Chapter 42: Hotpot

"I hope you haven't been wasting your time on idle pleasures, Mr. Miss Kelaien."

"Of course not. In fact, I've nearly finished digesting my potion." Miss Kelaien's hands kept moving without pause, clicking and clacking away.

"I've also pretty much mastered those elemental tricks."

On the TV screen, a character rolled to dodge a sweeping slash from a sword-wielding dragon.

"Those guys have come out of seclusion. Everyone's planning to get together. What about you?"

"Of course."

Miss Kelaien worked the controller, hit pause, and chose Save from the game menu.

"A private message in the group chat would have been fine, or just give me a call. No need to make a special trip just to tell me."

Miss Kelaien stretched and smiled.

"I'm overwhelmed by the favor."

Su Lin was silent for a few seconds.

"Maybe you should check the chat history and your phone's missed calls."

"…."

Su Lin pushed open a door inside Miss Kelaien's room, and the wind from outside set the curtains rustling.

With everyone's help, the battered sect core had been repaired a little more. Su Lin had connected a door inside Miss Kelaien's room to the teleportation gate at Water Mirror Peak, so he could go straight from his rented room to Water Mirror Peak.

"I think you need to get some exercise. After this gathering."

Miss Kelaien nodded at the words. He had indeed been a bit too indulgent with himself these past few days.

When Miss Kelaien tidied himself up a bit and arrived at Water Mirror Peak, the air was thick with a spicy, mouth-watering aroma.

"Hotpot?"

The smell seemed to have other things mixed in as well; just smelling it was deeply comforting.

"Winter calls for hotpot, doesn't it?" Su Lin said from the side. "Properly handled meat from yao-beasts and fierce beasts is a great tonic."

"Add in the hotpot base that Old Yao mixed, and in Sichuan dialect, the flavor is absolutely bashi dao ban."

"Too bad Ye Fan and Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan don't have much stock left either, and Han Li usually only collects the ingredients."

"If you dawdle any longer, all you'll get is the hotpot base." Su Lin said unhurriedly.

"Why aren't you in a hurry?" Miss Kelaien's spirituality shot up, and a guess formed: "Don't tell me you…"

Before the words were finished, Su Lin's figure blurred and dissolved into the air, leaving only one sentence behind.

"The tripe's about to be gone."

Miss Kelaien couldn't be bothered with appearances; he broke into a run, even using Flame Leap along the way.

When he arrived, he realized he'd been tricked.

Everyone hadn't even gathered yet. Five big pots sat on the table, and Straw Hat Luffy was just stepping out of the teleportation gate, a massive Sea King creature in hand.

Su Lin walked out from behind a tree with a grin.

At the banquet

The now-familiar group chatted about the interesting tales and legends of their respective worlds.

Everyone sighed upon hearing the source of the Dark Turmoil in Ye Fan's world.

A bunch of figures who had once been top geniuses of their eras, once Great Emperors, in pursuit of the opportunity of becoming immortals, unable to endure the passage of time, chose to launch the Dark Turmoil, harvesting lives to prolong their own existence.

The various strange tales of the Dou Qi Continent were also jaw-dropping—Heavenly Strane Flames with bizarre effects and unmatched power, and elixirs that could give birth to spiritual intelligence like a human.

The most awe-inspiring and pressure-filled of all was Miss Kelaien's world. The apocalypse was coming, Outer Gods peered at that tiny planet, the Seven Gods used their divine kingdoms to prop up the heavens and fill the cracks in the planet's membrane, and humanity lived like lambs in a pen, struggling to survive. For the sake of power, they had no choice but to walk a path that was no longer human.

The Type-Moon World was full of factors that could destroy the world at any moment. Judging from the settings these two siblings had dug up online these past few days, the people of that world had it rough too.

The Teyvat Continent was a little better. What the future held was unknown, but at least for now the situation was relatively peaceful. Technology was unevenly developed, but at least people could get by.

The Earth of the Dragon World was destined for destruction in prophecy, and there was a suspected power of restart. Apart from that, it was still okay—at least a lot of things had nothing to do with ordinary people.

"Speaking of which." Ye Fan shifted the topic: "Even Han Li's world hides the law of the jungle. So far, only Su Lin's world counts as relatively peaceful."

"Even those disturbances were his own doing." Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan picked up a slice of rinsed lamb, dipped it in sesame paste, and stuffed it into his mouth: "I used to think this world had Armor Hero."

"What, you want to get a full set of Flame Dragon Armor?" Ye Fan teased: "But Old Su, you really are a child at heart. You even brought out Li Xiaoyao—is this a xianxia dream?"

Heh.

Su Lin calmly took a sip of fatty's happy water.

These two thick-browed, big-eyed fellows had finally couldn't resist trying to pry into his background.

"I imagine Brother Su simply wanted to add a touch of fun to this ordinary world." Han Li said with a smile, raising his cup and taking a sip of the spiritual wine he had brewed and stored at Water Mirror Peak for some time.

"I heard from Brother Zhou that Brother Su often goes to hospitals in various cities to treat patients and strengthen ordinary people's constitutions. Now several city hospitals are usually quite empty. For an ordinary world without supernatural powers, Brother Su's actions…"

You look like an honest, simple fellow, yet you're in cahoots with them too?

Fair enough. Even with the chat group's restrictions in place, there was no need to worry about members harming each other, but the current situation was that Su Lin had an almost thorough understanding of all of their circumstances.

While their intel on Su Lin was basically at the stage of normal dealings, exploring bit by bit.

After confirming this world was an ordinary one, although everyone was basically at ease with Su Lin himself, to say they weren't curious, didn't want to pry some background out of this guy, would be a lie.

Usually it wasn't easy to ask directly, and asking got them nowhere.

Today's occasion, this atmosphere, was the perfect opportunity.

'Still missing someone to break the ice.'

'That person can't be me!' Ye Fan, Han Li, and Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan thought simultaneously.

Miss Kelaien, that is Zhou Mingrui, glanced at the others, picked up a spiritual fruit from the table, and took a bite. During this period, he had discovered that although his own cultivation had obstacles, eating these things could raise the upper limit of his spirituality.

In gaming terms, it increased his mana bar.

Feeling his spirituality grow, Miss Kelaien inwardly praised:

'Wonderful!'

"Gulp, ordinary world?" Lu Mingfei swallowed the food in his mouth whole and asked in confusion, "Isn't this sect Big Brother Su Lin's? Where would an ordinary world get something like this?"

'It appeared!' X3

'Nice! Lu Mingfei!'

'Little bro, we've been waiting for you!'

'Later I'll take you to cultivate the Nine-Secret Words — if you can talk, then talk more!'

Su Lin set down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped the oil stains from the corner of his mouth, and gave Lu Mingfei a kindly smile.