Ouyang Ye glared at Yan Junyu, who was bustling around the kitchen. "Alright, alright, you can leave now. Your fiancé is waiting for you. I've got this here, I don't need you."
"Mu Ran isn't my fiancé." Yan Junyu put away the fresh vegetables and fruits he had just bought into the fridge and seriously instructed, "Don't always drink nutrient solution, it's bad for your stomach. I heard someone drank nutrient solution for three straight months and as a result, their digestive function deteriorated, unable to eat any natural food. The invention of nutrient solution is for the convenience of our lives, not to destroy our bodily functions. You need to immediately correct your picky eating habits."
Qi Ze lounged lazily on the sofa, holding a smartbrain in both hands, whether he was reading a book or playing a game was unknown. He had a nutrient strip in his mouth, whenever he was hungry, he would tilt his head back and gulp some down, completely ignoring Yan Junyu's advice.
"Don't drink that, I'll cook you a meal when I get back." Yan Junyu snatched the nutrient strip out of the youth's mouth as he passed by the sofa, tossed it to the mobile trash bin, and wiped away the sticky residue on his chin.
"You can cook?" Ouyang Ye felt like he was losing.
"You'll have to learn in the future. Every meta-human has to learn cooking skills. Our food is different from ordinary people's; if you don't learn to handle it yourself, what will you do in the wilderness without a robot butler? Starve to death?" Yan Junyu glanced at him indifferently.
Ouyang Ye now remembered that the food meta-humans ate contained extremely high energy, and if absorbed excessively, it could harm the body, hence the need for secondary processing. The beast meat the Ouyang family sold was the highest in energy and the most popular among meta-humans. He had just forgotten this because he wasn't a real meta-human.
Shit, if his roommate moved in and found out he was eating ordinary food, wouldn't his cover be blown? He hurriedly gave Young Master Qi a pleading look.
Qi Ze finally lifted his head and asked, "What's your food like? Can I see it?"
Yan Junyu's aloof expression immediately warmed a few degrees. "Staff will be delivering it later. You can see for yourself. The Imperial Academy provides special food for free to every meta-human, the benefits are quite good. It's the same for your Mecha Manufacturing Department, they distribute five energy stones for free every month, although the quality isn't high, it's enough for the early stages. I'll figure something out for later."
"No, I'll buy them myself." Qi Ze decisively refused this person's help. Unless it was a dire necessity, he didn't want to owe anyone any favors.
Yan Junyu gave him a smiling glance and turned to leave. Given the youth's extravagant lifestyle, he would often be in a situation where he didn't have money to buy energy stones; he would just wait to help swipe the card.
"I'll take care of your energy stones. Don't worry." Once the extraneous people were out of earshot, Ouyang Ye quickly cozied up to Young Master Qi and then worriedly said, "Did you see the plaque on the door? Yan Junyu is moving in too. He's too sharp, he's bound to find out something's off with me. I can't even eat meta-human food!"
"What kind of food do meta-humans eat?" Qi Ze opened the database, ready to search.
Ouyang Ye was about to explain when the doorbell rang. A robot entered carrying a large insulated box and said, "This is your dorm's supply for the day, a total of five meta-humans: Ouyang Ye's portion, Yan Junyu's portion, Wang Miao's portion, Lin Hao's portion, and Mo Tianlei's portion. Please sign for it if you confirm."
Qi Ze went over to inspect and found that the insulated box contained five neatly arranged transparent food trays. Each contained a piece of bloody fresh meat, a red fruit, a handful of colorful grains, and a small white cloth pouch. All five of their provisions were the same amount, with none having any more or less.
Ouyang Ye didn't know if the portion was correct, but he still signed his name boldly and then opened the tray, taking out a piece of meat. "This is the beast meat from our Neptune. The higher the grade, the greater the energy in the meat, of course, the price is also more expensive. This one of mine is probably from a level five beast, and Yan Junyu's..." He secretly opened Yan Junyu's food tray, sniffed it, and couldn't help cursing. "Holy shit, it's actually Thunder Panther meat, that's a 2S-level beast. He can digest such a big piece, and it's only a day's worth, Yan Junyu has definitely reached 3S-level. A day's food cost is someone's entire year's salary, eat, eat, eat until you die! Meta-humans are truly money-burning machines."
