Chapter 415: Chapter 268: If the Food Isn’t Delicious, Just Keep Beating It Until It Becomes Delicious

「The next morning.」

At the dining table, Zhou Chen looked at the sumptuous breakfast, then gazed in disbelief at Li Xiye, who was sitting across from him.

"You made this?"

He’d eaten Li Xiye’s cooking before. It was edible, but that was about it; taste and presentation were too much to hope for. However, the breakfast on the table before him was a feast for the senses, and it was even faintly sparkling, giving it the air of a gourmet delicacy.

"They say you should see a person in a new light after just three days apart. It’s been years. Do you really think something as simple as cooking could still be a challenge for me?" Li Xiye scoffed.

"But normal people can’t make food that has its own built-in sparkling effect..."

Zhou Chen poked at the glittering bacon sandwich, a suspicious look on his face. "You didn’t use some kind of Skill like, ’If the food tastes bad, just beat it up until it tastes good,’ did you?"

"How could a Skill like that even exist!"

"But you said that’s exactly what you did in the Heroic Trials!" Zhou Chen shot back.

"..." Li Xiye’s expression immediately turned stern. "Never mind that. Hurry up and eat. You’ll be late for work."

’So she really did beat it into tasting good!’

Zhou Chen looked unsettled. Beating up food... that was just too bizarre. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would look like...

He picked up the bacon sandwich and took a hesitant bite. His eyes shot open. It was made with the simplest ingredients, yet the moment it hit his tongue, it was extraordinarily delicious. Sweet, savory, fragrant, and spicy notes intertwined, crashing over his taste buds like a tidal wave. It was as if... as if it had been enchanted with some seductive Magic, making him unable to stop himself from taking huge bites.

Seeing him scarfing it down with such enjoyment, Li Xiye smiled. "Okay, fine, I admit it. I made this using Heart Over Matter. My cooking is actually still terrible... But now you should see just how amazing the thing I’m teaching you is, right?"

Chewing on the sandwich, Zhou Chen nodded.

He knew full well this wasn’t some kind of Magic, but an influence over the Rules of reality itself—forcibly changing "tastes bad" to "tastes good," and "looks ugly" to "looks beautiful."

It sounded ridiculous, but for a powerhouse like Li Xiye, a Quasi-Tier Four, it seemed completely plausible.

What Li Xiye had been teaching him these past few days was an ability that belonged unequivocally to the Tier Four Uncrowned level: Rule.

Thanks to the Bonds Ring, the two of them could share Power. Li Xiye’s initial grasp of ’Rule’ was equivalent to him gaining an initial grasp of ’Rule.’ This allowed him to experience what it felt like to be a Quasi-Tier Four Ascender ahead of schedule. Li Xiye had essentially been power-leveling him, personally guiding him on how to use ’Rule’ and massively boosting his experience.

While making a wish could achieve a similar effect, it wasn’t fundamentally the same. He was borrowing the power of the Wish Bottle, whereas Li Xiye relied on her own strength. This was something every Tier Four Ascender had to accomplish: mastering at least one Rule by themselves.

Take Miss Anna, for example, the keeper of the Book of My Thoughts whom he’d met before. The Rule she had mastered was ’Words Become Law.’ Aided by the Book of My Thoughts, an artifact of Authority, she was considered one of the strongest combatants at Tier Four. If she advanced to become a Crowned King in the future, she would surely be one of the most powerful.

The Rule Li Xiye mastered was just as brutish: using her overwhelmingly dominant will to impose herself upon the world, forcing all things to operate according to her desires—even to the point of changing physical laws and twisting reality. But because she hadn’t reached Tier Four yet, her development of this Rule was still in its infancy, so she couldn’t do anything too unbelievable.

Unfortunately, despite all of Li Xiye’s instruction, Zhou Chen couldn’t learn Heart Over Matter. It couldn’t be helped. If he really had learned it, he wouldn’t still be a Tier Two Ascender; he would’ve shot straight up to Tier Four on the spot.

It was like asking a grade-schooler to suddenly do calculus. Even with an expert helping, if you can’t do it, you can’t do it. He needed time to grow and learn at a steady, solid pace.

For now, his primary goal was to find a chance to form a Golden Soul Fragment and wait for the organizers of the Sword Forging Competition to deliver the Advanced Secret Ceremony.

