Chapter 610: The Theorist (This Chapter Is a Bit Late—Censored and Revised)

Steaming chicken wings were placed on the table, paired with a cold can of soda straight from the fridge—Seeing Huaishi felt his day's happiness had been secured.

"Where's my chicken wings?!"

Amid an impatient nagging, Seeing Huaishi set his happiness down on the table before the massive crow.

Now, happiness is gone.

"Your technique still needs work," the crow said, snatching the wing root with its beak and spitting out a bone in a manner utterly defying biology:

"Seeing Huaishi, you're still far from being a qualified personal chef."

Though capable of assuming a human phantom form, she stubbornly retained her avian appearance—according to her own explanation, Seeing Huaishi's current favor level isn't high enough to unlock the CG.

In short, something like "Spiritual Foundation Reappearance" or whatever.

Seeing Huaishi had good reason to believe the woman was currently dangling an unfamiliar illustration before him to keep him hooked.

"Don't look at me like that, sister," she said. "You can't just point at me and say 'transform,' and expect me to turn into a beautiful girl just to satisfy your desires?"

The crow wiped its beak with a wing. "Teenage boys really do have fiery tempers."

Indeed, fiery enough to make fists hard.

Ding—

The bar's bell chimed sharply, pulling Seeing Huaishi back from his slacking into work.

He glanced at the order slip, turned on the gas stove that wouldn't explode or leak, and began cooking alongside Chef Weigong.

"You're amazing, Senior Weigong."

Seeing Huaishi watched Weigong Shilang, who mastered every culinary technique—frying, boiling, roasting, grilling—with admiration:

"You've mastered so many different cuisines in record time and even improved them for mainstream tastes—it's like you're cheating."

Compared to the sudden leaps in combat power and fighting style, Seeing Huaishi found the development of his culinary skills even more astonishing.

With cooking skills like these, why even fight in the Holy Grail War? Just launch your own show, "Weigong Family Meals," as a food program.

"Where? If you're talking about cheating—"

Weigong Shilang chuckled slightly, embarrassed. "I don't play games much, but this does feel a bit like what Dada Liya calls 'cheating' when she plays."

Hey, at least pretend to be modest.

"My cooking skills only reached this level thanks to a system."

Weigong Shilang spoke with a touch of regret. "Indeed, on the path of cuisine, I took shortcuts instead of walking the hard road."

"Even with a system, you're still incredible, Senior—you've got natural talent," Seeing Huaishi said, applying the emotional intelligence he'd honed through years of surviving in society.

Wait, is something off here?

Seeing Huaishi snapped out of his accidental probing. "System? Like the player's system?"

"That's the interface," Weigong Shilang smiled, explaining. "I have the strongest culinary system—its rewards are what let me improve so fast."

He raised the knife in his hand, gleaming with chilling light.

"This utensil, which locks in the freshness of all ingredients and even turns spoiled meat into fresh meat, was also given by the system."

"Sugoi desu ne~"

Seeing Huaishi sighed in awe and returned to chopping vegetables.

So he has the strongest culinary system.

Culinary system.

Easy to understand—it's the latest trend in the current realm's literature, just like chat groups: system-stream.

So that's it. Weigong Shilang is also a system-stream protagonist.

This setting's gone off the deep end.

"No—"

Seeing Huaishi's knife froze mid-cut. His lip twitched. "Is this something you can just say out loud?!"

"Does it matter?" Weigong Shilang placed sashimi onto a porcelain plate. "This system came from Su Lin. Everyone's known about it for a long time."

"Apologies for the humble fare—please enjoy at your leisure."

He also set aside a portion for the crow watching them, though the bird was currently gaping with its beak wide open.

"Just like our modern world has the internet, where stories and information are freely accessible—you can't keep secrets anymore, can you?"

In a modern world somewhat similar to history, the internet exists, and stories and information can be freely accessed—there's no way to keep them secret, is there?

The idea of being the protagonist of an 18+ visual novel? Impossible to hide. Just thinking about how Dada Liya used to drag him through game plots…

The male lead of an 18+ visual novel? There's no way to hide something like that—just thinking about how Yilia used to drag me along to push through game storylines.

It's like Lu Mingfei plunged straight into social death hell.

Especially when Dada Liya kept saying, "Why doesn't my route exist?"

