"What?!"

"Is it tastier than what you had, Boss?"

The two underlings immediately perked up with excitement and eagerly pulled out two packs of disposable cutlery from who knows where, tearing open the packaging and grabbing the plastic forks in their hands.

"Quick, can we eat now?"

"Since you’ve come back full, Boss, we won’t be shy!"

Neither of them was afraid of the heat; they directly picked up the takeaway box with the fish broth, firmly stabbed the fork into the instant noodles, twirled a thick coil, and shoveled it into their own bowls.

They moved quickly, like they’d come back to life after starving to death, scooping up a half-box of noodles in the blink of an eye, nearly depleting the pot by two-thirds.

But that wasn’t the end.

Knowing the noodles were scalding, they weren’t foolish; they shifted their attention to the fish roe and fish bladders.

The fish bladders looked a bit strange, but the fish roe was actually quite fine for those used to eating seafood raw on the sea; fish roe is quite common, though they’d never had roe from this kind of small fish.

Cut into large chunks, the fish roe was fully cooked, clumping together like little orange pearls, its surface coated in rich golden-red fish soup, constantly exuding an enticing aroma.

Tentatively biting a piece, chewing a few times, the two of them widened their eyes instantly.

"This, this is what fish roe tastes like when cooked??"

"Oh my god, fish roe is indeed something special. It’s incredibly delicious raw, and it turns out it’s just as tasty cooked. The ocean truly is nature’s most precious treasure to us!!"

As if they’d tasted something rare and precious, their eyes widened, hurriedly stuffing the bitten fish roe whole into their mouths, chewing with large bites, displaying a look of bliss.

The fish roe burst open grain by grain in their mouths, the numerous hidden tiny savory juices coalescing into an unparalleled fishy flavor exploding onto their palates.

This miscellaneous fish roe didn’t burst with juice like salmon roe but was more like cooked caviar, each grain having a subtle salty umami taste.

Though it didn’t burst with juice, it had a mushy, gritty texture, quite peculiar.

Having had a great start with the fish roe, they immediately speared a piece of fish bladder and swallowed it.

The fish broth was so rich it nearly formed a stew, filling the fish bladder inside and bursting under the pressure of their teeth, the scalding temperature causing them to shiver all over, nodding and gasping repeatedly.

"Hiss... hot, hot, hot!"

"Damn it! Ah, my tongue has gone numb!"

Despite the heat, they had no intention of spitting it out, resolutely gasping for a long time until they recovered.

Cooked fish bladder had a completely different texture from what they imagined. It wasn’t like the powdery bursting of fish roe but rather crispy, sticky, and glutinous, with a quite strong fish flavor.

Those who can handle eating seafood don’t find this flavor fishy, but for those who can’t quite handle seafood, the fish bladder’s flavor might seem a bit overpoweringly fishy.

Of course, they had no such concerns, their mouths filled only with rich savory taste.

Especially since the inside of the fish bladder was soaked with the fragrant and spicy thick fish broth, chewing it with the crispy glutinous texture of the bladder was simply euphoric.

"Something this delicious, and we used to just toss it as trash?"

"Stop talking, my heart feels a bit uncomfortable, I need a few more bites to soothe it."

Seeing how much they were enjoying it, nearly burying their heads in the takeout box, Boss Magna wasn’t the least bit surprised, instead looking as if he had expected it all along.

Anyone who had been in this line of work for long would be way more accepting of seafood than most could imagine.

Especially when at sea, when hungry, you often just catch some from the ocean and eat it directly, or cook it in water, or fry it with butter.

Who cares about fishiness, those who care would’ve starved to death long ago.

Besides, as long as it’s fresh enough, there’s practically no fishy taste, it’s all sweet and juicy, not much different from salmon or tuna sashimi.

At that moment, Magna was staring intently at the little bit of noodles and fish offal left in the pot, his left hand resting on his round stomach, hesitating to eat or not to eat.

Not eating meant who knows when next he’d get to have it.

Could be tomorrow, could be the day after, or even longer, no one could say for sure.

Eating meant he was really stuffed, so full he’s having trouble breathing.

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have eaten that much rice earlier, leaving some room for the fish soup noodles!

"Slurp~"

As he wallowed in his dilemma, the sound of slurping noodles rang in his ear.

Instant noodles, a thing many foreigners hadn’t tried, yet it’s a common and convenient food for those in marine fishing.

Most sea fish are active at night, so fishing is mostly done at night as well.

The late-night temperatures at sea are low and damp, easily leading to colds, making the hot, soupy noodles one of the lifesavers.

After eating it so much, it naturally became a skill to slurp noodles.

Magna instinctively turned his head, seeing the two holding a plastic lunch box in their left hand, occasionally shoveling with a fork in their right, and then slurping hard, the noodles wrapped in thick golden-red fish soup cascading upwards like a waterfall.

