Chapter 145 - Banana Flavored Boss Gong (5)
Translated by Hua Li ^_~
“Xiao Tang, what ability did you awaken?”
When asked this question, Gou Liang didn’t answer immediately but instead turned to glance at them.
As the system had predicted, Zhou Gao awakened a fire ability, Yu Lin had an ice ability, Qin Bei had wind, Jiang Ren had metal, and Yu Sen, who had already awakened a wood ability, had his strength and speed enhanced.
He listed these out one by one, pushing up his gla.s.ses under their surprised gazes, and finally said, “The ability I awakened is a special vision that allows me to see the energy flow in your bodies and their carrying limits.”
Gou Liang wasn’t a native soul in this world, so even though he was inhabiting the original host’s body, he couldn’t absorb soul power through consuming beast cores and blood.
Thus, he had to purchase an ability tool from the system mall worth 6,666 points to gain an ability recognized by the source power of this world. If he wished, he could possess all types of abilities, but Gou Liang’s role in the team wasn’t as a combatant, but rather as a technical guide, so he chose to awaken this special vision.
“Carrying limits?”
While the others were curious about Gou Liang’s ability and asked more questions, Shi Buyu was the first to bring this up.
He had personally witnessed many comrades die without warning in the lab. If there was indeed a load limit for the energy humans could extract from beasts, then this might explain their deaths.
Gou Liang nodded.
Of course, there was a limit to how much soul power a soul could carry.
Otherwise, the original host wouldn’t have died from a single sip of beast blood despite having such high native soul power. This was entirely because the heavens had blessed him too much, giving him the maximum soul power his soul could carry from birth. But at the same time, this made him tragically unable to gain any external soul power—just a single unit of soul power would have killed him instantly.
“I can see this in everyone—except you.”
Recognizing this familiar phrase, Gou Liang paused before continuing, “I need beast cores and blood for experiments. If I can quantify this energy and find a pattern for the human body’s limits…”
Then, the mortality rate for ability users would significantly decrease!
The group exchanged glances, understanding the gravity of this statement, and immediately expressed their full cooperation.
Gou Liang wasn’t finished: “I can also see the direction of your abilities’ evolution. This likely follows a pattern as well.”
They shared this information with the Jiuzhu Base, which was delighted.
It turned out the base had been researching this since its inception, but the high mortality rate from beast blood had made them hesitant to subject all survivors to ability modification. As a result, the base still had nearly 2.5 million ordinary civilians.
They were working on an ability and physical fitness testing machine to improve the survival rate of ordinary survivors undergoing ability modification.
But up to now, they hadn’t even completed the first step of quantifying the energy in beast blood and cores. Gou Liang’s ability was a huge breakthrough for them.
The researchers at Jiuzhu Base sincerely invited him to the base, but when Gou Liang declined, they offered to send a few a.s.sistants to him.
Gou Liang refused: “I’ll notify you immediately if I make any discoveries. You can conduct the next phase of detailed research.”
The researchers asked, “Are you concerned about the safety of the a.s.sistants?”
“Don’t worry,” they said. “The sonic device you provided has been made into a defensive machine. Although it’s still undergoing human safety tests and hasn’t been officially deployed, it can be safely delivered to you.”
“That’s not the issue.”
Gou Liang explained, “Our team has its own action plan and mission. We’re not equipped to conduct large-scale experiments independently. And I need first-hand data from beasts, so going to Jiuzhu Base isn’t a good option. Oh, and… please don’t reveal my existence to the public. Any results should be published under the name of Jiuzhu Base.”
The research director hesitated, but Gou Liang added, “I don’t want to be anyone’s hero or become a target for certain people.”
Only then did they agree.
After all, Gou Liang was a national treasure-level figure, so his safety was paramount.
Afterward, Shi Buyu connected with General Yao to report on the team’s current situation and offered to supply the base with the beasts they hunted.
Given their seven-member team’s food intake, they couldn’t finish even one beast in three days, and they had no way to store the excess meat. Supplying it to the base to feed the hungry ability users was the best use of the resources.
