Chapter 752: Source of Life (Double Period, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"C-can you even eat that?" Lu Jianuo stammered after a few seconds.

What will happen if you eat it? What changes will occur?

Will it give birth to that divine child?

Lu Mi glanced at Lu Jianuo's arm and said:

"What's there not to eat?"

Lu Jianuo immediately felt intense phantom pain again and shook his head frantically:

"No, no need!"

He wanted to distance himself from Ludwig and Lu Mi, but couldn't think of an excuse.

Ludwig swallowed the cheese bread in his mouth before speaking slowly:

"Top-tier ingredients don't need much pairing or seasoning.

"We only need to give them symbolism.

"These include nine staple ingredients: wheat, oats, rye, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cassava, and any one kind of legume.

"Cook them together with the umbilical cord remnant in milk or goat's milk for half an hour, and you can enjoy it.

"This staple dish is called 'Source of Life.'"

You're cooking or performing a mystic ritual… Lu Mi mentally grumbled.

Of course, the "Gourmet" Path's "Chef" preparing alcoholic drinks or cooking dishes is essentially conducting corresponding mystic rituals.

Lu Mi asked thoughtfully:

"Actually, it doesn't have to be these nine ingredients—so long as they fit the concept and quantity of staple materials?"

"And similarly, could other milks work?"

Ludwig shook his head:

"No, this method tastes best."

Meaning, what I just described achieves the final effect, but the flavor won't be right? No wonder he's on the "Gourmet" Path—he really does have culinary aspirations… Lu Mi stood up and instructed Lu Jianuo to buy some ingredients.

—Lu Mi's "Traveler's Satchel" contained only dry rations that could be eaten straight out.

For Trier, one of the world's top metropolises, Ludwig's required ingredients were easy to gather; by noon, Lu Mi and Lu Jianuo had returned, watching as Ludwig placed the staple ingredients along with Oumibela's umbilical cord remnant into a stew pot filled with several hundred milliliters of milk.

These steps must be performed personally by a "Chef," imbuing the dish with mystic power to draw out the ingredients' designated special properties and maintain them at a controlled level for absorption; if anyone else did it, it would either have no effect or turn the food into poison.

After the fire simmered for a while, Lu Mi smelled the aroma of starch and milk, seeing thick white steam rising above the pot.

The steam did not disperse but condensed in midair, slowly sinking back into the pot over time.

A tantalizing scent, faintly tinged with blood, drifted out.

At that moment, Ludwig turned his head toward Lu Mi and licked his lips:

"Do you want sugar or salt?"

"Will that make a difference?" Lu Mi asked cautiously.

Ludwig replied seriously:

"The texture will differ—one will be sweet, one will be salty.

"Which do you prefer?"

Seeing this, Lu Mi quietly exhaled and smiled as he asked in return:

"Which do you prefer?"

"I can't eat it…" Ludwig looked disappointed, muttering, "Sweet is good, salty is good too—if only I could split it into two portions, one sweet, one salty…"

As he spoke, the boy seemed provoked, sprinkling salt and tossing in some sugar granules.

Lu Mi watched, amused, and did not stop him.

To him, the flavor of the "Source of Life" didn't matter—it was the effect that counted.

Finally, Ludwig told Lu Jianuo to extinguish the fire and remove the contents from the pot.

It was a palm-sized mass of congealed starch, white in color, soft, glutinous, and sticky.

The food's surface was speckled with red patches, as if blood had oozed from within.

"You can eat it now," Ludwig said, struggling not to drool.

"Will one bite be enough, or must I eat it all?" Lu Mi asked, as if back in his days of conducting experiments—his questions often made Aurora furious.

"All of it," Ludwig replied, looking crestfallen.

Lu Mi picked up the still-steaming, hot food and brought it to his mouth, taking a bite.

Sweet with a hint of salt, the salt cutting through the sweetness—the unique texture eased Lu Mi's psychological resistance, and he quickly ate the entire "Source of Life."

"Will the effect come soon?" Lu Mi, already determined, asked impatiently.

Ludwig pointed to the master bedroom:

"You'll need to sleep first."

Sleep again… Lu Mi left the table and returned to his room, lying down on the bed.

He closed his eyes, feeling his body slowly warm, then his mind grow heavier and heavier…

In darkness, Lu Mi heard faint sobs.

He turned his head, carefully identifying the sound.

It was a little girl whispering through tears:

"Mama… Mama…"

The voice grew louder, more mature, more desperate:

"Mama! Mama!"

The cries drew nearer, as if echoing right beside Lu Mi's ears, inside his body:

"Mama! Mama!"

