A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

Is being a good cook that impressive?

Lu Xingchi might not have eaten pork, but he'd seen pigs run. He'd been to countless famous restaurants worldwide and tasted innumerable delicacies. He didn't think cooking a meal would be complicated. It was just chopping vegetables, turning on the stove, putting all the ingredients together, adding seasonings, and heating it up. How hard could it be?

In Lu Xingchi's view, delicious food relied 30% on cooking and 70% on the ingredients themselves. Heavy sauces and strong flavors weren't particularly interesting.

But Bei Nuan seemed to enjoy them.

Bei Nuan was oblivious to his complex thoughts. She was chatting with Jiang Fei while pondering how to increase her Saintly Mother points. There was absolutely no opportunity. The students of Shuida University were well-organized. The water, electricity, and gas supplies hadn't been cut off. Everyone had food and drink, their morale was stable, and everything was orderly. There was nowhere she could lend a helping hand.

"Are you hungry? I'm going upstairs to make lunch," Jiang Fei informed her.

Bei Nuan gave a noncommittal reply and instinctively followed close behind her target, heading upstairs. She didn't notice Lu Xingchi staring at her from afar.

Jiang Fei was indeed preparing to make braised lion's heads for lunch. He had already ground the meat filling that morning.

He asked Bei Nuan for a few water chestnuts, saying he wanted to chop them up and add them to the meat filling. This would give the lion's heads a crisp texture, cut through the richness, and make them even more delicious.

Bei Nuan offered to wash the water chestnuts, but Jiang Fei refused.

"You don't have to do anything. I'll do it."

Bei Nuan felt a little embarrassed. "I can't let you do everything."

"It's okay," Jiang Fei smiled, glancing at Lu Xingchi. "The kitchen is full of oil and fire. How could I bear to sit back and let you, a girl, cook? Just keep me company."

So Bei Nuan stayed by his side, watching him peel the water chestnuts.

Jiang Fei was skilled with knives. He peeled extremely quickly, his hands moving like lightning, leaving only a dazzling flash of the blade.

Just as Bei Nuan was mesmerized, Jiang Fei let out a soft grunt and stopped.

A drop of blood oozed from his finger.

Could someone so adept with a knife actually cut themselves? Bei Nuan was stunned for a second, then suddenly realized this was a heaven-sent opportunity to gain Saintly Mother points! Perfect!

"Wait, don't move!" Bei Nuan barked, startling everyone in the small dining area.

She pulled a massive, multi-layered medical kit from her space, opened it layer by layer, and selected a pile of supplies, arranging them in a row on the counter.

Jiang Fei held up his bleeding finger, quietly waiting for her to treat it.

Bei Nuan first washed it clean with water, dried it, applied iodine, and then took out a large roll of gauze, wrapping it around his finger layer by layer.

Lu Xingchi watched silently.

Tang Tang came over to observe, asking with concern, "How big is the cut? Judging by your actions, is it serious?"

While busy, Bei Nuan gestured with two fingertips almost touching. "About this big."

Tang Tang was speechless. "It's not big. Why not just use a band-aid?"

Bei Nuan argued, "Band-aids aren't breathable. Gauze is better, right, Dr. Du?"

Dr. Du, engrossed in his mobile game, simply hummed in agreement.

Finally finished bandaging, Bei Nuan gazed with satisfaction at her handiwork—Jiang Fei's finger, now twice its normal thickness and resembling a carrot—and let out a long sigh.

Bei Nuan exclaimed sincerely, "Poor you! You're injured. Go rest!" She quickly glanced at her Saintly Mother points. After all that effort, the points had indeed increased slightly.

"No need, it's fine." Jiang Fei smiled at her, unconcerned about how cumbersome his oddly bandaged finger looked, and continued peeling water chestnuts.

After peeling and finely chopping the water chestnuts, he took out the ground meat, mixed it with eggs, chopped green onions, and seasonings, and then fried the mixture in the oil, forming one golden-brown lion's head after another.

The aroma of frying meatballs filled the small dining area, tempting everyone.

However, Jiang Fei wouldn't let anyone touch them yet. He added more seasonings and simmered the fried lion's heads over low heat to let them absorb the flavors.

Once Jiang Fei was finished with his dish, Lu Xingchi approached.

He asked Bei Nuan for two eggs and a pan.

Bei Nuan was surprised. In the past few days, even Du Ruo had cooked Hainanese chicken rice, but Lu Xingchi hadn't touched any kitchen utensils, leading Bei Nuan to believe he was completely clueless in the kitchen. It didn't matter if he was; Boss Lu worked tirelessly every day, so he only needed to wait to be fed.

