Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 56: The Pigeons

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

Even after the last sausage was sold, a crowd of curious onlookers still surrounded the snack stall.

Ma Lu could only add them to the fan group, explaining that he would announce tomorrow's stall time in advance. He now had four WeChat groups, with nearly 1,900 fans.

Initially, most of the members were students from Civil Aviation University, but now, more and more people from outside, like Hou Yihan, were joining.

These are all valuable customers, and they will be useful when the new shop eventually opens.

After packing up the snack stall, Ma Lu turned to see Old Wang looking up, staring at something.

Following Old Wang’s gaze, Ma Lu saw a group of pigeons perched on a utility pole.

“What’s up?”

“Those pigeons have been sitting there for a few days.”

“Hmm… that’s normal. Pigeons like to hang out in one spot.”

Ma Lu squinted his eyes, carefully observing, but found nothing unusual about them compared to ordinary pigeons, so he asked Old Wang.

“Have they done anything strange?”

“No.”

“Then it’s probably nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah.” Old Wang withdrew his gaze. “I’m not very familiar with things in this universe.”

“No worries, just ask me if you’re unsure about anything.” Ma Lu patted Old Wang on the shoulder.

“Heading home?”

“Yeah, but since we finished early today, why don’t we swing by and check out some shop spaces?” Ma Lu glanced at his phone. It was still not yet 5 p.m.

Since deciding to open a shop, he had been researching online for the past couple of days.

Typically, opening a shop requires four permits:

The business license, health certificate, signboard approval, and operating permit.

Among them, the business license is relatively easy to get. You just need the lease contract, a copy of the property ownership certificate, an ID card, and a passport-sized photo to apply at the local industrial and commercial bureau or market supervision office.

As for the health certificate, Ma Lu could easily get one, but it would be more troublesome for Old Wang. Though when it comes to health, no one in this universe could compare to him.

As a silicon-based life form, he is immune to all diseases, but he couldn’t exactly waltz into a hospital for an X-ray or urine and stool tests.

However, as a robot, he technically wouldn’t need a health certificate, so as long as he’s careful and doesn’t get caught, it should be fine.

The signboard approval isn’t too difficult either; it just requires notifying the city management before changing the signboard.

Finally, the operating permit. If the shop area is less than 50 square meters, you only need a small catering business permit. You’d submit the relevant documents at the government service center, followed by an on-site inspection.

If everything checks out, you get the permit.

After reviewing the process, Ma Lu felt that opening a shop wasn’t too complicated. Aside from the health certificate, the real challenge would be the subsequent inspections.

Ma Lu uses ingredients from other dimensions, which, while much fresher than his competitors, could cause some problems. Old Wang can ensure food safety, but if they ever opened the freezer and found elephant-sized lizards or two-headed wolves inside, it wouldn’t be just a fine—they could scare the inspectors half to death.

But Ma Lu’s life motto is that there’s always a way out.

He’s been to another universe, adopted a washing machine that loves eating phones, and gave his couch to an amnesiac mechanical life form from another dimension. What trouble could be beyond solving?

On their way back, Ma Lu and Old Wang checked out four shop spaces: one they saw for rent on the street, two found through an agent, and one discovered on Xianyu.

However, after viewing all the options, Ma Lu was not satisfied with any of them.

Opening a shop is similar to running a stall in that location is the most critical factor—choosing the right spot is half the battle won.

On the other hand, if the location is wrong, no matter how hard you work, the results will be underwhelming.

Most people understand this, which is why prime locations usually come with high rent. For example, one of the mall stores Ma Lu looked at was 45 square meters with a monthly rent of 28,000 yuan.

Storefronts on commercial streets weren’t cheap either, while community shops along the roadside were relatively more affordable. However, their value was still closely tied to foot traffic in the area—you get what you pay for.

As night fell, Ma Lu ended his shop-hunting for the day, ate a bowl of rice noodles by the roadside, and then headed home with Old Wang.

On his way to the tricycle, Ma Lu noticed Old Wang staring at something again.

It was a Mixue Bingcheng shop, and there were two pigeons on the open space in front, awkwardly stepping around as if lagging, searching for food.

This was a common sight in the city, but Ma Lu, influenced by Old Wang’s earlier comments, found himself paying extra attention.

He watched the pigeons for a while and even took a few steps toward them.

Having spent so much time in the city, the pigeons weren’t particularly afraid of people. They scurried a short distance away from Ma Lu, creating some space before resuming their slow pace.

They nodded their heads and continued their casual stroll.

Ma Lu didn’t bother them any further. He hopped on the tricycle and took Old Wang back to the rented apartment complex.

Ma Lu first went to the parcel locker to pick up the Redmi phone he had ordered.

No. 6, apparently sensing the scent of the new gadget, was unusually excited when Ma Lu opened the door, circling around him nonstop.

It only stopped when Ma Lu told it to sit, wagging its drainage pipe like a tail.

Ma Lu tore open the packaging, tossed the phone to No. 6, and didn’t waste the charger or cable either.

After it gobbled everything up, No. 6 contentedly returned to the balcony, while Ma Lu went back inside to read some novels.

Unfortunately, the latex mattress wouldn’t be delivered until the next morning.

Since he hadn’t slept all night after hunting, Ma Lu went to bed earlier than usual. After greeting Old Wang, who was watching TV in the living room, he went to bed before 9 p.m.

After Ma Lu fell asleep, a pigeon landed on his windowsill, tilting its head and observing him with its red eyes.

Unlike the dull look of a typical pigeon, its gaze carried a hint of scrutiny.

It stood on the window ledge for about three minutes. When Ma Lu turned in his sleep, it spread its wings and flew away.

Ma Lu slept soundly until 7 a.m. the next day, waking up feeling fully rejuvenated. The bowl of rice noodles from the night before had long been digested.

With a toothbrush in his mouth, he went into the kitchen, grabbed two small loaves of bread that Old Wang had baked earlier, and put them in the oven to heat.

Ma Lu continued brushing his teeth, and while waiting for the bread, he glanced out the window out of boredom.

His expression immediately turned serious.

He saw another pigeon perched on the roof of the building opposite, peering in his direction.

Ma Lu wondered if Old Wang’s comments had affected him too deeply, as he found himself increasingly fixated on these pigeons. Wherever he went, the first thing he did was look for pigeons.

As a result, he started noticing pigeons more and more frequently.

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