Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Li Xin followed Wen Zhi into the first private dining room. As soon as he entered, he saw familiar faces holding chopsticks in various positions, their mouths crunching as they chewed.

"Brother Xin, come try this appetizer, the chilled cucumber salad. They say it was freshly picked from the field!" Qian Zhuang said enthusiastically.

Seeing familiar faces, Li Xin relaxed a bit. He sat down next to Qian Zhuang. The dining table was a lazy Susan, with small plates arranged around the outer circle, likely the appetizers Qian Zhuang had mentioned. Each plate had been picked at by the three of them.

"The boss invited me to dinner, not you guys. I wasn't even here yet, and you've already started eating!" Li Xin complained.

Lu Huai didn't stop eating, "Between brothers, no need to be so formal!"

The three of them were eating messily, their mouths greasy, and it was far from elegant. Li Xin couldn't bear to watch.

"Where's the boss? Why is it just you guys?" Li Xin asked, puzzled.

"The boss is busy," Feng Feng said.

He didn't tell Li Xin that the boss was helping the Shennong Star Lord with some tasks. For some reason, he didn't want anyone to know about the connection between the lord and Lu Huai. Despite his careful observation, the Shennong Star Lord appeared to have no ill intentions, but he always felt like the boss was being taken away.

"Hmm, don't ask too many questions. The boss will be here soon. Let's snack on the appetizers first to fill our stomachs!" Qian Zhuang picked up the last piece of cucumber and put it in Li Xin's bowl.

Li Xin looked at the food in his bowl with disgust. The last piece might have been touched by all three of them, and the thought of their saliva on it was disgusting.

"Eat up! If you keep being picky, there won't be anything left!" Qian Zhuang said while scooping more food into his own bowl.

Li Xin teased, "I'm not like you guys. I'm not a glutton!"

Despite his grumbling, he picked up his chopsticks and ate the cucumber.

The cucumber was juicy, its exterior fully coated in a spicy and aromatic sauce, while the inside retained the fresh aroma of cucumber. As he chewed, the flavorful seasoning blended with the natural taste of the cucumber, balancing its original blandness and adding a hint of salty spiciness. It was a refreshingly cool dish.

After finishing it, Li Xin completely forgot his earlier disgust and looked at the empty plate with lingering satisfaction.

The chilled cucumber salad was gone, and the other small dishes were nearly empty. The three of them kept picking at the food, one bite after another. Li Xin grew anxious and grabbed his chopsticks to join the food-grabbing frenzy. With great effort, he managed to snatch a couple of bites from under the blur of their chopsticks.

His food-grabbing skills were still unrefined, and he couldn't compete with the three who were used to it. Li Xin could only lick the seasoning off his chopsticks and scold them, "Leave some for me! Did the boss invite you to eat? You came uninvited, and now you're eating everything. Save some for me!"

"Guests are guests, haven't you heard? We're guests too!" Lu Huai said smugly.

"Nonsense!" Li Xin, unable to contain his anger, joined the food-grabbing battle again.

When Wen Zhi entered the room to serve the next dish, the four of them were in a chaotic mess, grabbing each other's chopsticks and covering each other's mouths. The plates on the table were scattered haphazardly, no longer in their perfect circular arrangement.

Wen Zhi was startled, unsure whether to continue serving the food or call Chef Wang to mediate.

The four in the room were also startled. They quickly retracted their hands in front of the server and began acting as if nothing had happened, patting each other on the back and saying, "We're just playing around!"

Their attempt to cover up was obvious.

Wen Zhi didn't say whether she believed them or not. Since nothing serious had happened, she didn't want to make a fuss. Pretending not to notice, she placed the dish on the table, glanced at the other empty plates, and couldn't help but sneak a look at the four men, who were all awkwardly scratching their hands and shoulders, squirming uncomfortably.

Wen Zhi almost laughed but held it in. She collected the empty plates and walked out with a straight face.

Through the gradually closing door, she saw the four of them gathered around the newly served dish, returning to their previous poses, grabbing each other's chopsticks and covering each other's mouths.

Are they really okay?

Not long after, Wen Zhi came back to serve the second dish. She placed the dish down, took the empty plates, and the same happened with the third dish. Not a single dish survived until the next one was served. From start to finish, there was only one dish on the table at any given time.

Wen Zhi: ...

This is the first time I've seen such impatient guests.

She often sees Feng Feng and his two companions, but they were quite normal when they ate before. Why are they so... ummm... today?

When she entered the private room again, the four of them sat down in an orderly manner, the dishes on the table intact. Wen Zhi set down the dishes and gave them a puzzled look.

"Boss, please help yourself!" Lu Li said.

Wen Zhi glanced at the boss they mentioned—it was Lu Huai, who always followed the Shennong Star Lord.

So there was someone who could keep them in line, no wonder they suddenly became so well-behaved!

After Wen Zhi left, Li Xin curiously asked, "Boss, where did you go just now? You still have a fragrance on you."

"Stop talking nonsense, the boss doesn't have any fragrance!" Feng Feng defended.

