“rustle, rustle” 

The two masked automatons started to move their stiff limbs and prepared for breakfast service.

“click, clack, clack, clack”

Black dress shoes made crisp sounds as they touched the hard floor of the waiting area. 

Abyss 1 reached the black restaurant host stand. The name of the restaurant was painted on the front of the podium in white. There was an icon underneath the name that depicted a large white mask with 2 eye slits painted on and a close-lipped smile. 

“fwop”

He placed a large black book onto the podium. The front cover of the book had the smiling mask icon on it.

“fwish”

The masked host opened the book and flipped to the second page.

 

[The Abyss Bar & Restaurant Guest List]

(Day 4)

Breakfast

 

Party of 9

• Du Hong

Party of 3

• Su Zheng

Party of 16 (X)

• Ben & Dan Clans

 

Other than the regular customers, a new party of people was printed on the list. After flipping to the second page, Abyss 1 stood still on the podium and waited……

…….

The doors opened and revealed a party of 9 people.

“Welcome back, dear guests. Let me show you to your table”

Du Hong’s party was led into the dining room and was seated at one long table. 

Fu Lian was the server for their group this time and approached them with a jug of ice water. Everyone nodded their heads and were given a glass of water.

[What would you like to order, dear guests?]

Du Hong replied first, “2 bowls of spicy beef curry.”

Peng Hua, Peng Huang, Liao Xue, and Liao Xang ordered four waffles with some toppings.

Gao Long and Gao Wu ordered two bowls of seafood noodle soup.

Wan Xinyue and Sun Ning ordered two bowls of spicy beef curry.

[The food will be here soon.] 

Fu Lian walked back into the kitchen. As she walked back, all of Du Hong’s students looked at each other with surprised looks. 

“Ahahahaha hahahahaha!”

Du Hong’s laugh made his students jump in surprise.

------

“Welcome back, dear guests.”

Su Zheng had a large smile on his face and Zhou Ru also looked excited to try some more of the restaurant’s food. Su Zhenya tried to hide her excitement, but there was a small smile on her face.

“Let me show you to your table.”

Sun Ning was looking down at her feet slightly embarrassed.

“click, click, click, click”

She looked up and saw a group of people sit down next to her table. After they finished ordering their food, “AAAAHHHH!!!”

Everyone else at her table looked at her curiously and saw her staring at a tall woman in a black dress. Du Hong was slightly amused when he saw the party of 3 sitting next to his table.

‘So they found out about this place too.’

Wan Xinyue looked concerned, “Sun Ning, what’s wrong?”

Sun Ning had an extremely surprised expression on her face. “That’s Su Zhenya. The famous energy tool designer.”

All of the other students were surprised. Everyone of them had seen many energy tools designed by her. 

‘Wait, if that’s Su Zhenya. Then, who are the two people sitting with her.’

They stared at the other two people and Sun Ning faintly spoke, “That’s Su Zheng and his secretary Zhou Ru.”

While his students were still shocked, Du Hong smiled and spoke to the party of 3, “It has been a while since I’ve talked to you.”

Su Zhenya nodded, “Thank you for your advice on crystal suits.”

Su Zheng laughed nervously, “Teacher Du, I’m sorry that I left your class without telling you.”

Du Hong chuckled, “It’s fine Little Zheng, you had to take over your family’s company.”

He showed a sorrowful look, “Your parents were great disciples. Their unexpected deaths were a tragedy for the empire.”

Noticing the gloomy atmosphere, Du Hong spoke to Zhou Ru, “Ru’er, I’m surprised that you decided to be Little Zheng’s secretary considering your personality.”

Zhou Ru blushed, “Someone has to look after him and the company.”

Du Hong showed an understanding smile after Zhou Ru blurted out an excuse. 

[Here are your dishes, I hope that you’ll enjoy the food.]

Fu Lian distributed the plates of food to Du Hong’s table. Everyone smelled the food and quickly dug in.

Su Zheng’s table was also filled with food a few minutes later. The dining room was filled with the sounds of people eating.

Meanwhile….

“fwooom”

Several expensive looking cars stopped in front of Fu Chen’s restaurant.

16 men stepped out of the cars while the drivers stayed inside.

One of the men spoke, “So this is the restaurant that disrespected our clans.”

A young man replied, “Yes father.”

The young man was the young master of the Ben Clan and his father was the head of the clan.

They opened the doors and walked inside.

“Welcome, dear guests, to the Abyss Bar & Restaurant.”

The head of the Ben Clan responded, “Hmph, give us the best seats of the restaurant.”

Hearing that response, the smile on Abyss 1’s mask actually widened slightly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll show you to the best seats of the restaurant.”

------

“clink”

The people already eating were surprised at the sound and saw a large table and 16 chairs appear out of the dining room floor. Deciding not to question it, everyone continued eating their food.

“Here are your seats, a server will come by soon.”

The 16 men sat down and Abyss 2 quickly appeared next to their table holding a large pitcher of ice water. He was also somehow balancing a tower of glass cups on the palm of his other hand. 

“Would you like some ice water?”

They all nodded so Abyss 2 filled all of the glasses and distributed them.

“To see the menu, please press the green button on the holographic device.”

Several servants that were brought into the restaurant pressed the green buttons for their masters. One of the young masters scoffed when he saw the price of the food, “A restaurant that sells food that costs less than 10 thousand credits had the audacity to deny us entry yesterday?”

Soon, the other young masters laughed. 

The head of the Ben Clan had a sneer on his face, “Alright, since we’ve already been graciously allowed into the restaurant, let’s just order 16 bowls of spicy curry to give these peasants some money.”

Abyss 1 bowed, “Your food will arrive soon.”

A few minutes later, Abyss 1 exited the kitchen carrying a tray that had a pyramid of stacked bowls. The 16 bowls of spicy beef curry released a large wave of beefy aroma. The 16 diners were surprised at how good the food smelled. 

One of the young masters scoffed, “The trash may smell nice, but something this cheap will never taste good.”

Another one laughed, “We should try to eat peasant food sometimes.”

Everyone took a bite of their food and then another. They started to rapidly devour the food.

After they finished eating, one of the servants glanced at another servant. They nodded and one of them spoke to the head of the Dan Clan.

“Master, I felt my energy circulate by itself after eating the food.”

The head of the Dan Clan was surprised and checked his own spirit veins. His surprised expression was seen by the others so they checked their spirit veins.

Soon, everyone had greedy looks on their faces. Someone suggested an idea, “Let’s ask the chef how he did this.”

“Did you have something to ask me, dear guests?”

The Ben and Dan clan members saw Fu Chen standing next to their table in his chef uniform.

One of the clan leaders had a vicious look on his face, “Tell us how you managed to create an energy consumable that would circulate on its own.”

“Apologies, but that is a secret.”

The clan leaders looked furious, “You dare not tell us? Defying the Ben and Dan clans means that you are defying the Azula Galactic Empire. Attempting to hide secrets beneficial to us is treason!”

Fu Chen laughed, “I’m not a citizen of your empire.”

One of the servants spoke, “He must be an enemy spy.”

The others latched onto that accusation, “We need to capture him and make him spill his secrets.”

Their righteous sounding words didn’t match the greedy looks on their faces. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Forget it! Let’s just kill him and ransack his restaurant!”

Chaos ensued with the Ben and Dan clan members preparing to kill Fu Chen who had an amused look on his face.

“clap”

“fwoosh”

Black chains appeared from the chairs and tied the 16 customers to the seats. Fu Chen hideously smiled, “Now, let’s get the trial started!”