Now that I think about it—was I subtly steered into Dada Liya's route from that moment?

Yes, that's it. I'm not a lolicon, nor a younger-sister or older-sister type—I just happened to choose a route where the girl I liked was both a little sister and an older sister.

"I guess I have to say, no wonder he's God," Seeing Huaishi mused.

God is so generous to his own universe's protagonist. When will my cheap adoptive father, the Rancher, ever be this generous?

Divine bones, divine blood, divine hearts—all too cliché. Look at God here—he even gives out systems. If not for familiarity and shame, Seeing Huaishi would've blurted out:

—A true man born between heaven and earth shouldn't languish in obscurity—no, correction: if you're not opposed—

"He wasn't God yet then."

As Weigong Shilang began preparing dessert, he said: "Our universe's original God fled. Su Lin is the second God."

"He was already so rich he didn't even need a system?!" Seeing Huaishi exclaimed.

"I don't know. Maybe, as Kleine speculated, he already carried some kind of system or interface inheritance…"

I don't know that, maybe, as Kleine speculated, he already had some kind of system or interface inheritance within him.

Weigong Shilang glanced at Zhou Mingrui, who was waiting for his order nearby, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed, then pushed over a portion of the dessert he held.

"After all, Su Lin himself shouted things like 'Deep Blue Points' and 'Wind Spirit Moon Shadow' during the battle."

Huai Shi listened, dumbfounded; quoting the words of a certain red-haired woman who loved using men's money: if you're going to cheat, don't cheat too hard—at least not so obviously…

But right now, nobody even knew what kind of cheat he was using.

After all, the versions Huai Shi had recently heard included 'Heaven's Favorite Son,' 'Reincarnation Protagonist,' 'Hidden a Doraemon,' 'Cheat Vendor,' and others—but until now, these had been vague, abstract concepts.

Buddy, at least pretend a little?

If you don't pretend, my blood pressure's going haywire.

Thump… thump…

The raven flew onto Huai Shi's shoulder and affectionately patted his head. "Don't worry—even though he's cheating, you still have your big sister."

As she spoke, she snatched the U. S. dollars from Huai Shi's chest pocket.

Huai Shi felt his blood pressure spike even higher. "Can I switch cheats?"

"He invited you to sign a contract before, didn't he?" Weigong Shilang said. "I got this system after signing my name."

"So… does signing your name come with a cost?" Huai Shi asked, startled and intrigued.

"Cost?" Weigong Shilang paused his motion, scratching his head in frustration. "Not really a cost."

It was only later he realized just how valuable this system was—each ingredient grew better than the last, and the rewards after submitting tasks became increasingly outrageous.

Not long ago, after submitting the dish 'Cosmic Primordial Bread,' he not only received the spell 'Cosmic Shaping,' but also triggered the follow-up quest: 【Cosmic Cuisine Series】.

He was now required to cook the Cosmic Entity—untouched by karma or cause-effect—in countless different ways; after completing the entire series, even greater rewards awaited: the Method of Opening Heaven and Earth, the Blade That Cuts Through Time, the Artifact That Severs Dimensions.

This made Weigong Shilang always feel, while using it, as if he'd taken something precious—or that Su Lin didn't truly understand its value.

He had mentioned this to Ye Fan before; according to Ye Fan's calculations, the origin of this system was likely something on par with the legacies of the Heavenly Cities.

So recently, he brought it up to Su Lin—and Su Lin replied:

【Don't worry, consider it me buying out Weigong Shilang's life. I've written many different screenplays I haven't filmed yet—what do you think of 'Ring Knight Weigong Shilang'?】

Sorry, the 'Emiya's' of the Parallel World.

"Senior Weigong?"

"Hmm, sorry—no cost. God just likes being an audience."

Weigong Shilang's eyelid twitched twice.

"An idealist? I'm an old scholar of the arcane. Of course God's an audience," Huai Shi joked. "Even the famed Emperor Rosel warned us to beware of audiences."

He was right.

Weigong Shilang had no reply, but he glanced at Huai Shi, wondering—if Huai Shi took his place for a while, would he finally have time to fix things at home?

Ding—!

Weigong Shilang rang the bell and placed the sheep's milk ice cream on the tray.

