Corner Cafe

Even in the daytime, the office was lit by harsh, pale lights.

One partition after another divided most of the office into tiny boxes. Each box contained an offline desktop computer and a telephone. Everyone was busy, walking back and forth. Some typed, some made calls, and some exchanged documents. Lu Xin's workstation was right in the middle, with a banner declaring him Outstanding Employee hanging from the partition.

The morning's busy work had all been dealt with. Lu Xin straightened up and rubbed his temples.

After staying in this kind of environment for too long, he always felt stifled and oppressed. Besides, there were always so many tedious things to handle.

"Little Lu Brother, are you busy right now?"

A voice sounded beside Lu Xin. He looked up and saw Lu Cheng, the young newcomer in the office. He was neatly dressed, with a smart short haircut and a sunny disposition, but at the moment, he wore a troubled expression. "The Director assigned me to organize this batch of documents, but no matter how I sort them, I just can't get them straight. The deadline's almost here. Little Lu Brother, could you... could you teach me?"

"Sure."

Lu Xin agreed with a smile. "I happen to be free right now."

"Thank you, Little Lu Brother. You're such a good person!"

The sunny young man looked deeply grateful and hurried over to Lu Xin's desk. One taught while the other learned.

Many dissatisfied looks came from the surrounding cubicles, along with hushed whispers.

"It's exhausting enough just doing your own work, and now you have to teach someone else."

"Everyone does the same job. Aren't you afraid you'll teach someone well enough to replace you?"

"..."

Under the dissatisfied gazes of many people, Lu Xin helped Lu Cheng organize the documents. Amid the other man's thanks, he merely waved a hand.

Though everyone was tense in the oppressive atmosphere of the office, Lu Xin had always had his own principles. If he could lend someone a hand, he would. The Crimson Moon incident had changed the world, but people still needed to have decent character.

"Lu Xin, come over here. The Director wants you!"

Someone called from a distance.

"Coming!"

Lu Xin put down his coffee, got up, and walked toward the Director's office. There, he saw the Director, so fat that his cheeks seemed ready to sag down on both sides. On the sofa opposite him sat a short-haired woman in sunglasses and a well-tailored suit.

"Little Lu, there's a document here. Take it to the Corner Cafe on Qingjiang Road right now!"

The Director did not waste words. He pointed at the document envelope on the desk.

Delivering documents should have been the job of someone from the administrative or general affairs team. It should not have fallen to him.

But Lu Xin did not refuse. He nodded. "All right."

Then he picked up the document, nodded to the Director and the short-haired woman on the sofa, and walked out.

The moment he left the room, the Director's expression changed into a smile. He eagerly said to the short-haired woman, "Team Leader Chen, what you asked has been handled. Don't worry, I won't ask or think too much about it. It's just that project you mentioned earlier..."

"Don't worry, this project will not be given to you!"

The short-haired woman stood and gently lowered her sunglasses, speaking in a very soft voice.

The Director froze, thinking he had misheard. Then he saw the woman's pupils.

Her pupils seemed to be spinning, faintly red, as though they had turned into two red moons.

"Do not remember that I came here, and do not remember arranging for him to do anything!"

The short-haired woman spoke softly, her voice gentle. Then she put her sunglasses back on, turned, and left.

The Director fell into a brief daze. A few seconds later, he came to, as if nothing had happened, and continued working busily.

Lu Xin stood in a Ring-City High-Speed Rail carriage, gripping a handrail and feeling drowsy. He had boarded near the starting station, so there had been seats available. But when he saw a pregnant woman get on, he gave his seat to her and stood for half an hour.

The carriage lights flickered slightly. Sister, clutching a patchwork teddy bear, crawled along the ceiling of the carriage toward him.

She hung upside down in front of Lu Xin, swaying back and forth like she was on a swing.

Without blinking, Lu Xin pretended to be intently admiring the beautiful legs of an elegant girl nearby who wore tight, short shorts.

Sister had even more fun on her own, swinging harder and harder until a faint warping sound came from the carriage.

Fortunately, the train was moving quickly and rattling along, masking the faint sound.

"Brother, brother, look! That fatty is so dumb..."

While playing wildly, Sister suddenly pointed at a fat man not far away who was sleeping standing up and drooling, laughing at Lu Xin.

"Don't talk to me..."

Lu Xin still forced himself to concentrate on the beauty's legs, squeezing out an almost inaudible voice through his teeth.

"I can't look at you outside, much less talk to you. They'll think I'm crazy..."

"Tch, boring!"

