Universe Infinite Canteen

Chapter 58 Identity

"So, about the inspection..."

Perhaps it was because he had accidentally stained the couch, but White Dove had become much more polite, dropping the official tone. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I can help you with the inspection, but I can\'t always stay in your shop. I have many other duties. Here\'s what I\'ll do: I\'ll give you an address, you go there and meet the owner, he should have what you need."

White Dove waited until Ma Lu took out his mobile phone before continuing, "Jin Xin Plumbing and Hardware Department Store, the one on Fragrant Garden East Road. But the owner isn\'t around this week; he\'s gone out of town to stock up on supplies. Go there next week."

"Mm-hmm," Ma Lu checked the location with Amap navigation, discovering that it wasn\'t too far; it would only take about twenty minutes by tricycle from Aerospace University.

He wanted to further leverage his relationship with White Dove, to extract more information from him.

However, White Dove didn\'t give him another chance. "Let\'s leave it at that; I have other matters to attend to. Take care on your own and try to avoid trouble."

Hearing this, Ma Lu hurriedly said, "Leave a contact number, please, so we can notify you promptly if there\'s an emergency."

"No need; I will come to find you when the time is right," White Dove replied and then glanced at Old Wang before spreading his wings and flying out of the rental room.

Watching his figure disappear behind the opposite residential building, Ma Lu turned back to Old Wang.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you believe what he said?"

"There are no records of urban managers in my sector," Old Wang said. "Of course, there\'s also the possibility that those records are stored in a damaged sector, but now they\'re beyond retrieval.

"However, based on my observations and information collected during this time, I am inclined to believe that there is an unofficial organization on this planet dealing with the affairs related to visitors from different dimensions, maintaining stability."

Ma Lu\'s interest piqued, "He just mentioned The Grand Alliance, and I remember you\'ve mentioned that name as well. What exactly is The Grand Alliance?"

"The Grand Alliance is the establisher and maintainer of order in the Multiverse, similar to the United Nations on this planet," said Old Wang. "The Grand Alliance has many departments with a large number of officials responsible for dealing with various affairs in the Multiverse.

"Although there are some who dislike The Grand Alliance, oppose their rules, and their bureaucratic style, investigations show that at least 71% of respondents have a positive attitude towards The Grand Alliance."

"That pigeon said our dimension is outside The Grand Alliance. Why is that? Is it because we haven\'t met the conditions to join, like technological level or something?" Ma Lu continued to inquire.

"No, your technology isn\'t exactly outstanding, but it\'s definitely not the most backward. There are many dimensions in The Grand Alliance with a lower level of technology than yours."

Old Wang paused, then continued, "It\'s mainly a matter of geography."

"Geography?"

"Yes, your location is quite isolated, far from the trade routes. There isn\'t any unique resource or commodity to necessitate contact from other dimensions.

"However, this isn\'t necessarily a bad thing because your presence in the Multiverse is quite low, and the two previous total wars had no impact on you at all."

"After careful deliberation, The Grand Alliance thought it best to let you maintain your current state and then simply blocked the routes to here."

Ma Lu scratched his head, "Now that you mention it, I do think things are fine as they are, but if all the routes were blockaded, how did you, that pigeon, and the Artisan manage to get here?"

"I\'ve lost that part of the data. Not only that, but I also don\'t remember which universe I was in before, what kind of work I was doing, or who I knew."

Old Wang said, "I can only speculate based on the information I have that I arrived on this planet by boarding a private flight and bypassing the blockade of The Grand Alliance. The others probably did something similar."

"Hmm, do you have some feud with The Grand Alliance?"

"Your guess is a possibility, but the data sector that stored that information is damaged, so I can\'t verify it anymore."

"Is there anyone who can fix the damaged sector and help you regain your memory? Oh, right, number 6 seems to have repairing capabilities," Ma Lu said excitedly, slapping his thigh as if he had an epiphany.

"Its repair function is aimed at High-Dimensional Artifacts, and I am not one," Old Wang responded. "Even the Artisan behind it can\'t do anything about my situation."

"I see, but there\'s always a way if you really want to find one, right?"

"Maybe."

Ma Lu noticed that Old Wang didn\'t seem very concerned about regaining his memories.

Thinking it over, Ma Lu said, "Considering the possibility of some bad blood between you and The Grand Alliance, we should probably continue to avoid their officials going forward, although it\'s highly unlikely... we\'ll meet anyone from The Grand Alliance anyway."

As if knowing what Ma Lu was thinking, Old Wang patiently explained, "Identity and self-discovery might be of profound significance for you carbon-based life forms, as you spend your lives searching for your status and roles within a group. But such things are not as important to me.

"From the moment of our birth, my kind clearly know our mission—to maintain and explore the beauty of the Multiverse. It doesn\'t matter who I was or what experiences I had before; none of it hinders our efforts toward our predetermined goal."

Seeing that the person concerned wasn\'t in a hurry, Ma Lu also relaxed.

Personally, he liked Old Wang just the way he was now, and he didn\'t know what Old Wang would become if he regained his memories.

But as a friend, if Old Wang ever felt the need, he would certainly lend his full support.

Thinking it over, Ma Lu said, "Considering the possibility of some bad blood between you and The Grand Alliance, we should probably continue to avoid their officials going forward, although it\'s highly unlikely... we\'ll meet anyone from The Grand Alliance anyway."

"Alright," Old Wang had no objection to this.

"Also, according to that pigeon, there are other visitors from different dimensions on this planet," Ma Lu mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"If I managed to get around The Grand Alliance\'s blockade, then others could too," said Old Wang. "But you don\'t need to worry too much. They\'re probably here because they don\'t want to be discovered, and they\'ll likely follow the rules of this place. Besides, the city managers are keeping watch."

"Ah, I\'m not worried about Earth\'s safety," Ma Lu said. "That nosy pigeon can worry about that. I\'m pondering the possibility of expanding our customer base, but there\'s no rush. We\'ll focus on getting the snack stall up and running first."

In the following days, the two continued to sell volcanic grilled sausages at West Gate. As more people uploaded short videos of the flaming sausages to the internet, earning countless likes, the fame of The Universe\'s Number One Snack Stall finally spread beyond Aerospace University.

Ma Lu noticed that the number of customers from outside the campus was increasing, and there were even tourists who saw the flaming sausages on TikTok and Xiaohongshu and came specifically to try them.

Ma Lu and Old Wang started packing up earlier and earlier, heading out at 11 a.m. and selling out by 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, Ma Lu went to check out the place the pigeon mentioned, and found Jin Xin Plumbing and Hardware Department Store on Fragrant Garden East Road, indeed closed.

A note was pasted on the shutter door stating that the owner was out on business.