At that moment, Fu Lin's stomach suddenly let out a "sound."
He scratched the back of his head in a fluster, his voice carrying an embarrassed urgency.
"Um… how about… we eat something first?!"
Siegfried stared at him for a long moment, then the corner of his mouth curled into a teasing smile.
"All right… it's been a long time since I tasted your cooking, kid. No idea if you've improved."
"Dad!" Kiana☆ called out helplessly.
In the end, under Fu Lin's persistent pleading and Siegfried's "full support" that was clearly just him wanting to enjoy Fu Lin's cooking, everyone failed to resist. They had no choice but to agree to give him ten minutes to dive into the kitchen and mess around.
Ten minutes later, Fu Lin walked back in carrying several bowls of glossy, oil-shimmering fried rice, pride impossible to hide from his brows and eyes.
"All done! This is the Regal Fried Rice I learned from a neighboring universe. I guarantee that after eating it, everyone will instantly be fully healed and bursting with energy!"
The group stared at the fried rice in the bowls, each wearing a different expression.
Fu Shi subconsciously took half a step back, shaking her head like a rattle drum, her tone firm and resolute.
"I'd rather starve to death, die of thirst, or jump off the moon than eat that thing!"
Elysia curiously examined the fried rice and said, "Eh~ Fu Lin, are you sure this is edible? Even though it looks like it's… kind of tempting~?"
Despite her words, her eyes were filled with resistance, with not the slightest intention of lifting a spoon.
Fu Hua frowned slightly, her fingertips gently tapping the tabletop, her expression troubled. Mei☆ also knit her brows faintly, staring at the bowl of fried rice, utterly unable to muster the courage to take a bite.
Only Siegfried took a deep breath, as if steeling himself with the resolve of a warrior severing his own arm. He picked up a spoon, scooped a huge mouthful, shut his eyes, hardened his heart, and shoved it into his mouth.
The very next second, his expression froze solid. His facial features twisted together at a visible speed, his mouth opening and closing as if something were lodged in his throat, leaving him completely unable to speak.
After a long while, relying purely on sheer willpower, he finally managed to swallow it. Then he gave Fu Lin a thumbs-up, his voice dry and hoarse, like sandpaper scraping metal.
"G-good… it tastes good! Way better than last time. You actually made me experience that long-lost illusion of death approaching again!"
Seeing her father's painfully distorted expression, Kiana☆ couldn't help rolling her eyes hard and mercilessly calling him out.
"Dad, stop forcing yourself. You're going to die!"
Fu Lin, however, completely missed the subtext. His eyes sparkled like stars. "Really? Father-in-law truly has great taste! Then eat more, if it's not enough, I'll make more!"
As he spoke, he grabbed the spoon and viciously added another huge scoop to Siegfried's bowl, instantly piling it into a small mountain.
Looking at the overflowing fried rice, Siegfried's face showed utter despair, yet he still braced himself and swallowed it bite by bite, each mouthful like completing a grueling mission.
"Aren't you eating any yourself?" he asked indistinctly, tears of pure physiological pain nearly squeezing out of the corners of his eyes.
Fu Lin pulled out a cup of instant noodles from behind him, freshly soaked for three minutes. He tore off the lid and started slurping, speaking vaguely through the noodles.
"I'm fine with this. The fried rice was specially saved for you guys."
The crisp slurping sound of noodles formed a stark contrast with Siegfried's agonized swallowing.
Fu Shi used her fingertip to push a bowl of glossy fried rice, sliding it toward Fu Hua with a mischievous grin.
"Hey, old antique, wanna try Fu Lin's Regal Fried Rice~?"
Fu Hua lowered her gaze to glance at the enticing-looking fried rice, then slowly shook her head. Her voice was calm, yet firm beyond doubt.
"No need. I still remember that Fu Lin is affected by Dr. Mei's 'culinary curse.'"
"Ah~?" Elysia blinked her watery eyes, her tone full of delighted curiosity. "So Hua also recovered memories related to Fu Lin?"
Fu Hua gave a light nod, her fingers unconsciously tapping against the tabletop. A faint trace of melancholy flashed through her eyes before quickly settling back into calm.
