Chapter 1096

NO. 1: A group of chefs who get along very well

Cooking is the art of the kitchen, the art of the chef, the art of preparing food, and at the same time, the art of enjoying life.

In the past, Aomo believed he had no connection to cooking, as he did not deliberately pursue gustatory pleasure, merely viewing cooking as the processing of ingredients, a necessary procedure for human health and survival.

Thus, for a considerable period of time, he and Rongjin Shinying shared a regional stereotype of culinary tradition—so-called cooking meant the exact replication of recipes.

The quantities of ingredients and seasonings were precise to 0.1 grams, the timing of each cooking stage precise to the second, and he never added any understanding.

The advantage was having no connection to dark cuisine, making it impossible to taste bad.

The disadvantage was that although it was not bad, it could not be called particularly delicious either.

In fact, it differed little from the flavor of some mid-to-high quality industrial pre-made dishes.

Of course, for the former Morrison, this was already quite precious.

After all, this guy was too lazy to even buy pre-made meals, always ordering takeout, and no one could really say what ingredients were used in takeout.

Even if nowadays most takeout shops have installed cameras in their own kitchens to conduct "cooking livestreams" to dispel customers' worries,

but with today's scientific and occult technology, such "transparent cooking" is not entirely reliable.

The risk still exists, so cooking for oneself remains more trustworthy.

Therefore, Morrison would not dislike Aomo for his mechanical-style processing.

Moreover, unlike Rongjin Shinying, Aomo's "Berthold Industrial Style" had already changed in his youth.

The cause was taking on part-time work for pocket money and living expenses.

The result was that although he still viewed eating as an unavoidable part of survival, not giving it much thought, at least the flavor of his cooking was no longer so monotonous.

Now, first it was the picky taste of a certain person in charge of horse girls, then it was the gourmet preference of a certain female employee.

Now that he has a girlfriend, he must further elevate the priority of improving his cooking skills.

Of course.

Everyone knows he recently has no free time at all.

But now it's different!

Now, his overtime has come to an end, and he has even attracted a master of the culinary arts!

"You reap what you sow—plant melons, get melons; plant beans, get beans. What do you think, Mr. Aomo?"

In the kitchen renovated a few days ago, a girl with hair like pickled vegetables… no, like oil paint, stood before tables piled with large and small plates, smiling as she looked toward the black-haired youth beside her with a strand of moon-like hair on his forehead.

"As straightforward as it gets, Miss Shu." The youth also smiled, though his smile carried a hint of helplessness.

After all, frankly speaking, inviting a girl he had only met once, exchanged a few words with—despite her being well-informed, yet still having only a shallow connection with him—to come to his home to cook…

——under normal circumstances, he would never have done such a thing.

But circumstances are stronger than individuals; even if the three monster controllers did not come to increase his burden, he still lacked the confidence to hastily face nine diners.

Especially since four of them are horse girls, and there is also one with a primordial hunter physique from the deep sea, and a fragment of the ages.

He does not know how much the latter two eat.

But he feels it will certainly be higher than the standard for ordinary human women.

Especially "Skadi," who specializes in close combat, with values still quite high—a dual A-rank athlete in strength and speed.

The more astonishing the physique, the more astonishing the metabolism; likewise, the energy required to consume will be equally astonishing.

This is a natural and reasonable principle, applicable to the vast majority of beings not involving supernatural energy, and not merely a privilege of horse girls.

Moreover, it is not saying that involving supernatural energy allows one to completely cast aside this cosmic law.

Just as Aomo's own appetite will gradually increase with the consumption of magic and stamina, and horse girls will also gradually find the path of source energy cultivation on their own tracks, yet this does not hinder them from eating more and more—because the energy contained within their bodies is insufficient to fully compensate for the expenses of living, so what should be eaten must still be eaten.

Everyone's bodies are not so perfect as to be able to avoid ingesting trace elements.

Therefore, getting back to the point, facing such heavy chef pressure, Aomo must find a way to save himself.

