“Boss, chop me up a white-cut chicken, with chili sauce!” Beside a snack street brimming with everyday bustle, a white-haired, golden-eyed young man sat down very naturally at the tables and chairs set out by a stall.
Then he raised his hand and said with practiced ease to the stall owner busy behind the food cart.
“You got it!
One white-cut chicken!” The burly stall owner brought his knife down, and a whole chicken with golden, glossy skin became an incomparably fresh and delicious serving of white-cut chicken beneath that sharp chicken-chopping knife.
The skin and meat stayed connected, the cuts clean and neat.
One look told you he was an old hand at chopping chicken.
Looking at the chicken again, there was blood in the bone but none in the meat, and the skin was firm, tight, oily, and glossy.
One look told you this was the best of the best!
Seeing this, the young man consciously took a bowl and chopsticks from the side.
At the same time, he picked up a pot of hot water beside him and began rinsing the bowl and chopsticks.
Seeing this, the owner smiled at the young man, then very cautiously carried over a small dish of chili sauce and gently placed it in front of him.
“Say, little brother, you’re not a Cangcheng local, are you?
Are you here traveling?” The owner wiped his hands on his apron and said to the young man with great enthusiasm.
“Oh?
How did you tell?” Hearing this, the young man raised his head slightly, a bit of curiosity welling up in his golden eyes.
“Hehe, I can tell at a glance that you put quite a bit of effort into learning about our Cangcheng culture, but there’s one thing we locals would absolutely never do!” At this point, the stall owner’s expression became serious.
His gaze slowly shifted to the dish of bright-red, glossy chili sauce on the table.
“This stuff, we usually only sell it, not touch it!
Hehe!
I’ll send you a bottle of herbal tea later.
Remember to leave a good review!” “Boss!
One pork trotter rice!” “Coming!” Watching that figure start bustling about again, the young man once more turned his gaze to the dish of chili sauce on the table.
In that instant, a bit of hesitation flashed through his golden eyes.
But in the end, curiosity still surpassed “fear.” He gently picked up a bit of chili sauce with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth, then closed his eyes and carefully savored it… Half a minute later, the red-faced young man slowly opened those bloodshot golden eyes and rasped out two words in an extremely hoarse voice.
“Holy shit!” It really was wild enough!
“Hiss!!” Fortunately, that boss handed over the herbal tea in time.
Otherwise… “Hiss!!!” “Why is this herbal tea hot?” The young man stared at the herbal tea in his hand with a face full of agony.
His originally reddened face now turned green for a while, then a little yellow.
At this point, he could be hung up in Starskiff Haven as a traffic light.
But in the end, amid the stall owner’s expression that looked like he couldn’t hold back anymore, the young man once again returned to his original calm and unruffled appearance.
“Hoo…” Slowly exhaling a breath filled with both hot and cooling medicinal aroma, the young man raised his head and looked around at the bustling streets beside him.
The people knew nothing about what was about to happen next.
They were still living their own lives, still holding different expectations for the future.
This snack street also seemed as if it would never change.
The auntie selling sweet soup would still kindly hand candied winter melon to the children, the teahouse by the road would still call out to entertain customers, and the Cloud Knights maintaining order would still protect the peace and harmony of the snack street.
As if everything would remain the same.
Tomorrow would be like this, the day after tomorrow would be like this, and even the far more distant future would be like this.
Most of the people living here thought the same way too.
After all, they had already lived like this for hundreds of years.
But… unfortunately, this tranquility would not last much longer, and this Xianzhou was also about to lose the “future” that belonged to it.
Because he had come… He picked up a piece of chicken breast with skin and meat connected, dipped it first in scallion-ginger soy sauce, then placed it into his mouth and chewed.
The chicken’s own freshness and tenderness instantly burst in his mouth, and with the sauce adding flavor, it instantly reawakened the young man’s somewhat dead taste buds.
This couldn’t help but make the young man’s eyes light up.
But immediately after, that light turned into a look of regret.
“Sure enough, it tastes exactly the same as the white-cut chicken I ate in my previous life.
It’s even better, in fact.
It’s just a pity that I’ll never get to eat it again after this.” As he ate white-cut chicken with rice, the young man’s thoughts couldn’t help but return to the day he had transmigrated.
The young man’s name was Wen Jin.
He had only been an ordinary office worker, with no real social life, no real friends, and he just liked playing a bit of gacha games.
