Chapter 687: Eh~ Just Fairy-Like and Ethereal
Jiangnan was dumbfounded. He'd been behaving himself lately, hadn't he?
Why did people he didn't even know keep sending him resentment points?
He thought about things while flipping the wok, flames leaping up with a sizzle, fragrant aromas drifting far and wide.
"A man cooking is at his most handsome!"
Jiangnan rolled his eyes. "Nonsense! I'm handsome every single one of the 86,400 seconds in a day, alright?"
Just then, a girl with short brown hair casually leaned against the doorframe.
She wore a vest-style combat suit, revealing her lotus-root-like arms.
Tall and slender, her wheat-colored skin gave off a sunny, healthy vibe.
"Right! Whatever the handsome man says is right!"
With that, she stepped forward and extended her hand to Jiangnan. "Nice to meet you. I'm Gong Lin. Diamond Nine-Star melee fighter, Brother Feng's teammate."
Jiangnan grinned and shook her hand.
But at that moment, the skin on Gong Lin's hand suddenly peeled away, turning into sheets of white paper, as if her entire hand were made of paper.
The sheets folded rapidly, rustling, and in the blink of an eye, they had folded into a bouquet of white paper roses, now held in Jiangnan's hand.
Gong Lin raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
The next second, the white paper roses turned red, incredibly lifelike.
"Here~ a gift for you!"
Jiangnan blinked. "Are you trying to flirt with me or something?"
What kind of bizarre ability was this? Her body could turn into paper?
Gong Lin covered her mouth with a giggle. "I couldn't flirt with you if I wanted to. This is just a reward for you pulling out those magical beans and solving the crisis."
"Otherwise, who knows how things would have turned out if we'd stayed."
Jiangnan raised an eyebrow. "The entrance to the second layer of the Abyss still isn't open?"
Gong Lin's expression tightened. "As long as the Crimson Queen doesn't lift the lockdown, no one can get in. There's no way around it."
"Probably the people from Nightless City have already gotten a head start and started exploring inside, looking for the core?"
"And if the toxic gas is still affecting things down in the Abyss, then our seventh-layer exploration team might..."
Jiangnan's head ached. The longer it dragged on, the harder it would be.
But in this situation, all they could do was wait.
Just then, Ling Feng shouted, "Little bro, is the food ready? The brothers are waiting for you at the table!"
Jiangnan laughed slyly, dished up the food from the wok.
"Coming! The last dish, Southern Grandma Tofu, is done!"
Carrying the plate, Jiangnan walked into the cafeteria.
About two hundred people were already seated at the tables.
A dozen or so delicious dishes were laid out on the tables.
Bean sprout stir-fried soybeans! Dry-fried soybeans! Spicy dried tofu! Soybean soup! Tofu pudding...
Just one Detoxifying Soybean, and Jiangnan had managed to turn it into a whole feast.
The explorers stared at the soybean banquet, drooling.
Ling Feng was deeply moved. "You made so much? Aren't those magical beans really precious?"
"For everyone not to be affected by the toxic gas, you're being so selfless. How can we not feel grateful?"
Jiangnan: (˶‾᷄ٹ‾᷅˵)
"It's only right! After all, the more you give, the more you get in return."
"Don't worry about it, everyone. Loosen your belts and dig in. Let's try to clear out the toxic gas effects all at once!"
The explorers gave Jiangnan a thumbs-up, touched by his kindness.
Where was the legendary Jiang Devil? The rumors must be false.
And the dance-off earlier was also to keep everyone from getting hurt, right?
But at this moment, all the team members were sitting near the door, silently agreeing.
They stared at the table full of delicious soybean dishes, cold sweat beading on their foreheads.
Not eat? Afraid of the toxic gas affecting them and delaying the mission.
Eat? It really took some courage.
Xiao Zhen secretly signaled Qin Shou.
"Have you scouted the situation?"
Qin Shou whispered, "The explorer camp has 31 bathrooms in total."
"Four people per bathroom should be enough!"
Hearing this, Xiao Zhen stiffened. "Bullshit! How can you fit four people in one bathroom?"
Qin Shou replied, "Two can share the toilet. One at the sink. And if you open the drain cover in the shower, that barely counts as one..."
Everyone was dumbfounded. Explain to me: what kind of posture do two people use to share a toilet?
The "skull and crossbones" position?
Qin Shou, you're a real beast!
Xiao Zhen gritted his teeth. "Still better than nothing. At least it's not as bad as having your mind affected. Just tough it out."
With that, he took a deep breath and started eating.
Wu Liang and Zhong Yingxue looked at Jiangnan pleadingly.
Jiangnan grinned. "Don't worry, leave it to me."
Meanwhile, the explorers were already eating.
Gong Lin's eyes lit up. "Oh my god! Chef Jiang's cooking is way too good!"
"Being able to enjoy Mapo Tofu in a foreign land? I'm so satisfied!"
"These bean sprouts are super crunchy! And the tofu pudding is freaking delicious!"
Ling Feng said, "Don't waste any, everyone. This stuff is expensive. A small handful sells for ten Diamond-level Spirit Pearls. Others can't get it even if they want to."
Hearing that, everyone's eyes sparkled, and they stuffed their mouths full.
Wang Ba hugged a bowl and drank an entire bowl of soybean soup.
Instantly, the violent and angry emotions in his heart vanished.
Instead, he felt completely refreshed, his mind clear, as if he had been reborn.
He couldn't help being excited—it really worked!
But then, he noticed that the students had already left more than half of them in silence.
They were still leaving one by one, and the dishes on their tables were barely touched.
In no time, almost everyone was gone, while the explorers were practically licking their plates clean.