And at this moment, unconsciously asking about diners' dietary taboos and preferences successfully triggered the chain of his memory—

"Can you help me ask her what she wants to eat when you turn back? I'll make it for her tonight."

"By the way, if there's any dish you don't know how to make, you can ask me."

Having agreed to remember, he indeed could remember; frankly speaking, even without the assistance of crystal elements, these words would still be as if ringing in his ears—after all, not a single day has passed.

With his thinking and reaction speed, he almost instantly realized—this was all within Shu's expectations.

More accurately speaking, this should be the manifestation of "Seeing Cause and Effect."

Plant what kind of cause, and you will reap what kind of fruit—even the "plant melons, get melons; plant beans, get beans" mentioned by the other party then and now has thus acquired a different meaning, making his smile even more helpless.

"This grilled areca nut, Ah Xi used to like eating it, and this sugar-coated hawthorn cake is liked by the elder brother, then look at this grilled fish head—"

Shu undoubtedly had already prepared everything, just as she now raises her hand to point out and introduce these one after another of Dongyan-style snacks and dishes, many of whose ingredients she brought herself, not from the agency's kitchen freezer stock.

Although Aomo's own cautious nature is also reflected in his kitchen refrigerator, where he specially expanded the capacity of the refrigerator to store ingredients enough for a normal family to eat for a week, but this sudden attack right now—mainly from Rei and Skadi—

really made him lack confidence.

But before the takeout ingredient service could even be activated, Shu had already pulled out her obviously pre-prepared large and small bags and gestured with them.

At this moment, he did not feel relaxed, but instead felt a certain gravity.

Frankly speaking, he somewhat understands why Rei wants to avoid her.

Just acting like a mother is enough, but if she is also a prophetess who arranges everything for you as a mother…… although some people might feel "this is really so cool!" and "so happy it's unbearable!", but she is ultimately not really a mother.

To Rei, she is the sixth younger sister in the family.

To Aomo, she is a female "colleague" from another world, somewhat similar to the Rainbow Snake God.

Of course not to the point of dislike, but if this strange sense of incongruity continues long-term……

To speak without joking, this is also a form of favoring males over females, and furthermore, it is not similar to the usual understanding of heavy maternal love.

Earlier, when Aomo was busy yet curious and had glanced not a few times at her cooking, he could not think of how to describe it, until the other party again smiled and said that sentence "plant melons, get melons"…… then he had a flash of inspiration.

This young lady… perhaps she is treating people as crops to be cultivated.

To cultivate the most perfect crops with meticulous care, one must attend to every possible factor that could yield bitter fruit—at that time, his focus on cooking, even without the idle chatter about household matters he had imagined, made it easy for him to think of her.

It also made it easier to think of himself, who tends to be overly meticulous about certain things.

Miss Shu, or perhaps an excellent mirror, he harbored such subtle thoughts, and continued her unfinished words:

"Which year's guide do you prefer?"

Grilled fish head, standing in the plate with a few points that reminded one of the famous dish from Hongying District, yet due to its large single size in appearance, it gave a different impression to him, and was also quite unfamiliar.

Because he dislikes eating fish heads and such animal brains.

Although the meat was tender, he always felt a strange taste he could not get used to, though he did not deny others might like it—after all, he, who slightly prefers spicy flavors, had once heard of this spicy dish as a famous dish from Dongyan.

At this very moment, in Shu's words as she shook her head: "No, it must be the second brother, and the year's guide must still be turned into chopped chili to work."

"But for similar choices, she would probably prefer spicy rabbit head, though she's not here now, so I won't consider this."

Uttering another dish involving spice and animal brains from Dongyan, Shu's words revealed her own ease and confidence in handling such matters.

This made him unable to help but feel reverent: "You must have specially studied this."

"Eh~ Why are you using honorifics again." Shu, drawing out her tone like an old Dongyan person, gave him a helpless glance—this small look made her elder-like demeanor fade a bit, carrying a few traces of the approachability that should belong to peers.

