Bear Meat

"Shasha..."

Pushing aside the grass before him, Zhao Ke found a narrow path leading down the mountain. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and could vaguely make out what seemed to be a village town below.

Judging by the sky, he should be able to reach that town before nightfall.

He was in no hurry to return to reality. He still had ten days left, and rather than going back in a muddle, he might as well head down the mountain and see what kind of world this was.

As for the extended mission to escort Zhou Shun down the mountain, it had already been declared a failure the moment he killed Zhou Shun.

But Zhao Ke did not care. Compared to hauling around dead weight that could cause trouble at any moment, he preferred the freedom of being alone.

With a flick of his hand, a water flask appeared in Zhao Ke's grasp.

"Slurp."

Warm tea flowed from the flask. It was loose tea he had found in Xiong Er's home. It did not taste like much, but it quenched his thirst well enough.

"Convert!"

At Zhao Ke's thought, the flask in his hand immediately turned back into a stamp and returned to the Post Album.

Though he had spent the entire journey studying it, Zhao Ke could not help showing a trace of delight. The more he studied it, the more interesting he found it.

Once an item was converted into a stamp, it was as if time had frozen. Its temperature and taste remained exactly as they had been at the time of conversion, no matter how long passed.

For a chef, this was practically a divine artifact. No matter where he went, he had pots, bowls, ladles, and everything else at hand, along with something like a freezer in a vacuum space.

Moreover, unless he permitted it, no one could see what was inside his Post Album. And for him, it had an even more important ability: disposing of bodies without a trace!

Still, the Post Album did not seem omnipotent. When he tried to convert a boulder that was a full four meters tall into a stamp, he received a notice saying it could not be converted. The reason given was that his clearance was insufficient.

While coming down the mountain, he had encountered a snake and tried to store it inside. He got the same notice: insufficient clearance. In the end, he could only turn the snake into a corpse before placing it in the Post Album.

Clearly, there were limits to what he could convert into stamps. That annoyed Zhao Ke somewhat, but fortunately, most of the things he wanted to convert posed no problem.

For example, the corpses of Xiong Er and the old woman. Although the old woman's corpse was little more than a pile of bones, it was still excellent soup stock. As for Xiong Er, he was an even rarer premium ingredient.

Earlier, Zhao Ke had regretted that he could only take two bear paws. But now... he stuffed the entire bear corpse into the Post Album.

After simply eating some roasted bear meat, Zhao Ke set off lightly. By the time darkness was approaching, he had finally reached the town at the foot of the mountain.

It was called a town, but in Zhao Ke's eyes, it was more fitting to call it a village. Thatched huts and wooden houses stood everywhere, while all manner of strange odors filled the streets.

There were pigpens, sheep droppings, and... the sour stench of decay. The instant he entered the town, Zhao Ke was nearly sickened by the smell and had to stuff strips of cloth into his nostrils.

The people on the streets dressed like commoners from a historical drama, wearing hemp clothes and cloth shoes. For a moment, Zhao Ke wondered whether he had somehow traveled through time.

Just as Zhou Shun had said, this was a year of disaster. Along the way, Zhao Ke saw many people curled up in corners, so starved they were little more than skin and bones.

When Zhao Ke passed an alley, he could sense hostile gazes examining him from head to toe. These people did not seem especially welcoming toward a stranger dressed so oddly.

"Sir! Please have mercy! Give me a bite to eat!"

A beggar with tangled hair and an unreadable face saw Zhao Ke walking past and lunged toward him.

Zhao Ke's expression darkened. Before the beggar could get close, he sidestepped and kicked him.

He had not used much force, but with the boost from the special stamp Bear Coat, the kick was anything but light.

With a bang, the beggar slammed into the wall beside him. After twitching a few times, he passed out. The kick had not struck a vital point, but given the beggar's condition, he likely would not live many more days.

The other beggars' faces changed. Legs that had begun to rise immediately squatted back down obediently. Each lowered his head, not daring to look at the unconscious beggar.

Zhao Ke took in every expression on their faces and gave a cold smile.

Walking over to the unconscious beggar, he covered his nose with one hand and used his toe to pry open the beggar's hand. Beneath the tattered long sleeve was a triangular iron spike.

Pitiful people often had hateful sides.

He was not a bleeding-heart idiot like Qi Liang. If he let them swarm him, then in the next moment, the one lying on the ground might be him.

After glancing at the beggars, Zhao Ke strode onward. Once he had left the alley, the beggars exchanged looks and slowly rose, gathering around the unconscious beggar.

A vicious look gradually appeared on their filthy faces. After exchanging another glance, they silently drew cleavers from their clothes.

Although the town was desolate and its surroundings mediocre, it was still a town. Zhao Ke found a relatively clean inn, tossed down a piece of silver, and was assigned a superior room.

Travel was inconvenient in those days, and most of the inn's guests were laborers staying in the chicken-feather beds in the rear courtyard, which cost one coin per day. Zhao Ke's piece of silver was worth at least half a month of business.

The room was not bad, but the food... Zhao Ke truly could not praise it. Combined with the outrageous prices, it left him speechless. He estimated that if he ate three meals a day here, the bits of silver he had found in Xiong Er's house would not last two days.

