Chapter 969: Once Again, Forward

"...You guys are here again?"

Several more weeks had passed, and Riley's restaurant has been garnering attention all over the city—no. Even those outside the city that aren't dedicated to humans were already starting to visit the restaurant. And as the restaurant doesn't take any reservations, those from outside the city are forced to check in to a hotel...

...and it just so happens that the rest of the building was turned into a hotel by Riley when he bought it.

Suffice it to say, Miss Pepondosovich was highly impressed.

"Are you sure you people should be wasting your hard-earned salary by coming here so frequently?"

And right now, the two detectives, Dorothy and Jake, were once again dining in the restaurant.

"...Where else would we take our money?" Jake burst out in laughter, causing the other guests to look at their table, "A lot of people gained some sort of enlightenment when we all turned immortal — and do you know what enlightenment I gained...? Food...

...If you spend money on food, on good darn food, it's like you're not spending it at all."

"And you're not here at all because of all the murders that have been going on for the past month?" Liza squinted her eyes at the two, "We have already surrendered all the CCTV footage around the area — honestly, we should be charging you two more."

"That..."

"It's a good thing Zero likes the two of you," Liza sighed and shook her head in disappointment before smiling, "Anyway, are you guys ready to order?"

"We sure are," Jake rubbed his palms together while licking his teeth, "I'll have the bass—no, wait..."

"I thought you were ready to order?" The smile on Liza's face slightly faded away as she saw Jake hesitating.

"I'll go to the restroom for a bit." And while Jake was busy fumbling his words, Dorothy rolled her eyes and left the table. But instead of heading toward the restroom as she said, she turned around and sneakily started heading to the kitchen — after all, suspiciously, this was the only part of the entire restaurant that did not have any surveillance.

And even more suspiciously, they have checked it during non-operating hours... and it did not even have any door or entryway outside. The only door was to the restaurant.

"Where are you going, Detective Dorothy?"

"What the—"

Dorothy could not help but blink a couple of times as Esme just suddenly appeared right in front of her. She quickly leaned back to look at the entrance where she had just previously, only to see her... also there.

"What..." Dorothy then turned to focus on the Esme in front of her, only to see her silhouette somewhat flicker from time to time, "...You're flying around at—don't use your strength, you're going to scare the diners!"

"Okay," a gust of wind then lightly blasted some of the table sheets as well as Dorothy's hair after Esme stopped moving back and forth at an insane speed, "Where are you going, Detective Dorothy?"

"I... I was just trying to find the restroom," Dorothy quickly said.

"The restroom is on the other side, Detective Dorothy."

"Right, I... forgot," although Esme was clearly not trying to be intimidating at all; her monotonous and almost robotic tone, matched with the fact that she was a themarian, was enough to make Dorothy to just take a step back — in fact, one would be incredibly stupid to even argue with any themarian.

"Were you perhaps trying to enter the kitchen, Detective Dorothy?" Esme then glanced back at the door behind her, "I am afraid only staff are allowed inside."

"What? No, no..." Dorothy forced out a chuckle as she walked away. A lot of people from high up were currently getting worried about the Dark Alley Butcher, especially when people from other cities also started getting killed...

...and some were missing — and their only lead and suspect was the owner of the new fancy restaurant in the city.

The only problem was that all the staff happened to be Class 7 and Above. If they were to start aggressively accusing them, the situation might evolve into something they couldn't control.

"I am curious, Miss Dorothy."

"!!!"

And while Dorothy was heading back to their table, she once again widened her eyes in surprise as this time, Riley whispered from behind her.

"Zero!" Dorothy quickly turned around with a smile on her face, "I thought you were back in the kitchen...?"

"Esme said you might be trying to find me, Miss Dorothy," Riley smiled and greeted the other diners who waved at him while still completely focusing on Dorothy, "But you are just trying to find the lavatory, correct?"

"Yes. I... just got confused, psh," Dorothy rolled her lips, "This place is too big and too few tables. Anyway, what... were you curious about?"

"How many humans are actually left?" Riley then asked as he tilted his head to the side, "Seeing as half disappeared after the Blink, and then the rest almost died during the war between the gods."

"That..." Dorothy's eyes suddenly trembled as the memories of what happened in the past bombarded her mind. Fortunately, after a few seconds, she quickly recovered herself and just shook her head, "...Right now?"

