Li Guangming also noticed that the Cat Ear Noodles menu now included a tenfold acceleration option. The team had recently stepped up their movement training, and their income was rising rapidly, too. Having tasted the benefits, he didn't hesitate to have Xue Xi switch to the Hong Rank Cat Ear Noodles. You might as well enjoy the good stuff sooner rather than later.
Xue Xi boiled seven bowls of noodles with Myriad Manifestation Water and carried them out. The moment Li Guangming took a bite, he could tell they were different from before. Somehow, they tasted more authentic? He spoke without hesitation. "Boss Xue, you can make the same bowl of noodles taste different each time? That's impressive!"
Xue Xi smiled mysteriously but didn't explain. "All right, as long as you like them. You don't have to praise me. I heard you're not going back this afternoon, so after we eat, let's pick up where we left off. Tell me all about the different kinds of Monsters. I can use the information to plan future recipes."
With his mouth full of steaming noodles, Li Guangming mumbled his agreement. "Sure, sure. Then I'll get to try any new dishes you come up with."
A Martial Artist's constitution meant this temperature was nothing to worry about. They quickly slurped up their food, and the other team members wiped their mouths with their sleeves, got up, and said their goodbyes. Li Guangming saw them out and returned to the restaurant. Xue Xi had already pulled up a stool and sat down, propping her chin in her hands as if she were ready to hear a story.
Li Guangming didn't keep her waiting. He embellished his experiences roaming the Wilderness Zone over the years and told them to the curious Xue Xi like a storyteller.
Bloodthirsty Tanks, Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs, Stone-Skinned Savage Bulls, Wind-Roaring Lions, Iron-Armored Dragons, and other Monsters came to life in Xue Xi's mind. Imagining dishes made from them set her mouth watering, and she grew ever more excited about the delicacies she could add to her menu. Would using meat from mutated Monsters make those dishes taste even better?
As she pondered this, a truck carrying the ingredients Xu Xin had ordered rumbled to a stop outside the restaurant, interrupting their lively conversation.
Xue Xi's eyes lit up, and she hurried outside. "Stay here. The ingredients are here, so we can steam the dumplings soon." Li Guangming couldn't sit still either and followed her. "Why stay here? I'll help, too."
The two went outside together. A Battle General escorting the supplies was clearing Monster limbs off his heavy armor. When he saw them, he took out a delivery receipt and handed it to Xue Xi. "Miss Xue Xi, please sign for your delivery."
After completing the formalities and unloading all the supplies, the delivery truck hurried off without even stopping to eat. Xue Xi sighed. "They're so busy. No job is easy!" Li Guangming nodded in agreement.
After storing all the ordinary ingredients in the warehouse, the two gazed at the more than thirty bubbling green crabs inside a shipping container, each nearly a meter across, not counting their legs.
Xue Xi tapped the clanging crab shells and couldn't help exclaiming, "Wow, no wonder a Beast Soldier Rank Green Jade Crab costs over two hundred thousand. They're huge! I wonder how they taste. Guangming, give me a hand. We'll leave one here and put the rest in the cold storage."
Li Guangming stepped forward and carried the crabs to the cold storage, one in each hand, happy to do the work as long as it meant he'd get to eat a soup dumpling sooner.
"Over two hundred thousand each. I don't know how many dumplings we can make from one crab, but with the ingredient cost, the magical enhancement, and my skill, a million Huaxia Currency per Crab Roe Soup Dumpling isn't too expensive, right?" Xue Xi asked Li Guangming, a little worried.
Li Guangming shook his head. "What's expensive about that? I guarantee there'd be plenty of people willing to pay even ten million, Boss Xue. Martial Artists routinely spend hundreds of millions on a single manual. Why shouldn't your delicious food, with all its benefits, sell for that much? Have some confidence in your own skills!"
Xue Xi gave a thoughtful "Oh." The main problem was that her sense of money was still stuck in her previous life. A million for one Crab Roe Soup Dumpling? Even a rip-off restaurant wouldn't dare charge that much. She'd have to get used to the fantastical price tags in this world.
A little over ten minutes later, the two of them huddled in the kitchen, staring at the bubbling Green Jade Crab.
"Guangming, you've got plenty of experience killing Monsters, so you go first. I'll learn from you." Xue Xi looked expectantly at Li Guangming, whose expression stiffened.
Li Guangming took out his War Blade and gestured a few times over the crab's head, but in the end, he stopped. Seeing Xue Xi's puzzled look, he explained helplessly, "Boss Xue, I'm good at killing Monsters, but most of the ones I've killed were land-dwellers. I've never run into this thing before, and I don't know which parts you need. It'd be a disaster if I damaged the ingredients."
Xue Xi had no choice but to use the old method from her previous life: scrub the crab clean and steam it whole.
Xue Xi didn't feel any reluctance. Back when she was making chopped chili fish head, her master had sent her to the fish market to kill fish for a week. Since then, her heart had turned as cold as ice toward food, and her knife work had become swift, precise, and ruthless.
Before you continue