After making sure Tom had completely left her quarters, Zhao Yuan retreated back into her room and sank heavily onto the plush sofa, her mind racing as she wondered what to do next.
Sleeping late and waking up early were certainly not the best recipe for having a productive day. Yet, the heavy weight of her pending external work pressed down relentlessly on her shoulders. She couldn't help but want to get the daunting delivery task done as early as possible so she could finally return, collapse into bed, and get some proper rest.
Driven by that restless urge, she pushed herself off the couch, walked over to the central island desk, and opened her administrative control panel. Navigating straight to the primary task icon, she tapped the screen.
Instead of the typical countdown timer she usually faced around this hour when preparing for standard restaurant service, her task menu displayed an active, glowing prompt allowing her to initiate the run immediately. Without hesitating, she pressed START.
Her finger had barely lifted from the glass when her entire body was enveloped by a familiar, weightless sensation. The room dissolved around her into shimmering streaks of light, and when her vision finally cleared, she found herself standing inside a wooden dining room.
It was not the sprawling, newly renovated compound establishment she had shown Tom just an hour ago. Instead, it was the exact, rustic version of the shop she had desperately fled from after a hostile neighboring shelter had attempted to launch a violent attack on her.
Heart pounding against her ribs, she crept over to the front window and carefully peeped out through the glass. She froze, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the ruined, desolate surroundings outside.
The system had really brought her right back to that nightmare operational zone!
Thinking back to that chaotic day—recalling how she had been forced to physically beat up one of the aggressive intruders just to force them to retreat—she felt her hands tremble slightly. She stepped back from the window, sat down on a wooden chair, and took a few deep, steadying breaths to digest the reality of her situation.
Outside the locked perimeter, Fu Zhe stared in absolute shock. He had been lounging nearby when the building materialized out of thin air, causing him to shoot up from his seat the second he recognized the structure.
Back then, no one in their faction had ever expected the restaurant to simply vanish into thin air after they had surrounded it with armed men and barred ordinary survivors from entering. Fu Zhe vividly recalled Liu Han's explosive reaction when their scout described how a seemingly helpless waitress had overpowered him, right before the building itself inexplicably began flinging heavy furniture at the rest of their squad.
Ever since that miraculous disappearance, Liu Han had ordered the entire sector locked off and strictly guarded, desperately hoping the mysterious restaurant would eventually reappear. Now that the building stood right before his eyes, Fu Zhe knew that reporting back to Liu Han immediately was his highest priority. He scrambled backward, turning on his heel to rush toward their command outpost.
Inside, Zhao Yuan was anything but calm as she forced herself to stand up and walk into the small kitchen, steeling her nerves to prepare for whoever walked through the doors.
After all, she had realized the system had only moved her away back then because it had been her very first day on the job. Thinking back to her second location—where she had ultimately decided to serve everyone and complete her mandatory shift after being completely surrounded, and after the system coldly rejected her desperate pleas to relocate her—she had reached a grim conclusion. The system required her to serve in these designated places regardless of what dangerous chaos erupted outside.
So, when the heavy front door was roughly pushed open, Zhao Yuan forced a polite, practiced smile onto her face. She looked up at the familiar man who had previously led his thugs to surround her shop, pushed down her lingering fear, and got straight to work.
Meanwhile, back at the main compound, Tom was having a rather uneventful day, considering he had already woken up with complete, intrinsic knowledge of what his daily tasks would be.
When the shelter residents filed into the dining hall for meal service, many frowned in open confusion at his unfamiliar face. Unbothered by their suspicious glances, Tom maintained flawless, robotic composure, serving hot plates and clearing tables tirelessly without a single word of complaint.
Once the service window officially closed and the last of the general diners trickled out, Gao Shen and Xue Lili walked into the restaurant together, carrying a long list of pressing questions regarding the mandatory tasks the shelter occupants had suddenly received on their wall displays.
Sitting down across from the two shelter leaders at one of the polished dining tables, Tom remained entirely calm. He placed his hands neatly over the wooden surface and spoke up in his deep, rhythmic voice.
"My name is Tom. How can I help you?" he asked, adhering strictly to standard system protocol.
Staring at the tall, impeccably poised, and remarkably healthy-looking man before them, Gao Shen remained silent for a long moment, his sharp eyes evaluating Tom's posture. "We wanted to speak to..." He paused mid-sentence, his brow furrowing as he suddenly realized he didn't even know the waitress's actual name.
Sensing his sudden dilemma, Xue Lili smoothly picked up where he left off. "Zhao Yuan—is she around?" she asked, wondering why the young custodian who usually ran the counter had not been present at all today.
"No," Tom answered calmly, offering no further explanation about her whereabouts or operational duties.
Hearing his curt response, the two leaders exchanged a quick, bewildered glance, their frowns deepening. Gao Shen leaned forward slightly. "When did you arrive here?" he asked, wondering how someone who looked so remarkably well-fed and athletic could have lived in the shelter without ever being noticed before.
"This morning," Tom answered simply.
Gao Shen frowned once more, processing the strange response before choosing his next question carefully. "Are you also under our leadership roster?"
"No. I am the Custodian's assistant," Tom replied smoothly, his tone devoid of pride or hostility.
His brief answer cleared up a massive wave of doubts in their minds. Exchanging another understanding look with Gao Shen, Xue Lili continued, "We came here because everyone in the blocks has been asking about their assigned tasks and where they are supposed to go to actually execute them."
"Oh. You don't know where the task terminal is?" Tom asked, a hint of genuine curiosity surfacing as he wondered why Zhao Yuan had never bothered to show the residents the central facilities.
"Ask them to gather," Tom instructed, rising smoothly from his seat with effortless grace. "I will show you how to access the task area and explain what needs to be done."