The Last Gentleman
Chapter 507: 505: Hot Springs, Massage, and Side Dishes

William, as a first-time participant in the magic feast,

ignored Catherine’s warnings and did not hold back during the meal, deliberately immersing himself completely in the food to sense the "Thought" each dish intended to convey.

Even knowing the risks, he paid them no mind,

devouring all the food presented before him, savoring each bite, leaving not a single grain of rice, a piece of vegetable, a drop of meat oil, or breadcrumb behind.

When he ate skewer number [9], a sense of fullness also emerged.

Had it not been for his last-minute participation, the magic feast would have ended there, and Timi the chef’s dessert would have been the final course to "wrap up" the event.

"I guess everyone’s feeling a bit ’satiated’... That’s perfect~ In that case, the stimulation for the taste buds won’t be too intense, and I just need to perform modestly in this magic banquet room."

Number [10], dish presentation.

The poker-faced server removed the barbecue basin and then sequentially delivered small square bowls filled with condiments to everyone,

currently kept warm inside a large clay pot,

William stood up proactively, unveiling the pot lid under everyone’s attentive gaze.

Whir!

Long-restrained steam burst out like white light, even forming rolling clouds at the top of the hall that faintly revealed twinkling stars within.

This had certain similarities with Jian’s layered rice pot,

but William’s current position in the circus as a magician’s assistant made such a presentation not the slightest bit out of place.

Besides, there was a fundamental difference between the two reveals,

Jian created an illusion of a meat mountain to enhance everyone’s appetite, while William crafted an indoor weather effect, creating a tranquil sensation of dining under a night sky filled with stars.

The master in the host’s seat, however, appeared puzzled. Coils of black hair wrapped around his face, even forming question mark shapes to express his confusion.

Since the start of the magic feast, he had been anticipating that novel smell, the crispy fried aroma that lured him to the banquet hall early, yet none of the previous dishes contained that scent.

When he pinned his hopes on William, the newcomer, he still didn’t detect that fragrance after the pot was opened, leading to his puzzlement and even disappointment.

The boss, with eyeballs structured out of black hair, peered into the pot, and more questions arose in his mind.

"Stargazer’s ’Platinum Blood’?"

Not just the boss, everyone present was captivated by the liquid inside the pot.

A silvery-white, thick broth was bubbling and boiling inside the pot, containing some food wrapped in pure white skin simmering within.

Gurgle, gurgle~ The residual heat from the Evil Sun sustained the stewing in the pot, a clever move to utilize the dining time for continuous cooking.

It was also a measure of last resort, to fully cook the boss’s notoriously difficult "scalp meat" through the skin which wouldn’t be possible in the originally planned time frame.

Rushing before anyone could question it, William quickly introduced his dish:

"This is the dish I’ve prepared for everyone—[Red Oil Dumplings].

Since the boss’s scalp meat was quite a challenge to handle, I had to add a bit of ’Platinum Blood’ to raise the boiling point of the solution, and only the sustained high-temperature stewing combined with the permeation of the starry sky could cook the delicate meat inside thoroughly.

The dumpling skin is made from ’Gentleman’s Skin’ and ’Sheep’s Navel’ after filtering out excess pigments.

As for the stuffing inside, I’d like to keep it a secret for now. I’ll let everyone discover its flavor."

"Not again!"

Chef Timi immediately remembered the Bursting Rice Noodle Roll William made a month ago, which was also shrouded in mystery and ended up with the restaurant covered in spills,

and this thing called ’Dumplings’ was a term he had never heard before.

With that thought, Timi quickly leaned in to whisper in the boss’s ear about the possibility of ’Bursting’.

At this moment, William approached the boss and, following the sequence of the previous servings, doled out the dumplings, precisely ten for each person.

"Everyone just needs to mix well, let the Red Oil condiment coat the dumplings, and then they can be consumed... It’s best to pop the entire dumpling into your mouth in one go to fully appreciate the ’flavor’ of the dumpling."

The pure white dumpling skin tightly wrapped the insides, and William even specially treated them to prevent transparency, maintaining the mysterious allure for the diners before tasting, which enhanced their desire to unveil the secret of the stuffing.

The attendees had all seen William’s earnest approach to savoring delicacies,

so they took his advice seriously and adopted the recommendation of one dumpling per bite.

