Cyberpunk, but urban

"It's a traveler! Ahahaha, although our village is really beautiful, it's not a place famous for its food. I'm so sorry."

Moses ignored Ye Lan's strange behavior behind her and continued to say to the boss, "It's okay. Just looking for a restaurant in the alley I entered for the first time is already something I enjoy very much."

"I'm the owner of De Mar Cafe, my name is Dewey. Ah, I'll go get the menu."

It was not until this time that the boss remembered that he had been talking to the guests for such a long time but had not yet given them a menu, so he hurried back to the kitchen.

While the boss went back to the kitchen to look for the menu of the coffee shop, Ye Lan and his friends chose a seat and sat down. Although this coffee shop is small, the decoration is very delicate and cute, and the wooden structure gives people a special feeling of warmth. The midday sun shines in from the window and turns into a warm light on the dining table. The experience in this shop is like a luxury that can only be enjoyed in wealthy areas.

After a while, the boss came back with a menu.

"Here's the menu. Take your time to look at it and choose."

Ezra pulled little Luna to look through the pictures of food on the menu. After a while, she couldn't choose anything she didn't want to eat, so she looked up at Moses and said, "Wow! Moses, as a foodie who travels to alley restaurants, you really have to try them all, right?!"

Moses was confused by her words and twitched his lips. He said to her, "Hahaha, Yi Yi. Did you forget that we only eat three recommended dishes in the restaurant?"

"Well, since there are two of us this time, it's not impossible to add two more dishes, right?"

Ye Lan reached out and took the menu from Ezra's hand, flipped through it and said to Boss Dewey: "In addition to the three recommended dishes, give us a maple syrup croissant and a caramel pudding."

Moses was a little depressed because of the extra expenses, while Ezra happily looked at Ye Lan with Luna. Boss Dewey smiled with interest and watched the interaction between several guests.

"Is there nothing else you need? Please wait a moment."

Dewey walked into the kitchen, and the sound of clinking cutlery came over. Moses looked out the window, and there was still no one on the street.

"Has this village always been so quiet?" Moses said, raising his voice slightly towards the kitchen.

Boss Dewey, who was in the kitchen making the food they had just ordered, also raised his voice: "Ah, now is the harvest festival season in our village. Those who have time are now preparing for the festival in the village hall."

"A harvest festival? Can we participate in the festival as well?"

The closed village and the inherent customs. For Moses, this combination has already written the word "problematic" on the surface. Generally speaking, there are only two possibilities for such a festival, excluding outsiders or actively allowing outsiders to join.

Inviting outsiders to join the ceremony is likely intended to turn them into sacrifices in the ceremony, but at the same time, it will also allow them to witness the problems in the village firsthand.

If they refuse to allow outsiders to join, they will have to find a way to sneak into the festival if they want to find the distortion in this village.

"Of course! The more people who participate in the festival, the better."

In Moses' opinion, the festival here was obviously the first case. Although they would most likely have to fight with the villagers, she was not afraid because she had Ezra and Ye Lan, who claimed to be strong.

Besides, if all else fails, we can release the forbidden hunter imprisoned in Yuria's workshop...

Dewey walked into the dining room with the food. In addition to the maple syrup croissant and pudding ordered by Ye Lan, there were also pancakes and omelettes. The drink was black tea, but it seemed very ordinary anyway.

But Ezra's eyes were still sparkling. This big girl with golden hair loved these desserts very much, and her taste was comparable to that of little Luna.

"Then please enjoy your meal. I'll go to the village hall and tell everyone."

"Thank you so much!"

Moses and Ye Lan spoke to Dewey, while Ezra and Luna had already started to work on the ordinary food.

Dewey smiled and left the store.

"The boss is a nice person, but everything seems very ordinary." Shortly after the boss left, Ye Lan said to Moses while drinking black tea.

"Well, it's so ordinary that I can't see any problem."

"But although you can feel the distortion here, you can't see where the distortion of the village is, am I right?"

"Ah."

"That doesn't matter. Anyway, we just need to participate in their festival and we will definitely be able to get to know the secrets of this place."

Ye Lan took out two tissues, handed one to Ezra, whose mouth was covered with croissant crust, and handed the other to Luna, who had a streak of caramel on her face.

After the two of them took the tissues, Ye Lan turned around and asked Moses, "Speaking of which, when are you going to release the forbidden hunter? Vespa, is that his name?"

Chapter 51. Festival

"How could you..."

Before Moses could finish his words, Mr. Dewey, who had just gone to the village hall, pushed the door and returned to the store.

"Everyone, the villagers welcome you. Now that you have finished your meal, can you come with me to the village hall?"

"Ok."

