioned paintings.
"That hit the spot, let's have more! Eh, no more alcohol?"
Croissant had not known beforehand that the other two would come, so she had only bought enough for herself and Shi Lei. Now that four people were drinking together, it naturally ran out quickly.
Exusiai felt that things were not lively enough and muttered about going out to buy more alcohol. Just as she stood up, Texas called out to her from the sofa.
"Wait."
Payday was not until the day after tomorrow, so Exusiai's pockets had to be emptier than her face. If she went to the store empty-handed, she would not be able to bring back any alcohol unless she robbed the place or bought on credit.
Texas did not spend much every month, and she did not care about worldly possessions, so she quietly took out some Lungmen Dollars.
"Take it. This round is on me."
"Hehe, I knew you were the best."
Exusiai was not polite in the slightest. Grinning, she pointed both hands at Texas, flicked the Lungmen Dollars, then hummed a Laterano tune as she went out to buy alcohol.
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