·

「8:59 AM.」

Zhou Chen walked into Jiang Che’s office at the last possible second.

"What’s the current situation with the Crystal Disease?"

"It’s been twelve hours and twenty-nine minutes since the last infected person was confirmed, and no new cases have appeared."

Jiang Che stirred her first specialty coffee of the workday with a spoon. "No other regions have reported new infections, either. We’ll wait another forty-eight hours. If no new cases appear by then, it’ll mean the external spread of the Crystal Disease has been successfully contained.

However, with North Carolina as the source, the mutated Crystal Disease is bound to spread to the outside world again sooner or later. The executive council held a meeting about this last night. North Carolina’s representative was very firm, stating that their country doesn’t need outsiders interfering with their sovereignty... The result of the meeting is that North Carolina will tighten its border security, and no one is allowed to leave the country."

Zhou Chen thought for a moment. "Sounds like the external spread of the Crystal Disease was an accident. The death toll among the poor hasn’t met the quota their elites were hoping for yet."

"More or less."

Jiang Che took a calm sip of coffee. "Alright, we don’t need to worry about what happens in North Carolina. I’m only concerned with Jinzhu. Go organize yesterday’s reports and send them to me before lunch."

"Got it."

·

The following days were surprisingly peaceful.

The Rain of Life had preemptively halted the spread of the Crystal Disease, nipping a global pandemic in the bud. But with the massive source of infection in North Carolina still present, the threat of the Crystal Disease wasn’t gone for good.

After this incident, however, North Carolina intensified its national lockdown. The wealthy who had been trying to flee the country were all stopped, forced to stay put in North Carolina. No new infections appeared in the outside world.

Zhou Chen spent this time living a nine-to-five life. Since the situation in Jinzhu was stable and everything that needed handling was done, he didn’t have much work. He often used his office hours for Meditation, dabbling in Alchemy and Forging, or heading to the training grounds to practice his combat skills. Jiang Che never said a word about it.

As soon as she heard the Crystal Disease problem was solved, Erin rushed over and started staying at Zhou Chen’s place temporarily.

Li Xiye gave her a friendly welcome, putting on the air of a reliable, mature older sister. While Zhou Chen was at work, she took Erin to many of Jinzhu’s fun spots. It only took a few days for her to befriend Erin, and soon the three of them were getting along splendidly.

For some unknown reason, however, Zhou Chen often felt a chill run down his spine...

As for Number Thirteen, Calia, Zhou Chen hadn’t heard from her for the past few days. He tried using Divine Descent to take a look and found Calia holed up in a secret laboratory, conducting research on patients with the Crystal Disease.

On the surface, everything was calm.

Even Zhou Chen felt that way. ’I can finally enjoy a few quiet days,’ he thought.

A few days later, however, Jiang Che suddenly called him into her office and handed him a file.

"Zhou Chen, you’re going on a business trip."

Zhou Chen’s hand twitched. "To North Carolina?" he asked, his voice tight.

Jiang Che raised an eyebrow. "Of course not... Why would you think it’s North Carolina? That place has absolutely nothing to do with you."

"Every time I think I can finally start enjoying life, fate throws a curveball at me... And the biggest curveball lately has been North Carolina."

Zhou Chen let out a sigh of relief, patting his chest. ’Phew. As long as it’s not North Carolina, I’m good,’ he told himself.

"Oh? Is that right? Well, in a way, this mission is pretty ’intense’ too."

Jiang Che looked at him calmly. "Do you know about ’resurrection’?"

’Resurrection...?’

Zhou Chen’s heart jolted. He thought of Erin. She had already died, her Soul disintegrated, but she had been successfully revived through the power of a Tiny Miracle. A true resurrection.

Absolutely no one knew about this. Even the King of Music and Hermes thought he had saved Erin using the Hammer of Forging. Therefore, this ’resurrection’ couldn’t possibly be about Erin.

Looking across the entire World, only a handful of beings could achieve resurrection. The Goddess of Life, the Physician... they were either Gods or Crowned Kings.

But if the mission involved Them, Their Status was far too high. It would never have been assigned to him.

’What on earth could it be?’

Filled with questions, Zhou Chen opened the file.