Chapter 57: Group Photo

It all happened too fast. In a split second, Tao Qi lunged at the multi-tongued woman and swallowed her fried rice in a single gulp, bowl and all.

The multi-tongued woman froze for a second before breaking into a smile.

"You must be hungry, Tao Qi. It's fine, you can have my portion."

She had already enjoyed her fish soup. As for the rest of the dishes in this Domain, nothing else really caught her eye.

Since this dim-witted Gluttonous Weird wanted to eat, she was happy to do it an effortless favor.

Beside her, the big-bellied man's eyes shifted slyly.

Chuckling, he pulled his own bowl away and said, "I'm afraid you can't have my bowl, Mr. Tao Qi. After all, we still have to score everything by the rules. As you all know, our Order Management Bureau is quite strict about—"

As he spoke, he scooped up a spoonful and shoved it into his mouth.

He had planned to keep spouting pleasantries while he chewed, but the moment the rice hit his tongue, his eyes snapped wide open.

It felt as if he had been transported to an entirely different Domain—a place free of pressure and worries, filled only with a boundless variety of food and absolute relaxation.

Every delicacy imaginable seemed condensed into this single bite of rice.

Exquisite. This was truly exquisite.

Without another word, the big-bellied man grabbed his bowl and began shoveling the food down his throat.

The multi-tongued woman stared blankly at the scene. Watching him gorge himself, she audibly gulped.

"Bureau Director Liang, what are you..."

But the man had no time to answer; he just kept blindly cramming rice into his mouth.

It finally dawned on the multi-tongued woman. She jerked her head toward the last remaining bowl on the table.

To her shock, she found the normally icy woman wielding her spoon with unprecedented speed.

She somehow maintained her dignified posture, yet the spoon in her hand was moving so fast it was nothing but a blur.

The rice in her bowl vanished at a visible rate, her movements completely impossible to track.

Plop.

Right then, a few stray grains of rice tumbled onto the table right in front of her.

Dazed, she reached out, picked them up, and popped them into her mouth.

Then, she froze completely.

A second later, her gaze snapped to the Gluttonous Weird that had swallowed her bowl whole.

Waves of Weird Energy surged upward alongside her pure fury, her eyes turning a murderous crimson.

"Motherfucker, you damned bastard..." she gritted out. In an instant, her head split open. Red muscle fibers stretched her mouth grotesquely wide as five or six tongues thrashed wildly in the air. Weird Energy gathered in the air like thunderclouds.

"Give me back my fried rice!"

Instantly, she and the Gluttonous Weird named Tao Qi descended into a vicious brawl.

"Holy shit, first the contestants, and now the judges are at it!"

"This year's Rotten Vegetable Festival is packed with entertainment!"

"This is great! Hey, just how good do you guys think that fried rice actually is?"

"No clue. We can just ask Old Liu to whip up another bowl later."

"Oh right, it's from Old Liu's group! I can't believe we might actually get to eat something even better than that fish soup!"

At the very back of the crowd, Old Zhang held the hand of a tiny little girl. The two of them stood on a long wooden bench, peering at the chaos unfolding at the judges' table.

"Grandpa... hungry..."

The little girl stared at the judges shoving food into their mouths and stuck an index finger between her lips.

"Hungry, huh? Grandpa will make you some food as soon as we get back."

Old Zhang smiled and rubbed the top of her head.

Old Liu was right. He had truly lost this competition.

"Despicable!"

A voice suddenly barked from behind them. Old Zhang looked over his shoulder and saw Old Liu holding two bowls of fried rice.

"You really are despicable!"

Old Liu hurried over.

"Just so the kid wouldn't find out my cooking is better than yours, you were actually planning to drag her straight home to eat your pig slop!"

"Your food is the pig slop!"

Old Zhang immediately fired back.

"Oh ho, so you're saying the judges are eating pig slop!"

Old Master Liu puffed out his beard and chuckled.

"I've got dirt on you now. I'm going to tell on you."

"I didn't say that..."

Old Zhang was clumsy with words and stood no chance of out-arguing Old Liu. His voice faded into a mumble.

"Grandpa, hungry... Yaya... wants to eat..."

Yaya stared at the fried rice in Old Liu's hands and wiped a string of drool from her mouth.

"Aww, is Yaya hungry? It's fine, Grandpa brought this rice just for you..."

Old Liu shoved one of the bowls into Old Zhang's hands. Taking a spoon, he scooped a small bite from his own bowl and fed it to the little girl. Watching Yaya beam with delight, Old Liu shot a smug smile and raised an eyebrow at Old Zhang.

"It's not like you even cooked it,"

Old Zhang grumbled softly.

"If you're such a great cook, why didn't you win?"

Old Liu retorted, wagging his head.

