Interstellar Chef Raising a Baby

67-68

Chapter 67

Yang Likun was not the only one that fell, but he was the first one to enter the room, so he had to endure the longest odor. Half a minute later, Tang Hanxiao, who followed him, also knelt on the ground. He was so choked with the smell that he directly covered his mouth and nose, but it was useless. The headgear they wear was specially designed to expand the intensity of the smell and increase the sensitivity of their sense of smell. It could be said that this unpleasant smell penetrated into their nasal cavities pervasively. Even if he held his breath, how long could he hold it?

Yang Likun, who was the first to enter the room, quickly became flushed with pain, he wanted to scratch his heart and lungs. If someone asked him at this time, was the smell so disgusting? Was it necessary to react so strongly? Then he would let the other party try!

As the sensitivity of the sense of smell was increased, when this kind of smell filled the entire closed room, plus there was a number of people crowded in a limited space increases, and the normal flow of fresh air became thinner and thinner, the strange smell became thicker and thicker. With all of that combined, the suffering would be enlarged by a hundred or even a thousand times! Half were real feelings, and half were shadows caused by psychological fears.

Yang Likun was not a newbie. He had been in the military for five years and knew that there was infamous poison gas training in history. The high-concentration poison gas emitted by some beasts was equivalent to the stimulus of ancient biochemical weapons. At that time, sergeants were required to conduct anti-virus training. They would be kept in a close and dark space, without any anti-virus equipment, forced to tolerate the irritating smell, and was exposed to the pressure of being poisoned at any time. They had to hold their breath, every minute and every second was torture.

Yang Likun didn't expect that he would experience this kind of pain in the last year before his retirement.

"You cowards, all stand up!"

"If you are facing a beast, would you also kneel on the ground?"

"Stand at attention!"

"Sing military songs! Sing until I am satisfied!"

"Anyone that don't open his mouth, don't make a sound, or missed a word will be here an extra ten minutes!"

The voice of the lieutenant at the door soon came in.

More than one hundred people almost shed tears. If they needed to sing military songs they had to open their mouths and took a big breath. This breathing naturally accelerates their oxygen consumption. Even if they exercised regularly and had better physical fitness than ordinary citizens, they couldn't last singing even one military song if they sang while holding their breath.

Everyone had red eyes, helping each other, trembling and singing the first sentence.

"How about your strength? You guys are on the bottom of the rank!"

"You don't want to make progress, you don't work hard or forge ahead, now you can't even sing?"

"From today on, unless you retire, get fired, or leave the bottom 1% rank, you will report here every day!"

"Don't cry, you scumbags!"

"Tears won't make you stronger!"

"From now on, stories of your cowardice and incompetence will be passed on to your children and will be engraved on your family tree!"

"You incompetent guys! When others are enjoying delicious food, you only deserve to smell bad stench!"

Under the lieutenant's roar, the walls of the room soon turned into 3D projections, and the lively, laughing and eating scenes of everyone in the cafeteria next door immediately appeared in front the more than one hundred bottom 1% ranked people.

They were nervous, looking at the scene of others eating while smelling an unpleasant odor, their eyes became red. And those with big imaginations, all bowed, feeling nauseous and started vomiting...

The smell that entered the nose was very disgusting, and under the influence, the food that the people eat on the screen had also become stinky. It was extremely scary and disgusting. Soon the room became more fishy and smelly. Someone really vomited. Although it was only nutrient solution, the smell of vomit was always not good, and it was even more pungent in the crowded room.

More and more people began to vomit. The long wait plus the mental devastation from not knowing when it would end, made them extremely painful.

Yang Likun, who was the first to enter the room, wondered for the first time whether he could survive this year and had smooth retirement. It wasn't until a whistle sounded that the door, the room reopened, and a ray of sunset from outside shone on him, that he was shocked. The re-circulating air dispelled the strong odor, and his breathing became smooth. This almost moved him to tears. He knew for the first time that it was so precious to be able to breathe normally every day!

"Boys, see you tomorrow!" The lieutenant's sonorous and powerful voice made many people almost staggered.

Yang Likun quickly fled outside the room, quickly threw the stinky headgear on the ground, took out a bottle of nutrient solution in his space and poured it on his head. When the smell of lemon dispelled the odor between his nose, he finally felt that he was alive again.

But when the people were about to go back to the dormitory to take a bath, a soft voice stopped them.

"Everyone, come get one."

"This is an after-dinner snack that the top 25% of sergeants can enjoy today. Tomorrow, everyone should work hard."

Yang Likun pulled his lips, revealing a silent ironic smile. If hard work was useful, then he won't stand here. In many cases, hard work was worthless compared to talent. Even if he worked hard, he would still be on the bottom rank. He couldn't get into the top 25% even if he worked hard, and he couldn't become a general even if he worked hard. So what should he work hard for?

But when Yang Likun walked by, he was still attracted by the girl wearing a chef's hat and white clothes. He sat some plump things in the big pot in front of her. Since it was free, he would also take one. But as soon as he took it with his fingers, even though he had calluses, he felt burnt. The seemingly innocent golden surface contained extremely high temperature. The other party had prepared a small warning sign, but he himself was useless, he had ignored that.

"There is tomato dipping sauce and spicy oil dipping sauce nearby, you can dip it according to your taste." It was a soft female voice again.

