Chapter 554.2: The Smell Of Blood

Boulder Town.

Inside a kitchen at the New Alliance’s barracks, Light Wind looked nervously at the long table lined with plates containing indescribable things and said, "So... All of you really failed?"

After returning that day, the market had been sealed off. She had even gone to Dawn City, but still couldn't buy the items listed.

Though Mosquito never blamed her, she still felt embarrassed and stayed in Dawn City until that day before returning.

Soon after, she received a new task, clearing out the kitchen rented by the Goblin Corps.

As it turned out, Little Ghost had been assigned the task as well.

For some reason, even though it was clearly just a simple errand, the reward was an astonishing 200 silver coins! It was even marked as a high-risk mission.

But she wasn't worried at all. It was just about moving things out of a kitchen, far safer than test-flying a new model aircraft...

With no hesitation, she accepted the task.

Standing beside her, Little Ghost spread her hands helplessly. “We had no choice. Since we couldn’t get those spices, we had to substitute them with something else.”

“I’m sorry!”

Seeing Light Wind bow her head and apologize, Little Ghost quickly comforted her. “

Ah

, no need to apologize. I think it was actually lucky you didn’t manage to get them. I’ve said it before, using centipedes as ingredients just isn’t going to work!”

Light Wind muttered hesitantly, “But... What about the New Year’s Eve event?”

Little Ghost scratched the back of her head. “We’ll think of something else. Worst case, we just throw something random together to get by, as long as we participate, we still get a mystery gift.”

Light Wind let out a sigh of relief. After all, cooking wasn’t exactly a strength of Combat Profession players like them, especially her, who didn’t know the first thing about it.

Trying to tackle a high-difficulty ingredient like centipede meat right from the start had clearly been overly ambitious.

Her gaze fell on a pile of black lumpy substances in the kitchen corner. Curious, she asked, “What’s that? Is it edible?”

As she spoke, she walked over and picked up a piece.

Just as she was about to taste it, Little Ghost quickly reached out and stopped her. “Wait! That’s not food, that’s charcoal!”

Light Wind froze.“Char-charcoal?”

“Yeah! The commander originally planned to grill things. Someone told him the smell of burning wood could mask the stench of the meat, but that also failed.”

Judging by Little Ghost’s expression, Light Wind could already imagine the scene. Her eyes drifted to a sack filled with yellowish hard chunks. “What about those?”

Egg yolks?

Following her gaze, Little Ghost immediately replied, “Ah, that’s sulfur. There’s also saltpeter and some other stuff nearby.”

Light Wind quietly put the sulfur back and looked at Little Ghost with a complicated expression. “Huh?! Was he really trying to cook?”

“Uh... maybe?” Little Ghost, who also wore an odd expression, looked away. She had been so sure before, but now wasn’t sure anymore. “Anyway, thank goodness... He seems to have given up.”

That might not be a bad thing.

Irene’s dishes were weird at most, but anything Mosquito cooked could literally send people to the hospital and get him banned for a few days again.

Still, it was rare to see him so interested in food.

Light Wind looked toward a barrel of shiny white crystals. “What about those?”

“Ah, that’s sugar! Mosquito’s final attempt! He wanted to use sweetness to mask the stench of the meat, but in the end everyone just ended up in the bathroom...”

It was a memory Little Ghost would rather forget, and she wore a regretful expression.

That barrel of sugar was probably the only thing in the entire kitchen that could be eaten.

Staring blankly at it, Light Wind said with a pained voice, “So much sugar... It would be such a waste to throw it away.”

“Right?” Little Ghost sighed, folding her arms. “I’ve wanted to complain for a while now... He’s totally wasting food!”

Trying to cover up centipede meat’s stench with spices...

They probably used more spices than meat!

Light Wind stared at the sugar for a long while, and suddenly her eyes lit up. “What if we just used this sugar to make some simple snacks?”

Little Ghost was stunned. “With just sugar? Like what?”

Candy? That seemed kind of plain.

Looking at her confused best friend, Light Wind grinned proudly. “Cotton candy!”

She had never made it before, but she heard the principle was simple.

All she had to do was to heat the sugar into syrup and spin it continuously in a heated chamber. With centrifugal force, the syrup would spray out through tiny holes and solidify mid-air into sweet threads of sugar.

Hearing her idea, Little Ghost’s eyes instantly lit up. “That’s a great idea! Way better than centipede vermicelli stew!”

“

Uh...

What kind of weird dish is that?”

“Got the idea from snail noodles[1]... anyway, it’s settled then! I’m going to ask Mosquito to make a cotton candy machine!”

The more she thought about it, the more brilliant the idea seemed. Little Ghost clenched her fists with excitement.

Mosquito would probably cry tears of joy! His skills could finally be used for something normal!

Rejoice, brother!

Seeing her suggestion being so useful, Light Wind smiled sheepishly. “Hehe, I’d like to make a bunch and deliver some to Citrus and the others too.”

“Citrus?”

