Chapter 60: The Rise of Dream Desserts and a Mysterious Summoning

It was eight in the evening.

Inside the Dream Dessert Shop, a stark contrast to its usual emptiness, had transformed into a veritable internet sensation. Every seat was occupied, and customers streamed in, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Chen Xueyu surveyed the thriving scene, a profound sense of wonder stirring within him. The shop’s rapid growth over the past week had far surpassed anything he or his cousin could have imagined.

To see a once obscure little shop blossom into a widely recognized brand felt utterly surreal, almost like a dream too incredible to believe.

The shop was now incredibly busy. Chen Xueyu watched his cousin toiling in the back kitchen, a warm, contented smile gracing his lips. Despite the beads of sweat on her brow, her expression radiated an unprecedented sense of relaxation and joy.

With business flourishing, the worries about their family’s livelihood had vanished, and her improved mood was only natural.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Chen Xueyu’s gaze drifted towards the busy, blonde little girl beside him, a look of profound gratitude in his eyes. Ever since this girl, Bisika, had started helping out, everything had changed dramatically.

Her mere presence outside the shop drew an endless stream of customers. Before long, neighbors throughout the streets and alleys knew of the Dream Dessert Shop, famous for its angelic foreign girl, and the shop’s reputation soared even higher.

Soon, various cosplay teams, talent scouts, and student groups flocked to the shop, drawn by its newfound fame.

However, there were moments that truly terrified him. Certain ill-mannered individuals would persistently pester Bisika, demanding strange photos or making inappropriate requests. Chen Xueyu, who had a rough understanding of Bisika’s true nature, was often petrified, fearing she might lose control and make these people vanish into thin air.

Fortunately, Bisika appeared remarkably magnanimous. She never engaged in arguments with customers, instead gracefully declining their unreasonable demands with her angelic smile.

It was only later, by sheer accident, that he learned those who had flirted with Bisika had all ended up hospitalized due to various uncontrollable circumstances.

A chilling thought indeed.

Regardless, thanks to Bisika, business here was booming. Even though Bisika only came in the evenings with him, the shop’s daytime sales remained impressive, a testament to his cousin’s truly delicious cakes.

“Hey, Codfish! I want chocolate blueberry cake tonight!”

Bisika had appeared beside Chen Xueyu seemingly out of nowhere, delivering a direct elbow jab to his waist.

“Woah! My dear ancestor, could you be a little gentler? Talk to my cousin about the cake, it’s no use telling me!” Chen Xueyu pleaded, clutching his side in mock pain.

“Oh,” Bisika responded indifferently.

She then turned and walked towards the kitchen without a backward glance, completely ignoring the ‘gravely injured’ Chen Xueyu.

‘Oh, the struggles I endure!’ Chen Xueyu wailed internally.

He quickly composed himself, realizing he still had guests to attend to, and turned his attention to the dining area.

Just then, he noticed a particularly striking customer enter—a very handsome blonde man. He carried himself with an air of dignified elegance, both proud and refined, captivating every woman in the shop the moment he appeared.

This immediate shift in attention earned him the silent displeasure of the surrounding male patrons.

As Chen Xueyu reached for a menu, intending to greet him, he was astonished to see Bisika actually approach the man herself. That girl had never once proactively served a customer before!

Under Chen Xueyu’s bewildered gaze, a mix of emotions swirling within him, Bisika and the mysterious man settled together at a window-side table.

‘Wow! The sun must be rising in the west today!’

‘Wait a minute…’

‘Blonde? Could they be relatives?’

Chen Xueyu watched the two, his mind racing with conjectures about their relationship.

****

Thirty minutes earlier, in an underground parking garage in Kanghai City,

A group of men in sharp suits, each with a swaggering demeanor, were meticulously painting a strange, giant magic array with red paint across the expansive concrete floor. Though they themselves were unsure of their purpose, it was their boss’s command, and they simply followed orders.

Observing this scene from the front of a nearby car was their leader, Su Yongqin. While he held the title of boss, he was, in reality, merely a sycophant, a glorified lackey to a certain Young Master Gao from a wealthy Kanghai City family.

