“Is the chip reliable too?”
“Reliable! If it fries your battery, just come find me. My shop is right here, I’m not going anywhere.”
The boss slapped his chest firmly, full of confidence in his own craftsmanship.
“How much?”
“20. Purely for the craftsmanship.”
Bai Bai took it and turned it over to examine it closely, discovering it had a data cable interface.
“What about the cable? Just this by itself? Is the cable sold separately?”
“Yeah, the cable is sold separately. Things aren’t bundled together anymore.”
“Get me a cable too. Is the cable reliable?”
“Guaranteed reliable! These are all relics left over from before the apocalypse. Every one sold is one less, they’re expensive.”
“Even if it’s expensive, I need it. You can’t do anything without a cable.”
“Alright, the cable is 50.”
“Tsk…”
“Can’t help it, my wholesale cost isn’t cheap either.”
“Fine, fine, let’s tally up the bill.”
The boss first showed Bai Bai the loose change he had just taken.
Originally, he owed her 5 yuan change for the roller skates, but now adding the 20 yuan for the universal charger meant Bai Bai had to pay an extra 15 yuan, plus the 50 yuan for the data cable.
While Bai Bai was getting the money, the boss went to fetch the cable.
It truly was a relic from before the apocalypse; the packaging was a sealed bag, featuring thick braided wiring and complete specifications printed on the back.
Before the apocalypse, a cable like that would probably only cost around ten yuan or so; that was the price nowadays.
After settling the payment and putting away the universal charger and cable, Bai Bai went to the doorway to put on her roller skates.
As soon as the universal charger and cable entered her spatial storage, they naturally also turned from one into two, and two into four, kept as spares.
Stepping directly onto the base of the roller skates while wearing her rain boots and tightening the cords, Bai Bai carefully stood up and moved around the street to get used to them.
Her soul was very skilled at roller skating, but the original owner clearly was not; her physical balance was completely out of whack.
She slid one step and shuffled three, walking in a wobbly manner with a dangerous posture that looked ready to flip backward and suffer a severe injury at any moment.
Walking awkwardly like this for a short stretch, the strength of her soul finally gained the upper hand, taking complete control of her body and making her movements increasingly fluid.
Finally, that feeling of moving like the wind had returned.
The roller skates successfully clawed back that previous half-hour, and coupled with the heat-retaining spatial storage, even if customers wore impatient expressions from waiting too long when receiving their meals, the moment they took hold of the piping-hot bags, all their grievances vanished.
Going downstairs was also done straight down on the roller skates.
With Bai Bai’s skill level, she didn’t need to put on or take off her roller skates when going up and down stairs at all; she treated them like flat ground.
Successfully finishing the deliveries in hand, Bai Bai returned to Xiao Ma’s Stir-Fry.
Xiao Ma watched with her own eyes as a rainy-coated figure dashed straight toward the shop door. Just as she was about to scream in fright, that figure swoosh, stopped steadily on a dime, pulled off their rain hood, pushed the door open, and entered the shop.
“Xiao Bai, so it was you! You delivered a meal and came back with roller skates?”
“Bought them at that scrap-assembly shop. The boss’s craftsmanship is pretty good.”
“You really know your stuff; that boss is a professional. Hey, you should buy a universal charger from him too—that’s his specialty.”
“Really? Alright, alright, next time I go.”
Bai Bai completely refrained from mentioning that she had already bought one; she could just casually accept this little tip.
“Have a seat for a while longer; there are still orders. The kitchen only started cooking after you got back, otherwise they would have gone cold long ago.”
“Got it, boss.”
Bai Bai sat down on that same wooden stool again, taking out her water flask to drink a couple of sips of salted water.
Behind the counter, Xiao Ma’s walkie-talkie occasionally rang with calls. It wasn’t considered early anymore, yet customers were still calling in dishes and placing orders.
The kitchen cooked fast. Bags upon bags of meals were brought out, and Bai Bai stored away a meal as soon as it came out.
