Douluo Continent: Gourmet Prisoner

"Is this right? Is this really right?!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm rolled around on its back in the snow, its wailing so loud that the surrounding snowflakes fell in a flurry, looking like a defeated dog cruelly abandoned by fate. "Why is the snow in the far north vanilla-flavored! Why isn't it rich and smooth chocolate-flavored?! My life is incomplete!"

Zhu Lu squatted to the side, staring at the semi-transparent energy entity still smacking its non-existent mouth, her face full of bewilderment that read, "Human joys and sorrows are not shared." "Sister Tianmeng, is that the point? Also, aren't you just an energy form now? How can you taste anything without a physical body?"

"Huh? Sis can eat?" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm froze abruptly, her two round eyes widening in surprise. Then, as if she had discovered a new continent, she jumped high into the air, her pale blue light almost leaving afterimages. "That's right! Sis can actually eat!"

"Sister Tianmeng, you're really obsessed with food." Shi Yu squatted by the snowdrift, grabbed a handful of fluffy snow and stuffed it into his mouth. The cool, herbal scent melted on his tongue, carrying a hint of the crispness unique to the far north. He chewed while relentlessly complaining.

"For a silkworm to live is to never miss out on delicious food!" The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm retorted defiantly, wriggling its energy body to grab a large clump of snow, chewing it with obvious relish, and even rolling its eyes in a sarcastic reply, "You're enjoying yours just as much, aren't you? Chewing on some herbal snow, and you dare criticize me? Typical example of being strict with others but lenient with yourself!"

Huo Yutong stood to the side, her golden spiritual eyes glowing slightly. Her gaze suddenly fixed on the snow slope not far away, and her eyes instantly sparkled: "Sister Tianmeng, Brother Shiyu, look over there! That patch of snow is a different color; maybe it tastes different!"

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw a patch of brownish-red snow lying on the vast white snowfield. The color was just like melted chocolate, and it shimmered with a warm luster under the sunlight, looking sweet and tempting.

"Brown! This must be a rich chocolate flavor!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's eyes widened, and with a howl, it pounced over and took a big bite.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey—!!"

The next second, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's wailing almost blew up half a snow layer. She frantically shook her energy body, practically sticking her tongue out, "What the hell is this! This isn't chocolate! It tastes like bitter herbs, and it's even a bit astringent, worse than medicine!"

Shi Yu raised an eyebrow, his gaze then falling on a patch of lush green snow beside him. The color was so vibrant and bright, it looked "something was off." Driven by curiosity, he picked up a small pinch and put it in his mouth. After chewing a couple of times, he frowned, his features almost contorting into a grimace: "It's wasabi flavored, it's so pungent it's making my eyes water. Tianmeng, why don't you try it? I can't gamble on it; who knows what other weird flavors this godforsaken place might have."

"I'm not eating anymore! I'm not eating anymore!" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm shook her head like a rattle-drum, patting her energy body in lingering fear. "The chocolate flavor turned into a medicinal soup flavor, and not only is there no chocolate flavor, but there's also wasabi! Does the snow in the far north have a grudge against me?"

"Tianmeng! Shiyu! Xiaoyutong! Come here quickly!" Zhu Lu suddenly called out from the other side, her voice full of excitement, with a hint of deliberately suppressed joy. "The snow here tastes like strawberries! It's pink and so delicious!"

Her voice sounded incredibly cheerful, but her expression was a bit off; her lips were red, her cheeks were slightly puffed out, as if she was forcibly suppressing something, and even her breathing became a little rapid.

Unfortunately, Shi Yu and Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, two gluttons, were completely focused on the "strawberry flavor" and didn't notice Zhu Lu's strange behavior at all. One of them took off running, while the other transformed into a blue light and darted away, arriving at the pink snowfield in the blink of an eye. Only Huo Yutong kept an eye on things, silently standing still while watching Zhu Lu's "enduring pain" appearance. She even vaguely noticed that Zhu Lu secretly gasped and her cheeks twitched.

"Wow! It's pink! It must be strawberry flavored—cough! cough cough cough!"

"So spicy! So spicy! So spicy—!!"

