Business at Wanmin Restaurant was still booming.
In fact, the flow of customers was steadily increasing.
Every single one of them had come for one reason—
Magical Mapo Tofu.
They all wanted to experience the legendary glowing dish.
"Chef Mao, your Magical Mapo Tofu is insanely good!"
"Yeah! It tastes even better than Liuli Pavilion and Xinyue Kiosk!"
"How on earth do you make this? It's unbelievable!"
"Haha, I came all this way just to try it—totally worth it!"
"The portion's a bit small though! Chef Mao, hurry up with the next plate! Money's not an issue!"
…
"Please wait a moment! I'll head to the kitchen right now."
Chef Mao was overjoyed.
There were many customers, but before Xiangling left earlier, she had prepared quite a few servings.
It should hold for now.
So he hurried toward the kitchen to bring out more Mapo Tofu.
Just then—a figure suddenly appeared in the shadows of a corner.
Chef Mao's scalp went numb.
"Y-You… who are you? How did you get into my restaurant?!"
His voice trembled.
Wanmin Restaurant only had him, Xiangling, and Guoba.
And he had been at the entrance the whole time—no one had snuck inside.
So who was standing in the shadows?
"Could it be…"
He suddenly recalled certain Liyue ghost stories.
Don't tell me it's… something unclean?
His heart pounded violently.
His feet began sliding backward.
Just as he was about to bolt—a familiar voice rang out behind him.
"Dad, it's me!"
The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a cute face.
"Xiangling! So it's you!"
Chef Mao turned around and let out a huge sigh of relief.
It was just his daughter.
What a scare…
"When did you get back? Weren't you at that manga shop with Yanfei?"
"Just now! I got a teleportation-type reward from the shop. It covers most of Liyue. After finishing the manga, I used it to come back."
Xiangling smiled brightly.
She had deliberately chosen to appear inside the restaurant to avoid startling customers—
but ended up startling her dad instead.
Thinking of his earlier attempt to flee, she found it hilarious.
"A teleportation skill that covers most of Liyue?!"
Chef Mao was stunned.
He had lived in Liyue Harbor for years—he knew how vast it was.
And she just whooshed back?
That was incredible!
First Magical Mapo Tofu.
Now teleportation.
What kind of place was that manga shop?
"Dad, why don't you come with me tomorrow? If we both go, we can read two mangas at once. Maybe we'll get even better rewards!"
Xiangling suggested excitedly.
After experiencing teleportation firsthand, she was even more obsessed with the shop.
Just like Yanfei suggested—bring Dad along.
Dad reads food manga.
She reads something else.
Perfect!
"Alright. Let's go in the morning when business is slow."
Chef Mao agreed immediately.
After witnessing the shop's miracles, he was tempted too.
Even if Xiangling hadn't invited him, he would've gone eventually.
But right now—business came first.
"Xiangling! Make more Magical Mapo Tofu! There are more customers outside—we're running out!"
"More customers?"
Xiangling blinked.
She hadn't expected Boss Han's recipe to remain this popular even after so long.
Then she grinned.
"Then let's give them a show!"
Tying her apron, she got to work.
Solace Book House
Inside the manga shop, the final customer—Xingqiu—had finally finished reading.
"As Boss Han said… it was quite obscure at times. Even if you beat me to death, I couldn't write something like this."
He sighed in admiration.
He had been thinking carefully while reading.
Some parts truly weren't easy to understand.
Steins;Gate told the story of a chuunibyou young man who called himself a mad scientist.
By chance, he invented a time machine.
But through repeated misuse of it, his childhood friend Mayuri became destined to die at a fixed point in that timeline.
To save her, he had to repeatedly alter the past.
Yet returning everything to its original state meant his assistant, Kurisu, would have to die instead.
Because of convergence—he was forced to repeatedly witness the deaths of both heroines.
Through countless mentally devastating time leaps, he despaired. He wanted to give up.
Yet in the end, he persevered—wandering between the Alpha and Beta world lines, searching for the one singular ending—
Steins Gate.
And in the end—it was a good ending.
He saved the world.
He saved both heroines.
"…Everything is the choice of Steins Gate. I finally understand."
After a long silence, Xingqiu murmured.
"But if it were me… what would I choose?"
The thought surfaced in his mind.
Change the past—and your childhood friend is destined to die.
Don't change it—and someone else close to you dies.
After a long while, Xingqiu shook his head slowly.
That was an incredibly cruel choice.
The protagonist endured unimaginable mental strain and still succeeded.
That was what Xingqiu admired most.
Ordinary people simply couldn't do it.
"The manga's finished. I wonder what reward I'll get?"
Anticipation stirred in his heart.
Boss Han had said the rewards came from within the manga.
And in the story, the Future Gadget Laboratory had invented many fascinating devices.
For example—
the Bamboo-Copter Camera.
A bamboo-copter stick equipped with a CCD camera, capable of aerial photography without external power.
Of course—
if luck truly smiled upon him—
a time machine would be even better.
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