Chapter 149: The Menu of Life

Eating with immense satisfaction, Feng Xue could not stop himself at all. In just two or three minutes, an entire plate of trunk-elephant trunk meat had vanished into his stomach. Only when he snapped out of it did he notice a dull ache in his cheeks—a fatigue caused by excessive chewing (anyone who has ever eaten too much dried beef will certainly find this familiar).

However, before Feng Xue could even massage his cheeks, a wisp of refreshing coolness began to emanate from his stomach and spread throughout his entire body. Almost instantly, the previous ache vanished without a trace, as if it had merely been an illusion.

"This is..." Feng Xue’s expression turned to one of pleasant surprise. An illusion of his Gourmet Demon abruptly materialized behind him; the four-winged feathered serpent wore an expression of enjoyment identical to Feng Xue’s own, its four wings unfolding in a wonderfully comfortable manner, much like a human stretching lazily, scattering a vast cloud of luminous powder.

"Could this actually be an ingredient favored by Gourmet Cells? No, wait... Gourmet Cells processed by the academy shouldn't have any inherent dietary preferences of their own. If the Gourmet Cells like it, does that mean *I* like it?" Feng Xue murmured dazed, finding himself momentarily unable to recall the exact taste of the trunk-elephant meat.

It was not that he had forgotten the exquisite flavor, but rather that he had no idea how to reminisce about it. No matter how he tried to imagine it, the final mental image always fell slightly short of the actual dish he had consumed.

"I’ve decided!" Feng Xue suddenly leaped to his feet, pointing up at the sky and shouting, "I'm going to add this to my Full Course Menu!"

At that very instant, a blank sheet of paper seemed to appear in Feng Xue’s mind, bearing eight empty slots as if waiting for their master to fill them. And right then, in the fourth slot, a line of text abruptly materialized—Steamed Koalaphant Trunk.

This was the miraculous phenomenon that occurred when a Full Course Menu was established. As a "Gourmet Hunter," Feng Xue had decided upon the meat dish for his Full Course Menu at this exact moment.

A Full Course Menu is the lifelong pursuit of Gourmet Hunters possessing Gourmet Cells. A Gourmet Hunter categorizes their most cherished ingredients into eight courses: Hors d'oeuvre, Soup, Fish dish, Meat dish, Main course, Salad, Dessert, and Drink. Whenever they encounter a food they deeply adore, they record it alongside their capture experiences onto their Full Course Menu. This menu not only represents the achievements of a Gourmet Hunter but also chronicles their journey of growth.

The moment he acquired his Full Course Menu, Feng Xue felt his physical strength surge explosively by several notches. Along with it, the perception bestowed upon him by the Gourmet Demon grew significantly stronger. Not only that, but perhaps due to the ingredient's sanity-restoring effect, the Gluttony Mark triggered a peculiar reaction. From then on, Feng Xue practically maintained a Sanity Aura that applied solely to himself at all times, functioning virtually everywhere. Unless he encountered entities on the level of true Great Old Ones, Feng Xue's sanity would remain at its maximum state at all times.

In addition, Feng Xue's Cutlery Technique began to show its embryonic form. Seemingly due to the sharp scales of the Gourmet Demon, Feng Xue gained the ability to control the cuticles of his own hair. He could make every single strand as sharp as a blade, or as rigid as iron. When necessary, by consuming calories, he could make his hair grow rapidly, and even allow the hair to retain its hardness and sharpness for a period of time after leaving his body.

Consequently, Feng Xue was now equivalent to carrying around one hundred thousand stilettos and garrote wires, and could even launch his hair strands like arrows!

Feng Xue tested it roughly. At his current level, under normal conditions (meaning without consuming extra energy to forcefully boost his strength), the hair strands he thrust out could easily pierce through tree trunks, though they remained powerless against solid rock. However, if he coiled the hair strands around the rock like steel wire, he could effortlessly slice the rock in half. From this, it was evident that the issue was not a lack of sharpness, but simply insufficient hardness.

After experiencing the sublime taste of the koalaphant trunk, Feng Xue grew even more eager for the delectable ingredients this world had to offer, so he resolved to set out on an expedition.

However, an expedition in the world of Don't Starve was not a journey one could simply embark on in the real world with a casual remark like, "The world is so big, I want to go take a look."

Although Feng Xue could completely ignore the greatest danger of the Don't Starve world—Sanity—thanks to his Sanity Aura and Nightmare Aura, food remained a problem that had to be addressed.

To this, Feng Xue declared: "I have my own special way of making preserved rations!"

With that, he cut the koalaphant meat into palm-sized pieces. Immediately afterward, his hair began to writhe violently like tentacles.

A dozen or so strands slowly detached from the rest of the hair, stretching and lengthening continuously. The hair strands, with their cuticles hardened, stood as straight as steel wire, and at the tips of these strands gleamed a sharp, chilling light.

The moment Feng Xue took aim at the meat slices, the Gourmet Demon suddenly manifested. Accompanied by a soundless roar, a cascade of feathers fell upon the hair strands, and the hair was subsequently stained with a layer of glowing blue luster.

The hair strands shot forward like darts. Under Feng Xue's deliberate control, these strands did not pierce through the meat slices, but instead embedded themselves precisely into the center of each piece.

Then, the glowing blue radiance burst forth brilliantly, and the meat slices seemed as though they had been struck by magic, rapidly withering and shrinking.

An instant later, a pile of jerked meat lay before Feng Xue.

That glowing blue radiance was none other than the "Parched Blue" (dehydration)—one of the Twelve Plagues belonging to Feng Xue’s Gourmet Demon.

Stuffing the jerky and valuable items like gems into his backpack, Feng Xue picked up his water flask and left the camp.

If one ignored the straw sandals on his feet and the wool sweater and trousers covered in various stains, Feng Xue at that moment looked just like a middle-schooler preparing for a field trip.

...

Turning the clock back a few days.

"Haha! My Origin really is heaven-defying!" Qiu Huarui, who had stepped onto the path of Origin, was laughing maniacally at that moment. Guided by his heaven-defying Origin, he had quickly located a massive boulder surrounded by nothing else. It was a block of basalt; generally, such rock only appeared on the surface due to volcanic activity, yet there was no other basalt anywhere in the vicinity.

"There's definitely something wrong with this thing!" Qiu Huarui made his judgment without needing guidance from Origin or concepts.

Yet, in the game of Don't Starve, basalt was supposed to be indestructible, wasn't it?

What on earth could be hidden beneath this thing? Qiu Huarui was consumed by curiosity. Although his treasure-seeking concept had not detected any treasures nearby, he still decided to trust his Origin.

Unlike the hard, indestructible basalt in the video game, real-world basalt, though durable, is relatively brittle and filled with vesicular and amygdaloidal structures, making it quite prone to fracturing.

Even someone like Qiu Huarui, whose Body-Forging Art could not boost his physical stats by much, could easily shatter it with the aid of tools.

Although he had been duped by the misleading prompt, the water flask Qiu Huarui carried was still a fine artifact that transcended eras. While it could not be used directly as a pot for cooking, the material of the flask itself was incomparable to any naturally occurring substance!

After filling the flask with pebbles and jamming a wooden stick into the bottleneck, a makeshift sledgehammer was complete. Relying on the reliable metallurgical craftsmanship of the Tower of Babel era, Qiu Huarui spent three full days finally smashing the giant boulder to pieces. And then, a bottomless cavern opened up right before his eyes...