“The Warrior’s Department, the Sun Nation’s Earth’s Gate, and other similar organizations were formed at more or less the same time. Moreover, it coincides with the appearance of Hell’s Gate,” Ye Lingchen analyzed, in part muttering to himself, yet seemingly for the benefit of those around him as well.
“How are we regular people going to survive?” Little Li appeared helpless, complaining weakly.
“I’m telling you this not for you to fear, but instead for you to be prepared.”
“Be prepared? For what?”
Ye Lingchen’s statement caused them to raise their heads.
“You’ve all seen my design, right?” Ye Lingchen smiled.
“Of course. It’s grand, but also very complicated.” Hao Yun frowned. “At first I was thinking of telling you that your island is sufficiently big. Why do you still need that many underground tunnels? Moreover, the designs are extremely complex and too troublesome.”
Immediately after that, Hao Yun’s eyes popped wide open. “Are you thinking of making tunnels so that we can hide within if we’re in danger?”
“Who said I’m hiding!?”
Ye Lingchen casually gave Hao Yun a knock on the head. “These designs are preparations for our future secret base. You can also take it as supers. For example, Ironman in the Marvel universe. When the time comes, we might be able to create such beings.”
“Ironman?” Ouyang Qing gasped deeply. She had advanced technological knowledge, therefore had greater respect toward technology and shook her head immediately. “Do you think we’re making a movie? It’s impossible. The metal and energy source that Ironman uses aren’t common materials.”
“Please do not doubt your boss’ ability.” Ye Lingchen looked straight at Ouyang Qing. “To me, everything is possible. When our headquarters is built, you will naturally have the means to protect yourself.”
“But Chairman Ye, didn’t the documents state that technology is useless within Hell’s Gate?” Little Li asked in a worried tone.
“Why do you want to go to Hell’s Gate?” Ye Lingchen looked at him, dumbfounded. “A regular person like you would be considered lucky if you can stay outside and fend for yourself. Don’t tell me you’re trying to go inside. Are you?”
“No way, I don’t dare.” Little Li shook his head vehemently.
“Then I’ll have my grandfather rush this project tomorrow. We need to get it done as soon as possible.” Hao Yun nodded fearfully.
“Alright, everyone calm down. If the sky falls, the taller ones will bear it. We should think about dinner first.”
Right after Ye Lingchen mentioned that, they finally felt a pang of hunger as they were too engrossed earlier. Now that they snapped out of it, their stomachs were growling.
“Today, I’ll let you try the authentic roast wild bison!” Ye Lingchen started the fire in a practiced manner, then took out a dagger. Without much effort, he managed to split the wild bison neatly into parts with just a few strokes.
It was a cruel act, yet it seemed to give off an air of artistry.
“Is this the legendary Baoding’s butchering skills[1]?” exclaimed one of the girls watching Ye Lingchen’s display.
“I’ll have you know that your Chairman Ye’s cooking is really delectable. You guys are really lucky today.” Hao Yun said while wiping the saliva from the edge of her mouth, eagerly waiting on the sidelines.
“Really? Just watching his performance is already making us excited.”
“Meat, head, tail, hoofs and limbs. It comes to a total of 16 parts,” Ye Lingchen explained as he butchered the bison.
“Little Green, Little Gray, you guys go get a hot plate,” Ye Lingchen signaled, then continued his lecture, “If one must choose the best way to eat this, it’s naturally steaks and braised bison. That’s because those styles of cooking would use the more tender parts.”
“However, apart from making steaks for you, I’ll be making roast bison. I’ll be taking the meat from its hind legs where the meat is firm and lean, making it tougher to chew…”
While explaining, he had already started roasting. Compared with other methods, roasting was much easier. Ye Lingchen lifted the roasting rack and made a few even incisions along the hind leg’s surface, rubbing some spices into it. After that, all that was left was to control the flames.
Ye Lingchen was fast and they could hardly catch up with his movements. By the time he was done, Little Green and Little Grey were already running back excitedly with the iron plate.
The pack of wolves were all salivating like crazy as they looked at Ye Lingchen with hungry eyes.
They guarded the area while Ye Lingchen was busy despite being hungry. When they saw that Ye Lingchen was about to serve the food, they started rolling about hungrily.
“Whimper…”
Little Green and Little Gray nudged Ye Lingchen with their snout, ushering him.
“Okay, just a moment more. Bison meat is a little harder to cook through,” Ye Lingchen replied, then started cutting the bison along the spine. “Fillet mignon is the most tender meat along the spine. It’s almost free of fat. Due to the tenderness of the meat, it can be cooked to rare, medium rare, or rare. Who wants to have fillet mignon?”
“Me!” Hao Yun exclaimed. She watched that piece of steak in Ye Lingchen’s hand and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “Uhm…I want it medium rare.”
“Ribeye steak is a portion cut near the edge of the ribcage. The meat in this part is juicy and well marbled. The so-called ‘eye’ has nothing to do with an eye. It’s referring to the round shape of its cross section. Due to this part of the muscles rarely being used, the meat is very tender, juicy, and evenly marbled. Due to its fat content, this cut smells extra nice when seared or roasted. Who wants it?”
“Me!” Dong Miaomiao quickly exclaimed, unwilling to lose out.
“Sirloin steak is cut from the outer area of the spine. It has a certain level of fat. The outside of the meat is covered with a layer of silver skin. The overall texture is a little tougher and chewy, suitable for younger people and those with good teeth.”
“The T shape in the T-bone steak is part of the spine. The meat on each side of the T is not even. The bigger part is ribeye, while the smaller part is fillet mignon.”
Ye Lingchen gave them an entire lecture on steaks. However, the benefit of that is that he managed to divert their attention and lessened their hunger.
While he was lecturing, the aroma spread out, covering several kilometer radius.
He had quietly used the spiritual energy in him to exquisitely control the strength of the flame, hastening the cooking process.
Sizzle…
On the iron plate, juices were dripping out of the steaks. As they sizzled away, it caused the steak to dance slightly. As the meat slowly cooked through, the meat’s color darkened and the grill marks slowly became obvious, greatly increasing the allure of the steak in an instant!
Gulp!
Not only Ouyang Qing and the rest were salivating, even the wolf pack were swallowing hard.
Right then, all the wolves behaved like obedient kids, sitting upright with their necks extended, trying not to have their saliva leak out.
Crackle—
Apart from the steaks, the roasted bison leg was making crackling sounds. Its reddish hue took on some darker tones and gave off a different aroma from the steaks. Regardless, it was similarly alluring. When both the aroma intertwined, the crowd felt their hearts itch…
—
[1] 庖丁解牛 (Bao Ding Jie Niu) – An old legend of a skilled butcher whose skill is so polished that he could butcher cattle without it even realizing it was being cut apart.
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