Unexpectedly, something had gotten into him recently, and he was determined to try his hand at cooking.

Bei Nuan thought he would study some cookbooks for a few days, but he unexpectedly started practicing right away.

Bosses were indeed different.

Bei Nuan asked, "Are you planning to boil the eggs?"

Lu Xingchi shook his head. "Scramble."

Then, as if preparing for surgery, he meticulously washed the pan, bowl, chopsticks, and spatula several times with water and dish soap.

Noticing Bei Nuan standing beside him, he seemed a little embarrassed.

Nevertheless, he calmly cracked the eggs into the bowl, stirred them with chopsticks, and reached for the sugar jar.

Bei Nuan quickly handed him the salt shaker. "You want salt, right?"

Lu Xingchi nodded and opened the salt shaker.

"A pinch of salt," he muttered. "How much is a pinch?"

He scooped a small spoonful of salt, poured it into the eggs, stirred twice with his chopsticks, and then looked at the salt shaker. Apparently thinking it wasn't enough, he scooped another small spoonful and added it to the eggs.

As he reached for the salt a third time, Bei Nuan stopped him, saying sincerely, "I think that's definitely enough."

"Are you sure?" Lu Xingchi asked.

"Absolutely." Bei Nuan grinned at him, thinking: Brother, trust me, I've been scrambling eggs since elementary school.

Lu Xingchi turned on the stove, set the heat to high, placed the pan on the burner, and picked up the oil bottle.

"A suitable amount of oil," he mumbled.

He poured half a pan full.

Quite suitable indeed.

Bei Nuan bit her lip, holding back her comments.

It didn't matter. If he ran out of oil, he could just go to the supermarket and get another bottle. He was the boss, after all; he could use as much oil as he wanted.

Anyone who had ever seen someone scramble eggs wouldn't use this much oil. Lu Xingchi clearly had no idea how to cook.

The fire quickly intensified, crackling and popping.

Countless oil droplets splattered like tiny bullets.

Lu Xingchi reacted swiftly, pulling Bei Nuan into his arms and shielding her with his body.

They hadn't been this disheveled even when facing hordes of zombies. For some reason, facing this exploding oil, they suddenly felt a sense of shared adversity and camaraderie.

"The lid! The lid!" Bei Nuan struggled in his arms, reaching for the pan lid.

Lu Xingchi grabbed the lid and slammed it onto the pan. Finally, they were safe.

"You didn't dry the pan after washing it," Bei Nuan explained, emerging from his embrace.

Lu Xingchi seemed puzzled, muttering, "Dry it? There's no such step."

Bei Nuan suggested, "Quickly add the eggs! It'll be fine once the eggs are in."

He poured the bowl of eggs into the pan, and indeed, the splattering subsided. Lu Xingchi picked up the spatula and expertly stirred.

Lots of oil, few eggs.

The eggs floated freely on the oil, like tourists snorkeling in the Maldives.

"It's almost done," Bei Nuan nudged Lu Xingchi, prompting him to turn off the heat and retrieve the "tourists."

Bei Nuan admired the eggs on the plate, sincerely praising, "Not bad, they're golden yellow and not burnt. Do you want to try some?"

This was clearly his first time scrambling eggs, and the fact that he hadn't burnt them was already quite impressive.

Lu Xingchi picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

Then, without a word, he spat it into a tissue.

"Too salty?" Bei Nuan asked.

It wasn't just a matter of saltiness. The salt he added hadn't dissolved completely, and he happened to bite into a clump of it, resulting in an extremely unpleasant taste.

It seemed cooking wasn't as simple as he thought. Lu Xingchi dumped the entire plate of eggs into the trash.

Then he asked Bei Nuan, "I saw you bought lobsters in Ning City last time, right?"

Bei Nuan was startled.

Seriously, dude?

You just scrambled your first eggs, and now you want to try making lobster?

Bei Nuan reluctantly retrieved a large lobster from her space and placed it on the cutting board for Lu Xingchi.

Such a large lobster.

Such a fresh, plump, and beautiful lobster.

Bei Nuan's heart wept.

Lu Xingchi glanced at her and said calmly, "I'm going to make lobster sashimi."

So that was it. Thank goodness. Amitabha Buddha.

Bei Nuan let out a long sigh of relief.

Her sigh was so loud that Lu Xingchi glanced at her again.

