Ch. 259: This Young Lady Wants It All

Mo Fei stared at the vines at the end of the alley and thought of what he had glimpsed through the crack in the door: grayish-purple skin, cracked lips, sleeping without so much as a twitch.

The mandrake roots I gathered were for that thing, weren't they? Is Victor treating it? ...Never mind. Even if I asked, he probably wouldn't tell me. Better get back and sort out what I need for tomorrow.

He turned to leave and paused at Jimmy's stall on the way past.

"That Masked Rogue Doctor from earlier. Has he been coming around here a lot lately?"

"All the time. These days he heads down that dead-end alley every other day." Jimmy stopped short, his eyes slowly widening, and lowered his voice. "Boss brought him out tonight, and now you're asking about where he's been going... So you already had things set up over there too."

I only found out today.

Mo Fei's gaze dropped to the herbs on the stall and he thought of the purchase request on the commission board.

"...By the way, where can I get Lungclear Herb right now?"

Jimmy's face fell. "I really don't have any. Anyone who's got even a single plant is clutching it tight these days."

Back at the workshop, Mo Fei laid out the rest of the data fields, and only then did he finally turn off the lights.

---

The next morning, Toby had barely reached the workbench when Mo Fei spoke up.

"Toby, yesterday I saw you... taking part in some kind of ritual?"

Toby's hand, reaching for the scrap parts, froze in midair. His face went pale.

"M-Mr. Mo Fei, I did ask for leave..."

"I know. I'm just curious. Is that the church you mentioned? How did you end up joining?"

Toby lowered his head. "When my mother fell ill, they came to our door to help. A-after that there was an event, so I went along."

"And why stand in the smoke? Breathing too much of that damp-grass smoke is bad for you. Didn't you know?"

"It stings because the fire is carrying away the impurity in your body." Toby's back straightened a little. "Once you get through it, you're clean. People who've stood there don't catch the disease."

"...Is that what you were told to keep secret?"

"Y-yes, that's it. But back then it wasn't public yet, and now I don't know whether I still need to keep it secret."

You can see the smoke from several streets away. What's there to keep secret? And here I thought it was some shady activity.

"Take my advice, don't go stand in it again. That smoke can't block the disease. It'll only wreck your lungs."

Toby looked up. "Thank you, Mr. Mo Fei. My mother's medicine is covered by my wages, and that's all thanks to you. It's just that when I come to work, there's no one else at home. People from the church go over to look after her. They've helped so much... I can't not go."

Mo Fei opened his mouth, and it took a moment before he spoke again. "This illness spreads from person to person now. When you and your family go out, make sure to cover your noses and mouths."

"O-okay."

Not long after, Mira arrived. Mo Fei gave her instructions: "We can read the barcode and print the image now. What's missing is the data connection in between. I'll go discuss the data content today. You handle converting the data that the scanning law outputs, so that the printing law can take it in and execute it."

"Y-yes!"

After ZIP compressed the equipment into a cube, Mo Fei gathered everything and headed out.

---

At the villa, Sebastian led him into the living room.

Besides Bibi, there was now a lean young man at Flora's side, in neat clerical attire and holding a notebook.

"This is Ledger, the Chamber's accountant."

Ledger inclined his head. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Mo Fei. I've seen your name in the books many times." He opened the notebook. "You currently owe 49,826 gold, and there is also 100 gold advanced at the auction that has not yet been deducted."

Seriously? Debt collection the moment we meet?

"It'll come out of your monthly profit share. It's not as if you can run." Flora waved a hand. "The machine?"

Mo Fei pulled out the cube and snapped it hard. He was just about to carry the restored machine over to her when Bibi reached out and took it from him. "Leave it to me."

Then she set it down on the table.

Thud!

Ledger glanced at the tabletop. "Miss Bibi, a repair entry. Incidentally, the labor hours from when you dumped the entire handover on me, I've kept those on record as well."

Bibi's mouth curled. "Then keep them on record. It's all you know how to do anyway."

"Bibi."

At Flora's call, Bibi switched back to a smile at once. Ledger really did write down another entry in the notebook.

At the same moment, Mo Fei fed a sheet of photosensitive paper into the machine.
Before long, the paper came out the other end, printed with a pattern.

Flora picked it up for a look, unable to hold back her smile. "So small, and done so fast."
She looked up, her eyes bright enough to be alarming. "Besides slips, what else can it print?"

"Basically anything on paper."

She had already risen and moved right up to him. "Such as?"

The Young Lady is leaning in awfully close... A waft of fragrance hit him, and Mo Fei swallowed.

A figure slipped in between them. Bibi wore a polite but stiff smile. "Sir, please stand back."

Mo Fei's mouth twitched. She's the one who came over, isn't she?

He stepped half a pace aside. "Price lists, flyers, tickets, contract templates, even newspapers... Printing out information and selling it works too."

"Selling information?" Flora peeked out from beside Bibi. "This young lady wants all of it."

"Sure, but it still needs some work."

"How long?"

"A while, at the least."

"Then half a while. Send the blueprints over the moment they're ready, and the Chamber will schedule production immediately."

"Excuse me." Ledger plucked the sheet from her hand. "What's the consumable? The books need an item."

"It's photosensitive paper. Expose it to light, spray it with developing reagent, and the image appears. Jacob knows the formula, so you can confirm the details with him."

Ledger nodded, added a few strokes, and turned the notebook toward Flora. "Then that would be the cost of the photosensitive paper and the developing reagent."

The smile on Flora's face faded, and her fingers tapped against the edge of the table.

"...How much does each print consume?"

I haven't actually worked that out.

"Very little. We'll calculate the specifics later." Mo Fei laid the barcode specs and data format on the table. "First, let's fix the data: what to record for each product, and in what format. I've drafted a version. See if anything needs changing."

Flora sat back down and flipped through it, then handed it to Ledger. "Take a look."

Ledger skimmed a few lines. "A single price field isn't enough. Prices aren't necessarily the same at every store."

"Prices can be set per store," Mo Fei said. "The machine reads the code, and what it looks up is that store's own price."

Flora nodded. "Also, the barcodes have to be printed on the packaging. Other merchants won't play along. What about everything outside our own?"

"The Chamber goes first and shows them. If it works well, others will follow on their own."

"Then we start with our own products. The counters are already waiting." She tipped her chin toward Ledger. "Tell him."

"Currency verification machines have been installed at all the counters, and several more partner stores have joined. Training and testing for the verification devices can't be scheduled fast enough. People keep complaining that handwritten slips are too slow, and everyone is waiting for your machine. The fastest-growing line in the books is masks and infection-control devices."

"The disease has changed. Yesterday I went to the treatment station, and the doctor there said it already spreads from person to person. They have infection-control devices there, and still a crowd of people coughing. I don't know whether they can handle the new strain. We'd better stock up on more masks."

"This young lady will arrange the masks. As for the devices, find out the facts first, then report. Get the conversion and scanning done quickly too."

"Yes, yes, yes."

"And supplementary cards. The slip printer has to work with those as well. How do we keep their certificates separate from the main account's?"

Ledger followed up. "If whoever is using the card on someone else's behalf overspends, how is it accounted for? And who signs the slip?"

"We can set a limit. The slip is signed by whoever holds the card, and the slip shows which card was used, so we can trace who it was. As for the supplementary cards, I'll hand that to Mira when I get back."

Sebastian came into the living room just then and inclined his head beside Flora.

"Miss, there are people gathered outside the main gate. They say they wish to see you."

"Those people are back again!" Bibi drew the morningstar from her back and charged out.