Streams of dense fish broth dripped slowly along the noodles, being blocked by the two gatekeeper’s lips.

The surface of the noodles was dotted with a few scattered fish roe, each noodle appearing tight and elastic, almost like a spring.

Magna himself hardly went out to sea, being semi-retired, naturally hadn’t personally cooked instant noodles in a long time.

On the ship, the crew usually cooked noodles in a big pot, leaving it until they finished their tasks to gather and eat.

By then, the noodles would be all soggy, crumbling at the slightest touch.

In his memory, he had almost never eaten instant noodles that retained their shape.

Apart from the different flavors of noodle brands, he guessed that the timing secret Lin Chen taught him was also a crucial factor.

Do instant noodles only need to be cooked for five minutes?

Thinking this made his curiosity grow even stronger.

If he did not try the fish soup instant noodles he cooked himself today, he felt he might be too frustrated to sleep at night!

"Are there any utensils left?"

He bent over to glance at the place where they took out the disposable utensils but didn’t see any.

"No more."

"These are the utensils they gave extra last night when I ordered the beef rice noodles from Train Head. I clearly ordered only one bowl, but for some reason, they gave me three sets of utensils..."

"Stop the nonsense, give me the fork!"

Magna spread his palm towards the person: "After all, it’s instant noodles cooked by me, the boss, I have to taste it myself, hurry up."

"Uh... do I need to wipe it down?"

The underling awkwardly glanced around, seemingly looking for napkins.

"Wipe my ass, when eating on the ship, everyone is scooping from the same pot, I didn’t mind you, what are you pretending?"

Magna grabbed the fork irritatedly, picked up the milk pot, and started shoveling it into his mouth.

When the fork pierced the noodles, he clearly felt a different texture.

The elasticity that was full of resilience seemed to be resisting him, as if it didn’t want to be eaten!

With a little strength in his fingers, he brought his mouth closer and sucked eagerly.

"Slurp——"

The smooth and chewy noodles instantly slipped into his mouth, wrapped in the rich fish soup and bursting with fish roe, sticking so much that he could barely open his mouth.

He could clearly feel the resilience of the noodles between his lips and teeth, hard and springy, a bit like handmade spaghetti.

Most importantly, the noodles cooked in fish soup had already absorbed the delicious fish flavor, unlike spaghetti which relies purely on sauce for taste.

These instant noodles’ rich and delicious flavor made them taste less like flour noodles, rather more like noodles made from fish meat!

Every bite felt like chewing on numerous little fish, with an intensely rich fish flavor blossoming in the mouth.

"So, boss, is there a difference from what you ate before?"

The underling who had his utensils snatched stared longingly at the milk pot in his hand, afraid he wouldn’t eat enough and finish off the rest of the noodles, but dared not express it, only probing tentatively.

Magna instinctively nodded: "There is! Of course, there’s a difference; this pot of fish soup is the essence among essences, a product concentrated countless times, compared to what I ate, it’s much more diluted."

"It’s just that you guys focus on noodles, whereas I focus on fish roe, fish bladder, and fish head meat."

"Fish head can be eaten too?"

"Even though I’ve never tried it, I feel it would definitely taste good if cooked in this soup, after all, it’s all fish meat."

"Of course it can be eaten! And the taste is quite good, especially..."

Magna smiled meaningfully, handed back the fork, and placed the pot back on the stove.

"Especially the only two rare parts on the fish head, the taste is incredibly delicious, taking one bite makes you addicted!"

"What?? Really?"

"Is there a rare part on the fish head? What part, why don’t I know, cheek meat or socket meat?"

"Neither."

Magna pulled out a meaningful smile, "It’s the meat that becomes transparent jelly after cooking, slidely tender and full of flavor."

"There’s meat on the fish head that turns transparent when cooked??"

His words utterly puzzled the two underlings.

They even felt like all their years of catching seafood had gone to waste.

What meat turns transparent after being cooked, that’s not right, is it?

The two looked at each other and saw the color of intent in each other’s eyes.

Anyway, fish heads are unwanted trash; maybe tonight or tomorrow morning, they could pick some fish heads to cook and find out themselves!

A pot of fish soup instant noodles got devoured by the two in minutes, even the leftover soup at the bottom was licked clean.

Their faces were covered with fine beads of sweat, their collars soaked from sweat, faces flushed with blood rushing up.

"So satisfying!"

"Never thought instant noodles could be cooked like this, what brand are these noodles, the texture is way better than the Sakura instant noodles we eat on the ship."

"Next time out at sea, I’ll be the one cooking noodles. After having tasted this, if I’m made to eat that again, I’d rather starve!"