Chapter 60: Lamb Spine and Radish Soup

Being addressed by her surname with such precision by a stranger she had only just met stirred a flicker of suspicion in Su Su.

“Are you the city lord of the base?”

“That’s right.” The man had a baby face, and the moment he smiled, it seemed to bring them closer. He extended his right hand in a friendly gesture. “You can call me He Heng, Miss Su.”

Before Su Su could reach out, the snake’s head on her shoulder suddenly stretched forward and bared its fangs at the human male trying to ingratiate himself with her.

The threat that had never failed before was useless.

He Heng wasn’t frightened. On the contrary, the right hand he had extended even tried to stroke the black snake’s head.

“Is this Miss Su’s battle pet?”

“Hiss!”

The black snake abruptly knocked his hand away, then flicked its head in disdain right in front of him before retreating to the hollow of its owner’s shoulder. It fixed him with a cold stare.

He Heng shrugged helplessly. “All right. It doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

“Little Black has a bit of a temper.” Su Su brushed aside its provocation with a simple remark.

“I can see that. Battle pets with real strength tend to have a bit of a temper. Take my tiger, for example.”

He Heng beckoned, and the tiger behind him obediently came to his side and lay down, letting him stroke its head.

“But I digress. How about you let me have this one, and put your conflict with Si Zhe behind you, Miss Su?”

When the city lord spoke, every ability user in the base would show him respect.

Besides… Su Su couldn’t yet gauge the strength of either the city lord or his tiger. She could only tell that he was on familiar terms with Si Zhe and the others.

She recalled what Brother Wang had said in the car: Si Zhe and Lin Weiran had saved the base when it was on the brink of destruction, and ever since then, the city lord had treated them with great courtesy.

He Heng was still waiting for her answer, his bright eyes fixed on her with earnest attention.

Looking at him, no one would have believed he was the man in charge of the entire Southern Base.

Su Su curved her lips in a faint smile. “For the city lord’s sake, I’ll let it go.”

“Excellent!” He Heng clapped his hands together. “Everyone, we’ve just made a lamb spine and radish soup pot at my place, along with some clay-pot rice topped with cured meats. Why don’t you come and try them?”

At the mention of such luxurious dishes, several people quietly swallowed.

Food was scarce in the apocalypse. Only the city lord could lay his hands on ingredients like these.

As a seasoned old hand who had been around the base for a long time, Brother Wang knew full well that the city lord wouldn’t invite someone as insignificant as him for no reason. At heart, the invitation was meant for Su Su.

He turned to look at her without thinking.

Qu Wen did the same.

They were both waiting for Su Su to decide.

If she said yes, they could tag along and get a share of the feast. If she declined, there was no need for them to go either. A meal at the city lord’s house never came without a price.

With everyone watching, Su Su didn’t make excuses. She nodded. “Sure.”

The city lord’s intentions were unclear, as was his strength. Now that she had already made a splash, there was no reason to refuse. She might as well meet him and find out what he wanted.

Besides—lamb spine and radish soup. Who could say no? Clay-pot rice with cured meat. Who could resist?

He Heng’s smile grew more genuine when she accepted his offer. “Then let’s go.”

Si Zhe and Lin Weiran’s car had been burned, so for now they had to ride in the city lord’s vehicle.

Su Su and the others returned to their original car.

The mood on the ride back was completely different from before. Everyone in the vehicle kept glancing at Su Su, and at the giant black python dozing on her lap.

She really had a fifth-tier battle pet—and it actually listened to its ability user!

Perhaps noticing their attention, Su Su took the crystal she had just received from her pocket.

She gave one to Qu Wen and one to Brother Wang.

Both of them stared at the crystals in their hands.

“These are your shares of the spoils,” Su Su explained.

Brother Wang looked down at the fourth-tier crystal in his hand, then recalled what she’d said when they first met: “I want you to prove your strength. If we succeed in the hunt, I can give you two fourth-tier crystals.”

The outcome had been the exact opposite.

Brother Wang rubbed his face in embarrassment. “How can we accept this? We didn’t do much to help you.”

He said that, but his hand closed honestly around the crystal.

Qu Wen hadn’t expected Su Su to be so generous either. They’d known each other for only four or five days, yet Su Su had handed over a fourth-tier crystal as if it were nothing—something others would fight tooth and nail to obtain.

After a few seconds of silence, Qu Wen patted her chest and sent Su Su a dashing wink.

“So this is what it feels like to live off someone else. Su Su, if I dump Junzhi, then you—”

Su Su hastily covered Little Black’s head and began coughing furiously.

She was genuinely afraid Qu Wen might say something outrageous and provoke it into springing forward to bite her to death.

“Hiss?”

Suddenly plunged into darkness, the black snake licked its owner’s palm in confusion.

What was wrong?

Under Su Su’s frantic hints, Qu Wen stopped mid-sentence.

She regretfully changed course. “Junzhi’s been with me for so long. I can’t just kick my wife to the curb the moment I get rich. Su Su, I’ll remember what you’ve done for me. If you ever need anything, just call me. I can at least serve as muscle.”

At that, Brother Wang frowned. “I wonder what the city lord wants with you.”

