Let’s ask—who here has ever killed a mountain chicken as big as a pig?
Shen Guoguo grabbed the metal hose and began filling the large pot with clean water.
“What a waste!”
“Even Master Chef Li never uses that much water!”
“Bragging much? Just wait and see how she’s going to finish this! She must pay the water fee!”
Shen Guoguo ignored them all.
She wasn’t exactly a person with much conscience.
Water was precious in the wasteland world, sure—but in her memories, the pampered Shen children used to take baths every day, and not just in any tub—super-sized bathtubs.Shen Yazhi even had her own private swimming pool.
A swimming pool!
The water in this pot wasn’t even as much as what those people used just to wash their feet.
Save water? Save it so others could wash their feet?Might as well use it to handle this mountain chicken properly and earn some star coins.
When the pot was nearly full, she pressed the mechanical button on the control panel that had a flame symbol on it.
A faint blue flame instantly ignited at the bottom of the pot out of thin air.
Shen Guoguo grabbed the half-dead mountain chicken by its neck and began plucking the feathers with an expressionless face.
Each time her hand moved, another patch of feathers came off.
Anything—or anyone—that returned from outside the base would be subjected to nuclear radiation cleansing at the gate, through methods Shen Guoguo didn’t understand.So she wasn’t worried about radiation contamination while working bare-handed.
The not-yet-dead mountain chicken’s half-drooping eyes and limp neck made it look pitiful.
Shen Guoguo rubbed the chicken’s neck back and forth.
Such a long neck—if she made it into Zhou Hei Ya–style braised duck neck, it’d sell for at least 250 a box!
“Do you even know how to handle a phoenix?”
“If you don’t, just say so—stop wasting everyone’s time,” one team member complained.
They had never seen Master Chef Li process a phoenix, but obviously, feather-plucking wouldn’t start from the neck.
“You talk too much. Do you chatter this much when fighting mutant beasts too?”
“You—!”
Shen Guoguo glanced around, then took a stainless-steel basin from beneath the worktable.
She rinsed it with water from the pot and set it on the ground.
“Do you want the chicken blood? I mean, the phoenix blood?”
The team leader shook his head.
Next to the worktable was a gutter for dirty blood; the dried, dark stains made it clear that mutant beast blood was usually drained straight into the waste pit.
As expected, they didn’t want the chicken blood.After confirming, Shen Guoguo continued her work.
She drew her knife and swiftly slit the chicken’s neck with a clean stroke.
Ah, that familiar feeling—like being back on the farm.She rubbed her fingers together nostalgically.
The mountain chicken didn’t struggle at all; its football-sized head tilted to the side—completely lifeless.
Bright red blood streamed into the basin.
Drip by drip, da-da-da-da—The sound echoed in everyone’s ears.
Such a huge chicken—it bled nearly a whole basin’s worth.Too bad there was no salt here, otherwise the blood could have clotted faster.
When the blood finally stopped dripping, the pot of water was boiling.
The chicken was so large it couldn’t fit in one pot.With her strength, she couldn’t possibly lift a two-hundred-jin chicken whole, so she simply raised her knife and chopped off the two massive drumsticks first.
Turning off the heat, she threw both the drumsticks and the chicken’s body into the boiling water, stirring it a few times with a large iron shovel to make sure the hot water fully soaked the carcass.
“What’s she doing now?”
“Boiling it directly? Isn’t that supposed to be the last step? It still has feathers!”
People formed a circle around her, chattering nonstop.
Even the robots rolled over to watch, their tiny red eyes flashing and whirring.
The team leader crossed his arms, clearly waiting for a show.
Those ten nutrient injections were right before his eyes.
Officially, all nutrient injections were government-issued.But unofficially, on the black market, one injection could fetch 500 star coins.At least that could make up for part of his loss.
Thinking this, the frown on his face eased a little.
Shen Guoguo timed it carefully, and when the skin on the chicken leg could be easily peeled off, she quickly lifted out one large leg and began plucking.
