Chapter 75: It’s On Fire!
At 8:03 PM, just after nightfall, with the Liao Zhai Tavern yet to start welcoming guests, Luxianbei arrived early as promised and found Hu Boss taking a short nap.
“Boss, I’m here. Should I collect the tools and methods for gathering the materials for human fireworks now, or wait until after closing time?”
Hearing Luxianbei’s voice, Hu Boss sat up from his recliner and looked around. Noticing only a few tables of guests in the tavern, he furrowed his brow slightly.
“It’s not busy yet, so I’ll give them to you now. As for the cooking methods for Hell on Earth, I’ll teach you after we close.”
In fact, there wasn’t much to teach; your talent is too strong. You just need to learn how to make the most of it to become an outstanding creator of human fireworks.
Hu Boss thought to himself as he stood up, stretched, and leisurely walked towards the kitchen.
Luxianbei followed closely behind, passing through the folding wooden door, taking the elevator down, and arriving at the back of the Liao Zhai Tavern a few minutes later.
Having just opened, the preparations in the kitchen were in the final stages as tonight’s guests were soon to arrive.
The mountain demons were bustling back and forth with cleaning tools, while the Yishu, carrying small bamboo baskets, jumped between the shelves, briefly stopping by Hu Boss’s side to nod as a greeting.
Looking towards the center of the kitchen, Mr. Hei, looking like a giant, was stirring with a spoon; the ingredients in the enormous iron pot were boiling, making one wonder if it contained an entire cow. On the other side, perhaps sufficient clean water was already prepared, as Bai Laomu approached a stove and fiddled with various cold dishes.
At a glance, it was a busy and orderly scene.
Luxianbei followed behind Hu Boss, looking around curiously and asking quietly, “Boss, since it’s already this time, could you conveniently tell me what the tool for collecting human fireworks materials is called?”
Hu Boss glanced at Luxianbei with a smile and replied, “It’s not a secret; that thing is called [Floating Life as a Guest].”
After a pause, he added, “How should I put it? It should be considered a set of tableware? In any case, you’ll understand once you see it.”
“Oh, oh.” Luxianbei nodded.
Since Hu Boss said it was a set of tableware and that she would understand once she saw it, she didn’t pursue the question further.
After nearly crossing the entire kitchen, they stopped in front of a pair of large double doors.
The doors were old-fashioned, deep wood-colored, with copper rings that were linked by a red metal chain, hanging a lock shaped like a tiger’s head, dust covering it as if it hadn’t been touched for some time.
“Just wait outside for a moment,” Hu Boss turned to Luxianbei and instructed before taking out a key to unlock it, gently pushing.
“Creek—!”
With a soft sound, the wooden doors opened to the sides, revealing a thick, dense darkness behind them, obscuring anything inside.
Hu Boss stepped forward, disappearing the moment he crossed the threshold, as if swallowed by the darkness.
Luxianbei stood outside, stretching her neck to peek inside. At first, she saw only pitch blackness, and after a few seconds, a faint burning sensation began in her eyes; soon, the darkness seemed to swirl rapidly, creating a vortex that felt as if it wanted to devour her soul.
Gazing into the darkness, she felt her brain being violently stirred as if by something, momentarily experiencing dizziness and a disoriented state, an ominous premonition rising in her heart.
Just then, Hu Boss’s voice came from inside the door, bringing Luxianbei back to her senses.
“Calamity girl, you can come in now.”
They actually want me to go in? Is the tool for collecting the materials for human fireworks too big to bring out? Luxianbei hesitated for a moment before stepping forward, allowing the darkness to swallow her figure.
It was as if the signal had been interrupted, her vision momentarily engulfed by darkness, before quickly restoring visibility within a breath.
After collecting herself and looking ahead, she widened her eyes.
Before her stood a vast cave, connecting to the ground above, illuminated by a bright light from who knows where, falling onto a massive object that stood three or four stories high, shining brilliantly. Flamboyant winged mayflies flitted around the huge object, emitting entirely different spirit energy fluctuations.
Alchemical materials engraved with complex solidified spell formulas and spirit energy circuits were intricately assembled, forming an oversized spirit energy item.
If I could disassemble this thing and create different functioning spirit energy items to sell separately, wouldn’t that make a fortune?
Although in shape it resembled an abstract artist’s large pot,
You tell me this is tableware? I would believe it’s some kind of bizarre alien spaceship.
Looking at the towering object, Luxianbei felt a mix of emotions.
Seeing her shocked expression of ignorance, Hu Boss chuckled softly and explained gently, “Don’t get the wrong idea; you don’t need the entire [Floating Life as a Guest] to collect the human fireworks materials. Just this will be enough.”
