Chapter 40 - Black Pepper Sauce (1/2)

“Why?” asked Fayn.

Adrian told him, “I don’t like sitting on the inside.”

“How come I’ve never heard you say anything like that in the past?” Fayn said. “Dr. Wei’s food is already here. We should just stay put.”

Adrian had already gotten out of his seat and helped Wei Lan move his dish to Zhong Yan’s spot. Wei Lan had no comments on the issue, and Zhong Yan had only casually sat down there; since Adrian wanted to change, the two of them didn’t mind doing so.

Seeing that Wei Lan had already moved over, Fayn followed him over despite having nary an idea on what Adrian was trying to do. The table was very wide, so those sitting next to each other were much closer than the people sitting across from them.

Not long after changing their seats, their food was served.

Adrian took away the decorative flower on his dish and passed it to Zhong Yan.

First, Zhong Yan carefully observed his steak for a few moments before he began to cut into it. With his eyes alone, he could see a small amount of tendon that was hard to chew on the steak he ordered, but they were quite thankfully gathered mostly on one half of the steak. Zhong Yan carefully planned out the line he was going to cut and sliced out the half of the steak that was pure meat.

Just as he was done, Adrian suddenly reached over and snagged away the tough half with his fork.

Before Zhong Yan could react to what had happened, Adrian had already put that half of the steak on his own plate and pushed it back in front of him.

“Wait!” Zhong Yan quickly spoke, “You got the wrong one, that one’s not for you.”

“You really think you can cut or chew this half with your strength? You’re slow enough as you are,” Adrian said impatiently. “Stop bullshitting and start eating.”

Helpless, Zhong Yan could only eat his meal.

Fayn tried a few bites and said, “No wonder this place is so highly praised in the virtual community. I thought the shop hired people to write reviews but the black pepper sauce is actually really good.”

“Yeah,” Adrian echoed his sentiments. “The taste is not bad.”

Zhong Yan paused in his movements for a second and looked pensively at Adrian’s plate.

Near the end of the meal, the waitress who had brought Wei Lan’s meal came over again. This time, she brought Adrian a caramel pudding in a tall crystal glass.

Adrian was doubtful. “Did we order this?”

“Commander Yate, our boss says this is a gift for you,” the girl explained. “This is to thank you for your contributions to the Navi System. It’s just a simple dessert. We hope you enjoy it.”

Adrian nodded. “In that case, please help me thank your boss for his sincerity.”

The girl thanked him again and took another look at Zhong Yan, then turning back to look at Adrian. A dreamlike look appeared on her face, and she left again.

She thought she wasn’t being too obvious, but Adrian still noticed it. He couldn’t help but find the waitress a bit strange, but he did not think much of it.

He pushed the pudding towards Zhong Yan’s side and said, “You eat it.”

“They gave it to you, it wouldn’t be nice if you didn’t eat it,” Zhong Yan refused.

“I’ve already thanked them” Adrian grimaced at the layer of caramel on top. “It’s too sweet. We have our backs against the restaurant, nobody’s gonna see.”

Adrian did not enjoy eating sweets, and would only barely accept matcha flavored cakes; Zhong Yan knew this. With some awkwardness, he offered, “Why don’t I eat the caramel layer for you?”

Fayn poked his nose in on purpose. “I can eat it for you, boss. I’m not afraid of sweets, bring it over.”

Adrian glared at him and pushed the cup in front of Zhong Yan. “Hurry up, stop dallying. I’m going to go wash my hands. I want to see you done with that when I’m back.”

The washroom was close to the back kitchen of the steakhouse. When he passed by the kitchen after washing his hands, Adrian caught sight of the waitress crouched into a corner with her head down, looking at something.

After some hesitation, he sneaked up to her.

He wasn’t trying to do anything bad. Adrian was really only doing this because he found her earlier expression strange and it made him suspicious, especially with how she was secretly squatting here and all, and so he quietly sneaked up behind her.

When he realized that the girl was only checking some messages in a small chat group on her terminal, he immediately wanted to retreat and avoid intruding on the privacy of others, but it was already too late.

Being rather short, Adrian was much taller than the girl, which made it easy for him to see the contents of her screen from behind her. Thanks to his good dynamic vision, Adrian was able to see at one glance the name of that chat group—Silver Eyes Giant Space Rabbit Frontline Discussion Squad (Navi Platoon).

Silver eyes…

Giant rabbit…

What the hell does that mean?

Don’t all rabbits have red eyes?

And what’s that Navi Platoon thing in the parenthesis? Did they have other platoons elsewhere as well?

Adrian was completely puzzled, and at the same time, he felt that those stupid creatures, the giant space rabbits, had been coming up in his life way too much recently. Ever since he graduated and no longer had to stare at Zhong Yan’s giant space rabbit bed sheets, it had been many long years since he had heard the name of that creature.