SSS-level catastrophe? That's my wife!

Soon, the sizzling sound of oil being heated in a wok came from upstairs.

Xiaoman and Sanshi exchanged a glance, their faces filled with shock.

Both of them turned their gazes to Lin Mu, who was sitting on a high stool, their eyes filled with disbelief: The boss actually went and made fried rice?

Xiaoman stared at Lin Mu's retreating figure, her understanding completely overturned:

Having worked for the boss for so long, this is the first time I've ever seen him cook himself, especially for a stranger!

San Shi suddenly snapped out of his daze, remembering the black bag he had dragged to the corner, and quickly said to Xiao Man, "I'll go take out the trash!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already picked up the bag and strode out of the tavern.

Lin Mu suddenly turned around, his gaze meeting Xiao Man's, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Do you think your boss did something unbelievable?"

Xiaoman finally snapped out of her shock, her eyes filled with scrutiny, and stepped forward to stand in front of Lin Mu: "Are you a student at Jiang University?"

"That's right." Lin Mu nodded in agreement.

"I have a question. From the outside, what is it about this tavern that attracted you to come in?" Xiaoman's tone was inquisitive.

Lin Mu pondered for a few seconds, then looked back at the dimly lit wooden door of the tavern and said seriously, "It looks rather eerie."

Xiaoman frowned, even more puzzled: "It looks so eerie, how dare you come in? Aren't you afraid there are demons and monsters inside that will eat you up?"

As she finished speaking, she deliberately revealed a sinister smile, the dim light making her expression particularly eerie.

She just wanted to scare this seemingly overly calm student, since the boss treated him so specially!

Lin Mu gave her a gentle smile and said calmly, "Because everything here is free."

"You and him..."

Xiaoman almost swore on the spot, but she swallowed her words and suppressed her anger, saying, "This is a high-end tavern! Everything is expensive!"

"This time the boss made an exception; from now on, everything in the pub will have a fixed price! Even a plate of fried rice will cost you 50 yuan!"

Lin Mu looked at the exasperated Xiao Man and smiled helplessly: "Fine, I understand."

"If you charge for fried rice, I'll change to another dish next time; it can be free."

Xiaoman's anger finally reached its breaking point. Just as she was about to put together a fluent string of curses, steady footsteps came from upstairs.

A few seconds later, Gu Cang walked up to Lin Mu with a plate of fragrant fried rice.

He handed over a pair of disposable chopsticks, his voice tinged with barely perceptible excitement: "A fried egg, a ham, a chicken cutlet, slightly spicy!"

"Hmm, it smells delicious." Lin Mu smiled as he took the chopsticks and immediately buried his head in the rice.

He was really starving.

Lin Mu originally planned to buy food from a roadside stall downstairs to eat at home, but when he got to the entrance of the tavern, he suddenly froze.

He glanced at Jiangda College across the street, then suddenly slapped his forehead: "How could I have forgotten about him!"

"Right across from Jiangda College, there's the Minimalist Tavern!"

"If only I had remembered an hour earlier, I wouldn't have needed to borrow money from Yan Yan. Wouldn't she be a free lunch?"

With that thought in mind, he lightly pushed open the tavern door.

Seeing Lin Mu eating with such satisfaction, Xiao Man felt even worse. She immediately snorted and angrily walked to the corner to sit down.

Before long, Lin Mu's plate of fried rice was empty, but Gu Cang's gaze remained fixed on him, without uttering a word.

"Boss, you're being a bit stingy."

Lin Mu took a sip of water, looked at the boss, and smiled, "The chicken cutlets we had before weren't this small, were they?"

"You're even picking on free meals!" Xiaoman stood up abruptly, her voice full of anger.

Gu Cang immediately waved his hand at her, signaling her to be quiet.

He looked at Lin Mu, a hint of barely perceptible tension on his weathered face, his voice hoarse and trembling:

"How big was the chicken cutlet you had before?"

Lin Mu met his gaze and said with a smile, "It's twice as much as it is now."

"You didn't actually cut a whole chicken cutlet in half, did you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Cang's expression suddenly changed drastically.

He suddenly put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, slowly exhaling smoke rings, but the fingers holding the cigarette were trembling slightly—a trembling of excitement.

He was almost 100% certain of the person's identity. Countless questions welled up in his mind, but he forced them back down.

What if it isn't?

What if the conversation just now was all a coincidence?

"Are you thinking, what if he isn't? What if the conversation just now was all a coincidence?"

Lin Mu's calm voice rang out, and Gu Cang's eyes widened completely, not even noticing the cigarette slipping from his fingers.

The next second, Lin Mu looked up at Gu Cang's shocked eyes and said calmly, "It's me."

boom--

Countless emotions flashed across Gu Cang's eyes in an instant: shock, doubt, excitement, but even more so, endless joy.

His eyes began to redden, and his lips trembled slightly, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Xiaoman, watching the interaction between the two from the corner, had a look of confusion on her face:

Why is this person suddenly talking to himself?

Is there something wrong with his/her brain?

I should have known better than to argue with him. He's so young and already mentally unstable. It's pathetic.

With a creak, the tavern door was pushed open, and San Shi walked in.

Xiaoman immediately gestured for him to come over.

San Shi walked over and sat down next to Xiao Man with a puzzled look on his face. Xiao Man pulled him close and whispered in his ear:

"That person is actually mentally ill; he was talking to himself inexplicably before you came in."

San Shi instantly understood, and his eyes showed more sympathy as he looked at Lin Mu.

Gu Cang finally suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked in a hoarse voice, "What's going on with this face?"

"And how did you get out of there...?"

"This is who I truly am, I was before, I am now, and I will be in the future," Lin Mu replied calmly.

In the corner, Sanshi leaned close to Xiaoman's ear and whispered, "Didn't you say he was mentally ill?"

"Why is Brother Gu chatting with him? We're too far away to hear what they're saying."

Xiaoman looked equally bewildered: "I don't know either..."

Gu Cang lit another cigarette, and as the smoke rings swirled around him, he stared at Lin Mu and asked, "Why is there no fluctuation of power within your body?"

"It's a long story, but recovery is only a matter of time," Lin Mu smiled.

Gu Cang suddenly laughed, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes: "That's actually a good thing, you've now moved from the open to the shadows."

"Is the knife still there? You treat it like your lifeblood."

Lin Mu's chopsticks suddenly stopped, his eyes instantly dimmed, and he shook his head and sighed.

Gu Cang took a deep drag of his cigarette, his voice emerging with the smoke ring: "If the unclaimed sacred artifact is found, it will be sealed in the base in the Holy Capital City. I'll go take a trip there."

"There's no rush. Besides, those old men at the base haven't been corrupted by them."