Although she didn’t eat at the cafeteria often, a chef is still a chef, and she could taste the difference in the dishes, especially the Red-Braised Mutant Beast Meat served tonight. It was exceptionally delicious, the fat melted in your mouth, and even after eating several pieces, it didn’t become sickening or nauseating.
The table was relaxed around the leaders, and her drinking habits were well known either by sight or by reputation, since the gossip had spread everywhere.
In fact, their table was quite casual, unlike others who were downing alcohol like water; they were seriously enjoying their meal.
Obviously, there was casual conversation at the table, especially since Ye Nai was enjoying her meal so much. The First-level Chef who cooked tonight didn’t waste the premium Mutant Beast Meat that was hard to come by. So, he made a wish for the leaders present, letting them order anything they wanted, and she promised to hunt it down after the New Year.
Leading the leaders, Regimental Command Pan and others laughed and didn’t hold back with Ye Nai. They actually placed orders, and all asked for the hard-to-hunt Mutant Beast Meat, obviously seizing the opportunity to tackle some tough challenges in the Secret Realm.
Ye Nai listened as they named creatures either spiders or ants, each at least the size of a bowl. Their value lies either in their toxins or their tough exoskeletons, the little amount of edible meat is merely incidental, barely worth the effort to extract.
When it comes to valuable and delicious Spider Meat, only Ye Nai managed to snag such a bargain before.
Giant frog meat and waterfowl were also must-have dishes, but this New Year’s feast seemed a bit scarce. They were delicious but not satisfying enough.
Ye Nai readily agreed to all requests, as long as there was an accurate hunting map, there would be no issues.
Additionally, in the blooming season of spring, the number of mutant plants in the Secret Realm would increase drastically, and she could bring some of those back as well.
Ye Nai stated that everything was OK.
As the plates and bowls on the table started showing their bottoms, it was time for the toasting to begin.
The tables on the third floor were well behaved, knowing that Ye Nai was there, no one dared to push the leaders into heavy drinking. People from each table came over with their glasses for a collective toast and then called it done.
It was just a single drink per table, and the leaders’ drinking capacity could handle it.
The team captains also felt more relaxed, since they would be the ones toasted soon after.
Ye Nai took the opportunity to leave her seat and set up the fireworks she brought in an open area near the fire exit. She bought a substantial amount, nearly clearing out the designated fireworks market. Among them were rockets that could go off for three to five minutes, and handheld sparklers, ensuring a lively night.
The personal purchases of New Year goods were shown briefly to everyone and then packed away. They couldn’t be distributed now as they would be too cumbersome to carry and if others coming up to toast saw them, not a single sweet would be left.
When the noise from downstairs drifted up, the real excitement began.
The soldiers guarding the stairwell spotted the captains of private squads heading up together and immediately called out. Ye Nai, who was arranging fireworks on the floor, quickly slipped through the fire exit.
After these private squad captains came up, they first drank a round with Regimental Command Pan and other senior leaders before being dragged away by Sister Da Ma and other military team captains for more drinks.
With the crowd bustling about, no one noticed Ye Nai’s absence, though they did take note of the fireworks scattered all over the floor.
"Eh? Didn’t see the kid?"
"Ye Nai? She bolted after eating; the girl’s not interested in drinking, probably off playing with fireworks."
"Let’s set off the rockets later; want to join us?"
"No, thanks, we’ve made other arrangements."
"Alright then, let’s get together another time."
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"Sure, sure. We’ll catch up another time."
About ten minutes later, the leaders of these private squads had been sent away, and Ye Nai sneaked back, holding a lunch box filled with deep-fried diced meat that she poked at with a toothpick, drizzled with hot sauce, crispy and spicy.
"What are you eating? I didn’t see this tonight."
"Hehe, ran into the First-level Chef, he treated me, said it’s tomorrow’s dish." Ye Nai generously extended her bowl for everyone to try, "Deep-fried waterbird meat, can’t really tell what bird it was, all the meat mixed together and fried, both crispy and tender."
Those interested pulled a toothpick from the holder on the table and took a piece or two to try; the freshly fried meat dices were crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside, delicious beyond words.
"Delicious!"
"Hmm~ The Chef really is a Chef, so tasty."
"The Chef said, as long as we have fresh ingredients, call him over for the March anniversary."
"Really?!"
"Really." Ye Nai pointed at the bowl of fried meat dices that was almost finished, "I told him that all the Mutant Beast Meat today was from before the New Year that we hunted down, the Chef showed great interest, even said giant frog meat, waterbird meat, and eggs are good stuff, get more of it, can trade with cities in the Secret Realm that don’t have wetland environments for things."
"Eh?!"
"Commander?"
Regimental Command Pan appeared behind everyone with a smile, poking a piece of meat with a toothpick and placing it into his mouth.
"The Chef’s suggestion is good, but if we want to do it, it’ll involve a lot of work."
"Because we have to first find out how many resources are in the wetlands?" Ye Nai interrupted.
"Yes." Regimental Command Pan wasn’t irritated at all by being interrupted, "Trading with other cities in the Secret Realm, we’ll have to operate on scale; even if it’s high value, they’d only make an offer if we have large quantities, otherwise we might as well eat it ourselves."
"We’ve seen the videos you guys shot, that vast stretch of wetlands covers a large area, there may be enough waterbirds, but it’s hard to say how many giant frogs there are, such big creatures need a big territory to survive."
"Plus, we can’t do such drastic business that wipes out whole species for money, what will we eat next year? Large animals take a long time to grow, that’s an unchangeable natural rule, not strange for such giant frogs to take three to five years to mature."
"Also, only the legs of giant frogs are edible, to reach the needed quantity, we’d have to kill many, starting from thousands."
"And mutant beasts can’t yet be farmed." Ye Nai interjected again.
"Right, if we could farm them, we would have started long ago, the Secret Realm of ours, an endless plain, what great agricultural conditions."
"Isn’t farming feasible?"
"Our seeds simply won’t germinate in the Secret Realm, agricultural scientists are researching seeds specifically for the Secret Realm, otherwise we’d have solved the problem of insufficient supply of food and agricultural products long ago."
After hearing this, Ye Nai silently nodded, thinking she’d speak once the Fungus completely took over this Secret Realm; maybe the environment could be altered.
Even if it’s still not possible to farm, economically valuable mutant beasts and plants could at least be farmed systematically every year.
But with that, this Secret Realm could no longer allow squads in.
Ye Nai tilted her head to think, if they don’t let them in, then they don’t let them in, there are so many other Secret Realms in the nation and abroad, no worry about starving these squads and related industries.
Just as they quietened down here, there was a commotion by the stairs, a large group of people bustled up, each with a bottle and cup in hand.