Chapter 255: This Thing Is Quite Unique...
"Dad, there’s still something you haven’t taught me yet." Jiang Che thought for a moment and looked at Blood Slaughter.
Blood Slaughter tilted his head in confusion. He had really taught Jiang Che all his deepest secrets—what else could Jiang Che possibly want to learn?
"Go ahead, tell me. Let me see if I actually missed anything."
"Dad, you haven’t taught me how to self-detonate." Jiang Che said.
He’d learned a lot, even many ways to guard against self-detonation, but not self-detonation itself.
In the illusion, it wasn’t just him and Jiang Che; the Blood Nurse was also hiding nearby, helping Blood Slaughter recall anything he’d overlooked.
The illusion was very quiet. After Jiang Che spoke, the whole space fell into a deathly silence.
"You don’t need to learn that." Blood Slaughter didn’t say a word more, turning to walk outside.
"No need? Why not?" Jiang Che stared blankly at Blood Slaughter’s back.
The illusionary surroundings were slowly disappearing; even the puppets he’d fought all this time melted into bubbles, dissolving into the ground.
"You can’t just not teach me because you want to protect me!" Jiang Che shouted out loud.
He knew Blood Slaughter wanted to protect him, but if there really came a time when he faced an unbeatable enemy, he’d also want to give everything to protect his wife and family.
Blood Slaughter’s steps halted abruptly. With his back to Jiang Che, a gratified smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Can you guess why this skill is called self-detonation?" Blood Slaughter said, then said no more.
Because this skill doesn’t need to be taught.
Self-detonation is a skill everyone is born with; no one needs to study it on purpose.
When you’re truly cornered, everyone finds the resolve to sacrifice everything and perish together with their enemy.
And that, is the primer for self-detonation.
Jiang Che stared in astonishment at Blood Slaughter’s back. That sentence—he understood it, sort of, and sort of didn’t.
The illusion vanished; the surroundings grew clearer.
He looked around. Ding Ning was quietly waiting not far away.
"You’ve had a hard time!"
"You came out right after I finished cooking! Much faster than I thought," Ding Ning smiled at Jiang Che. "The food’s ready—everyone come eat!"
Ding Ning waved her hand and a dining table appeared behind her, loaded with a dozen beautiful, fragrant dishes.
The food before him looked delicately plated. Meat and vegetables both seemed fresh and juicy.
Each dish looked tender and mouthwatering.
With silver sparkles atop, it looked as if starlight from the sky had fallen into the food.
Wait a second!
Jiang Che’s mind felt a bit muddled. It’s just food—where was all the glittering starlight coming from?
He focused on the dishes, growing only more confused the longer he looked.
It turned out that the "starlight" was actually crystalline, translucent white granules sprinkled over the dishes.
Jiang Che swallowed unconsciously; his throat was suddenly parched.
If he wasn’t mistaken, those glittering grains... were a mountain of salt crystals.
...?
He stared wide-eyed at Ding Ning. Normally, salt would dissolve, mixing into the juices of the food.
So just how much salt did Ding Ning use?
She’d used so much that the salt was sitting on the surface.
"How long was I inside?" Jiang Che looked at the food, still steaming hot.
"Not long at all! I didn’t expect you to finish so fast. I had to work really hard to finish cooking in time," Ding Ning naturally noticed the little swallow Jiang Che made.
She felt secretly pleased. She’d never seen snow, but she’d heard it described before.
And now, those white salt grains on top of the dishes looked like snowy mountain tops—really beautiful.
She’d learned this move from humans.
She’d noticed that humans loved "plating" the food most of all.
But her ingredients here were really scarce, and sticking those things on top just looked ugly to her.
Besides, she wanted to show, in some way, that she’d used a lot of precious table salt.
But while cooking, something has been really bothering her: once she stirs salt into a dish, it vanishes almost right away.
She had no idea how to show her sincerity that way.
Hua had told her before that love needs to be expressed.
You had to make sure the one you love knows they are loved.
So she sprinkled the salt on top of the food—to show her love for Jiang Che.
And as expected, seeing Jiang Che swallow like that, Ding Ning instantly knew—he definitely understood and felt her heart!
Jiang Che looked at the table full of food. He knew time flowed differently in the illusion than in the real world.
Right now, he regretted not coming out of the illusion sooner—there was simply so much food.
Just looking at all those crystalline salt grains made his throat dry up again.
He’d eaten Blood Slaughter’s cooking before, but at that time, Blood Slaughter never used any seasoning—his dishes just had the plain flavor of the ingredients and some rawness, but honestly, they weren’t hard to eat.
But this time was different.
He didn’t want to bring up the saltiness issue with Ding Ning.
Lately she’d gotten really into cooking, apparently after going through lots of human materials, discovering that wives often prepare meals specially for their husbands.
Jiang Che didn’t want to talk taste with her; she did all this just for him.
No one but him would eat what Ding Ning made, anyway.
Ding Ning simply couldn’t feel how much salt was "just right."
And it wasn’t just her—all the evil spirits here had no sense of taste.
If he talked to her about flavor, it would only add to her troubles.
To someone without taste: what makes something delicious? What makes it a "gourmet meal"?
Even if they tried a thousand dishes, they’d never taste a thing.
If he said her food didn’t taste good, Ding Ning would only spiral into self-doubt, desperately chasing after a flavor she’d never experience herself.
It was totally unnecessary!
Thinking of this, Jiang Che hurriedly sat down by the table.
"You made all this in such a short time? That’s seriously impressive!" Jiang Che gave her a big thumbs-up.
Ding Ning turned her head shyly.
"I practiced a lot, you know!" Ding Ning lifted her chin proudly.
Jiang Che noticed she was still staring at him expectantly.
Hadn’t he already praised her? Why was she still looking at him like that?
Did he miss complimenting something?
He glanced curiously at the dishes. They looked great, but Ding Ning obviously wouldn’t want him to praise the stuff she’d so obviously surfaced.
He looked at the salt on the food...
emmm...
"This snowy look you made with the salt is actually pretty unique." Jiang Che hesitated, but still managed to praise the salt grains in the end.
"Kind of like snow-capped mountains—and when the light hits them, a bit like starlight too." Jiang Che explained. The first time he saw them, he really did think they were pretty.
But the more beautiful something is, the more dangerous it tends to be.
The more charming, the higher the cost.
"Hmph, of course it’s unique." Hua piped up from the side. "You have no idea—Ning nearly turned the entire 9th dungeon upside-down looking for that salt."