Could You Deliver Some Takeout?

Bailu's clothes were all...

Pah!

Dragon drool flowed three thousand feet...

Pah!

Alas, the author had no literary talent.

In short, one sentence said it all.

Bailu was drooling.

She was chewing on a Dream Tapir Roll.

She had been thoroughly enjoying it.

But suddenly, it had lost its appeal.

She really, really loved sweets.

But when it came to meat, death to sweet flavors!!!

Earlier, she had seen the Qiongshi Bird Skewers coated in syrup, golden and clearly sweet.

Yet she still hadn't dared go anywhere near them.

But now...

So Qiongshi Bird Skewers were vegetarian!

Seriously, why call them Qiongshi Bird Skewers, then?

What had birds ever done to you?

Already craving a Qiongshi Bird Skewer, Bailu caught the scent of the Qiongshi fruit Jiang Yao had fried until golden, and her determination to eat one only grew stronger.

She instinctively glanced around.

Then she took out an interstellar phone, looked at a picture on it, and compared it with Jiang Yao.

Yep, target confirmed. That was Jiang Yao.

So she hurried over to the stall with quick little steps, saying nothing as she quietly waited for the fragrant, syrupy-sweet Qiongshi Bird Skewers to come out of the fryer!

Now, that raised a question.

Why had Bailu appeared in Aurum Alley?

Ahem, you knew what was coming~

Meanwhile!

Elsewhere!

Welt and the two girls were physically at the Divination Commission, but their hearts were in Aurum Alley.

They had arrived on the Luofu at noon yesterday.

That afternoon, they had met Yukong and Jing Yuan at the Sky-Faring Commission.

By evening, they had successfully captured Kafka.

They had also sent Jiang Yao a message saying everything had gone smoothly and he could come to the Luofu.

How should one put it? Things had gone unbelievably smoothly.

So smoothly that even Little March could hardly believe it!

Of course, not everything had gone according to the plan they had imagined.

There was just one disappointment.

Jiang Yao hadn't met up with them.

They had figured that the Luofu, being part of the Xianzhou Alliance, would surely have plenty of local delicacies.

Even if they couldn't compare to Jiang Yao's cooking.

They should at least have their own distinctive flavors, right?

Unfortunately, they had forgotten something.

The food made by the top chefs at Herta Space Station hadn't been bad either!

Which meant that, at the banquet after Kafka's capture...

The atmosphere had gotten rather awkward.

That was also when Bailu had learned of Jiang Yao's existence!

Oh, right. After capturing Kafka, they had also run into Bailu, the High Elder, so they had all attended the banquet together.

Seeing how much Bailu enjoyed the food, Stelle couldn't help making a comment.

Something about her master being the best in the world!

She had even shown them a picture at the end.

And declared that once Jiang Yao came back from Aurum Alley, she would make sure they all saw just how amazing her master was!

Yep, that was how it happened~

So Bailu had secretly gone to Aurum Alley.

Meanwhile, Welt, Stelle, and March 7th waited at the Divination Commission, yearning for his return.

If they hadn't needed to interrogate Kafka today.

They would definitely have gone looking for Jiang Yao last night to beg him to feed them!

"Day two of missing Jiang Yao."

Stelle sighed weakly.

"What? You're not calling him Master anymore?"

March 7th sounded just as weak.

"If he won't feed me, I don't even have the energy to call him that."

Stelle stared blankly ahead, her face full of melancholy.

"All right, the Master Diviner just told me everything's ready to interrogate Kafka. Let's finish up early so we can go find Jiang Yao sooner."

There was a hint of urgency in Welt's voice.

"He said the Luofu has some good ingredients. There'll be new dishes!"

Yes, there was a reason Welt would rather go hungry than settle for a meal that tasted like cardboard.

It was something Jiang Yao had revealed yesterday.

New dishes would be coming on the Luofu!

He could make exquisite food with even simple ingredients.

Welt hardly dared imagine how astonishing his food would be with top-quality ingredients!

Besides, he had secretly tried reproducing Jiang Yao's dishes with his mimicking ability.

Even a tenth of their effect would have been good enough.

The result...

What a joke!

He couldn't reproduce them at all!

Meanwhile.

Aboard the Astral Express.

"Mhm."

"Mhm, mhm."

"Mhm, mhm, mhm."

Himeko kept murmuring her agreement.

Last night, Jiang Yao had kept working until the early hours, almost until dawn.

Only then had he finished choosing some ingredients he wanted to eat.

But finishing his selection hadn't been the end.

It had only been the beginning.

Long-distance shipping, especially interstellar long-distance shipping.

You had to give people some coordinates, didn't you?

The Luofu clearly wasn't a good choice.

So the Astral Dining Car... ahem, the Astral Express had become the only option.

Himeko, who had stayed behind aboard the empty Express, was naturally the best person to coordinate things.

As for Pom-Pom?

Uh, for now, the Conductor could just be the mascot~

So Himeko was coordinating with Asta.

Asta might have been young, but she was very capable, and beneath that pink-haired exterior lay a sly little schemer.

She had arranged everything clearly and efficiently.

Their young rich lady certainly wasn't foolish enough to spend money and effort just to satisfy her appetite.

Though that was admittedly part of the reason.

Mostly, she had her eye on Jiang Yao's abilities.

She believed that with Jiang Yao's culinary skills, his food would sooner or later become a hot commodity everyone in the universe would fight over!

If production increased, she would expand distribution!

If it didn't, even better. Ever heard of cornering the market on a rare commodity? She could auction it off or trade it directly!

Something like exchanging money for influence.

She had grown up surrounded by that sort of thing. She knew it inside out~

So she was especially invested.

And now, following Jiang Yao's requests.

She was having the main ingredients, including the Blazing Tree, Prickly Rose Mushroom, and Bell-Ringing Turtle, shipped over faster.

According to Jiang Yao, he could make a delicacy that combined the extremes of ice and fire.

There was also a name she had never heard before: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall!

But even the name sounded fancy!

So she was confirming the delivery time with Himeko.

After the interstellar call ended.

Himeko instinctively licked her lips.

Blazing Tree... Prickly Rose Mushroom... Bell-Ringing Turtle...

Though she had been on her Trailblaze journey for quite some time, she had never heard of these ingredients.

She had seen the pictures.

The Blazing Tree was a huge tree wreathed in flames, looking like molten lava.

The Prickly Rose Mushroom had a luridly beautiful body and came in juvenile and adult forms. It looked like a poisonous mushroom.

As for the Bell-Ringing Turtle, it had a large bell on its shell, an enormous body, and an extremely aged appearance.

Most importantly, its body was covered in solid ice.

No matter how she looked at them, these things didn't seem like premium ingredients.

Were they really edible?

Himeko harbored a tiny sliver of doubt, but only a tiny sliver.

She soon began repenting.

How could she doubt Jiang Yao?

Himeko's gaze swept over the row of cups containing traces of coffee on the dining room table.

A moment later, she sighed.

She couldn't learn it.

She simply couldn't learn it!

Jiang Yao had written out every step.

She had followed the steps he gave her.

Though she couldn't understand things like extracting every grain of coffee evenly, or constantly monitoring the amount of water while brewing...

How was she supposed to learn that?

But!

At least she had followed every step Jiang Yao had given her!

So why had the coffee she made...

Himeko didn't want to talk. It was day two of missing Jiang Yao.

After silently expressing how much she missed him.

Himeko sent Jiang Yao another message.

The gist was—

I'm Himeko, the Express's navigator.

Pom-Pom is the Conductor.

We're all alone, staying aboard to look after the Express.

There isn't much to eat here.

Could you deliver some takeout?