Yang Likun didn't care very much, but he looked down on the red-looking saucer and threw it into his mouth. The steps he took out immediately stopped in the air. The lump in his mouth was crispy when he bit it down, but then burst softly inside...

Hot!

The soft taste inside was hotter than the outer skin, but the outer skin dipped in spicy oil soon lowered the temperature, and it aroused the secretion of saliva on the tip of his tongue. After chewing for two or three times, it disappeared without a trace, only the remaining fragrance still faintly appeared in his mouth.

It's gone...

Half of Yang Likun's body froze, and he turned his head involuntarily, watching other people who had escaped from the small room also picking up the golden delicacy. His drool almost secreted frantically. However, he could never eat this kind of delicacy anymore. At the bottom of the crane, there was only one piece!

"Ah, today's stinky tofu is really delicious. I ate twenty by myself!"

"Haha, I ate forty, I didn't ask for meat dishes, I changed all to stinky tofu!"

"F*ck, if there is this kind of operation, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Oh, Lieutenant, I'm not at the same table with you."

There were many people in the cafeteria who looked content, but they came out unsatisfied. There were also many people who reach out to say hello when they see the girl wearing the chef uniform at the door, "I still want to eat stinky tofu. Can I reserve some?"

"Well, I will make it every day from now on." The girl answered quickly.

All the people who came out of the cafeteria went away with joy.

Yang Likun's hands trembled a little, "Stinky, stinky tofu?"

The girl's soft voice sounded again, but it was like the sound from hell, "Well, it's the smell you have in the little room just now. Stinky tofu is very smelly before cooking. But after cooking, it's really delicious."

The dignified lieutenant walked by and straightened the brim of his hat, "Keep on being the tail of the crane so you can only smell while watching us eat! Comrade, I want a stinky tofu. This is my training record today."

Yang Likun opened his mouth as if he was hit hard. He was unable to close it.

"Okay, Lieutenant." The girl, Liu Weiwei who came over to cook today, squinted and gave him a serving. She glanced at the shocked expressions of the bottom ranked sergeants in front of her.

Stinky tofu was the best. Those who liked deep-fried food, must not miss it. As long as the human sense of taste didn't degenerate, there would always value this fried stinky tofu snack.

[Host, your stinky tofu has influenced a soldier who once gave up his efforts!]

[Release new mission: 113 bottom ranked soldiers, they are still young, and they are ready to fight. Use your food to influence them, make the 113 crane tails improve their training scores to the top 80%.]

[Task Reward: Happy draw chance once, beauty points +10, intermediate seasoning skill book.]

Liu Weiwei stopped instantly. Seasoning skill book, that was what she needed the most right now. She immediately handed over the cafeteria work to the robot, packed two dinners, and went home with stinky tofu. When she got home, she took a shower, prepared some hay cookie bars for Xiao Bai, and gave him half a portion of stinky tofu to play with. When the Major finished his work and came back, she immediately asked him how she could help the soldiers improved their training performance.

"Improve training performance? Why do you suddenly care about this?" Qin Mo raised his eyebrows and looked at the girl with soft facial features and fair face, now all her body exuded maternal brilliance.

Liu Weiwei was also a little speechless when asked, she couldn't say that it was a task by the system. After hesitating like this, her shoulder was pressed by the Major's hand. He was trying to clear the acupuncture points for her.

"Don't think about it now. You are too tired."

Liu Weiwei: "... I'm just curious on how you train every day, can't I ask?"

"It's very simple, but it's rude and bloody so I don't want to say it."

"..." Liu Weiwei sighed.

When Qin Mo heard the child's mother sighed, he frowned, "Do you really want to know?"

"Well, I just want to know what training programs are available."

Those soldiers, could they perform better after only eating good food? Teacher Qian said, her food had spiritual power, could it help everyone? What kind of dish could accomplish the task, Liu Weiwei just wanted to figure out this thing.

"Programs?" Qin Mo thought about the soldiers who had practiced very hard and almost cried out to call their mothers today. He was deeply entangled. He thought for a long time before he put all his peaceful writing skills to use.

"Actually, it's almost the same as when you did that fish... Clean it up first, and rub it from top to bottom. After removing the fish skin and fish scales, removing the hard bones, and then chop the meat on the whole body. When it has the desired shape, roll it in a pot, and when it is set, put it on the plate. Put its head and tail, pull it up, and let it sit there to dry."

Liu Weiwei: "!!!"

Qin Mo racked his brains, but still saw the child's mother's horrified expression.

"Did I scare you? It's okay, they are used to rolling every day, the results will be better."

Liu Weiwei: ...

"Oh, yes, I have prepared a new story. This time I changed it myself, and the title is Princess Swan. It's about, well, the happy life of Princess Swan."

Liu Weiwei wanted to be like Xiao Bai, using her butt to ignore the major!

-----

Translator note:

I think the author made Major Qin Mo has the habit of not calling Liu Weiwei with her name but referring to her as 'his child's mother'. In Chinese literally 'Bao Ma' or 'Child's Mother'.

It was common practice also in my area to refer to parents as A's Father or A's Mother instead of their names. This often becomes funny incident when there is a need to write the name of the person in, say, an event invitation. Most don't even know their direct neighbors legal name even though they all had been living in the same community for decades.

Recently, the government arranged mass vaccination for the people in my community. The staff called each of our names to get the shot and when one person was missing, we didn't even know who he was. When the missing person finally came, only then we realized, 'Ahh, A's Father.'