Ouyang Ye was filled with envy and resentment, rolling his eyes as he put the meat back.
Qi Ze activated his Spirit Eyes and indeed saw that these foods were rich in spirit energy, of course, there was no shortage of impurities. That's why they needed special processing to be consumed. If eaten directly, it wouldn't take long before these meta-humans would explode from overexposure.
He had originally thought that after leaving the Qianyuan Continent, he would never be able to eat spirit rice and spirit fruits again. Never would he have thought that after all the twists and turns, he would find them at the Imperial Academy, and for free every day. Qi Ze was very happy. After some thought, he asked the robot, "If these provisions are not enough, can we get more?"
"For any part exceeding the free quota, you'll have to pay for it yourselves. Like this food tray, it's self-paying. You can order as much as you want, there's no limit." The robot pointed to Yan Junyu's food tray.
"How much is the cost?" Qi Ze asked patiently.
The robot sent an electronic menu to his smartbrain and politely replied, "Our prices are very fair. If you like it, please place an order, we will provide the best service."
"Order, definitely order." Qi Ze quickly clicked through several orders of beast meat, all S-level and above. Of course, 3S-level beasts, besides the Zerg queen, had not yet been discovered in the Black Eye Galaxy. Otherwise, the situation for humans would be even worse. Meat suppliers hired specialized hunting teams to capture high-level beasts. Low-level beasts could currently be farmed on a large scale, so the price wasn't expensive but wasn't cheap either.
The robot made a big profit and seemed very happy. Its blue eyes turned pink, and its voice became cuter. It bowed ninety degrees and sweetly said, "Thank you for your patronage. I will prioritize delivering your food. Don't forget to give me a positive review. For every five-star review I get, I receive a gallon of energy liquid as a reward."
"Positive review, five-star review!" Qi Ze poked the robot's chest five times with a smile and then carried the giant insulated box into the kitchen.
"Young Master Qi, why did you buy so much beast meat? Can you even eat it? S-level meat can't be eaten casually!" Ouyang Ye hovered around like a tagalong.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier about the existence of such good beast meat?" Qi Ze took out Young Master Ouyang's food tray and placed it on the countertop, storing the rest in the fridge.
"I did tell you, my family sells this, didn't you already know?" Ouyang Ye was a bit aggrieved.
Qi Ze was speechless and rubbed Young Master Ouyang's dog head as an apology. He had thought the Ouyang family was just selling ordinary meat, like at a human pork stall. Who could have thought it was spirit beast meat? But even if he had known, it would have been useless. Back then, his cultivation was low, and he had internal injuries; he wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person, so he wouldn't have been able to handle these ingredients. But now it was different. With his divine senses and Spirit Eyes, it was easy to remove the impurities.
With that thought, Qi Ze gripped the meat and quietly circulated spirit energy, removing the violent energy piece by piece.
Ouyang Ye was dumbfounded, pointing at the foul-smelling black water seeping from the meat and asked, "Young Master Qi, what is this? Has the meat been poisoned?"
"Aren't you saying that beast meat needs special processing to be eaten? Why?" Qi Ze asked instead of answering.
"Because the energy it contains is too violent. It must be purified to a certain degree before it can be eaten; otherwise, it could cause damage to the meta-human's internal organs and even trigger gene collapse syndrome. Even if a portion is purified, it's still not enough. Studies have shown that the high incidence of gene collapse syndrome among meta-humans has a lot to do with their unique diet. But if they don't consume beast meat, the energy in their bodies would automatically dissipate, making it hard to maintain peak condition, and the progression would be slower. To have power or longevity, many people choose power." Ouyang Ye sighed helplessly.
