From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 217 - 208: Fish Head Hot Pot
Wei Heng was a good cook, and tonight he had outdone himself. Soon, a medley of fragrant aromas filled the entire camp.
Everyone from the Special Service Team, aside from the few members on patrol, ran over to surround Wei Heng’s... pots.
Gu Xi glanced at the large pot, which was already nearly empty. ’After traveling for most of the night,’ she thought, ’porridge and sweet potatoes are a little plain.’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
She pulled a case of canned food out of the large cloth bag she carried.
Seeing this, a flash of surprise crossed the eyes of Zhao Qingxiao and the others.
The cloth bag was quite large, but it had been hanging flat at Gu Xi’s waist the whole time. So this case of cans...
"One per person, don’t take more," Wei Heng said, giving Gu Xi a disapproving look. He took the case from her and started tossing one can to each person.
Zhao Qingxiao caught it and looked down. He was stunned to find it was a pre-apocalypse can—braised pork flavor, no less!
He gave Gu Xi a long, deep look, but was smart enough not to ask any questions.
In the face of absolute strength, there was no need to be secretive.
Gu Xi, having used the cloth bag to produce the case of cans, wasn’t afraid of being targeted.
There was no longer any need to hide her strength, and she wasn’t afraid of anyone trying to make a move on her—because anyone who tried would, sooner or later, be eliminated by her, one by one.
More importantly, Gu Xi’s perspective had changed.
She was no longer willing to inconvenience herself.
On the other side of the camp, members of the base’s Guard Team and the Abnormal Ability Research Institute were gathered together, repeatedly glancing in their direction.
It smelled too good.
So good it made them drool.
But the cans they were waiting for never made it to their side...
Someone couldn’t hold it in and grumbled, "They’re clearly playing favorites. It’s like we’re not even in the same convoy..."
Nearby, Ye Nan, who had just stepped out of the medical vehicle, paused when she heard this.
She turned to the speaker and said seriously, "We were never on the same team to begin with."
Her team and Gu Xi’s squad were originally two separate groups, assigned to different mission areas.
It was only because of an unexpected incident that their team had been forced to travel with Gu Xi’s.
But they were only traveling together, nothing more.
’Ye Nan knew perfectly well that the two teams hadn’t merged, and both sides managed their own supplies. Throughout the journey, everyone had been eating their own food. No one was responsible for feeding anyone else.’
’Besides, tonight’s meal... was likely a personal contribution from Gu Xi.’
’In other words, it was her food to give to whomever she pleased. What right did anyone else have to complain?’
The person who had grumbled was still unhappy, but considering Ye Nan’s status, he didn’t dare to talk back and just shut his mouth in embarrassment.
Behind the crowd, He Yue and Xu Hai stood by an armored vehicle, their expressions sour.
They had thought the vegetable and rice porridge and the canned braised pork were outrageous enough, but they never expected something even more over-the-top was yet to come.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere, but Gu Xi found herself reminiscing about the past...
"Wei Heng, I want to have hot pot," she said, suddenly looking up at him.
Wei Heng froze for a second. But Qi Xiang, who had been diligently eating nearby, perked up at the words. Remembering the late-night snack they’d missed out on the night before last, she immediately seconded the idea, "Fish head hot pot."
When Liu Hao and the others heard this, they got so excited they let out a loud "GULP," forcing down the mouthfuls of sweet potato and braised pork.
"Fish head hot pot sounds amazing..." Liu Hao wiped his mouth, glanced around, and eagerly sidled up to Gu Xi. "Miss Gu, what do you think? How big a pot should we forge? Rectangular or square? Don’t you worry, my ancestors were blacksmiths..."
Ouyang, seeing this, was about to say, ’Fish head hot pot sounds great, but we don’t have any fish...’ when Gu Xi pulled a massive, ten-meter-long black fish from the cloth bag at her waist!
"Miss Gu?" Liu Hao stared at her, utterly shocked.