Moses glanced at Ye Lan who was smiling at her, and while trying to figure out the thoughts of this man who came to her door on his own initiative, he asked Ezra and Luna on the other side, "How was your meal?"

Ezra and Luna looked at each other, then said in unison using Moses' embarrassingly cute pseudonym, "Very satisfied. Momo."

This time, Ye Lan really couldn't hold back his laughter and thus received a heavy blow from Moses' prosthetic hand.

Ye Lan dodged Moses' "attack" and said to the boss, "Well... could you please pack a meal for me first? I want coffee and a cheese and ham sandwich."

Boss Dewey said to Ye Lan in confusion: "Guest, we provide meals at the festival, you don't need to order a separate meal."

"Oh, you misunderstood. We have a companion who is late, and this is for him."

"Oh, I'll do it right away. Please wait a moment."

After getting an explanation from Ye Lan, Boss Dewey immediately rushed into the kitchen. It didn't take too long to make coffee and sandwiches, but it was enough time for Ye Lan and Moses to finish the topic that had just been interrupted by the boss.

Moses pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and put one in her mouth without lighting it. She glanced at Luna, who was sitting next to Ezra, and asked Ye Lan, "Are you here for Vespa?"

"He doesn't deserve it," Ye Lan shook his head and continued, "But you've locked him up for so long, aren't you afraid that he will starve to death in there?"

"Hmph, then starve to death, the guy who dared to hurt the detective..." Ezra also joined the conversation. She didn't have any good feelings towards the guy who hurt Moses.

"No, Ye Lan is right. It will do no good to let him starve to death in there. Let's find a chance to release him today."

Moses held an unlit cigarette in his mouth and glanced at Luna who was sitting next to Ezra. Then she continued, "Ye Lan, since you brought up this matter, when the forbidden hunter comes out, it will be up to you to control him."

"Just a first-level finisher."

"Wow, how come the company's senior employees are so awesome?"

Ezra came up and let out a small cry of surprise. Her eyes were shining as she asked Ye Lan, "Do the employees of your L Company have any unique weapons? Can they... hehehe."

"That will have to wait until we get to L-Nest. Then I'll see if I can find a few for you from the ruins of that branch."

Ye Lan wrote her a bad check and temporarily suppressed the girl. At this time, the boss Dewey also finished making the food he wanted and handed the packed things to Ye Lan.

"Excuse me, shall we check out now?"

"No trouble, no trouble. I'll calculate the price... Take a look at this price."

After paying the bill, Ye Lan and Moses followed Dewey with their children out of the teahouse, walked through the beautiful village, and came to the village hall.

"Everyone! I brought the tourists I just mentioned here."

Moses immediately pulled Ezra aside to say hello, and Ye Lan and Luna followed closely behind them to greet the villagers. There were about 40 people gathered in the building, and everyone was greeting Ye Lan and his party.

"Welcome. I am Domits, the mayor of this village. I heard from Dewey that you two are travelers."

"Yes. We are travelers looking for restaurants in the alleys." Moses shook hands with the village chief.

"Hello!" Ezra greeted cheerfully.

"Thank you very much for hosting outsiders like us to participate in the village ceremony." After Moses let go of the village chief's hand, Ye Lan also walked up and shook hands with him.

"Haha, isn't this also the beauty of traveling? And festivals are only fun when everyone is together."

Moses and Ye Lan looked at each other and confirmed that they were thinking the same thing. Then she said to the village chief, "Let's help too."

"No, no. We need to let the guests who have come from afar have a good rest."

"Like the village chief said, I think only by participating in the preparations can we fully enjoy the festival."

Village Chief Domis laughed out loud: "You have a point. Then I will tell everyone that you two will also help with the work."

Soon, Dewey and his wife came over. Because Ye Lan asked Boss Dewey to prepare an extra meal, they arrived much later than in the original plot. At this time, the only preparation for the ceremony that had not been prepared was the meal.

"Hello, this is my wife Yumi. I'll be in charge of you later."

"Ah! But Momo can't cook at all. What should I do?!"

For a moment, Ye Lan and Moses didn't know what to say. Sometimes, they didn't know whether to say that Ezra, a girl taller than Ye Lan, was honest or naive.

Dewey said kindly, "Ahahaha, I'll be there to help, don't worry."

Under Dewey's guidance, they walked towards the kitchen of the village hall. Ye Lan walked beside him and asked him, "So what are we going to do?"

"Bread and soup," Dewey replied.

"Is it that simple?" Ye Lan asked.

"That's why. Just by eating a lot of delicious food, your stomach will be filled, but your mind will also be polluted."

"It's incredible to say that it can pollute the spirit," Moses continued, picking up the end of the topic.

