Free Web NovelAt three minutes past eight in the evening, shortly after nightfall, the Liao Zhai Tavern had not yet begun to receive customers. Lu Yibei arrived early as agreed, found Boss Hu who was taking a nap in the tavern.
“Boss, I'm here. Should you give me the tools and methods for collecting Human Fireworks ingredients now, or after closing?”
Hearing Lu Yibei's voice, Boss Hu sat up from his lounge chair, looked around for a while, and seeing only a few tables of customers in the tavern, slightly furrowed his brows.
“It's not busy yet, so I'll give them to you now. As for the cooking method for Human Hell, I'll teach you after closing.”
“Actually, there's not much to teach. Your talent is too strong. You just need to learn how to fully utilize your talent to become an outstanding Human Hell maker.”
Boss Hu muttered to himself, stood up, stretched lazily, and slowly walked towards the back kitchen.
Lu Yibei followed closely, passed through the folding wooden door, took the descending elevator, and arrived at the Liao Zhai Tavern's back kitchen a few minutes later.
Having just opened, tonight's customers were about to arrive, and the back kitchen's preparation work had entered the final stage.
Mountain imps carried cleaning tools back and forth, while righteous mice with small bamboo baskets on their backs scurried up and down between the display shelves. Occasionally, they would slightly stop when passing by Boss Hu, bowing to him as a greeting.
Looking towards the center of the kitchen, the giant-like Black was flipping a spatula. Ingredients tumbled in the huge iron pot, making one wonder if an entire cow was inside. On the other side, perhaps having prepared enough clear water, Grandma Bai came to a stove and arranged various cold dishes.
Looking around, it was a busy and orderly scene.
Lu Yibei followed behind Boss Hu, looking around as she walked, unable to suppress the curiosity in her heart, and softly asked, "Boss, it's already this time, is it convenient for you to tell me what the tool for collecting Human Fireworks ingredients is called?"
Boss Hu glanced at Lu Yibei out of the corner of his eye and responded with a smile, “There's no harm in telling you. That thing is called fleeting life like寄.”
After a pause, he added, “How should I put it? It should be considered a set of tableware? Anyway, you'll understand when you see it.”
“Oh, oh.” Lu Yibei nodded.
Boss Hu said it was a set of tableware and that she would understand when she saw it, so she didn't press further.
After almost crossing the entire kitchen, she stopped in front of a pair of double doors.
The doors were old-fashioned, dark wood, with copper rings on the two door panels threaded by a red metal chain, hanging a large tiger-head shaped lock. There was a thin layer of dust on the lock, as if it hadn't been touched for some time.
“Wait outside for a moment.” Boss Hu turned to look at Lu Yibei, instructed her, then took out the key, unlocked it, and gently pushed.
“Creak—!”
With a soft sound, the wooden doors opened to the sides, revealing a dense darkness behind them, where nothing could be seen.
Boss Hu stepped forward, and as his figure crossed the door frame, he disappeared, as if swallowed by the darkness.
Lu Yibei stood outside the door, craning her neck to look inside. At first, she only saw a pitch-Black area. A few seconds later, a slight burning sensation came from her eyes, followed by that pitch-Black area seeming to spin rapidly, stirring up a vortex that seemed to swallow the soul.
Gazing at the darkness, she felt as if her brain was being roughly stirred by something, and she briefly felt dizzy and disoriented, with an ominous premonition rising in her heart.
Just then, Boss Hu's voice came from inside the door, restoring Lu Yibei's consciousness.
“Miss Disaster, you can come in.”
He actually wants me to go in? Could it be that the tool for collecting Human Fireworks ingredients is very large and inconvenient to take out? Lu Yibei hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward, letting the darkness swallow her figure.
It was like a signal interruption, or frame dropping. Lu Yibei's vision was briefly ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ swallowed by darkness, then regained light in a breath.
She steadied herself and looked forward, her eyes widening.
In front was a huge cave, with the top connected to the ground. The bright white light, cast from who knows where, fell upon that colossal object, which was three to four stories high, shining brightly. Flocks of iridescent winged ephemera circled the colossal object, emitting completely different Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
Alchemy materials engraved with complex solidified Spells and Spiritual Energy circuits were assembled and joined together with incredibly exquisite techniques, forming a super-standard Spiritual Energy item.
If I could disassemble this thing and turn the independent Spiritual Energy circuits into different Spiritual Energy items to sell, wouldn't I make a fortune?
Although from the appearance, it does somewhat resemble a large pot forged by an abstract artist, but...
You tell me this is "tableware"? I'd believe you if you said it was a spaceship of some grotesque alien.
Looking at the colossal object, Lu Yibei thought with a complicated mood.
Seeing her stunned and ignorant look, Boss Hu smiled and gently explained, “Don't misunderstand, you don't need the entire fleeting life like寄 to collect Human Fireworks ingredients, you only need this.”
