EDEH Chapter 8

“We’ve only known each other for one day. We’re not at the level of relationship where we can walk down the street holding onto each other’s clothing.” Huo Yanji wasn’t an easygoing person. He walked straight toward the military fast lane of the cafeteria. “You should learn to keep your distance from people.”

 

Sang Jue followed behind Huo Yanji: “But aren’t we friends? Do friends also need to keep their distance?”

 

Friends definitely wouldn’t walk around grabbing each other’s clothing.

 

But the little fool beside him, who wore all his emotions on his face, clearly couldn’t understand this.

 

“What’s your definition of a friend?”

 

Sang Jue: “I like you, you like me, so we’re friends.”

 

Having never had the opportunity to interact with outsiders before, no one had ever defined the boundaries of “friendship” for Sang Jue.

 

He liked ninety-nine percent of the people in the laboratory, and ninety-nine percent of them liked him too, so everyone was friends.

 

“…Order food first.”

 

“I have money now, I can treat you to a meal.” Sang Jue said generously, “Order whatever you want.”

 

Huo Yanji knew the reward for the forget-worry vine should be enough for Sang Jue to splurge for a while.

 

He casually ordered two dishes and handed the menu to Sang Jue.

 

“Potato stewed beef brisket, mushroom braised frog meat… uh, super cilantro puree? What are tentacle slices?”

 

“Processed large tentacle slices, non-contaminated.”

 

Out of curiosity, Sang Jue ordered one of each of the above. Of course, the cilantro puree was what Huo Yanji had ordered.

 

But glancing at the eight large characters on the wall reading “Resources are scarce, waste strictly prohibited,” he asked Huo Yanji: “I want to try the taste, but I might not finish it all. Can they make small portions?”

 

The uncle at the window laughed and answered for Huo Yanji: “Sure, I’ll give you small portions.”

 

To prevent food contamination, all cafeteria staff had to be ordinary people without aberrations. The uncle looked as kind as the janitors from the laboratory.

 

Sang Jue often chatted with them about little gossip.

 

He curved his eyes, showing an obedient smile: “Thank you, uncle.”

 

The uncle waved his hand with a smile: “You’re welcome.”

 

Five dishes, but Sang Jue only paid fifteen coins—very cheap.

 

The cafeteria had quite a few people and was nearly full.

 

Now all food was controlled by agricultural forestry. The word “kitchen” had become very distant, and most houses didn’t even have this area designated. People ate all three meals at cafeterias and had to go to the street management office for drinking water.

 

On one hand, resources were limited; on the other hand, it was for convenient management to prevent residents from eating contaminated food.

 

Finding a corner seat, Sang Jue urged: “Eat quickly.”

 

“…” This eager behavior made it seem like he had poisoned the food.

 

Sang Jue stared at Huo Yanji’s Adam’s apple. After seeing it move, he said seriously: “Having eaten my food, you’re my person now.”

 

“…” Huo Yanji’s chopsticks paused mid-air, then he said matter-of-factly, “Do you know what level of crime sexual harassment is?”

 

“What?” The little evil dragon didn’t understand.

 

“Minimum fifteen days in jail.”

 

“…” Sang Jue looked at Huo Yanji, not knowing why he was telling him this.

 

“Do you know what happens if you sexually harass a military officer?”

 

Sang Jue certainly didn’t know—the laws here were different from his home planet.

 

“Military tribunal, minimum three months in jail.”

 

“…” Sang Jue finally understood the subtext of Huo Yanji’s words and defended himself: “I didn’t.”

 

“I know you didn’t. That doesn’t mean others know you didn’t.” Huo Yanji said flatly, “This is a small lesson. You need to learn to keep your distance from people.”

 

Sang Jue: “Do friends also need to keep their distance?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Friends don’t walk around holding each other’s clothing, and they don’t say things like ‘you’re my person’ to each other.”

 

Sang Jue ate his meal with his head down.

