Chapter 124: Unexpected Similarities

’Unbelievable... The language spoken by the Indigenous People of this unknown Otherworld is exactly the same as mine...’

’And the writing system of this Otherworld... it’s...’

Lin Li pulled his gaze away from the two children who had skipped off, then looked up ahead. He saw a shop by the side of the road with a sign bearing the character for ’tea’.

The character was so familiar. Wasn’t it a block character? And in regular script, no less.

’Could it be that this unknown Otherworld is similar to the ancient era of Blue Star?’

Walking into the small village in this Otherworld, Lin Li was deeply shaken by the scraps of information he had gathered...

"How miraculous! This is good, though. It’ll make it easier for me to learn more about this world," Lin Li muttered to himself with a chuckle after recovering from his shock. Then, he started walking toward the teahouse by the roadside.

...

The teahouse at the village entrance wasn’t large, only about fifty square meters. The owner was a middle-aged man in his fifties with a small mustache.

Since it was lunchtime, the teahouse was completely empty. There wasn’t a single customer, and the owner, sitting behind the counter, let out a bored yawn.

"YAWN~"

Just then, a customer carrying a backpack of a very peculiar design walked into the teahouse.

"Welcome." Seeing a customer arrive, the owner, who had just been yawning, immediately came out from behind the counter and greeted him warmly.

"Hello," Lin Li said with a smile to the enthusiastic owner. "Excuse me, how much is tea here?"

"Tea here is very cheap. A pot is only Five Copper Coins," the owner told Lin Li with a hearty laugh.

’Five Copper Coins???’ An idea sparked in Lin Li’s mind when he heard the price.

Then, he took something out of his pocket that he had bought at a silver shop the previous afternoon—a silver lump the size of a fingernail. "Sir, do you accept this here?"

"We accept it, customer, but there’s no need to pay with Cash Silver for just a pot of tea, is there? Don’t you have any cash on you?" the owner asked, looking at the small silver lump in Lin Li’s palm.

’Cash??? This Otherworld is like an ancient version of Blue Star, but they have paper money? No, that’s not so strange. Ancient Blue Star also had paper currency.’

Lin Li muttered to himself internally before shaking his head at the owner. "Sorry, I’m out of cash. All I have left is some broken silver."

"Alright then! Customer, go ahead and find a seat. I’ll go brew your tea. By the way, would you like some snacks?

The snacks in my shop are all handmade by my wife. They’re absolutely delicious." The owner took the silver lump from Lin Li and started promoting his shop’s pastries.

"What kind of pastries? And how much are they?"

"They’re flower cakes, made with fresh ingredients—the flowers were picked just this morning. Very cheap, only Ten Copper Coins for a serving."

"Alright, I’ll have one," Lin Li nodded. He then sat down at a table near the door inside the teahouse.

Watching the children chasing each other past the shop and the elderly folk walking by in groups, Lin Li couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.

’Strange. It’s either children or the elderly. Why haven’t I seen any young people?’

After a short while, the owner emerged from the back kitchen carrying a pot of tea and a plate of rather plain-looking pastries.

"Please, enjoy your meal, customer. Here’s your change." The teahouse owner placed the pot of tea and the plate of pastries in front of Lin Li, then reached into his pocket, pulled out a few banknotes, and handed them over.

"Hm, thank you." Lin Li took the banknotes and examined them carefully.

The banknotes of this world were the same size as a one-yuan bill from Blue Star and were printed with intricate patterns. The difference was that each note was marked with a different traditional numeral.

"Please count it, customer. Your silver lump was worth two hundred Copper Coins. This is one hundred and eighty-five Copper Coins in total."

"Yes, it’s all here," Lin Li said to the owner after counting the bills.

On Blue Star, mobile payments were now so widespread that fewer and fewer people used cash when they went out.

’Now, here in this Otherworld, counting cash with traditional numerals on the bills... it’ll take some getting used to...’

"Enjoy your meal. If you need anything else, just give me a call..." Seeing that Lin Li had finished counting the money, the owner said his piece and returned to his seat behind the counter.

Lin Li pocketed the Otherworld banknotes he had just counted, then picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea.

He took a small sip. The tea tasted ordinary, nothing special, no different from the regular tea he had drunk on Blue Star.

He picked up one of the flower cakes the owner had recommended and tried it. The taste was average as well.

’Oh well. In a small, seemingly undeveloped village like this, the chances of finding exceptionally delicious food were obviously very low.’

The teahouse owner, having served Lin Li his tea and pastries, was now observing this somewhat peculiar customer with a casual gaze.

The teahouse owner couldn’t quite put his finger on what made the customer so peculiar.

But this customer before him had an indescribable, special air about him, making him very different from the other travelers who usually passed through the village to rest their feet and have a cup of tea.

"Sir, I was looking around earlier and noticed there don’t seem to be many young people in your village?"

Having eaten two flower cakes and drunk a cup of tea, Lin Li noticed the owner looking at him and asked with a smile.

"The young people, you ask? Today, the village chief organized them to go hunt a Mutant Beast that’s been wandering around our village. That’s why you haven’t seen any."

"Oh, so that’s why!" Lin Li nodded, having gotten his answer. Then he asked another question, "Sir, do you know how far the nearest city is from here?"

"I do. I even went there back when I was young! If you follow the road north of the village for about fifty kilometers, you’ll reach Dongwu City... Some of the young people from our village work in Dongwu City now!"

’North, fifty kilometers, Dongwu City...’ Lin Li mentally repeated the information he’d gathered before asking a few more questions.

Since the shop wasn’t busy and the teahouse owner was bored, he started chatting with Lin Li.

Although he found it a little strange why this peculiar customer kept asking such common-knowledge questions, the kind-hearted teahouse owner still answered each one for Lin Li.

...