Chapter 4: Food Culture 30,000 Years Later
After tasting the extremely delicious dough drops, Xiang Qi and Xiang Xue didn’t even glance at the fresh fish noodle soup beside them anymore. Both of them now had their minds full of the delicious tomato dough drop soup, as well as the doubt they held toward Xiang Chuan’s culinary skills.
“Xiao Chuan, when did you learn to make this… uh… tomato flour soup?”
Xiang Qi didn’t know the name for dough drops, so he just casually gave a name according to his own understanding.
“This isn’t flour soup, it’s dough drops. Don’t mix it up with that thing I just ate.” Hearing the term flour soup made Xiang Chuan recall that thing she had just eaten, and she couldn’t help but shiver. She had already thought up an excuse while processing ingredients in the kitchen earlier: “I learned it on a website. Today was the first time I made it.”
Anyway, according to her “memory,” modern people wouldn’t investigate someone else’s terminal records without permission out of respect for personal privacy, which was extremely convenient for someone like her whose mind was full of original world common sense.
“The first time you made it, so doesn’t that mean we became your guinea pigs?”
Xiang Qi instantly became horrified.
“But you also got to eat a delicious breakfast, so don’t be so entangled about it.” Xiang Chuan huffed and turned her head away. “If you’re not satisfied, go eat your fresh fish noodle soup then.”
“Uh… but you were the one who originally liked fresh fish noodle soup the most…”
Stung by his usually honest and obedient sister, Xiang Qi wavered a bit. Hearing her mention fresh fish noodle soup, Xiang Qi looked at the grayish-white soup juice next to him that had already cooled somewhat. For some reason, looking at this gourmet food praised by the masses now, he completely lacked the appetite he had had half an hour ago. When he saw his sister Xiang Xue casually have the kitchen AI clear away her portion of fresh fish noodle soup, he hesitated several times but still chose to have the kitchen AI clear away his portion as well.
“The past is the past, the present is the present. My tongue is different now than before. From now on, I absolutely won’t put unsatisfactory things in my mouth.”
Xiang Chuan took a fierce gulp of water.
“So does that mean Sister, you’ll make dough drops for lunch and dinner too?”
Hearing her say that, Xiang Xue’s eyes instantly lit up. Xiang Qi was more steady, but the look in his eyes toward his sister inevitably carried a bit more expectation.
“Uh…”
Xiang Chuan broke out in a sweat. Did that mean they would eat dough drops for all three meals? Wouldn’t they get tired of it?
“Pfft… Xiao Xue, you know your sister’s lazy personality well enough.” Xiang Qi smiled and shook his head. “Kitchen AI, was Xiao Chuan’s cooking process just now recorded? Can you completely replicate it?”
The kitchen AI had this function too? Xiang Chuan curiously looked toward the kitchen area, though there was no physical form of the kitchen AI there.
[Beep—Xiang Chuan Miss’s ingredient processing process has been fully recorded. Replicability is 80%.]
Only eighty percent? Was the cooking process that complex? Xiang Chuan suddenly began to doubt this era’s AI performance and couldn’t help asking: “What is the 20% that can’t be replicated?”
[Beep—The unreplicable procedures are “pouring hot water over tomatoes to remove their skins” and “uneven dough clumps from clean water droplets falling on the dough.”]
“Reason?”
[Beep—The former is an inefficient procedure not applicable to the peeling equipment used by this unit. The latter has dough clumps of overly uneven sizes; the reference sample is too messy.]
……
Xiang Chuan’s face turned dark upon hearing this. Didn’t that mean the blanching method she used to peel tomatoes was too inefficient and the dough drops she stirred up were too uneven in size? Damn AI, as expected, cold and ruthless.
Fine, no point getting mad at the AI.
She took a deep breath to calm her mood: “The size of the dough drops can be set to the average volume of the dough drops we just made. For tomato peeling—henceforth, all ingredient peeling procedures should prioritize the peeling tools you can use.”
[Beep—Received. Two correction proposals entered. Replicability is now 100%. Would you like to save as a family menu?]
“Save it.”
[Beep—Entered into menu. Entry name is “Dough Drops.” Please confirm if correct?]
“Change it to Tomato Egg Dough Drops.”
[Beep—”Tomato Egg Dough Drops” has been entered.]
“Good, then I’ll come test the goods.” Xiang Xue, who had been rubbing her fists for a long time, was a bit impatient. “Kitchen AI, make one portion for me to try first.”
[Beep—As ordered.]
While Xiang Xue was watching the AI produce the dough drops and Xiang Qi was leaning on a chair fiddling with something on his terminal, Xiang Chuan had already slipped back to her room.
Although Xiang Chuan also wanted to see how the kitchen AI processed ingredients, she had more important things to do right now.
She sat at the head of the bed, opened her terminal, and following her “memory,” opened the browser’s search page. She began combining it with this world’s memories of herself to understand this new era.
Common Era 12022, that is, ten thousand years after her original world. The governments of various countries built twelve fleets capable of fully simulating Earth’s ecology with all their national strength. Earth’s 12 billion population formally left Earth entirely and entered space.
By the time Earth entered the 30th century, the environment had become too harsh for humans. The postwar hidden dangers opened by the Fourth World War, incurable plagues, large-scale volcanic eruptions that shortened from once every century to once a year, and tsunamis and typhoons accompanying plate movements… plus the dramatic population increase causing further reduction in living pressure and survival space. To extend the survival lifespan of the human race, the governments of various countries formally announced the space immigration plan.
In 5022, the governments of various countries formally formed the first fleet “Hermes” and the second fleet “Ares,” equipped with the then-developed time-space jump system. They jumped out of the solar system for the first time in fleet form to explore nearby galaxies. At the time, the two fleets each carried 20,000 volunteers and returned in 5322, bringing the good news of successfully converting metal substances from other galaxies into spaceship manufacturing energy.
