Lu Li and Elena visited another neighbor that Kraggs Creep Monster remembered, while Claire and Ophelia returned to the manor to prepare sumptuous food for Lu Li.
Their excuse was that it was not appropriate for businessmen to appear here, but in fact they wanted to prepare a piece of food for Lu Li with their own hands.
Considering that no matter how bad his craftsmanship was, it would not be worse than Anna's, Lu Li let them do their best and crossed the territory with the creep monsters to the other end.
This strange creature looked like a visitor from hell, similar in size to a demon from hell. It was thin and had bat-like demon wings, long and curved horns converging on its head, and its claws and spike-like tail were barbed.
It was hiding in a farm outside the farm. It was disturbed by Lu Li's arrival. It circled and rose, waiting for an opportunity.
"There is no way to negotiate, we have to let it fall." Elena said.
Lu Li distanced himself from the team, giving his neighbors a chance to land.
It seemed that the creep monsters and Elena behind them were weaker in their perception. The flying neighbors folded their wings together and swooped down towards them like arrows.
Lu Li returned to Elena in an instant, and the pervading dream captured his neighbor who had fallen into a trap.
The piercing scream was blocked by the dream, and Lu Li released the lighthouse, but the light from the lighthouse made him even more manic, struggling and trembling like a giant bat.
Lu Li could only force it to sign a contract. Unexpectedly, the appearance of the devil's contract made it temporarily stagnant. Although it continued to struggle, it seemed to recognize the devil's contract.
He engraved a harsh treaty on the devil's contract and forced the neighbor to sign it. Lu Li dragged him into a dream to prevent him from violating the contract and killing himself, and took him back to the manor to trace his memories.
"Are there any other weird things nearby?" Lu Li continued to ask the Kraggs creep monster.
"It said this was the last one and the rest were outsiders."
Those strange things from the wilderness can exclude the soul of Midnight City.
After searching around the farm, there was nothing but bones and feces. Lu Li looked around at the desolate wilderness outside Midnight City.
"Go back."
…
Like dark lava from hell surging in a furnace, the mottled iron pot with rust gradually burns red, and boils into thick mist as water is filled in. The rust detaches from the iron pot, decomposes, and melts into the turbid rust water.
The chef Claire who was cooking this time said to the chef Ophelia: "We are short of seasonings and ingredients."
"You know, ingredients and seasonings are actually everywhere."
Claire talked about it. After the fall of Midnight City and before joining the Land of Light, she had been a competent head maid at the Viscount Castle: "The wine in the cellar can extract the umami flavor of the ingredients."
"What about the ingredients?"
"Pick some fungi from outside and we can make fungus soup."
A bowl of delicious and hot mushroom soup can warm the heart on a cold night.
It still takes some time for the water in the pot to boil. Claire went to pick fungi outside the manor, while Ophelia came to the wine cellar, turned on the faucet, and thick scarlet liquid flowed out.
Ophelia observed the slime mixed with black flakes and wondered if it was wine. But it was in the wine cellar and in the barrel... what else could it be if it wasn't wine?
Filling half a bowl of viscous wine with the skull, Ophelia returned to the kitchen and didn't see Claire going outside to look for her again.
She saw Claire picking a handful of fungi and looking at the territory behind the flowers.
"You use skulls to hold wine?"
"I can't find the container, can't I?"
"No...it's very creative, we can also use it as a bowl!"
When Ophelia asks Claire what she is doing here she continues:
"I'm wondering if adding some nectar can make the taste better. The color is so bright that it will make the mushroom soup better even if it doesn't change the taste."
Kitchen novices and alchemy apprentices are always like this, trying to add every ingredient in sight.
"But if you eat the nectar, you will become the queen's puppet."
"Don't worry, the devil's contract binds the Flower Queen, and we can make it remove the pollution."
Claire threw the fungus carpet to Ophelia and went to the queen's territory to ask for nectar.
"First put the fungus blanket, then the nectar, and finally add the wine..."
"Red, black, purple... awesome."
Claire gradually found the sense of accomplishment she had when she was an alchemy apprentice, which made her value this opportunity even more.
Leaving Ophelia to continue stirring the mushroom soup, Claire searched for tableware in the mansion and finally found a set of unused silver tableware in the dusty utility room.
"There are still wine glasses. We can get some more wine." Claire picked up the crystal wine glass in surprise.
"Lu Li doesn't drink."
"That's right, it's such a pity."
Claire threw the wine glass back and suddenly thought of something: "Why are you here too? Food..."
"Lu Li and the others are back."
"Oh, the mushroom soup is almost ready."
Ophelia lit the fire, the Queen provided the ingredients, and Claire cooked the food.
Just like this team - everyone has a role to play.
Until they returned to the kitchen, they were silent because of the iron pot on the lava.
The magma bakes and produces too much water in the fungus soup. The nearly drained viscous liquid is filled with black smoke and ink-purple bubbles, and the cracks will shine dark red like magma.
"It's okay, Lu Li can eat fuller this way."
When Lu Li returned to the manor, what greeted him was a bowl filled with skulls that exuded a disgusting smell and swelled with turbid and mottled paste-like hot mucus.
"At what point did I make you hate me?" Lu Li looked at Claire, his pure black eyes reflecting Claire's innocent cheek.
"Why do you ask?"
"You know I'm human, right?"
Claire realized what the problem was and lifted up the surging abominable slime so that Lu Li could see it more clearly.
"But this bowl of mushroom soup looks pretty good."
Red, purple, and black are not only appetizing, but also as exquisite as alchemy.
Lu Li asked: "What is this?"
"Mushroom soup." Claire replied repeatedly.
"Where are the mushrooms?"
"What mushroom?" Claire was stunned.
"Where's the soup?"
"What soup?" Ophelia said in a daze.
Maybe mushroom soup just looks bad—
Lu Li, who knew that this was not the case at all, took the spoon handed by Ophelia, put it in the fungus soup and stirred it. When he took it out, the spoon was gone, leaving only the handle.
"How does it taste? Or is there anything that needs improvement?" Claire asked expectantly.
Lu Li fell into silence.
"Oops?" Claire guessed.
"I don't think it should be described as 'terrible'." Lu Li put the soup handle into the skull bowl, and the silver handle that sank into the mushroom soup melted quickly.
"Then what to use!"
"Devastating."
"Just tell me how I can improve!"
"No more cooking."
Lu Li turned around and walked out, "You call the merchant and ask him to bring a month's worth of food. I will go and interrogate the new neighbor."
"It seems he doesn't like it." Claire shrugged and looked at the mushroom soup that was still covered in black mist. "We shouldn't waste it... Didn't Little Lemi catch a new weird one? Give it to us as a friendly one.