Inside my body… Lu Mi suddenly startled awake, regaining his sense of self and thought.

The darkness before his eyes shattered into fragments, sunlight piercing his pupils.

Lu Mi sat up abruptly, fully escaping the dream.

The cries of "Mama, Mama" still echoed faintly in his mind.

Did I hear the divine child crying? Lu Mi looked down at himself.

He stripped naked but found no abnormalities; yet he knew clearly—he was different now, in a way he couldn't describe.

He felt no gaze from the "Great Mother," but that made it even more alarming.

Dressing and stepping out of his room, Lu Mi saw Lu Jianuo peering nervously toward him.

"I-I'm fine, right?" Lu Jianuo asked reflexively, caught in the act.

Lu Mi laughed:

"Don't worry—I won't become the 'Great Mother's' divine child."

Seeing Lu Jianuo glance at his stomach, Lu Mi added:

"And I'm not carrying Him."

Saying that, he ignored Lu Jianuo's lingering worries and walked straight out of the apartment.

The afternoon sun was perfect—he planned to spend these two idle days keeping watch somewhere.

That place was Trier's underground catacombs.

After learning Harrison from Resurrection Island might appear in places tied to death, darkness, twilight, and decay, Lu Mi immediately thought of the "Dream Festival" and Trier's underground catacombs.

Both were unique places saturated with death and dark mysticism.

…

First level of the catacombs, near the entrance to the "Old Bone Chamber" below.

Lu Mi held a lit white candle and sat beside a scattered, desiccated skeleton, quietly observing every visitor descending into the catacombs and every person returning from its depths.

Soon, several students passed by and noticed Lu Mi sitting beside the skeletal remains.

Their leader was a tall, thin man wearing glasses; he curiously asked Lu Mi:

"Why are you sitting here?"

Lu Mi replied casually:

"I've been through the lower levels many times—I'm no longer interested. Now I just want to sit here, quietly watching every person and every corpse that passes, seeing who never leaves."

"That sounds interesting," the students said, holding their white candles and discussing briefly before deciding to sit here too, watching whether those returning from the catacombs' depths showed fear on their faces.

The tall, glasses-wearing man chose to sit on Lu Mi's other side and chatted easily:

"You say not lighting a white candle here really causes accidents?"

Lu Mi glanced at him and chuckled:

"You could try it—we'd find out then."

Before the students could respond, Lu Mi spoke in a relaxed tone:

"I didn't believe this stuff either, until…"

Here, he suddenly lowered his voice.

Two of the female students blurted out:

"What happened then?"

"Then…" Lu Mi's expression turned nostalgic, "I met someone who encountered the Monsury ghost. You know the legend of the Monsury ghost, right?"

The students all nodded.

You really do know all of Trier's horror legends… No wonder you're a common species in underground Trier—students… Lu Mi sighed.

All his direct relatives were dead; he thought he could escape, but one day, when I went to find him, I discovered him hanged from the window frame.

"Since then, I've strictly followed every rule of Underground Trier."

The several college students looked at each other, unsettled by the story told by Lu Mi, someone their own age.

"Looks like we really can't extinguish this candle," said the tall, thin, glasses-wearing college student, sounding regretful.

Lu Mi lowered his voice again:

"Have you ever experienced something like that?

"There are books, blankets, clothes in your dormitory that clearly don't belong to you, yet the caretaker tells you no one else lives here."

Two of the college students turned pale, as if they'd just heard the most terrifying ghost story.

They asked, desperate as drowning men:

"Yes, that's happened to us—do you know why?"

Lu Mi shook his head and sighed:

"I heard those are all people who extinguished the candle here—they vanished completely, and no one remembers them anymore."

Hearing this, the tall, thin, glasses-wearing college student instinctively shuddered.

He suddenly felt something tap his shoulder.

He turned his head and saw a pale, bony hand.

"Ah!" he screamed, leaping up violently.

Lu Mi retrieved the white bone hand he'd picked up from somewhere, grinning mockingly:

"You're such cowards!

"That's all it takes to scare you?"

The college students froze, then after a moment, forced themselves to say:

"No!

"That was just a reflex!"

As they seriously considered whether to beat up that terrifying bastard, a man climbed up the stone staircase leading to the second level.

He wore a blue shirt, yellow trousers, deep wrinkles on his face, sparse and dry white hair, and held a short, burning white candle.

He was an elderly graveyard caretaker.

Lu Mi slightly frowned.

He had seen this graveyard caretaker in the massive tomb chamber at the "Spring of the Samaritan Woman," but back then, the man hadn't used a white candle.

ps: During the double reward period, please vote for monthly tickets~

(End of Chapter)