Ling Feng was stunned. "Why aren't you guys eating?"
Tao Xinyi clutched her stomach, her pretty face red. "We... we ate before we came. You guys finish off the rest!"
With that, she dashed out of the cafeteria like crazy.
Bathroom! Leave one for the teachers!
The explorers naturally didn't hold back; they finished off all the leftover dishes.
Clean plates—no waste allowed!
But just then, Wang Ba's expression froze. A thunderous rumble came from his stomach.
A torrent of gas charged downward, like an enraged dragon roaring.
[*Resentment from Wang Ba: +1000!*]
"(ರ◞ж◟ರ) This dish is..."
"Boom!"
A loud explosion. The stool beneath Wang Ba shattered into pieces, and the tiles under him cracked.
A cloud of white smoke spread out. Wang Ba's body shot up like a firecracker, blasting straight through the cafeteria ceiling and landing on the floor above.
The cafeteria fell silent, thick with white smoke.
The explorers exploded into chaos.
"Holy shit! I've never seen such a shocking fart in my whole life!"
"That fart is seriously powerful! Launching a man through the ceiling—that's a must!"
"As expected of a Diamond-level powerhouse! Even a fart is so earth-shattering, so terrifying!"
"Pfft—so this is the legendary Wang Ba aura? Damn impressive!"
Gong Lin, sitting next to Wang Ba, was already rolling her eyes from the stench.
It's the legendary Wang Ba aura, my ass!
Hey, stop kissing up in a situation like this!
Who gave you the courage to inhale like that?
While everyone was discussing the Wang Ba aura, a hundred people's stomachs started growling like crazy at the same time.
Having eaten so many small soybeans, the gas was beyond what any sphincter could hold back.
"Woo-bu-bu-bu-bu-"
The exhaust sounds were like a tractor, dense as raindrops.
The stools beneath them shattered without even squeaking.
Gong Lin's face turned red. She was about to speak when she realized the entire cafeteria was shrouded in thick white smoke.
She didn't even have the courage to open her mouth.
Eh~ Just fairy-like and ethereal.
As for Jiangnan, he had already deployed his spatial barrier, sealing off an airtight space.
No matter how fierce the war outside, he remained calm, like a gentle breeze brushing his face, elegant and composed.
Ling Feng was going crazy. "Little bro! What's going on? These soybeans!"
Jiangnan explained, "These are Detoxifying Soybeans. To detoxify, you have to expel toxins. I'd say you guys were pretty heavily poisoned. I've never seen such a strong reaction before."
Good thing he didn't add the Force when cooking, or the whole building would have collapsed.
[*Resentment from Ling Feng: +1000!*]
[*Resentment from Gong Lin: +1000!*]
[*Resentment from...*]
Expel toxins? That means poof-poof?
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Jiangnan: ╮(•́ω•̀)╭
"They wouldn't let me. They were afraid you'd compete with them for the bathrooms."
Ling Feng and the others froze, then their eyes turned red.
Bathroom!
Like zombies, they charged out, a hundred people sprinting down the hallway.
With their original speed plus nitrogen acceleration, they even felt G-force.
As they ran, white smoke billowed behind them.
Resentment points flooded in, and Jiangnan looked satisfied.
Selflessly helping everyone solve a crisis, being a man who enjoys helping others...
This... this must be happiness, right?
...
Wang Ba was also dumbfounded when he got blasted upstairs, his expression full of terror.
Inside the bathroom:
Ye Xinghe on the toilet, Qi Yu on the sink.
Qin Shou by the shower drain...
Wang Ba's eyes bulged. "You guys aren't even human!"
Ye Xinghe and the other two were also startled when they saw Wang Ba burst up from below.
The scene was incredibly awkward.
"Rumble..."
Wang Ba's stomach let out another thunderous roar, his face turning green.
Qin Shou coughed. "Ahem... there's another drain over there. How about you make do, Brother Ba?"
Wang Ba: (̿▀̿̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿̿)̄...
[*Resentment from Wang Ba: +1000!*]
Wang Ba might have been the only one to find a bathroom, right at his landing spot.
The others weren't so lucky.
Now, all the bathroom doors were surrounded by people, sweating profusely, pounding on the doors frantically. Thick white smoke filled the hallway.
(´ง༎ຶД༎ຶ`)งΣDoor
"Open up! Let us enjoy the thrill of a waterfall cascading three thousand feet too!"
Qi Delong shouted, "Better to break your head than lose the pot! If the toilet's not ours, we know not!"
(ง´ཀДཀ`)งΣDoor
"We're your comrades! Your seniors! You can't do this! We can't hold it anymore! We're about to puke from the stench! Listen, it's roaring!"
"Pfft-bUi~"
Qi Dongqiang yelled, "Don't puke! Stuff it with a rag! Block it up, and you can hold it!"
[*Resentment from Ling Feng: +1000!*]
At a time like this, you two better stop rapping at me!
Stuff it up? Could you be more human?
And why are there two people in there?!
Ling Feng pounded the door frantically. "I just need to go once! Just once!"
Xiao Zhen gritted his teeth. "Stop pounding! There are still people! Find a basin if you can't hold it!"
Everyone was horrified. Three?
What the hell is going on in there?!
Wei Teng covered his face. "Hurry up and leave! Don't look back! Soon there won't even be a steel basin left!"
Ling Feng and the others were about to lose their minds. Four?
Ack! Cough! ~ Ugh _(꒪ཀ꒪」∠)
Seeing no chance with the bathrooms, they didn't dare stay. They charged back to the cafeteria like madmen, eyes red.
"Basin? Where's a basin? I need a big one!"
Jiangnan: !!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ
—
Author's Note: