Why it never ends

Chapter 924 Old News

"It feels like she's been everywhere," said Rico, "but if I could live that long, I'd travel around the world, too."

"You can travel around the world now," Hesta said, "but you have been staying in District 12 for the past few years."

"Who said that? Didn't I go to District 1 last year?"

Hesta raised his eyebrows and said nothing more.

Rico turned to look at Eucalyptus: "What are you checking?"

"...I'm looking for that Gospel Association." Eucalyptus was still looking at his phone, "It's the one that Ms. Valeria mentioned before."

"Any results?" Hesta asked.

"They are indeed a religious group, but they are also a volunteer service organization. Their official website says they have been working to solve the problem of child hunger around the world for nearly a decade."

Eucalyptus pushed the phone towards Hesta, and Hesta and Rico leaned over to take a look.

"...I believed you when you said they were selling children," said Rico, "but now you tell me, would people like them think about solving the problem of child hunger?"

Eucalyptus laughed.

The waiter brought five menus and greeted everyone enthusiastically. Hesta picked up the drink list and took a look at it - it was all fruit juice and some local non-alcoholic drinks.

Qiqi looked through the menu carefully, but found that it was full of words. There were a lot of descriptions under each dish name, introducing the ingredients of the dish, and there was not a single picture on the entire menu. She frowned and read for a while, then suddenly pointed at a word and looked at Eucalyptus: "Is this cheese?"

"Correct."

"I want this!" Eleven secretly competed with everyone for the honor of being the first person to order. She raised her hand high, "This! Help me order it!"

Hesta took a look and saw the words "Raw Meat Tower" written on it. The ingredients were raw horse meat, pickles, onions, olive oil and raw egg yolks.

"You can't eat this." Hesta said softly, "Change it."

"......?" Eleven puffed up his cheeks and pointed at another one randomly, "Then I want this one."

Hesta raised his eyes: "Are you sure?"

"I am sure!"

"Have you ever tried goat cheese? It tastes like—"

"I want this, I want this, I want this!" Seeing that Kiki was about to finish the selection with the help of Eucalyptus, Eleven stood up anxiously.

"You have to finish what you ordered."

"I'll finish it!"

Hesta nodded and wrote on the first line of the paper: goat cheese and vegetable pancakes.

"This is delicious," Rico stretched his neck to take a look, "give me one too." Eleven watched Hesta make a note for Rico under her own dish name, and sat back in her chair happily. Although no one knew what she was happy about, she still raised her hands high as if she had won.

It took everyone about a quarter of an hour to choose their dishes. Kiki and Eucalyptus ordered a special noodle dish and lentil soup with ingredients adjusted according to the ingredients of the day. Hesta ordered a mediocre meat pie. Rico picked several kinds of grilled meat skewers and a large portion of red meat and vegetable pot, as well as three cups of mint tea and two glasses of apple juice.

"I once saw a rescue organization from District 3 when I was on a mission in the Pomp Wasteland," Hesta said. "They—"

"Where is that?" Eucalyptus asked. "Pump Wasteland?"

"On the edge of the Fourth District," Rico drew a map in the shape of the Fourth District on the table, and then pointed to its south. "It has now been merged with Bastia and classified as a habitable area." She looked at Hesta, "What happened to them?"

"They claim to be providing medical assistance, but I discovered that no one in the entire organization has medical qualifications, not even one person who can do basic bandaging." Hesta said softly, "I later learned that it was just a gimmick. Their people go to the Pomp Wasteland for a month every year to take some photos, and then they can use these materials to raise funds when they return to District 3."

Eucalyptus was startled: "Oh, yes, I saw that there is also a donation channel on the official website of the Gospel Association, and they held a charity party in the livable area last month to raise funds..."

"It's all the same old trick," Hesta said.

The drinks were served first. The children liked sweet drinks, while Eucalyptus and Hesta tried the mint tea that Rico strongly recommended. Eucalyptus was a little uncomfortable when she took the first sip. The originally clear green tea was completely overwhelmed by the spicy taste of the mint water, but slowly, she tasted a little bit of clove and jasmine in the tea, and the taste was very rich.

Hesta couldn't get used to it at all, so he added a lethal amount of sugar to the mint tea.

Next, mince pie and lentil soup were served. When Hesta cut into the mince pie, Eleven smelled a strong almond aroma - this super-large meat pie was made of pigeon meat stewed with local special spices and cream, mixed with onions, chopped eggs, almonds and sugar, and finally baked to a crispy golden crust, with a layer of icing sugar and cinnamon powder on the surface.

Eleven pinched the tablecloth and forced herself not to look at Hesta's plate. However, when she turned around and saw the thick soup in Kiki's bowl, the bright red tomatoes and soft lentils still made her drool.

"I plan to go to the City Hall of Saint-Lome again tomorrow," Hesta looked at Rico, "It's really inconvenient that we don't have a workstation here--"

"Do you want to leave for Emanlia as soon as possible?" asked Rico.

"Yes, they said that the results of my identity check have not come out yet, so they can't let me go," Hesta said softly, "They said it will be ready within five working days. If everything goes well, I should be able to get it tomorrow."

"It's hard to say. I think we'll have to wait until next week at the earliest," said Rico. "The recent delay in the schedule is probably not due to you. It's mainly because a batch of artifacts from District 12 are still being transported. Once they successfully arrive at the northern dock, all the inspections will be completed."

"Artifacts?"

"…Are they cultural relics? Anyway, they are a bunch of things that should be in a museum. If you are interested, we can go and take a look. The transport team will pass through Saint-Lome in the next two days," Rico said as she turned on her phone. After a brief query, she widened her eyes slightly. "Oh, tomorrow."

As they were talking, vegetable and meat pancakes and seafood stew noodles were served. Eleven happily raised her own wooden chopsticks and took a bite without waiting for Eucalyptus to cut the pancake into small pieces for her.

She chewed quickly and was about to say it was delicious, but a strange smell slowly overwhelmed the aroma of the meat and spread in her mouth.

"Ah, this taste..." Rico sighed repeatedly as he ate, "It's so delicious."

Opposite her, Rico cut off a piece of meat patty and chewed it with big mouthfuls, and he didn't look like he was pretending.

"...Sister," Eleven swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty, "Can I switch with you?"