Five Frozen Centuries

Wei Huo nocked his arrow. He stood behind Lu Qiqi back-to-back and aimed it at the beasts that were charging towards them. Every shot from him either hit the legs or heads of the beasts.

The rifle in Lu Qiqi’s hands was way more powerful. Almost every shot struck the beasts’ heads and tore them into pieces. She continued wielding the horrifying powerful rifle and shooting non-stop. However as she had a fracture in her right calf, the recoil from every shot sent her moving backward. Nonetheless, Wei Huo was right behind her and she was backed into him with every shot she took.

Wei Huo did not move an inch. His strong back had absorbed all the recoil from Lu Qiqi’s rifle. The duo continued shooting while the fierce panda continued waddling. Eventually, the number of beasts charging at them was reduced to zero.

After it was all over, Lu Qiqi spoke out of nowhere, “The third Animal Frenzy has ended. No members were injured. All four of the Rare-ranked beasts were killed.”

Wei Huo looked over at Lu Qiqi and realized that her left calf was shaking. Due to the injury in her right leg, she had been relying on her left leg to support her body. Her left leg could not hold it any longer.

As the recoil of a straight-pull rifle was strong, her left leg had been enduring a lot of stress despite having Wei Huo as her backup.

Despite that, Lu Qiqi supported herself with her crutch and walked towards her room slowly. Wei Huo still had a bit of empathy left in him. He rushed over to help her, but instead, he caused Lu Qiqi to hurriedly keep her rifle in her inventory space and said with a straight face, “I will never give it to you.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

“You did travel through time, didn’t you? Were you the lead actress in ‘Becoming A Robot After Travelling Through 500 Years’ movie?”

The Animal Frenzy was finally over, and it was considerably short-lived this time around because the beasts were either killed, knocked out, or had their legs broken.

In order to avoid a potential plague, Wei Huo and the panda began moving the dead bodies into the freezer. The animals that were knocked out eventually woke up quickly escaped while those who had their legs broken were still in the frenzied mode. Wei Huo knocked them out again and had Lu Qiqi treat them. For the ones who lost their abilities to survive in the wild, the duo had no choice but to nurse them at the base.

They were not all useless since chickens could lay eggs, and sheep could produce milk.

There was no sympathy in nature. The so-called display of sympathy were merely selfish thoughts of not wanting to attract more trouble, and only the strongest had such privilege of being sympathetic.

After settling everything, Wei Huo thought about Lu Qiqi’s rifle. He had yet to touch an actual gun in his life and wanted to try it out. He tried to borrow it from Lu Qiqi.

Although Lu Qiqi did say that she would never give her rifle reward to Wei Huo, she still handed it to him when he asked to try it out.

Without a scope, Wei Huo’s aim was not that great. He aimed the rifle at a red flower but ended up hitting a dead tree ten meters away. He aimed it again at a huge rock but ended up hitting the same tree.

Wei Huo was confused. ‘What’s up with this tree? Is it taking all the bullets on purpose?’

Lu Qiqi looked over and quietly took her rifle back. Wei Huo reached for it again, but Lu Qiqi took a step back instead and kept the rifle.

Wei Huo was confused.

How could such a tiny act cause so much pain…

“Fine…” Wei Huo handed out the 8x Scope from his inventory. “This must be God’s plan.”

Lu Qiqi grabbed the 8x Scope in shock and mounted it onto the rifle skillfully. She tested it out a few times.

Wei Huo could tell that she was excited. Moments later she said to him, “Whatever you need, I’ll trade it with you.”

Wei Huo thought about it carefully. He realized that he was not lacking anything, but he asked anyway, “Do you know how to cook? Braised pork, twice-cooked pork slices, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stewed chicken with mushrooms…”

Wei Huo realized that he was drooling as he spoke.

Lu Qiqi said, “Lu Qiqi’s Culinary Skill is at level five, and knows how to cook 123 types of dishes. What do you want to eat?”

Wei Huo was feeling greedy. He went on to name dishes, “Braised pork, twice-cooked pork slices, fried pork—”

Lu Qiqi cut him short. “Can you finish it?”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

Wei Huo said after thinking it through, “Scrambled eggs with tomatoes!”

Lu Qiqi said heartlessly, “There are no tomatoes.”

Wei Huo was confused. He thought about it and asked, “What about stewed chicken with mushrooms?”

Lu Qiqi had a straight face. “No mushrooms.”

Wei Huo was lost.

‘Why isn’t there anything?’

“Forget it, I’ll go to the kitchen and find something.” Wei Huo arrived at the kitchen and found that there were not many frozen vegetables, but there was quite a selection of meats. Apart from that, there was also a huge box of eggs, milk, potatoes, leeks, flour, and the likes.

Although Lu Qiqi knew the recipes of over 100 dishes, she could not do anything about the lack of materials!

The duo started working with what was available. Although Wei Huo did not know how to cook, he knew how to use a rice cooker as well as cutting vegetables.

Lu Qiqi on the other hand was in charge of cooking. Although her calf was injured and couldn’t stand for long, she still persevered to cook for Wei Huo.

After some time, the dishes were completed. Wei Huo felt like he could eat a horse as he smelled the fragrance of food. Lu Qiqi eventually made shredded potatoes, fried leeks with eggs, fried pork, and a pot of vegetable soup.

After cooking, Lu Qiqi commented, “Four cuisines. All four cuisines are rated above 75. Evaluation: Good.”

Soon after that, she looked over at the rice cooked by Wei Huo and commented, “The rice is rated under 60. Evaluation: Coarse.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

Almost there!

Although the coarse rice was a nadir, Wei Huo did not care much about it. He could finally eat home-cooked food, after more than 100 years. Wei Huo was moved by the simple dishes on the table.

He initially thought that he would gobble them up, but what he did not expect was that he could not even lift his chopsticks.

“Pardon me, it’s been over 100 years since I used chopsticks. I’m still getting used to it.” Wei Huo nearly lost grip of his chopsticks. He seemed like a foreigner learning how to use chopsticks, and he could barely pick up vegetables with it.

Wei Huo took a bite of each dish and stopped himself. He shut his eyes, and his soul was quivering.

Wei Huo thought that he would be picking up vegetables and eating non-stop. However, he realized that he was not going to. He was not that hungry. On the contrary, he was more worried that he would never be able to have these dishes again if he gobbled them up.

At that moment, Lu Qiqi asked, “Are they not good?”

Lu Qiqi thought that the dishes were not of Wei Huo’s taste when she saw him put his chopsticks down.

“N-no, they’re good. They’re very good!” Wei Huo was choking up.

Wei Huo’s fingers were trembling. He continued stuffing food into his mouth and said while chewing, “I was just worried that if I ate too quickly, I won’t be able to have them ever again.”

Lu Qiqi just stared at Wei Huo quietly and did not eat as that was the deal they had, a trade.

Wei Huo was eating slowly because he was cherishing this meal. He wanted to savor the aftertaste, as he was afraid he would never be able to have this meal again.