Bei Nuan quickly cleared her throat and handed Boss Lu a sharp knife.

Lu Xingchi took it and calmly positioned the lobster on the cutting board.

Calm, cool, and collected.

Like an assassin preparing to eliminate his target, striking decisively and retreating unscathed.

No one would have guessed this was Lu Xingchi's first time handling a cutting board.

This was the result of Lu Xingchi's half-day contemplation.

No matter what, he could make lobster sashimi.

In essence, it was just shelling the lobster, taking out the meat, and slicing it.

He had seen chefs prepare lobster sashimi before, so he knew what to do. Besides, Lu Xingchi himself had taken anatomy classes, so there wouldn't be any problems.

Bei Nuan watched from the side. Indeed, there were no problems.

He was skilled with knives, whether it was cutting people or cutting lobsters, his movements were equally clean and precise.

His knife skills were excellent, but unfortunately, the structure of a lobster was vastly different from that of a human—lobsters had shells, and the shells had thorns.

Before Bei Nuan could warn him, his hand suddenly recoiled.

He put down the knife and curled his fingers into his palm.

"What's wrong?" Bei Nuan grabbed his hand, which he was trying to hide.

A drop of blood oozed from the tip of his slender finger.

"It's nothing se—"

Before Lu Xingchi could finish, Bei Nuan panicked and pulled his finger to her mouth, sucking on it.

The soft, warm sensation of her mouth enveloping his finger, the feel of her teeth and the tip of her tongue against his fingertip, made Lu Xingchi completely forget what he was going to say. He was stunned.

Bei Nuan was also startled by her own actions.

It was purely instinctive. She didn't know what she was thinking. Perhaps it was because she saw lobster juice on his hand and was afraid of infection?

Lu Xingchi stared at Bei Nuan, speechless, while she continued to suck on his finger, equally dazed.

Dr. Du's voice drifted over.

"Who taught you to suck on wounds? If he carries the zombie virus, you're infected now."

Only then did Bei Nuan release his finger and frantically rummage through the medical kit.

Lu Xingchi watched her for a moment, then reached past her, pulled out a box of band-aids from the medical kit, and handed it to Bei Nuan, saying softly, "It's not a big deal, just bandage it for me."

Bei Nuan quickly took the band-aid, tore it open, and carefully bandaged his finger.

Both of them were a little flustered, avoiding eye contact and focusing intently on the injured finger.

As if applying a band-aid was an incredibly important task requiring their full attention.

Once the band-aid was applied, Lu Xingchi continued processing the lobster as if nothing had happened.

Not far away, Jiang Fei fiddled with his carrot-like bandaged finger, glancing at them, his thoughts unknown.

Although it was Lu Xingchi's first time, his knife skills were impeccable. The lobster meat was sliced evenly and thinly, arranged on crushed ice, glistening and translucent, absolutely perfect.

Jiang Fei's braised lion's heads were also flavorful and rich.

However, Lu Xingchi's naturally beautiful lobster sashimi didn't require any elaborate preparation and was simply breathtaking.

The two dishes were equally matched.

If anything, the lobster sashimi disappeared faster.

Bei Nuan spent the entire afternoon looking for opportunities to increase her Saintly Mother points.

Unfortunately, there were only a few people here, and with the rare availability of electricity and some free time, everyone was engrossed in their mobile games. There were no opportunities.

Forget increasing her Saintly Mother points; it was so quiet that no one even spoke.

Bei Nuan decided that once they left this place and started using the generator, she would absolutely not charge their phones.

Everyone was frozen in the same position, clutching their phones, neither moving nor speaking. They didn't need the zombie virus to infect them; they already looked like zombies.

Only Lu Xingchi wasn't playing games. He had moved a chair and was sitting by the window, reading.

The window was open, letting in a warm breeze. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass, outlining his elegant profile.

He wore only a white shirt, holding a book in his hand, devoid of any murderous aura, appearing relaxed and at ease.

As if this was just an ordinary afternoon, and the chaotic apocalypse and zombies outside didn't exist.

He was truly handsome.

Even after spending so many days with him, even with the presence of outstanding individuals like Jiang Fei and Du Ruo, Bei Nuan still hadn't fully adjusted to his good looks.

Every time she saw him, she instinctively held her breath.

Now, he was engrossed in his book, allowing her to steal glances without reservation.

Bei Nuan's gaze lingered on his handsome face, then trailed down his broad shoulders, his muscular arms, and finally landed on the book in his hands.

