Chapter 11: Five Flavors Chopsticks
Riding the electric scooter, Li Ye headed to the address sent by Huang Qingyi on his mobile phone, silently calculating in his mind.
Taking the most ordinary bowl of beef noodles as a basis, as long as it’s ten thousand portions, he could complete the Qi Blood Leap and step into the Dragon Gate.
That only costs 100,000.
But his own training method would enhance this aspect further; the better he eats, the faster he trains, able to increase it by one-fifth to one-third.
If he eats even better, it could probably reach half.
Then the cost would be even less, possibly just sixty or seventy thousand.
Much cheaper than martial arts school tuition.
He could forget about the ironclad pig at noon; that was school-exclusive, not some particularly precious ingredient anyway, and it was unpalatable, not circulating on the market.
But he could buy similar things, try them to see exactly how much they boost, then make targeted preparations.
He still needed to experiment more, find the food with the best cost-performance ratio.
Half an hour later, Li Ye arrived at the navigation location.
This was an old building in the West District; from the outside, the wall plaster had peeled off, with the three big characters 【Sanitation Bureau】 above the entrance.
Li Ye tugged at the corner of his mouth, sent a message to Huang Qingyi, and just three minutes later, Huang Qingyi, wrapped in bandages, appeared at the door.
“I thought you were a police officer.” Li Ye said.
“There’s staffing there too.”
Huang Qingyi led Li Ye inside and said, “Directly under the Security Department, affiliated with the Public Security Department, unit in the military, location in Sanitation. I’m a team member of the Disinfection Bureau’s First Disinfection Squadron, a parallel unit to the Sanitation Bureau.”
Li Ye was stunned and said, “Does that mean one staffing or four salaries?”
“Five portions; the Disinfection Bureau itself has one more.”
Huang Qingyi grinned, pointed at the bandages on his body, “High-risk work, higher salary is normal. Let’s go, our Bureau Chief wants to see you.”
Pressing the elevator, they went up to the third floor, and Huang Qingyi led Li Ye into the third floor corridor.
Unlike the dilapidated exterior, the corridor looked clean; no one knew what stone material the floor tiles were paved with, overall light-colored, with lights on even during the day, no dark spots anywhere.
The entire third floor was very spacious, with only a few offices here, bearing signs for Bureau Chief and Deputy Bureau Chief.
The two arrived at the door marked Bureau Chief’s Office and pushed open the large door.
“Bureau Chief, he’s here!”
With Huang Qingyi’s words, Li Ye stepped into the office, first scanning the surroundings.
This wasn’t the plain office of a government agency in his impression, nor one with style; instead, it had a strange feel.
First to catch the eye was a desk comparable in size to a conference table, overall material like flowing magma, with veins glowing red.
Behind the desk was a display cabinet, not filled with books, but all sorts of strange things.
Fist-sized unknown crystals, ferocious beast claws, strange porcelain, Li Ye even saw an irregular gold brick.
On the side was a sofa seemingly made of white fur, with a bear-like head at the end of the sofa, but the head was blue-faced with fangs.
Above the sofa was a frame occupying half the wall, the photo showing a burly man with half his clothes torn, revealing knotted muscles, holding a two-handed ghost head saber, feet stepping on a majestic giant beast with the same fur as on the sofa.
Nouveau riche style.
A violent nouveau riche at that.
“What I want is accurate information, not analysis, and especially not having me do the analysis!”
A rough voice sounded from the front; the burly man exactly like in the photo was sitting there, one foot propped on the desk, half-reclining in the chair, holding his mobile phone and cursing.
“What do I keep you around for! Can’t the information officer confirm it, so they come to me? Don’t you know my general knowledge never passed! Hanging up, deadline three days for the conclusion!”
The burly man hung up the phone, glanced opposite, piled on a smile, and pointed at the chair opposite, “You’re here, sit!”
Huang Qingyi moved to sit as told, but the burly man immediately barked, “You stand! That one.”
“Li Ye.” Li Ye said.
“Li Ye, you sit.”
After Li Ye sat down, the burly man smiled and said, “I’m Pan Zhengyang, Bureau Chief of the Disinfection Bureau.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then subconsciously offered one to Li Ye, “Smoke?”
Li Ye didn’t stand on ceremony, took the cigarette, and Pan Zhengyang immediately lit it for him, cupping his hand to shield it until the cigarette ignited.
This skilled scene left Huang Qingyi on the side stunned.
Wasn’t this just a student?
Li Ye exhaled a puff of smoke, raised an eyebrow, “Good stuff.”
His Qi and Blood actually improved slightly, though very weakly, but Li Ye noticed it.
At normal frequency, one cigarette could probably increase his Qi and Blood by 0.001.
Comparable to him finishing half a bowl of beef noodles.
“I could tell at first glance you’d smoke! Alright, here’s a pack for you!”
Pan Zhengyang laughed heartily, pulled open the drawer, and tossed Li Ye a cigarette pack with no markings, painted gold.
Li Ye had smoked and drunk in his previous life; this life he wasn’t exempt either, sometimes drinking at class gatherings, smoking one when annoyed.
But he was certain cigarettes only harmed the body, nothing that could increase Qi and Blood, though a martial arts practitioner’s physique didn’t care about this minor harm.
However, he tasted the ingredients of this thing through his authority.
The authority of the Food Qi Method also gave him the power to analyze food ingredient entry points.
What ingredients, whether fresh, what seasonings used—as long as he was willing, he could taste them all.
Even things he didn’t recognize, as long as they entered his mouth, he’d know what they were.
【Golden Spine Blood Thread Tobacco Leaves】, a special variety grown irrigated with demonic creature blood, with effects of strengthening bones in the morning and fortifying essence at night.
Indeed good stuff, but what he was smoking now seemed like substandard goods.
Before Li Ye could think further, Pan Zhengyang said:
“About yesterday, first off, thanks to you. Our information officer misanalyzed, mistaking the Five Plagues Ghost for a filth worm; if you hadn’t recognized it then, things would’ve gotten very bad.”
“How do you confirm these?” Li Ye was quite curious about their process.
“This relies mainly on our information officers; they specialize in handling anomalies, confirming if there are demonic creatures. Like Zhao Da Shui who was parasitized, the information officer found special mold spots on garbage collected by Sanitation, investigated and locked onto the person, then mobilized.”
Pan Zhengyang glared at Huang Qingyi, “This accident, relevant personnel get recorded demerits or punishments as appropriate. Called you here first to meet the one who timely recognized the demonic creature and took measures.”
“Second, to give some reward to an ordinary person. But next time, best not to do this; knowledge is good, but without corresponding strength, it’s no use. You felt that pollution, right? We don’t encourage ordinary people facing demonic creatures; first thing upon encountering one is to call the police.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Li Ye, “Preparatory student?”
Li Ye nodded.
Pan Zhengyang pulled open the drawer, first took out a card and pushed it over, “After review, the bureau commends you with three thousand, I personally add three thousand, Huang Qingyi makes up four thousand, totaling ten thousand for you; password six sixes.”
“And this.”
He took out a box and placed it on the desk, “Normally, something like this gets turned in for redistribution, but you saved Huang Qingyi’s life and averted a disaster. I decide, this goes to you.”
Inside the box was a pair of chopsticks, overall green, like they were made of jade.
Li Ye took the box, held the chopsticks; they were cool to the touch, not feeling like jade but more like wood.
Why give him a pair of chopsticks?
Seeming to see Li Ye’s doubt, Pan Zhengyang smiled, “When some demonic creatures die, there’s a very small chance they leave behind essence; ancients called it magic treasure, modern still does.”
He pointed at the chopsticks and said, “This magic treasure is called ‘Five Flavors Chopsticks’, left by the Five Plagues Ghost after death. Using these to eat, even the most unpalatable becomes delicious. Most importantly, it can improve food quality, perfect for a preparatory student like you.”
Good stuff!
Li Ye’s eyes lit up, played with the chopsticks a bit more, then solemnly put them back in the box and stored it away.
Perfect to pair with his current authority.
“Thanks, just what I need.” Li Ye said.
“You earned it.”
Pan Zhengyang chuckled, “Alright, that’s it, I won’t keep you. Big Huang, see him out.”
Li Ye didn’t linger, stood to leave, but suddenly thought of something and asked, “What are the conditions to join here?”
He needed to slay deities to gain authority, but demonic creatures weren’t easy to find, let alone those akin to deities.
A place specializing in handling demonic creatures—if he could join, it meant Li Ye could contact lots of demonic creatures.
Highest probability here.
And the treatment seemed good, staffing and such existed even at the end of the universe; Li Ye didn’t mind anyway.
“Want to serve the country?”
Pan Zhengyang nodded approvingly, “Good attitude, but without entering martial arts, you can’t join here; information officers minimum One Dragon Gate. Demonic creature pollution isn’t something ordinary people can resist; even viewing info gets you polluted. Only those with Qi Blood Leap can enter.”
“And we who specialize in demonic creatures start at Six Dragon Gate. Study hard and train in martial arts; when you graduate university, if you still want to fight demonic creatures, you can apply.”
Li Ye nodded, said no more, turned and left.
……
Huang Qingyi walked Li Ye to the door; Li Ye thought for a moment and asked, “Are the Five Flavors Chopsticks valuable?”
“Not cheap.”
Huang Qingyi said, “Best not let people know; magic treasures with practicality aren’t cheap. Selling this outside, won’t go below 10 million. Forget improving ingredient quality, just making flavors better would attract many nouveau riche foodies.”
Li Ye was shocked upon hearing this.
He hadn’t thought it cheap, but this price still exceeded his expectations.
Just casually gave it to him like that?
Seeing the shock and doubt in Li Ye’s eyes, Huang Qingyi smiled, “I’d definitely be reluctant; it’s my first time seeing a magic treasure too. If you hadn’t saved my life, I definitely wouldn’t agree.”
“But don’t worry too much; if the Bureau Chief says it’s yours, it is. Few recognize it; use it boldly day-to-day. If there’s really trouble, you can find me; our position has some authority.”
Hearing this, Li Ye nodded and bid farewell to Huang Qingyi.
After seeing off Li Ye, Huang Qingyi returned to the Bureau Chief’s Office and asked, “Bureau Chief, Li Ye’s just a student; giving him something so valuable, isn’t it inappropriate?”
“You… say you’re smart, but you’re a total ignoramus. Say you’re dumb, but you know to indirectly remind me.”
Pan Zhengyang rolled his eyes, “The thing’s his once given; sell it or use it, no issue, but has anyone forced our Disinfection Bureau to death?”
He said irritably, “Student? A Five Plagues Ghost left you covered in wounds everywhere; a student managed to kill it with restraint methods, way more capable than you!”
Huang Qingyi shrank his neck, “That was a mistake.”
Pan Zhengyang pointed at him and cursed, “Mistake mistake, first mistake gets you injured, second mistake kills you! If you die it’s fine, but letting demonic creatures cause disaster, letting civilians die—that makes you a criminal!”
“Besides, I saw his legs strong, walking swift yet rooted; his training method must be advanced. With the magic treasure, he’ll enter martial arts sooner or later; if his original intent holds, maybe colleagues in the future.”
Pan Zhengyang lit another cigarette, inhaled half in one go, exhaled thick smoke.
He stared at the drifting smoke and slowly said, “If I haven’t died by then.”
