After scaling the high-end residential area's fence, Yusuf Zuck felt as if he had escaped into the wild. At the same time, he was fantasizing about Ember Vance's reaction upon discovering her missing service pistol.
"She must be scared to tears, right? Haha, serves you right for messing with me. If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll never know how many eyes Prince Yusuf has!" Yusuf Zuck hummed a tune with satisfaction, and after turning a couple of streets, he entered a Shanxi noodle shop.
He never went into fancier restaurants simply because he couldn't afford it. For him, having enough to fill his stomach was all that mattered. The high life wasn't for people like him.
Maybe someday, but certainly not now.
"Five big bowls of noodles, make them quick!" The noodle shop was small and not very crowded since it was past mealtime. After sitting down, Yusuf began peeling garlic. Eating raw garlic was one of his hobbies; he couldn't have a meal without it. Being from Shandong, he always had raw onions and garlic with his meals.
He didn't care about the garlic or onion breath afterwards. He was an intensely self-centered person. After all, he couldn't smell it himself, so if others did, that was their problem.
Call him vulgar or nasty if you like, as long as he was happy who cares whether others were dead or alive?
"Five big bowls?" The waitress looked outside and asked, "Are there others with you?"
"No, just me. Is there a problem with me eating five bowls? Let me tell you, five might not even be enough. Hurry up and start cooking; I'm not short on cash!" Yusuf slapped a hundred yuan on the table. He had just received his paycheck today, with a neat four thousand yuan in his pocket.
Three thousand in salary and a ten thousand bonus from the company. He saved a thousand, so that made it four thousand total.
"Oh." The waitress, seeing the hundred yuan on the table, didn't say anything further and immediately notified the kitchen to start making noodles.
Yusuf patted his pocket where the money was. Actually, he had another use for these few thousand yuan; he wanted to get rid of the tattoos on his body.
A few years back, when he was naive and messing around in society, he thought tattoos were cool, fierce, and fun after seeing them on his friends. He started with a fierce tiger on his back and then a Azure Dragon on his chest which wound around his arm, making it visible every summer when he wore short sleeves.
Having gone through more life experiences over the years, he calmed down. Though he appeared to be always joking around, deep down, he was a sensible person. Now that his little sister had been admitted to university, he had completely abandoned the thought of messing around. Plus, tattoos were frowned upon in many industries in the country; they could make job hunting difficult.
Of course, he would have to inquire about it first. He had heard that tattoo removal never completely cleaned the skin, leaving a bluish scar even with laser treatments. If it were true that it left a bluish skin, he would rather not bother with removal and just wear long sleeves to work in the summer.
Soon, five big bowls of sliced noodles were served in front of him, and he didn't hesitate to eat the noodles while biting into the raw garlic.
The waitress and the noodle shop's owner sat at the bar grinning, while two customers who had just paid kept looking back as they exited.
Within three to four minutes, one bowl of noodles, including the soup, had disappeared, and then he started on the second.
"Do you think he can eat three bowls?" the waitress quietly asked her boss.
"He'll bust, the guy probably hasn't eaten in days," the boss mumbled back softly.
"Yeah, he looks possessed by a starving ghost," the waitress snorted.
Six minutes later, the soup from the third bowl was gone, and Yusuf raised three fingers and said, "Three more bowls, hurry up and cook, I'm almost done."
"Big brother, don't overdo it, okay? If you burst we're not responsible!" the shop owner started to get scared; if this guy really burst in their shop, they would be responsible!
"You're afraid I'll bust, aren't you? Look at my stomach. Has it swollen? Hurry up and cook! Let me tell you, the most I've ever eaten was fifteen bowls, bigger than yours by a half circle!" Yusuf started to brag. Of course, he was just reassuring the owner; otherwise, they might refuse to cook for him.
"All right, you're incredible. I've been running this noodle shop for eight years and this is the first time I've seen someone eat so much. Big brother, how many days have you gone without food?" the owner asked.
"What do you care how many days? Just go and cook!" Yusuf urged.
"Okay, I'm on it," the owner quickly agreed and then rushed back into the kitchen.
Yusuf found that his stomach seemed to have become a bottomless pit. Since the morning, he had known he had a ravenous appetite after the mutation, and no matter how much he ate, he didn't feel full, and his stomach didn't swell. He even wondered where all the food he ate went.
