About two hours later, Julian had already arrived in Cloud City and reached the designated location for his daily quest—under a sign that read, "The wind that misses you has blown to Cloud City."
He raised his phone, flashed a bright smile, made a peace sign, and took a photo with the sign and his bicycle in the frame.
Click!
Check-in successful.
The system's daily quest also showed as completed.
Putting his mask back on, Julian pushed his bicycle. Since road bikes didn't come with kickstands, he simply leaned it against a parasol tree by the roadside.
Next to the tree were designated bicycle parking spots. Although Julian wasn't parked exactly there, his bike had no kickstand, so leaning it against the tree was his only option.
With plenty of people around, he couldn't just stash the bike in his system space.
And if he tried to put it in Gengar's stomach, a white Gengar would pop out, and everyone would recognize the masked person as him.
He then decided to look for something to eat.
It was almost 11 a.m. After cycling all the way here, the little he ate for breakfast had long since been digested, and his stomach was genuinely growling with hunger.
He searched on his phone for any local Cloud City specialty foods nearby.
A specialty noodle shop showed up, known for its braised pork noodles—or at least, that's what the app reviews claimed.
With that in mind, Julian leisurely walked toward the shop. It wasn't far, just a three- or four-minute walk.
It was right around mealtime, and the small noodle shop was already packed, with quite a few people waiting in line outside.
He wondered if the food was genuinely delicious or if it was just hype attracting customers like him.
After taking a number, he saw there were about twenty people ahead of him. He estimated it would take at least half an hour before his turn.
If the food wasn't good, wouldn't that be a waste of time?
Sitting in the waiting area, Julian was considering whether to switch to another place when, through the glass, he spotted a guy inside already eating the braised pork noodles.
So he tapped on the glass.
The guy eating noodles heard the sound and looked up.
He saw a masked man holding up a phone with the words: "Bro, are the noodles good?"
Seeing this, the guy nodded and gave a thumbs up.
Reassured by the positive response, Julian decided to wait it out.
He had thought that out of the twenty people ahead, some might give up, but no one did. Everyone waited patiently outside.
Meanwhile, inside the shop, those who had finished eating didn't leave right away—they sat around playing with their phones or chatting.
Julian, who had initially thought he'd only have to wait half an hour, ended up waiting over an hour.
"Braised pork noodles, with an extra serving of noodles."
When it was finally his turn, Julian immediately placed the order.
The original portion wasn't large, and with his appetite, he could finish it in just a few bites. If there weren't so many people around, he would've ordered multiple bowls outright.
While waiting for his noodles, he sent a message to the two little ones.
"How's the comic con? Buy me a Metagross merch."
"How's the comic con? Buy me an Aggron merch."
The first message was for Celebi, the second for Jirachi.
"If you don't buy it, don't expect any pocket money in the future."
This line was sent only to Celebi because, without such a threat, Celebi definitely wouldn't buy it—but Jirachi would.
"Okay."
Jirachi replied quickly, attaching a photo of itself with a girl cosplaying as Gardevoir.
Looking at the sexy, humanoid Gardevoir, Julian felt that after finishing his noodles, he could head over to the comic con too.
"Got it |ω・`)"
Celebi also replied, complete with an emoticon. No need to guess—it was clearly in a sour mood but had no choice but to comply.
"That blockhead is definitely doing it on purpose. Doesn't he know Metagross merch is the most expensive of all?" Celebi grumbled angrily while staring at its phone.
It was already holding its own merchandise.
It was upset for two reasons: first, Julian had made it spend money on merch, and second—its own merch was actually cheaper than Metagross' merch. Were the organizers out of their minds?
The second reason probably annoyed it even more.
Soon, the noodles arrived. Julian lowered his mask halfway and dug in immediately. Everyone around was busy eating or chatting, so no one paid him any attention.
The taste was indeed quite good—just that the portion was too small. Even though he had added extra noodles, the braised pork on top was flavorful and had a firm, satisfying texture.
Since he was thinking about heading to the comic con after eating, Julian finished the noodles in just a few bites.
After paying, he left immediately.
"Hey, what are you looking at? If you don't eat soon, your noodles will get soggy."
A guy noticed his friend suddenly staring at someone's retreating figure and followed his gaze.
"What's so interesting about a guy's back? It's not like it's a beautiful girl."
"Didn't you see his face just now?"
"What about his face? Was he super handsome or something? So what? That still wouldn't get you a girlfriend," the friend replied.
"No, he was wearing a mask," his buddy explained.
"Wearing a mask? Then what could you possibly see?" the friend asked, even more confused.
"Because the half of his face visible under the mask looked a lot like Champion Walker."
"That's it?"
The friend laughed. "On TikTok, not to mention people who look like him with a mask on—even without a mask, there are several who look sixty or seventy percent like Champion Walker, okay?"
"If I wear a mask and put on makeup, even I could look like Champion Walker."
Hearing his friend's explanation, the guy paused. It seemed plausible.
As Julian grew more and more famous, many people in society began imitating him, especially those who bore some resemblance to him. Some had even become internet celebrities because of it.
Julian didn't mind as long as they weren't using his reputation to cause harm. He simply couldn't be bothered to deal with such trivial matters.
Arriving at the spot where he had parked his bicycle, Julian stared at the large tree in front of him, deep in thought.
Looking around, he was sure he was at the right place. He hadn't taken a wrong turn—it was a straight path from the noodle shop.
"Where's the bike?"
It had clearly been leaning against the tree. How could it have disappeared?
"Gen~"
Gengar's voice came from his shadow.
Gengar: "Could it have been stolen?"
Julian: ⊙▃⊙
The bike hadn't been locked, and he never thought anyone would steal a bicycle. After all, there were plenty of high-value targets around.
He took a photo of the tree.
Opening his social media, Julian posted the photo he had taken earlier at the signboard along with the new photo of the tree.
Caption: "See this tree? There was a road bike leaning against it. I went to eat noodles and came back—gone. Yep, the road bike was stolen. Yep—my road bike."
"Who even steals bicycles these days? How much is a bicycle even worth?" Julian sneered at the thief, mocking them mercilessly.
He had no idea how valuable his limited-edition road bike was. To him, it was just another piece of transportation equipment he didn't particularly care about.
*****
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