"Ahaha, is that so? I was just borrowing the village chief's words. He really does his best for the spiritual health of the villagers, and this festival is one of them."

"Will participating in festivals make your heart healthy?"

"Yes! Ms. Momo will experience it too. During the festival, all the filth in our hearts will be purified. So unlike other villages, even the smallest crime will not happen in our village."

While Dewey was speaking, Moses saw a pair of small black hands rustling out from his chest. It was distortion. But was there anything in the conversation that had just stimulated his spirit? Moses recalled what had just been said, but he could not come up with any possible guesses.

Ezra and Miyu brought the processed ingredients, and Dewey added them into the pot one by one.

Ye Lan followed Dewey and added the ingredients into the pot, and asked him, "Is the festival held once a year?"

"No, once a month."

Moses handed the soup spoon to Ye Lan and asked Dewey, "It's different from the usual festivals I know. The village's expenses are huge, right?"

"Haha, even though it's a festival, it's very simple. Just like now, the food is just bread and soup, but that doesn't mean the taste is simple!"

The ritual, which claims to purify the soul, takes place once a month. In Moses' opinion, this is very similar to religious activities. Moreover, there is no meat in the soup they cook, only ordinary vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. This is also very similar to the choice of food for rituals of some cults.

Dewey took the salt shaker and said to Moses, "Come on, Miss Moses. Just add a little more salt to enhance the flavor and it will be almost done."

As the cooking was finished, it was time for the festival to begin.

Chapter 52. Harvest Festival

"Well, everyone! The harvest festival begins now!"

In the restaurant of the village hall, the village chief, surrounded by people, stood up from his seat and announced loudly to the villagers.

The villagers sat around a table for six people. On the table was the vegetable soup that Ye Lan and his team had just made and the baked bread that the villagers had brought.

Ye Lan's table was occupied by the four of them, and there were two wooden puppets the same size as a person. These wooden puppets were prepared by the villagers during the day.

Soup and bread were also placed in front of the wooden puppet. Ye Lan and Moses looked around the restaurant. A stage was set up in front of the villagers' table. An iron chair was placed on the stage. The placement of the table and chairs was obviously carefully designed. Everyone could clearly see the iron chair on the stage.

Luna helped Ye Lan count the number of people. In addition to them, there were 57 people in the village, and 45 wooden puppets. The number of villagers was almost the same as the number of people Moses had calculated based on the number of houses in the village. But this was based on the premise that most people in the village lived alone, which was obviously impossible.

In other words, those wooden puppets may have replaced some of the villagers, and the plot that Ye Lan remembered in his mind could also confirm Moses' guess.

"First, laugh!"

The village chief stood up and announced to the villagers, and the villagers laughed loudly at the same time, including Dewey and Meiyu. Moses also laughed when he saw this, and Ezra had to laugh awkwardly. Ye Lan and Luna were amused by their performance and laughed behind them.

Moses laughed along because it was their first time attending a festival, and in order to ensure safety it was best to observe the atmosphere and the villagers and act accordingly.

Ezra laughed because Moses was laughing. Although she didn't know why the detective was laughing, she knew that the detective could not be wrong.

Ye Lan laughed along because he already knew what would happen next from the original plot, so he could purely enjoy the embarrassing performance of Moses and Ezra.

After laughing for about 10 minutes as if to tear the village hall apart, the village chief suddenly stopped laughing, and the villagers suddenly became quiet. The village chief sat back in his seat, and the villagers' distortion became even more serious in Moses' eyes.

"Drink the soup." The village chief said seriously.

The soup tasted very light and the quantity was not very large. Even Luna finished it in less than 5 minutes.

"Vent out your anger!!! You two sons of bitches!!!"

After putting down his bowl of soup, the village chief suddenly started cursing at the wooden puppet beside the table. People also cursed at the puppets at each table with vulgar words that they would not normally say.

Moses, Ezra and Luna were all shocked by the villagers' behavior. The villagers' actions were completely like those of a cult, which made them more vigilant.

But Ye Lan knew that the villagers did this to stimulate their own emotions and make themselves burst out with more intense emotions. And an intense emotion is the nutrient needed for the light seed in the human heart to germinate, and it is also a prerequisite for people to be twisted or prepared, and it is also a signpost for salvaging abnormalities in the brain lobe company.

Dewey and Miyu, who were relatively familiar with Ye Lan and the others, also had ferocious expressions and swore. In order to be consistent with them, Moses and Ezra had to swear along with them.

Ye Lan wanted to join in the fun by saying a few dirty words, but it caused some problems for Luna. The little girl seemed to have no idea what dirty words were, and she didn't understand why the villagers were talking like that.

Only in this situation can Ye Lan clearly confirm that Luna actually has her abnormalities.