069. Acrylic Paint.

As Erina's fifth culinary building, the kitchen here is naturally very well-equipped, and the area is large enough to be used as the back kitchen of the hotel. Even so, it is often disliked by Erina as "too small."

At this time, Shiraki temporarily requisitioned the kitchen on this floor and began to work in front of the cooking table.

Naturally, there are all kinds of ingredients and kitchenware, but because the protagonist of today is not the food itself, but the contents of those test tubes that Shiraki himself brought over, he just picked a few ingredients casually and prepared to make a big pot of stew.

Tomatoes, carrots, apples, cabbage, all kinds of meat, plus salmon— a fish that is not suitable for cooked food. In short, all the ingredients that can be seen were taken to the board by Shiraki. The time to wash the vegetables wasn't long, and soon, all the ingredients were neatly placed on the board. Hisako Arato and Erina, standing on the side, looked at the ingredients that Shiraki had chosen with strange expressions. Vegetables, fruits, meat, fish… just looking at these ingredients, you couldn't imagine what Shiraki would do, especially with the salmon. Was it going to be used to make sushi?

At this time, the two didn't expect that Shiraki would use all the ingredients here to make a single dish. They both thought Shiraki was going to make several different dishes.

After cleaning all the ingredients, Shiraki picked up the kitchen knife on the side. But this time, he didn't shred or slice the ingredients. Instead, he picked up a carrot with his left hand and carved it with his right hand.

There was a constant rustle as the carrot was being cut, and Shiraki's movements were very fast. The whole process showed only his left wrist constantly turning, and the carrot became thinner and thinner, gradually carved into the shape of a branch.

Next, he worked on the cabbage. Shiraki first dug out the middle cabbage and set it aside. The rest of the leaves were shredded, but this wasn't ordinary shredded cabbage— rather, the cabbage was shredded in a way that resembled a dozen or so strands of grass.

This strange cutting method made Erina and Hisako Arato wonder even more. Could it be that Shiraki was just making decorations for the dishes? This didn't look like cooking, but more like simple carving. However, the carved shapes were so detailed. They couldn't figure out what these pieces were meant for.

The puzzling process continued. After turning several ingredients into the shapes of shrubs, mushrooms, and trees, Shiraki constructed the last salmon into the shape of a small house. The ingredients now formed a forest hut scene on the board, though the color of the forest hut seemed a bit incongruous.

The red carrots were branches, the pale yellow apples were peeled into the shape of mushrooms, and the salmon, which made up the hut, was white and red.

For this issue, Shiraki had already been prepared. From somewhere, he took out a set of boxes that resembled spice containers. These boxes contained colorful powders. Shiraki then took an oil brush from the cooking table, dipped a little from one of the spice boxes, and brushed it directly onto the ingredients in front of him.

"So, what the hell are those...?" Even Erina and Hisako couldn't tell what Shiraki was brushing on the ingredients. The substance didn't seem to be any kind of seasoning, and the bright color suggested it wasn't made from ingredients. What was it?

The correct answer was— acrylic paint.

Yes, the substances Shiraki had just exchanged from the system were common acrylic paints used in the fine arts. This pigment was made of polymethyl methacrylate (also known as acrylic resin), commonly referred to as pure acrylic pigment or plastic pigment. Acrylic paints are irritating to the respiratory tract, and direct contact with the eyes can cause burns. The skin experiences obvious irritation and sensitization effects, and it has strong stimulation effects on the oral cavity and digestive tract, causing dizziness, dyspnea, nervousness, and other symptoms. In general... this was absolutely inedible for normal humans, and Shiraki didn't want to use this kind of substance directly in cooking.

However, the effect of the rotten egg custard from earlier had completely surpassed his expectations. He originally thought that even if others ate it, it would be a delicious dish, but there should be some adverse reactions. Instead, the people in Polar Star Dorm felt invigorated, almost as if they were reborn. They got up early the next day with renewed energy, feeling that their blood was revitalized and their bodies full of inexhaustible strength. This effect naturally made Shiraki question everything, but it also gave him some insight. When harmful substances were added to food, they didn't just reverse their effects— the impact could even be enhanced.

Though the power of the rotten eggs was already significant, Shiraki clearly had something even more terrifying planned. These paints were merely appetizers.

Under the suspicious gaze of Erina and Hisako, the forest hut, which had seemed out of place just a moment ago, instantly transformed into a work of art. The colors of the various ingredients were not only vibrant, but they also had light and shadow effects, giving them a gradient appearance. The contrast between the cool and warm tones in the entire "painting" was perfectly balanced. But... why did the seasoning look so much like art paint?

Such doubts only crossed Erina and Hisako's minds for a moment before they quickly dismissed them.

— Art paints? How could that be?

On the other side, Shiraki continued. After constructing the colorful "forest hut" scene, he finally pulled out the few test tubes he had brought with him.

Without any flair, Shiraki poured the liquid from these test tubes directly into the "forest hut" he had just created.

Suddenly, a pungent smell filled the air around the "forest hut."

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