"Dessert ready. Table 19 specifically requested the handsome Zhou-serving Eastern waiter to deliver it."

He glanced at the final note and exclaimed in surprise: "Zhou Mingrui, are you free?"

"Burp?"

Zhou Mingrui, who had eaten until his belly was full, let out a burp in the kitchen, washed his hands at the sink, straightened his clothes, and walked out with a standard service smile.

"Foreign countries really are open."

Huai Shi wiped his hands cleanly, then crouched by the kitchen's service hatch, gazing into the dining hall: "But I've always believed the world needs justice."

"Because broken men love fantasizing that a beautiful rich woman will take them in," the raven scoffed, perched on his shoulder.

"And once given the chance, these phoenix men choose 'I want it all'—an unreasonable, greedy way. Listen carefully, Huai Shi.

'Silver Binge' and 'Grand Court' are just fantasies created by Xiao Chunan for his dojo—abandon these illusions and face reality.

The world doesn't need justice. Money and tenderness have limits. The only ones truly suited to own the world are royal heirs: wealthy, powerful, with vast life experience, and a massive inheritance.

—Bernadette."

Huai Shi always felt this woman was hinting at something—but both reason and intuition told him not to dig deeper.

"Won't the Emperor be hard to deal with?" Huai Shi said.

"Just make him shut up—forever or temporarily."

Su Lin lay beside the kitchen's service hatch, gazing out: "Bernadette is good enough, but she still falls short against Miss Sharon, with her three-no attributes."

"Nonsense!" the raven retorted. "What advantage do three-no have?"

"The object of a dream created by the Tree of Desire," Su Lin said.

"Wha?! That's such a niche angle." The raven opened its beak. "If you count that way, there are countless such relationships!"

"You're right," Su Lin admitted.

"But precisely because of that, we must treat every possible connection with care. As the planet's savior, isn't it normal to have more connections?"

"Pfft, men!" the raven spat disdainfully.

"Fantasies like 'Grand Court' and 'Silver Binge'—use them as spell components, sure, but only in your porn. Would followers of the Church of Night, the Half-Gods of Temperance, the mysterious queen who founded a secret organization tolerate their partner's identity?"

Love may matter, but it cannot bind their thoughts or beliefs.

Juggling multiple lovers? You'll get sliced by a cleaver!"

"You're right—but what does that have to do with us?" Su Lin countered. "It's not us getting cleavered."

"Ah, fair point," the raven cawed, nodding.

"Then let's grasp every red thread in fate. A solitary life, riddled with holes like a sieve, is too cold—you need to weave multiple strands into a thick wool sweater to stay warm."

Back to his usual lazy tone.

"You actually woke me up," the raven praised. "Not bad, brother—you're good at this!"

Su Lin replied modestly: "Not at all. Understanding like this depends on the person—you were already awake, sister."

"Let's make a deal," the crow said, flapping its wings twice at the dazed Huai Shi.

"Stop staring at this kid—he's got nothing new anymore."

"I don't understand what you mean," Su Lin said with a narrowed-eyed smile. "I don't have a thing for little boys."

Huai Shi now truly didn't grasp what these two were hinting at; he just stared blankly at Su Lin, who seemed to have always been there.

"Big shot, when did you get here?"

"When you called out God and my name."

Su Lin looked perfectly reasonable: "Both keywords I set triggered at once, so I came."

Where there is speech, there must be awareness?!

"Didn't expect this guy would actually have a wet dream—holy shit."

As they spoke, Su Lin suddenly sat up and fixed his gaze on the silver-haired girl serving Zhou Mingrui, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Cowlick, silver hair?!"

The crow, previously wary, immediately turned its head to look at Zhou Mingrui, whose arm was being tugged by the silver-haired girl.

"Whoa! A wild female lead prototype?!"

As if sensing the disturbance, the silver-haired girl with the cowlick frowned toward the pickup counter while still pulling Zhou Mingrui's arm.

Huai Shi's heart tightened; he glanced left and right, then sheepishly raised his hand, offering an awkward but polite smile.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Nyaa-ko asked.

"No," Zhou Mingrui replied, glancing back—the window showed only Huai Shi alone: "A male friend."

Nyaa-ko's expression cleared, then she smiled: "Then join us for a meal? Meeting again in such a big city is quite a coincidence."