Although he was sitting far away, judging by the thickness and cover color of the book, she could immediately tell what he was reading—

That "Delicious Cooking for Beginners" book.

It seemed Boss Lu was genuinely determined to conquer the culinary arts.

Bei Nuan checked her task list. The twelve-hour countdown had only four hours left, and it didn't look like there would be any more opportunities to gain Saintly Mother points.

If there were no more opportunities to increase her points, she at least needed to consolidate what she had already earned.

She had to make Jiang Fei voluntarily say something like "You're so kind" or "You're too kind" for today's Saintly Mother points to truly count.

Bei Nuan quietly approached Jiang Fei.

"What are you playing?" Bei Nuan asked casually, looking at his phone screen.

"Room Escape. It's a puzzle game where you have to find clues and escape from locked rooms."

Jiang Fei immediately looked up from his phone, his expression gentle and smiling as he spoke to Bei Nuan.

Bei Nuan leaned closer to look, but her mind wasn't on the screen.

"Is that a borrowed phone?" Bei Nuan asked.

Jiang Fei had escaped directly from prison and wouldn't have a phone on him. It must be someone else's.

"Yes, it belongs to the captain of the Shuida University defense team. He's busy, so he let me borrow it for a while," Jiang Fei replied.

The conversation was naturally shifting in the right direction, and Bei Nuan was elated.

"Their defense team is really well-organized. Do they go out to search for supplies regularly?"

"Yes, Song Xuyi and the others said they brought back quite a bit of stuff from the university supermarket the other day, but they could only carry it in backpacks, so it definitely wasn't as much as what you brought back today."

Bei Nuan nodded, trying to steer the conversation further. "The truckload of supplies today should be enough for them to last a while longer."

Jiang Fei smiled. "That's right."

Bei Nuan shamelessly praised herself. "As soon as I saw the supermarket, I thought we should bring back some supplies for them."

Jiang Fei simply smiled at her again.

Why wouldn't he just compliment her?

Bei Nuan pressed on, "So, do you think I'm…?"

Jiang Fei seemed to pause, noticing her expectant look, and quickly added, "You're very cute."

Bei Nuan: "…"

Cute???

Jiang Fei, realizing her expression wasn't right, quickly changed his compliment. "I think you're beautiful, considerate, and understanding."

Hopeless. It seemed the word "kind" didn't exist in Jiang Fei's vocabulary.

Bei Nuan had to ask him directly, "Do you think I'm kind?"

Finally understanding what she was waiting for, Jiang Fei quickly said, "Yes, you're very kind."

Bei Nuan glanced at the task list.

As expected, asking directly didn't count.

Bei Nuan sighed and stood up dejectedly. "You can continue playing. I won't bother you anymore."

If he didn't say those words, the Saintly Mother points she earned today would be reset, making all her efforts in vain.

Bei Nuan returned to her seat, fiddling with her phone, wondering how to set a trap to make him say those words voluntarily.

She had no clue.

Suddenly, someone blocked the light above her.

Jiang Fei had followed her. He crouched beside her chair and smiled.

"Bei Nuan, you're the kindest girl I've ever met."

Bei Nuan was stunned for a second, then quickly checked her task list. She saw that the first stage of the Saintly Mother's Light mission had changed to (1/1).

He actually said it.

He came over specifically and voluntarily helped her complete the mission by saying those words.

Bei Nuan was so touched she almost cried.

She said sincerely, "Jiang Fei, you're the most considerate guy I've ever met, bar none."

Du Ruo, overhearing this, looked up from his phone in confusion. "Huh?"

By the window, Lu Xingchi, clutching his book, had been watching them.

Seemingly hearing Bei Nuan's words, his gaze returned to the page, but he stared at the same spot for a long time without moving.

As Bei Nuan expected, for the next few hours, everyone continued playing games. They had dinner, and then it got dark. There were no more opportunities to gain Saintly Mother points.

The first stage of Saintly Mother's Light was over. Regardless, she had earned quite a few points.

When the twelve-hour countdown reached zero, the prompt for the second stage appeared, with a line of small text below the timer:

"Target for this stage: Song Xuyi."

Song Xuyi?

Who?

It took Bei Nuan a moment to realize that it was the captain of the Shuida University defense team, the tall, handsome young man guarding the entrance.

She had barely spoken to him, and now she had to go and showcase her Saintly Mother qualities, seeking praise and specifically needing him to call her kind.

Life was truly not easy.

Author's Note:

Lu Xingchi: Song Xuyi? Who is this again?

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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