Shopping

Chu He stared at the huge pile of animal entrails that had been thrown away as garbage. His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and the strange grin at the corner of his mouth widened.

Kachi and Xia Yao, standing beside him, watched his expression and felt a chill creep down their backs.

"Hey, Little He He."

Kachi asked tentatively, her voice tinged with unease. "You... you're thinking of turning all this into food, right?"

"Of course!" Chu He turned to her, his smile so radiant it was almost blinding. "This is all good stuff! Treasures!"

"Huh?" Kachi's delicate little face instantly filled with astonishment. "But this stuff smells awful! It reeks!"

Xia Yao's face was just as puzzled. She delivered another blunt blow.

"And the intestines and stomach are full of shit!"

"Hahaha!" Chu He burst out laughing at her bluntness. "We just have to wash them clean! You've got to trust my skills!"

He leaned toward them and lowered his voice conspiratorially.

"By the way, you two have an important job."

"You're going to help taste-test! Once the aroma wafts out, it'll definitely attract lots of weird creatures. You two just need to eat with gusto!"

Chu He gestured animatedly. "You have to look like you haven't eaten in hundreds of years, then suddenly got to taste the most exquisite delicacies! Got it? Put your souls into it!"

"Didn't you promise to help promote my place? This is your debut!"

Kachi and Xia Yao exchanged a glance.

They could both see the blatant disdain and deep disgust in each other's eyes.

She wanted them to eat this stinking garbage, which might still have shit on it?

And they had to pretend it tasted good?

This was torture!

Yet Xia Yao's mind suddenly flashed back to a few days earlier, when Chu He had made pork floss so delicious it had made her soul tremble, using that venomous Nightmare Snake.

She also remembered the bloody warning at Gluttony House.

If the food wasn't good enough, Little He He... would be eaten.

She looked into Chu He's eyes, blazing with absolute confidence, and every trace of hesitation and disgust in her heart was crushed in an instant.

In its place was a fierce resolve to press forward, no matter what.

Whatever Chu He made.

She would eat it without hesitation!

Kachi keenly noticed Xia Yao's change in expression. Xia Yao gave her a firm nod, as if to say, Trust him!

"Gulp." Kachi swallowed with difficulty.

Seeing that he had successfully persuaded the two queens, Chu He immediately strode over to the butchers who were dumping the "garbage."

The butchers looked like Beastmen, with burly builds, knotted muscles, and bloodstained leather aprons.

After a brief exchange, Chu He got a definite answer.

They really didn't want any of it!

"If you don't want it, why not do me a favor and let me take care of it for free? That'll save you the trouble of throwing it away."

Chu He spoke with utmost sincerity, thumping his chest as he confidently took on the task.

The Beastman butchers looked at him as if he were an idiot, muttered a few words, then waved him off nonchalantly and agreed.

Chu He immediately rolled up his sleeves and rushed over without the slightest hesitation.

Before long, five or six enormous black bags were stuffed full.

A good three or four hundred pounds' worth!

Looking at his heavy "spoils," Chu He was completely satisfied.

Chu He arranged with the Beastman butchers to come back and pick it up later. They readily agreed.

Next came the big shopping trip.

Cooking utensils, bowls and chopsticks, tables and chairs... Those were all easy.

The most important things were the ingredients for the hot pot base.

Salt, rock sugar, and other basic seasonings were available.

There was no white liquor, but there was a substitute called Black Rye Strong Liquor, brewed from a plant monster called Black Shell Wheat. It was extremely strong and burned like fire going down.

There were other kinds of alcohol, too, but Black Rye Strong Liquor was the cheapest. There was no need to buy anything better for seasoning the hot pot base when they were dealing with weird creatures who ate pig slop.

There was no white flour, only a dark, murky flour ground from Black Shell Wheat monsters.

Most outrageous of all were the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, scallions, and onions.

They were... all alive!

Each had tiny roots for feet and bounced around inside special growing boxes. When caught, they even shrieked, "Squeak, squeak!"

According to Kachi, these were all low-level D-Class plant monsters. They used to be wild, but now the weird creatures raised them in captivity under contract, creating a complete industry chain.

Since the concept of "hot pot" didn't exist in Myriad Phenomena City, naturally there were no dedicated hot pot tables.

Fortunately, things like induction cookers and portable natural gas canisters were available.

The three of them dashed around shopping and finally bought everything they needed.

Kachi waved her little hand. The pots, bowls, tables, chairs, seasonings, and ingredients all turned into streaks of light and were sucked into a small pouch at her waist. It looked perfectly ordinary and had a crystal pendant hanging from it.

"This is... a storage pouch?" Chu He's eyes went wide.

"It's called a Star Law Pocket, a specialty of the Star Law Clan." Kachi puffed out her little chest and explained proudly. "Depending on the size of the interior, they cost anywhere from one million to ten billion ghost coins! Mine isn't much—just a hundred million."

"Yao Yao's black belt is also a pouch made by my clan!"

"Of course, we make all kinds of things, like bracelets, necklaces, and backpacks."

Chu He's jaw nearly hit the ground.

A hundred million?

And she called that "just"?

Chu He knew Kachi and Xia Yao's families were wealthy, but he was still astonished.

With the shopping done, the group returned to the slaughterhouse.

Only one final problem remained: the five or six huge bags of animal entrails, which reeked so badly they could be considered biological weapons.

Chu He smiled at Kachi.

Kachi's little face immediately scrunched up, and she shook her head like a rattle drum.

"No, no! Absolutely not! How could I put such smelly, filthy things in my noble and adorable Star Law Pocket!"

Chu He had no choice but to turn to Xia Yao for help.

Xia Yao kept a blank expression and silently turned her head the other way, her gaze drifting toward the distant sky.

Right.

He couldn't count on either of these young ladies.

Chu He sighed in resignation and could only do the job himself. He carried three bags in each hand, trudging along like a refugee fleeing a famine.

The five or six hundred pounds weren't much for his current physique.

But the stench—an overwhelming mixture of blood and the rank odor peculiar to entrails—was torture for both his mind and his nose.

Every weird creature who saw them instinctively backed away three steps, covering their noses and mouths. Disgust and contempt showed plainly on their faces.

"Ugh... what's that smell?!"

"That human... why's he carrying a pile of garbage? Did he just get it from the slaughterhouse?"

"Has he lost his mind? Even dogs won't eat that stuff!"

"Look at the two princesses with him! Good heavens! How could someone with such noble blood be following a lunatic who picks through garbage?"

Kachi and Xia Yao suddenly regretted not putting up with the smell and storing the stuff in their pockets. It was so embarrassing.

Under countless disdainful stares, Chu He gritted his teeth and finally carried the huge bags of "biological weapons" back to the entrance of Gluttony House.

He didn't hurry inside the ominous-looking building.

Instead, he set up the stove and a huge iron pot he'd bought in the open space in front of Gluttony House!

He took a deep breath, tossed the cleaned suet into the pot, and lit the fire!

Sizzle—!

The fat quickly melted under the high heat, sending up billows of smoke.

Then Chu He dumped in an entire bag of bouncing chili peppers, wailing ginger, and wriggling cloves of garlic... all at once!

Boom!

An overpoweringly intense fragrance, a complex blend of pungent spices, burst forth like a bomb detonating in everyone's noses!

It was so strong, so invasive, that it pierced the air and swept over everything around it with brute force. It even overpowered the ancient, hungry aura that emanated from Gluttony House itself!

The entire intersection fell silent.