Odyssey || ArknightsXPunishing: Gray Raven (OLD BOOK)

Chapter 37: Return to sender

Browsing through the numerous, Wanshi slides his finger on the touchpad glass, before picking a simple tuna waffle. His finger hovers at a canned coffee, but he is reluctant to drink another one. What good would it do if he can't sleep soundly later? He decides to wait for the person manning the counter to show up

"Just tuna waffle? You sure you won't go hungry?" Wanshi looks to his side, only to see Platinum browsing on the same counter beside him.

'This woman...'

"If it's enough for me to avoid people, I'll take it."

A small girl came in and handed him his order. She didn't even look like she was beyond eighteen. Well, considering most Babylonian constructs have psychological age that falls between sixteen and above, he couldn't say anything about it.

"Thanks...Gummy." Wanshi muttered, seeing the ID of the small girl. Her cute bear ears perked up, before she smiles at him.

"You're welcome! Anything you wanna eat, Gummy can give you!" She says and hums happily, before taking the other operator's orders. Was it weird for him to feel happy because if her smile?

'Hope those guys from Kurono won't accuse me of anything weird..'

Wanshi stared at his waffle for a while, before sighing to himself. He was always trained to be a hardened soldier no matter what, but being here feels like he's being exempted to it. Young and old folks call this massive place their home, even though they just work here.

He knows that their main mission here was to extract any possible data that are deemed of high importance. Well, that's certainly a fancy word to say that they would steal documents and inflict distrust on their would be partners. He just can't comprehend what brash ideas are going on with the higher ups.

Wanshi picks a table near the corner of the cafeteria, since it still gave him a decent amount of view on the ground. No matter how many times he stare at the grassy fields of this place called Iberia, even though some of them are really just overgrown weeds, he still can't take his eyes off them.

At the very least, this planet was alive and hospitable in a sense. However, the people here are also fighting a battle with a deadly and contagious disease, which is why he's currently in a pharmaceutical company. Kamui called it rock-cancer or something.

Looking around, the people eating and sitting here are all trying to make a difference, similar to what he and the rest of humanity has been doing.
Maybe this world and theirs aren't that different at all. Maybe this was fate that brought them all together, to be able to work with each other. Or was it just a stroke of pure luck that Lee managed to open up a portal?

"Good grief."

Wanshi tears the paper wrapper of the waffle and bites a large chunk of it. It was just his second day of eating food, and despite his urges to try every last one of the cuisines offered here at Rhodes Island, he does his best to control himself.

As he enjoyed eating his meal, he sees a blur of movement beside him. He turns his head to check who it was. Platinum was already sitting there, sipping at the apple juice she was drinking.

"*sigh*, can't you just let me eat in peace?" Wanshi says, clearly tired of dealing with this woman.

"Huh? Even though I haven't said anything?" Platinum feigned ignorance.

Wanshi tries to ignore her and stands up, throwing the used wrapper on a nearby trashcan with accuracy. Some operators eating gasped at what he did, given that the 'nearby' trashcan was on the other side of the cafeteria. They stopped and stared at him with amazement, leaving him standing awkwardly in silence.