Chapter 35 — ILK Chapter 35

The dining room was a picture of harmony. Everyone was busy dismantling the crawfish in their hands.

Mu An, overcome with fatherly affection, had initially tried to help his daughter, but it turned out he couldn't peel them nearly as fast as Wu Jianing herself. She eventually shoved him aside in annoyance. Having wrestled with the crawfish all afternoon, Jianing had gained significant experience; with a twist of her hands, she separated the head from the body, letting the juices inside burst forth. The spicy, savory aroma made everyone's mouth water.

The shells were hard and deep-fried, and a child’s tender hands could easily be pricked by the sharp spines. But with such delicious food in front of her, Jianing didn't care about the minor pain. Soon, a mountain of shells rose on the small plate before her.

Wu Huansheng and Wu Jianing were cut from the same cloth—bold and uninhibited. The way the mother pulled off the crawfish heads looked much like she was decapitating an enemy. Mu An remained refined and methodical, wearing gloves and occasionally handing peeled meat to the mother-daughter duo.

In contrast, Sang Ye and Rong Cheng were more "restrained." One chose to pull off the head and tail before using chopsticks to push the entire piece of meat out from the tail end. This required fresh, firm crawfish; if the shrimp were even slightly stale, the meat would crumble inside the shell. The other person calmly snapped the tail vertically along the shell until it cracked, revealing the snow-white meat within.

Lin Changli was the most elegant of all. Clean and smelling of fresh shower gel, he sat before a bowl of freshly cooked rice noodles, seemingly oblivious to the gluttons around him. His domestic robot was tirelessly peeling the only three "sweet" flavors on the table for him: Sweet and Spicy, Salted Egg Yolk, and Lemon Sour Soup.

Lin Changli had tasted one of each before they were served. With every bite, his eyebrow ticked higher, until he finally shot Sang Ye a questioning look: "This is what you call sweet?"

Sang Ye rubbed her nose, not feeling entirely righteous. "If I didn't add any spice, I couldn't get rid of the gamey smell."

Lin Changli didn't argue. The staple for the night was ready—fresh rice noodles tossed with crawfish sauce and meat, garnished with blanched greens and a spoonful of sesame oil. It was steaming, nutritious, and rich. Though Lin Changli leaned toward sweets, he found he could handle some spice, though not too much. Currently, his lips and cheeks were flushed a faint pink. The youth was strikingly handsome; his face looked as if it were dusted with fine powder. Sang Ye looked at him repeatedly until Lin Changli threw her a suspicious glance.

Sang Ye retracted her gaze with a bit of regret; it seemed she wasn't even allowed to admire the scenery.

The noodles mixed with the spicy broth were smooth and chewy. The sour and spicy flavors enhanced one another, making the spicy hotter and the sour sharper. He couldn't eat much spice, but it was so delicious that he accepted it. Plus, with the robot constantly dropping a variety of shrimp meat into his bowl, the mixed flavors diluted the sting of the chili.

Sang Ye shook her head. Half the fun of crawfish was peeling them yourself; this man didn't stand on ceremony when scrubbing them, yet he put on such airs when eating.

The five adults and one "little piglet" ate with a vengeance. Before they even got to the noodles, they had demolished nearly fifty or sixty catties, leaving mountains of shells on the table. And they all looked like they were just getting started. The three Sentinels naturally had "top-tier" appetites, and Mu An and Sang Ye, having trained toward "combat-type" Guide status, were equally voracious.

Sang Ye had the robots serve everyone a large bowl of rice noodles. After a hearty meal, there wasn't much left to share with the hospital. She simply packed the leftovers for Wu Huansheng’s family to take home as snacks.

The peaceful post-meal atmosphere was shattered by a piercing alarm. Everyone’s terminal—except Lin Changli’s—erupted with a forced broadcast. It was an emergency notification from the base’s Executive Officer:

[Native uprising in the Snow Mountain. Base compromised. Major General Keliu and all garrisoned Sentinels have retreated into the mountain heart and are currently missing! All military personnel outside of the garrison and main base are summoned to move to the Snow Mountain Base for immediate support!]