stjorthotic Chapter 586 Divine Chef Little Red Snow
Chapter 586 Divine Chef Little Red Snow
Chi Xue admits that her understanding of the dream imagery is seriously flawed.
She shouldn't have thought this place was "normal"—especially after entering this dark underground labyrinth, and after the group charged and fired their rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, and all sorts of firearms, Chi Xue suddenly saw something in a passageway of the labyrinth that absolutely shouldn't be here:
A campfire, a kitchen table, and a complete set of exquisite kitchen utensils and woks.
"Oh, so this is the kitchen," Fenrir said calmly upon discovering the passageway.
Then he was given a deep look by Chi Xue.
"Fenrir, weren't you just making a lot of sarcastic remarks? Why did you stop making sarcastic remarks in this situation?" Akashi asked.
"Hmm? Oh, because everyone says that this dream image was created by Marigold and that newbie who isn't even a magical girl. Isn't it normal for something beyond our comprehension to appear?" Fenrir said calmly.
Chi Xue couldn't describe in detail what the gray wolf was saying, but silently followed the group to the outdoor kitchen, looked up at the closed door of the passageway ahead, and the notice board posted on the door:
[Mission for this level]
[Make a delicious maze meal, 0/1]
"...What's this?"
Looking at the ambiguous description on the mission, Chi Xue felt that she could understand each word individually, but when put together, it felt very strange.
In this dark maze, the route to the depths is fixed—each time you arrive at a checkpoint gate, a notice board will appear, and you must complete the tasks on it to proceed.
There are many different types of tasks:
From the initial task of "Defeat all attacking monsters," to a scene resembling the interior of a spaceship where "Deimos Spy: Obtain all data for locations A, B, and C," it then transitions to a pixel-style 2D world where "Platform Jumping" takes place.
Chi Xue finally understood why this dreamlike mental image seemed so "normal" when she was outside. It turned out that all the incredible stitching elements were waiting in this place!
But just as she completed the "platform jump" involving eating mushrooms, breaking bricks, and defeating a giant turtle with a spiky shell, and seeing the maze scene reappear behind the door, Akayuki thought it was all over, and that the next step was to confront the ultimate secret left behind by Garuda in this dreamlike vision—
When the mysterious kitchen and all the monsters defeated in the first mission appeared before her, Chi Xue wished she could just black out and pass out.
Unexpectedly, when Alice, the Moon Fox, and Fenrir clapped their hands almost simultaneously and exclaimed in unison, "So that's what it is, this is quite fun," Chi Xue was so angry that she shrugged and realized what was going on.
"What's so fun about this?"
As Xin Yuehu excitedly trotted over to the pile of monsters suffering from acute heavy metal poisoning, wagging her tail and pondering what to cook, Chi Xue finally couldn't help but call out.
"Don't you play video games? You must have played Overcooked or something." Fenrir glanced back at Akashi, who was lifting a minotaur-like monster with one hand.
...Shouldn't this be called a half-ox and half-horse?
A lame joke popped into her head for no reason, and Chi Xue couldn't help but burst out laughing in exasperation.
Well, since that's what the task board says, I might as well play along with their nonsense this once and for all.
【Maze Meal】This is something that the mission requires you to make in this level, and Akayuki is completely confused by it.
After a detailed explanation from Shin-Tsuki-ko and Alice-Jack, Aka-Yuki, who had hardly ever watched TV anime, finally understood what the mission required.
"The so-called 'Maze Meal' in that anime refers to the dishes made by the monsters in the maze to eat and fill their stomachs. This level is probably going to require us to replicate the monster dishes from that anime."
"...Use these things to cook?"
Pointing to the monster remains piled up on the open ground, Chi Xue posed a soul-searching question.
"Well... it's just a dreamlike vision, and these monsters don't seem to be poisonous, so this mission is actually quite simple."
"What's so easy about it!"
Having no other choice, Chi Xue had to take the partially processed monster meat from Fenrir. Looking at the pile of things that really didn't look edible on the cutting board, she suddenly had the urge to chop it into minced meat with her cleaver.
In short, I'll try to handle these things according to my own Sichuan cuisine style first, Chi Xue thought to herself.
Washing, blanching, and removing the fishy smell—using magic to do these things is simple and quick. Soon, a large chunk of meat that has been meticulously processed appears on the cutting board. The cleaver carefully cuts it into slices and then into shreds. Next, it is stir-fried with seasonings.
Flames licked the bottom of the wok, oil sizzled in the pan, and when a handful of vegetables were thrown into the pan, white steam rose up, but quickly dissipated in the intense heat.
Seeing how skillfully Chi Xue flipped the wok, Alice and Little Jack, who hadn't seen a chef cook much before, were quite interested and craned their necks to watch curiously.
When Chi Xue gave the pot of meat and vegetables a sharp tumble, sending them flying into the air like waves, Alice gasped in surprise, thinking the whole pot was going to fly around and get soaked. But when Chi Xue caught them all with the spatula, she clapped excitedly.