...

...

Ultimately, first place in the Rotten Vegetable Festival went to Yan Jing's misfit crew of four, right on expectations.

The four judges offered the following comments, from left to right:

"I'd like another bowl."

"Delicious. Absolutely delicious. The portion was just a bit small—I could definitely go for seconds."

"If you refuse to make me a private bowl, I refuse to submit a score."

"Yummy... more..."

They had practically pushed the kid to the brink, forcing him to actually speak.

The winners didn't just earn the right to a five-day trip to the Tower; they also each received a medal and a spot on the winner's podium.

In the end, however, Yan Jing's group were the only ones standing up there.

The elderly man surnamed Yu had eaten his bowl of fried rice and left, bobbing his head in satisfaction.

The fat stall owner had also eaten his fill. He held his silence for a long moment before dropping a single line:

"Motherfuckers! Absolute psychos! You can cook this well and you still decided to play dirty..."

With that, he stormed off in a huff.

Thus, Yan Jing's group of four monopolized the podium.

Oh, right—and An Ze, who was handing out the awards.

The surrounding crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause for the victors.

Meanwhile, An Ze directed the officers of the Order Management Bureau to set up a massive mirror right in front of the podium.

"Mr. Yi Ji, I found the mirror just as you requested. Though, I'm not entirely sure what you intend to do with—"

"Come on, join us, Mr. An Ze."

Yan Jing dropped into a half-crouch with Mantou by his side. Behind him stood a grinning Old Liu and Chen Nian, who had his hands stuffed firmly into his jacket pockets. Yan Jing waved An Ze over.

"Here we go! Three, two, one, cheese!"

An Ze hadn't even processed what was happening; he merely looked over his shoulder on pure reflex.

The shutter clicked, freezing the scene in place forever.

[Favorability +3]

Yan Jing checked the folder labeled 'Friends' in his mind. It had always been completely empty, but now, finally, there was a group photo sitting inside.

...

"You will have five days inside the Tower. Just like in previous years, you are free to decide exactly when you'd like to go in, Mr. Yi Ji," An Ze said.

"Then let's set it for seven days from now."

Yan Jing ran the math in his head. The Dungeon was scheduled to open in nine days, and the Tower trip lasted five days. That meant he could enter exactly two days before the Dungeon started.

"Not a problem. The other two gentlemen selected a similar timeframe. It seems you and your friends are also aiming for the banquet, Mr. Yi Ji."

An Ze nodded.

"In that case, I wish you the best of luck."

Having wrapped up his official duties, he leaned in slightly and lowered his voice.

"Thank you for the gift, Mr. Yi Ji."

Then, he turned and walked away.

"I need to head out for a few days. I probably won't be back until the day we leave for the Tower,"

Yan Jing said, turning to his friends.

"Then what am I supposed to do about the fried rice I promised Old Wang, Old Wu, and Old Li?"

Old Master Liu asked, looking completely blindsided.

"You're on your own, old man. Best of luck."

Yan Jing laughed and patted his shoulder.

While Old Master Liu stood there desperately trying to figure out how to master the culinary arts in a single week, Chen Nian spoke up.

"That Walkie-talkie you brought back from the Amusement Park has been an excellent reference. I'll be working overtime for the next few days. I'll try my best to finish upgrading my previous build before we enter the Tower."

"Sounds good. I'm counting on you, Old Chen."

Yan Jing looked down at Mantou and smiled.

"Mantou, I'll be leaving you in charge of watching the house."

"O... okay! Yi... Ji... I... I'll do... a good job!"

Mantou gave a firm, heavy nod.

[Heh. Getting used as free labor and still smiling like an idiot.]

The voice in his head scoffed.

[...Still, that fried rice really was pretty good.]

...

...

After exiting the Inner World, Yan Jing gave Shen Youran a call.

"Are you done with everything on your end?"

Shen Youran asked.

"Yeah, pretty much good to go."

Yan Jing nodded with a faint smile.

"It's about time I made a quick trip home."

"I can't keep my dear father waiting, after all."

His eyes flicked to the bottom right corner of his computer screen, landing on the string of new messages from his older brother.

[Jingzi, there's no point in hiding. As long as you're in Ling'an, do you really think we can't find you?]

[I checked with the Public Security Association, but they keep dodging the issue. You must have pulled some strings with a friend.]

[But you're still underestimating the family's influence.]

[Jingzi, Ling'an belongs to the Eight Major Families.]

[And the Yan Family is in the top three.]

[Jingzi, it's been a few years. Your second brother is really looking forward to seeing you again.]

[I hope you haven't forgotten the Family Law.]

Family Law?

Yan Jing pictured his second brother, and the corners of his mouth ticked up.

He was looking forward to it, too.