Fortunately, he was not short on ingredients. He spoke with the innkeeper about cooking for himself, and the innkeeper readily agreed. After staying for two or three days, Zhao Ke had nearly explored the entire town without finding anything unusual. Still, whenever the innkeeper saw him now, his face bloomed with delight, and he wished Zhao Ke would stay a few more days.

There was no helping it. The food Zhao Ke made smelled too good. There were no range hoods in this era. Whenever Zhao Ke cooked in the kitchen, the rich aroma spread through the entire street behind the inn, making passersby drool.

Unfortunately, Zhao Ke was not the inn's cook. Each time, the innkeeper could only bring over a jug of good wine and ingratiate himself with Zhao Ke. Before long, the two had grown familiar.

"Little brother, you've been staying here for several days. If you're bored, you can visit Zhuangyuan Tower on the north slope. That place... heh heh."

Seeing Zhao Ke come downstairs, the innkeeper greeted him warmly. He had noticed Zhao Ke's boredom these past few days, so he made the suggestion.

"Zhuangyuan Tower?" Zhao Ke was momentarily stunned.

The innkeeper grinned, giving him a look all men understood, then said in a sly whisper, "That place has plenty of fun. If you don't go, you'll regret it."

"A brothel?"

Seeing the innkeeper's expression, Zhao Ke understood, and his eyes lit up.

It was not that he was interested in brothels themselves. The services they provided did not interest him much.

Reality had all kinds of services already. He was not lacking in that regard.

But what were brothels in this era like? According to what he had read, such establishments were divided into different ranks.

Just as he was pondering this,

several figures walked in through the door.

"Hey! Bring out whatever food you have, and get us a jug of wine too."

A group entered from outside. One look told Zhao Ke they were street thugs without any proper work. Who knew where they had come into a little money, but they had come here for a meal.

Zhao Ke paid them no attention at first and was preparing to head to Zhuangyuan Tower for a look. But after only two steps,

he suddenly stopped. Raising his nose slightly, he caught a very familiar scent. Zhao Ke's brows lifted as he scrutinized the thugs again.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a young man in his early thirties seated in the middle of the group. His features were fairly handsome, but his eyes radiated an eerie, sinister air.

Most importantly, there was a faint fishy stench on him, identical to the scent that had been on Xiong Er and the old woman.

Zhao Ke sat down nearby without drawing attention. He heard the man lower his voice and whisper to the thugs, "My information can't be wrong. That family lives on the eastern mountain. There are only two of them, one old and one young. Their ancestors were officials and made a fortune. I heard they've hidden quite a few valuable treasures..."

The thugs' eyes widened. They looked at one another, their thoughts immediately stirring.

"Then..." one of them began, wanting to ask for details, but the young man raised a hand, indicating that there were too many people around and it was not suitable to say more.

The thugs understood and hurriedly urged the waiter to serve the dishes faster.

So it really was you!

With his back to them, Zhao Ke had already figured out the young man's identity after hearing his words. Just as he had suspected, someone had deliberately spread the news to lure people up the mountain to their deaths.

Together with that familiar scent on the man, Zhao Ke had reached a conclusion. He narrowed his eyes, rose to his feet, and headed straight for the kitchen in the back.

"Hurry up! Why are the dishes taking so long?"

After some time passed without food arriving, the thugs at the table began urging the staff impatiently. But soon, they smelled a particularly unusual aroma. They could not tell what kind of meat it was, but it smelled extraordinary. Not only the thugs, even the innkeeper could not help swallowing as he stood on tiptoe to peer toward the kitchen.

"Coming!"

The kitchen door opened, and Zhao Ke emerged carrying a basin of stewed meat soup. He set it before the thugs. The broth was golden, while the chunks of meat within were glossy red and translucent, garnished with a pinch of chopped scallions.

Not only the thugs, even the innkeeper followed behind, drooling.

"Smells amazing."

The thugs did not stand on ceremony. They picked up their bowls and chopsticks and began wolfing it down. The meat melted in their mouths, soft as fermented bean curd. One bite released thick marrow from the cracks in the bones, making them want to swallow even the bones whole.

Their faces glistened with oil as they ate. They even fought over the soup, and in the blink of an eye, the basin of meat was picked clean.

"Waiter, what kind of meat is this? How is it so fragrant? Is there any more? Bring us another basin."

One of them smacked his lips, still unsatisfied, and called the waiter over to ask.

"This..."

The waiter looked troubled and shook his head. "Gentlemen, this dish wasn't made by our cook. It was made by a guest staying here. That guest said that a few days ago, when he passed East Mountain, he saw a house. He didn't know who had killed two bears inside. He thought the meat would go to waste, so he cut some off and brought it down. This is bear meat. How could we possibly have any..."

Clang!

The moment the waiter finished speaking, the young man seated at the table went deathly pale. His eyes fixed on the pile of bones before him, his lips turning purple. He shot to his feet and screamed, "Mother! Brother!"

As soon as the words fell, the young man's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Ah, time spared no one. Ever since getting married, my body had gotten worse by the day. Now I could not even cultivate immortality anymore. I could only get up early to write. I miss those days when I cultivated immortality every night.