The Coffee Shop in the Small Town of Calydon

Two hours later, the group finally returned to the small town of Calydon in the Sons of Calydon's truck.

Since they had been busy all night, everyone was exhausted and yawning as they got out of the truck.

Seth was the last to step down.

"Captain Zhu Yuan, Senior Qingyi, Jane, when are we going back to the city?"

The main purpose of this trip to the outer ring had been to capture Perlman.

Now that he was in custody, Seth just wanted to return to the city as soon as possible, bring Perlman to justice, and report the mission to the Public Security Bureau.

Zhu Yuan thought for a moment.

"Let's rest and reorganize in the town first. We'll figure out how to get back to the city afterward."

In truth, rest wasn't the only reason.

Zhu Yuan's team no longer had a working truck—Azhdaha Dragon King had crushed it. If they wanted to get back, they would need Piper to drive them.

Piper had already discussed this with the folks from Hare's House.

They were planning to stay in Calydon for a day, experience life in the outer ring, and learn more about it.

Zhu Yuan and the others had no choice.

They could only stay in Calydon for a day as well.

Of course,

Zhu Yuan and Seth weren't about to freeload. After a simple meal in town, Zhu Yuan handed the Dennies they'd earned from selling goods to Caesar.

"Thank you for your hospitality. Here's your payment."

"No need to be so polite. I've already asked Piper to arrange rooms for you. You've been working hard all day and night—go get some rest."

Caesar accepted the Dennies with a smile.

It wasn't much—just twenty or thirty thousand Dennies—but for the Sons of Calydon, it was a decent sum.

After breakfast,

before heading to rest, Seth asked, "By the way, where's Perlman?"

Qingyi replied calmly,

"Same as before. We've locked him in the truck and posted two Sons of Calydon to guard him. He's not going anywhere."

It wasn't just the Public Security Bureau team—

Nicole, Anby, Soldier 11, and the others from Hare's House also found places to rest.

They slept for several hours.

By the time they woke up in the afternoon, they were still yawning.

Just then, Piper arrived.

"You're finally awake. Caesar said I should take you on a little tour of Calydon."

"Great! You mentioned building a school, right? Can we take a look?"

"It's just a pile of ruins. Nothing worth seeing..."

Billy didn't seem interested. He'd rather spend his time cleaning his gun.

But before he could start,

Nicole grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.

"Stop slacking off. Let's go check out the town."

Billy sighed. "..."

What was there to see? It wasn't like he hadn't been here before.

Back when he lived here, he rode his motorcycle through Calydon every day—he was the most popular guy in town.

Reluctantly, Billy followed them. He glanced around.

"By the way, where's Sam Li?"

Piper explained,

"He left early. The Public Security folks woke up before you did. Caesar personally took them on a tour of the town. Mr. Sam Li went with them."

A tour of the town, they said—

but really, they were just checking out a few key spots.

The coffee shop... the general store... the mod shop...

Though the town was small and quite run-down, with an air of desolation,

it still had everything you needed.

Billy was surprised.

"Piper, when did the coffee shop open? And the general store? These weren't here before."

Piper replied,

"Not long after you left. Caesar said she wanted to revive Calydon, so she found ways to open these shops..."

From the outside, the so-called coffee shop looked like an abandoned building.

The sign above the door was half-broken.

If Piper hadn't pointed it out, no one would have guessed it was open for business.

Piper yawned.

"So? Want to grab a coffee?"

Nekomata's eyes lit up.

"Guys, we just woke up—let's go in and have some coffee. It'll perk us up."

Nicole hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright..."

She pushed open the door and stepped inside first.

And there they saw a familiar figure—Sam Li, the very person they had been looking for.

At that moment,

Sam Li was sitting in a worn-out chair, a cup of coffee in front of him.

Nekomata ran over excitedly.

"Sam Li, weren't you with the Public Security officers? Why are you here drinking coffee alone? Where are Zhu Yuan and Caesar?"

Sam Li replied calmly.

"They went elsewhere."

Nicole sat across from Sam Li and called out to the owner.

"Four coffees, please."

Compared to the coffee on Sixth Street, Calydon's coffee was much cheaper.

Surprisingly, it tasted even better than expected—not inferior to Master Tingman's.

Piper explained,

"The owner here was specially invited by Caesar. I heard he used to be the New Eridu Coffee Competition champion, but was framed by a gang and ended up on the Public Security Bureau's wanted list. So he took refuge out here in the outer ring..."

Hearing this, Nicole glanced at the owner in surprise.

She hadn't expected him to be a wanted man.

The owner seemed used to such looks.

Instead, he smiled politely at Nicole.

Piper yawned.

"Don't worry—he was framed. He's not a bad person. Otherwise, Caesar wouldn't have taken him in."

After finishing their coffee,

Piper took the group to visit a few other places.

Time passed quickly. After a full circuit around the town, evening had arrived.

Nekomata asked,

"Nicole, when are we going back to the city?"

Nicole thought for a moment.

"Tomorrow morning. I'll go talk to Caesar and Piper and arrange for them to take us back first thing."

She yawned again.

"Let's get a good night's sleep. After this, who knows when we'll get another chance to visit Calydon."

Billy reminded her,

"Big Sis Caesar said Calydon is always open to us."

Nicole gave him a look.

"We've got work to do. It's not like we can just come to the outer ring whenever we want."

Billy: "..."

...

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

Nicole, Anby, Billy, Soldier 11, and Nekomata got up early and prepared to return to New Eridu.