Noodles and Chaos Origin Qi

"I'm hungry. Is there... anything to eat?"

Ling Ye's voice was flat and emotionless as it rang through the living room in the faint light of early morning, accompanied by the lingering sound of rain, as though he were discussing the most ordinary matter in the world.

Su Wanqing slumped on the sofa, looking haggard, the dark circles beneath her eyes so heavy they looked as though someone had punched her twice. At those words, her vacant, dazed gaze finally focused, and she stared incredulously at the barefoot man by the kitchen island, who was holding an ordinary mug.

Hungry? He wanted something to eat?

The Withered Wood Meets Spring from last night, the soul pressure, the exploded detector, the elite team vomiting blood as they retreated... Those terrifying, earth-shaking scenes that had overturned her understanding of the world were still vivid in her mind, engraved deep within her soul like brands. And now, after this walking natural disaster had finished drinking his pot of "old tea" that could cleanse the soul from a company mug, his first request was actually... to eat?!

The absurdity surged like a tide, once again battering the precarious dam of her sanity. She opened and closed her mouth, her throat dry and tight, utterly unsure how to respond.

Ling Ye seemed not to care about her silence or shock. He set down the mug and swept his gaze across the open kitchen with a critical eye. The refrigerator? It looked like a big metal box, and probably contained... raw things? Too much trouble. The oven and microwave? A pile of buttons that looked irritating. His eyes passed over the modern appliances before finally landing on an inconspicuous cabinet in the corner.

The cabinet doors were made of semitransparent frosted glass. Through them, he could vaguely see some... brightly colored bags piled inside?

Barefoot, Ling Ye padded over and naturally pulled open the cabinet door. A mixed scent of various flavorings and seasonings rushed at him. The cabinet was packed with all kinds of instant noodles, self-heating hotpots, compressed biscuits... all of them instant junk food Su Wanqing had stocked up on for extreme overtime or days when she was too lazy to go out.

Ling Ye's brows drew together almost imperceptibly, apparently disliking the strong industrial flavoring. Yet his gaze was caught by one particular package—a red bag printed with a cartoon character wearing an exaggerated smile and a chef's hat. Beside it were huge artistic characters: Kang Shuaibo Braised Beef Noodles!

"Noodles?" Ling Ye picked up a packet and weighed it curiously, then squeezed the noodle cake through the packaging, producing a faint crackle. He seemed somewhat interested in this "dry, easy-to-store, edible after adding water" form. "How do I make this?" He turned to look at Su Wanqing, who was still sitting dazed on the sofa.

Su Wanqing mechanically raised a finger and pointed toward the brand-new electric kettle in the corner of the island. Her voice was dry. "...Boil water... soak it."

Ling Ye looked at the noodles in his hand, then at the electric kettle. The process of boiling water for tea earlier had clearly given him a favorable impression of this modern tool that produced water at the press of a button. Carrying the packet of braised beef noodles, he padded back to the island.

He tore open the package. His movements were somewhat unfamiliar, but still fairly nimble. He took out the noodle cake and examined the three seasoning packets that came with it—the powder packet, sauce packet, and dehydrated vegetable packet. His brows furrowed again. He picked up the powder packet, brought it to his nose, and sniffed it before immediately moving it away in disgust.

"The spices are jumbled... too much internal heat." He tossed the powder packet and sauce packet into the nearby trash can without hesitation, as though throwing away garbage. He kept only the dehydrated vegetable packet, which contained a few shriveled vegetables and scattered bits of meat.

Then he placed the noodle cake into the white mug he had used for tea. He picked up the electric kettle, which still held half a kettle of water he had boiled moments ago. Raising it, he poured the boiling water into the mug with a rush, instantly submerging the dry noodle cake.

White steam mixed with the wheat fragrance of the noodles and rose into the air. It was utterly ordinary.

Su Wanqing watched numbly. He was using the mug that had held Chaos Spirit Tea to make instant noodles? And he had only added the vegetable packet? This operation had already broken through the limits of her understanding.

Yet just as the boiling water filled the mug and steam billowed upward—

Ling Ye's hand, which had been hanging at his side while holding the worn cloth bag, casually swept toward the mug, as lightly as dusting off ashes.

There was no light and no sound.

But an indescribably pure and gentle current of energy, mixed with an extremely faint trace of origin aura that seemed to have come from the birth of primordial chaos, was precisely pushed forward by an invisible hand and instantly sank into the noodles that had just been covered with boiling water!

"Hiss..."

A faint sound, almost drowned out by the steam.

Inside the mug, the ordinary noodles soaked in boiling water underwent a world-shaking transformation!

The clear boiling water seemed to be infused with life the instant that aura entered it. Its quality became like the purest glassy amber, with gentle starlight faintly flowing within. The dry noodle cake, like a spirit plant receiving rain after a long drought, instantly unfurled. Every strand became crystalline, plump, and smooth, radiating the purest wheat fragrance and even gleaming faintly with a jade-like luster. The few shriveled vegetables and scattered meat bits floating on the surface of the broth seemed to have been granted the magic of creation. The vegetables instantly recovered into a lush, dripping-green state, as though freshly picked from a garden at dawn. The tiny dehydrated meat bits swelled and unfolded into several pieces of beef with clear grain and a rich, mellow meat fragrance, as though they had been slow-cooked for three days and three nights with top-grade wagyu... braised beef?!

An indescribable exotic fragrance, blending the purest grain aroma, the mellow richness of premium meat fat, and a gentle origin aura that cleansed the soul, exploded and instantly filled the entire living room!

This fragrance was far more complex, richer, and more... soul-stirring than the tea fragrance before. Like an invisible hand, it seized all of Su Wanqing's senses in an instant. Her body, already ravenously hungry after staying up all night, released an instinctive longing as vast as thunderous waves. Saliva poured forth, and her stomach rumbled like thunder beyond her control!