General Yao was greatly pleased, expressing his grat.i.tude multiple times. He also mentioned the ongoing research into the sonic device for repelling beasts.
He said, “The lab has developed a short-term protective suit with a sonic shield. Although it can’t be used for base defense yet, it provides some safety for ability users piloting sonic flyers to rescue survivors. The rescue operations have resumed, but I wonder how many people are still alive after the delay…”
Hearing this, the group felt a bit melancholic, but such matters were beyond their control.
Gou Liang, however, offered technical support and spent extra hours writing a thermal detection program that could search for human life signs through satellite detectors, which he then sent to Jiuzhu Base.
After the base successfully received it, Gou Liang finally stopped working, only to be hit by the pungent smell of burnt meat.
While Gou Liang had been busy, Shi Buyu had taken Yu Sen, Jiang Ren, and Qin Bei to the surface for combat training and to collect beast cores for Gou Liang’s experiments. Zhou Gao and Yu Lin had stayed behind to protect Gou Liang and were also responsible for dinner. Zhou Gao was a fire ability user, and Yu Lin was the best cook among them—or rather, even the founding figure of “dark cuisine” would probably rank second to him.
Under his guidance, Zhou Gao, who was still not adept at controlling his fire ability, had managed to char the beast meat unevenly, with some parts burnt and others raw.
The two of them were quite pleased with their results.
Zhou Gao was proudly boasting about his exceptional talent when he noticed Gou Liang staring at him—or rather, at the meat in his hand—and quickly said with a smile, “Teacher Tang, you must be hungry. Just a little longer, and it’ll be ready to eat.”
Gou Liang: “Heh.”
At that moment, Shi Buyu and the others returned, and their faces changed upon seeing the beast meat. Yu Sen laughed awkwardly and said, “For a first attempt, this is already pretty good.”
Don’t think soldiers are all-rounders. Aside from having kids, they really are ‘omnipotent’. With their intense training and missions, they never had time to practice cooking. They mostly relied on compressed food and nutrient gels, and those tasted so bad that they weren’t picky eaters.
Jiang Ren and Qin Bei knew they would fare even worse, so they didn’t complain.
But Shi Buyu wasn’t one to deceive himself. Pressing his thumb against his brow, he said, “Let’s just eat nutrient solutions today. Our supplies can last half a year, so let’s not waste them.”
He had originally planned to send these supplies to Jiuzhu Base, and now it seemed… they should send more beast meat instead.
Gou Liang suppressed a smile and said to him, “Carry me.”
Shi Buyu didn’t move, keeping a polite smile as he replied, “Teacher Tang, while you were asleep, Jiang Ren crafted a 24K gold wheelchair for you, and it’s fully automated. See? Just press the red b.u.t.ton on your left hand side, yes, and move the steering lever on your right to go anywhere you want—”
Before he could finish, there was a snap!
Gou Liang held the broken steering lever, pushing up his gla.s.ses with an innocent look at Shi Buyu.
Shi Buyu: “…”
Yu Sen and the others burst into laughter, with Yu Lin squinting as he added, “If you had gone back to Jiuzhu Base, they would’ve treated you like a king. But you turned them down so quickly—could it be that you couldn’t bear to leave the boss—or the rest of us?”
Shi Buyu paused in pushing Gou Liang’s wheelchair and looked down to see Gou Liang nodding, then shaking his head.
His heart fluttered up and down. What did that nod and shake mean?
Gou Liang, ever straightforward, didn’t leave him in suspense for long. He said, “It’s not about you guys. There’s just no better pillow in the world than him.”
As he said this, he seemed a bit shy, pushing up his gla.s.ses.
The group roared with laughter, and Shi Buyu, exasperated, said, “So that’s all I’m good for, huh?”
Gou Liang reached out to touch Shi Buyu’s firm arm, then nodded affirmatively, “Very comfortable.”
Shi Buyu: “…”
Yu Sen and the others: “…”
Was this what they called s.e.xual hara.s.sment?
Shi Buyu’s eye twitched, and everyone quickly turned their heads—don’t laugh! If you laugh out loud, you’ll definitely be silenced!
