Chapter 214: He’s Dead
This was Davey’s first time truly walking through Saint Denis. His former self had been here before, but the memories felt completely different from the reality in front of him.
As he strolled through the streets, Davey felt a strange illusion, as if he had returned to an earlier era. This city, already on the brink of modernization, was not all that different from the towns he remembered from his childhood in his previous life.
And yet, in this same late–19th-century world, the people in the distant East were still living in misery and suffering.
He let out a long sigh.
Those days were gone forever—never to be returned to.
Perhaps many years from now, after he retired, he might choose to return to that old land, to let fallen leaves return to their roots.
“What’s wrong, Davey? Did something upset you?”
“You don’t look very happy.”
Although Stella’s eyes were taking in the sights around them, her thoughts were clearly on Davey instead.
For her, this was something very close to a first date.
“Nothing,” Davey replied with a smile as he came back to himself. “Just thinking about some things from the past. You know how people can get sentimental for no reason at all.”
As he spoke, he casually scanned their surroundings.
They were nearing the black market area of Saint Denis, one of the city’s poorest districts. Immigrants from all over the world lived here, many scraping by at the lowest levels of society. Crime was everywhere.
The employees with Davey clearly knew the area as well and instinctively grew more alert.
From time to time, Davey even spotted a few familiar Eastern faces among the crowd.
The restaurant Stella had mentioned was just on a nearby street.
Once they passed the black market, the scenery changed into a lively main road. Pedestrians instinctively made way for Davey’s group—twenty men dressed in combat gear carried an unmistakable sense of pressure.
No one wanted trouble.
“This is it, Davey. Look,” Stella said excitedly, pointing at a small two-story building.
Davey looked up. The signboard was written in English, translating to Jade Dragon Peking Restaurant.
At the entrance, the featured dishes were listed on boards covered in foreign script.
From the décor and the size alone, it was obvious that this was a high-end establishment.
Seeing those unfamiliar characters, a wave of quiet emotion rose in Davey’s chest.
A stranger alone in a foreign land—now truly an outsider.
“Honored sir, honored madam, welcome,”
the greeter said nervously as he stepped forward and bowed slightly, clearly intimidated by the group of men dressed in black. His English was broken and cautious.
He wore a traditional long robe, with his hair tied back, and his tone was humble and careful.
At Jade Dragon Restaurant—especially in this district of Saint Denis—foreign customers weren’t uncommon. But someone arriving with dozens of attendants like Davey was rare.
It naturally made him seem like a powerful figure, someone important.
“Prepare a private room,” Davey said calmly. “My men will eat in the main hall. Bring one of each of your signature dishes.”
He spoke slowly, clearly adjusting his pace for the young waiter.
“Yes, sir,” the waiter replied quickly.
“Please follow me upstairs to the private room.”
Davey didn’t try to speak the local language here. The dialect used was different, and while he understood a little, he wasn’t fluent.
The lands of the East were vast—accents and speech could change every few miles. Communication was never simple.
...
Inside the private room.
“Davey, you’re a kind person,” Stella said softly. “I can tell you care about them.”
“I’ve learned a little about their situation. Many people bully them, and even when they do the same work, they’re paid less.”
“I’ve heard they formed labor unions, but hardly anyone takes them seriously.”
“But they’re very hardworking—more diligent than many others. They really are pitiful.”
“I also heard that their country’s ruler is a woman, and that she doesn’t care much about her people’s lives.”
Davey listened quietly, then shook his head.
The East in the nineteenth century was truly hard to describe.
“The ruler isn’t a woman,” he said calmly. “The ruler is a man. It’s just that a woman holds the real power.”
“To her, the people aren’t citizens—they’re household servants. She once said she would rather hand the country over to outsiders than return power to her own people, using the nation’s wealth to please other countries.”
Davey spoke evenly. The East of this era was no longer his homeland.
Stella gasped.
“My God… how could someone like that exist?”
“When I was studying, I thought the East was admirable. You know, Davey, many people believe their ruler was a woman. Even women’s rights groups use that as an example of equality.”
“I never imagined she could be like this—treating her own people as slaves. That’s horrifying.”
“But Davey, you know so much—things you’d never learn in school. I doubt many people even know this. After all, that country is across the ocean, so far away.”
Davey replied calmly, “I once had a friend from there. He told me all of this.”
Stella asked curiously, “What about him now? Where is he?”
Davey shook his head slightly.
“He’s dead.”
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