Hell's Kitchen

Yinsen had seen Tony leave with a frown. He didn't know exactly what the boss and Tony had discussed upstairs, but it had clearly been something that left Tony unhappy. Honestly, he was quite satisfied with his current job. Though Tony had been his only customer all morning, for someone on a fixed salary, that meant a welcome bit of free time.

Just then, he saw his boss come in carrying a thick stack of documents.

"Hey, Yinsen."

Yuri smiled warmly. "Your work's here."

Yinsen took the blueprints and flipped through a few pages. Frowning, he asked uncertainly, "Boss, this looks like...?"

Yuri was admiring the treasures his cheap old man had picked up at auction. Without turning around, he said, "Actually, if you read through everything in your hands, you won't have any questions left. What you're looking at is fundamentally different from that ugly monster Tony invented in the cave. I need you to study its capabilities and give it a set of sharp fangs."

A few minutes later, Yuri finished looking over all the treasures and shook his head. He couldn't appreciate European and American art. By comparison, he much preferred the ukiyo-e print from the country where gunmen were always turning up.

"What do you think, Yinsen?"

He went back over to Yinsen, who was still studying the blueprints. "This shouldn't be much of a challenge for you."

Yinsen looked up from the blueprints. He asked doubtfully, "So magic really does exist in this world?"

Yuri nodded. A glowing orb appeared slowly in the palm of his empty right hand. He pressed it into Yinsen, who was still trying to rebuild his worldview, then smiled and asked in return, "Otherwise, how do you think I saved you?"

The warmth coursing through his body dispelled Yinsen's doubts completely. He gathered up all the blueprints on the table and handed them back to Yuri, adjusting the glasses on his nose. "I've memorized the general specifications. I can finish the design before dark, but building the actual thing is beyond me."

Yuri nodded, then returned to the second floor to get ready for his meeting with Tony that evening.

The second floor had been completely converted into a storeroom for raw materials. It was stacked with common metals like iron, copper, and nickel, as well as a small box of precious metals like gold and silver.

After closing the stairwell door—the only way upstairs besides climbing through the window—Yuri walked among the various metals. With a thought, he gathered all the materials he needed. Hard metal and stone swirled around him like streams of water. This was a new ability he had gained after his powers evolved: within a small radius, he could process and control the materials he needed without touching them.

How small was that radius?

About a meter.

Using copper and iron as the primary materials, he assembled a metal giant piece by piece, from the feet planted on the floor to the head touching the ceiling. His superpower joined the metals together without leaving a single gap. Though their different materials left the colors uneven and mottled, the whole machine looked as if it had been made in one piece.

"Whew..."

Yuri checked the time. Before he knew it, it was already two in the afternoon. He opened the door and went downstairs, where he found Yinsen working intently as well. There were far fewer people on the street. Yuri tapped on Yinsen's desk. "It's already two. Are you hungry?"

"Oh!"

Yinsen jumped in surprise. He pushed his glasses back up from where they'd slipped down to his nostrils and asked, puzzled, "Boss, what did you say?"

Yuri pointed to the wall clock. "I asked if you were hungry!"

Yinsen rubbed his stomach and only then realized he hadn't eaten in nearly seven hours. He quickly wrapped up his work, locked all his notes in the cabinet, and came out. "So, are you treating me, boss?"

You put it that way—what else can I do?

Yuri rolled his eyes at him and led the way out of the shop. "Anything you want to eat? If not, we'll find an all-you-can-eat place with big portions."

Yinsen locked the door. "No, boss. An all-you-can-eat place sounds good."

They searched along the street, but at this hour, every restaurant had a "Temporarily Closed" sign up. After wandering around, they finally found a Western restaurant open to customers along the main street.

"Let's go with this one, boss. I can't walk any farther."

Yinsen looked at the junkies scattered all over the street and belatedly realized he had entered Hell's Kitchen. He pushed open the glass door of the Western restaurant, and the wave of blood and gore that hit him made him frown. A trail of blood ran across the floor toward the kitchen, while waiters in restaurant uniforms mopped it up...

"What can I get for you, gentlemen?"

Yinsen already regretted stepping into the restaurant. He wasn't stupid; he knew what that trail of blood meant. Yuri, on the other hand, was only a little disgusted. He took the menu from the waiter, gave it a glance, and ordered, "Thirty steaks and one set meal. And bring some drinks and fruit."

He handed the menu back, but the waiter didn't let go right away. His gaze flicked across the blood on the floor, and he reminded him mildly, "Make sure the tableware is clean, and don't try to pass one thing off as another."

The waiter smiled amiably and held the menu against his chest. "Don't worry, sir. That's a separate business."

When he'd walked away, Yinsen leaned closer to Yuri and complained, "I'm definitely going to eat on time next time. This feels awful."

Yuri made no comment. He was wondering whether to arrange a delivery deal with the café next door. After all, if no one reminded them, neither he nor Yinsen would notice the time once they got to work.

"Sir, here are your three steaks and one set meal. The rest are still being prepared, so please wait patiently."

Yuri sniffed, making sure everything on the plates was legally edible. He nodded to Yinsen, who looked troubled, then cut off a large piece of steak and stuffed it into his mouth. Surprisingly, the food at this dark restaurant, which ran an illicit business on the side, tasted pretty good. He polished off the whole steak in a few bites, then, as Yinsen watched after finishing his own cutting, picked up the Table Knife and attacked a second steak.

The waiter, who had been watching the two of them from behind the counter, raised an eyebrow. He strolled into the kitchen and said to the cook, who was washing blood off his hands, "Hey, Tom, those two aren't here to cause trouble. Looks like we just happened to get a big eater."

Tom dried his hands, quickly put on a pair of gloves, and got to work in the actual kitchen. "That's a rarity. How long's it been since we had a proper customer?"

The waiter chuckled. "Proper business? Tom, killing people is proper business for us."

Yuri finished three steaks and a large bottle of beer. When the waiter brought out five more steaks, he nodded his thanks and paid him first for the thirty steaks and one set meal. As the waiter smiled politely, Yuri asked, "Have you considered offering delivery, sir? It's not far—just along the main street."

"Sir."

After collecting the empty plates, the waiter asked, "You really don't know what we do here?"

Yuri cut all five steaks into bite-sized pieces. He speared one and held it up. "But you're pretty good at your other job, too, aren't you?"