A Feast for the Senses

There was a lot of meat, too much to stew all at once, so Yu Sheng processed it into several dishes with different cooking methods.

As the saying goes, the first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar, and the third time with ginger, scallions, and cooking wine—ancient humans in the early stages of civilization likely explored and experimented with nature's bounty in a similar fashion.

Yu Sheng hummed a little tune, cut the largest portion of the meat into big chunks, blanched them in boiling water to skim off the scum, then placed star anise, fennel, cloves, cinnamon, and other stewing spices in a clay pot. He added the meat, enough water, salt, soy sauce, and the cooking wine to remove any gamey smell, and then set it on the stove to simmer slowly.

While the meat was stewing, he stir-fried the remaining meat with chili peppers and garlic sprouts into two separate dishes. He tasted them slightly and found them to be fresh, fragrant, and palatable—not too tough, not too raw, with tender and smooth slices. He couldn't quite pinpoint the specific type of meat, but in terms of texture, it was somewhat similar to very tender beef.

As for the rest, he planned to process it into cured meat for storage after confirming it was safe to eat this time… or perhaps, after curing and pickling, he could dehydrate it in an air fryer to make jerky? He hadn't tried that before and wasn't sure if it would work…

Yu Sheng's mind was racing with various ideas. He felt like a daring scientist, exploring possibilities in a field previously uncharted by anyone.

And so, he spent nearly two hours exploring in the kitchen. After a good deal of busywork, he finally opened the door and then, one trip after another, carried the cups, plates, bowls, and the clay pot of stewed meat to the dining room table.

Eileen, depicted in the oil painting, watched Yu Sheng bustling about with a look of horror on her face, displaying two contradictory expressions simultaneously: "Forget it, I'm tired, let him be" and "You can't, you damn well can't!" After a while, she finally couldn't hold back and spoke, "You're not actually planning to eat it, are you? This is something brought back from the Otherworld! Don't eat yourself to death!"

Yu Sheng looked up at Eileen. "What if I told you I've already eaten it twice 'over there'?"

The conflicted expression on Eileen's face vanished instantly, replaced by pure shock. "...Huh?!"

"See, I'm still alive and kicking, so it should be fine. It's hard-earned spoils, it would be a waste to throw it away," Yu Sheng said matter-of-factly. "Do you know about hunting? This is my catch—sooner or later, I'm going to bring the whole thing back and let it know who's at the top of the food chain!"

Eileen didn't respond. Yu Sheng looked at the doll's stunned expression and, out of curiosity, pressed further, "But speaking of which, has no one 'tried' the 'Entities' in the Otherworld? Didn't you say they come in all sorts of forms? There should be plenty of things that look edible in there, right?"

"Who would try that?!" Eileen exclaimed in exasperation. "Who knows what kind of bizarre properties they might have? Poison is the least of it! What kind of person just puts it in their mouth like you do! And you ate it twice… you really ate it twice?"

"Yeah, but the first two times were sashimi. The situation was pretty urgent then, and there wasn't time to process it. It was the kind of urgent where if you didn't eat it quickly, you'd die," Yu Sheng said casually, sitting down opposite Eileen and casually picking up a slice of meat with his chopsticks, eating it with relish.

Eileen listened, dumbfounded. "Then… what happened after you ate it?"

"I died," Yu Sheng replied with complete honesty.

"Then you still…" Eileen first cried out instinctively, then felt something was off—but she didn't know about Yu Sheng's "death and resurrection," so she just thought he was teasing her and glared at him with annoyance. "I'm being serious with you!"

Yu Sheng grinned, looking at the exasperated doll in the oil painting and chuckling.

He found that he was starting to enjoy bickering with this doll.

After all, she couldn't jump out of the painting to headbutt him.

He still didn't explain his "death and resurrection" to Eileen. On one hand, Eileen couldn't perceive his death process at this stage, and explaining it would sound like he was trying to fool her. On the other hand, he had too many conjectures about the changes happening to himself that he wanted to confirm. He hoped to discuss them with Eileen after he figured out a few more things.

Eileen, however, was unaware of the chaotic thoughts behind Yu Sheng's mischievous smile. She couldn't help but glance at the lavish meal on the table again, then stared blankly at Yu Sheng as he chewed.

It… actually looked quite appetizing, and after processing, its color was no different from ordinary meat, showing no trace of its initial bizarre appearance.

"...Is it good?"

The doll in the painting finally couldn't hold back and asked nonchalantly.

Yu Sheng immediately smiled, as if he had anticipated this moment. He casually picked up the empty bowls and plates he had placed on the table earlier, served Eileen a portion of the meal and some meat broth, and placed them in front of the oil painting.

