Chapter 42: Hot Pot

"I hope you haven't become a slave to frivolous pursuits, Mr. Kleen."

"Of course not; in fact, I've nearly finished consuming all my potions." Kleen's hands never stopped moving with a rapid clatter.

"I've also nearly mastered those elemental force tricks."

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

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

"Of course."

Kleen manipulated the controller, paused the game, and selected save from the options.

"Just message me in the group chat or call me—why bother coming all the way just to tell me?"

Kleen stretched lazily, a smile on his face.

"I'm truly honored."

Su Lin fell silent for several seconds.

"Maybe you should check your chat logs and missed calls."

"..."

Su Lin opened a door inside Kleen's room; the wind outside made the curtains rustle.

With everyone's help, the battered sect core had been partially repaired; Su Lin connected one door in Kleen's room to the teleportation gate on Water Mirror Peak, making it convenient for him to travel directly from his rented apartment to Water Mirror Peak.

"I think you need some exercise, after this gathering."

Kleen nodded in agreement; he had indeed been indulging himself too much these past few days.

When Kleen tidied himself up and arrived at Water Mirror Peak, the air was thick with a spicy, aromatic scent.

"Hot pot?"

The scent seemed to include other ingredients too—just smelling it was deeply soothing.

"You've got to eat hot pot in winter," Su Lin said beside him. "Processed demonic beast and ferocious beast meat is extremely nourishing."

"Add in Master Yao's hot pot base, and in Sichuan dialect, the flavor is simply perfect."

"Too bad, Ye Fan and Xiao Yan don't have much stock left, and Han Li only ever collects materials."

"If you dawdle any longer, you'll only get to eat the base broth," Su Lin said calmly.

"Why aren't you in a hurry?" Kleen's spiritual sense surged—he had a suspicion: "Could it be that you...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Su Lin's figure blurred and vanished into the air, leaving only a single phrase behind.

"The tripe's going to be gone."

Kleen forgot all about dignity and sprinted off, even using Flame Leap along the way.

By the time he arrived, he realized he'd been tricked.

Not everyone had arrived yet; five large pots sat on the table, and Luffy, the Straw Hat Kid, stepped out of the teleportation gate, carrying a massive sea king.

Su Lin walked out cheerfully from behind a tree.

At the banquet

The group, now familiar, chatted about amusing tales and legends from their respective worlds.

Upon hearing the origin of the Dark Chaos in Ye Fan's world, everyone sighed deeply.

A group of once-peerless prodigies from their own eras—former Emperors—who, unable to withstand the passage of time, chose to trigger Dark Chaos, harvest lives, and prolong their own existence.

The strange phenomena of the Battle Qi Continent were equally astonishing: miraculous Heavenly Flames with bizarre effects and immense power, and pills that could develop sentience, as if they were human.

Most overwhelming in its sense of cosmic decay and crushing pressure was Kleen's world: the apocalypse loomed, outer gods peered at the tiny planet, seven gods used their divine realms to patch the cracks in the planet's membrane, and humanity lived like lambs in a pen, barely surviving—forced to walk paths no longer human to gain power.

In the Type-Moon world, threats of world destruction appeared constantly; judging from the lore the siblings had dug up online, humanity there was also suffering greatly.

The Teyvat Continent was slightly better—no one knew the future, but for now, the situation was relatively peaceful; technology was unevenly developed, yet life was still possible.

In the Dragon Clan world, Earth was prophesied to be destroyed, with hints of a rebooting force; otherwise, things were fine—most matters had nothing to do with ordinary people.

"By the way," Ye Fan changed the subject, "even in Han Li's world, the law of the jungle prevails. So far, only Su Lin's world seems relatively peaceful."

"Even those disturbances were his own doing," Xiao Yan picked up a slice of lamb, dipped it in sesame sauce, and shoved it into his mouth. "I thought this world had Armor Warriors."

"So you want a full set of Flame Dragon Armor?" Ye Fan teased. "But old Su, you're still a child at heart—you even pulled out Li Xiaoyao. Is this your xianxia fantasy?"

Heh.

Su Lin calmly took a sip of his soda.

These two big-eyed fellows finally couldn't hold back and were trying to pry into his secrets.

"I suppose Brother Su merely wishes to add a touch of fun to this ordinary world," Han Li smiled, raising his cup and sipping the spiritual wine he'd brewed and aged on Water Mirror Peak.

"I heard from Brother Zhou that Brother Su often visits hospitals in various cities to treat patients and strengthen ordinary people's physiques. Now several city hospitals are nearly empty—this act of yours, Brother Su, for this world without transcendental power..."

You're one of them too, you seemingly honest guy?

Then again, even with the group's restrictions preventing harm among members, the truth is Su Lin knows nearly everything about all of them.

Meanwhile, their knowledge of Su Lin remains at the level of casual interaction, slowly piecing things together.

After confirming this world was ordinary, though they trusted Su Lin personally, to say they weren't curious, weren't eager to extract some secrets from him, would be a lie.

But they couldn't just ask directly—it wouldn't work anyway.

This setting, this atmosphere—perfect timing.

'Just one more push needed.'

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

Kleen, also known as Zhou Mingrui, glanced at the group, picked up a spiritual fruit from the table, and bit into it. Lately, he'd noticed that though his cultivation was blocked, consuming these things raised his spiritual limit.

In gaming terms, it was like increasing his mana bar.

Feeling his spiritual energy rise, Kleen inwardly praised:

'Brilliant!'

"Gulp, an ordinary world?" Lu Mingfei swallowed his food whole, frowning. "Isn't this sect Brother Su's? How can an ordinary world have this?"

'There it is!' x3

'Perfect! Lu Mingfei!'

'Brother, we've been waiting for you!'

'After this, I'll teach you the Nine Character Secret—keep talking if you can!'

Su Lin put down his chopsticks, wiped the grease from his lips, and gave Lu Mingfei a warm smile.