Su Su didn’t know either. That was why she was going.

A question still lingered in her mind: why had the city lord known her name from the start?

And what was the story with the enormous tiger that followed him around?

The two off-road vehicles followed the black one as they left the eastern hunting grounds without a hitch, then drove into an exceptionally luxurious residential district.

One of their teammates muttered under his breath, “People with connections really know how to enjoy themselves. When I first arrived at the base, before I awakened my ability, I had to squeeze into a dormitory with ten people in the urban village.”

Everyone present was an ability user, so they heard him clearly.

Someone from Si Zhe’s team cast him a contemptuous look. “Country bumpkin.”

It was Wan Pengfei, whose wound had only just stopped bleeding.

Brother Wang gave him a faintly mocking smile. “If we’re country bumpkins, what does that make you, climbing the ranks by relying on a woman?”

One remark had exposed Wan Pengfei’s whole story.

His face darkened, and he said no more.

He Heng, walking at the very front, ignored the minor squabble behind him. “Si Zhe, Weiran, you’re both old friends, and you’ve been here plenty of times. Go on to the backyard as usual. I won’t bother with the formalities.”

The two led their teammates around to the backyard with practiced ease.

He Heng slowed his pace until he was walking beside Su Su, his arm no more than a few inches from hers.

“Miss Su, I’ll show you the way.”

Su Su nodded, then suddenly remembered the tiger and asked without thinking, “Where’s the tiger?”

“It’s gone back to its own territory. Don’t worry, someone will take care of its meals.” He Heng looked at the giant python in her arms and added considerately, “Would you like me to find someone to look after your battle pet? It can have all the meat it wants.”

The black snake suddenly opened its eyes and glared irritably at the detestable human.

“Hiss!”

“No, thank you.” Su Su politely declined. “I’m used to eating with Little Black.”

He Heng chuckled. “Little Black? That’s certainly a down-to-earth name.”

Catching the teasing in his voice, Su Su pressed her lips together in displeasure. “Is it? I think it sounds lovely.”

“I stand corrected.” He Heng changed his tune quickly enough, and didn’t seem to have much of an ego.

Su Su didn’t bother pretending to be gracious. She accepted his apology as if it were only natural.

Smack.

The black tail whipped hard against He Heng’s forearm. It had deliberately used the thinnest part of its tail, making the blow all the more painful.

If he rolled up his sleeve, there might well be a bruise.

He Heng lowered his gaze and met the eyes of the black snake, whose tail was swaying leisurely.

A malicious glint passed through its dark green slit pupils.

He Heng caught it at once.

He looked up at Su Su, only to find that she hadn’t noticed her battle pet bullying a human all on its own.

He Heng’s baby face tensed for two seconds, then slowly relaxed. “We’re here.”

The villa’s backyard was spacious and luxurious. Two rows of long white tables stood in the middle, and though the main dishes hadn’t yet arrived, a plate of fruit had already been set at every seat.

Looking at the scene, no one could remember that they were still living through an apocalypse where survival was uncertain from one day to the next.

“There are a lot of people today, so I had the housekeeper move the dining table to the backyard. Sit wherever you like.”

He said they could sit wherever they wanted, but everyone present knew better.

The four seats at the front had been tacitly reserved for the city lord, Su Su, Si Zhe, and Lin Weiran.

The two enemies who had just been fighting now sat facing each other. They looked like they were so sick of the sight of one another they couldn’t even eat.

The scene grew awkward for a moment.

He Heng seemed not to notice. He clapped his hands lightly. “Bring out the food.”

Five or six steaming pots of lamb spine soup were carried to the table. The savory aroma of lamb and the fresh fragrance of radish wafted over at once. Bright green cilantro had been scattered across the milky-white broth. And that wasn’t all: a pot of clay-pot rice topped with cured meats was set before everyone. When the lids came off, the fragrance of rice and meat immediately won everyone over.

Before the apocalypse, these ingredients had been everyday staples for an ordinary group meal.

Afterward, they had become a luxury reserved for ability users—not ordinary ability users, either. Most couldn’t get food this extravagant. Take Brother Wang, for instance. No matter how many zombies he killed, he couldn’t trade enough crystals at the base to afford a pot of lamb spine soup.

He Heng picked up his chopsticks first.

He scooped up a spoonful of broth and took a small sip. A moment later, he sighed contentedly. “It really does taste the same. I didn’t waste my time trading for dozens of sheep from other bases. People really can’t live without good food.”

It was hard to tell whether Si Zhe and Lin Weiran had lost their appetites because they saw Su Su eating, or whether they had eaten so much of this sort of thing before that they no longer cared for it. Either way, neither of them ate much.

Su Su, on the other hand, didn’t care who was watching. She had already fished more than a dozen lamb spine bones out of the pot—all of them fed to the black snake.

Even if the meal had been poisoned, it wouldn’t kill the snake. At least it could test the food first.

Su Su rubbed Little Black’s belly. When she felt it bulging from all the lamb, she finally stopped feeding it.

He Heng watched the whole thing in silence, then suddenly asked, “Does Little Black listen to you so well because you take care of every little thing yourself, Miss Su?”

Su Su looked up and caught a troubled expression flicker across his face.