There is One New Rule Every Month Globally

"Hello, sir, please..."

The waiter standing at the entrance of the coffee shop had barely bent down and hadn't finished his sentence when Chen Yi and his group entered briskly.

Without the slightest pause.

Their target was the coffee shop's kitchen.

"What are you guys up to?"

Seeing the aggressive approach of the group, the coffee shop staff rushed over, angrily shouting, "Looking for trouble here, do you want to die..."

But they couldn't finish their sentence. Upon seeing the sniper rifle in Chen Yi's hand, they all hugged their heads and squatted on the ground, signaling they meant no harm.

"Bang!"

Tuberculosis Rabbit kicked open the glass door of the coffee shop's production room and couldn't help but feel nauseous at the sight within. He covered his mouth to forcibly suppress the urge to vomit.

Inside the production room,

there was a steel frame at least ten meters long, and strapped to it were more than thirty men.

Not one of them was clothed.

When Tuberculosis Rabbit kicked in the door, several coffee shop staff were busy using coffee cups to collect freshly pressed coffee.

The men tied to the frame were blindfolded, with a transparent tube in their mouths that led to the ceiling, where coffee flowed into their bodies from time to time.

Just as they had guessed!

This city, the 13th City,

one of the main reasons it could remain self-sufficient despite being cut off from the world for who knows how long was the use of props, like this coffee shop.

They didn't need to buy any coffee beans at all. With enough men, they could produce an endless supply of fresh coffee.

Coffee that was rich and full-bodied.

And they didn't waste those men's buttocks either—the output was turned into pastries.

A few coffee shop staff were constantly producing coffee and pastries in the operating room. When they saw Chen Yi and the others burst in, they all seemed a bit at a loss.

"Huh!"

Chen Yi took a deep breath before striding into the operating room and pointing the gun at a worker's forehead. "How are these people producing coffee?"

"That..."

The worker quickly raised both hands, his voice trembling with a sobbing tone as he pointed to a machine about two meters tall in the corner. Clearly, he'd never imagined that a coffee shop could be the scene of a robbery.

Who ever robs a coffee shop?

Chen Yi didn't speak but walked up to the machine. It was over two meters tall with countless clear plastic tubes extending to the ceiling and then to the mouths of the men tied to the frame.

He placed his hand on the machine. Stay tuned with empire

No prop panel emerged as he had imagined.

But he did see a message engraved on a copper plaque attached to the outside of the machine.

"Yongji Brand Coffee Machine."

"Instruction Manual: After starting this coffee machine, just insert the tube into the Meat Worm's mouth, and it will continuously produce fresh and full-bodied coffee."

"Operating Principle: This coffee machine can make Meat Worms drink coffee and transform the urine excreted by the Meat Worm into coffee."

"Essential Ingredients: Yongji Concentrated Coffee Extract, which contains coffee and a diuretic, can ensure that the Meat Worms will continue to produce coffee."

"Usage Restrictions: This machine has a maximum of 48 ports and can catalyze up to 48 Meat Worms at the same time."

"Warranty Information: ..."

Even without a prop panel, the information before him was enough for him to understand how this coffee machine operated. It was almost identical to the Skill "A Cup of Coffee" that he had acquired.

The difference was this was a machine,

whereas what he had was a Skill.

Although they were in different worlds, they shared the same medium. To say there was no connection between the two would be unbelievable even to a fool.

"..."

Chen Yi stared at the instruction manual on the machine without saying a word. He felt as if he was on the brink of understanding something, but when he tried to articulate it, he couldn't pinpoint the rationale.

It was as if he stood before a thin sheet of window paper,

which he could puncture with just a slight force, yet he couldn't muster that bit of effort.

He paused for a moment and then turned to look at one of the workmen: "Are all the coffee shops in the 13th City like this?"

"Are there any that aren't?"

Looking innocently at Chen Yi, the worker was about to speak when he noticed that there was not one mechanical organ on Chen Yi's body. He suddenly realized with a fluster and hurriedly explained.

"That, sir, all the coffee shops in the Lower City are like this."

"It's common knowledge. Sir, you may be visiting the Lower City for the first time. Only Upper City People are entitled to enjoy products made from real coffee beans, freshly ground."

"Down here in the Lower City, everyone drinks coffee made from Meat Worms."

"The customers outside know about this too?"

"Everyone knows, you can go out and ask if you don't believe me, sir."

"No need."

Tuberculosis Rabbit, who had slipped out unnoticed, returned to the operating room. "I've already asked. Those customers outside, they all know where the coffee comes from."

