Chương 5: Food Stall

When I entered the rift, the sun was sky high; now it was about to rise again. The nightlights were still on, and this early—or late, depends on how you say it—no one was here to enter the rift. Even when this one had declined in popularity, a dozen people still entered daily. Not seeing Hanz and his goons waiting to ambush me outside made me sigh in relief. The ground was solid concrete, and straight ahead were big iron doors guarded by soldiers. Before the rift opened, this was a construction site.

A luxurious hotel was supposed to be built here. The owner of the property took more than he would have made from the hotel in a hundred years as reimbursement from the government. I walked towards the Riftwalkers Association's booth. A woman sat at the desk playing on her phone, sucking a lollipop. Even when I stood right in front of her, she did not look up at me.

"Hello?" I knocked twice on the desk to get her attention to no avail. She heard me but decided to ignore. Okay, do as you like. Not like I need your help. The hand scanner was on the desk. I pressed my left palm on it, and green light emerged and scanned it. My face and name formed on the screen beside it. Name: Clark Benz Age: 20 Rank: Copper Life's Last Hope: Entry at— 03 Feb, 20XX, 11: 45 A. M Exit at— 04 Feb, 20XX, 4: 53 A.

M The woman still did not look up from her phone, so much for an association formed just to help walkers. I navigated the screen and clicked on the button which said 'locker'. One gruesome minute later, an autonomous cart emerged from inside, with my backpack resting on its flatbed. I set it on the desk, unzipped it, took out my phone and slipped it into my pocket, then unhooked my sword and fanny pack and tucked them inside. Zip it back up and slung it over my shoulder.

The woman still hadn't looked up her phone; her fingers moved over the screen with great precision. I pulled out my phone while moving towards the iron doors. They were made around every rift to hold the monsters that emerged during rift breaks inside as long as possible. Thankfully, rift breaks are a rare occurrence now and have not occurred even once in the last three years.

Though the number of rifts has been constantly increasing, as they can't be closed, unlike shown in the webnovels and comics, there will soon be a day when there won't be enough riftwalkers to maintain the number of monsters inside the rifts. Thus, bringing back the constant rift breaks. I was looking for taxis, but the prices were abysmally high. Why do they still have night charges? It's practically morning. I'll just walk.

Thankfully, I'd managed to find an apartment nearby that I could afford—even if it meant surviving on instant noodles. Apartments close to rifts were never cheap. As the number of rifts kept growing, the amount of safe, habitable land, which is far from rifts, kept shrinking, driving real estate prices higher every year. You'd think living next to a rift would be cheaper, but the opposite was true. Every major guild wanted its headquarters near the larger rifts, gaining a monopoly over those rifts by convention.

I exchanged a nod with one of the guards and stepped into the streets of Nupolis. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Skyscrapers touched the sky as far as the eye could see, reflecting the rising sun. Not many cars were on the road right now, but a taxi did stop right in front of me, which I ignored; they charge more than the app does.

The house isn't that far, and after the three hours' sleep that Pyiari made me take, I felt okay, still weak from the blood loss but good enough to walk. I would have reached home in half an hour if not for the truly wondrous scent I encountered, which I followed instinctively and was now sitting in a food stall.

"How would you like your broth?" The man behind the counter was in his middle age, wearing his white uniform and white toque.

"Extra spicy, please." He raised an eyebrow at that.

"I can handle my spice,""If you say so," He turned around to cut some veggies and scooped out the fresh broth into a big bowl. I could have eaten four portions of instant noodles from the money I am gonna spend here, but I need to treat myself because I did just gain a diamond card, didn't I. Beside me, leaving a stool as a gap in between, sat another man. An office worker, I could tell from his suit and briefcase, was also a coward for ordering a medium spice.

"Here," the chef put a bowl in front of me. It was steaming hot with bones, meat and veggies. Just by smelling it, I could tell it was extra spicy. I picked up the spoon and filled exactly half of it with the soup, one veggie and one piece of meat, perfect for the first bite. I overestimated myself; this really was extra spicy. I coughed and gulped the whole glass of water. Before I could ask, the chef placed a bowl of curd in front of me. I took two spoonfuls of it until I had calmed down.

Tears rolled down my eyes, but I saw the chef's face clearly. It had the look of 'told you' on it. Even the office worker whom I had judged on my own had a face which said, 'and you were judging me'. Maybe I was just paranoid about the latter.

"I was just caught off guard,""Whatever you say," the chef went back to setting up his shop properly. It was still early in the morning. The office worker was the first customer, and I was the second.

"Papa," I didn't even notice that a kid had sat on the empty stool beside me.

"Pyia, what are you doing here?" The chef turned around to address the girl.

"I came to eat the broth,""You could have said so; I would have kept some for you. You should be resting right now."

"Nuh uh, it's the freshest and tastiest right now," When I saw the girl, my mouth went agape. She looked just like Pyiari, even her name. She had hollow cheeks, bony hands, and a teddy which looked very much identical to Pyiari's. The only difference was that Pyia was bald, and I could guess the reason.

"Here,""Is this extra spicy?"

"No extra spicy for you,""But I want it extra spicy,""No, you only get mild."

"But papa!" The father and daughter bickered as every father and daughter does. The office worker didn't mind this at all and focused on his portion. I couldn't help but think about how different and similar both these girls were at the same time. Pyia while struggling to survive, her eyes were full of life, enjoying every moment of the argument she was having with her father. Meanwhile, Pyiari's eyes were always full of life, hiding the sorrow beneath. She knew that she didn't have a future outside of that lab.

I want to help her, I want to tell her that there's more. I want her to give a genuine smile like this girl in front of me has. I want her to sing, to stroll wherever she wants. I want her to have freedom. I picked up the bowl and gulped it all down my throat. It was hot and spicy.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" The chef asked. I did not stop until I was done.

"I told you, I was just caught off guard."

"Umm…mister, your face tells a different story." My face was a piece of work right now, water running down my eyes and nose, dirtying my already dirty face, which I had not gotten a chance to wash after leaving the rift. I tapped my phone on the payment machine.

"It was delicious, thank you for the meal."

"You are welcome," Before the chef could say anything else, I ran off. I had something to do. I tossed my backpack onto the bed and sat down at my computer. Searching the whole of Riftpedia, trying to find anything. NPCs behaving out of their set script, discovery of a new area or meeting a person identical to an NPC in the real world. I did not find a thing, even after an hour. I decided to go to the forums to find something that had been said there which never made it to the wiki.

I found some similar posts, but they were still very different or fake. Tired from the research, I decided to do what I like the most. I went to Riftfictions to read some stories. Most of the stories there are just power fantasies, self-insert, but there is one writer who writes differently. j. m. k67 is my favourite author. He takes the setting of each rift and treats them as a real world, each NPC as a real person. He tells the story as if he were there when it all happened.

And he had a written story on Life's Last Hope too. Superpowers: A Gift or a Curse