Sister deliberately teased Lu Xin. When he did not take the bait, she became bored.

"Then be careful yourself. There's something wrong with the place you're going this time!"

Before Lu Xin could ask further, she giggled, suddenly raced forward along the carriage, and passed the fat man sleeping on his feet. She abruptly pinched his face, then crawled away into the distance and vanished.

The fat man jolted awake and shouted, "Who touched me?"

The people around him looked strangely at the fat man, who had no one within a meter of him.

Lu Xin also joined the onlookers, giving the fat man the same look one would give a lunatic.

When he got off the train, Lu Xin found that this area was already close to the outer wall.

The buildings here had become rather dilapidated. He could see the city wall, more than ten meters high, casting deep shadows over the buildings. Although thirty years had passed and most of the lunatics wandering outside the city had been cleared away, the people living inside still did not dare let down their guard. Every year, the municipal government's priority was to continue reinforcing and repairing these towering walls.

When he arrived at the Corner Cafe, he found the surroundings gloomy.

The old apartment buildings and single-story houses around it seemed to have all been abandoned. Not a single person could be seen.

There was quite a bit of trash in front of the door, as if it had been blown there by the wind. No one knew how long it had been since it was last cleaned.

For some reason, simply approaching the place gave him a sense of oppression.

Lu Xin instinctively disliked the place, but he had already agreed to the Director's request, so he still entered with the document envelope.

"Observer Number Thirteen has entered the target area!"

On top of a tall building not far from there, more than a dozen observers had already set up various instruments. Around the building, several fully armed soldiers with live ammunition were concealed in the shadows, tensely guarding against everything nearby.

The short-haired woman was also among the staff. She held a document printed with black type:

"Target codename: Corner Cafe."

"Objective: Assess Observer Number Thirteen's potential to become a Mentalist and his specific abilities."

"Potential risk: The cafe has been confirmed as a Level One Mental Pollution Zone.

Specific manifestations:

People who approach the cafe will be involuntarily drawn inside.

People who enter the cafe will die within three to five days, most commonly by suicide.

Analysis suggests that they are contaminated within the cafe, resulting in severe depression."

"..."

She lowered the document and asked the person beside her, "Is the backup support ready?"

A staff member nodded and pointed toward the next room.

Through the glass partition separating the two rooms, they could see an exquisite girl in a Western-style dress sitting there like a doll.

The moment Lu Xin entered the cafe, he felt a warm, lively atmosphere.

The street outside and the surrounding buildings were empty and desolate.

Yet the cafe was packed with people, so crowded that it almost felt overflowing.

Everyone wore a smile. Some lowered their heads in intimate conversation, some sat alone by the window, drinking coffee while reading a book, and some narrowed their eyes as they focused on savoring a delicious sandwich. Gentle, ancient music drifted through the shop. Sunlight spilled in through the windows, and for a moment, it felt as if he had returned to the world before the Crimson Moon Cataclysm...

Lu Xin passed through the crowd and came to the counter, nodding to the server behind it, who wore an exquisite apron.

"Someone asked me to deliver this document."

The Director had not said who it was for, so leaving it at the counter should have been fine.

"Thank you."

The server did not seem to care about it at all. He simply smiled in thanks, then poured a cup of coffee and pushed it in front of Lu Xin.

"This..."

Lu Xin wanted to say that he had not planned to stay for coffee.

Still, the coffee smelled quite fragrant, completely unlike the cheap coffee he drank at the company.

"You worked hard making the trip. This one's on me."

The server smiled, his face carrying a kindness that made people feel very comfortable.

Lu Xin relaxed slightly and found himself unable to refuse for the moment.

Then, at that instant, his gaze stiffened slightly.

From behind the server's exquisite apron, a thick, ugly tentacle suddenly extended and slowly reached toward Lu Xin. At its tip, flesh and skin gradually split apart. A black, soft thing the size of a coin suddenly slid into the coffee. Lu Xin looked down. It seemed like an egg, yet also like an eye, its black pupil staring at him from inside the cup.

The coffee instantly became even more fragrant, each wisp carrying astonishing temptation.

The server's smile became even warmer. He gently pushed the coffee closer to Lu Xin, indicating that he should enjoy it.

"No, thank you."

Lu Xin politely declined as though he had noticed nothing, then turned and walked outside.

When he reached the door, he looked back.

Everyone in the shop had stopped what they were doing and was staring at him together, woodenly and blankly.

He hurriedly turned back around, his body stiffening as he walked faster and faster.