Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2136: Chapter 2131: Confinement (5)

Mr. Huck Sr. still seemed to enjoy the breakfast atmosphere.

After placing the items down, Zhen retreated, and after saying thank you, Huck did not rush to eat but instead slightly frowned as he looked out the window.

The breakfast shop’s structure is somewhat long and narrow, and this is the second-to-last row by the window.

It is easy to see that when Huck chose this spot, he didn’t even hesitate.

The same menu, the same seat, without needing to say much, for male regulars, it truly is a common preference.

But this does not mean these choices were made lightly.

Though the window is large, the last row still feels somewhat confined.

Even with the curtains fully drawn, it is still difficult to look outside.

And if too close to the breakfast shop’s entrance, the four-story concrete building outside completely blocks the morning sunlight.

Only the current spot can avoid these two issues at the same time.

And it is not situated in the center of the large window, eliminating the discomfort of being stared at by passersby.

Feeling the wisdom of his predecessor, Fu Qian also focused on what his predecessor was watching.

The planning of this place still appears quite chaotic, and the aforementioned concrete building is clearly some kind of factory, with a towering chimney visible next to it.

And just a small road away, there’s a slightly shorter row of buildings.

The more refined and elegant outer walls, the slightly varied balconies, all indicate residential areas.

And just by comparing the two, it seems easy to understand why the breakfast shop’s business is poor.

The factory’s chimney is not emitting any smoke, and though it’s already past eight, many curtains in the residential area are not yet drawn open.

Among those that are open, it’s not difficult to see from this distance that the interiors are almost as empty as the place where one lives.

Even the elegant outer wall’s lower edge has more than one piece of graffiti in red and green, and Mr. Huck Sr.’s gaze settled on that.

This place is dying; like him, a significant portion of former residents have left.

Of course, it does not mean that Huck revels in such signs of decay; to Fu Qian, the old man seems to enjoy the breakfast process that has happened thousands of times.

Eating the same food, sitting in the same spot, seeing the same sights, so much so that one can both be immersed in life and yet detach oneself from it.

As to why he feels this way—Wrinkling his brow wasn’t because he saw the graffiti.

Some waiter skipping a shift seemed to have aroused his suspicion.

But even so, he did not call Zhen back to inquire further, subtly unwilling to disrupt the breakfast routine.

Empathizing, even Fu Qian in this countdown race did not urge; he too felt this mundane scene.

"They haven’t been here."

However, Mr. Huck didn’t indulge in his mental enjoyment for long; he quickly withdrew his gaze and abruptly gave a conclusion.

"Oh? Why do you say that?"

Fu Qian, going with the flow, turned his attention back to breakfast.

...

"They" undoubtedly refers to the missing young couple or perhaps the teenage boy and girl.

Fourteen years old, at that age Teacher Yu hadn’t even been weaned.

"There are rarely any new faces here; if there were, Maggie would have told me."

Faced with the newcomer’s doubt, Huck answered quite naturally.

The Maggie he mentioned could easily be guessed as the female shopkeeper behind the counter.

It seems that over the years, their understanding extended beyond just the menu.

"So is there a next step plan?"

Though it might seem overtly confident, Fu Qian had complete trust in this judgment.

"First eat, and then pay a visit to the Rachel couple."

It turns out there actually was, though the name Rachel—

"Do you think she’s not just skipping work normally? Is such a situation rare?"

Fu Qian naturally remembered she was Zhen’s colleague and didn’t mind the old man’s seeming digression.

So far, it seems the previous judgment can be continued, that this place belongs to rare human scenes.

But sometimes, it’s precisely the anomalies in ordinary life that bring about more oppression.

From Tina before to this Rachel, it seems one could smell an unusual scent.

"On the contrary, it’s quite common... Rachel isn’t very fond of her job.

"That’s also why, even though she’s very popular with the gentlemen, I still prefer Zhen to help with serving."

Huck’s response, however, was once again unexpected.

"As for why I want to check, I can hardly explain it to you with reasonable logic. If you could stay for a long time... ten years, twenty years, perhaps one day you could understand.

"It’s like you’re a spider, and the web is always moving, but there’s one particular movement that doesn’t feel like it’s the wind."

Saying so much in one breath seemed a bit mentally taxing, so Huck exhaled and picked up a glass of milk in front of him and took a sip.

It was even ice-cold milk.

Fu Qian watched the faint beads of condensation form on the outside of the glass, without commenting on the old man’s dietary preferences.

As for the analogy of the spider web, it really isn’t hard to understand.

For someone who can detach from life while eating breakfast, forming some sort of invisible radar like a spider web around him isn’t such a strange occurrence. Many people in everyday life have similar feelings.

Clearly reasonable scenes, yet able to perceive a lack of harmony–even Fu Qian felt it right now.

The old man’s breakfast was simple, just a glass of milk and a thin pancake, mimicking his menu, so naturally, he had the same, except...

Fu Qian picked up his glass, feeling the finer beads of water on it.

It’s not that this glass was colder; on the contrary, it didn’t have the just-taken-from-the-fridge feel, and the more prominent beads were because of this.

So the question is, why?

Fu Qian wasn’t that picky about the temperature of his drinks, but to achieve such a detail, one must think that special conditions were required.

Firstly, this glass was given to him, so it wasn’t prepped with Huck’s taste in mind in advance.

But it was indeed prepared in advance, and there were no signs it had been drunk from.

Excluding the unlikely scenario of "though we’ve just opened, we ran out of milk, so the staff’s was given to the customer first," who was this glass prepared for?

Not only that, it even had to meet the condition of "Zhen did not notice the inappropriateness of serving such a glass unnoticed."

One might surmise that it was something "Rachel" would do; looking at this spirited person, it seems hard to link such carelessness with her.

"Understood."

Fu Qian’s gaze settled on Zhen outside the counter, while not neglecting to communicate with Huck.

And the waitress chatting with Maggie clearly noticed his gaze, turning to blink.

"So what’s Rachel’s favorite color for flowers?"

However, Fu Qian’s next sentence froze her smile instantly.