I will never give in to Miss Death

"Well……"

"And where are you going next?"

I poked the membrane with the unique bendable straw and took out my phone to check the time: "It's past nine o'clock?"

Since I became a girl, I seem to rarely not go home during this time.

I don’t know if it’s the little girl’s instinct that’s affecting me, but I just feel… it’ll be safer at home after dark, at least I won’t be running around.

"I want to go over there!"

Yin Xiamo pointed to the mouth of the Shenbin River not far from the commercial street and said, "I haven't been there yet."

I looked at the sparkling sea in the distance and said, "The entertainment there is very expensive."

There are three Kamijuma Rivers in Kamijuma City. One is located in the westernmost part of Kamijuma City, near the Glory District, and goes through the New West District and finally reaches the Kitayang District. The surrounding areas have all been developed into entertainment projects for the "upper class".

For example, there are villa areas and various luxury entertainment cities near the estuary. The wealthy people living in the Glory District can enjoy the natural beaches and resorts when they come out of their villas. The river itself has also become a paradise for the wealthy to sail on yachts. The videos about the wealthy people in Kamijuma City showing off their wealth that I have seen on some video websites are basically related to the first Kamijuma River.

Here, people sail yachts with beautiful women, fly helicopters with friends through the New West District, enjoy the scenery of the Shenbin River along the way, and finally arrive at the Paradise Resort in Beiyang District to end a day of luxurious life.

The map of Kamihama City looks simple at a glance. The westernmost part is the retirement area for the rich, the middle part is the area for ordinary people, and the easternmost part is the technology area and the tourism area. The main groups of people in these three areas usually do not interfere with each other, and there is rarely any behavior such as "crossing the area".

It seems that the fate of the people here is determined from the moment they are born.

There is a movie in League of Legends called "The Battle of Two Cities", which tells the story of the war between the upper city of Piltover and the lower city of Zaun. I feel that if Shenbin really had that kind of background... there would have to be a "Battle of Three Cities".

The war between the local tycoons, the lower classes, and the guardians of technology.

As for the second Kamibama River, it extends all the way northward from Minaminagi Port in Minaminagi District and ends at the Mizunara District. Because Minaminagi Port in Minaminagi District is directly governed by the state and is the economic lifeline, there are not many businesses around it. This river is also the shortest of the three Kamibama Rivers, so it has always been very low-key, with no commercial development and few tourists who like to travel nearby.

The third river is the one located near the Kamijyo Cat Cafe. The "Kamihama River" mentioned by the people of Kamihama City often refers to this river. Although its estuary is also at Minaminagi Port, there are no shipping routes and shipyards nearby, so merchant ships will not pass through here. There are many businesses nearby and many entertainment projects have been developed.

The river starts from Kamihama Nankai and splits into a "Y" shape in the Artisan District. It goes straight to the Daito District in the east and forms Kamihama City's signature tourist attraction "Kamihama Lake" near the Daito District. It runs through the Chuo District and Sankyo District in the west. The famous "Kamihama Bridge" was built on this river, becoming the "Golden Gate Bridge" of Kamihama City.

At least when I watch videos... foreign doomsday and monster movies like to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, while local movies like to blow up the Kamihama Bridge.

In addition, the area near the mouth of the Shenbin River is also the most lively area among the three Shenbin Rivers.

"It's okay, we'll just take a look, it doesn't cost any money."

While I was in a daze, the girl next to me came up to me, bit the straw of the milk tea in my hand and took a sip - "So sweet!"

"Hey!"

I subconsciously pulled the milk tea back: "Don't you have it?"

“I want to try both flavors!”

Yin Xiamo turned around and trotted towards the direction of Shenbin River: "Come on!"

What a joke... I haven't even drunk it yet!

I pushed the straw a little deeper, hesitated, and finally put it in my mouth.

Forget it, I won’t bother with a stupid loli like you.

A cup of milk tea costs an average of nine yuan, so don’t waste it.

I sucked up the pearls and milk tea at the bottom in one gulp, and while chewing this food that was a little unfamiliar to me, I followed the girl.

18 yuan for two cups of milk tea is indeed very cheap for a super city like Kamihama.

In other words... the prices in the central area of ​​Shenbin City are almost the same as this. If it is placed in the Rongyao District or Beiyang District, the housing prices are high, the land is expensive, and milk tea can be sold for 30 yuan a cup.

But because Nannagi District is very remote and there are not many people around, and in places like the newly opened commercial streets, the price will be as low as 18 yuan for two cups when new stores are holding promotions.

Although this price is considered very expensive in my opinion.

