Master of Kaidan
Chapter 40 If You Knew What Meat It Was, You Probably Wouldn’t Eat It, Right?

Chapter 40: Chapter 40 If You Knew What Meat It Was, You Probably Wouldn’t Eat It, Right?

The journey back to the city was peaceful, the once pervasive piercing engine roars throughout the district gradually weakening. It was unclear whether the Manager had realized that it was not easy to find outsiders through mere searches, or if it was just to make the outsiders let down their guard.

These were not the matters to be concerned with at the moment. Thanks to the bread and snacks she carried as she "ran away from home," Chen Xiyao had managed to avoid hunger on her first day crossing over.

Meanwhile, Feng Xue sat by the wall, eyes slightly narrowed, contemplating a question—

Can real humans use phantasmal objects?

And if possible, could he teach her the "Steps to Heaven Song"?

Although only the general outline was complete, even without the special effects that enhanced sensitivity, the amplification Inner Strength could bring to the body was quite substantial.

If she could learn Inner Strength, wouldn’t it be much easier to protect her?

However, this could be easily answered with a simple trial, and Feng Xue’s current contemplation was primarily due to his lack of resolution.

After all, he had taken in this girl not out of kindness, but purely for himself. Under such circumstances, he wasn’t considering how to increase the girl’s chances of survival but how to make the best choice for himself.

On one hand, enhancing the girl’s strength would significantly improve her ability to survive, but on the other, keeping her weak benefited him by raising his status in her eyes.

After all, even if both were on a pilgrimage, in the eyes of Tang Sanzang and Tang Shanzang, the status of the monkey was entirely different.

It was somewhat despicable, but it was for survival.

Temporarily suppressing the stirrings of his conscience, Feng Xue looked at the shivering girl huddled in the corner of the wall and sighed helplessly. Today was only the first day; he feared there was still a long struggle ahead!

...

The morning in Infinite City came without any hint of dawn, almost as if someone had simply flipped a switch to lighten the sky. Under the influence of her biological clock, Chen Xiyao gradually woke up, disoriented. After about thirty seconds of bewilderment, she finally remembered the fact that she had crossed over to another world.

Compared to the initial excitement of crossing over, all she felt now was helplessness and panic. At this moment, she finally understood why most protagonists in novels were orphans—they were, at least, already adapted to solitude.

But her, all she wanted now was to go home.

She knew this seemed rather disgraceful for a transmigrator, but she couldn’t help missing the soft warmth of her bed at home, the hot breakfasts, the longing for...

"Woken up?"

A somewhat cold voice came from the side. The girl turned her head and saw him holding a bowl of something strange.

Though in theory it ought to be food, Chen Xiyao, looking at the mixture that resembled nothing so much as weeds boiled in water, couldn’t help feeling that it was still a bit too removed from a human diet.

"See if you can eat it. If not, I’ll just have to think of something else," Feng Xue said, aware that the concoction didn’t exactly look edible. After all, the only reasonably obtainable food in the landfill was Wheat Bran Bricks. Under normal circumstances, Feng Xue might have inquired with Old Li about securing the indulgent ingredients she had seen in his house.

But given the current situation, even without thinking too hard, Feng Xue could tell that those purveyors of luxury foodstuffs would be under strict control now, with even regulars possibly subject to scrutiny.

Chen Xiyao also seemed to realize that now wasn’t the time to be picky. She took the bowl, crudely carved from wood, and tried to force the contents down her throat.

The liquid part wasn’t too bad, merely a bit bitter, like drinking tea. But the mixture of wheat bran and straw fragments was genuinely hard to swallow. Despite Feng Xue’s assassin-level Saber Technique and the Sharpness of the Holy Mother turning the brick into finely chopped bits, in the end, it wasn’t much different from eating sawdust directly.

"Don’t force yourself if you can’t eat it. If you get a stomach ache, it’ll still be my problem," Feng Xue sighed and brought out another plate of food. Compared to the bowl of ’sawdust porridge,’ this undoubtedly looked more edible. In fact, just by looking at it, Chen Xiyao felt her mouth start to water profusely.

"Roasted meat?"

"Yes, the conditions are limited, no seasoning, just heated enough to be edible—of course, I didn’t try it myself, but there are no parasites in Infinite City, so it should be fine even if not fully cooked."

Having eaten only a little snack the day before, Chen Xiyao couldn’t care less about the doneness. Marbling the meat as a seven-tenths done, she snatched up the plate and began wolfing the meat down. The chopsticks and plate, like the bowl, were crudely carved from wood but felt smooth in her hands. Chewing the meat, Chen Xiyao found it to be an unrivaled deliciousness; she savored it thoroughly, despite the absence of any seasonings.

However, after a few bites, reason began to override instinct. She forcibly stopped herself and pushed the plate toward Feng Xue with a tinge of reluctance.

"Aren’t you going to have a bite?"

"I told you, didn’t I? People from Infinite City don’t need to eat," Feng Xue hastily refused, half-joking. Though the meat might have tasted good to Chen Xiyao, to him, it was akin to deadly poison.

Indeed, that meat came from the very omen he had killed last night. The mosaic ball atop the omen’s head contained only two elements: "Aquatic" and "Creature." As for its strength, Feng Xue didn’t know; after all, he killed it by Stealth, suddenly chopping off half its head with a single blow.

Ultimately, creature-type omens were far easier to deal with than corpse-types.

Seeing Feng Xue’s demeanor, Chen Xiyao made no further offers and, with gratitude, continued to devour the meat heartily.

There wasn’t much meat, and soon Chen Xiyao licked even the fat clean from the plate.

Putting down her utensils, Chen Xiyao became aware of how crude her eating must have appeared. A blush crept onto her cheeks, but Feng Xue didn’t seem to care. Instead, he began to absorb the "Identity" from the bowl of Wheat Bran Porridge.

Although he didn’t particularly need that bit of "Identity," considering that a confrontation with the Manager was always a possibility, he would’ve exchanged all his Tower Coins for bricks if he hadn’t been worried that buying too much Wheat Bran Brick might arouse suspicion.

Of course, if it came to that point, Feng Xue wouldn’t be without options. After all, the farmland was just outside the city; if pushed to the limit, he was not devoid of solutions.

However, Feng Xue’s blank stare into the bowl of Wheat Bran Porridge was evident, making Chen Xiyao’s eyes start to shift again—

Without a doubt, the girl had misunderstood something once more...