Assuming she is truly of the same age.

"I did study it, or rather learned from my more capable younger brother, but looking at you here, I estimate no one specially eats spicy food."

"In the end..." Aomo pondered slightly, swallowing Jidong, "People from Dongguo are more numerous."

"Thus, the taste is also more inclined that way."

"No need to switch titles so much—saying Jidong is fine, I've stayed here for not a short time."

"I thought fourteen days for you all would be but a snap of the fingers."

If the long-lived kind does not understand how to weigh the passage of time, the spirit is easily broken—this often is the bitter fruit reaped by short-lived kinds who lightly tread into the realm of longevity.

"It's not that a long life necessarily means ignoring cold and heat."

"When you say this, it always carries—" words unfinished, he saw the other's gaze, Aomo swallowed his previous words again, then rephrased: "You say this, and it always carries special persuasiveness."

After all, if one is to farm, they will inevitably pay more attention to cold and heat than anyone else.

This is likely also one of the main reasons she is more mature and steady than her sisters.

When you take each day seriously, wholeheartedly tending to certain lives, yet your lifespan is long.

Thus, you will inevitably differ in mindset from those family members who wander the world, guard the world, flee the world, or play in the world.

Thinking of this, Aomo felt a surge of reverence, but he said nothing, believing the other also did not care for such 'boasting' or 'praise,' just as her current approval:

"Not bad, not bad—I think with your intelligence, you don't need me to explain this issue, but such a precise time as fourteen days..."

"She didn't say it, but it doesn't hinder my understanding—Miss Shu should be the one who best understands this situation."

"Hmm... yes, but I still almost mistook you for being truly able to resemble me in that way."

Foreseeing cause and effect, and deducing from current information—if the principle is not explained, it indeed gives people a completely identical feeling.

Even in many people's eyes, these two are the same thing—this perfectly matches their imagination of big data divination.

But if one relies on the future derived from big data deduction, and acts upon it, that future will change—so then, what future should one 'see'?

Is what you see merely a real-time shifting chaos?

——These questions are superfluous for 'causality'.

From cause comes fruit—this is an undeniable fact.

Shu is not a supercomputer.

But her ability surpasses all supercomputers, having passed through countless interferences, seeing the future grounded in the present, undeniable.

Precisely for this reason, when she and her NPC self in the game see the Demon God ZERO, they will show internal and external astonishment.

Though not gathered in one body, there is also a subtle feeling as if seeing a scattered self.

"If that were the case, you probably wouldn't make it through." Aomo chuckled lightly, placing those dishes on the tray.

"This universe cannot accommodate overly consistent foreign objects—I once was suspected by a time-traveler friend of having taken another friend's 'position'."

"That is something I didn't know before."

"I thought Dr. Luo Xia would popularize this knowledge among Luo's family members."

For ordinary citizens, it is a very hidden cosmic law, but in the time-traveler circle, especially the upper circle, it is an open secret.

Everyone has touched it to some extent.

"He's too busy," Shu said indifferently, pouring sauce over the steamed bass before her, "The more gathered, the heavier the burden—Rhodes Island was once a large ship, now a larger one; every one of us siblings, like us, makes him worry greatly."

"Fortunately, you also worry for him."

"It's mutual, just as now we worry for you"—Shu pushed the dish closer, then turned to look at the stewed chicken and mushrooms in the pot—"and isn't your mind also turning over my affairs?"

If this were heard by the girls in the living room, it would likely cause some misunderstanding.

But the person concerned would not.

"Of course, we still need to leave some for these dishes and the waiting diners." Aomo laughed freely.

"You and my second brother are alike—both prone to overthinking, clearly young, yet you need to learn your elder sister's carefree nature."

"You are teaching me."

"Stop teasing me, I'm speaking seriously—alright, carry these dishes over; as for this side... this dish still needs to simmer a bit longer with the lotus root and pork rib stew on that side."

"No problem."