The Buggiest System

23 - The Series of Unfortunate Events Associated with a Fried Egg

Zhou Lei lied on his bed, panting heavily. His hair was all wet with sweat. Absorbing the book's knowledge put a heavy strain on his head.

"Ah crap, it hurts!"

.....

Some time later.

"Oh my God!"

Recalling his cooking earlier, he couldn't help but feel disgusted. This... this wasn't cooking at all!

He identified so many flaws in his cooking, that right now, he imagined that the egg that he cooked was worse than dog s**t.

"Wait... there was a 'Cooking Skill' stat, right?"

After knowing so much in cooking, it was impossible for his Cooking Skill to be low, right?

He looked at it, and saw that... it was just average.

Cooking Skill: 132

"What?!"

Before he absorbed the book's content, his Cooking Skill stat was just at 32...

'So the book increased my Cooking Skill by a hundred, huh?'

Thinking about how delicious his cooking would be, Zhou Lei rushed out of his room and went to the kitchen!

.....

Zhou Zhenya was washing the dishes. Her mom insisted on doing it instead, but for some reason, she liked doing the dishes, so she stopped her mother from taking this job.

Suddenly, her big brother barged in, his face full of sweat. He panted as he caught his breath.

"Bro, what are you doing?"

Ignoring his little sister, Zhou Lei grabbed some ingredients from the refrigerator. He grabbed a very specific set of ingredients - egg, uhh... that's it.

He was going to be cooking the Sunny-Side Up!

'The heck?' Zhou Zhenya was confused on what her brother's motive was. Why did he grab an egg from the refrigerator? Was he going to cook?

At that moment, Zhou Zhenya finished washing and rinsing the dishes, not noticing it at all. 'Huh.'

Curious as to what her brother was going to do, she sat on a chair inside the kitchen. This chair was originally here because Zhou Xiang was too tired to cook while standing, so she did it while sitting on the chair.

The egg that was being held by Zhou Lei's hand was cracked, its shell being discarded as it fell on the hissing pan.

From that point, Zhou Lei's hands gained a mind of their own.

Zing! Zang! Zong!

Zhou Lei's movements were extremely fluid as he fiddled with the pan, grabbed the spatula and flipped the egg.

Zhou Zhenya, who was watching from behind, got shocked. There were many things that she could not understand, but one thing was for sure - her brother was very experienced!

Even their mother, who was older than them, would look like an amateur when compared to this teen before her.

Zhou Lei emitted the bearing of an old master, and it was as if he wasn't the sane person! His sister felt that bearing and subconsciously felt inferior.

However, Zhou Zhenya wondered - were these special movements necessary to cook just one egg? They looked cool and all, but were they really required?

Although she thought of these negative thoughts, she was still excited as to what the result would be. After all, seeing those exaggerated motions, who wouldn't be?

Eventually, Zhou Lei turned off the fire. The egg's constant hissing stopped. Zhou Lei had finished cooking it.

Zhou Zhenya saw that her brother was finished, so she excitedly checked the egg out! It was impossible for it to look like a normal fried egg, not with all those super fancy movements!

"Let me see, let me see!"

Zhou Lei heard his sister's words, but before he could do anything, she already had the pan where he cooked the egg on her hands.

After all, when he sneaked a glance at his sister, she already had an excited expression that put Zhou Lei in a momentsry daze!

Zhou Zhenya impatiently looked at the pan on her hands, and there she saw...

"Wow...!"

It was...

"..."

It was!

"..."

It was!... an egg.

"..."

It was a normal looking fried egg.

"What?"

Zhou Zhenya was genuinely confused. All of that fancy motions just to cook... this? She was so puzzled that she didn't notice her brother snatching it out of her hands.

"Ah, hot!" Zhou Lei exclaimed. He actually grabbed the pan by putting his hands underneath it... He lost his grasp on the pan, making it fall rapidly towards the floor, the fried egg coming with it.

"No!"

Zhou Lei hurriedly tried to grab the falling pan. This was his first fried-egg that he had cooked when he became a master chef! He wanted to taste it and all!

Zhou Zhenya was surprised by the sudden turn of events. She saw all that graceful and agile motions before - if the appearance was just the same, then surely the taste would be different! Hence, she tried to grab the falling pan as well.

The two people who were trying to grab the pan stretched out their hands as they lowered their body, trying to catch up with the pace of the pan.

"There...!"

It was close! Both of their hands were just an inch away from grabbing the pan. Who knew... that their heads would collide!?

Bang! Flop!

The pan fell on the ground, and at the same time, Zhou Lei and his sister's heads... hit each other!

"Ouch!"

The two were pushed back mutually, while the fried egg was already on the floor... The pan actually performed an amazing back flip when it hit the floor, sending the egg flying.

The egg hit a spot on the floor several inches away from where the pan fell. It was under the kitchen sink.

"Damn!" Not caring about his sister who got pushed back at all, Zhou Lei hastily looked for the fried egg.

The floor under the sink was naturally very dirty, with water from the sink occasionally dripping there, and the dust that accumulated because it sticked to the water. There were also rat droppings scattered throughout.

Zhou Lei looked at the curtain that covered the dirtiness of the kitchen sink from the eyes of the people. He stared at the curtain very intensely...!

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Since I have so many reserve chapters now, 3 chapters release today!