If You Knew What Kind of Meat It Was, You Probably Wouldn't Eat It

On the way back to the city, the journey was peaceful. Even the ear-piercing roar of engines that used to permeate the urban area gradually weakened. It was unclear whether the Manager had realized that the Outsider couldn't be easily found through searching, or if it was simply to make the Outsider lower its guard.

However, these weren't things to worry about now. Thanks to the bread and snacks brought along when she "ran away from home," Chen Xiyao managed to avoid starving on her first day after transmigrating.

Meanwhile, Feng Xue sat by the wall, his eyes narrowed, pondering a question:

Could Humans in reality use Phantoms?

If so, could he teach her Bu Tiange?

Although only the general outline was complete, even without the special effect of enhancing Agility, the boost internal energy could provide to the body was considerable.

If she could learn internal energy, protecting her would be much easier.

However, this was something that could be answered with a simple try. The reason Feng Xue was still contemplating it was that he hadn't made up his mind.

After all, he had taken this girl in not out of kindness, but purely for his own benefit. In this situation, he wasn't considering how to increase her chances of survival, but rather what would be the best choice for himself.

On one hand, strengthening the girl's abilities would greatly improve her survivability. On the other hand, keeping her weak would help elevate his status in her eyes.

After all, even when undertaking the same pilgrimage, the Monkey's status in the eyes of Tang Sanzang and Tang Shanzang was entirely different.

This was perhaps despicable, but it was for survival.

Temporarily suppressing the stirrings of his conscience, Feng Xue looked at the girl shivering in the corner and sighed helplessly. It was only the first day, and it seemed they still had a long way to endure!

There was no dawn in the Infinite City's morning. It was as if a light switch had been flipped, and the sky suddenly brightened. Chen Xiyao, guided by her biological clock, groggily woke up. After about thirty seconds of confusion, she finally recalled that she had transmigrated.

Compared to the excitement when she first transmigrated, all she felt now was helplessness and fear. At this moment, she finally understood why most novel protagonists were orphans. At least orphans were already accustomed to loneliness.

As for her, she just wanted to go home.

She knew this sounded unpromising for a transmigrator, but she couldn't help but miss her soft bed at home, the warm breakfast, and...

"Awake?"

A slightly cold voice came from the side. The girl turned her head and saw the other person holding a bowl of something strange.

Although logically it should be considered food, Chen Xiyao looked at the stuff that resembled boiled weeds and felt it was still a bit too far from the human diet.

"See if you can eat it. If not, I'll have to think of another solution." Feng Xue knew it didn't look edible, but after all, the only food that could be reasonably obtained in the Landfill Area was Bran Bricks. If it were usual times, Feng Xue could have asked Old Li if there was anywhere to get the "gourmet" ingredients he'd seen in his house before.

But in this situation, even with his eyes closed, Feng Xue knew that places selling luxury ingredients would be strictly controlled. Even regular customers might be subject to checks.

Chen Xiyao seemed to realize that now was not the time to be picky. She took the bowl, which looked like it was hastily carved from wood, and tried to pour the contents into her mouth.

The liquid part was okay; at most, it was a bit bitter, which she could just treat as drinking tea. But the mixture of bran and straw fragments was truly difficult to swallow. Even though Feng Xue had used Assassin-level knife skills and the sharpness of the Dissection Mother to finely chop the bricks into minced meat, it was still essentially no different from eating wood shavings directly.

"Don't force yourself if you can't eat it. If you get a stomachache, it'll be my problem." Feng Xue sighed and took out another plate of food. Compared to the bowl of bran porridge, this looked much more edible. In fact, just looking at it made Chen Xiyao's mouth water rapidly.

"Roasted meat?"

"Yes, conditions are limited, no seasonings. It's just heated to an edible temperature. Of course, I haven't tried it, but there are no parasites in the Infinite City, so it should be fine even if it's not fully cooked."

Having only eaten a few snacks yesterday, Chen Xiyao didn't care whether it was cooked or not. While saying things like "medium-rare is the best" for self-comfort, she took the plate and shoveled the food into her mouth. The chopsticks and the plate, like the wooden bowl, were also hastily carved from wood. They felt smooth in her hands. Chewing the meat in her mouth, Chen Xiyao thought it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Even without any seasoning, it was incredibly fragrant and sweet.

However, after a few bites, reason suppressed her instincts. She forcibly stopped herself and reluctantly pushed the plate back towards Feng Xue, saying:

"You have some too?"

"Didn't I tell you? People in the Infinite City don't need to eat." Feng Xue quickly waved his hand. It was a joke. Although the meat tasted good to Chen Xiyao, to him, it was no different from poison.

Yes, this was the meat of the Omen he had killed last night. The mosaic sphere above the Omen's head only had the elements [Aquatic] and [Biological]. Feng Xue didn't know its specific strength, as he had simply sneaked up and chopped off half of its head with one strike.

After all, biological Omens were much easier to deal with than corpse-type ones.

Seeing Feng Xue's reaction, Chen Xiyao didn't insist further. With gratitude in her heart, she picked up the plate and continued to eat.

There wasn't much meat, and Chen Xiyao soon licked the grease off the plate clean.

As she put down the bowl and chopsticks, Chen Xiyao realized her eating had been a bit crude and blushed. But Feng Xue clearly didn't care. He just picked up the bowl of bran porridge and began to absorb the [Knowledge] within.

Although he wasn't lacking that bit of [Knowledge] now, with the possibility of falling out with the Manager at any moment, if he hadn't worried about attracting suspicion by buying large quantities of Bran Bricks, he would have exchanged all the Tower Coins in his salary card for them.

Of course, if it really came to that, Feng Xue wouldn't be completely out of options. After all, the farmland was just outside the city. If he were pushed too hard, there were still ways.

However, Feng Xue's dazed look while holding the bran porridge was clearly too conspicuous, causing Chen Xiyao's eyes to start spinning again—

Undoubtedly, this girl seemed to have misunderstood something again...

Regarding the Map of the Infinite City, if you can't imagine it, you can find a complex snowflake image and imagine covering a white paper with it.

The center of the snowflake is the Residential Area and the Tower of Babylon. The branches extending outwards each have a Landfill Area at the end of a small branch. The open spaces between the Landfill Areas are the wilderness. The outer perimeter of the snowflake has larger wilderness areas. However, the main roads of the Infinite City only extend from the four large Landfill Areas in the north, south, east, and west, with more branches.