’He just wanted to try the legendary fish head hot pot. Was all this really necessary?’
Liu Hao heard the sound of someone gulping. Thinking he’d been unable to contain his own craving, he gave Gu Xi an embarrassed smile, only for the sound to repeat again and again.
’This bunch of animals,’ Liu Hao thought.
Gu Xi smiled and pushed the fish toward Wei Heng. It was a mutated fish she had killed in the Qingyue River years ago. Back then, the flora and fauna had not yet undergone the second great mutation, so its body contained no X Energy. She had eaten this type of mutated fish before. ’The taste wasn’t bad. It should be perfect for hot pot.’
Wei Heng didn’t want Gu Xi to expose her spatial ability, not even in front of his closest comrades.
’But the fish was already out. What could he do now?’
’Guess they’d just have to eat it.’
It took Liu Hao and another Gold Element user only half a minute to forge two suitable, large rectangular pots. Ouyang took the hot pot base that Gu Xi provided and casually mentioned that one of his ancestors had actually been a master Sichuan chef...
Wei Heng’s knife skills were superb. He sliced the fish into translucent fillets that cooked with just a quick swish in the broth made from the fish bones.
As for the enormous fish head, he split it open, marinated it, and made a huge pot of fish head with chopped chilies.
Gu Xi thought, ’Having only one kind of meat for hot pot is a little pathetic.’
Besides, it wasn’t like she was short on food in her spatial storage. So, with a grand wave of her hand, she brought out a large quantity of mutated beast meat that she had collected long ago...
’Hot pot and meat are a natural match, after all.’
An overwhelming, savory aroma permeated the entire camp.
Soon, the people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute and the Guard Team couldn’t stand it any longer.
Someone silently took out their rock-hard dry rations, hoping the aroma from the other side would make the food more palatable. But the moment the rations touched their tongue... it only made them feel worse.
He Yue and Xu Hai’s faces were practically green with rage.
’Eating hot pot in the middle of the night? And hogging it all right in front of them? Are they even human?’
...
As the aroma drifted on the wind to a small, earthen building behind the factory, Shen Yue, who had been leaning lazily against a wall, felt his nostrils twitch. He nonchalantly pressed a hand to his stomach. ’So hungry. I want some.’
He lifted his gaze to Ye Junhan across from him, trying to send a message with his eyes: ’Hurry up and finish so we can go eat.’
Ye Junhan stood under a large tree on the opposite side, his expression as indifferent and composed as ever, as if the overwhelming aroma had no effect on him whatsoever.
"Who was responsible for the previous clearing mission in this area?" he asked, stroking the scabbard at his waist as he looked up at Shen Yue.
In recent years, the base had been vigorously developing its agriculture to cope with the food crisis.
To encourage citizens to leave the safety of the base to reclaim land for farming, the military had long ago initiated clearing missions, escorting these pioneers and preemptively eliminating any potential dangers.
These clearing missions weren’t a one-time thing; a single team was typically assigned to be responsible for a specific area.
And while this stretch of urban ruins was somewhat remote, it wasn’t deep in the mountains. With a safe camp only two hundred kilometers away, it should have clearly fallen within the clearing perimeter of a nearby allied unit.
Logically, after repeated, systematic sweeps by the responsible team, this factory should have been discovered long ago.
But that wasn’t the case.
Clearly, someone had tampered with the results.
The Special Service Team didn’t normally handle clearing missions, so they were unfamiliar with the situation here.
But Shen Yue was different.
Before meeting Gu Xi, he had been with the front-line troops in charge of clearing operations and was very familiar with the mission areas of the various units.
And in the past year, by following Gu Xi, Shen Yue had managed to uncover many things that others didn’t know.
Of course, this was also partly due to Shen Zhennan’s tacit support and delegation of authority...
"MXXXPXXX." Shen Yue rattled off a unit designation without hesitation, clearly well-prepared.
Ye Junhan glanced up at him. "The Liu Family from East City? The Gu Family’s relatives by marriage?"