Su Yongqin’s current task was to resolve a troublesome matter for his master, Young Master Gao. Just a few days prior, he and Young Master Gao had attended the birthday party of the Qian family’s second daughter, Qian Yanxue, whom Young Master Gao had long admired.

For the occasion, he had even prepared a priceless diamond necklace.

To their utter dismay, Qian Yanxue proved to be incredibly unappreciative, showing a clear preference for a sapphire necklace gifted by some unknown punk named Lin Hui.

‘That sapphire necklace looked so crudely made. A gem? More like a glass bead!’

To make matters worse, the Qian family’s old lady, who claimed to be a jewelry expert, had spouted nonsense, declaring the sapphire necklace to be extraterrestrial, something never before seen on Earth. ‘Ridiculous!’ Su Yongqin thought. ‘She was clearly just biased towards that kid.’

Young Master Gao, naturally, could not swallow such an insult. Thus, he had ordered Su Yongqin to send men to teach that brat a lesson. Yet, a series of bizarre events unfolded.

Every brother sent to track the boy either got hit by a car, fell into a sewer, or was extorted by an elderly woman. A continuous string of bad luck plagued them. The most outlandish report claimed one was snatched by an eagle and carried into the sky, leading to his immediate commitment to a mental institution.

Since he couldn’t deal with the boy directly, and Young Master Gao was also constrained—the Qian family had been keeping a close eye on Lin Hui since the birthday party—Young Master Gao dared not openly confront him. This summoning ritual was their only recourse.

Lost in these thoughts, Su Yongqin extinguished his cigarette and looked towards the red magic array, which was nearing completion in the center of the space.

It was said to be an ancestral summoning array of the Gao family—though ‘ancestral’ was a misnomer, as it had actually been plundered from a tomb. It purportedly could summon strange yet powerful creatures to perform a single task for the summoner.

Previously, he had dismissed the array as the ramblings of ancient madmen. However, a serendipitous incident some time ago, when he and Young Master Gao accidentally activated an array in the Gao family’s vault, summoned a creature resembling a hellhound. This encounter finally convinced them of the array’s authenticity.

As for why such an array was in the Gao family vault, it was a remnant from Young Master Gao’s rebellious teenage phase. According to Young Master Gao, the array had been dormant back then.

Why it was active now, Su Yongqin couldn’t care less. He was just a hired hand, after all.

His instructions were simple: summon some creature, any creature, and have it eliminate Lin Hui. “Boss, it’s finished!” A bald subordinate approached, informing Su Yongqin.

“Good! Now, all of you, get out!”

“Yes, Boss!”

Upon hearing their boss’s command, the subordinates swiftly exited the garage, leaving Su Yongqin alone before the array.

‘Alright!’

‘Time to get this done.’ Su Yongqin muttered, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. On it was the summoning incantation he had copied from Young Master Gao.

“ç×ÓË°Îñ¾ÖÖçef×Ó32Ë°Îñ¾ÖÖ!!!”

Naturally, he had to send his subordinates away to recite such a bizarre and embarrassing incantation. He couldn’t bear the humiliation otherwise.

As a series of strange, wailing, ghost-like sounds echoed through the garage, the red paint on the array began to emit an eerie crimson glow.

When Su Yongqin finished the final line of the incantation, the array erupted in a blinding flash of red light!

Immediately after, a massive, phantom-like creature, resembling a giant vulture, began to materialize at the center of the array.

‘Haha, success!’ Su Yongqin stared excitedly at the phantom in the array, anticipating the moment it would solidify.

However, something unexpected occurred.

The colossal vulture phantom within the array twisted, as if in immense agony, before instantly dissipating. In its place appeared a much smaller, humanoid figure, and simultaneously, the array’s color shifted from red to cyan.

“???” Su Yongqin’s face contorted into a look of utter bewilderment. ‘What was happening? This array could summon people?’

Before he could ponder further, a powerful gust of air erupted from the center of the array, flinging him backward to collide with a nearby wall.

‘Ouch, that hurt!’

Gritting his teeth against the pain in his arm, Su Yongqin struggled to his feet, his gaze fixed on the array.

Or rather, what remained of it. The array was gone, replaced by a ten-meter-wide crater, and standing prominently within it was a figure with flowing cyan hair.