Chapter 2: R-Roasted Potatoes?
The roaster provided by the system was quite impressive.
The roasted potatoes came out cooked to perfection—soft and fluffy on the inside, with a fragrant, caramelized char crisping on the skins.
Ling Jing was currently sample-tasting the first batch of roasted potatoes, taking care of her own lunch in the process.
According to the time displayed on the system panel, it was just past noon.
Moreover, she had discovered something intriguing.
Earlier, she had collected several oversized, dark green potatoes from what looked like an abandoned farm and tried tossing them into the roaster. In less than five seconds, the potatoes had shed their sickly green tint and bizarre shapes, turning one after another into the fresh, normal potatoes of her memory.
In other words, in this world where flora and fauna were suspected to have mutated, the cooking utensils provided by the system could automatically purify mutated plants into a non-toxic, fresh state?
That certainly saved a lot of trouble.
The roasted potato even automatically generated a brief description.
—[Roasted Potato (Removes 1% of the toxins from the consumer). Recommended retail price: 4 City Coins]
This single sentence yielded quite a bit of information for Ling Jing.
With no introductory background on the apocalypse and having had no prior contact with the local humans, she had known next to nothing about this world beyond observing the apparent mutations in the plants and animals.
Judging by the description on the potato… there was likely a relatively stable monetary system here.
The side effects of this apocalyptic environment on humans probably included toxic corrosion.
It was eight or nine tenths likely connected to the faint, eerie green mist lingering in the air.
Lost in thought, Ling Jing chewed slowly on the potato in her hand, yet her ears sharply picked up the sound of approaching footsteps.
Heavy and weak, and clearly coming from more than one person.
She turned her gaze toward the source of the noise—it was two petite figures.
Both were bundled up tight from head to toe.
They wore dark hoods, and the stray locks of hair peeking out were tinged with green, though one could still tell the hair might have originally been golden blond.
Their garments were dusty and gray. The taller one wasn’t wearing a cloak, making her clothes appear even more ragged. Every inch of skin that could be covered was wrapped up, hands included.
Perhaps unable to see clearly through the face cloth, the shorter girl pulled down her mask, revealing the lower half of her face beneath the hood.
Her lips were slightly moist yet severely chapped, as though she had walked a great distance and had only just taken a sip of water.
Right now, as she caught sight of Ling Jing, her jaw dropped in sheer astonishment.
…Observing the staggering, unsteady way they walked, it was obvious their current condition was dire.
Anyone drawn in by the aroma was a prospective customer.
Ling Jing offered a polite, welcoming smile. “Hello, guests. Would you like a roasted potato? Four City Coins each. The sweet potatoes aren’t ready yet, so you’ll have to wait a little while for those.”
While Ling Jing was sizing them up, Lilin and Lina were also observing this “peculiar” person.
What a… ridiculously bold individual.
Her face had no covering whatsoever, as if she didn’t fear the corrosive fluids sprayed by mutated plants or attacks from mutated beasts in the slightest.
She did wear gloves on her hands, but no matter how one looked at them, they merely resembled heat-resistant oven mitts.
And she was clean—impossibly clean.
She wore a spotless set of sportswear: a blue hoodie paired with black trousers. There wasn’t a speck of emerald green on any of her exposed skin.
Her black hair was equally neat and tidy. It wasn’t the jagged, bizarre mess common in the apocalypse, where survivors simply hacked at their hair with scissors. Free of grime and untouched by the creeping emerald tint, it was handsomely styled—not too long, cut into a shoulder-length wolf cut.
Ever since the mysterious emerald toxic mist had descended, mutating the flora and fauna, humanity had steadily succumbed to its venomous erosion as well.
Skin, hair, and pupils all displayed varying degrees of poisoning.
When one’s entire body turned an emerald so dark it bordered on black, and one’s blood ran green, death was practically knocking on the door.
Much like Lilin’s state right now.
In this world… could there truly still exist a human being entirely uncorrupted by the poison?
They could hardly believe their eyes—even Awakeners would show at least some physical alterations, wouldn’t they?
Could she be an unfathomably powerful expert?
To set up a stall outside the city walls, her strength had to be extraordinary.
What stunned them most of all, however, was the item the woman was eating and the words coming out of her mouth.
Potatoes? Roasted potatoes?
“Haven’t all plants been corrupted and mutated by the emerald mist…?” Lina murmured under her breath.
Drinking in the intoxicating aroma, Lilin swallowed hard, her senses pushed to their absolute limits by starvation. “Yeah…”
Only the rations distributed within the city were edible—this was common knowledge among all surviving humans.
It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been people driven mad by hunger who secretly smuggled seeds back into the city to grow vegetables.
That was roughly eight years ago.
Someone, clinging to the naive hope that “the emerald mist concentration is lower inside the city,” had planted a few radish seeds.
Yet while the towering walls could block a portion of the mist and plant invasions, they couldn’t keep everything out.
Before that radish had even matured, long tentacles burst forth, ripping out the gardener’s intestines.
Blood soaked into the soil, seeping into the radish’s roots and sprouts. Right then and there, the radish sprouted rows of sharp teeth and bit off the finger of a neighbor who had come over to see what was going on.
The neighbor tried to flee, only to be dragged back by the tentacles and disemboweled on the spot, reduced to fertilizer for the mutated radish.
The monstrosity grew at terrifying speed, proving to be an exceptionally hazardous variant. After claiming two lives, it burst through the house and began preying on people in the street.
By the time Awakeners arrived on orders to eliminate it, the mutated radish had already slaughtered twelve people and swollen to the size of an entire building.
…Ever since that incident, strict scanning equipment had been installed at every entrance along the high walls, supposedly powered by an Awakener’s ability.
All flora, fauna, and seeds were strictly forbidden from being brought into the city.
Even if one managed to find unmutated fruits or vegetables beyond the walls, they were invariably corroded by the emerald mist, harboring an appalling concentration of toxins.
Taking a single bite was hardly different from committing suicide.
If one wished to survive in this apocalypse, their only option was to use crystals or scavenge pre-apocalyptic materials from beyond the walls to trade for City Coins, which could then be exchanged for rations.
For the past ten years, the people of the city had lived this way.
Yet the clean, untainted person standing before them was eating a potato, seemingly without the slightest ill effect?
…An expensive-looking metal tricycle, a small canopy mounted on top, a roaster, and potatoes that actually appeared edible.
Every single detail shattered Lilin and Lina’s understanding of reality.
“Sister, is it really edible?” the little girl asked in a whisper.
“Please refer to Rule 1 of the Restaurant Rules,” the strange, pristine human spoke up, having apparently overheard their hushed exchange.
Restaurant Rules?
Only then did the sisters notice two boards mounted onto the small tricycle.
One seemed to be the stall’s sign.
—Chinese Restaurant.
Chinese? Was that a place name? They had never heard of it before.
The two exchanged a glance, seeing only utter bewilderment in each other’s eyes.
Among the Three Great Cities and the Four Frontier Cities, not a single one bore that name.
The other board was inscribed with “Restaurant Rules.”
—1. All food served in this restaurant is absolutely safe and non-toxic. 2. Diners within the premises of this restaurant are guaranteed absolute safety. 3. The interests of the restaurant are sacred and inviolable. The manager possesses absolute authority over everything within the scope of operations. 4. Wishing you a pleasant dining experience.
The mysterious, handsome stall owner looked at them with a faint smile and asked:
“Would you two like to give it a try?”
