Chapter 49

People who constantly talk about losing weight can hardly understand how wonderful the taste of “sweet” is to the people of this world—many have never even known what sweet tastes like in their entire lives.

The primary material plane has natural sources of sweetness like honey and fruit, but this world has almost none.

Lu Se and Anna could only eat sugar beets thanks to their status as the governor’s children, but even then they couldn’t eat freely—getting three or five per year was already a luxury.

That made things worse: those who never tasted sweetness didn’t feel bitterness, but once they’d tasted it, every day without it became bitter.

Esck was willing to trade grain for sugar beets, but even several times more grain would struggle to obtain them—the yield was far too low.

Lu Se had been on the run for months; not even sugar beets, let alone a decent meal, had been easy to come by. Now that he saw sugar beets, how could he not stare with hungry eyes?

After thanking him, Lu Se grabbed one and bit into it without hesitation—after that first bite, his eyes widened in shock.

The sugar beet Ange produced wasn’t fresh—it was an ancient one, stored for a thousand years. Logically, after such a long time, it should have dried out and become inedible. But it hadn’t.

The soil-filled cellar, saturated with Xi Rang, suppressed all life activity—even bacteria couldn’t reproduce—and simultaneously dehydrated the crops.

Sugar beets contained ten to twenty percent sugar by weight; after dehydration, their volume shrank while sugar concentration soared. This entire process occurred within the Xi Rang environment, causing the beet’s interior to form a syrup-like substance, similar to honey. One bite contained forty to fifty percent pure sugar, combined with the plant’s natural fragrance—sweet, aromatic, exploding on the taste buds.

“Mmm~~~.” Lu Se’s eyes slitted shut in bliss.

Only Esck in the group truly understood his feeling—he’d eaten Ange’s sugar beets before, and even now, recalling that flavor made his saliva flow involuntarily.

Ange transferred out one sack; because of its density, it weighed about thirty jin— heavier than grain.

Seeing her brother enjoy it so much, Anna couldn’t resist picking up one herself, took a bite, and her eyes narrowed in delight.

“Is it really that good?” Lan scoffed skeptically—but sadly, everyone else was a lich and had no sense of taste.

The little zombie, however, crept quietly over, grabbed one, and bit into it—before he could swallow, Ange slapped him across the head.

Liches eating food risks rotting their esophagus; even though some zombies no longer had one, rotting elsewhere was still dangerous—what if it perforated and something fell out of their belly?

Lu Se demonstrated the terrifying power of a Sword Saint—he devoured five jin of sugar beets in one go!

After finishing, he wasn’t satisfied—he strained his body, and martial energy flared around him.

He kicked and slashed through a few movements, then stared in disbelief at Anna: “I feel full of strength! My god, these sugar beets fill the stomach so fast!”

How could it not be fast? After sugar conversion, the sugar concentration neared forty percent—five jin of sugar beets equaled eating two jin of pure sugar, with explosive caloric content.

After channeling martial energy to metabolize it, Lu Se’s stomach emptied again. He picked up another and kept eating, but now, with the earlier food settled, he ate more slowly, even raising the sugar beet toward Ange and saying: “Incredible flavor.”

“Brother, where have you been? Our home was smashed to pieces,” Anna complained.

If Lu Se hadn’t secretly run off, and had remained to guard it, even if the gates of Frost City were broken, enemies would still dare not enter—the power a Sword Saint wields in alley warfare makes foes prefer leveling the entire city rather than fighting inside.

Lu Se flung his backpack off his back: “I went to the Demon Valley. Originally, I was tailing the guy who burned our Frost City farmland, but he escaped through a hot spring. So I got angry and stormed into the Demon Valley to demand him back.”

“Only two of the three Demon Valley leaders were there. They claimed the one who burned the fields was Turus, and that they’d driven him out. I don’t believe a word of it. When they couldn’t hand him over, I slipped in and killed both of them.”

Lu Se growled, opened his pack, and revealed four massive, curved demon horns—only a high-rank demon could grow horns this large.

After venting his anger, he turned and noticed Anna, Lan, and the others wearing strange expressions. “What’s wrong?”

Anna whispered weakly: “They might’ve been telling the truth—the one who burned the fields really was Turus. He was killed by Lord Ange.”

Lan speculated: “So you ran off not to skip home, but to chase Turus? Turus fled from you, didn’t return to the Demon Valley, and came here to the Lich City—because he’d been driven out and couldn’t go back?”

A cold wind blew through. The three from Frost City stared at each other, frozen in silence…

After a long while, Lu Se whispered weakly: “You mean… they weren’t lying? I killed the wrong people?”

Anna and Lan nodded.

“Ugh, this is just… whatever. Honestly, I never liked them anyway—they were cruel to their human slaves, starving them all to skin and bones. After I killed them, I warned the rest to treat humans better, or I’d come back and kill them again.” Lu Se growled, took another huge bite of sugar beet, venting his frustration over killing the wrong targets.

Then he remembered something else: “By the way—who’s this Lord Ange you’re talking about?”

Anna and Lan quickly pulled him aside and quietly described Ange and the others’ situation, adding many details they’d imagined themselves.

Watcher? King’s projection? Angelic skeleton? Brass Dragon? Holy Light? Temple reopened? Holy Maiden Lisa? I’ve only been gone a few months—and so much has happened?

As Lu Se listened, he glanced curiously toward Ange—then froze in horror: Ange’s arm was gone. It had been there just moments ago! His shoulder still moved slightly—what was going on?

Anna and Lan were unfazed: “Lord Ange is gardening. His hand is reaching into another world to plant crops.” When they said “planting crops,” they both couldn’t help smiling—who could have imagined the Watcher had such an adorable hobby?

“A cross-world hand… just for gardening?” Lu Se didn’t know what to say. He stared blankly at the sugar beet in his hand, then asked involuntarily: “Does Lord Ange still take followers…?”

…

Lu Se certainly wouldn’t sell himself over a few sugar beets—but he often traded all kinds of things for them. First, he traded the four demon horns for half a sack of sugar beets.

Seven days later, Lu Se brought Ange three corpses of heavily armored shield warriors with their gear, plus two living female priests: “My lord, I’ve found you two maids. And by the way, I’ve heard some good news—give me a few more sacks of sugar beets, and I’ll tell you what it is.”