Large clumps of black feathers came off cleanly.
Of course, she didn’t throw them away; she piled them on the ground to take home later for processing.
Only then did the crowd realize—
“Huh? If you boil it first, the feathers come off more easily?”
“Seems so—look how easily she’s doing it!”
The onlookers learned something new that day.
Shen Guoguo thought to herself, Easy my ass—it’s scorching hot.
Still, thinking of what she’d earn soon enough… she could bear it.
Once the chicken was plucked clean, she picked up the knife again.
“Do you want the phoenix head, claws, or internal organs?”
“No, no! Who’d want those!” The leader shook his head so fast it looked like a rattle drum.
Shen Guoguo was just asking out of habit.
In her past life, she’d dealt with food-buyers often—always best to confirm everything first. Otherwise, you’d dig yourself into a hole later.
This wasn’t some cultivation world; mutant beasts only served as food.No one here would eat the organs.
Clang!Clang! Clang!
She chopped off the head and claws, tossing them aside with a wet thud.
Then she slit open the belly from bottom to top.
She pulled out the intestines and stomach, and inside were egg yolks the size of a honeydew melon and an apple—unlaid eggs still in formation.
That confirmed Shen Guoguo’s suspicion—this was just a mutated ordinary mountain chicken.Its internal structure was exactly the same as the chickens she knew.
She squeezed the droppings from the intestines.
Who knew what it had been eating outside—the chicken droppings were silvery white and barely smelled at all.
“Little girl, can this stuff be eaten?” the team leader asked.
“Of course it can.”
Chicken intestines were edible—you just had to clean them properly.
“As long as they’re edible.”The team leader quickly grabbed an empty bowl and scooped up the silvery droppings into it.
Shen Guoguo: …
“This stuff doesn’t have much nutritional value. Better not eat it if you can avoid it.”
She was afraid he’d get food poisoning and come to extort her later.She didn’t have any money.
Then came the organs that the leader didn’t want—the heart, liver, and kidneys. She already knew exactly how she’d cook them.
There were even big, thick chunks of chicken fat.
Unfortunately, the leader just clutched his bowl of droppings tightly and didn’t even glance at the supposedly “useless” organs.
“Do you want it cut up?” Shen Guoguo asked naturally, knife in hand.
The leader and the others were now convinced that this little girl really could process a phoenix—and with impressive skill.
“Cut it up, cut it up, haha!”
Of course they wanted it chopped. If they did it themselves back home, uneven cuts might make dividing it unfair, or worse, make it look bad and sell for less.
With swift strokes, Shen Guoguo’s knife rose and fell.
The neck, wings, and body were all chopped into evenly sized pieces.
Bang!
With the final stroke, she drove the cleaver straight down into the stainless-steel worktable.
The heavy knife bounced right back up.
Oh no!She had forgotten where she was, thinking this was her old wooden cutting board at home.
Thankfully, she reacted quickly, catching the bouncing handle and pressing the knife down hard against the table.
“Good one!”
The crowd, delighted by the spectacle, burst into applause.
Clap, clap, clap!
“All done. Check if there’s any problem,” Shen Guoguo said with a forced smile. The knife had almost rebounded into her face just now.
The team leader blinked in surprise. The other chefs before her would just finish their work and walk away without a word—who dared to ask for an inspection?
He didn’t expect this little girl to be so thoughtful.
Phoenix meat—such a rare natural delicacy—was worth a fortune. He didn’t hesitate to check piece by piece.
Smooth cuts, even sizes, no stray feathers.
Even if Master Chef Li himself came, the result wouldn’t be better than this.
Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.
“Not bad, not bad,” the leader nodded repeatedly.
“Alright then, if the inspection’s fine, time to pay—2,500 star coins.”Shen Guoguo stretched out her pale, lotus-like little arm and shook her wristband.
“Uh…”
Seeing the leader hesitate, Shen Guoguo’s face darkened.
“You’re not thinking of skipping the bill, are you?”