"These people are incredible. Knowing what this stuff is made of, they can still drink it so enjoyably."

"Especially those pastries, they actually tasted pretty good. I swear, even if I starved to death, I could never eat those damn things!!"

"Tell me, where did you get these meat worms?"

"Bought them."

With hands raised and a face full of grievance, the staff member spoke, "Our boss bought them. Prisons sell inmates like if someone's sentenced to ten years, they'll sell those ten years out."

"Then places like cafés will buy these meat worms to produce coffee and return them once the time's up."

"If the sentenced time isn't up, but the inmate sadly dies midway, a compensation fee must be paid."

Chen Yi and his companions didn't speak anymore, they just quietly left the café and went to a stir-fry restaurant next door.

Then, in the back kitchen of this stir-fry restaurant they saw a load of meat worms.

The naked meat worm with a fish-flavored shredded pork A4 paper stuck to its body was tied to a rack, continuously pooping out fish-flavored shredded pork onto a clean plate below.

As soon as a serving was done, the staff member would take something like a wine stopper and plug the meat worm's behind.

Only to remove the stopper again when another customer ordered the dish, pushing a clean plate back under.

Besides that, there were all kinds of meat worms.

Sichuan twice-cooked pork meat worms, spicy crawfish meat worms, braised beef with twister fries meat worms, ice-cold cola meat worms, ice-cold draft beer meat worms, and so on.

These were what composed the back kitchen of this restaurant.

Meanwhile, in the outside dining hall, many excited patrons were happily clinking glasses, savoring the delicious dishes on the tables, enjoying the brief comfort after a day's work.

"..."

Tuberculosis Rabbit's mouth and nose twisted in disgust at the scene before him, standing frozen with his body trembling slightly. He had seen countless corpses in his lifetime, but even those mingled with white fat granules and blood didn't seem as disgusting as this.

"Blegh!"

Sword Without End couldn't hold back, turning his head to violently vomit into a nearby trashcan!

When they first arrived on this map, they hadn't started on their mission right away but ate at a restaurant, even commenting on how fast the service was.

But it turned out to be...

"Blegh!"

The more he thought about it, the harder he vomited, feeling as if he would throw up even his stomach acid.

He had thought that ready-to-cook meals were already the restaurant industry's bottom line.

It didn't occur to him, a capable enterprise should have no bottom line.

"You didn't eat this stuff the first time you came here, did you?"

The curious voice of Tuberculosis Rabbit rang in his ears.

It made Sword Without End stiffen before he vomited even more frantically, sticking his fingers down his throat to force himself to vomit.

"There aren't enough meat worms."

Chen Yi saw through the essence of this matter almost instantly. If every restaurant was using meat worms, there simply wouldn't be enough, after all, how many prisoners could there be?

Even if they distributed them all, it wouldn't be enough for these restaurants to use.

He was starting to sense the filth beneath the seemingly prosperous surface of the city.

These things were meant for Lower City people to eat, not for Upper City People.

Just then—

Alarm sounds came from outside the window.

"Attention inside, you are surrounded."

"..."

Clearly, someone had reported an alarm, but it was unknown whether it was the café next door or this restaurant that had raised the alarm.

...

"Hmm."

Hearing the alarm sounds outside, Tuberculosis Rabbit silently nodded and said, "It seems like this sentence is universal across worlds, as if it's the first thing police must silently repeat dozens of times when they start their shift."

"Can't they come up with something new?"

Chen Yi did not respond, instead, he pulled out a mirror from his chest and dove straight into it, followed closely by Tuberculosis Rabbit and the others.

They didn't want to have a direct conflict with the Law Enforcement Bureau of City 13; they'd prefer to understand certain things before any firefight broke out.

This action, however, left the nearby staff member dumbfounded in place.

Having easily escaped the encirclement of the law enforcement officers, they returned to the alley next to the café, dragging out the enforcement officer they had knocked out from the trashcan.

Stripping off his clothes, the few of them carried him toward the restaurant they had just visited.

No sled was used.

The reason was the same as before, they didn't want to cause too much stir—at least not just yet.

Discretion was key.

Though the sight of two men carrying a completely naked man down the street was bizarre, especially since the carried man's mouth was sewn shut, and both his arms and legs were tied up.

But no one on the street approached to ask, they all steered clear, even avoiding glancing over.

Clearly, they did not want to be noticed by the Upper City People.

It was Upper City People's privilege.

The person who reported them, if he had noticed that Chen Yi and others had no mechanical parts on them, might not have chosen to report this at all.