"This black water is the violent energy you're talking about. After completely removing it, not only can meta-humans eat this piece of meat, but martial artists and ordinary people can eat it too. Not only will they not get sick, but it will also be beneficial to their health." Qi Ze said as he did the same with the fruit and grains, purifying them one by one.
As long as he circulated the fusion power in his body in reverse, he could effortlessly remove these impurities.
Ouyang Ye opened his mouth but couldn't speak for a long time. After about a minute or two, he quietly instructed, "Young Young Master Qi, you must never do this in front of outsiders, nor let outsiders eat the food you've purified. Do you know how many meta-humans would want to marry you if this news got out? Even I would want to, let alone others."
High-energy food without the slightest impurity meant safe and rapid advancement; it meant being in peak condition at all times; it meant a drop in the chances of developing gene collapse syndrome by dozens of percentage points. If outsiders found out about this, everyone would go crazy over Young Young Master Qi.
Ouyang Ye swallowed and felt that he wasn't holding onto a golden thigh, but a golden pillar, one capable of supporting a temple.
Qi Ze naturally understood these principles, but he only took the last sentence as a joke, stuffing a piece of fruit into Ouyang Ye's mouth and warning, "Don't talk about marriage next time, Laozi will cut out your tongue. Feel free to eat your food, just don't blab it out. I know what I'm doing."
"Then we can only secretly eat in the room away from others. It would be nice if we could live in a two-person apartment, but I heard only the class leaders have that privilege. Yan Junyu is the class leader, but since he's about to graduate, he's vacated the room. Young Young Master Qi, I'll compete for the class leader position and get you a two-person apartment too." Ouyang Ye finally established the first goal in his life.
"Alright, it's all up to you." Qi Ze pulled out a cleaver and meticulously sliced the meat into thin strips, ready to cook a pot of porridge.
After removing all impurities, the spirit rice and spirit meat were simmered together over a low flame for two hours, the aroma was practically criminal. Ouyang Ye wiped his drool as he stood by the door on lookout, afraid Yan Junyu would suddenly return.
"Don't worry, he's been dragged to the Mu Research Institute by Mu Ran. He's far from school, he won't be back for a while." Qi Ze calmly stirred the porridge.
"How do you know?" Ouyang Ye was full of curiosity.
He saw it with the vision technique, but Qi Ze wouldn't tell the truth. He vaguely brushed it off and then poured the cooked porridge into a bowl, calling Young Master Ouyang over to eat. The two of them enjoyed a sumptuous meal. One went back to his room to meditate, while the other went to the basement to vent excess energy.
It wasn't until evening that Yan Junyu returned with a sullen face, taking out bags of things from his Interspatial Button. They were all fruits, vegetables, rice, and noodles, food ingredients that ordinary people could eat. Ouyang Ye heard the commotion and ran up from the basement, gloating, "Hey, why is your face so ugly? Got dumped by your fiancé? Don't be like that, he's a rare genius in a century, the only master with hope of creating super-powerful mecha in the Empire, you can't offend him. Quickly apologize to him, grovel, who knows, maybe he'll forgive you if he's happy? Not everyone has the good luck to get close to the Mu family, and you don't know to cherish it."
Yan Junyu put the ingredients into the fridge one by one without expression, completely ignoring Ouyang Ye. If he didn't have this kind of self-control, he wouldn't be the young patriarch of the Yan family.
Qi Ze woke up from meditation and slowly walked to the kitchen door, saying, "The catering company delivered your portion while you weren't here. Are you hungry? Hurry up and cook if you are." He wanted to see how the locals cooked ingredients. If these things weren't handled cleanly and devoured, the danger was quite significant. Even if nothing happened for the time being, there would definitely be problems in the long run. That so-called "gene collapse syndrome," in essence, wasn't a disease, but damage to one's internal organs due to the absorption of too many impurities. Cultivators who purely advanced through taking pills would also have this situation; they would have to remove pill toxins periodically, otherwise, they would face certain death.