Only Gou Liang seemed oblivious to the odd atmosphere, maintaining his tone as he instructed Jiang Ren to use his metal ability to make a large barbecue grill, stove, knives, and other tools.
A half-leg of the beast was placed on the large metal cutting board, and Gou Liang had Yu Sen start recording. Pointing at the cross-section of the meat, he explained, “See how the muscle fibers of the rampaging bull beast are layered? This line is where the residual energy flows. If you cut along here, you can extract the intact fat-wrapped blood vessels. Like this—”
As he demonstrated, he pulled out a blood vessel and continued, “This beast has been dead for over forty-eight hours. From my observations, within forty-eight hours, a beast’s blood still retains some energy, which decreases over time, while the impurities increase.”
“For example, this beast’s coagulated, dried blood contains no energy and is full of harmful substances.”
“An ability user’s immune system has undergone qualitative changes, so consuming this won’t be fatal in the short term. But ordinary people absolutely cannot eat it. So the first step in handling beast meat, before high-temperature sterilization, is to remove all the major blood vessels.”
Finishing his explanation, Gou Liang instructed them to upload the video to Jiuzhu Base’s research lab’s internal resource pool, then began slicing the beast meat into evenly thick steaks.
His professional technique left Yu Lin and the others slack-jawed, realizing that their food problem was finally solved, much to their delight.
Zhou Gao, who had been self-praising to motivate and comfort himself, slapped his thigh and laughed heartily, “This is great! Teacher Tang, I didn’t know you had this skill; I only knew you could eat!”
Qin Bei gave him a smack on the head—if you can’t compliment someone, just shut up! Offending the cook? You’re asking for it!
Zhou Gao laughed sheepishly.
Gou Liang didn’t mind, shaking his head. He thoroughly enjoyed cooking, and the tension on his face eased into an unconscious smile.
He said, “If my parents hadn’t cried for three days and nights, I’d be a chef now, not an engineer.”
The original host’s greatest dream was to become a world-cla.s.s chef.
Though that dream was drowned in his parents’ tears, the original host didn’t give up on his pa.s.sion. His dream shifted with the times, becoming a desire to taste all the world’s delicacies—a desire so strong that when he died, his abundant soul power instantly turned into negative soul power—all because he died without fulfilling that wish, becoming nothing more than a hungry ghost!
A huge foodie like that was pretty straightforward, and it was easy to foresee that this world would be the one where Gou Liang could collect soul power the easiest.
“Haha, Teacher Tang, you’re so smart, you could easily manage both. Right, boss?”
Qin Bei, aware that only Shi Buyu’s IQ could match Gou Liang’s, sought his agreement.
But when he turned to look, he saw his boss staring at Gou Liang cutting steaks, seemingly oblivious to the conversation. Qin Bei burst out laughing, waving a hand in front of his eyes, “Boss, are you so hungry you’re seeing stars?”
Shi Buyu snapped back to reality.
[Ding! Target’s affection level updated, current affection level: +61!!]
[?!!]
“Hiss!”
Startled, Gou Liang accidentally cut his finger with the sharp knife, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He instinctively looked at Shi Buyu, only to see a blur—
Shi Buyu had grabbed his finger at lightning speed and, without thinking, brought it to his mouth.
As a warm tongue licked the wound, Gou Liang’s hand trembled.
He stared dazedly at Shi Buyu, who was frowning in concentration, his face turning red before he could react.
The other five were just as shocked as Gou Liang, standing there with their mouths open, watching Shi Buyu.
But their boss didn’t notice anything wrong. Only after ensuring the wound was fully healed did he let go, giving a light warning, “Be more careful.”
Gou Liang nodded, his face flushed, as he nervously adjusted his gla.s.ses over and over.
Shi Buyu was jolted back to reality by Gou Liang’s “shy” expression that nearly set his hair on fire, suddenly realizing the absurdity of what he had just done!
He quickly let go of Gou Liang’s hand, exclaiming loudly, “What are you all staring at me for? My saliva has healing properties; you all know that!”
