I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 404: Chapter 295: This Thing Looks Like It’ll Kill Someone

CLICK.

When he opened the door, a young man carrying various pieces of equipment was standing at his doorstep.

This young man was the air conditioner technician Lin Li had contacted earlier. After opening the door, Lin Li welcomed the technician inside.

"Your AC unit isn’t broken, it just ran out of refrigerant. I’ll refill it for you, and it’ll work just like before," the technician said to Lin Li after inspecting the unit.

"Okay, please go ahead and add the refrigerant, sir."

"A refrigerant refill costs fifty yuan."

"Fine, go ahead!"

After telling Lin Li the price for the refill and seeing him nod in agreement, the technician took out his equipment and began to add refrigerant to Lin Li’s air conditioner.

WHOOSH...

The air conditioner restarted, its refrigerant now refilled, and began blowing out a chilly breeze.

Lin Li felt the cold air from the AC and nodded in satisfaction. He then took out his phone, scanned the technician’s payment QR code, paid the fee, and saw the man out.

As the technician stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor, he pondered for a few seconds before muttering to himself.

"Strange. Didn’t the customer say the living room AC couldn’t cool because it was out of refrigerant? How was the living room already so chilly then?"

After seeing the technician off, Lin Li walked over to the air conditioner, which was now spewing cold air. He looked at the newly functional unit and thought to himself.

’From now on, I’ll just use the Refrigeration Spiritual Artifact I bought in Dongwu City of the Spirit Realm to cool the living room. I’ll only turn on the regular AC when I have guests over.’

Having made his decision, Lin Li picked up the AC remote and turned off the now-working unit. He then retrieved the Refrigeration Spiritual Artifact he had put away from the Mysterious Small Island, activated it, and placed it on top of the air conditioner.

Afterward, he went to the bathroom, took his discarded camouflage uniform to the balcony, and left the sweaty, dusty clothes to soak in the sink.

「 」

DRING DRING DRING...

Lin Li was carrying an opaque plastic bag in his hand. Just as he walked out of his residential complex’s gate, the phone in his pocket started to ring.

He took out his phone and glanced at the screen. The caller ID showed Su Yue’s name.

"Hello."

"Lin Li, haven’t you left yet?"

"I have. I’m on my way to your place right now!"

"Oh, okay then. I’ll start cooking."

After a brief chat, they ended the call. Lin Li put his phone away and quickened his pace toward Su Yue’s complex.

The opaque plastic bag in his hand contained red mushrooms. He had originally planned to have Su Yue personally cook them.

Now that he knew Su Yue was starting to prepare dinner, Lin Li wanted to get to her place quickly. He hoped to show her the special ingredient he’d found before she finished cooking so she could add a mushroom dish to the meal.

「 」

DING-DONG.

He pressed the doorbell, and a moment later, the door in front of him opened.

Su Yue was wearing a white T-shirt and denim shorts, with an apron tied around her waist. Her smooth, jet-black hair was tied up with a pink ribbon.

After opening the door, she welcomed Lin Li inside, her eyes landing on the opaque plastic bag he was carrying.

"Is this the special something you told me you wanted to show me? What’s in the bag?"

Once inside, Lin Li heard her question and handed her the bag with a smile. "This special something is a real treasure! Open it up and take a look..."

Su Yue, thoroughly curious, took the plastic bag from Lin Li. When she opened it, she saw it was filled with brightly colored mushrooms she had never seen before. The curiosity on her face turned to surprise.

"Uh, so the special thing you mentioned was... mushrooms? But they’re all this vibrant red color. They’re not poisonous, are they?"

"..."

’This dummy has no taste at all! To think she’d find something wrong with such a rare ingredient...’ Lin Li was speechless when he heard Su Yue suggest that the red mushrooms he’d worked so hard to get were poisonous.

He had run all the way to the wilds of the South District in the blistering heat just to find these red mushrooms. To have them questioned as poisonous now left him with very complicated feelings.

"They’re not poisonous," Lin Li said. "These mushrooms are a rare ingredient. I heard from someone who’s eaten them that they’re incredibly delicious..."

"Who did you hear that from? Don’t let yourself get tricked! If these mushrooms are poisonous, eating them could be fatal."

As a culinary master, Su Yue had seen her fair share of mushrooms, but never any with such a vibrant color. It was no wonder she suspected these red mushrooms were poisonous.

Of course, Lin Li couldn’t give Su Yue a detailed explanation of where the red mushrooms came from. He said vaguely, "The person who told me these mushrooms aren’t poisonous and are very tasty was an Investigator. An Investigator wouldn’t lie to me, right?"

"An Investigator? You know an Investigator?" Su Yue asked, surprised.

"I happened to run into one buying groceries at the wet market.

At the time, a lot of people, just like you, suspected the red mushrooms the vendor was selling were poisonous. Seeing the situation, the Investigator revealed his identity and explained a bit about these red mushrooms.

I was in the crowd and heard his explanation. I figured that since an Investigator said the mushrooms weren’t poisonous, and were not only rare but also delicious, I’d buy some." Lin Li racked his brain and came up with a reasonably plausible story.

Su Yue let out an "Oh," and didn’t voice any more doubts about the red mushrooms, but the skeptical look in her eyes didn’t fade.