It seemed that having too abundant spirit energy wasn't entirely a good thing. There was a gain and a loss, it seemed this saying was indeed true.
Seeing Qi Ze's concern, Yan Junyu's expressionless face finally showed a hint of a smile. He took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves calmly, and said gently, "I'm not hungry. Let me cook for you first. After you eat, I'll make my own."
"No, no need for you. My baby and I ordered takeout a while ago, we just ate, it's not digested yet." Ouyang Ye pointed to a few food boxes in the trash can.
"I'll cook from now on, you two just eat. Ordering takeout is too wasteful, why bother." Yan Junyu glanced at Ouyang Ye, his tone a bit cold. "The Imperial Academy's management is very strict. As a soldier, you should be more mindful of your words and behavior. If you know someone's name, call them by their name, not 'baby.'"
"I've gotten used to calling him that, what can I do?" Ouyang Ye waved his hand with a grin.
A name was just a name, since no one would respectfully call him Young Master anymore, Qi Ze didn't care. He pointed at the food tray in the fridge and urged, "We've already eaten, hurry up and cook your own."
Yan Junyu nodded and pointed at the vegetables and fruits that filled the fridge, saying, "Call me if you're hungry, I'll cook for you. Don't always order takeout, not only is the flavor not good, but the ingredients they use are all subpar, lacking in nutritional value. You're in the stage of growth, you need sufficient nutrition. Others at your age are usually 190 centimeters tall. Look at yourself, you're barely over 1.8 meters tall, and you haven't reached the weight standard..."
Seeing that he had the tendency to prattle on again, Qi Ze became impatient. He took out the food tray from the fridge and smacked the lid. "Are you going to cook or not? If not, I'll do it for you?"
Before Yan Junyu could answer, Ouyang Ye had snatched the food tray and hastily said, "Don't, don't, no need for you to do it. Let him do it himself."
Yan Junyu was quite fond of this suggestion. He was busy in the kitchen, with the youth assisting, the scene was quite beautiful in his mind. Unfortunately, these ingredients couldn't be handled by ordinary people, so he had to reluctantly decline. He indicated for the youth to stand further away. He tied on an apron, put on gloves, and then opened the box, taking out the meat and puncturing it with a needle.
Qi Ze sat cross-legged on the countertop, watching with relish and occasionally asking a few questions. "Why are you poking so many holes?"
Yan Junyu seemed to enjoy the feeling of the youth's company. The gloominess that had enveloped him when he returned had completely dissipated, and his eyes and brows were filled with smiles. "The Thunder Panther is a 2S-level beast, the meat is quite tough. Piercing it with a needle not only makes the meat tender but also allows the medicine to penetrate more thoroughly."
"What medicine? This?" Qi Ze pointed to the white cloth pouch in the food tray.
"Yes." After puncturing the holes, Yan Junyu took out the white cloth pouch, sprinkled the green powder inside evenly on the meat, and slowly kneaded it to make it dissolve and seep into the inner layers faster. A few minutes later, a few strands of black sticky liquid flowed out of the meat, and a pungent stench also permeated the air.
"Does it smell bad? Do you want to plug your nose?" Yan Junyu stopped kneading and took off his dirty gloves, tossing them into the trash can.
"No need, I can handle it." Qi Ze pointed at the black sticky liquid and asked knowingly, "What's this?"
"It's a toxin, commonly found in the cells of beast meat and mutated plants. Meta-humans have it in our bodies too. It's what causes gene collapse syndrome. Currently, there's no practical method to completely remove this toxin; we can only try to reduce its intake as much as possible." Yan Junyu handled the fruit and grains in the same way. Of course, these two didn't require kneading, only soaking in water with the medicine for a few minutes.
Through the Spirit Eyes, Qi Ze could see the spirit energy mixed in the green powder, not much, but very pure.
"These powders are very useful, where do they come from?" He curiously asked.