"It must all turn into energy. I have greater strength now, so I digest quickly, turning it into energy!" Though Yusuf didn't understand medicine, he knew his metabolism had sped up, so his body must be absorbing all the food completely.
An hour later, Yusuf belched, the hunger was gone, and he finally felt full.
"How much is the total?" Yusuf asked after sipping some free boiled water to rinse his mouth.
"Ninety-six." The owner took the hundred yuan to give back the change.
"No need to look any further, just grab another bottle of black tea, and keep the last piece as a tip, haha!" Yusuf Zuck said generously.
The store owner replied with a bitter face, "Bro, you're killing me here. Those three cloves of garlic are worth two dollars..."
"Oh, my apologies then," Yusuf Zuck laughed while he turned on his phone, which had been off since he entered the police station that afternoon and hadn't been turned on since.
However, just as he turned it on, his phone rang with an unfamiliar number. Except for his sister, nobody else usually called him.
"Hello? Who's this?" Yusuf Zuck answered, baffled.
"Is this Yusuf Zuck? I'm Ruth Wilcox. Where are you?" Ruth Wilcox's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Ah? Ms. Wilcox? I'm out eating... hot and spicy soup. Do you want some? And how did you get my number?" Yusuf Zuck was shocked. The beautiful CEO was calling him personally?
"Don't mention hot and spicy soup in front of me!" Ruth Wilcox's voice grew heated at the mere mention of hot and spicy soup.
"Alright, alright, Ms. Wilcox, how did you get my number?"
"Is it that hard to find out your number? You've been out of the police station for over two hours. Why did it take you so long to turn on your phone? When are you coming back to the company?" Ruth Wilcox asked.
"Do you need something?" Yusuf Zuck asked, puzzled.
"Thank you for your help with the bomb incident today," Ruth Wilcox reflected.
"Hey, let's not talk about that. If anything like this happens again, I'm not rushing in front. Dammit, I almost got... uh..."
"Got what? Continue!" Ruth Wilcox suddenly said with a hint of amusement on the other end.
"Nothing, nothing. But Ms. Wilcox, I found the bomb and resolved a big problem for the company. Is there a reward? I'm telling you, I almost took a bullet today. You've consoled me in spirit; how about a material reward too?" Yusuf Zuck shamelessly took this opportunity to climb the ladder, suddenly recalling that he was a hero of the capital. If it weren't for him, who knows when the bomb would have been found?
However, after Yusuf Zuck finished speaking, he didn't receive an answer from Ruth Wilcox, and it seemed the call had gone silent.
Yusuf Zuck felt somewhat guilty and dared not make a sound.
"Is this how you always talk to people? I noticed you never seem serious. You're rather sloppy with your words!"
"It's a habit, a habit. I'm not very educated, and I don't beat around the bush, so my words are quite direct!"
"Oh, is that so?" Ruth Wilcox drew out her words, her voice tinged with laughter. "Logically, the company should reward you."
"Just spit out the 'but' already!" Yusuf Zuck urged.
"But, you didn't follow my order to go to the hospital for a checkup today, did you?" Ruth Wilcox made her point without going any further.
Upon hearing this, Yusuf Zuck complained with a headache, "Alright, no reward then, that's fine. You don't have anything else, right? I'm hanging up if there's nothing!"
With a click, Yusuf Zuck hung up the call before Ruth Wilcox could say anything else.
Sitting in her office and listening to the dial tone, Ruth Wilcox was somewhat dumbfounded. Yusuf Zuck really hung up just like that? She was the CEO, and Yusuf Zuck was just a security guard in her company. Did this security guard have too much personality?
In the entire company, among the senior and middle-level executives, not a single one dared to hang up on her on their own initiative, and Yusuf Zuck was the first!
"Ring, ring, ring~" As Ruth Wilcox was lost in thought, her phone rang again. When she checked the number, it was actually Yusuf Zuck calling back.
"Hmph, realized your blunder, did you? Dared to be rude to me?" Ruth Wilcox huffed with satisfaction and then answered coldly, "No need to apologize!"
"Apologize? Apologize for what? I just remembered something. I promised to fix your office's power supply this morning. Are you still in the office? If you're not, I can come and fix it tomorrow morning!"
Hearing Yusuf Zuck's words, Ruth Wilcox was struck speechless.
.
PS: Please vote, add to your bookshelf, thank you.