"Yes. Most of them are fragmented pieces, but they're enough."
Fu Shi raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to Fu Hua.
"So, old antique, you got tricked back then too, didn't you? No wonder you didn't eat."
The tips of Fu Hua's ears reddened almost imperceptibly. She avoided Fu Shi's gaze, her voice still calm but tinged with subtle embarrassment.
"That taste… I still remember it vividly."
As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling on Siegfried's painfully swallowing figure, a faint trace of sympathy passing through her eyes.
Fu Shi frowned, poking the table unconsciously.
"Huh? Old antique, you also have memories of pre-civilization Fu Lin? But in the memories I inherited, you never even met him?"
Fu Hua lowered her eyes to the patterns on the table, her tone calm yet carrying a distant sense of wistfulness.
"That's because the memories related to Fu Lin were specially sealed using the Divine Key Fenghuang Down before I entered the hibernation pod."
Her fingers gently rubbed together, as if touching dust-covered remnants of the past.
"Later, I entrusted those memories to Nuwa and Fuxi for safekeeping. After that, they eventually ended up in the Book of Fuxi. When Book of Fuxi fell into dormancy, those memories sank without a trace. Even I could no longer remember where they went."
She lifted her gaze toward Fu Lin, who was slurping noodles without a care in the world, a gentle sense of release passing through her eyes.
No wonder, back then in Sky City, when she was residing within Kiana's body, Fu Lin had asked her to call him 'Lin,' and said he had forgotten their once-beautiful times.
It turned out that this bond spanning eras had already been foreshadowed back in the previous civilization.
"It was only after the Book of Fuxi awakened and returned the sealed memories to me that I remembered Fu Lin again."
Fu Hua lightly tapped the table, a hint of confusion in her voice.
"However, Fu Lin himself doesn't seem to have recovered his pre-civilization memories?"
Could it be that all those things he said back then were just casual nonsense?
And yet, the result of that "nonsense" somehow ended up being right on the mark.
Elysia clasped her hands behind her back and smiled sweetly.
"Mm-hmm~ not yet, at least~ but his memory fragments are almost pieced together now~?"
Over the next few months, everyone stayed at the moon base, quietly waiting for the day of Kiana☆'s delivery. At the same time, they searched for a way to freely travel back and forth to the other world.
With Siegfried resuming his role as taste tester, Fu Lin happily devoted himself every day to "researching" new dishes in ever-changing ways.
Fu Hua would occasionally stand by the kitchen doorway, a faint smile in her eyes.
As for Fu Shi, she simply stationed herself at the kitchen entrance. The moment Fu Lin came out carrying a plate, she would immediately grab the old antique and make a break for it, shouting all the while, "Cherish life, stay away from Fu Lin's cooking!"
Only Siegfried, every time after eating, would have to lean against the wall for half an hour to recover, yet he would still pat his chest and say, "Not bad, not bad. Much gentler than yesterday!"
Kiana☆ would watch him, both annoyed and amused, only able to prepare a glass of water to cut the greasiness at his side, muttering, "Dad, stop trying to act tough!"
Over on Dr. Tesla's side, contact with Welt was finally established. However, the signal was violently torn apart by intense spacetime interference. Amid the crackling static, only a few fragmented sentences barely broke through the current.
"Tes■la, is that you?"
"Please ■■ worry, I'm currently inside the ■■ the Sky People. I successfully infiltrated their ■■ and learned about their ■■. They've set their sights on ■■ from another universe. ■■ and I are preparing to stop the Sky ■■'s scheme. We can't let them succeed."
Before the message could finish, the signal suddenly erupted into violent fluctuations. A piercing screech instantly swallowed all sound. The waveform on the screen twisted sharply into chaotic crimson lines, leaving no usable information behind.
Tesla slammed the control console hard, the metal panel letting out a dull clang. Her signature red twin ponytails practically stood on end from anger, her voice filled with impatience, unable to hide the worry in her eyes.
"Joachim, you b****! I, ! At a time like this you're still acting tough?! You think you alone can stop the damn Sky People?! ******!!!!"