Chapter 5 - One Dollar to Feed a Broken Man
The firefighter's name was Owen Park.
He had lost his partner in a warehouse collapse two weeks earlier.
Madam Sato had one dollar.
So did Eli.
"No outside ingredients," she said.
The system marked three nearby stores as legal sources.
Eli ran.
One dollar bought almost nothing in downtown Seattle.
He found a dented can of tomatoes in a clearance bin for fifty cents, one bruised onion for twenty-nine, and a single stale dinner roll the cashier gave him free because she was tired of looking at it.
Madam Sato returned with half a cabbage and instant noodles.
Her knife moved like rain.
Eli's Basic Knife Intent suddenly felt like bringing safety scissors to a sword duel.
Her broth developed in minutes, fragrant and deep.
Eli had tomatoes, onion, bread, salt, and arrogance.
He charred the onion until almost black, bloomed pepper in oil left from his chicken pan, crushed the tomatoes, then toasted the stale bread and rubbed it with garlic.
The system kept quiet.
Good.
He did not want instructions.
Owen had firefighter hands. Scarred knuckles. Burn marks. He reminded Eli of his father Jian, who had worked restaurant kitchens until he disappeared seven years ago.
Jian used to make tomato soup when somebody in the family was sick, sad, or pretending not to be sad.
"Food can't solve grief," Jian had once told him. "That's why you don't cook to solve it. You cook so grief doesn't have to sit alone."
Eli poured the soup.
Madam Sato served noodles beside it.
Owen tasted hers first.
His eyebrows lifted.
"That's really good."
She bowed.
He tasted Eli's.
Nothing happened.
Eli's stomach dropped.
Then Owen dipped the toast.
His face crumpled.
He covered his mouth.
For one horrible second Eli thought he had poisoned him.
Owen started crying.
"My partner used to burn grilled cheese," he whispered. "Every damn time."
Madam Sato looked at Eli.
The system chimed.
[Challenge complete.]
[Winner: Eli Chen]
[Reason: Nourishment matched true hunger.]
[Reward: Right of Inquiry — 1]
Madam Sato bowed to him.
Not deeply.
But she bowed.
"Ask one question of the Nine Banquet Consortium. By law, I must answer truthfully."
Eli did not waste it.
"Who put the Appetite Tax Seal in NourishNow food?"
Madam Sato's face became unreadable.
"The Nine Banquet Consortium did not."
Eli blinked.
"What?"
"We collect regulated Hunger Qi from consenting contracts. Crude seals on charity food violate our law."
The answer should have made things simpler.
Instead it made everything worse.
"Then who copied your mark?"
She pointed at Owen.
The firefighter slowly rolled down his sleeve.
The tattoo was not a Nine Banquet symbol.
It was a scar covering one.
"Ask the people who killed my partner," he said.
A black van exploded at the end of the block.
Madam Sato moved before the sound reached them.
She slammed Eli to the pavement.
A silver chopstick buried itself in the wall where his head had been.
Attached to it was a note.
STOP FEEDING OUR LIVESTOCK.
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