Compared to Hellcat's steady and reliable barbecue fried rice, Chi Xue's Sichuan-style chef's demeanor truly surprised the girl who had come all the way from England.
A large plate of steaming hot "Stir-fried Green Peppers with Half Beef and Horse Meat" was served on the table.
The texture of the shredded meat was almost the same as that of beef. Fenrir even dared to take a bite with his chopsticks and chew it carefully.
"You really ate it?" Akashi looked at Fenrir with a complicated expression.
The latter nodded, but showed no sign of stopping chewing until he swallowed the food, at which point he looked surprised and nodded repeatedly.
"It's good. The texture is similar to beef, but it's more tender. The flavor is also very delicate after stir-frying. It's delicious."
After hearing the gray wolf girl's food review, which sounded like that of a gourmet, Xin Yuehu picked up her chopsticks and took a bite—it was indeed as delicious as the dog said, but only a proper chef could cook it up like this.
Alice and Jack then went up and tried a bite, giving it a thumbs up in admiration.
Feeling somewhat pleased by the applause from the people in front of her after tasting the dish, Chi Xue couldn't help but look at the plate of stir-fried green peppers with maze-shaped shredded beef and horse meat that she had personally cooked. She swallowed hard, but ultimately didn't dare to take a bite.
Of course, a single dish is not enough to meet the requirement of "abundance" in the task.
With this first dish as a source of confidence, the group immediately got to work with great enthusiasm:
Heartmoon Fox was in charge of selecting ingredients and dishes from the monsters, Alice and Little Jack were in charge of using magic to roughly chop them up, and Fenrir was in charge of the initial blanching and other rough processing, as well as chopping some fresh vegetables, scallions, ginger and garlic. His vegetable-chopping skills were top-notch, and it was clear that he had cooked a lot.
Chi Xue stared blankly at the recipe Xin Yuehu handed her, her eyelids twitching violently.
The first dish has been crossed out: [Stir-fried shredded beef and horse meat with green peppers].
Next, the second dish was placed on the cutting board: [Kung Pao Ham and Diced Pork].
When the diced dragon leg meat was placed on the counter, and looking at the fiery red, glistening meat that seemed almost like it could be used as fuel, Chi Xue finally couldn't hold back and blurted out a phrase from her hometown dialect:
"What is this thing?"
Clang, bang, crash.
Nine dishes were served separately from Chi Xue's wok and oven, making it an absolutely sumptuous meal.
Looking at the various dishes displayed on the task board, each person wiped away their sweat. They didn't feel very tired; instead, they felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
"Garlic-flavored Treasure Chest Monster White Meat, Pickled Pepper Hellhound Tail, Steamed Chimera Meat with Rice Flour, Spicy Boiled Mud Monster Meat Slices..."
Looking at the maze-style Sichuan cuisine meal in front of her, Xin Yuehu muttered to herself about the bizarre names on the menu while having her camera familiar save the entire eight-camera video from all angles.
Putting everything else aside, today's trip alone is enough for me to edit two episodes of a video, titled "The World of Mind on the Tip of the Tongue." Later, I'll ask Chi Xue and the rest of the team to film a post-production commentary video, and the viewership will definitely skyrocket.
"Let's see if we can get through the mission with these things first," Chi Xue complained.
"Don't forget this, [Maze Vine Flower Beer], and [Magic Grape Sweet Red], which I fermented with magic." Fenrir hurriedly brought out two oak barrels that he didn't know where he got them from, and said.
"And mine too..."
Alice walked over shyly and placed the large plate of food she was carrying on the table.
Everyone stared intently; the plate appeared to contain some kind of puff pastry pie, but the neatly arranged, vertically inserted fried fish immediately gave it a name that was almost universally recognized:
"Wow! Stargazing party!" "I knew the British should be banned from the kitchen!" "Fox, you spoil Alice too much!"
With the addition of these powerful (questionable) side dishes, an exotic flavor of inexplicable significance was added to the entire table, adding a lot of... a kind of charm that makes one feel dizzy and confused on the basis of the pure Sichuan-style maze rice prepared by Chi Xue.
"This is our answer sheet for this level!" Xin Yuehu stepped forward and said to the task board on the maze gate, "If we pass, please open the gate!"
silence.
The task board on the gate gradually turned into magical particles and dissipated, while the large table of dishes was also lifted into the air by magic and gradually disappeared.
"--belch."
A satisfied burp seemed to echo from the darkness, and the gate swung open, revealing the deepest part of the labyrinth to Xin Yuehu and her companions.
"We've finally arrived! That meal we cooked earlier was definitely worth it!"
"yes……"
Chi Xue didn't have much energy left to complain. She followed Fenrir forward, both looking at the thing shimmering with magical light deep within the labyrinth:
"This is it." "We've been looking for this for ages."
A giant egg covered in black patterns sat there steadily.