"Boss, it came back!" Fu Zhe told Liu Han excitedly immediately after the office door was shut behind him.
Hearing this, Liu Han stopped in his motion and looked up with a frown, praying and hoping Fu Zhe would say the restaurant as he asked a question as calmly as he could.
"What?" he asked, managing to keep a calm, aloof expression on his face.
"The restaurant!" Fu Zhe answered enthusiastically, the sheer relief in his tone almost making Liu Han laugh out loud in excitement.
It seemed like the universe still favored him after all, making that miraculous food-producing building return at the exact moment his shelter had started facing a severe, desperate resource shortage.
"Is it the same person inside?" Liu Han asked, pretending to calmly read through the scattered documents on his desk to mask his rising anticipation.
The question seemed to stump Fu Zhe. His enthusiastic posture deflated, and he sagged his shoulders before answering in a low, sheepish voice. "I... I didn't check. I ran straight back here the second it materialized." He stared down at the floor, deliberately avoiding Liu Han's sharp eyes.
Fu Zhe completely failed to notice Liu Han freeze momentarily, his fingers tightening against the paper before he forced himself to resume perusing the documents with practiced composure.
"Let's go check then," Liu Han spoke up smoothly, hiding his deep nervousness beneath a cool, unbothered facade.
When they stepped outside his office and walked through the crowded shelter corridors, Liu Han maintained an aura of total authority, calling out to his elite guards to fall in behind him. As he marched toward the perimeter, a quiet, desperate hope burned in his chest—hoping that this time, the magical restaurant would finally welcome them instead of driving them out.
Meanwhile, back at the main compound, Tom looked far more authoritative than Zhao Yuan had ever managed to appear. He stood tall in the center of the square, his glowing interface eyes staring down at the gathered crowd of shelter residents. Even Gao Shen and Xue Lili seemed somewhat dwarfed by his imposing presence as they stood quietly by his side.
"Good morning. My name is Tom, and I am the Custodian's assistant," he began, introducing himself with crisp, formal clarity.
"I was told that none of you knew where to go for your assigned tasks, nor how to execute them," he continued, his deep voice carrying across the entire courtyard and reaching every resident's ears evenly, even without the aid of a microphone. "Have any of you ever gone to the back of the restaurant?"
The main restaurant sat centrally within the compound grounds. However, the rear of the structure had always appeared shrouded in a mysterious, dense fog that instinctively deterred the residents from venturing near it.
Hearing their silent, collective nod of negation, Tom was not shocked. After all, Block A—where everyone currently resided—stood directly in front of the restaurant alongside all the other newly spawned amenities, naturally drawing the residents' attention away from the restricted perimeter.
"The task terminal is located behind the restaurant!" Tom announced cleanly. He gave the crowd a single, firm nod before turning on his heel and walking toward the foggy rear avenue.
Exchanging curious glances, Gao Shen and Xue Lili were the first to follow, prompting the entire crowd of shelter residents to fall into line behind them.
When they arrived at the modernly designed terminal—which remarkably resembled a sleek, futuristic gas station—everyone looked around in utter confusion. They watched in quiet awe as Tom walked up to one of the central control stands and turned it on by simply placing his face before the scanner screen.
The main display instantly lit up with vibrant light, its automated voice chiming warmly.
[Good morning, Assistant Tom!]
As if by magic, every surrounding screen across the station lit up in perfect unison, illuminating the dark avenue with crisp blue and golden hues.
"Please take us to the task area," Tom instructed calmly.
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground beneath their feet began to glow with intricate arrays of mana and data light. A soft, low-frequency hum vibrated through the air before the space around them shifted, giving everyone a sudden, weightless sensation of movement.
When the light faded and the spatial shift settled, everyone except Tom was left completely stunned by the sun-filled fields, modern industrial workshops, and administrative facilities stretching toward the horizon under a clear sky.
Scanning the sprawling landscape, Tom could already see the extensive foundational work Zhao Yuan had executed previously and was thoroughly impressed, considering she had built it all on her own.
"This is your task area. Everyone has to go to their assigned stations and can only leave once they finish their required tasks," Tom explained before walking over to the side where a familiar notice-board-like wide screen stood. "This is where you check in and out," he added, touching the screen to turn it on.
"Do you have any questions?" he asked, turning back to face the silent, overwhelmed crowd.
After a few minutes of stunned silence, the residents slowly began firing off questions—about shift durations, resource quotas, and tool allocations—all of which Tom answered with robotic precision and absolute patience. Once everyone was fully briefed and guided to their respective work stations, Tom turned and left the task area to resume his administrative duties back at the main compound.
Meanwhile, at the old branch, Zhao Yuan was actually not doing as badly as she had imagined. She served plate after plate to anyone who walked through the doors, moving tirelessly through the kitchen while constantly wondering when the system would finally declare her delivery mission complete.
Ding!
A sharp, chime sounded in her mind. Relieved that the long shift was over, she immediately pulled up her system interface, only to freeze dead in her tracks, utterly shocked by the new instructions flashing across the screen in bold text:
[Task Directive: Step outside and meet Liu Han to negotiate a formal cooperation agreement.]
Reading the prompt, Zhao Yuan felt her brain stall in complete confusion and rising alarm.
First of all, she had no idea who this "Liu Han" even was! Second of all, the last time people from this sector had approached her shop, they had literally surrounded the building and launched a full-scale attack. What if they tried to jump her the second she stepped past the threshold?
She stared at the open front door, her heart hammering against her ribs as she hesitated to take a single step forward into the dangerous street outside.