When I was an uncle, the drinks I drank were mostly coffee, cola or Sprite. I bought coffee because I had to buy it to stay awake when I was rushing to finish a manuscript or typing when I was sleepy. It had nothing to do with how good it tasted. I would buy a bottle of cola purely when I was happy. A standard bottle cost 3 yuan, and a large bottle cost 4 yuan. The happiness it brought me was similar to that of milk tea.

But here... Yin Xiamo has never drunk milk tea, so it’s okay if it’s a little expensive. It doesn’t matter if she drinks it occasionally. The most important thing is that she is happy.

Miss Death works in a convenience store. She must know Coke and Sprite, and maybe she has also drunk some Coke that was about to expire, but she has never drunk milk tea, so these two drinks have different meanings to her.

"You slow down!"

Seeing the girl in front of me running faster and faster, I didn't even bother to drink the milk tea in my hand, and quickly chased after her: "Where are you going?"

There is a very long slope from the commercial street in Minami-nagi district to the flat land near the Kamibama River.

The commercial street and coffee shops are on the high ground, while the Shenbin River is on the low ground. When you walk to the lowest point, you can see many yachts and small boats parked nearby, as well as some small vendors selling things along the road, mostly stinky tofu, fried noodles, barbecue and the like.

If there is a school nearby, maybe a high school boy coming back from school could sit on this big slope and say something like "The wind is so noisy today" to the girl he likes.

"ocean……"

They walked all the way to the slightly flatter lawn in the middle of the slope, and then Yin Xiamo stopped and looked at the deep blue sea in front of them, bathed in the faint light of the Milky Way.

At this time, many fishermen's lights were lit on the seashore, many small boats were swaying on the sea, and several children were chasing and playing on the shallow grass beach on the seashore.

Locals who have lived here for decades set up stalls and barbecue stalls near the small houses on the shore, and the curling smoke ripples slightly in the night sky.

You can vaguely see several cruise ships anchored not far away, as well as the Kamijuma cruiser, known as the "Maritime History Museum."

The ship has two 150mm naval guns and four 100mm naval guns, with a displacement of 2300 tons. It has been parked on the seaside here since its decommissioning, and tourists around it can visit it for free.

At night, the lights of the surrounding fishermen, indigenous people and small vendors in the Shenbin River area will merge with the battleship to form a very beautiful landscape.

"..."

Seeing the girl stopped, I quietly stood behind her.

"There are no such big ships in that world, and there are not so many happy people on the seashore."

After a moment of silence, Yin Xiamo picked up the milk tea in her hand and poked the film with a straw: "Because the sea... is dangerous."

I stepped forward: "Are there any sea monsters or giant squids?"

Like in Red Alert? A squid taking out a cruiser?

"There's a sea monster."

After taking a sip of milk tea, Yin Xiamo seemed to notice that there was more than just milk tea in the cup: "What is this round, sticky thing?"

I joked, "It's a giant squid's egg?"

Yin Xiamo glared at me, showing her two fangs: "Believe it or not, I will bite you."

"It's pearls, or a round starch called pearls. The raw material is usually tapioca flour."

I explained: "Use cassava flour to roll it into balls, then quickly put it into boiling water and cook it. This is what it looks like when it is cooked. You can think of it as a powder made from plant stems that is slightly more viscous than sweet potato or potato flour."

The girl was puzzled: "Why should milk tea be consumed with this starch?"

I said helplessly: "I don't know either, it should be some kind of tradition."

It seems that since the time I can remember, milk tea has basically been paired with "pearls".

Later, competition among milk tea shops became more and more intense, and the types of "pearls" increased, including the emergence of strange types such as "Q Pearls", "Panda Pearls", "Exploding Pearls", etc.

"Strange habits."

As she spoke, Yin Xiamo naturally took my hand and pointed to a small chair not far away: "Let's go over there."

There are stairs and chairs for tourists to rest on the slope from the commercial street to the Shenbin River. However, perhaps because it was late, there were not many customers around the winding stairs and chairs that looked like a winding mountain road.

"That ship over there... is it a battleship? A weapon used to fight the enemy on the sea."

After we sat down on the small chair together, the girl next to me very naturally took the milk tea from my hand and took a big sip: "I remember this kind of weapon."

"The cruiser Kamihama, one of the few ships that survived the end of the World War."

I have become numb to this guy's behavior of "stealing my food" so I just casually explained, "It has a history of 70 or 80 years."

When I was still an uncle, I once searched for relevant information about this battleship out of curiosity after work. There are also many bloggers and video hosts on the Internet who have visited and inspected this ship.

Although there are special people to maintain the hull every day, after all these years, the Kamijuma cruiser still has obvious damage, especially the two main guns, which have been exposed to the sun and rain for nearly a hundred years and are covered with rust. Only a few bullet holes on the hull still tell of the cruelty of the battle that year, reminding every tourist on board: Don't forget history, and cherish the peaceful times today.

