Universe Infinite Canteen

The man in the leather jacket then went to locker 16, took out the frozen body of the young girl, and placed her on another table.

Ma Lu glanced over and realized that this time the deceased was indeed very young, looking like a college student.

The man in the leather jacket muttered, "Life only comes once for everyone, it's important to cherish it. If you were a bit older, you might have understood this, but it's too late now—you no longer need this body, so let's give it to someone who does. That way, at least you'll accumulate some karmic merit for yourself."

"Is there really such a thing as karmic merit?" Ma Lu asked curiously.

"No, I've just been running the funeral home for so long that I've gotten used to saying it," the man in the leather jacket paused, then added, "But then again, who knows? I've never left this plane, so I don't know what it's like in other planes."

"Ah? You're a regular person too?"

This time it was the man in the leather jacket's turn to be surprised, "Ah, you're a regular person?" He looked like he wanted to immediately pull out his phone and contact that Pigeon.
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Ma Lu quickly said, "The City Manager already knows about my existence because my roommate is a visitor from a Different Dimension. I'm currently running a restaurant with him."

"Your situation is quite rare," the man in the leather jacket said, his expression somewhat easing as he stroked his chin.

"What about you? If you're not a regular person, why have you never left this plane?"

"Because I'm a native of this place," the man in the leather jacket replied matter-of-factly.

"Hm?"

"What, aren't New Shanghai people considered Shanghainese? My mother is a visitor from a Different Dimension. I was born here, just like you. I went to elementary school, attended middle school, moved on to high school, and even took the college entrance exam, though I didn't get in and started working instead."

As the man in the leather jacket spoke, he opened his jacket, and Ma Lu noticed that the inside of the leather jacket was embroidered with bold characters, flaring dragons and dancing phoenixes, with "Descendant of Fiery Emperor and the Yellow Emperor" on the left, and "Descendant of the Dragon" on the right.

"By that reasoning... you indeed are," Ma Lu conceded, unable to refute.

At that moment, the man in the leather jacket had pushed the two tables together and shouted at Old Man Zheng's body, "Alright, I've prepared a new body for you, so come out quickly."

He called out three times, and on the third call, the back of the body split open again, and Lao Hei crawled out once more.

This time its movements were noticeably more sluggish, the entire creature seeming listless, but it still quickened its pace when it saw the female corpse on the other side.

It tried to climb onto it with great effort, but after scratching with its front legs for quite a while, it only managed to tear some skin and couldn't burrow in.

It wasn't until the man in the leather jacket made an incision in the girl's back with a scalpel that Lao Hei was able to crawl in through the wound, and then it became still again.

"Is it over now?" Ma Lu asked.

"We have to wait a while; it's adapting to the new body," the man in the leather jacket replied, as he turned the body over.

About 5 minutes later, the previously immobile girl on the table suddenly opened her eyes and spat out a word, "Cold!"

Having said that, she looked at the man in the leather jacket and repeated, "Cold, cold."

It wasn't that she was deliberately using duplicative words to be cute; she was shivering so much from the cold that she couldn't help but stammer, stretching one word into two.

"Okay, okay, I know," the man in the leather jacket brought over an electric heater and placed it beside Lao Hei, "You were in a hurry this time, and I didn't have time to arrange for it to be thawed in advance. Also, this body is 1500 Star Currency, remember to transfer it to my account later."

With the electric heater at work, Lao Hei had regained much of his strength after a while and no longer had to repeat his words. His skin began to look flushed with blood again, and the wound miraculously healed.

The man in the leather jacket then brought him a set of clothes, and spotting the bloodstains on Ma Lu's attire, he picked out an extra set, "You should change too. I can burn this one for you."

"Thanks," Ma Lu took the clothes and was about to change into them when he suddenly thought of a serious problem and asked, "Where did these clothes come from?"

"Don't worry, they aren't funeral clothes." Ma Lu was just starting to feel relieved by the man's words when he heard him continue, "They were stripped from bodies, but I've washed them clean."

"Um... it's already quite late, so I won't change. I'll wash it when I get back, it's still wearable," Ma Lu returned the clothes, "I'm quite fond of what I'm wearing now."

"Suit yourself," the man in the leather jacket didn't insist.

Lao Hei, on the other hand, wasn't as fussy and had already changed clothes in no time. He even asked for an elastic band from the man in the leather jacket and quickly tied up a simple ponytail.

Then he turned to Ma Lu again, "Thank you, my friend. If it wasn't for you, I would have been in danger this time. I will always remember your kindness."

"It's nothing, just lending a hand," Ma Lu paused before adding, "I actually have a few more questions that I didn't have time to ask earlier."

"Ask away, I will tell you everything I can." Lao Hei said.

"Those Dimensional Pirates, how many of them are there?"

"No one knows the exact number of Dimensional Pirates," Lao Hei said, "The Grand Alliance has launched several rounds of campaigns against them and wiped out tens of thousands of Dimensional Pirates, but investigations and statistics afterward show that the number of encounters with Dimensional Pirates the following year has hardly changed compared to previous years.

"So, some have surmised that the number of Dimensional Pirates in the entire Multiverse is constant. If a certain number of Dimensional Pirates are destroyed here, then an equal number of Dimensional Pirates will emerge elsewhere."

"Aren't they intelligent beings?"

"I don't know; their origins are very mysterious. So far, no one has directly communicated with them," Lao Hei said, "Anyway, every time we meet them, there's a robbery, and if you're unlucky, you might lose your life."

"Then why did they target you?"

This time Lao Hei didn't answer directly, simply saying vaguely, "The smuggling business we're in is very likely to get the attention of Dimensional Pirates."

Ma Lu assumed that this guy might be hiding something that was of great interest to those Dimensional Pirates, because according to the Wandering Sorcerer, those pirates generally roam near the junctions of planes and rarely appear on specific planets.

Ma Lu was not interested in what Lao Hei was hiding; what he was more concerned about was another matter, "Then does that mean that there could still be other Dimensional Pirates on Earth now?"

"Yes," Lao Hei admitted, "So I'm planning to find a place to lay low for a while. I'll give you an address; you can deliver the goods there later. When I have time, I'll transfer the money to you. Don't worry, those guys were after me. As long as you stay away from me, they won't bother anyone else."