New Era, 951, New Year's Eve.

Spring is cold, even on this planet that is not many light years away from my hometown, the Lunar New Year comes in the cold.

Ke Lan sat on the edge of the observation deck and couldn't help but wrap up her coat tightly.

This is one of the highest viewing platforms in the Ark. Even though there is a transparent insulation cover covering the outside of the platform, the temperature on the platform is still enough to make people feel the chill that goes deep into their bones.

Ke Lan was the only one on the observation deck - no one would set off fireworks in the wilderness of Alpha Planet, and no one would climb to the observation deck more than 10,000 meters above sea level on New Year's Eve to watch the sunset.

.

The sun of Alpha Star is hidden behind the thick lead-gray radiation cloud, and only a vague halo can be seen. As this halo gradually sinks below the horizon, twilight pours in from the sky like a tide, driving away

The last trace of warm light was used to coat the lead-gray clouds with an indigo light film.

The dust and water vapor suspended in the air are mixed together and condense into hexagonal snowflakes at low temperatures. Snowflakes are beautiful, but anyone with common sense knows that on Alpha Star, it is best not to let the falling snowflakes in the air

onto oneself.

These seemingly white and pure snowflakes are mixed with a large amount of impurities such as radioactive dust. For humans, they can actually be regarded as one of the dirtiest things in this world.

"Dirty snow" is a word used by people who have been crawling in the wilderness all year round to describe it.

Radiation itself is just a neutral word that represents a physical phenomenon, but when the word is associated with disease, mutation and death, it becomes something that people are afraid of avoiding - even in this era, human beings

Life has become inseparable from radiation, but in the minds of most people, nothing has changed.

Just like power, people who possess power will be respected by others, but when the power is so strong that it breaks through a certain threshold, they will only be regarded as monsters and aliens.

The color of the clouds is getting darker and darker, and the remaining light in the sky is gradually being swallowed up. If it weren't for the light on the top of the heat shield, the entire observation deck would have been completely engulfed in darkness at this time.

"It's snowing tonight, can you have a drink?" A voice came from behind.

Ke Lan turned around and saw the hound wearing a thick cotton jacket, holding an incubator high in his right hand, and climbing up from the ladder at the bottom.

"Where did you copy this poem? It's good to learn it now and sell it now." Ke Lan joked.

"What are you learning now and selling it now? What I call it, I am full of poetry and calligraphy -" Hound rolled his eyes at him, and sat down next to Ke Lan with the incubator in his arms, "How about it, do you want a drink?"

Before Ke Lan could answer, he had already opened the incubator, poured a small glass of wine, and placed it in front of Ke Lan.

The hot wine was sloshing in the cup, and the dense white heat rose vertically, mixed with a hint of spicy wine, and floated in front of Ke Lan.

"You know, I don't like drinking, especially distilled spirits."

"Today is the Chinese New Year, and look at you, your lips are turning purple from the cold. Drink a drink to warm yourself up." Hound advised.

Ke Lan did not continue to refuse. He picked up the wine glass, brought it to his lips, and took a careful sip. Suddenly, a warmth filled his mouth. That kind of bitter and spicy taste with a hint of sweetness.

, occupying all the taste buds in an instant.

Ke Lan raised his head and drank a whole glass of wine.

He felt that what he drank was not wine, but a glass of blazing flames. This flame went all the way down the esophagus, and then spread to every corner of the body, immediately melting away all the chill that penetrated his bones.

Even his originally stiff face was covered with a light blush.

"How's it going? Do you feel comfortable all of a sudden?" The hound laughed and laid out the things in the incubator. There were two containers in the shape of bamboo tubes with more than a dozen skewers inserted inside.

The food on the skewers was submerged under the soup, and the large amount of heat blocked Ke Lan's sight, making it difficult for him to see what was soaked in the soup for a while.

"What's this?"

"Appetizers." Hound said, "The one in the bamboo tube is oden, and there is also soy sauce beef and peanuts. If you want to eat something else, it will be more troublesome... At this point, the shop on the street

Most of them are closed, and only the big hotels that took orders for New Year’s Eve dinner are still open.”

"No, these are enough." Ke Lan lifted up the whole skewer and took a look. Sweet and spicy, fish tofu, kelp knots, beef balls... the ingredients on the skewer can be said to be of all kinds, quite a kind of chowder.

It felt like a big stew. The specially prepared soup in the bamboo tube had a fragrant and attractive aroma, mixed with warmth and hit his face, making Ke Lan feel his index finger move.

He picked up a bunch of fish tofu and took a bite. The delicious and hot soup squeezed out from the holes in the fish tofu and occupied the entire mouth.

It was a sense of satisfaction that was difficult to describe in words, spreading freely between the lips and teeth.

Ke Lan remembered that she had seen the recipe of oden soup on the Internet. It usually boiled bonito and kombu to make the juice. Later, the recipe was improved many times, and some people also used stock made from pork bones, chicken racks and scallops to make it.

Soup - but in this era, using these ingredients to cook soup is obviously a very luxury

As for the matter, most of the small shops that sell oden use "broth cubes" produced by industrial assembly lines. These broth cubes are synthesized by artificial means. Although the taste can be fake, but if it is the same as the real thing,

When comparing the soups cooked with the ingredients together, you can still taste the obvious difference.