"I didn't say I wanted…" Eileen mumbled.

Yu Sheng said casually, "You can't actually eat it anyway, so why bother caring about the ingredients, right?"

Eileen thought about it and felt it made sense. "Yes, yes?"

So she became at ease again, presenting a state of "presence and smile" in front of the bowls and chopsticks Yu Sheng had arranged.

Halfway through the meal, their conversation inevitably returned to the previous discussion about "professionals."

"Actually, the reason no one has approached you yet could also be another possibility," Eileen said, holding the plush bear and sitting close to the edge of the frame, thinking as she spoke. "That is, some organization or official personnel might have already noticed something unusual here, but due to professional judgment, they decided not to act immediately, or they haven't pinpointed the connection point to the Otherworld and related intelligence yet, so they can only arrange surveillance methods for now."

"Surveillance?"

"Yes, maybe there are a bunch of plainclothes officers watching outside your house right now. After all, you came back from the Otherworld on your own without waiting for rescue. Whether it was due to your strength or luck, the people who specialize in handling such matters didn't have time to intervene, and likely didn't have time to pinpoint the location, so they could only arrange surveillance around the area… You can pay attention for any unfamiliar faces around here in the next couple of days. They might be plainclothes agents, plainclothes detectives, plainclothes investigators, or something like that. It's just something to keep an eye out for, it won't delay you from looking for small ads on utility poles nearby…"

Yu Sheng ignored her comment about "small ads on utility poles" and looked out the window instead.

Eileen made it sound simple, paying attention to unfamiliar faces around here—how would he know which ones were unfamiliar! He had only been here for two months, and for the first month, he had been practically confined to the house. Plus, he was a bit face-blind to begin with. In his eyes, about half the people here were strangers!

"Does the pancake vendor at the intersection look like a plainclothes officer to you?" Yu Sheng whispered to Eileen after staring suspiciously out the window for a long time.

"I don't know, I can't see."

"Oh, right, I forgot," Yu Sheng realized, quickly getting up to pick up Eileen's frame and move it to the window facing outside. "That one over there…"

"Doesn't look like it."

"So sure?"

"Of course. Fifty seconds for a set with sausage and egg. If it were a plainclothes officer, they probably wouldn't even finish brushing the oil in fifty seconds."

"...That's true. Then what about the phone screen protector guy next to him?"

"Doesn't look like it either—too quick with his hands."

"Oh… Hey, then look…"

"Stop looking. Your suspicion is useless, and if they were professional surveillance, you wouldn't be able to tell anyway," Eileen interrupted Yu Sheng. "Instead of guessing blindly, you'd be better off going out more yourself in the next few days. You've been exposed to the aura of the Otherworld, and those professionals will recognize it at a glance when you get close."

"...Yeah, that's true."

Yu Sheng sighed, unable to refute her, and turned back to clear the dishes from the table.

As soon as he turned, he heard Eileen shout from behind him, "Put me back first! I'm still leaning on the windowsill!"

Yu Sheng sighed helplessly again, turning to lift Eileen from the windowsill while muttering, "Tch, what a hassle."

"Then get me a body as soon as possible. That way I can move around on my own," Eileen, still within the oil painting, lifted her eyelids and looked at Yu Sheng, who was placing himself on the dining table. She then added, "I feel like we're a bit more familiar with each other today, so I'm asking again…"

Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng's lips twitched involuntarily.

Eileen had indeed mentioned during their discussion about a "way to escape" that they weren't familiar enough yet, and that cooperation on this matter would be discussed after they became better acquainted. However, he hadn't expected the doll's standard for judging "familiarity" to be so flexible.

"We'll talk about it later. I've got a lot on my plate right now. At least let me finish this busy period…"

"Yeah, okay then," Eileen was easily placated. She nodded with a slight hint of disappointment. "Just don't forget!"

After a brief period of silence, she watched Yu Sheng clear the bowls and chopsticks from the table and started chattering again. "What are you going to do next? Are you planning to go out and look for a utility pole?"

"You've got a real thing for utility poles, haven't you?" Yu Sheng shot her a glare. "I'm going upstairs to sleep! After everything that's happened, I'm exhausted!"

Eileen let out an "Oh," and pointed a finger at the television opposite the picture frame.

"Then can you fix the TV first? The signal suddenly cut out, and there's nothing to watch…"

Yu Sheng: "……"

A moment later, he let out an especially heavy sigh.

After such a brief period of cohabitation with this chatterbox, he was already starting to miss his carefree and happy solitary life.