“Oh~~”
The other five responded in unison, their tone dripping with implication. Even the usually silent Jiang Ren joined in with a knowing look.
Shi Buyu, feeling the need to cover up, insisted, “I’d do the same for any of you—”
“No.”
Gou Liang, seemingly indifferent as he continued cutting meat, suddenly spoke up, looking up to say, “I don’t like you licking others.”
Shi Buyu’s face flushed red in an instant. He wanted to argue but found himself at a loss for words.
Gou Liang’s gaze remained locked on him, his ears turning red, but his eyes were filled with stubbornness. His hands didn’t stop moving, and in the time it took to say a few words, the steak he had just cut had been minced into meat paste at a nearly imperceptible speed.
Yu Lin and the others, seeing this, suddenly felt a chill between their legs, almost instinctively stepping a foot away from Shi Buyu.
Yu Lin forced a laugh, “Teacher Tang, don’t be mad. The boss is all yours as a pillow; we won’t fight you for him, hehe.”
Qin Bei added, “Yeah, yeah! Even if the boss wanted to lick us, we wouldn’t let him; it’s too… gross.”
The mere thought gave them gooseb.u.mps!
Everyone nodded frantically in agreement.
Shi Buyu cursed under his breath. Amidst the sound of Gou Liang chopping meat, he forced an awkward smile and said, “I was just joking earlier.”
Really?
Gou Liang didn’t stop or speak, but his gaze clearly conveyed his thoughts to Shi Buyu and the others.
“…Absolutely serious.”
Plastering a stiff smile on his face, Shi Buyu stared at that plump face, suddenly feeling a bit lost.
Only then did Gou Liang push up his gla.s.ses, returning to his usual self.
Looking at the minced meat he had made, he coughed and said, “It’s been a while since I had dumplings. We have flour among the supplies, right?”
Shi Buyu immediately volunteered, “I’ll get it!”
He practically fled the scene, leaving Yu Sen and the others exchanging glances before all looking at Jiang Ren.
Perhaps it was because Jiang Ren was known for keeping his mouth shut, but Shi Buyu often sought his advice when facing life’s dilemmas. Now, bearing the weight of his boss’s trust and his comrades’ expectations, Jiang Ren reluctantly approached Shi Buyu.
As expected, Shi Buyu’s urge to confide exploded the moment he saw him.
He opened with, “Old Jiang, is there something wrong with me?”
Jiang Ren was taken aback, hesitating before quietly asking, “Boss, why do you say that?”
After all these years, he still struggled to suppress his voice to a strong, middle-aged tone unless reporting his military status, so getting him to speak up wasn’t easy.
Shi Buyu didn’t seem to mind his voice and, with a frown, said, “Just now, when I saw that fat— I mean, Teacher Tang cooking, I actually thought about marrying him! d.a.m.n it, even now I can’t get rid of this terrifying idea. Do you think there’s something wrong with my brain?”
Jiang Ren gasped, looking at Shi Buyu in disbelief. “Boss, you… like men?”
“Bulls.h.i.t!”
Shi Buyu instinctively denied it, but then added, “I’ve never had any thoughts about women either, which might be abnormal… Anyway, that’s not the point right now.”
Seeing his boss’s expectant expression, clearly hoping for an a.n.a.lysis of his brain issues, Jiang Ren was momentarily speechless, then shook his head helplessly.
Shi Buyu, cradling the bag of flour, said weakly, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just now, watching him cut the meat, it felt like I’ve seen that scene countless times before… It’s a strange feeling, like the happiness you guys used to talk about. As long as I keep watching him, my heart feels at ease… I must be sick, right? I used to hate the fatty named Tang!”
Not really.
This sudden “hatred” of Tang fatty was the actual “illness.”
After silently commenting, Jiang Ren suddenly patted Shi Buyu’s shoulder with a serious look, saying, “Boss, no matter what, I wish you the best.”
With that, he sighed deeply and walked away.
Shi Buyu stood there with a stiff expression: What’s with this tone like you’re sending off a daughter to be married?!