Three hours later, at the edge of Desert Garden.
Fang Mo and the others were riding camels, leisurely following the route marked on the map.
"No, dude..."
Fang Mo sat atop his camel, holding a small wooden bowl filled with neatly piled pale yellow chunks of sand. "...This shaved ice was actually made from Sand? Is that even right?"
"That's just how sand cuisine works."
Toriko responded from beside him. "It's a specialty found only in Desert Garden. Sand-like ice that won't melt even in scorching heat, though it can't be subjected to outside pressure. Put simply, the moment you bite it, it instantly melts. And it has that gritty, sandy texture too..."
"So it not only looks like Sand, but tastes like Sand too?" Fang Mo raised an eyebrow. "Then isn't it just Sand?"
"Of course not."
Toriko immediately refuted him. "It only tastes sweet, cool, and refreshing... If you don't want it, give it to me."
"Ha, I've eaten actual Sand before."
Without another word, Fang Mo scooped up a spoonful and stuffed it into his mouth. "Huh, this actually tastes pretty good?"
Unlike the gritty texture of dirt he had imagined, it chewed more like cubes of sugar frozen at low temperatures. It melted the moment it entered his mouth, while the tiny particles crunched pleasantly between his teeth like shaved ice before dissolving into a sweet, icy liquid.
"See?"
Toriko muttered under his breath, unable to help himself. "I already told you it was a really popular sand cuisine snack, but you wouldn't believe me."
"Your description was the problem."
As Fang Mo spoke, he casually took out a bottle and squeezed sauce over the shaved ice. Unlike ordinary jam, though, this stuff shimmered with a rainbow glow. After giving it a quick stir, Fang Mo