 

Without looking up, he scooped a spoonful of cilantro puree and spat it out after one bite. His tongue stuck out from the bitterness—how could anyone like eating this stuff?

 

A water glass was pushed in front of him with one finger. Sang Jue hesitated, then picked it up and drank it all in one go.

 

Huo Yanji curved his lips slightly. The cafeteria’s lowest-selling dish of the month wasn’t called that for nothing.

 

He took the cilantro puree and moved the sliced tentacles in front of Sang Jue.

 

This tasted good, somewhat like cold marinated duck gizzards, very chewy. Sang Jue stuffed his mouth full and felt happy again.

 

The little evil dragon was just that easy to appease.

 

He continued the previous topic: “So are we friends now?”

 

“We’ve only known each other for one day.” Huo Yanji’s tone was flat. “At least know each other longer, understand each other enough, have common interests and topics.”

 

Sang Jue asked unclearly: “How long is long enough? A week? A month?”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t answer this question. Sang Jue’s questions were endless—solve one problem and new ones would quickly appear, never-ending.

 

Sang Jue didn’t dwell on his silence and had a new question: “What do you usually like to eat?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Cilantro puree.”

 

Sang Jue choked: “What do you usually like to do?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Go on missions, read books.”

 

“Books?” The little evil dragon didn’t like reading and keenly avoided this topic. “What did you eat this morning?”

 

“Bee meat soup, cilantro puree.”

 

“…” What was bee meat? Bees? How much meat could bees have? And he liked such strange things as cilantro puree.

 

The invisible evil dragon tail swished unhappily.

 

“Why are you asking these things?”

 

“I’m getting to know you.” The little evil dragon was a bit angry. “Are you unwilling to be friends with me, so you’re deliberately saying hobbies I don’t like?”

 

Huo Yanji calmly wiped the corner of his mouth: “How would I know what you don’t like?”

 

“I don’t like—” Sang Jue was about to say, but worried that things from his home planet might not exist here and Huo Yanji would become suspicious, so he poked his bowl instead. “I don’t like cilantro puree.”

 

Huo Yanji let out a slight laugh-tinged breath.

 

But when Sang Jue looked up, Huo Yanji’s expression was normal, without any trace of having laughed.

 

Huo Yanji asked: “So do you still want to be friends?”

 

Sang Jue scooped a spoonful of cilantro puree and swallowed it with a twisted expression: “We can still try.”

 

Huo Yanji handed him another glass of water and curved his lips: “Friends don’t necessarily have to like the same food.”

 

“…” Sang Jue felt like Huo Yanji was mocking him, but for the sake of them already being friends, he forgave him.

 

Cuisine was one of humanity’s greatest inventions, and evil dragons liked it too.

 

When chewing, Sang Jue’s small fangs on the inside of his teeth would inadvertently show—very sharp, a bit longer than normal human canines, but not particularly conspicuous.

 

Huo Yanji inconspicuously withdrew his gaze.

 

Until Sang Jue started on his third bowl of rice.

 

“Eating too much isn’t good for digestion.”

 

“My digestion is great, I can even digest gem—”

 

“What?”

 

The evil dragon played dead: “Nothing.”

 

He almost let it slip—he could even digest gems.

 

Huo Yanji didn’t try to persuade him further. Although Sang Jue had a large appetite, he ate very elegantly, chewing slowly and carefully—probably a good habit developed over time.

 

However, at this pace, it would take an hour to finish eating.

 

His communicator beeped. Huo Yanji glanced at the message, his expression turning cold, and stood up: “Take your time eating. I’ll go first.”

 

“Okay.” The little evil dragon understood reciprocity well. “Remember to treat me to a meal next time we meet.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Where’s your communicator?”

 

“…I don’t have a communicator.”

 

Huo Yanji said nothing: “I’m leaving.”

 

“Alright, goodbye.”

