Chapter 10

After a night's rest, Rao Ke was woken the next morning by Xue Qiu and Sesame Paste landing on her like two mountains of fur.

She sat up with a mess of tangled hair, while the two culprits—Sesame Paste and Xue Qiu—continued to snooze away, oblivious.

Shooting the little rascals a look of pure grievance, Rao Ke resigned herself to getting up and heading to the washroom to freshen up and change.

She had no appetite in the morning, so she ordered just a serving of soy milk and a ham toast.

As she ate her breakfast and opened the window, her gaze met the sunflower standing outside the door.

Rao Ke silently swallowed her toast and greeted the sunflower. No wonder something had felt missing last night.

The sunflower outside the door got so excited it tried to squeeze its way in. Unable to communicate with it, Rao Ke went to the room, shook Sesame Paste awake, and dragged him out.

"Go talk to it."

With a perfect arc, she tossed Sesame Paste right onto the sunflower's crown.

Whatever Sesame Paste said to it, after hearing him out, the sunflower turned and waddled away.

"I want rice rolls with cola!" Since trying cola for the first time, Sesame Paste had basically become a cola fanatic—no matter what he ate, he had to pair it with cola.

Rao Ke could only count her blessings that this wasn't a normal little black cat, or she'd have felt guilty enough to stop him long ago.

After breakfast, Rao Ke looked at the shop shrouded in thick smoke.

She planted a wooden sign reading "Shop under renovation, seven days of work, owner away" and drove off toward Daylight Town following the navigation Sesame Paste had set up.

What Rao Ke didn't know was that after she left, wave after wave of people came to the shop entrance, staring at the smoke-shrouded store with deep regret.

Following the navigation from Sesame Paste, the RV drove straight to the gates of Daylight Town.

Much like No. 7 Wandering Town, Daylight Town's gates had beastman soldiers patrolling and inspecting, except here the humans all had animal ears.

Rao Ke's eyes sparkled. A beastman town was practically paradise for someone who loved fluffy things.

"Daylight Town is the largest beastman town around here, but beastmen and humans really don't get along," Sesame Paste chimed in with some education.

Rao Ke smiled. "What does that have to do with me? I'm a witch now."

Sesame Paste had a sudden realization and hopped into Rao Ke's arms. With that, Rao Ke drove the RV blatantly right up to the town gates.

The white RV immediately caught everyone's attention.

A beastman soldier stopped the vehicle, knocked on the door, and said with some caution, "Please cooperate with the inspection!"

Rao Ke rolled down the window and smiled at the beastman soldier outside. "How should I be inspected?"

The soldier outside froze the moment he saw her striking black hair and emerald-green cat-like eyes. His expression shifted. "Apologies—please wait a moment. I need to go ask."

Rao Ke, who'd only meant to ask a simple question: ...

"Am I really that scary?" She questioned her existence a little, asking Sesame Paste. She thought she looked decent enough. Or maybe beastmen had a different aesthetic from humans.

Sesame Paste explained, "Witches have disappeared from the Kaqisha Continent for a long time since the last great war."

"Legend says witches look very similar to humans, with black hair and green eyes as their unique trademark. They're famous for being powerful, beautiful, fiercely protective of their own, and utterly vengeful."

Hearing Sesame Paste's explanation, Rao Ke suddenly blurted out, "So could someone dye their hair and wear colored contacts to impersonate a witch?"

"There are ways to detect it, and if you get caught, you're done for." Sesame Paste shrugged, pulled out a game console, and started playing next to her, with Xue Qiu crouched beside him, watching curiously.

"Apologies, milady. Please, go ahead." A moment later, the soldier ran back and said respectfully.

"By the way, if I want to set up a stall, where do I go to register?" Rao Ke asked.

"Head further in to the town center and register there."

"Thanks." Skipping the inspection was fine by her—Rao Ke couldn't be bothered with more questions anyway, so she drove straight in.

Once inside, Rao Ke could clearly feel the difference between a beastman town and a human one. The beastman town was simpler and more primitive.

The moment her RV entered, it drew everyone's stares.

Luckily, the RV's windows were one-way mirrors—she could see out, but no one could see in. Unbothered, Rao Ke drove to the town center.

Daylight Town's center looked about the same as No. 7 Wandering Town's. After observing for a bit, Rao Ke picked up her strongest combat asset, Sesame Paste, and got out of the car.

The moment she stepped out, she drew the attention of many beastmen. Keeping a calm, aloof expression, she walked into the town center holding Sesame Paste.

She took a number and sat down, feeling like she was back at Blue Star's civic service center. After a short wait, she was called up.

Taking a seat at the window, she found herself facing a stunning, smiling red fox beastman.

"What would you like to arrange?"

"I'd like to rent a stall. Seven days."

"And what kinds of goods would you be selling?"

"Food, berries, and drinks."

"Alright, that'll be 3 silver coins. Here's your stall token. I'll take you there now."