Before transmigrating, he had still been humming music from Honkai: Star Rail, with [Who] playing in his earphones, right at the part of “hope and despair alternate in song.” Then he was flattened by a passing steel coil into a veteran two-dimensional transmigrator.
The good news was that he had transmigrated like a novel’s male protagonist.
The bad news… was that he had transmigrated into the world of Honkai: Star Rail.
In a world like this, filled with madmen of the Paths, you never knew what would be waiting for you in the next moment.
Back then, he still had black hair and black eyes, and in his hand he was even carrying… Oh, his Crazy Thursday had most likely transmigrated along with him.
Hopefully that Original Recipe Finger Lickin’ Good Chicken had transmigrated to a safe world () As for him… The galaxy he had first transmigrated to… Was called “Adlivun.” Clearly, Destiny had thrown an instant detonation into his life, giving him an opening worse than hell itself.
Fortunately, he did not feel much pain, because the moment he realized exactly what kind of “sorrowful” place he was in, [Destruction] was born.
Under the great power of that negative creator god, his suffering-filled hometown instantly returned to Nanook, along with a transmigrator who had just arrived in this world.
He had said his dad hadn’t used his brain when naming him back then.
Well, great… he had just transmigrated and was already “Nanook.” But to Wen Jin, death was not the end.
It was the beginning of another story.
When he woke up again, what entered his eyes was not the wreckage of a celestial body, but a planet brimming with life.
Immediately after, he discovered that his body had also undergone a tremendous change.
His original black hair had turned white, and his dark eyes had been dyed golden.
At the same time, a powerful force also surged into his body.
Only afterward did he realize that it was the power of the Path called [Destruction].
At that time, he had thought his golden finger had finally arrived.
After all, judging from his appearance, other than the fact that his skin wasn’t dark, he was practically a mini Nanook!
For a while, he had even believed that he would become a “Lord Ravager” and practice the Path of [Destruction].
But… Hope and despair… were indeed alternating within him.
Before long, the planet he was on was invaded by a swarm.
The originally lush planet became the insects’ “delicious meal,” and Wen Jin, as an ordinary Pathstrider who had just grasped [Destruction], naturally had no power to fight against the swarm that blotted out the sky.
Death quietly arrived once more.
Then came another awakening… Countless deaths, and at the same time… countless worlds destroyed along with them.
In the end, he figured out a pattern.
He… seemed to have become some kind of “omen”?
Or rather, he had become a sign of [Destruction].
The place where he woke up would inevitably suffer all kinds of “Destruction”-level upheavals after some time.
And he himself would vanish in that “Destruction,” then revive again in another region that was about to be destroyed.
He called this ability “End of Life.” No matter where he went, that place would meet all kinds of “ends.” Wasn’t that just “End of Life”?
The current him was practically a walking jinx, but this jinx would also “take” himself along with him.
At first, Wen Jin had still wanted to resist a bit, but as the number of deaths increased, he gradually came to accept it.
Destroy it all.
Hurry up!
But at least before this place was destroyed… He dipped the last piece of white-cut chicken in sauce, stuffed it into his mouth along with the last bit of rice, then drank the bitter herbal tea in one go.
Wen Jin rubbed his half-full stomach and felt that he could still eat a bit more.
Since this place was doomed to end, and he was also doomed to die, he might as well eat his fill first!
After all, once he passed this village, this shop would truly become a limited edition!
Just as Wen Jin was still thinking about whether to eat pork trotter rice or clay pot rice next, a petite figure suddenly flashed past in front of him.
“Uncle!
Give me one white-cut chicken to go!” The charming white-haired little girl blinked her crimson eyes and said to the boss with a smile full of joy.
“Yo!
Jingliu is here!” Seeing his familiar regular customer, the boss’s face instantly smiled like a blooming flower.
Wen Jin wiped his mouth and raised his head to look at that familiar little figure before him.
A bit of surprise flashed through his golden eyes.
He hadn’t expected to meet this future “Luofu Sword Champion” at a time like this.
Destiny really was wondrous… Speaking of which… Looking at that obedient little girl, then thinking of the Jingliu in his memories, it was hard to imagine just how much she had gone through during this process.
However, he was also about to witness the first scene of this Sword Champion’s transformation.
Its name was… [Ashes of Cangcheng].
★ ★ ★ T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
★ ★ ★ Shilling time!