Chapter 256: You Still Say It’s Not Salty?
"I really don’t get what’s so tasty about this salt. Humans actually treasure this stuff so much."
"We’ve turned the whole dungeon upside down, and still only found a few bags." Hua mumbled softly—she’d gone to a lot of effort just to find these salts.
Her roots dug deep into the ground, and even found some human packages buried underground.
"Daddy, Tuantuan helped too!" Tuantuan suddenly pounced over and dove into Jiang Che’s arms from the side.
Jiang Che grabbed Tuantuan in one swoop, setting her on his shoulder.
With his current strength, he was no longer toppled by Tuantuan’s wild collisions.
Now he could easily lift her up and carry her on his shoulders without feeling tired.
If you asked Jiang Che about the perks of getting stronger, he’d definitely say the best part is being able to lift up both his wife and daughter together.
Blood Slaughter scratched his head in embarrassment at the side. "I couldn’t find any salt either. All I did was scavenge the cooked food from before. Looking at the ingredient lists, we tried to analyze the recipes."
"Me too... I couldn’t be of any help..." Blood Nurse’s voice was very soft. Even though she knew the Lord was her wife, she still felt a sense of awe in front of the Lord and didn’t dare raise her voice.
The Blood Slaughter Couple felt deeply ashamed as they said this.
Everyone was trying so hard to find salt, but the two of them couldn’t find any at all.
Humans bring many things into the dungeon, but hardly anyone brings salt with them!
What they could do was to organize the leftover food, sort out the recipes and ingredients.
The food was already cooked, but Ding Ning was adamant about not using food made by others—she insisted on cooking it herself.
"Everyone, have a seat, it’s time to eat!" Ding Ning clapped her hands, excitedly arranging seats for everyone.
She’d watched Jiang Che living his fantasy family life with her virtual self in the illusion, and thought that once Jiang Che got out, she’d make a big table of dishes, so she could eat together with Jiang Che and their family—a beautiful meal!
Jiang Che and Ding Ning sat on one side, the Blood Slaughter Couple across from them, Tuantuan on the side, and Ding Ning herself sat alone on a little stool.
Hua sat on the other side of the long table—the picture of a real family had finally come together.
Jiang Che sat in his chair. He wasn’t sure why they thought salt was so precious, but he could feel their sincerity.
When Ding Ning was assigning seats just now, he’d noticed the trash bin behind her.
There weren’t many scraps in the small trash bin; the only thing there besides a few food trimmings were empty plastic salt packets.
If Xiong Jie were here and saw those salt packets in the bin, he’d be utterly shocked.
Because a regular human family might not use that much salt even in two years’ time.
If the Blood Slaughter Couple ever wondered why salt was so hard to find in the dungeon, Xiong Jie would definitely explain that hardly anyone would think of cooking in a dungeon where life and death are uncertain.
Some of the ones they found were from humans who’d given up on survival altogether, bringing their condiments for one final home-cooked meal in the dungeon.
So, the salt they could find was extremely limited.
Even just the few salt packets in the trash must have been accumulated over who knows how many years by various survivors, all dug up at once this time.
Jiang Che took a deep breath, sitting next to Ding Ning.
This was his first time ever having dinner together as a family.
He’d felt it before in the illusion, but back then, there was always a knot in his heart; he always doubted it was real and couldn’t fully let himself go.
But now, sitting here with family, the table filled with delicious dishes, even the sparkling grains of salt atop the food became little accents of happiness.
The five evil spirits felt Jiang Che’s genuine happiness in that moment. They glanced subtly at each other, all seeing the shared joy in each other’s eyes.
"Alright! Let’s eat!" Ding Ning raised her chopsticks, placing a piece of meat in Jiang Che’s bowl.
Hua and the others began to eat as well.
Though the food had no taste in their mouths, feeling Jiang Che’s happiness seeped into their own bites, making even the flavorless food taste satisfying.
Of course, while eating, they wouldn’t forget to praise Ding Ning’s cooking.
"This dish is great—even if I’ve never tried human food before, I know you nailed the doneness! So tender!" Hua picked up a petal from her bowl.
It was a petal she had brought from her own territory.
Under Ding Ning’s skillful hands, the petal still retained its juices.
Most vegetables shrivel up after cooking.
But for this dish, not only had Ding Ning kept the petal from shrinking too much, she’d preserved its juice, too.
"This meat is good too! See? No bloody color left—it’s cooked just right!"
Blood Slaughter gave his praise without holding back. From his professional butcher’s perspective, Ding Ning’s cooking was truly excellent.
Even for human standards, there was nothing to criticize.
"Mama’s food is the best!" Tuantuan wolfed down the food in her bowl with gusto.
Everyone carefully picked from the bottom, leaving the snow-white mountaintop layer for Jiang Che.
They couldn’t taste the food anyway, so letting Jiang Che have all the salt wouldn’t be wasted.
In the end, humans and evil spirits were different after all.
Ding Ning pursed her lips. She seemed to finally understand this uniquely human emotion—turns out, just making food for family could be this joyful.
Jiang Che put the meat Ding Ning had given him into his mouth.
He had to admit, even though the salt was a bit over the top, all that salt didn’t mess up the freshness of the ingredients.
This alone made Ding Ning’s food the best he’d ever had—even back in the Human Realm.
He’d never eaten anything this good before, but after getting out of the dungeon, Xiong Jie took care of all his meals.
The food was certainly better than what he’d had in the hospital.
But in terms of freshness, nothing could compare with Ding Ning’s cooking.
"Delicious!" Jiang Che said with certainty.
"Better than anything I’ve had elsewhere!" he added.
"Hmph, of course it’s tasty! With this much salt in it! Can’t you find something else to praise?" Hua rolled her eyes. She just felt Jiang Che was a bit of a blockhead; being honest was a virtue, but sometimes he took it too far.
Delicious is great, but can’t you say something nice for once?!
Even I know to tell Ding Ning to express her love.
Why doesn’t Jiang Che know how to show his affection at all!
She glared at Jiang Che, meaning was obvious—praise her more!
Jiang Che fell silent. Hua and Blood Slaughter already praised the freshness of the ingredients—where was he supposed to jump in?
He thought it over and still couldn’t find an opening.
"Is today’s food still too salty?" Ding Ning looked at Jiang Che, asking cautiously.
Jiang Che paused. Though his throat was dry and he wanted to gulp down ten pounds of water, he still looked seriously at Ding Ning.
"Not salty."
As soon as he said that, all the evil spirits who were picking up food suddenly turned to stare at Jiang Che. In that instant, they felt like the sky was falling.
We already added so much salt, and you say it’s not salty?!