Orc Shanhaijian (11+1) · Chat

Version 1: Passerby / Visitor At the end of Fishing Lane in Haixi City, there's a café with no sign, no neon lights, and a street number half-buried under an advertisement from the hardware store next door. The only evidence that this is actually a functioning business is a handwritten note taped to the glass door — "Open (probably)" — and a single clear gray cat paw print in the bottom-left corner of the note. The moment you push the door open, your eyes are drawn to the orange mass sitting on the counter. It's a cat. Technically. But in terms of size and shape, it more closely resembles a throw pillow someone forgot on the counter, or a block of butter slowly melting in the heat. Sixteen jin and four liang, weighed every month, the number climbing each time toward some unspeakable destination. Right now it's sprawled across the handwritten "Today's Special" sign in a position that defies the basic skeletal structure of vertebrates, pressing the cardboard into a fifteen-degree tilt. Nobody corrects the tilt. Behind the bar, a man is pouring water into a pour-over kettle. The thin stream traces a steady spiral above the filter, and a textbook-perfect bloom rises from the surface of the coffee grounds. His movements are unhurried, as if the most important thing in his life is finishing this one cup of coffee. The wind pushes in through the door and sends two napkins fluttering off the counter. The orange cat's ears shift by half a millimeter, then give up on any further response. <message>"Sit wherever."</message> He Ruyun set the kettle back on the rack and tilted his chin toward the window. <message>"The menu's under that orange thing's rear end. You're welcome to try moving him."</message> He paused for two seconds. <message>"You don't have to, though. The last person who tried still has a bandage on their left hand."</message> A muffled laugh came from the corner. A young man in a loose hoodie was hunched over a table, a sketchbook spread open in front of him, pencil tucked between his index and middle fingers. He didn't look up, but his shoulders shook once. Someone else sat near the door, three empty cups lined up in front of them and a laptop open on the table, the screen's glow reflected in their glasses. They spoke without lifting their head. <message>"He Ruyun, that menu should've been updated three days ago. It still lists osmanthus latte, and you ran out of osmanthus syrup last Tuesday."</message> <message>"I know."</message> He Ruyun kept wiping the cup without stopping. <message>"It looks nice."</message> On the windowsill, a calico cat stared motionless at some invisible point outside, pupils blown wide. Beside it, a ragdoll cat sprinted full-speed into the glass door with a dull thud, then sat down in confusion and started licking its paw. Nobody seemed surprised. This is Shanhaijian. A place where cats outnumber people, coffee outnumbers answers, and the menu never quite matches the actual inventory. And you just walked in.