 

Sang Jue wasn’t very dejected. He remembered Huo Yanji’s scent—if he wanted to see Huo Yanji, even without communication methods, he could follow the scent to find him.

 

After finishing his meal, Sang Jue consciously took his tray to the recycling area.

 

The rain had stopped. He walked out of the cafeteria, stepping onto the wet ground. Remaining rainwater flowed along the black-gray marble patterns into cracks, seeping deep into the earth.

 

In the past, the laboratory on his home planet was Sang Jue’s entire world.

 

But this gray, dangerous, and busy city before him was too big, with too many people. He stood bewildered for a while, not knowing what to do next.

 

“Hand.”

 

The sudden voice startled Sang Jue, his tail almost exploding out: “You… didn’t you leave?”

 

Huo Yanji repeated: “Hand.”

 

Sang Jue raised his hand, and Huo Yanji slipped a cold-textured bracelet onto his wrist.

 

“Communication method is pre-stored. Remember to bind your identity card.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Huo Yanji suddenly raised his hand, tore off the old band-aid from Sang Jue’s face, and replaced it with a new one.

 

“The gauze was changed this morning. Change it again tomorrow morning.” Huo Yanji said flatly. “Don’t treat everyone as a friend. Learn to maintain appropriate distance from people.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t treat everyone as a friend. He muttered: “Only be friends with fragrant people.”

 

Huo Yanji paused: “Why isn’t Terrell fragrant?”

 

Seeing Sang Jue’s bewildered expression, Huo Yanji paused: “Never mind. The aberrant bird flocks circling Crack #9 are showing unusual activity and may attack the main city at any time. I’ll be very busy.”

 

Sang Jue cared about his friend: “Be careful and don’t die.”

 

“…Don’t leave the city recently.” Huo Yanji said.

 

“Oh, okay.” Sang Jue looked at him without blinking, giving the illusion of trying to make him stay.

 

“Don’t act spoiled.”

 

“I’m not acting spoiled.” Sang Jue said dissatisfiedly.

 

Evil dragons don’t act spoiled, otherwise they wouldn’t be fierce enough.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Goodbye.”

 

“Goodbye.”

 

After Huo Yanji left, 007’s voice sounded in his ear: “Terrell is the blonde man who came to the hospital this morning.”

 

“Did I say he was smelly?” Sang Jue was puzzled, though Terrell was indeed very smelly.

 

“You also met Terrell last night at the city gate and said he was smelly.” 007 said.

 

“…What else did I say last night?”

 

“You also said in front of Huo Yanji that he smelled very good.”

 

“…” He had accidentally spoken the truth. Huo Yanji wouldn’t think he was a pervert, would he?

 

Watching Huo Yanji’s figure disappear into the distance, Sang Jue wandered aimlessly through the streets.

 

The main city map had only loaded to 27%. The later stages were slower—not only were many nooks and crannies unmonitored, but the more classified the location, the harder the network domain was to infiltrate, and the information obtained would be limited.

 

“The spacecraft’s location is an independent safe zone, very close to the main city, less than 150 kilometers away.” 007 reminded. “And the military did indeed issue internal notice about aberrant bird activity three hours ago. The next long period may be dangerous. I suggest you lay low for a few days, familiarize yourself with this city. The mission isn’t urgent.”

 

Sang Jue was an evil dragon with no independent living experience: “What should I do now?”

 

007 suggested: “You should go to the street management office to rent a house.”

 

Sang Jue soon understood why he needed to rent a house.

 

The sky gradually darkened, and the sunset’s afterglow added a warm hue to this gray city. In the distance, a huge clock tower rang the six o’clock evening bell.

 

Broadcasts from all streets sounded simultaneously: “Attention: A city-wide curfew will begin in three hours. Please arrange your travel and return times accordingly. During curfew hours, any idle individuals found wandering outside will be arrested.”

 

The cold female voice repeated: “—During curfew hours, any idle individuals found wandering outside will be arrested.”

 

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