“Yeah! A really cute kid, super well-behaved and sensible! I promised her I would visit when I had time,” Light Wind said, eyes sparkling. “I’ll introduce her to you tomorrow!”

“

Mmhmm

! Looking forward to it!!”

The two worked together to move out the most dangerous bags and barrels first.

Soon, only some glassware like beakers and flasks remained in the kitchen, along with a few jars and bottles on the shelves.

Taking down one of the bottles, Light Wind opened the cap and sniffed. A frown soon formed on her face. “Smells like kerosene.”

Why would anyone need kerosene for cooking?

Inside the bottle were not just kerosene, but also some small white granules the size of fingernails.

There was no label, and she had no idea what the contents were.

“Do we still need this stuff? If not, I’ll dump it.” Gently shaking the bottle in her hand, Light Wind shouted toward Little Ghost, who was tidying things a few steps away.

“Ah, dump it all,” Little Ghost replied casually without looking back. “Mosquito said to clear out the kitchen and dispose of all the materials too.”

“That dumb commander, such a waste.” Light Wind shook her head, unscrewed the cap, and dumped the contents into the sink. She turned on the tap, intending to wash it away.

But the moment she turned on the faucet, the pale yellow liquid suddenly ignited with a sizzle.

Thankfully, she was an agility type player with quick reflexes.

Sensing danger, she instinctively ducked, and shrapnel from the explosion whizzed right over her head.

“What happened?!”

Seeing the rolling bottle, Little Ghost’s face turned pale. “Sodium! Crap... I forgot!”

The explosion ignited the kerosene. Flames from the sink leapt to the nearby shelf filled with jars and bottles.

Under the intense heat, the contents began to undergo strange chemical reactions.

Watching the chain reaction begin, Light Wind swallowed nervously and took a step back.

“That...?”

“That was sodium! Metallic sodium!”

“HUUUUH?! What the hell was he doing with that in a kitchen?!”

“Who knows?!”

From the moment that first bottle exploded, what happened next was inevitable.

The previously calm barracks was rocked by a violent blast. Fire and smoke billowed out of the kitchen windows.

Fortunately, the blast wasn’t powerful enough to collapse the building.

Assuming it was a gang attack, the base immediately sounded the alarm. Dozens of heavily armed soldiers rushed in.

In the end, it turned out to be a false alarm.

When it was revealed to be the Goblin Corps’ doing, the logistics officer didn’t bother asking questions. He just sent a fine straight to the unit commander, his face as black as the soot-covered walls.

That wasn’t the first time those fools blew something up...

Staring at the string of zeroes on the fine, Mosquito signed it tearfully.

At least no one was seriously hurt.

The charcoal and sugar had already been moved out beforehand, and the two unfortunate players caught in the explosion had only sustained minor injuries.

If a little incident like that made them miss the New Year’s Eve event because they were kicked out of the game for three days, that would’ve been a real loss...

[Mission:

Clear the Kitchen Previously Used by the Goblin Corps (Failed)

]

...

The commotion at the player garrison was just a small incident. Most players prepared fairly normal food. Only a handful of daredevils risked their lives developing new recipes.

Aside from top-tier chefs who could make real-world dishes like Tomato Eggs, no one really expected to win first prize with some wildly unorthodox idea.

These holiday events were just for fun. Plenty formed teams to hunt for ingredients, but most were participating with a playful attitude.

Thanks to player activity, Boulder Town, which had been quiet for over half a month, finally regained some of its former liveliness as the holiday approached.

And so, New Year’s Eve arrived.

The streets were festively decorated. Survivors poured into the streets, and many shops that had been closed for over two weeks reopened.

Starting last week, the construction teams had begun receiving daily wages according to the New Alliance’s minimum wage standards, and the factories had already resumed paying in silver coins.

Goods were once again filling the shelves. While people’s wallets weren’t exactly stuffed, they could now afford to buy a few things.

Everything was getting better.

The night sky lit up with dazzling fireworks.

Not only from the Heart of Steel docked at Dawn City, even the anti-air guns on the city walls were launching celebratory rounds into the sky.

By the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Boulder Town Arms Industry Tower, watching the fireworks burst across the sky, Eberts clapped his hands with a smile. “Excellent... quite the entertaining show.”

Under the guise of hunting mutants, the surrounding marauder tribes had been quietly wiped out. Then the gang factions in the slums had been swiftly purged.

So far, this new shareholder’s performance had exceeded his expectations. It had been a long time since an organic being had surprised him this much.

He had originally thought Boulder Town’s chaos would drag on for at least five or six years, possibly even destabilizing Clearspring City.

As it turned out, the show barely lasted a month!

The ticking time bomb buried in the slums hadn’t even started its countdown before being silently defused.

Now that the slums had been cleaned up and most of the city’s factories were back in operation, the emergency state might soon be lifted.

Perhaps that very celebration would be the turning point.

On the contrary, Eberts wasn’t disappointed, he was even more excited.

Beneath the harmony and peace, he could already faintly smell blood.

1. Dish in china, pretty tasty, but kinda smelly! ☜