The quickest was Mr. Rabbit; his body was a bottomless pit with no sense of fullness to speak of. He also loved trying new things, and this dish called dumplings was unheard of to him.

As the dumpling coated in Red Oil entered his mouth and his teeth came down...

Slip~

"Hm?" Mr. Rabbit’s expectation of a bursting filling didn’t occur, as his first bite failed to cut through the dumpling skin.

The skin of the dumplings had reached a great degree of pliability, and after being stewed for a long time in a broth laced with Platinum Blood, the surface became exceptionally smooth, easily slipping through the teeth if one wasn’t careful.

As the dumplings glided, they also coated every corner of the mouth with Red Oil.

Up until now, all the dishes that people had eaten were quite easy to manage, either melting in the mouth or matching the biting pattern of the teeth perfectly.

The dumplings made by William, however, were quite different. In order to bite into them, one had to not only concentrate but also master a certain skill, which added a sense of challenge and fun.

With the outer skin sealed tightly, the diners were eager to find out what was exactly inside.

Mr. Rabbit quickly found the perfect spot to bite and then used his muscular tongue to secure the dumpling further.

The teeth fell like a guillotine blade,

Whoosh! Slicing through the White Skin.

He had expected a burst of extremely hot liquid,

Yet what flowed out was instead a mild and soothing broth, slightly warmer than body temperature and richly aromatic.

When this peculiar broth mixed with the Red Oil that had pre-coated his mouth, buzz! A wave of stimulation rushed straight to the crown of his head.

Mr. Rabbit, engrossed in savoring the flavor, offered no resistance,

His Thought became detached due to the shock in his mouth and was led by the Star River mixed into the broth into a predetermined scene of Madness Brain.

When he opened his eyes again,

Mr. Rabbit found himself stripped of his clothes, wearing only his tie, soaking in a hot spring deep in the mountains, with stars spangling the night sky and an all-enveloping silence.

The milky water of the hot spring was sprinkled with needle-like structures of chili peppers, stimulating every pore to open to their maximum.

Tap tap tap~ A series of footsteps approached from behind.

Two handsome men, resembling William, entered the current hot spring area,

One stood bare-chested, offering hot spring services such as scrubbing and massaging.

The other, wrapped in a towel, held a wooden tray in his hands, with small bowls filled with various delicate appetizers, ready to provide food service.

This man wrapped little bites like fried dregs, finely ground meat, corn kernels, and small chunks of winter melon in White Skin,

Waiting until the effects of the massage and scrubbing reached their peak, when Mr. Rabbit couldn’t help but open his mouth due to extreme comfort, the William-like attendant immediately popped the prepared bite into his mouth.

Crack~

Something crispy was crushed in the mouth,

Followed by a burst of coolness, tenderness, and juiciness from the other appetizers,

With the flavor of the fried dregs leading the charge, complemented by the finely ground meat—flavors spread wildly within his mouth,

And, combined with the soaking in the spicy hot spring and the exquisite pressure of the massage, the experience of eating reached an unprecedented high.

Uh! Mr. Rabbit, who had never spoken a word up until that point, suddenly made a strange sound.

However,

nobody in the Magic Banquet Room noticed Mr. Rabbit’s odd state, as they were all immersed in similar hot spring scenes, enjoying a dreamlike hot spring service.

They all made various sounds to some degree,

Especially Catherine,

She outright asked the William-like attendant in the hot springs to provide a special service where no White Skin was used to wrap the appetizers, but rather to deliver them mouth-to-mouth in a warm manner, using the tongue as the dumpling skin.

In reality, Catherine, seated in a harlequin chair, even began to tremble.

Just as everyone was lost in the hot spring service,

Ding!

A crisp metallic sound echoed throughout the banquet hall, and Chef Timi suddenly awoke from the hot spring illusion, his gaze instantly Locked onto the source of the sound,

positioned behind the Master’s wheelchair,

the blunt end of the restraints’ Golden Needles had been stained flesh-colored.

"Trouble!"

As he flicked his tongue to shoot a backup Golden Needle at the Master’s nape at top Speed,

Crack!

His tongue was chopped to mince by the black hair, and the needle barely landed on the surface of the nape, failing to penetrate.

"Locking released!"

The Master’s Physical body instantly lost control, his decaying form, burdened with black hair, began to grow madly in an ’overlapping’ manner, threatening to completely engulf the banquet hall.