Chapter 425: Chapter 305: At a Time Like This, You’re Still Worried About Propriety Between Genders?
"Hi, how much for one of these grilled fish?" Lin Li asked, looking at the strange fish being turned over on the grill.
"The large ones are Five Copper Coins, and the small ones are Three Copper Coins," the girl replied with a beaming smile, happy to have a customer.
Lin Li looked at the rows of fish on the grill, pointed to one that was a little larger than the rest, and said, "I’ll have that one."
"Alright, just a moment... Would you like it spicy?" The girl used a pair of tongs to pick up the fish Lin Li had chosen, moved it over a hotter part of the charcoal fire to grill, and then asked.
’So this world has chili peppers, too,’ Lin Li thought. He nodded, glancing at the two jars beside the girl. ’One of them must be for the chili.’
"Yes, please. Just a little spicy."
"Alright."
As the girl skillfully worked the grill, the golden saury soon began to release a tantalizing aroma. Just before it was fully cooked, she picked up one of the ceramic jars.
She opened the lid, dipped a small brush into the chili sauce inside, and spread it over the fish.
’So it’s a sauce, not a powder. She must have made it herself,’ Lin Li thought, his throat bobbing as he smelled the aroma of the chili-slathered fish sizzling over the charcoal.
The smell of the golden saury, now coated in chili sauce, was utterly irresistible. It made his mouth water, and he desperately wanted to take a bite.
"All done." The girl took a bamboo skewer, ran it through the fish from mouth to tail, and handed it to Lin Li.
"Thanks." As he took the grilled golden fish, Lin Li handed her the Five Copper Coins he had ready.
The girl’s warm smile grew even brighter upon receiving the payment. It was her first sale since setting up her stall for the day. ’Now that I’ve made one sale,’ she thought, ’business should pick up.’
After paying, Lin Li examined the fish in his hand—a grilled golden saury, unique to the Spirit Realm.
’This customer is strange. Why isn’t he eating? He just keeps staring at the fish. What’s so interesting about it?’
The girl tucked the money into her pocket. When she saw that Lin Li hadn’t started eating right away and was instead carefully examining the fish, she couldn’t help but feel a little confused.
Noticing the girl’s puzzled gaze, Lin Li stopped observing the Spirit Realm’s unique fish. He brought it to his lips and took a bite of the fragrant, golden-grilled meal.
"HSSS..."
The moment he tasted the fish, Lin Li found himself constantly sucking in air from the intense heat.
He hadn’t expected the girl’s homemade chili sauce to be so fiery, especially since he’d seen her apply so little. ’Could it be that chili peppers from the Spirit Realm are far spicier than those on Blue Star?’
The girl selling the fish saw Lin Li’s face flush red from the spice and thought to herself, ’He’s like this from just "a little spicy"? This customer can’t handle his spice at all!’
Reeling from the spice, Lin Li turned and walked away. Once he’d gone some distance, a carton of milk appeared in his hand.
Having retrieved the milk from the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li immediately stuck in the straw and took a few gulps, which greatly soothed the burning sensation.
’It’s definitely spicy,’ he thought, ’but this grilled fish tastes amazing...’
Lin Li then stood in a corner of the street, slowly eating the grilled fish that was so spicy it made him break out in a sweat.
Meanwhile, a short distance away, two burly men were watching him from afar.
"And now he’s stopping for a snack," the bald man said with a sour expression.
"He’s just been wandering the streets aimlessly since he left that restaurant. At this rate, it might take us a few more hours to find his home," said the burly man who was tracking Lin Li with him.
The sun was about to set, and dinnertime was approaching. The two members of the Cyan Stone Gang secretly tailing Lin Li were starting to get hungry themselves. Watching him eat the fragrant grilled fish, they couldn’t help but swallow hard.
...
After finishing the grilled fish on the street corner, Lin Li drank the last of his milk. Seeing that it was getting late, he prepared to head home.
He walked a short distance and turned into a small alley.
The alley was secluded, and few people ever passed through it.
Lin Li’s original plan was to walk into the alley, enter the Mysterious Small Island, and return to Blue Star from there.
But just as he stepped into the secluded alley, before he could even form the thought to enter the Mysterious Small Island, he heard a scream from deeper within.
It was a woman’s scream. A sound like that, suddenly piercing the gloom of the alley, could only mean trouble.
Lin Li’s brow furrowed, and he sprinted forward.
He raced deeper into the alley and rounded a corner, where he saw two masked men, one tall and one short, holding daggers and mugging a disheveled woman whose age was impossible to guess.
The woman was already on the ground, covered in blood, while the taller masked man was shouting and cursing at her.
The shorter one was trying to yank a backpack from her grasp.
Despite her injuries, the woman clutched her backpack tightly, refusing to let go in the slightest.
The two masked assailants clearly hadn’t expected the woman to be so tenacious. Growing flustered and enraged, one of them yelled, "Let the fuck go, or we’ll stop holding back!"
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