She sprang up from the sofa, her eyes locked on the mug on the island, which radiated divine light and fragrance—the "instant noodles"! All her fear, exhaustion, and confusion were temporarily swept away by the impact of that extreme fragrance. Only one primal, powerful thought remained: eat! She had to take a bite!

Ling Ye, however, seemed not to notice the almost pouncing hunger in her eyes. He picked up the disposable plastic fork that had come with the mug and fallen out when he opened the package, then casually stirred the bowl of "God-tier Instant Noodles" that had already transcended description.

The broth was crystal clear, its amber, glassy luster flowing softly. The unfurled noodles were like jade dragons diving and surfacing, the emerald vegetables were bursting with vitality, and several glistening pieces of braised beef gave off a lethally rich aroma. At the very center of the broth, as Ling Ye stirred, wisps of extremely faint yet soul-tremblingly pure chaos-colored energy slowly swam through the amber liquid like living serpents. They circled and finally condensed into several tiny but clearly visible chaos runes shaped like tadpoles, which vanished in a flash.

Ling Ye seemed fairly satisfied with the "seasoning" effect and nodded. He lifted the mug, ignored its scalding temperature, brought it to his lips, and without using the fork, simply—

"Slurp... slurp..."

Clear, satisfied slurping sounds echoed through the living room along with the rich exotic fragrance.

Su Wanqing stood beside the sofa, trembling slightly from extreme longing and restraint, her eyes red. That fragrance burrowed into her mind like a hook, tugging so hard that her soul seemed ready to leave her body. Watching Ling Ye's look of enjoyment and listening to those alluring slurps, she felt her willpower collapsing at light speed!

Ling Ye slurped down several mouthfuls of noodles and took a sip of broth, then suddenly paused. He smacked his lips, his brows drawing together slightly, as though something was still missing.

"Tsk." He muttered to himself in mild disgust, "It's still a little bland... I'll add some 'origin qi' to bring out the flavor."

As Su Wanqing stared blankly, he naturally extended two fingers once more and reached into the worn cloth bag that had been sitting by his feet, rummaging around inside.

Then he pinched out a small amount of... something that looked like gray powder? The powder was neither metal nor jade. Its color was chaotic, and countless tiny specks of stardust seemed to flicker and flow across its surface, radiating a faint fluctuation more ancient and primordial than the aura that had just merged into the broth, as though it came from the origin of all things!

As casually as sprinkling salt, Ling Ye gently shook the small pinch of chaos-colored "origin qi powder" into the mug of noodles, already shining with divine light!

"Hiss..."

The sound was even fainter, yet deeper.

The moment the powder entered the broth, chaos-colored starlight blazed within the mug! The broth grew deeper and more restrained, as though it contained the galaxies of the entire universe. The soul-stirring fragrance sublimated once more, carrying supreme Dao resonance that cleansed the spirit and nourished all things. The jade-like luster on the noodles and vegetables became gentler, while the pieces of braised beef seemed to come alive, chaotic radiance flowing through the grain of their meat!

At that moment, along with the fragrance that had sublimated to its peak and the chaos starlight flowing through the mug, the last of Su Wanqing's reason snapped.

She let out a nearly sobbing moan filled with extreme longing. No longer able to care about fear, she staggered toward the island like someone lunging for a lifeline.

"Give... give me a bite! Just one bite!!" Her voice was choked with tears, her eyes fixed on the mug in Ling Ye's hand as though it were the only salvation in the world.

At the same time, at a temporary command post three kilometers from Yunqi Mountain.

The atmosphere before the enormous monitoring screen was as heavy as the silence before a storm. On the screen, the graph representing the energy field inside the villa had maintained a relatively "gentle" state ever since Ling Ye awoke. Although it still exceeded the detector's upper limit, it had at least remained stable.

However, just now—

"Beep beep beep—!!!"

The piercing alarm tore through the silence inside the command vehicle once more! On the screen, the line representing energy intensity shot upward like a rocket injected with stimulants, instantly breaking through every warning threshold that had been set earlier. Its peak was so high that the entire screen turned an eye-searing scarlet!

"Report! The energy reading in the target area is surging abnormally again! Intensity... the intensity is growing exponentially! It has... it has broken through the 'Stellar Level' threshold! It's approaching... approaching the 'Galactic Level'!!" The technician's voice turned hoarse and distorted with extreme shock as his fingers hammered frantically at the keyboard, trying to stabilize the collapsing data stream.

"What?! Galactic Level?!" Commander Thunderstorm shot up from his seat, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the wildly rising scarlet line that seemed to have no end. "What is he doing?! Is he launching an apocalyptic attack?!"

"Energy form... analyzing... extremely complex! It contains an ultra-high concentration of life origin... mixed with... mixed with unknown chaotic origin energy... and..." The technician's voice was filled with incredulous absurdity. "...and... high-purity wheat starch and animal-fat decomposition products?!"

The command vehicle fell utterly silent. Everyone was stunned by the bizarre analysis.

Wheat starch? Animal fat? What the hell was this combination?!

Just then, the extremely blurry optical image of the villa interior, badly disrupted by interference, finally refreshed with a slightly clearer frame, thanks to the strengthening morning light.

In the image, the target, Ling Ye, dressed in an ordinary T-shirt and jeans, was holding a white mug with steam billowing from its rim. Beside him, the president of Su Corporation, Su Wanqing, was lunging toward the island in an almost frenzied manner, both hands reaching for the mug, her expression twisted with extreme longing and... drooling hunger?!

Thunderstorm and everyone else who saw the scene collectively froze.

What... what the hell was going on?