Qian Zhuang, who was a bit slow on the uptake, sniffed, "It is fragrant, a cumin scent!"

"I helped the Lord with a small favor. What about you guys? What were you up to just now?" Lu Huai's gaze swept over them lightly.

"Just catching up, hahaha!" Lu Li laughed it off.

Lu Huai didn't pursue further. When most of the dishes had been served, under the expectant gazes of the four, he said, "Let's eat."

With Lu Huai present, the four ate more politely. After a few bites, a little boy toddled in on short legs and placed a plate next to the boss.

"Sister said you'd like this. I just helped with the cooking and didn't get to eat any myself, so she asked me to bring you some."

Li Xin was more shocked than when the boss had suddenly walked in and caught them fighting over dishes that were flying through the air.

Cooking? This is the help the boss provided? Using hands that kill The Swarm to cook food? Does the boss even know how to cook?

Li Xin glanced at the three who always followed Lu Huai—they were just as shocked as he was.

It was confirmed: the boss really wasn't normal.

He grew even more curious about the Lord who had the boss doing these things. When the Lord asked the boss to gather a planet cleaning team, he did it; when asked to cook, he cooked. The former is understandable, but the latter is not the boss's forte!

Li Xin curiously reached out with his chopsticks to try a bit of the dish the boss had personally made, but Lu Huai subtly moved the plate away.

"Order more if you're still hungry."

"Ah?" Li Xin didn't expect this outcome and gave the other three a look.

Li Xin: (winking) Don't you want to taste the fruits of the boss's labor? Once in a lifetime! Once in a lifetime!

Lu Li, Feng Feng, Qian Zhuang: Silently buried in eating.

Li Xin: What, what do you mean?

Lu Li, Feng Feng, Qian Zhuang: Silently buried in eating.

Encountering the Shennong Star Lord, it's reasonable for the boss to become strange.

Li Xin withdrew his chopsticks, confused, "Should I order some more dishes, then?"

Lu Li, Feng Feng, Qian Zhuang: "Sure, sure!"

Li Xin: ...

So everyone’s still kicking! Why was everyone ignoring him earlier?

Li Xin pushed down his confusion and casually scanned the code to order a dozen more dishes. After closing his smart device, he glanced at the exclusive dishes prepared for the boss, still feeling a bit tempted to try them.

Li Xin reassured himself that the boss's cooking couldn’t hold a candle to a professional chef's. Maybe it was so bad he was too embarrassed to share.

Li Xin felt like he had cracked the case and instantly lost interest in the dishes near Lu Huai.

After just a few bites, the little boy came back.

"Sister says this vegetable heart is really good—crispy and fragrant."

"Sister says this rice is different—fragrant, sticky, and with a richer aroma and unique texture. She wants you to try it."

"Sister says..."

Li Xin stared blankly at the plates of dishes this "sister" kept sending over, none of which they had seen on the restaurant menu.

He wanted to stop the boy and ask if his sister could just bring the whole table over and cook more for them. What’s the deal here? All these new dishes were next to the boss, set apart from the restaurant’s menu like they were off-limits.

Li Xin was dying to try the five-colored rice. Sitting directly across from Lu Huai, he could already smell the sweet aroma of the rice, making him feel like he was returning to simplicity after all the fancy stuff.

"Boss, there’s no way you can finish all this, right? Mind if I help out?" Li Xin was itching to try.

"Except for the potato slices, help yourself to the rest."

Li Xin’s heart skipped a beat with excitement, but then a new question arose. "Why?"

"The Lord gave this to me specially because she knows I love it. Got a problem with that?" Lu Huai asked leisurely.

"No," Li Xin replied, finally tasting the five-colored rice he had been longing for. It was exactly how he’d pictured it.

As for the other dishes, they were decent but not better than the restaurant's offerings. After a few bites, Li Xin wasn’t impressed. Then he noticed the boss had polished off all the "sister’s" dishes, not a leaf left, while he hadn’t touched any of the restaurant's dishes.

Li Xin: If I hadn’t tasted them myself, I’d have thought they were incredible!

If the boss had made them himself, there was no need for such exaggeration. Li Xin felt like he’d pieced it all together—these dishes were likely made by the "sister." Connecting this to the boss's earlier mention of helping the Lord with a small task, the "sister" had to be the Shennong Star Lord.

He hadn’t met Yun Wan, but the Shennong Star Lord already seemed legendary to him.

After the meal, Li Xin wanted to chat with Lu Huai, but got turned down.

"I have things to do."

"What things?" Li Xin felt abandoned.

"I need to train in the afternoon."

Li Xin watched as Lu Huai left without a second thought, feeling both heartbroken and confused.

"What’s going on?"

Lu Li explained, "Shennong Star has a unique method to treat genetic defects."

"Treat genetic defects?!" Li Xin’s mind was blown all over again.

Was this the kind of treatment he was thinking of? The kind that could completely cure it?

"Pretty much."