The process went suspiciously smoothly, but since everything got done, Rao Ke didn't bother questioning it.

"Ke Ke, wasn't the clerk at that window a different person a second ago?" Sesame Paste said to her telepathically while playing his game.

"Mm, as long as it's handled, it's fine." Rao Ke had noticed too, of course.

That red fox beastman was clearly no ordinary person. The Space Ring on his hand—Rao Ke had only ever seen one like it on Mo Duoya and her group.

She figured he must have heard the news sent up from the soldier at the town gate and come straight over.

Ke Enli, upon receiving word that a witch who'd vanished for ages had appeared in Daylight Town, had rushed over from home to the town center without stopping.

Then he met the witch, and was led into a very strange contraption—functionally similar to a carriage, but bizarrely shaped.

"This is your stall." Following Ke Enli's guidance, the RV parked in an open space with other vendors already selling goods nearby.

"Lord Ke Enli!" The surrounding vendors called out enthusiastically the moment they saw him get out of the car, even trying to offer him gifts, all of which he graciously declined with a smile.

Rao Ke heard it too, of course, but only glanced over before focusing on parking the car properly.

Even though she had a driver's license back on Blue Star, her workplace had been close to home, so she mostly commuted by electric scooter. She only drove when she went on road trips with Xu Ruozhen and some friends, so she wasn't exactly the smoothest.

After parking, Rao Ke opened the sales window on one side, revealing the selling space inside. It was fairly roomy, with built-in shelves along the back and both sides stocked full of instant foods and snacks, plus the drink cooler she'd brought from the shop.

In front, aside from some snacks and drinks, she'd set up a sausage grill and an oden machine—both could be moved to the shop counter after business hours.

There was also an induction cooktop up front; Rao Ke planned to offer processing services.

Standing outside the RV, Ke Enli eyed the novel goods inside with curiosity.

"Would you like to buy something?" Rao Ke could tell Ke Enli held some status in this town, so she decided to start with him.

"Why don't you recommend something for me?" Ke Enli said outright, unfamiliar with everything.

"Then I'd suggest trying instant noodles and cola. Need me to cook the noodles for you? You're my first customer, so processing is on the house." Rao Ke thought it over and decided to play it safe.

Ke Enli nodded.

"Braised beef flavor okay?"

"Anything works." He hadn't tried any other flavors anyway.

"I'll take one of each of these two." The aroma of sausages and oden wafted into Ke Enli's nose, so tempting he couldn't help but swallow.

"Alright, please wait a moment. That'll be 5 gold coins and 17 silver coins."

After receiving payment, Rao Ke first prepared a helping of sausages and oden and handed them over.

Ke Enli discreetly used a detection gem to check them, and only when he saw everything was fine did he feel at ease putting it in his mouth.

And then he was instantly conquered by the rich, savory oden and the springy, juicy sausages.

His fox ears twitched involuntarily, and his tail gave a little wag.

Then he looked with even greater anticipation at the instant noodles bubbling in the clay pot, because their aroma was even richer and more irresistible than the oden and sausages.

The surrounding beastmen couldn't help crowding around too.

And so, the Keke Shop branch officially kicked off its business.

Rao Ke handled cooking the noodles, packaging, and ringing up orders; Sesame Paste ferried the instant noodles from the back based on customer orders; and Xue Qiu wandered around outside with a promotional flyer.

Watching Xue Qiu, Ke Enli fed him a sausage while eating his noodles, instantly recognizing him as a Winter Wolf cub. In his mind, he quietly raised Rao Ke's threat rating a notch.

After finishing his food, Ke Enli clapped his hands, packed up a bunch of other items, paid, and then waited leisurely off to the side.

Once he'd picked up his order, Ke Enli strolled off at a relaxed pace.

Rao Ke chatted with a cat-eared beastman while cooking noodles and packing orders.

That's how she learned about Ke Enli.

Ke Enli was quite mysterious—all anyone knew was that he'd come from the imperial capital and now held the position of deputy mayor of Daylight Town. He was a capable administrator and well-loved by the townsfolk.

When business wound down, Rao Ke tore open a pack of milk candy and handed some out to the beastman kids nearby, successfully getting to touch their fluffy ears.

Driving the RV out through the gates of Daylight Town, Rao Ke pulled over at some random spot and stopped.

Then she and Sesame Paste went over the day's sales figures.

The day looked busy, but just about everything sold was one of the four items: instant noodles, cola, oden, and sausages.

Everything else—the other instant foods, snacks, and drinks—went mostly untouched.

"Hopefully, once they've tasted how good the noodles are, they'll get curious about the other stuff." Rao Ke thought for a moment. "How about we do some free samples tomorrow?"

She then had Sesame Paste bring over Heitang and Baitang to handle the sampling station outside the next day.

Before bed that night, Rao Ke locked the doors and windows, hugged Xue Qiu and Sesame Paste into bed, and drifted off to sleep.