In just a few hours, the snake pit was full of life. Every chair was occupied by the guests, as Brother Kang called them when a group of 100 people entered the restaurant.
The leader of them was surrounded by 5 men covered with an iron mask over their faces, each one was about two meters tall, and had an excessive amount of fat on their bellies.
"What are you looking at brat, keep washing the dishes, or you will be the next one to end up smashed", Gio warned Rou of the danger, only seconds before, one of the men accompanying the leader, grabbed a ruffian who didn't listen to the words to get him to leave, suffering the physical consequences attached to it.
Rou relied on the amount of fat that covered his body, although he was not good at fighting, he really had zero experience, at least his thick skin would greatly lessen the damage on his body. "Gio, who are those guys, and why does Brother Kang allow them to do whatever they want in his restaurant?", Rou asked without stopping washing the dishes that increased in quantity with each passing second.
A few meters away from them, the blond guy who protected Rou, named Lone, answered, "Fatso, even if you were locked in a cave for several years, you must at least know the name of the Abaroh mafia. That guy over there is one of the leaders who survived the massacre of his home, even though he really is trash as a person, you should thank him because you can walk peacefully in this city."
"Abaroh again, I heard that the fortress of Abaroh was destroyed taking the lives of 5 million people," Rou said recalling the images of the ruined castle.
After a few seconds, Rou realized that no one was talking. Even Brother Kang, who kept cooking kari meat for his guests looked at Rou with a face full of anger.
"Ha Ha Ha, tell me Kang, at what point our Abaroh's name can be used by a shit like that," the leader, who was a middle-aged man with white hair, stood up fixing his dark blue suit and added in a furious voice, "If you don't do it, right now I will end his life."
Rou did not understand what was going on, he had only pronounced Abaroh's name as it was something unknown to him.
Before he could act, Rou felt his whole world begin to spin as Brother Kang sent him flying with a kick full of force, "Grayman, the brat is new to the city, he has no basic knowledge of the world and is a complete idiot, I will punish him in the name of our Abaroh, what do you say, does that satisfy you?".
The five men behind Grayman were ready to tear Rou apart, Abaroh's name was sacred to them. Even hearing it from Kang's mouth annoyed them, still, they knew that any move against the cook and owner of the snake nest, would result in a bloody fight and it was possible that they might not come out alive.
"Right, right. We can't ruin your precious meal now that you've invited us," Grayman said slightly widening his eyes full of coldness with intense bloodlust. "But that brat needs to know the gravity of his mistake."
The man named Grayman, pulled a needle from his sleeve and at a speed beyond sight, threw it against Rou's neck, who was still trying to get up from Kang's blow.
Brother Kang did nothing to protect Rou, he had already done too much for him by freeing him from certain death, now his life was tied to his own endurance and the truth of his words.
"Everyone go back to eating," Grayman ordered his people, being the first to sit down next to his most loyal men, "If that brat spoke the truth, then he should be grateful for helping him at this time. But, Kang, you're not the type to babysit a greaser like him, then we'll talk about this strange act on your part."
Leaning on Gio, Rou felt the oxygen escaping from his body. Lone had removed the needle that had a golden liquid on its prickly part, Rou felt like his life was over every time the headache increased in intensity.
"I don't care where you were, don't mention our Abaroh's name again unless Brother Kang allows you to," said Lone, who had a frown on his face as he poured a strange liquid into a crystal glass, "Now drink this, if you are lucky, the pain in your body will disappear. Don't worry, if you survive this, you will be one of us, for now just don't move."
Following Lone's words, Rou drank the contents of the glass and let the liquid take effect. Squeezing his buttocks and puckering his face, Rou endured the severe headache, which little by little, was diminishing inside him. Still, the liquid that Lone gave him tasted like shit, not that Rou had tasted shit, it was just that there was no more accurate word to describe the creator of such a disgusting liquid.
"We've all been there, just one thing," Gio said, "If Brother Kang asks you what you thought of the drink you got, you know what to answer."
Rou nodded with what strength his body had left, he had already offended Brother Kang once, Rou wouldn't dare talk about a drink worthy of the gods in the presence of his creator.
Without a drop of oxygen, Rou fell unconscious to the ground, losing all connection to his senses.
"Gio, put the brat down. We still have some dishes to prepare," said Brother Kang, who went back to concentrating on Kari's flesh.
Rou was running alongside two half-naked river fairies on the riverbank, the fatty kept looking under the leaves that covered the most sensitive spots. When Rou was only an inch away, he felt an invisible vortex dragging him away from the most beautiful women he had seen so far.
"Who dares disturb this fatty's sleep," Rou did not realize he called himself a fatty. Regaining his vision, he found Brother Kang holding the butcher knife a few inches from his neck.
"Oh...so you're full of energy," Brother Kang smiled viciously, "Then it won't be any problem for you to deal with this."
Behind Brother Kang, there were five mountains of dishes and pots left behind by the guests of the snake nest. The people who had been shouting before Rou lost consciousness had disappeared, including Gio and Lone who were nowhere to be seen.
Rou felt intimidated, he was still hungry and hadn't stopped working. Although he was a fatty in both worlds, that didn't mean he had no pride. Taking a deep breath, flaring his nostrils, he prepared to say a few words to Brother Rou.
"Right, you haven't eaten. I left a pot with a large amount of meat for you," Brother Kang said as he prepared to leave. "When you finish, close the restaurant, tomorrow we will talk about the payment you will receive."
Rou only heard Brother Kang's first words, in his eyes, Brother Kang went from a demon to an angel fallen from heaven. If Brother Kang could see the way Rou saw him, Kang would not have hesitated to kick him again so that he would learn to control himself.
"So this is kari's meat...", swallowing the saliva in his mouth, Rou mentally prepared himself as he decided to take the first bite, "exquisite, how can there be something so tasty in this world, that is what I have eaten for all these years, it has no comparison whatsoever".
Although Rou was constantly eating all kinds of snacks, when he scraped together money from his part-time jobs, he would go to the restaurants in town, where he would try the most expensive dishes he could afford, thus gaining a higher knowledge of the different flavors in the world.
As he was concentrating on devouring the fifth piece of kari, his body began to burn. He quickly got up from the ground and turned on the water tap, drinking the contents as if his life depended on it. Although the kari meat that Brother Kang prepared was delicious, the amount of meat was too much even for someone like him.
When Rou was calmer, he noticed that Brother Kang had already left the restaurant. A few meters away from him, there was a large padlock, which was possibly used to lock the back exit of the restaurant, the only place that was still open.
"Still, how can Brother Kang trust someone like me, isn't he afraid that I might steal something from him?" thought Rou, but he forgot a second later. What was there to steal besides a pile of dirty pots and dishes, besides Kang told him that tomorrow they would talk about the payment he would receive, thus solving the problem he had so he wouldn't starve to death.
An hour later, Rou finished washing every last dirty dish, leaving the whole place tidy as if nothing had happened in that place. "So, this should go here...I think," Rou put the lock in the back door slot and felt pleased with himself.
"Wait, I think there's something damn wrong," Rou came to a revelation, he didn't have a place to sleep in the city, besides it was past midnight, and he locked the only safe place where he wouldn't freeze to death. Covering his body with a piece of cardboard next to the garbage, Rou settled his body, waiting for the morning to come early.