That delivery person had taken all the meals from the whole table in the previous round and hadn’t returned yet, leaving Bai Bai to happily scoop up deliveries.
After storing the sixth bag, Bai Bai returned to sit on the stool by the door, and that delivery person finally came back.
The kitchen had just sent out two new bags.
Before Bai Bai could stand up, that delivery person rushed over like a gust of wind and stashed those two bags into his spatial storage.
Xiao Ma shouted out.
“What are you running for? If you crash into a customer, will you compensate them? Bring those over and let me see whose meal this is.”
Bai Bai sat composedly without moving. Having six meals in hand meant she could actually leave already, but she was waiting because the kitchen was still boiling soup.
One customer’s order included a portion of bone-in meat soup, which the kitchen was currently preparing.
Xiao Ma had also approved it.
Because that customer’s address was the farthest from the shop, and Bai Bai had roller skates, it could guarantee a fast delivery.
Xiao Ma checked the meals, found the corresponding order slip, and was just about to hustle the person away when the kitchen brought out another completed meal.
It was precisely the order with the bone-in meat soup: including the soup, it totaled three rice boxes, four dishes, and one soup.
That delivery person’s eyes lit up.
“Boss, give me this order too, alright?”
“No, hurry up and go deliver your two orders.”
Xiao Ma couldn’t be bothered to waste any more breath on this person; she directly found the corresponding slip, reached out across the counter, and handed it to Bai Bai.
Bai Bai hurriedly stood up to receive it, kicked off the ground with her toes, and swoosh, arrived right in front of that table in an instant, packing the meal bag into her spatial storage.
“…Huh?”
That delivery person’s eyes widened in shock.
“Her…‽”
“Her what her? Her route is the farthest, and she’s already heading out. Yours is closer, why aren’t you hurrying off? If customers complain that the food is cold later, see if I deduct your pay or not.”
Not daring to argue, the delivery person hurried out the door.
Yet no matter how he thought about it in his heart, he felt unconvinced. What of it if that meal was given to him? He had delivered to that address before; why should some newcomer with roller skates be able to steal the order?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, unable to swallow this grievance no matter what. He pulled out his walkie-talkie to call a friend.
“Sanzi, we’ve got trouble.”
“Brother, what’s up? Speak.”
“Someone’s trying to steal your brother’s gig. The boss looks very satisfied with her, so it might be really hard to squeeze you into her place now.”
“What‽ Then what do we do?”
“Where are you right now?”
“At home.”
“Hurry up and get out. The new hire just took an order that needs to be delivered to Anya Residential Complex. If you cut across the ruins, you can intercept and take her out. I’m heading over there too right now.”
“Alright, alright, I’m heading out right now. What does the person look like?”
“Didn’t see her face, but she’s wearing a two-piece raincoat. Note: she’s wearing a pair of roller skates on her feet.”
“Holy cow! Roller skating in the rain! A pro!”
“Sanzi! Whose side are you on anyway?”
“My bad, my bad! Brother, I’ve already stepped out the door. Hurry up!”
The sound of a door opening and closing came from the walkie-talkie, followed by silence. Both parties were busy rushing on their way and had no time to talk further.
The delivery person put away his walkie-talkie and took a shortcut to rendezvous with his brother.
The crucial task of delivering meals was no longer anywhere in his mind at this moment.
When the two of them met up along the mandatory route leading to Anya Residential Complex, however, there was still no sign of that roller-skating figure passing by.
“Huh? Brother, is that person really delivering here?”
“I saw the order myself, would I lie to you? I wanted it, but the boss wouldn’t give it to me and insisted on sending her.”
“Then she couldn’t possibly be faster than both of us and already finished delivering and left, right?”
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! There’s no way anyone is more familiar with the alleys of this street district than we brothers.”
“That’s true. Let’s wait a bit longer then.”
While these two waited in vain, Bai Bai was delivering food elsewhere.
She had indeed accepted the bone-in meat soup meal right in front of people, but since that order was the farthest away, she was naturally going to deliver the closer orders in her hand first.