Hearing this, Li Xin really wanted to meet this Shennong Star Lord who could grow delicious vegetables and develop a treatment for genetic defects.

Unfortunately, Li Xin came to Shennong Star with a mission. In the afternoon, Qiao Yue came to pick him up to investigate the dangerous areas on Shennong Star together.

The mercenary team conducted a thorough search of Shennong Star with the lord's mansion as the center, clearing out some small Swarm creatures along the way, and the progress was quite smooth. When they reached a vast expanse of fiery red flowers, they discovered a large colony of Black Rock Bees.

This type of Swarm wasn't particularly dangerous, but their sheer numbers were a problem. He was just about to mark the spot and come back with more professional equipment to clear them next time, but Qiao Yue told him not to worry about this area.

"How so?" Li Xin quickly put away his gun.

"Black Rock Bees don't attack humans unprovoked," Qiao Yue said, and even pulled up a video for Li Xin of Black Rock Bees visiting the lord's mansion on her smart device, enthusiastically describing the grand scene at that time.

The Swarm bowing to humans? If someone had told Li Xin this before, he would have shut them down, but the protagonist of the story being the Shennong Star Lord made it somewhat acceptable.

Based on the information he knew so far, this lord had already excelled in three unrelated fields: natural food, medicine, and another... animal taming?

Having dealt with the Swarm for so many years, Li Xin had seen some people earn the trust of a few docile Swarm creatures, but he had never heard of anyone with the ability to control an entire species.

Qiao Yue corrected, "It's not a command; the Black Rock Bees actively give honey to the lord."

Li Xin did not refute; he thought the difference was minimal.

In his view, these stories were a bit over the top, at best a friendly gesture between species. The idea of delivering a beehive was completely made up, likely a cover-up by the lord to avoid panic about the danger of Black Rock Bees. However, it was still quite astonishing to come out unharmed from a swarm of Black Rock Bees.

Black Rock Bees were known for infighting; not attacking humans was already quite an achievement.

The mercenaries crossed the sea of flowers and continued forward, discovering a massive owl eagle with black feathers all over its body, except for a white ring around its neck. It was a ferocious male eagle, currently resting in a nest on the cliff with its eyes closed.

The owl eagle's beak and claws were hooked, extremely sharp, and together they accounted for two-thirds of its body. Its feathers served as excellent armor, very resilient, capable of withstanding bullets.

The mercenaries' weapons weren't enough to deal with this giant.

Li Xin signaled everyone to be careful and not make any noise to wake the owl eagle. Everything changed in an instant; an unknown small bird suddenly flew past the group, chirping a few times. The owl eagle sensed prey and opened its sharp eyes, glaring fiercely in their direction.

It soared into the sky, circling above the group, confirming that it was indeed an easy meal, then dived down at high speed, its giant claws grabbing the flying car parked on the open ground, flying up to the cliff, and shattering it to pieces.

"Run!" Li Xin shouted.

Qiao Yue had already instinctively bolted back the way they came. The mercenary team cooperated seamlessly, summoning mechs to deal with the owl eagle. Instantly, six heavy mechs flew into the sky, surrounding the owl eagle and launching a concentrated attack.

The owl eagle's massive wings wrapped around it, forming a very sturdy defense. In the gap between the next wave of attacks, it broke through one side of the mechs, its sharp claws directly twisting off a mechanical arm.

"This owl eagle is problematic, everyone be careful!" Li Xin operated quickly, aiming at the owl eagle's shadow and tracking it with anesthetic needles. The owl eagle was extremely fast, easily dodging, and the needles missed, grazing its feathers.

Their attacks couldn't hit the owl eagle, but instead, they became the owl eagle's targets, repeatedly failing to dodge its close-range attacks. After a fierce battle, their mechs were scarred, but the owl eagle didn't lose a single feather.

"Its claws seem to be poisonous!" a mercenary said in panic. "The mech is corroding; this is not good!"

This owl eagle was different from what they had seen before, having evolved more troublesome characteristics: its feathers were more durable, its claws were poisonous, its movements were more agile, and it was very intelligent, knowing how to use its advantages to protect its soft belly, making it impossible for them to hit its vital points.

"Let's go, this is its territory; we have no advantage," Li Xin made a decisive decision.

The six of them covered each other and entered a grove of trees.

The owl eagle did not give up because of the poor visibility inside the grove, closely following behind them, using the terrain to its advantage. The group and the owl eagle engaged in a battle of wits and strength, severely injuring the owl eagle's chest.

The injury made the owl eagle's attacks even more ferocious. The grove hindered the owl eagle's flight and also the coordination of the six. The owl eagle deliberately scattered them, picking them off one by one.

The owl eagle fought more fiercely as the battle went on, eventually playing a game of cat and mouse with them, chasing them from a distance, as if enjoying the moment of hunting prey in their death throes.

Bad luck really follows you like a shadow! Just passing by a bird woke the owl eagle, and they just happened to encounter a mutated owl eagle!

Such is the life of a mercenary, living life on the edge, never knowing whether tomorrow or an accident will come first.