In the end, An Jing's group chose a hotpot restaurant.
[Numbing Hotpot]—a simple, unadorned name, with rustic and plain decor. This hotpot restaurant, recommended by Teacher Guang and tucked deep within an alley, had quite a steady stream of customers. However, Teacher Guang herself was a regular, and they quickly secured a private room.
"I've actually always been curious. Where exactly do all these ingredients come from?"
Inside the private room, seated on a little red plastic stool, An Jing browsed the menu and ordered several portions of tender beef. He was rather cautious about ingredients like tripe—he had not eaten much hotpot before and was wary of such unfamiliar things. At Teacher Guang's suggestion, he did not order a split pot either, choosing only the classic butter hotpot base.
In his previous life, An Jing had spent all his time fighting. After the wars ended, he lived peacefully for a few years, but supplies had been scarce. Most of the time, he cooked for the martial arts school himself. Then radiation sickness and other concurrent cancers caused his organs to fail, and he died. Hotpot was far too stimulating for him to eat.
Even so, An Jing knew perfectly well that hotpot... was not something one should have been able to eat in the apocalypse.
Even in his previous life, food rationing had only ended three years after reconstruction was completed.
"Actually, there are livestock zones and sources of related spiritual materials in the southern jungles and coastal regions. That place is also a major spirit vein, with many Safe Zones, though no cities have been established there."
Nian Quan and Huo Qing both came from the bottom of society. They did not know much about such matters and normally would not go looking into that kind of information.