The Chef Rules the Last Days
Chapter 87 - 85: Braised Crucian Carp

Chapter 87: Chapter 85: Braised Crucian Carp

The Flat Pot could only be operated by Su Mo, and after Su Niang had helped her kill the fish, slice the meat, and prepare the condiments, she just stood by and watched.

First, Su Mo marinated the fish in a dish with some cooking wine and salt for a while; then she put the sliced meat into the hot pan to fry.

The enticing aroma instantly filled the air. Fried Pork had become one of her signature dishes, and the people around couldn’t help but swallow their saliva, eyes glued to the meat in the pan.

Two large plates of meat later, upon receiving the notice, Su Mo took them out of the pan. The fish had marinated long enough, so she quickly washed the pan, reheated it, poured in oil, and started frying the well-marinated fish, flipping it evenly. Su Niang occasionally offered a reminder from the side.

The increasingly rich aroma in the air made several people’s stomachs growl one after another.

"Momo, I’m hungry," Zhao Changsheng said pitifully, reaching for the cooked meat only to be smacked away by a chopstick from Su Mo.

"Hold on."

Without even lifting her head, Su Mo responded, and once the fish was fried to a golden brown on both sides, she quickly turned off the fire and poured it out of the pan. Without fresh ginger slices and garlic, she could only take out packets of dried chilies and star anise from the seasoning rack to fry until fragrant. She then poured in the right amount of water and added a spoonful of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and vinegar, stirring evenly before putting the fish back into the pan.

The air was filled with the aroma of fish and pork, and after cooking for the right amount of time, she thickened the sauce with some starch before finally turning off the heat.

[Name]: Braised Crucian Carp (Collected)

[Used materials]: Crucian Carp, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, ...(some missing)

[Skill Level]: 50%

[Flavor score]: 5 (10 is perfect score, the higher the score, the more points added)

[Status bonus]: Strength Points +5 (Duration: 48 hours)

"It smells so good," Jianxiong said as he wiped the non-existent saliva from the corner of his mouth, gazing eagerly, while even Li Qian showed a rare loss of composure.

It had been a long time since they had tasted Su Mo’s cooking.

As there were not enough bowls and chopsticks, Lu Chen took out a few more from his Space, and the rice from the rice cooker was ready, steamy and fragrant.

Each had a large bowl of rice with Crucian Carp and two big plates of meat, eating until their mouths were greasy.

The reminder of the Strength Points bonus came to everyone’s mind; they had eaten it before during Su Mo’s practice, so they were not too surprised now.

The taste of the fish lingered in their mouths, and after swallowing a piece, they all felt their energy slowly increasing.

They all somewhat understood the reason behind the whole team’s advancement; it wasn’t rare for Su Mo to feed them this energy-increasing fish and shrimp back in the prison.

What puzzled Su Mo was that Su Niang, apart from saying it was delicious, had no other reaction. She couldn’t help but ask, "Su Niang, do you feel... any changes in your body?"

Looking up from her bowl, Su Niang wiped her mouth, feeling embarrassed, "No, it’s very delicious what the young lady has made."

Su Mo smiled slightly, her heart finding its answer. Her cooking probably wasn’t effective for ordinary people; for them, it was just tasty without any status bonus.

The group finished all the rice and plates quietly, not even leaving any soup to soak the rice with.

After they had their fill and as the night completely fell, Su Niang insisted on washing all the bowls and chopsticks. She was accustomed to serving people every day and knew what she had to do in this post-apocalyptic world; Su Mo didn’t refuse and let her do it.

Jianxiong pulled a transparent stone from his pocket and tossed it onto the ground, saying, "This fell off that cow. I can feel there’s energy inside, but it’s minuscule."

Su Mo picked up the stone curiously and looked at it; it was the size of a thumb and glittered transparently just like a diamond.

Lu Chen also took out a similar stone from his Space, but it wasn’t transparent; it was milky white.

Su Mo took the gem from his hand and immediately felt the difference; she couldn’t help but lick her lips and said, "I have the urge to eat it."

"Eat?" Zhao Changsheng made a disgusted vomiting expression, her flirtatious eyes lifting in disdain as she said, "This came bouncing out of a zombie’s brain, Momo."

"I want it," Su Mo said, ignoring her and speaking to Lu Chen instead.

"It’s yours," he said, rubbing her head.

She put down the transparent crystal stone, holding the milky white one in her hand, her eyes slowly closing. She was feeling the energy inside the crystal stone, as if it was innate, unconsciously guiding the energy from within the stone into her body.

By the time she opened her eyes again, she opened her hand to find it had turned to a pile of powder.

"This is something that can be used for upgrading," a glint of gold flickered in Su Mo’s eyes as she confidently stated.

"After such a long time, we finally found something that can be upgraded," Li Qian said softly, not too surprised by the discovery.

"The thing that lets us upgrade is actually inside a zombie’s brain?" Zhao Changsheng picked up the transparent crystal stone, felt it for a moment, then set it down: "It’s too little, absorbing this amount of energy is basically useless."

"Could it be that these ordinary crystal stones can be found in the brains of those evolved zombies?" Su Mo pondered aloud.

Busy escaping from the prison, they hadn’t really taken the time to dig through a zombie’s brain.

Li Qian said, "We’ll try tomorrow."

Now, the roads were filled with Evolution Species, and they could easily catch one to have a look inside.

"Let’s rest," Lu Chen said, pulling Su Mo to stand up, and he took out several sleeping bags and tossed them to the others.

Jianxiong caught the sleeping bag and howled, "I’ll take the first half of the night; Zhao Changsheng, you take the second half."

"Fine," the woman said, holding the sleeping bag, casting a longing glance at Su Mo before obediently finding a spot to lie down.

Pulled by Lu Chen, Su Mo returned to the small compartment enclosed by the shelves. She touched her lips and her face turned red as if she had thought of something.

"What are you thinking about?" the man leaned closer to her and asked softly in her ear.

"Thinking about you destroying the flower of our nation," Su Mo whispered shyly, her face flushing. This man always seemed to be weird around her.

She took off her shoes and crawled into the sleeping bag. Even though it was already night and there was not a single ray of light in the convenience store, Su Mo could still see the layout of the store clearly, as well as Lu Chen’s eyes, which were fixed on her.

He lay down next to her in his sleeping bag, and Su Mo turned to face him and whispered, "Lu Chen?"

"Hmm?" The man propped up his head and looked at her.

"When were you attracted by my charm?" Su Mo asked brazenly, resting her head on her arm.

"Charm?" The man’s gaze lowered to rest on her chest: "Do you have any?"

"..." Had she just been made fun of again? She saw it!

Su Mo turned up the corner of her mouth, pinching the sleeping bag and moving to the side, intending to ignore him.

The man chuckled and pulled her back, pressing her head against his chest and whispered, "Can’t you hear it?"

There were no sweet nothings, no romantic confessions, just the quiet of the night and the sound of his heart beating fast because of her.

"Su Mo, don’t take risks with your life anymore, I’ll go mad," he sighed above her head.