Chapter 21: Successors

"No need, no need, I believe you," Tang Mubai hurriedly waved his hand, his face displaying a well-timed look of surprise, as though he hadn’t expected Chen Hai to be someone from the Bureau of Martial Affairs.

As for believing so quickly, that was well-known; the Bureau’s credentials were rarely forged. Those with little strength who dared to impersonate would be caught by the Bureau and would be lucky to escape with their lives. And those with enough strength had no reason to fake it in the first place!

Given all this, Tang Mubai’s reaction was entirely reasonable.

Chen Hai didn’t dwell on it either. He put away his credentials, took hold of the crew-cut young man, and said gratefully, “Thanks for looking after Li Bin, brother. Leave the rest to me.”

“Thank you, then.” Tang Mubai smiled. “It seems Mr. Li here doesn’t handle his liquor well—he’s drunk after just a little.”

“Haha, that’s just how he is,” Chen Hai replied with a smile. “We won’t keep you any longer, brother. We’ll be off. Oh, Old Wu, go settle our bill and Li’s.”

“Alright.” The bespectacled young man behind Chen Hai gave Tang Mubai a friendly smile, then went off toward the cashier.

Chen Hai and the slightly chubby man flanked the crew-cut youth and helped him toward the door.

Tang Mubai escorted them out of the restaurant before heading back upstairs to change his clothes. With just a few deft moves, he had averted a disturbance that could have erupted at any moment. The satisfaction of it lingered in his heart.

Entering the office, he found Xu Dalu busy at work. Upon seeing Tang Mubai come in, the old man quickly stood up and greeted him, “Captain, is there something you need?”

“Grandpa Xu, there you go again, being so formal. I’m just here for the restaurant’s property deed. Oh, and maybe the business license too,” Tang Mubai explained.

“Property deed? Business license?” Xu Dalu was momentarily stunned by his words. “What do you need those for?”

“To renew our operational qualifications,” Tang Mubai replied, producing his martial artist certificate and placing it on the desk for Xu Dalu to see. “I’ve already obtained my professional martial artist certificate, so the restaurant can safely continue operations. Anyway, I’ll go find the deed now.”

With that, Tang Mubai walked to the partition in the office and stopped before a safe.

All the important documents related to Miracle Restaurant were kept in this safe. Only the captain knew the code. Fortunately, Tang Mubai’s father had once told him the code—otherwise, even with the professional martial artist certificate in hand, there would have been no way to keep the restaurant running.

If the registration wasn’t transferred, the restaurant would remain under his father’s name forever. Once the grace period ended, it would be forced to close.

Reflecting on this, Tang Mubai was sincerely grateful. He didn’t act immediately, but instead stood before the safe, recalling the code.

After a moment, recalling it from memory, he entered the code on the keypad—

Click!

A sound came from within the safe.

He reached out, grasped the handle, turned it three times, and the door opened smoothly.

Inside lay a stack of documents and a considerable amount of cash.

Leaving the cash untouched, Tang Mubai took out the file folders and searched through them until he found the original property deed and business license for Miracle Restaurant.

He put the remaining documents back, locked the safe, and left the partition.

Back in the office, Xu Dalu was still standing there, holding Tang Mubai’s martial artist certificate in a daze.

“Grandpa Xu, carry on. I’ll be going now.” Tang Mubai smiled, took his certificate from Xu Dalu’s hands, waved, and left.

It wasn’t until nearly ten minutes after Tang Mubai had gone that Xu Dalu slowly came back to himself, slapped his forehead, and muttered dreamily, “He really did it… He really did it!”

“In less than ten days, he broke through from amateur to professional martial artist and got his certificate—he actually made it!”

“There really is such a thing as a ‘miracle’ in this world!”

“Old Captain, Miracle has an heir now—an heir at last!”

By the end, Xu Dalu was in tears.

…

Tang Mubai was unaware of Xu Dalu’s feelings. With the property deed and business license in hand, he didn’t immediately go to the relevant department to update the registration.

Instead, he asked the kitchen to prepare a sumptuous meal, and in his private room, he sampled each dish thoroughly to familiarize himself with and control his enhanced sense of taste.

By the time he finished eating and drinking, Tang Mubai had mastered his new sense of taste.

“Looks like I’ll have to hire a few new chefs,” he sighed, putting down his chopsticks.

He’d never noticed before, but after this upgrade to his palate, Tang Mubai realized that the chefs at Miracle Restaurant weren’t as skilled as he’d once believed. In terms of craftsmanship, they didn’t even reach the level of a second-tier chef, let alone first-tier!

The restaurant’s steady stream of customers each day was more a matter of its prime location than culinary merit.

What’s more, he discovered that some dishes were prepared with obvious carelessness.

“Is it because they think the restaurant is closing, so they don’t take cooking seriously anymore?”

Tang Mubai shook his head. He didn’t go straight to the kitchen but simply instructed the waitstaff to clear the table, took the documents, and headed to the relevant department to update the restaurant’s registration.

By the time he returned, the lunchtime rush had passed.

He found Xu Dalu and handed him the updated business license, instructing him to announce the good news to the rest of the restaurant staff.

If, after the news was made public, the kitchen staff continued to shirk their duties, Tang Mubai would have no qualms about firing a few people.

The opportunity was offered—whether they seized it was up to them.

Leaving the restaurant, Tang Mubai went as usual to the Hongyun Slaughterhouse, staying there all afternoon and accumulating another 43.7 years of lifespan.

When it was about time, he drove to the school to pick up his young cousin, took her to the restaurant for a simple dinner, and then hurried back to their residence to log onto the computer.

The New World also had the internet. Although the fees were quite high, ordinary people with some means could still afford access.

However, the reason Tang Mubai had cut short his time collecting lifespan and rushed home wasn’t to browse ordinary websites. He was logging into a special internal site accessible only to martial artists.

Martial Way Net!

To log in, one needed a martial artist certificate.

Only by entering the serial number on the certificate could one gain entry.

Tang Mubai had heard of Martial Way Net but never had the chance to access it—until now.

He entered his number on the homepage, the page refreshed, and an unassuming website appeared.

Yes, the renowned Martial Way Net was remarkably plain in design.

To Tang Mubai’s eyes, with his experience from two lifetimes, it even seemed a bit outdated.

The entire site had only three sections: News, Forum, and Mall.

Clicking on News brought up a torrent of information from various domains, filling the screen at once.

Tang Mubai skimmed a few headlines before backing out and clicking on the Mall.

After a brief look, he discovered that the Mall was limited to Domain Thirty-Eight.

However, the variety of items for sale was vast: weapons, pills, medicines, martial techniques, equipment, automobiles…

Everything a martial artist might need was on display.

Beneath each item, the price was clearly marked.

Hmm…

Most of these items were expensive.

For example, an E-class alloy warblade cost thirty thousand federal credits!