Two screams rang out almost simultaneously, startling the nearby snow sparrows into flapping their wings and flying far away. Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, burning from the spiciness, thrashed about in the snow, her energy body practically sparking, her eyes brimming with tears. "My soul! My throat! This isn't strawberry flavor! This is ghost pepper flavor! It's so spicy it's making my energy system go haywire!"

Shi Yu was also burning from the spiciness, his tongue lolling out, tears and snot streaming down his face, his entire body as red as a boiled crab. He pointed at Zhu Lu, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time, finally managing only to squeeze out an accusation: "Zhu Lu! I trusted you so much! How could you let me lose so completely!"

"Sister Zhu Lu is so mean, she actually tricked everyone into eating chili-flavored snow." Huo Yutong stood at a distance with her arms crossed, gloating as she complained, her golden spiritual eyes full of laughter.

Zhu Lu could no longer hold back. Forget about her image, she opened her mouth and gasped for the cold air, making hissing sounds. Her cheeks were as red as ripe shrimp. She had long been unable to speak because of the spiciness of the "strawberry-colored ghost pepper snow". She had called for help earlier simply because she was delirious from the spiciness and wanted to take two other people down with her.

While the three of them and the silkworm were causing chaos and laughter in the snowy outer edge of the far north, no one noticed that in the seaside cave mentioned by the demon serpent, a "food assault" was taking place that was driving the mighty Ice Emperor, the second strongest being in the far north, crazy.

"Damn it—!!"

A sharp roar echoed deep within the cave, causing icicles to fall from the ceiling. A scorpion covered in an emerald-green carapace was angrily stomping its feet at a group of round, purple pufferfish whales, its sharp pincers digging deep trenches into the ground.

It is one of the three Heavenly Kings of the far north, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, the Ice Emperor.

She had lost count of how many times she had come here to catch pufferfish whales, but each time the outcome was the same: utter frustration.

The first time she came, she was excited, thinking she had gotten a great deal. Looking at the hot spring deep in the cave, a group of round pufferfish whales were swimming around, their snow-white bellies gleaming. Before they became poisonous, their flesh looked so tender and juicy that Hyotei's mouth was practically watering.

She quickly caught several pufferfish whales, which turned purple, but she didn't pay attention, assuming that's how they are when they're out of the water.

But as she prepared to eat, she realized she was terribly wrong. Her scorpion pincers had just touched the back of a pufferfish whale, and before she could even bite down, a deadly sense of crisis instantly gripped her nerves. The instincts of a 100,000-year-old soul beast screamed wildly—Don't eat it, absolutely don't eat it!

Hyotei was filled with doubt, but she still dared not risk her life. Reluctantly, she led the pufferfish whales away from the cave and casually threw them into the snow outside, wanting to see what would happen if other spirit beasts ate them.

Then, she witnessed a scene that chilled her to the bone—several hungry snow wolves rushed up and devoured the pufferfish whale in a few bites. Immediately afterwards, their eyes filled with ultimate satisfaction, and they collapsed onto the snow, their faces filled with unparalleled bliss, never to rise again.

Hyotei went over and examined the corpses carefully, discovering that they had all been poisoned by a strange and deadly toxin, which had corroded away their meridians in a very short time.

But ironically, the way those soul beasts squinted their eyes in bliss before they died scratched at Hyotei's heart like a hook, making her desire for the poisonous pufferfish whale even stronger.

She tried sneaking closer, holding her breath, and suppressing even her soul power fluctuations to the lowest level; she tried using extreme ice energy to freeze the surrounding air, hoping to numb the pufferfish whales' senses; she even tried wrapping the entire group of pufferfish whales in an ice cocoon to isolate herself from their presence.

No matter what method is used, when they are finally eaten, these round creatures will instantly become poisoned, as if they have been given an alarm. Their bodies will turn completely purple and black, with faint black lines flowing under their skin, emitting a highly toxic aura that even the Hyotei Empire fears.

Watching those pufferfish whales leisurely swaying in the hot spring, flicking their tails and blowing bubbles, looking plump and tempting, yet unable to touch or eat them, Hyotei gripped his scorpion claws, almost driven mad by this whole affair.

She stomped her foot on the ground, sending up a spray of ice shards, and roared angrily at the leisurely pufferfish, "You cunning creatures! Just you wait! One day, I will definitely eat you all!"