The one brought here by the hound was obviously the latter.

"Where did you buy Oden? This soup is good." Ke Lan asked.

"Buy it?" The hound suddenly laughed, "Of course you have to cook it yourself. Where can you buy such a good thing outside... That kind of stuff synthesized with artificial flavor enhancers is enough for daily consumption. Today's special

I don’t want to harm my mouth and stomach.”

While talking, Ke Lan quickly finished off two more skewers of meatballs, while the hound helped him fill the empty wine glass again.

"Good wine!" Another voice came from the side. Ke Lan didn't have to turn around to know that the person coming was Ivan, the alcoholic guy. A silver mechanical arm shot out from the slanting thorn, grabbing

He pushed the wine glass towards Ke Lan.

However, just when Ivan was about to touch the wine glass, the wrist of the robotic arm was firmly held by Ke Lan with two fingers, making it impossible to move forward any further.

"This is mine. If you want to drink, just pour me another glass." Ke Lan said.

"Hiss... Ke Lan, your hands are getting stronger and stronger. Even my robotic arm can't defeat you... This is a new model that I just spent a lot of money on." Yi

Fan retracted his hand and moved the key points on his wrist and fingers to a large extent. The flip cover on the surface of the mechanical arm opened like a show off, revealing the sophisticated and sexy mechanical structure underneath.

"New hands?" Hound poured another glass of wine and handed it to Ivan and asked casually.

"Yeah, they say you need new clothes for the New Year, and the robotic arm must also need new ones -" Ivan took the wine glass, drank it down, and smacked his lips twice, "Although in my heart, the great

Vodka is always the most delicious drink in the world, but I have to admit that this traditional Chinese shochu also has a different taste."

"Are you not going to accompany Natasha?" Ke Lan glanced at Ivan from the corner of his eye and asked.

However, Ivan did not answer Ke Lan's question directly. Instead, he asked Ke Lan: "How did you spend your previous New Year's Eve?"

"Just living alone like this..." Ke Lan recalled, "I bought a lot of food, then I stayed in my room waiting for the New Year's bell to ring, played a few games, and glanced at the New Year's variety shows on various social platforms.

, and then go around the forum twice to see if there are rich people who are too rich to send red envelopes, and that’s about it.”

"It's the same person every year?"

"It's not that... I remember one New Year's Eve, probably the year before and after, the car broke down on the way back to the Ark from the ruins... Although there were six cars in the entire convoy, each one was fully loaded, and we couldn't leave it alone.

The people in that car left it alone in the wilderness, so they simply spent a year in the wilderness."

"Celebrating the New Year in the wilderness sounds interesting," said the hound.

"Yeah, although everyone was quite reluctant at first, but after accepting this fact, they stopped thinking about it. There was an old hunter in the team, and he even proposed to hunt a big guy for dinner...

"

"Ha, what happens next?"

"Let's just do it...it took about half a day, and we found a black rodent dragon in a valley..."

"Black rodent dragon? Hahahahaha..." The hound suddenly patted his thigh and laughed, "Although this guy's meat is almost like pork after roasting, if the processing techniques are not in place..."

"Yes." Recalling that bad experience, Ke Lan's face turned pale. "Although I had no reaction after eating it just now, after returning to the Ark, I had diarrhea for two days and two nights..."

"Hahahahahaha - I knew it!" The hound's palms were already red from clapping, "The meat from this thing can only be used for emergencies, but you actually used it for dinner hahahahaha... I don't know how to admire you.

I still admire your anus for your courage, hahahaha..."

"But the black rodent dragon is indeed one of the few 'edible' indigenous creatures, and the meat tastes among the top three." Ivan said seriously, but at the end of the sentence, he still couldn't hold back his laughter.

Come on, "In a sense, you are very lucky... Pfft."

"Although having diarrhea can make you almost collapse...but to be honest, it was the New Year's Eve that impressed me the most," Ke Lan said.

"That's right." Hound raised his eyebrows, "To celebrate the Chinese New Year, there have to be a lot of people to have the feeling of celebrating the New Year."

"What the old dog said is right!" Leighton's voice rang out. Ke Lan had no intention of looking back, but suddenly there was a loud bang from behind, and even the ground of the observation deck shook slightly.

Got up.

"What...?"

Ke Lan turned around and saw that Leighton had actually moved an oversized metal grill to the observation deck... His mechanical prosthetic limb was directly split into six mechanical arms, which were responsible for breathing fire and applying oil.

Sprinkle seasonings and toss various ingredients on the grill.

Suddenly, a strong smell of oil smoke mixed with the aroma of barbecue spread across the entire viewing platform.

"Actually, it's much better to celebrate the New Year here than in the residential area below. At least the place is open enough, making people feel open-minded!" Zhuo Ligetu held the handles on both sides of the copper hot pot with both hands, and the boiling inside the pot

The red oil kept making huge bubbles and making a gurgling sound.

Valentina on the side was carrying a lamb that had been cleaned and half a fan of beef that had not been completely thawed. According to the custom of Zhuoligetu and their people, the meat for hot pot must be cut fresh.

Rinse it first to make it fresh.

Qin Zhao followed Valentina, holding two plastic bags filled with ingredients... On the other hand, Asano Akira was on the side, his hands were empty, and he was holding his sword in his arms that never left his body.

.
To be continued...