“Hehe, that’s the shape—just smaller and thinner.” Ye Lingxi didn’t even know what expression to make anymore.
Pei Jin moved quickly. In less than a minute, a pot took shape.
Perfectly round, with uniform wall thickness, a smooth and flat bottom, and edges deliberately rolled over so they wouldn’t cut the hand.
Pei Jin held the pot up and handed it to Ye Lingxi, a look of anticipation on his face. “Is this alright?”
Ye Lingxi took the pot and weighed it in her hands.
A bit heavy, but acceptable.
“Alright, alright—more than alright!” Ye Lingxi nodded repeatedly, and when she looked up at Pei Jin again, her eyes were practically sparkling.
This metal-manipulating superpower was way too useful.
Next, she had Pei Jin shape the remaining metal into iron basins for holding things, a spatula, bowls and chopsticks, a cleaver, and even a windproof firewood stove.
She’d seen that style of windproof firewood stove online before and had always wanted to buy one but never brought herself to spend the money.
Who would’ve thought that after transmigrating, she’d end up owning one instead.
Looking at the freshly made windproof stove and all the cookware, a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her.
It felt like she’d hit the jackpot!
These twelve Sentinels could fight, protect people, were willing to bleed to feed her, and could even forge pots and cookware on the spot…
They were practically essential gear for home life, travel, and wilderness survival!
So considerate—and if the need ever arose, she doubted they’d refuse to sacrifice their virginity either…
If only she were back on Earth, this would be heaven…
Ye Lingxi quickly tapped her head to shoo away those dirty thoughts.
Then she set the pot and cookware aside and gave Pei Jin a thumbs-up. “With skills like yours, back where I’m from, you’d definitely be an imperial-grade blacksmith!”
Pei Jin didn’t understand what an “imperial-grade blacksmith” meant, but seeing Ye Lingxi’s expression, he knew she was praising him, and he grinned from ear to ear.
The other Sentinels watched Pei Jin’s goofy, delighted face and felt a sour pang in their hearts.
Why him?
Shi Qi’s mental entity had gotten to be petted by the Guide for ages, and Pei Jin had forged a pot and stove for her and earned such high praise.
What about them? They had nothing…
The Sentinels exchanged glances and silently started scheming—next time, they absolutely had to seize the chance to show off.
…
Ye Lingxi had no idea what the Sentinels were plotting.
She carefully washed the pot and the iron griddle, then began preparing the rabbit meat.
The Sentinels weren’t idle either—she’d sent them off to gather firewood.
Later, the task of cutting up the rabbit meat was also snatched away by Mingzhou.
In the end, Ye Lingxi became nothing more than a mouth that gave orders.
Under her direction, the man cut the rabbit meat into neat, uniform chunks and placed them in the pot with clean water.
No scallions, ginger, or garlic. No cooking wine. She added two seasoning packets from instant noodles instead—under the current circumstances, she’d have to make do.
She also had Mingzhou slice a few of the fattest, most tender pieces of rabbit meat into thin cuts and lay them on the iron griddle, planning to make griddled rabbit meat later.
Before long, the Sentinels who’d gone for firewood returned, and a pile nearly waist-high was stacked in front of the windproof stove.
The Sentinels formed a circle, a dozen pairs of eyes fixed unblinkingly on Ye Lingxi.
Many of them still had no idea what she was trying to do.
Only Mingzhou and Lin Chuan seemed to have a vague inkling.
The two exchanged a glance.
“Lingxi,” Mingzhou began cautiously, “are you planning to eat the meat of these… rabbit beasts?”
Ye Lingxi looked up and blinked.
Rabbit beasts.
That was actually a fitting name.
After all, those things with a mouth full of sharp teeth couldn’t really be called ordinary rabbits.
“Yeah, I’ll have you all eat with me in a bit.”
Mingzhou fell silent for a moment.
He looked at the chunks of meat bobbing in the pot, then at the thin slices on the iron griddle, as if wanting to say something but holding back.
Finally, he spoke, choosing his words carefully, as if trying to spare Ye Lingxi’s feelings: “This rabbit beast meat… probably doesn’t taste very good.”
“How could it not?” Ye Lingxi countered. Fresh rabbit meat was delicious even without much seasoning.
Mingzhou pressed his lips together. He was reminded of a mission from long ago.
The supply line had been cut off, the nutrient solution depleted, and they’d been trapped behind enemy lines, forced to hunt star beasts to stave off hunger.
That taste…
He didn’t really want to recall it.
“Star beast meat is very gamey,” he said, trying to keep his tone as even as possible. “The texture is tough too—hard to chew. Even after washing and soaking, it still has a strange smell. It really doesn’t taste good.”
He paused, then added, “We Sentinels only consider eating star beast meat when we’re completely out of food and can’t hold on any longer.”
He didn’t understand why Ye Lingxi would ever think of eating star beast meat.
Ye Lingxi was taken aback for a moment, then asked without thinking, “You just kill the star beasts and eat them directly? You never thought about processing them?”
“Processing how?” Mingzhou asked.
“Like, cooking them.”
Mingzhou looked at Ye Lingxi blankly. Another word he didn’t understand.
“What is… cooking?” Mingzhou asked.
Ye Lingxi was beginning to understand what was going on. The dietary culture of this interstellar world was likely vastly different from Earth’s.
There probably wasn’t any culinary culture here at all.
She didn’t immediately answer Mingzhou’s question. Instead, she continued asking, “Then what do you usually eat as your main food?”
That question was easy to answer. “Nutrient Solution and nutrient blocks.”
“Nutrient Solution is convenient to consume and quickly replenishes energy. Regularly eating nutrient blocks prevents the teeth and digestive system from degenerating.”
“Combining the two is the most efficient and most scientific way of eating.”
That one sentence rendered Ye Lingxi speechless.
Most efficient, most scientific…
It instantly made her method of hunting—cleaning—cooking seem like the representative of inefficiency and unscientific practice.
She let out a dry laugh. “My rabbit meat soup and teppanyaki rabbit meat probably aren’t that efficient or scientific.”
Mingzhou said nothing. He agreed wholeheartedly with that statement.
But he didn’t stop Ye Lingxi from continuing to cook either.
He didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm.
But he truly didn’t believe those Star Beast meats could become delicious.
He had tasted them.
They were really awful.
Shi Qi, Ji Xiao, and the others listened to the exchange from the side, their expressions somewhat complicated.
They too remembered that mission, remembered those Star Beast meats that were impossible to swallow.
Shi Qi had thrown up three times before he could barely choke the Star Beast meat down.
Actual vomiting, not an exaggeration.
That gamey, fishy taste, the coarse texture, and that indescribable strange flavor—something between metal and rotting grass…
Even now, just thinking about it made their stomachs twitch involuntarily.
Ye Lingxi looked up and saw the identical expression on all twelve Sentinels’ faces.
That expression was all too familiar to her.
When her master forced her to eat cilantro as a child, she probably wore the exact same look.
She couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, alright, don’t make those faces. I’ll let you all taste my cooking in a bit.”
The Sentinels froze in unison.
Then…
They secretly glanced at Ye Lingxi, then at the chunks of meat in the pot, and silently took a small step backward.