As he spoke, he took a few steps forward, stopped in front of the [Floating Life as a Guest], leaned down to fiddle with it for a moment, and with a series of ‘clinking’ sounds, picked off a palm-sized object and casually grabbed a few of the mayflies fluttering around it before returning to Luxianbei’s side.
“Here, this will do.”
While saying this, Hu Boss held out the object he had taken from [Floating Life as a Guest] towards Luxianbei, while he popped a mayfly into his mouth.
With a crunching sound, sparkling powder slowly fell.
Luxianbei’s attention was briefly drawn away from the old, chipped blue and white porcelain bowl in her hand as she heard the “crunching” noise, involuntarily turning to Hu Boss.
Narrowing her eyes, she pondered.
She watched him pop one after another into his mouth, seemingly enjoying the flavor.
Beihere exclaimed he really knew his stuff.
But she wondered if it tasted like chicken.
As Hu Boss was left with only one mayfly, he noticed Luxianbei’s unusual gaze, paused in surprise, and offered the last one to her.
“Want to try?”
“No, no!” Luxianbei hurriedly said, shaking her head like a rattling drum.
She had become wary of eating anything someone else offered her.
Having been nearly forced to drink with the general, she had developed a psychological trauma towards food and drinks of unknown origin.
Last time, she had almost been taken away by the general after being drunk; who knew what would happen if she ate Hu Boss’s bugs this time?
Seeing this, Hu Boss shook his head and shoved the mayfly into her hand, irritably saying, “Don’t worry, I’m not like the general; I don’t have a hobby of feeding beautiful young girls strange things.”
“You want to make some human fireworks, right? These food spirits are just the leftovers after cooking human fireworks. How should I put it? They’re kind of like leftover rice crust.”
“Though they don’t exactly count as human fireworks, you can still taste a hint of the flavor of human fireworks.”
“A hint of the flavor of human fireworks?” Luxianbei frowned, looking down at the mayfly in her hand, its wings red and white, glimmering faintly. After hesitating for a few seconds, she put it in her mouth.
With her lips and teeth closing, an intense, rich, spicy flavor burst through, flooding every corner of her mouth.
As someone who grew up in a family that ran a restaurant in Sichuan, Luxianbei had eaten a lot of spicy and flavorful dishes, and this mayfly definitely ranked in her top three in terms of taste.
However, the so-called human fireworks were definitely more complex than just delicious.
Just as Luxianbei was still immersed in that rich spicy flavor, an unusual emotion quietly arose from the depths of her heart, lingering for a few seconds before slowly dissipating.
In those few seconds, she felt invigorated, as if she could game for several nights straight.
It felt like standing on a competitive sports field, competing with an opponent for the only trophy.
It felt like being on a battlefield where one could determine the outcome, charging at the front line like a gallant warrior!
It felt as though even if she found herself in an era of silence and darkness where everyone was muted, she still had the courage to be the first to stand up and let out a deafening shout!
It’s on fire!
To be honest, if someone fed me this thing before facing an enemy, I wouldn’t back down at all; I would charge through without hesitation!
Luxianbei thought.
As the surge of excitement gradually subsided within her, she looked at Hu Boss and exhaled, “Huh, so this is human fireworks?”
“Nope.” Hu Boss corrected her with a smile, “To be precise, this is just the scraps left after cooking.”
After a pause, he raised the small bowl that looked like it was made of blue-and-white porcelain, and changed the subject, “Let’s not talk about that for now, I’ll tell you how to use this thing.”
“In a little while, the tavern will be getting guests, so we need to hurry.”
“Mm-hmm!” Luxianbei nodded obediently, “You go ahead, you go ahead.”
“I have two methods here. Which one do you want to hear first?” Hu Boss asked, “The first is relatively simple but involves collecting a lot of impurities and takes more time; the latter is more complicated.”
“Does that even need to be asked? Of course, I want the simple one!” Luxianbei answered without hesitation.
After all, whatever she made with the human fireworks was just to fish for turtles, so why make it any good?
It would be nice if it didn’t even include wood shavings, mud, or old tree bark!
“Is that so?” Hu Boss pondered for a while, “The simpler method is to have people throw small items from around them into this bowl.”
“Small items often record a person’s joys, sorrows, and moods, and the principle of collecting these emotions is similar to some urban legends where you pay with your life.”
“Wait!” Luxianbei suddenly remembered something and interrupted, “I get it! You mean for me to take a broken bowl and beg for alms, right?”
Hu Boss facepalmed, “Can’t you do a little business and let them trade what they want to exchange into this bowl when they’re buying things?”
Luxianbei, “Well, that could work? But if I just beg, I wouldn’t have to pay anything, right? If I can get it for free, why would I pay?”
(Note: there might be fewer updates today due to some glitches.)