"I still remember the sea at that time. Many of my companions died in just one wave."

The girl next to me grabbed one of my hands and put it on her thigh: "Then there was an idiot who risked being carried away by the waves to rush into the sea to save people."

"..."

I didn't speak.

The scene brought back some memories, but I had no memory of what happened at that time and all I had to do was listen silently.

"What are you going to do next?"

To my surprise, the girl next to me did not continue talking about the topic of "naval battle in another world", but turned her head and asked me.

"Ok?"

I didn’t understand what she was asking specifically for a moment: “How?”

"It's just... aren't we renting the same place now? You've also found a new job, what are your plans after this?"

The girl whispered, "Will you continue to rent there? Or are you planning to look for somewhere else?"

"My work and life are not stable now."

I thought about it and said, "The future of the coffee shop is not very clear. The income there is actually all bet on the construction of the commercial street. If the publicity is not in place in the future, or the direction is wrong, and the commercial street becomes an unfinished project, the coffee shop will probably suffer as well."

Even though the coffee shop has a lot of customer traffic now, if you really calculate its revenue, its current revenue is still at a loss.

Even if the coffee shop rent is free, there are so many people in the store, maids, chefs, cleaners, delivery boys... Such a big house, so many equipment and materials, daily upkeep and maintenance, water and electricity are all huge expenses, not to mention there are more than eighty cats to feed.

Cat food, cat litter, daily checkups for cats, deworming, physical examinations, etc. all cost money.

If I'm not mistaken, if the coffee shop wants to be profitable, and wants to cover basic expenses while also earning enough money to advertise on TV, then during slow traffic periods like morning, afternoon, and evening, the customer flow must be maintained at about the same level as today's peak customer flow. And during the actual dining peak, not to mention that customers can fill all the tables and chairs in the store, it is necessary to keep the number of people in the store at around 70 or 80.

Add to that take-out and the like, if the coffee shop fails to gain popularity, the commercial street is not built, and the developer makes strategic mistakes, the only thing that awaits the coffee shop is a slow death.

People are born in hardship and die in comfort. At least I wouldn’t dare to guarantee a bright future just by working in a coffee shop for a day or two - I have suffered a lot.

No one reads my novels, subscriptions plummeted, I was working hard, but my boss announced that the company was bankrupt, and I was counting on the novel royalties to cover my daily expenses, but the website collapsed...

You never know what the future will bring.

This is also the reason why I actively choose to do more work and save more money. I have experienced it, I am afraid of it, and I understand it.

“What if life got better?”

The girl next to him didn't seem to want to drop the topic, but continued to ask, "For example, if the coffee shop you mentioned becomes popular, has more customers, and the boss gives you a raise, what are your plans for the future?"

"Hmm... buy a house? And decorate the house beautifully?"

I was a little stumped by this question: "If it's not possible, should I buy a smaller one first?"

During the time I lived in a small apartment, I occasionally thought about the issue of "buying a house", but the cruel reality made me just... think about it.

There are many inconveniences in renting a house, and the quality of neighbors varies greatly, just like the drunkards who knocked on the door and stole shoes in front of the camera that I encountered these days. When you first move in, you may think that the environment is good and the neighbors are warm, but maybe the next day this warm neighbor moved out, and an old rogue who raises dogs came in, and the dog at home barked all day long, affecting your rest. Or a chicken farm owner came in and raised more than a dozen roosters on the roof, which barked non-stop at two or four in the middle of the night. Or a stinky tofu vendor moved in, and the kitchen smoke billowed every day, making the whole building smell like stinky tofu...

When we were young, we all had dreams - to be a scientist, an astronaut, or a writer, but no one's dream since childhood was to buy a house.

“Buy a house, then what?”

My answer seemed to make the Death Girl Yin Xiamo even more excited: "Do you have any other ideas?"

"I...any other ideas?"

I sensed something was wrong: "What exactly do you think? Can you give me a hint?"

"that is……"

The girl avoided my gaze: "It's just... emotional."

"Eh?"

I then noticed that one of my hands had been pressed against the girl's thigh. After a moment's thought, I deliberately said, "As for the relationship... I don't know?"

"Ok?"

"I have never been in a relationship since I was a child. I know nothing about love or taking care of people."

I smiled and said, "Maybe he often makes people angry because of his low emotional intelligence or something?"

"I see it."

Yin Xiamo puffed up her cheeks, and when I wasn't paying attention, she bit the straw of the milk tea in my hand and took a sip. Then she nibbled on the pearls and said incoherently, "It does make people angry often."

I smiled bitterly: "You've almost drunk all of mine."

"It's not like I won't let you drink mine."

The girl acted like a scoundrel: "Isn't this what couples' milk tea is like?"