As he spoke, he took a few steps forward, stopped in front of the fleeting life like寄, bent down and fiddled for a while. With a series of “clinking” sounds, he took down a palm-sized object from it, then casually grabbed a few ephemera flying around the fleeting life like寄 and returned to Lu Yibei's side.
“Here, this is enough.”
Boss Hu said, handing the object taken from the fleeting life like寄 to Lu Yibei with one hand, and putting the ephemera into his mouth with the other.
With a "crunch," sparkling fluorescent powder slowly drifted down.
Lu Yibei's attention was originally focused on the old-fashioned blue and white porcelain bowl with a chipped rim. Hearing the "crunching" sound, she unconsciously turned to Boss Hu.
She narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.
She saw him putting one ephemera after another into his mouth, seemingly enjoying the taste.
Bear Grylls would call him an expert after seeing this.
She just didn't know if that thing tasted like chicken.
When he had eaten all but the last ephemera he had caught, Boss Hu noticed Lu Yibei's unusual gaze, was slightly startled, and handed the last remaining ephemera to her.
“Want to try?”
“No, no!” Lu Yibei said hastily, shaking her head like a rattle-drum.
She didn't dare to casually eat things given to her by others anymore.
After the incident where Lord Bing forced her to drink, she had developed a psychological shadow of food and drinks of unknown origin.
Last time, she was almost drugged and taken away by Lord Bing. Who knows what would happen if she ate Boss Hu's insects this time.
Seeing this, Boss Hu shook his head, put the ephemera into her hand, and said impatiently, “Don't worry, I'm not that guy Lord Bing. I don't have a Hobbies for feeding strange things to beautiful Miss urban legend.”
“Didn't you want to make Human Fireworks? These spirit-eating insects are ingredients left over after cooking Human Fireworks several times. How should I put it? They're probably similar to something like scorched rice.”
“Although it's not considered Human Fireworks yet, you can taste a hint of the flavor of Human Fireworks...”
A hint of the flavor of Human Fireworks? Lu Yibei frowned, lowered her head and looked at the ephemera in her hand, whose wings were red and white and emitting a faint glow. After hesitating for a few seconds, she put it into her mouth.
Her lips and teeth closed, and in an instant, a rich spicy flavor that made her mouth water swept through every corner of her mouth.
As someone from the Shu region whose family ran a restaurant, Lu Yibei had eaten many spicy delicacies since she was a child. In terms of taste alone, that ephemera could definitely rank in the top three.
However, the so-called Human Fireworks is definitely not just about deliciousness. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Just as Lu Yibei was still immersed in the rich spicy flavor, a strange emotion quietly rose from the bottom of her heart. After lasting for a few seconds, it slowly dissipated.
In those few seconds, she felt as if she had been injected with adrenaline, capable of playing games for several nights in a row.
She felt as if she was standing on a sports field, competing with an opponent for that single trophy.
She felt as if she was on a battlefield that determined the outcome of the war, charging at the forefront of all the soldiers, one against a thousand!
She felt that even if she was currently in an era where everyone was silent and the future was completely dark, she would still have the courage to be the first person to stand up and let out a deafening "shout"!
It's burning!
Honestly, if someone gave me some of this before fighting an enemy, I wouldn't back down at all, I'd just charge right through! Lu Yibei thought.
After the surge of heat in her heart gradually subsided, she looked at Boss Hu, let out a long breath, and said, “Phew, is this Human Fireworks?”
“Wrong.” Boss Hu corrected with a smile, “To be precise, this is just the leftover scraps after cooking.”
After a pause, he raised the small bowl in his hand that looked like it was made of blue and white porcelain, and changed the subject, “Let's not talk about idle matters for now. Should I tell you how to use this thing first?”
“Customers will be arriving soon, so we need to hurry.”
“Okay, okay!” Lu Yibei nodded obediently, “You speak, you speak.”
“I have two methods here. Which one do you want to hear first?” Boss Hu said, “The former is relatively simple, but the collected ingredients have more impurities and are more time-consuming. The latter is more difficult.”
“Do you even need to ask? Of course, the simple one!” Lu Yibei answered without hesitation.
Anyway, the Human Fireworks is made to lure the turtle king. Why make it so good for it?
It's already good enough that I didn't mix in some sawdust, mud, and old tree bark!
“Is that so?” Boss Hu pondered for a moment and said, “The simpler method is to have people put small things from their surroundings into this bowl.”
“Small things around a person often record their joys and sorrows, and the principle of collecting these joys and sorrows is similar to how some urban legend sell their lives for money.”
“Wait!” Lu Yibei suddenly thought of something and interrupted, “I understand! You mean, you want me to carry a broken bowl and beg, right?”
Boss Hu covered his forehead, “Couldn't you do a small business and have them exchange things when buying something, putting the things they want to exchange into this bowl?”
Lu Yibei, “...”
That seems possible too? But directly begging doesn't require any cost at all? Why pay a cost when you can get it for free?
