“Let me tell you, I had the most scrumptious food I ever tasted in my life at noon today.”


  “Really? Which island did you go to for your meal?”


  “Nonsense. I had it right here on our Carapace Island.”


  “Go and tell your lies to the ghosts. There’s nothing nice on our island.”


  “There’s a newly opened crayfish restaurant. The taste of that spicy crayfish is heavenly. Together with a mug of icy cold beer, it was really beyond marvelous. I am your grandpa if I lied to you.”


  ***

  “Yes, right on that street. Ayi Crayfish Restaurant. Its signboard is very obvious.”


  “Alright. Let’s go try it out tonight.”


  “Oh, yes, let me give you some advice. Bring enough money, and don’t even think of dine and dash. The lady boss and little boss blew a customer up as a firework as an offering to the heavens.”


  “They’re so fierce?!”


  “Fierce and cute, fierce and cute!”


  ***

  Rumors about the Ayi Crayfish Restaurant spread out on Carapace Island rapidly.

  No matter if it was that mysterious and tasty crayfish, or that extremely beautiful but powerful and merciless lady boss, they had successfully piqued the interest of many demons.

  The death of a demon was no different to the death of a fly on Carapace Island. There wasn’t any hoo-ha at all.

  Five or six demons were found dead in an alley this morning. The Ten Kings Palace sent somebody to have a look, and because they couldn’t find any clues, they simply buried the bodies and considered the case closed.

  The powerful demons enjoyed the fruits from exploiting the lowly demons, and had a decadent lifestyle.

  Meanwhile, the lowly demons tried ways and means to survive. Their greatest motivation every month was to save enough money to buy a protective amulet, and then continue to survive for another month. They couldn’t see the end of such a life. Maybe they could only get out of this cycle on the day they died.

  However, a piece of news that brought a dash of hope and light to these lower-caste demons began to make rounds on the island today.

  A restaurant called “Ayi Crayfish Restaurant” was purchasing a kind of big prawns called crayfish for 50 copper coins each.

  Moreover, one didn’t have to go out to the seas in a boat to catch these prawns. They could find many of them just by searching the beaches and shallow waters on Carapace Island.

  A fisherman caught 50 crayfish in the morning, and earned 2,500 copper coins from that boss.

  To the lowly demons, this was without a doubt a huge sum of money.

  As long as they could pay 10,000 copper coins, they could apply for the residence permit on the peripheral islands, and receive a certain level of protection from the demons on that island. They could then get out from Carapace Island.

  Hence, after the news spread in the fishermen’s circles, many fishermen appeared on the beaches of Carapace Island. Many of them even bring their families along with them for the action.

  At 4.30pm, Mag opened the restaurant’s door, and Kitar was already waving to him excitedly beyond the gates. “My lord, we have come here to sell the prawns.”


  The eyes of the fishermen standing in a long line at the door widened as they looked at Mag. Many of them had never seen Mag before.

  “So many of you?” Mag stared at the line with more than 50 demons with a shocked expression. He hadn’t expected the number of fishermen supplying the crayfish in the afternoon would increase so much.

  However, looking at those muddy fishermen with sparkling, hopeful eyes, Mag walked up to open the gates straight away, and said to all the demons, “Thank you for delivering the crayfish here. I will pay you 50 copper coins each for those crayfish which are still alive. I will take all that you have.”


  Surprised and elated smiles appeared on all the demons’ faces. At first, they were worried that this was just a lie, but it was real. This boss was really buying crayfish at the price of 50 copper coins each and without a limit. All those who came had caught the crayfish. Some had caught three to five, while others caught dozens. They could earn quite a bit of money.

  Under Mag’s request, all the demon fishermen lined up, and counted their crayfish before putting them into the pond. Mag struck out the dead crayfish and those that were not crayfish before paying the correct amount to the fishermen.

  Some fishermen were so excited upon receiving the money that they leaped up in joy on the spot. Most of them had a happy smile. Tuck caught 20-odd crayfish in the day, and received over 1,000 copper coins. He couldn’t help but wipe off the tears on his face as he held the heavy money bag. He had gotten closer to his wish of leaving Carapace Island with his wife. He had also planned to go catch the crayfish tonight so he could save up the 10,000 copper coins as soon as possible.

  The young fisherman Kitar counted his money before stuffing it into his pocket. He had caught another 40-odd crayfish, and received 2,200 copper coins from Mag today. Including the 2,500 copper coins he earned in the morning, he had received close to 5000 copper coins on this day alone. He curiously asked Mag, “My lord, this crayfish stings. How do you cook it? Is it really nice?”


  All the fishermen were also looking at Mag curiously. Many of them were stung by this crayfish today, and their hands were still numb. They really couldn’t understand why this boss would pay 50 copper coins each to buy them.

  “The restaurant will be starting its service soon. If you want to know, you may stay and try it out yourself,” Mag said smilingly as he turned on the tap to pour water into the pond. Because this batch of crayfish had mud on them, they needed an extra step of washing.

  “Alright, then I will try it out. I was stung dozens of times by them today, so I will vent my anger by eating them.” Kitar nodded. He felt so much more confident with the extra few thousands copper coins in his pocket.

  “Take a seat. Service will be starting at five.” Mag smiled. He had gained another customer.

  Kitar sat at a corner close to the door. He looked around, and his gaze landed on the standing number card on the table. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, “Spicy crayfish—100 copper coins each! Beer—50 copper coins a mug!”


  “100 copper coins each!”


  The fishermen who were still there were shocked.

  A few of them who were still thinking if they should stay to have a meal before going out to the sea halted just as they were about to sit down. They couldn’t even bear to spend 10 copper coins to have a meal outside usually, let alone eating a crayfish that cost 100 copper coins.

  The fishermen hadn’t expected that the crayfish would be sold at a high price.

  “Boss, you’re such a nice person. Let’s earn all the money together.” Kitar looked at Mag and gave him a thumbs-up.

  Even if Mag had decided to purchase the crayfish at the price of 10 copper coins, the fishermen would’ve also gone and caught the crayfish with great enthusiasm. Mag could still be selling the crayfish at 100 copper coins each.

  However, he decided to give them a chance to earn fast money by purchasing them at 50 copper coins each.

  “The time for collection tomorrow is eight in the morning. You could still send the crayfish to me if you catch them.” Mag smiled at the fishermen.

  All the demon fishermen smiled in acknowledgement, and then left excitedly with their buckets and nets. Many of them decided to go home to get their torch and continue their search tonight. They heard there were even more crayfish at night.