"One fried rice!"
"Hey! More dim sum over here!"
"How was the football game last night? I heard that your favorite team won?"
"Hahaha! I got a lot of money! I will pay for the food today!
"I got your words!"
"Three Mapo Tofu here too!"
"Incoming!"
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ Inside a busy Chinese restaurant deep inside the Chinatown, a young man dressed in white chef garb was cooking with great intensity as the customers shouted and chatted outside. A big fire flared from the stove, but the young man held the wok skillfully as he tossed the rice on it.
"Kai! One more fried rice!"
A waitress dressed in traditional red qipao shouted from a tiny window that connected the kitchen with the serving area. The dress covered most of the body part but exposed the thigh area, making this restaurant popular among youngsters.
"Alright!" Kai shouted back at the waitress without looking at her. He then looked at the old man wearing similar clothing to him across the kitchen. "I will leave the dim sum to you, grandpa!"
"You don't need to say that, idiot! I am already done!" The old man answered as he brought a plate full of Chinese dim sum to the window. Even though his hair had already turned gray, he was still full of energy and could still work in the kitchen.
It was right past sunset when people began to starve and eat dinner. So the restaurant was full and really busy.
The waitress grabbed the dim sum and walked away. Then another waitress peeked through the window just a second later.
"Three Mapo Tofu, all spicy!"
"Grandpa!"
"Oh! Don't need to say it! I can still hear!"
"I only called! You don't need to yell in my ears!"
"Bah! Fuck that!"
The kitchen was busy as there were only two people cooking the dishes. The sound of chopping vegetables and the sizzling from the hot oil echoed inside the room. The temperature was always hot. Kai'sbody was drenched in sweat, but he had a satisfied smile on his face.
'Another busy day in the restaurant.'
***
"Thanks for the hard work!"
Kai saw his employees, two waitresses, off after he closed the restaurant for the day. The street around Chinatown was well-lit, and the public order was good, so he wasn't too worried about the waitress' safety.
"Today was so busy. They looked tired too. Should I hire more waitresses?" He muttered while looking at the waitresses' backs.
The cold night air hit his body, making him shiver in the cold. His clothes were made thin for a hot environment, so it didn't help him reduce the cold at all.
"Uh… It's not Winter yet, but why is the night so cold!"
He looked up at the sky. It was dark and cloudy, and the moon was hidden behind the cloud. A bolt of lightning struck the cloudy night sky, illuminating the world in a flash before disappearing.
"Come to think of it, that day is also like this."
Some street vendors were still open, and some of them were full of customers drinking cheap beer and joking around. Those customers were mostly people who lived in Chinatown, and he was all familiar with them.
He wanted to greet them, but today was too busy. He was exhausted and wanted to have a good night's rest. They noticed them and waved their hands in a friendly manner toward him, asking him to join them.
Kai smiled and waved back. He couldn't join them today, so he also apologized at the same time.
"Well, I will join them tomorrow." He muttered as he turned around.
When he turned around and was about to enter his restaurant, which also served as his home on the second floor, he heard a strange sound in his head.
[Help!]
"Huh?" Kai stopped on his track and turned around.
[Here!]
The voice continued. It was clearer this time, and he noticed that it came from the direction of the alleyway across the street from where his restaurant was.
The people drinking at the vendor near his location didn't seem to hear the voice. His logic told him it was just his imagination, but his curiosity was piqued. Since he was young, he had always believed in something Supernatural, in Myths.
So he gulped and took a deep breath. "Let's check it."
A small and brave smile appeared on his face as he walked to the alleyway where he thought the voice came from.
His steps were steady. Even if there was a danger, he was confident he could take care of it with his trained body.
As he stepped into the alleyway between the building, he was expecting to be greeted by a pungent smell and trash. However, what greeted him was something that he couldn't explain.
The alleyway was lit by fire, leaving no trash. The bin that he used to collect trash everyday was gone. The ground was charred, and the small alley was lit by the fire that burned the remaining trash on the side.
Contrary to the cold air in front of his restaurant, the air from the alleyway was scorching hot, reminding him of the kitchen where he worked earlier.
Somehow, he couldn't see it from outside, but once he stepped in, he could see the bright light. But, more importantly, something caught his attention more than the strange thing that happened.
"A girl?"
A beautiful woman with bright long orange hair lay unconscious in the middle of the burning ground. She didn't move even when the fire got close to her, about to engulf her white dress.
"Shit! That's not good!"
Kai immediately ran toward her and scooped her from the ground. He carried her to the front of the alleyway where the fire hadn't spread yet.
When he managed to carry her to a safe place, away from the fire, the girl opened her eyes and looked at him with a pair of mystical golden eyes.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked the girl worriedly.
The girl blinked her eyes a few times, looking at Kai curiously.
"Girl! Please answer me! Do you feel any pain in your body?" Kai raised his voice a little bit. He thought the girl must've been confused after waking up. He needed to make sure she hadn't burned her body. That would be terrible, especially for a girl like her.
The girl smiled at him reassuringly.
[Thank you.] Instead of the girl, the same voice from earlier replied to him
Her mouth didn't move at all, but Kai knew the voice belonged to the girl.
"What in th–" He asked confusedly, but his words were cut short when the girl suddenly plunged into him and planted a kiss. "Hmph?!" His eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't understand what had happened, but he tried to push the girl away from him.
[This is my thanks.] The voice echoed in his head.
However, he couldn't do that. His strength left him, and he suddenly felt sleepy.
'What's going on?' He asked in his mind as his consciousness slowly drifted away. 'Crap! I… can't.' Then he passed out, unable to keep his consciousness anymore.
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