Timeline Player

Chi Que entered the kitchen. It wasn't large, but it was tidy enough, indicating that although the original owner was leaving, he hadn't neglected its maintenance. Several bags of ingredients were piled in the corner. He walked over and opened them to examine them.

The potatoes, carrots, and onions were fairly fresh; the jar of oil was yellowish in color, but didn't smell rancid.

Chi Que nodded slightly. Although these basic ingredients were simple, their quality was acceptable, and at least they wouldn't kill anyone.

He checked the utensils again, and there were no problems. Finally, his gaze fell on the corner of the stove, where there was a ceramic pot.

It contained coarse salt, with large granules, a grayish color, and a bitter, fishy smell.

Chi Que frowned.

This salt... could it be just seawater dried in the sun?

The problem with the seasonings was more serious than he had anticipated. How could he possibly make delicious food with such insect-like seasonings?

Chi Que pondered for a moment and then opened the profession panel.

Although the function of retrieving items from the system space is temporarily locked, the chef profession still has one skill that he has never used: he can use points to buy a certain amount of ingredients every day.

However, it could only buy very few things, not even enough for a meal, so it was once considered a burden by him.

However, it might come in handy here.

He was just unsure whether it would be possible to buy ingredients in this timeline; theoretically, it probably wouldn't be.

really.

Chi Que opened the skills section, and the chef's purchase skills were grayed out, and clicking on them had no effect.

It's not a serious problem, since he can simply wait until he returns to the modern timeline to buy the seasonings and bring them over. It would only take a day.

but...

"Time is money, my friend," Chi Que exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair.

It's a bit tricky.

It's not that you can't make any food with these things, but compared to a shop owner who uses exquisite spices, a stranger cooking with ordinary ingredients is always more likely to be looked down upon by the locals.

The start can affect the first impression.

Chi Que took out his belongings one by one and laid them out in front of him to see if there was anything he could use.

A few bullets, a dagger, two guns, a pack of compressed biscuits, and then the bag of blood coins.

His gaze fell on the blood coins.

The dark red, round, thin sheet, strung together with a thin red string, has a faint scent when held in the hand—a scent that is hard to describe, a mixture of blood and various spices.

He noticed the smell when he first got the blood coins, but he didn't think much of it at the time.

Now, staring at the blood coin, a thought suddenly popped into his head:

Can this be used for seasoning?

He almost burst out laughing. Using money to cook? What kind of nonsense is that?

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's not the right approach.

However, Chi Que did not take the blood coins back.

He held the blood coin up to his eyes, looking at its dark red, translucent texture, which gleamed strangely in the light.

Try it.

He suddenly had this idea.

Chi Que lit a fire, added water to the pot, and threw in chopped potatoes and onions. Soon, it started bubbling away.

Chi Que stood in front of the stove, holding a blood coin in his hand.

He didn't want to waste it; if the blood coins couldn't be used for seasoning, or if the dish was unpalatable, it would be a complete waste.

But he also knew that he would never know if he didn't try.

The blood-red coins sank into the soup, slowly swirling beneath the bubbling surface. Chi Que stared at them, mentally preparing for the worst: perhaps they would turn into a pot of foul-smelling mush, perhaps they wouldn't dissolve at all, perhaps—

The edges of the blood-red coin began to blur.

Strands of dark red filaments rose from the thin sheet and spread in the water. In less than ten seconds, the entire blood coin disappeared completely, and the soup in the pot was stained with a faint red color.

A fragrant aroma rose from the pot.

Chi Que thought of curry. The aroma was like someone had crushed and mixed many kinds of spices together.

But this is not all.

Beneath that layer of spice aroma lies an even richer scent, slightly fishy but not unpleasant. Instead, it creates a complex fragrance that Chi Que has never smelled before, one that is incredibly enticing.

Chi Que immediately turned around and rushed to the door, tightly closing the wooden door to the kitchen. Then he ran to the window and locked it.

After doing all that, he let out a long breath.

He underestimated the power of this thing.

A single blood coin and a pot of ordinary stew, cooked together, somehow managed to release such an enticing aroma.

Chi Que walked to the stove and stirred the food in the pot with a wooden spoon. The potatoes and carrots were stewed until soft and tender, perfectly blending with the aroma of blood coins. He scooped up a small spoonful of soup, blew on it, and put it in his mouth.

Then he closed his eyes.

fresh.

Extremely fresh.

It makes you want to take another bite.

"This thing..." Chi Que murmured, finding it somewhat unbelievable even to himself, "can actually be used as a seasoning."

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.

—If he really made a name for himself with this, then could it be that he was the one who orchestrated the future Blood Banquet?

Will not.

Chi Que went over this deduction in his mind again and found it completely untenable. The secret banquet already existed before he transmigrated, and his stew was at most a trivial coincidence.

but...

He recalled the full moon he saw at the end of the first instance, at which point he inexplicably felt a sense of destiny.

Now, that feeling is back.

Chi Que shook his head.

Fate is something that cannot be proven or disproven. Even if it is true, so what?

This isn't the first time. In the "Wrongfully Dead" instance, he changed the fate of the expedition team, causing history to converge and then diverge. Now, it's just a different stage and a different method.

Chi Que lifted the pot lid and scooped out another spoonful of soup.

This time, he slowly finished drinking it.

[Special dish detected: Blood soup stew]

[Effect: For users with less than 3 points of flesh and blood, temporarily increase mastery by 2 points for three hours.]

Chef Proficiency +20

Current Chef Proficiency: 89/100

Chi Que stared at the line of words for two seconds, then looked down at the stew that was still mostly left in the pot, and his lips twitched slightly.

This stuff... isn't easy to sell.

If it only tastes good, that's just flavor; but if it can make you stronger, that's power.

Although people in this era do not have "panels," they can feel changes in their bodies.

The feeling of becoming stronger is more addictive than any delicious food.

He stood up and walked to the small courtyard behind the shop.

Here are several old pots abandoned by the original owner, the largest of which is about half a person's width and weighs at least several dozen kilograms.

Normally, it would take Chi Que a lot of effort to move it, but now he simply bent down, gripped the edge of the pot with both hands, and with a little effort, he lifted the large pot and placed it steadily on the stove.