Later, scientists from various countries used the advanced technology of the time to convert the large amounts of alien soil brought back by the two fleets into various Earth soils, released them into the fleets’ production escort ships, planted various plants, and after the plants were successfully cultivated, also released various animals and livestock, forming an ecosystem and solving the diet problem.
With the construction experience from the previous two fleets, the subsequent fleet formations by various countries became much smoother, successfully completing the full human space immigration exploration plan in 12022. The governments of various countries used the departure date of the last departing fleet “Dionysus” as the dividing line, announcing that human history had entered a new era, thereby changing the year name to “Tianyuan.”
The time point Xiang Chuan was currently in was Tianyuan 20000, that is, Common Era 32022—thirty thousand years after the day she had fantasized about eating delicious snail noodles the next day!
Seeing this, Xiang Chuan couldn’t help but rub her brow. To be honest, the span of thirty thousand years was too vast, and with her brother and sister downstairs eagerly anticipating eating dough drops—people she was all too familiar with—it gave her a sense of unreality. During making the dough drops and eating breakfast, she had secretly pinched her thigh several times, but she never encountered the expected awakening from the dream to see the familiar ceiling.
She sighed.
This was definitely transmigration, right? She affirmed it once again.
After somewhat complicatedly accepting this reality, she continued reading downward.
She quickly scrolled past the fleet history; she could look at that stuff slowly later. Right now, she was only concerned with one thing: when did human daily diet degenerate into mud water?
Finally, in a long report titled “The Impact of Human History on Food Culture,” she found the answer. Interpreting it combined with her own understanding:
The 20-year Third World War at the end of the 21st century and the 50-year Fourth World War in the 28th century caused a sharp decline in human dietary standards due to pollution from nuclear weapons and cultural destruction. Some countries even used foxtail grass and rotten meat as staple food ingredients, which directly affected the food culture of the immigrant fleet era.
The current mainstream foods were basically two kinds: one was something similar to fresh fish noodle soup made by mixing meat paste and grain powder; the other was solid food made by mixing vegetable scraps and grain powder. In the current Tianyuan 32022, the historical scenes of eating foxtail grass and rotten meat wouldn’t appear, but the degeneration of cooking techniques had caused people to lose their memory of food culture.
What made Xiang Chuan relieved was that the major powers still evenly arranged edible grains, meat, vegetables, and fruits in certain proportions on each of the six production escort ships attached to each fleet. Otherwise, she, who currently had neither a transmigration system nor the space essential for a female protagonist, really wouldn’t know how to obtain these ingredients.
Although from her morning communication with the kitchen AI, it seemed some seasonings and ingredients were missing, since each fleet’s production escort ships were recreating Earth’s ecology, someday she would be able to find these ingredients—or at worst, find substitutes while exploring various galaxies!
Anyway, her lifetime this time around would be very long!
Thinking of this, Xiang Chuan directly flopped sideways onto the bed.
Originally, in Common Era 12022, the human average lifespan had already been extended to 300 years under the influence of technology. After entering the universe, with deepening communication with civilizations in various galaxies, the current human average lifespan had reached 800 years!
She wondered what the protagonists from those cultivation novels she used to read would think of the current human lifespans. While idly swiping the semi-transparent screen of her terminal, she thought boredly, and while swiping, she swiped to a seven-colored spiral icon. She casually tapped it and suddenly sat straight up.
The webpage that popped up after tapping the icon was very simple, but she had clicked on it several times while using her colleague’s computer at work. The Logo on the page had the first letter capitalized and the other five lowercase. Below the Logo was an input box, and further down were only two buttons: “Geegle Search” and “Lucky Dip.” That’s right—this was actually Geegle’s homepage!
Thirty thousand years had passed, and the designers’ taste hadn’t changed?
She casually tapped “Lucky Dip.” Normally, you could see doodle Logos designed by various countries based on “Today’s History” here. She wondered what was left after thirty thousand years?
The page loaded very quickly, but seeing it made her freeze completely. The first doodle Logo on the page clearly stated the time: December 18, 2022.
It was exactly the day she had lain down to sleep.
This couldn’t be some nostalgic website made by people of this era, could it?
She thought, but her hands were uncontrollably excited.
Returning to the main page and entering Da Yan, sure enough, Da Yan’s search results popped up. The time on the first page of search results was also 2022 or nearby years. Clicking into Da Yan brought up the web version login page she hadn’t seen in a long time (she usually used the APP). After thinking for a long time, she finally remembered her Da Yan password, entered it half-believingly, and actually logged in successfully. The homepage even showed her friends’ black mud complaints posted in their friend circles and fan circles.
Xiang Chuan clicked into a friend’s comment section wanting to chat with her about her current situation, but was surprised to find she couldn’t open the comment section. Even the text box, repost, and private message functions for Da Yan couldn’t be used.
Unwilling to believe it, she returned to the search page and searched for a game website she often checked for strategy guides. After logging in successfully, she also couldn’t find the post and reply icons; the private message links had disappeared too.
What was this? She could only look?
Excited yet disappointed, Xiang Chuan put down the terminal and lay back on the bed looking at the ceiling.
The starlight decorations on the ceiling were lifelike, but no matter how she looked, she couldn’t find the solar system and its eight major planets.
Yeah, her self in this world was only 16 years old, and it had been twenty thousand years since humans left Earth. How could she know what her homeland looked like.
She picked up the terminal, looking at her Da Yan homepage where friends were either sullenly discussing tips for maintaining body health or happily browsing two-dimensional content. They seemed within reach, but there was already a thirty-thousand-year gap.
Saying she didn’t want to write setting but just couldn’t control this hand (with adult.jpg)
