Chapter 12: A Bowl of Instant Noodles

With just one glance, Su Mo turned her head away in disgust, trying not to vomit, wondering whether Lu Chen had been living in such an environment with her body all these days, and how hard it must have been.

When she reached the bathroom, she opened the door handle and a gust of cold air hit her face. Su Mo's eyes twitched, and she almost couldn't hold onto the clothes in her hands.

She had thought what awaited her was water spraying from the shower head, but it turned out she was deluded—the world had ended, where would the water supply come from? Instead, there was a big bucket filled with ice cubes, emitting a sizzling cool air.

Summer hadn't passed yet, and using ice water was better than none. Su Mo grimaced, silently squatting in the toilet watching as the ice quickly melted into ice water in the high temperature, and gritted her teeth as she finished washing.

After washing off the dirt on her body, she felt lighter all around. She stepped naked in front of the mirror and miraculously found that except for a small red birthmark on her heart, there were no scars on her body and her skin was even better than before.

Her appearance hadn't changed much, only that her originally long black hair had many burnt and singed ends, making it look somewhat ugly.

Su Mo felt that although she looked a bit useless at the moment, at least it had given her another chance at life, which she could slowly explore and stealthily develop.

Changing into a clean T-shirt and shorts, there was a pair of small scissors on the washstand. She picked it up without any reluctance and cut her long hair to shoulder length.

The girl in the mirror looked pleased as she examined herself from different angles before finally leaving the bathroom.

Back in the room, she saw a tall man with silver hair and handsome features standing by the window, seemingly observing something unknown.

Her face a bit flushed, she coughed and walked over to ask him, looking up, "What are you looking at?"

The man diverted his gaze back from the window, the girl before him had wet hair resting on her shoulders, her large bright eyes sparkling and her tender cheeks flushed with a hint of red. His throat tightened, then he averted his eyes, looking slightly awkward, "You cut your hair?"

"Yeah, long hair was inconvenient so I cut it," Su Mo touched her hair and smiled.

"Rest well today. We'll set off for the Bunker first thing tomorrow morning," they had already spent too long here.

At that moment, her face showed guilt, her hands nervously twined together, her voice carrying an apologetic tone, "It's all my fault." If it hadn't been for rescuing her, he might be safely inside the Bunker right now instead of being scared outside.

Lu Chen raised his hand to touch her wet head, then wiped his palm on her shoulder, his gaze flickering, "It's good that you know."

"..."

Su Mo pursed her lips, thinking to herself that being glad was a deception; this man was simply cold and unpleasant by nature.

As she sat down at the table, she was about to start munching on a packet of instant noodles placed there, when the virtual interface appeared out of nowhere:

[Item]: Unknown instant noodles

[Attribute]: Level 3 Essential Ingredient

[Whether to store]: Yes/No

Tip: Comes with a hidden recipe, can be used with cooking tools Flat Pot

The tip, marked in purple font, was especially eye-catching. But what did it mean? Was it suggesting she cook the noodles in a flat pot?

The man, seeing her staring blankly into space, walked over and flicked her forehead, his voice carrying a hint of confusion, "What are you looking at?"

Clutching her forehead, Su Mo glanced at him irritably and replied, "You'll find out soon."

She waved her hand in the air and followed the prompt to summon it to the main interface. The Flat Pot still emitted a faint blue glow; she took it out and put it on the table right away.

Gazing at the completely black pot for a while, she took out the half bottle of mineral water she had just placed in her Treasure Bag and poured a bit on it, immediately revealing four options on the interface.

[Fire Control]: Small, Medium, Large, Free Control.

As soon as Su Mo saw the options, she directly poured all half a bottle of water into it, and the flat pot was immediately filled to almost half. She tapped in the air and selected free control.

A controllable rotary switch for the fire appeared in front of the pot. She reached out to turn it on, and flames sprang up from the base of the pot. Even though she was prepared, she was still startled and stepped back. She noticed that Lu Chen was looking at her as if she were insane.

He couldn't see the blazing flames, and realizing this, Su Mo stared at the table, discovering that the fire under the flat pot only affected the contents inside the pot; the table itself remained intact.

Lu Chen indeed thought this woman might have a problem, until he noticed that the water in the pot started to boil inexplicably, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Can it self-ignite?"

Su Mo nodded, it seemed so, "Is there more water? Add some more."

This time he cooperated very well and fetched a bottle of water from the Space and poured some more into the pot.

When the water boiled again, Su Mo tore open the instant noodle packet and added the seasoning packet following her usual process of cooking instant noodles.

The air was filled with an enticing aroma. Both of them swallowed their saliva at the same time; one hadn't had a hot meal in one and a half months, and the other had been unconscious and hadn't eaten for half a month.

When she felt it was about time, she turned off the switch. With a "ding" sound, the instant noodles were done. Consequently, the panel updated, the previously dull recipe column lit up, displaying a virtual white sheet with various details about the instant noodles

[Name]: Unknown Regular Instant Noodles (Stored)

[Used materials]: Seasoning packet, noodle cake

[Skill Level]: 30%

[Flavor score]: 5 (10 is the full score, the higher the score the more the bonus points)

[Status bonus]: Strength Points +1, duration 60 minutes

[Friendly Reminder]: Reaching 100% skill level will permanently increase bonus points. One can only permanently increase bonus points once per recipe.

"Good heavens," Su Mo exclaimed as she stared at the panel.

"What did you see now?" Lu Chen asked.

Finally looking up from the panel to face him, her eyes sparkling, she pushed the flat pot full of instant noodles towards him and urged, "You try it quickly."

Lu Chen, like a Treasure Bag, took out two bowls from the Space and served the noodles into them before he began to taste the noodles.

The taste was just that of regular instant noodles, but as he swallowed his first bite, a strange warmth surged from his lower abdomen, spreading through his limbs. He suddenly felt as though his whole body was filled with strength.

Lu Chen stared at the bowl of noodles with eyes full of shock, incredulously asking, "It can increase strength?"

After taking a bite herself, Su Mo too was pleasantly surprised, "Yes, but there's a time limit for now."

She had somewhat figured out the trick here; any food that turned into a dish in this pot would bring about various status bonuses, and if the skill level and flavor were high enough, it could even result in permanent bonuses.

This skill was incredibly impressive!

The two finished the noodles in the bowls completely, the warm flow in their bellies still circulating, leaving them somewhat wanting more.

In the half a month that Lu Chen had been surviving on his own, he had never seen anyone who could transform food into energy bonuses with a superpower. He would never underestimate this plain-looking flat pot again.