Chapter 239: A Refined Dinner
Chu Tianqiu draped a coat over his shoulders and was about to head toward the cemetery under the cover of night when a young man blocked his path.
Kim Won-hoon stood before him with a deeply troubled expression, staring at Chu Tianqiu for a long time without saying a word.
"What's wrong?" Chu Tianqiu asked with a smile. "Is there something you need from me?"
"Brother..." Kim Won-hoon lowered his head, organizing his words before speaking. "Are you going to kill me to silence me?"
"Kill you?" Chu Tianqiu grinned, revealing his white teeth. "What would be the reason?"
"Because I saw that..." Kim Won-hoon swallowed his saliva. "Brother, what exactly were you doing down there?"
"Of course I'm trying to leave this godforsaken place." Chu Tianqiu said with a serious expression. "I'm just doing experiments... all kinds of experiments."
"Those masks... and that corpse that looks like you... were those experiments too?" Kim Won-hoon asked skeptically.
"Of course." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "As I told you before, I have a PhD in biology."
Kim Won-hoon didn't dare meet Chu Tianqiu's eyes. He turned his head away and asked with a troubled look, "Brother, have you ever killed anyone?"
"Questions like that... How could I kill anyone?" Chu Tianqiu laughed cheerfully. "As far as I can remember, my hands have never been stained with a single drop of blood."
"Is that so...?"
"What, you don't believe me?" Chu Tianqiu stepped forward and patted Kim Won-hoon on the shoulder. "In your memory, is Brother Chu a ruthless killer who doesn't bat an eye?"
Kim Won-hoon sighed. "Brother, I don't remember anything from before."
"Oh, I almost forgot." Chu Tianqiu sighed too. "Kim Won-hoon, in any case, rest assured. If I can leave this place someday, you'll all benefit from it."
"Benefit from it?"
"Mhm." Chu Tianqiu smiled happily. "Your Chinese isn't very good, so you might not know this... We have an old saying: 'When one man attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.'"
"Ascend... to heaven?" Kim Won-hoon looked up and blinked. "What does that mean?"
"It means if a person becomes a god, everyone close to him ascends to heaven as well." Chu Tianqiu smiled gently. "Do you understand?"
"Brother... I believe you..." Kim Won-hoon nodded silently. "I have no other choice but to believe you anyway."
"Good boy, go back to sleep."
Kim Won-hoon turned and left with a conflicted expression. Walking through the pitch-black night, he felt he was very similar to that man named Qiao Jiajin, yet not completely the same.
They shared the same temperament, but followed different "brains."
Whose path was the right one?
After bidding farewell to Kim Won-hoon, Chu Tianqiu arrived at the cemetery, found the third tombstone from the left, and descended the secret passage.
This was a small storeroom he had discovered by chance. After some simple renovations, it had become his hideout.
But now that the hideout was exposed, he needed to relocate as soon as possible.
Chu Tianqiu walked down the stairs, pushed open the small door of the storeroom, and a fresh stench hit his nose.
He took a deep breath with slight intoxication, then walked inside with a smile. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the candle on the wall.
At the same moment, the animal masks on several shelves in the room were illuminated, their hollow eyes emerging before him.
"My refined dinner..."
Chu Tianqiu casually took a boning knife from the wall beside him and walked toward the dining table.
On the table lay a corpse—Qi Xia's corpse.
Not only had many of its organs been cut away, but even the skin had been sliced into shreds.
"This damned beast didn't leave me much..."
Chu Tianqiu held the knife, looking at it as though examining a prime cut of meat.
"Which part should I eat today...?" His smile gradually turned manic. "Eating the heart didn't work... Could it be that the 'Echo' is stored in the brain?"
Chu Tianqiu pondered for a few seconds, then made his decision.
He held the knife and fetched a hammer.
Then, gripping the knife in reverse, he pressed the tip against the corpse's crown and slowly began chiseling with the hammer.
If the corpse before him hadn't been Qi Xia, he would never have chosen to eat those white things.
After all, without seasonings, the fishy smell of this part was hard to deal with, and the texture was soft and greasy.
In comparison, he preferred fingers.
Especially beautiful fingers.
Fingers shouldn't be stewed too soft—about seventy to eighty percent done was perfect.
The tight skin fit seamlessly over the bone. Just pick it up, gently lift the nail, tear off a piece of skin with your teeth, and the entire bone could be stripped away.
Have you ever eaten chicken feet that are almost falling off the bone?
Bite into them—"crisp, crisp"—chewy and satisfying.
Beautiful to look at, delicious to eat.
After finishing, chew the pretty nail in your mouth—that was a refined dinner.
"Too bad all ten of your fingers are gone." Chu Tianqiu shook his head helplessly and continued cracking open Qi Xia's skull.
He tapped the hammer rhythmically, humming Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, making the whole scene seem even more bizarre.
After about half an hour, a piece of bloodstained bone was carefully removed.
Chu Tianqiu looked at the slightly dark red interior of the skull, slowly revealed a smile, and then took out a spoon.
He scooped out a spoonful of red-and-white matter that looked like tofu, rotating the spoon as if digging out the sweetest piece of flesh from a cut watermelon.
Then he lit a fire with firewood, wiped a pan with some aged butter, and happily fried the ingredient.
"Sizzle—"
The slightly rotten brain released a strong aroma as soon as it hit the pan.
"Should I make a butter-cheese bake today...?" Chu Tianqiu rummaged through his cupboard and showed a regretful expression. "Too bad there's no cheese. I'll just pan-fry it."
He held the spoon and gently pressed down on the ingredient in the pan, ensuring even heating while also shaping it into a more square form.
If you want the food to be refined, you have to shape it during the cooking process.
Fry each side for thirty seconds, until the outside is slightly golden.
Once the white smoke stops rising, it's ready to plate and enjoy.
Chu Tianqiu placed the part belonging to Qi Xia's body onto a large flat plate, spread a napkin on his lap, and picked up his knife and fork.
He carefully cut off a small piece of the pan-fried, slightly pale edge, forked it up, sniffed it in front of his nose, and then put it into his mouth.
The outside was a bit hard, the inside soft and creamy.
Using his tongue with a little force, he spread the delicacy around his mouth, letting the fragrance wander. The taste was far better than he had imagined.
"'Resonance'..." Chu Tianqiu wore a satisfied expression. "Maybe when I wake up tomorrow... I'll be a 'Resonator'..."
He pulled a crumpled note from his pocket and spread it flat on the table.
It was still in his own handwriting.
"As long as you eat it, you will obtain that person's 'Echo.'"
His expression quickly darkened. He thought to himself, Chu Tianqiu, you really are too clever for your own good. Why didn't you write it more clearly back then?
What exactly was it that he had to eat?