Chapter 97: Gourmet In The Tomb
Since he was already here, he might as well make himself at home. His situation couldn’t get much worse anyway. Lin Yan gave a wry smile, looked at Zhang Qiling’s back, took a deep breath, and temporarily set aside those heavy worries.
In the original story, all three of them survived until the plot ended, so he could only firmly believe he could too. Lin Yan thought carefully. Although he only knew the general plot now, in terms of strength, beating Wu Xie should be no problem, right? Based on the pattern in the original story where Fatty slipped up, Wu Xie slipped up, and Zhang Qiling covered the bottom, Fatty was hand-itchy but had good luck; being close to Fatty might get him accidentally injured; being close to Wu Xie might get him accidentally injured by Fatty. But there shouldn’t be any major injuries.
Lin Yan thought, if he solved that thing in his head on his own, could his luck handle it? Damn it, he could even trip and transmigrate, what kind of ghost luck was that? Better to stick with the protagonist group. At least after this underwater tomb run, they got plenty of stuff, right?
Thinking of this, Lin Yan subconsciously touched his backpack. Those two pieces of white marble floor tiles were inside, placed together with the bronze bell, and the bead the little zombie gave him was kept close to his body.
Wu Xie’s pack had ingredients, Fatty’s pack had cookware, and Lin Yan’s pack held tools and underwater tomb spoils of war besides that. After entering the secret room, Wu Xie figured they’d be staying here for a while, so he set his backpack aside first. Fatty watched them with meaningful looks, some stared blankly, some groped around everywhere, while he alone stood there clutching his already growling stomach, feeling a bit awkward.
Fatty turned his head and saw Lin Yan thoughtfully touching his backpack. His eyes lit up as he sidled over: “Young comrade Lin, looks like it’ll take them a while to explore this secret room. How about you and I…” He finished by rubbing his hands and giving Lin Yan a meaningful look.
Lin Yan’s train of thought was interrupted. He got it after a moment and his eyes lit up too. The two of them mysteriously retreated to the corner: “Fatty Ye, look at that grouper…”
Fatty nodded repeatedly while taking out cookware from his pack: “No problem, no problem. We’ll split the big one, you and I, brothers! Since those two don’t look very hungry, how about we… get the jump on it?”
The heavy atmosphere was swept away in Fatty’s winking and nudging. Lin Yan watched as Fatty pulled out ingredients and cookware one by one from his pack, feeling his mouth water. Yesterday, they only had some stuff to fill their stomachs before exiting the tomb; those canned food were cold, with meat so tough it hurt his teeth. Unheated canned food had an overwhelmingly strong seasoning taste, and eating it plain was salty to death. How could it compare to fresh gourmet food?
After Fatty took out the pot and portable stove one by one from his pack, he magically pulled a small cooler from Wu Xie’s pack set aside. Lin Yan went over and hefted it; it was about twenty pounds. Opening it, the biggest grouper from the fish hold was on top, with other seafood below. Fatty had roughly processed them all on the boat, so now they just needed slicing and into the pot.
Lin Yan thought about the prep time they had on the boat, just ten or twenty minutes. Not only did Fatty pack everything up, he even processed the fish along the way. He nudged Fatty with his shoulder: “Hey, Fatty Ye, have you ever been a chef?”
Fatty shook his head: “Fatty Ye here is a proper Mojin, how could I have anything to do with chefs?”
Lin Yan was curious now, watching Fatty’s skilled and deft movements: “Then how are you so proficient?”
Fatty shook his head sagely and sighed: “Ah, don’t bring it up. Isn’t it because I’ve been single too long? Usually when I get a craving, I can only go to a restaurant. Too much of that gets boring, so I figured out how to whip up my own eats. Who knew, Fatty Ye actually has some talent for it. In the future, if I quit this line of work, I might even become a head chef with a monthly salary of two or three hundred thousand. Not bad, right?”
In the time they spoke, Fatty had the stove fired up, the soup base seasoned, and used two water bottles’ worth of water. It was just waiting for the water to boil to add the seafood.
Zhang Qiling heard the movement and glanced their way. Seeing the fish not yet in, he turned back to stare blankly at the stone statue. Wu Xie couldn’t stay idle; the bloody smell and faint rotten odor at his nose made him feel bad, so he was now tapping and knocking around the secret room, trying to unearth an even more hidden secret room from it.
He looked all around and found nothing, even knocking the floor tiles one by one. Wu Xie stood up and rubbed his somewhat sore waist. Just as he was about to ask Lin Yan and the others if they’d found anything, he turned and saw Lin Yan and Fatty each with a pair of chopsticks, poised at the boiling pot.
“You guys are…” Wu Xie sniffed. Only then did he notice a seafood aroma added to the not-so-pleasant air in the secret room. Anger surged in him. He strode over in three steps and sat down in front of them: “I’m still here looking for a secret room, and you two are just sitting waiting for food? Fine… but the key is, you have food and didn’t call us?”
He turned to glance at Zhang Qiling: “Right, Zhang Xiaoge?”
For some reason, though Lin Yan always called him Zhang Qiling full name, he felt that facing Zhang Qiling’s icy face, calling him Xiaoge seemed more respectful.
Zhang Qiling glanced at them, saw the pot boiling, stopped looking at the stone statue, walked over to sit beside them, and reached out to Fatty: “Chopsticks.”
“…” As soon as he spoke, the four suddenly fell silent. Maybe this was Zhang Qiling’s innate aloof aura.
For some reason, Lin Yan felt like Zhang Qiling had been led astray by them. Asking for chopsticks with that aloof face was too out of place. To liven up the mood, it had to be Fatty. Fatty smoothly pulled out two pairs of chopsticks and handed them over, then lifted the pot lid with a flourish. Instantly, a burst of seafood aroma exploded out, dispersing much of the cave’s foul air. At least for Wu Xie, his not-particularly-hungry stomach was already rumbling.
“Fire’s just right, let’s eat!”
As soon as Fatty spoke, Lin Yan and the others saw a white flash before their eyes, and a piece of tumbling fish meat vanished.
What… the situation? Lin Yan looked across to see Zhang Qiling expressionlessly putting the fish meat into his mouth. Good grief, you don’t come if not called to eat, but first at snatching food? That tomb raiding skill of yours can even be used here?
Wu Xie and Fatty exchanged a glance. Taking advantage of Lin Yan staring blankly at Zhang Qiling, they struck with chopsticks, and two pieces of tender white fish meat went into their mouths. Wu Xie hissed from the heat but couldn’t bear to spit it out. While eating, he gave Fatty a thumbs up: “As expected of Fatty Ye! This fish is perfectly cooked, seasoning spot on, not overpowering, bringing out all the freshness! I say, if you quit this line, you could easily be a head chef!”
Fatty smugly lifted his chin at him: “You know it? Just now, Fatty Ye and little brother Lin were talking about it. If we quit later, find a shop to work at, or open our own! Nah, better to open a restaurant. Working for yourself is always better than for others!”
While talking, Zhang Qiling’s second chopsticks had gone down. Fatty and Wu Xie weren’t about to yield. Lin Yan watched this dragon-tiger fight in a daze: “Holy crap, leave some for me!”