"Yes, Miss Dorothy."

"I am not really exactly sure about the number itself since the Building of Reserves is not clear with the population..." Dorothy squinted her eyes. And before she could even answer —

"Please, while you are waiting for your food, can you join me for a moment, Miss Dorothy?" Riley beckoned to her as he sat down at a table that clearly wasn't there before, "I wish to chat with you, if you do not mind."

"..." Dorothy took in a small gulp as she glanced at Jake and her table, only to see Jake still arguing with Liza, "...I don't mind at all."

The only thing she could really do was join Riley.

"As I was saying, I don't know the exact number, but there should probably be less than a hundred mil of us — and that includes the people in the reserves. Honestly...?" Dorothy then lowered her voice as she leaned closer to Riley, "I know this is a hot take, but they should just let them live outside... I know they are doing it for the longevity and safety of everyone, but sometimes, I just find it inhumane, you know?"

"Hm..." Riley placed his hand on his chin.

"I don't know when it happened — but we're just suddenly alright with people being thrown into cages just for existing with another version," Dorothy sighed, "I know a lot more people feel the same way as me... but it is still true that they are doing it to save the population, at least there... They are safe. If there is a silver lining to this, at least I know I don't have a variant, you know?"

"You don't, Miss Dorothy?"

"No..." Dorothy closed her eyes, "...I'm a super, but I might just well be a normal human. My variants... did not survive the war."

"I apologize for bringing up a memory that should have been forgotten, Miss Dorothy," Riley sighed, "Please, I have wasted your time already."

"N... not at all," Dorothy awkwardly chuckled, "You can treat this as me interrogating you again."

"Were you interrogating me, Miss Dorothy?"

"...That was a joke," Dorothy chuckled louder as she started walking back to her table.

"Are you not going to the lavatory anymore, Miss Dorothy?"

"Right... right," the only thing Dorothy could really do was point in the direction of the restroom as she started walking there. Halfway to reaching it, however, she could not help but flinch as the sound of a chair almost being thrown back screeched into her ear; she looked back nervously, but quickly let out a sigh of relief as she just saw a guest standing up...

...but something was wrong, however.

"Sir..." Dorothy approached the man, "...Are you—"

"We're back!" And before Dorothy could even finish her words, the man raised her voice as well as his hand, which was holding his tablet, "The news! Turn on the news!"

Although everyone was confused, they still grabbed their tablets as soon as they saw the hurried and clearly frenzied expression on the man's face; Dorothy also turned on her tablet...

...only for the news of them aging again to bombard her feed.

"Oh my god..." Dorothy almost dropped her tablet as she covered her mouth, "It... it's true."

"Zero... Zero!" Liza also left the table she was waiting for as she rushed toward Riley. And before Riley could even say anything, she leaped into his arms and hugged him — it wasn't only her, everyone was celebrating.

[Everyone...] Riley's voice then resounded through the entire restaurant, causing all of them to turn their attention to Riley, [...Free drinks at the bar.]

And as soon as they heard that, Jake was the first to rush toward the bar while howling like a madman. As for Miss Pepondosovich, she could not help but panic as she saw dozens of people rushing toward her station.

"R... Riri! Help, help!"

"Zero..." Riley, however, could not help Miss Pepondosovich at all as Liza was tightly hugging him, "We're... we're moving again. Our lives... our lives are moving again. We're gonna grow old together and—"

"I do not grow old, Miss Liza."

"W... what?" Liza could not help but lean away from Riley as soon as she heard his words; her eyes, already reddening. But soon, however, she smiled, "Then...

...let me just enjoy this moment with you, then."

"Hm."

"Thank you, Zero... Thank you for—Hurk!"

And before Liza could finish her words, she felt something crawling from her stomach and through her throat. But since she was still in the presence of the restaurant, she just quickly mustered up her strength and swallowed the vomit threatening to escape from her mouth.

She was incredibly confused at first, but soon... she looked Riley in the eyes as her breaths turned incredibly heavy.

"Zero..." Liza then whispered nervously,

"...How many times did I tell you to come inside me?"

"Hm," Riley tilted his head to the side,

"Each time, Miss Liza."

"Oh...

...fuck."