Chapter 20: Pancakes

If heating metal solved our current cooking problem, then the method of turning stones into explosives further greatly boosted the team's combat capability.

Moreover, this ability appeared in Dong Junwei, who has always been the team's leader.

Although they are all the same age, Dong Junwei, who served as class monitor for three years of high school, has always enjoyed extremely high prestige in the class. Perhaps discussing prestige at sixteen or seventeen is a bit of self-indulgence for a little kid, but the fact is, Dong Junwei is more mature than peers in every way, never acting high and mighty because of family background, treating everyone in the class equally, and attending to each person's studies and life.

Chen Mu even felt that she was basically treating the class as a rehearsal for the workplace.

No matter what, Dong Junwei's character and abilities are evident to all.

But the team hadn't been happy for even a moment.

Then they saw Dong Junwei suddenly sway, and then slowly squat down.

Tang Jing happened to be beside her, quick-eyed and quick-handed, rushed over to support her, preventing her from falling.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Everyone gathered around.

Chen Mu recalled his own experience, quickly understood Dong Junwei's situation, and explained: "It should be from overusing the Special Ability too frequently, draining mental strength, causing dizziness, right?"

Dong Junwei nodded, unable to speak.

"But the class monitor didn't do anything—just an iron ore and a stone."

"She just awakened not long ago, so she's relatively weak for now, but should gradually grow stronger." Chen Mu explained.

Dong Junwei felt a bit better at this point and asked Chen Mu: "How long do I need to rest for my mental strength to fully recover?"

Chen Mu said: "I'm not entirely sure either, but this should be like stamina—more rest yields more recovery; a night's sleep should pretty much fully restore it."

"I understand."

Dong Junwei originally wanted to try some other things, but the situation now made her dare not overstep even a bit.

That dizzy feeling is really unpleasant.

After letting Dong Junwei rest, Chen Mu turned his gaze back to the previously heated iron block, which was after all half of his weapon.

However, when he stepped forward and cautiously touched the iron block, he found it still showed no sign of cooling down.

"Why not use it to pop some popcorn?" someone suggested.

"Or, I could make an iron pot, add some water, and cook rice?"

As soon as Chen Mu spoke, everyone happily applauded and agreed. Although they usually don't have any special feeling about rice, after eating cake for two days they could barely stomach it; as long as there was steaming hot rice, they didn't care about anything else and could eat three big bowls.

However, Tang Jing then poured cold water: "If we really want to cook the rice with water, the water we brought might not be enough even if we add it all together."

"Why? It's just a single grain of rice."

"This might be another of your assumptions. Normally when cooking rice, a bowl of rice takes about two bowls of water, but for a single grain of rice, using double the amount of water will definitely not cook it, because that little water will evaporate instantly, ultimately turning it into popcorn."

Tang Jing spread her hands: "I've said before, many things cannot be simply scaled down proportionally."

This phenomenon is actually easy to understand.

However, most people still judge the world by their current size, still thinking that a piece of wood thicker than their arm can burn for a long time, and still thinking that a pot of water the size of their head can cook rice.

"So what should we do?"

"Although we can't cook rice, we can make pancakes."

"Pancakes?"

"Exactly, grind the rice grains into powder, add some water, spread it on the heated iron block to form a pancake; although the texture probably won't be great, it's still better than eating it raw."

Chen Mu initially also assumed the same as everyone else, but after Tang Jing said that, he quickly understood.

"I'll go get some stainless steel."

To grind the rice grains into powder, at least some tools are needed.

It would be best to make a few mortars; fortunately, such objects that don't require high precision are no longer difficult for Chen Mu.

Since half of his weapon has been taken away, he also needs to make up for it.

Actually, that original stapler needle, because its nickel coating had already peeled off, already showed faint signs of rust; Chen Mu can alter objects, but obviously cannot prevent iron from rusting—even though iron oxide is less dense, having it stick all over his hands is also unpleasant.

It's time to change weapons.

Fortunately, the storage room has an abundance of stainless steel utensils, practically inexhaustible.

……

Making pancakes is a technical skill.

Nowadays, among high school students, those who can cook are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns; many people's so-called cooking skills are limited to boiling water.

Among those present, including Dong Junwei, none have ever held a spatula.

In this regard, Chen Mu, who has been independent since childhood, can frankly say that everyone here is trash.

He knocked off a small piece from the large rice grains, then ground it into powder with the mortar he made.

Needless to say, rice flour and wheat flour differ greatly; after adding water, it cannot be kneaded like wheat flour but becomes a sticky lump, and moreover, rice flour is harder to handle than glutinous rice flour.

In the end, everything was ready.

Fortunately, the iron block remains hot enough that there's no need to let the resting Dong Junwei act again.

Considering the iron block already had some rust, Chen Mu made another thin layer of stainless steel and laid it on top.

However, when it actually came time to make pancakes, there were still many problems.

First, there was no oil, so the rice batter quickly stuck to the stainless steel plate, and the edges rapidly turned black.

Second, the temperature could not be well controlled.

Even a skilled housewife cannot cook without rice.

By the time Chen Mu lifted the first pitiful-looking "flour pancake," everyone had already lost their appetite.

"Let me try."

Wei Dalei, who usually doesn't have high standards for food quality, was the first to step up.

Without minding the heat, he grabbed it and put it to his mouth, crunching two bites.

"Not bad, it's quite fragrant, just a bit dry, a bit burnt, a bit bland, a bit coarse, a bit harsh on the mouth." Wei Dalei wiped his mouth and kept chewing.

Is this what you call "not bad"?!

Everyone was speechless.

But there's nothing to be done if we don't eat it.

After all, it's the only food we have now.

Fortunately, Chen Mu had gained some experience with the second pancake; it turned out much better than the first.

Tang Jing took it in her hand, first letting everyone break off a piece to fill their stomachs.

"Sure enough, it's not bad."

"It's a bit better than I imagined."

"It's like a steamed cake that's been sitting for two days."

"It's not bad to have something to eat."

"……"

Amidst everyone's chatter, they had already finished the whole pancake.

Chen Mu, who was both blacksmith and cook, alone enjoyed the third pancake.

To be honest.

It's indeed not tasty.

But it's passable.

One has to admit, after lowering expectations to the bare minimum, life can still get by.

Thus far.

The students of Class 4, Senior Year 3, finally had a proper lunch.