"They're prepared by the mental healers, specifically for removing impurities in food. If you like them, I'll buy a few extra bags and you can take them as you like. This is non-toxic, it's fine if you get it on your hands, you can even eat it raw, it's just the taste is a bit off." Yan Junyu patiently answered every question the youth had. They rarely spent time like this, in a narrow but bright space, one person doing something, the other watching, occasionally asking small questions. It seemed ordinary and dull on the surface but was actually comfortable and free. This feeling wasn't unfamiliar, but no matter how he tried to think about it, he couldn't remember.
"I know, it's called a purification agent, it's supposed to detoxify, but the effect is just so-so, at most it removes 60% of the toxins. The rest still has to be digested by the meta-human themselves. Mental power users at S level can remove 70% of the toxins, 3S level can remove 80%, but they're all so precious. Who would bother to process ingredients for you? It would cost as much as buying a flying car to have them purify a piece of meat. Thus, the medical association came up with this substitute. Hey, I heard, your fiancé isn't Mu Ran? He's a 3S-level mental power user, after you two get married, have him purify your ingredients every day, how reassuring is that? You're truly lucky. I bet every meta-human in the Empire, no, no, no, in the whole Galaxy envies you! You have high-level mecha to drive, clean food to eat, the life you lead, even a god wouldn't exchange it!" Ouyang Ye disliked the intimate atmosphere between the two when they chatted and had to butt in. He deliberately steered the topic toward Mu Ran.
Yan Junyu's smile indeed faded significantly, and he solemnly said, "I need to clarify one thing, Mu Ran and I are not fiancés. We weren't in the past, we're not now, and we won't be in the future."
"Tsk, taking advantage and playing coy! Being able to marry Mu Ran, what bad luck have you been having, still need clarification. What bullshit." Ouyang Ye kept elevating Mu Ran and belittling Yan Junyu. He could see that this person's attitude toward him and Young Young Master Qi was completely different. When facing him, Yan Junyu scowled, but when facing Young Young Master Qi, he was gentle and warm. Saying he had no interest in Young Young Master Qi, who would believe it?
Yan Junyu didn't bother to clarify anymore; he just glanced at him indifferently and then rinsed the meat covered in black water under the faucet.
Qi Ze curiously asked, "How do you intend to cook this piece of meat? The toxins haven't been completely removed, the taste must be strange. I suggest you eat less of this kind of thing, it's not good for your health."
"The taste really isn't very good." Yan Junyu gave him a gentle smile. "I don't want to eat this kind of thing either, but I have no choice. As a soldier, we could receive combat missions at any moment, so we must always maintain peak condition. That way, we won't hold back our comrades. Some people say we can disregard our lives in pursuit of power, and that's indeed partly the reason. But more than that, it's to protect the lives of ordinary people. Since we possess such powerful strength, we should bear equal responsibility. Don't you agree?"
"You're a good person." Qi Ze sincerely complimented.
Yan Junyu threw the meat into the pan while chuckling and continued to cook. A few minutes later, a strong strange smell spread out, like burnt leather, or rotten vegetables. It was nauseating just to smell it, let alone eat it. Qi Ze couldn't take it this time and hurriedly jumped off the countertop, rushing out. Ouyang Ye followed closely behind, thinking in relief: Phew, thank goodness Young Young Master Qi can completely purify food. Otherwise, I'd immediately drop out and go home, content to be a useless person. Being a meta-human is really not easy. Those who can live to adulthood are all heroes.
Qi Ze had this reaction, but Yan Junyu had already anticipated it. However, Ouyang Ye couldn't take it either, which was a bit unreasonable. Could it be that he had never eaten beast meat before? Once the seed of doubt was planted, he paid extra attention to Ouyang Ye.
After about half an hour, the stench finally dissipated. Qi Ze strolled out of the room and sat down on a chair next to Yan Junyu sympathetically, saying, "Listen to me, don't eat this kind of thing in the future. What's the difference between eating this and eating shit?"
Yan Junyu, who was about to stuff meat into his mouth, paused.
Ouyang Ye, who was laughing so hard he was shaking, nearly rolled off the sofa.