Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 549 "Miriel, when you grow up, could you..."

The next morning, Li Zheng was roused from his sleep by the rich aroma of food. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Miriel was already busy at the stove, with several steaming plates of breakfast on a low table that she had found somewhere.

"Hmm... the smell of soy milk?" Li Zheng sniffed the aroma, looking surprised, because he didn't have any beans in his food inventory.

"You're awake?" Miriel turned around when she heard the noise and said, "If you're awake, get up and wash up. We'll be able to eat in a little while."

Li Zheng jumped out of bed, grabbed his toiletries, and asked curiously, "Where did you get the beans? You can even make soy milk!"

"Where is this?" Miriel asked, seemingly ignoring the question.

Li Zheng brushed his teeth and mumbled, "Outer city."

“It’s the botanical garden!” Miriel rolled her eyes, standing on the small step, waving the huge ladle in her hand: “How could a professional botanical garden not have some beans in its warehouse? I saw you marked a few recipes on the menu, so I guessed you wanted to eat them. You were sleeping like a log when I woke up this morning, so I didn’t disturb you. I went to Kanger to get some ingredients, and when I saw some beans, I took some out to make you some soy milk.”

To make a "point"?
Li Zheng paused in his brushing, looking at the large pot on the stove that was taller than Miriel's, from which steam and the aroma of soy milk wafted. He wanted to know exactly what Miriel meant by "point".

Even a billion is still a point, right?
"You didn't just move all the beans from someone else's warehouse and use them up, did you?" Li Zheng pointed to the large pot.

“No… how could that be?” Miriel laughed awkwardly. “I left some for Kanger, which should be enough for him to use as seeds later… right?”

In the end, even Miriel herself was a little unsure, feeling quite guilty.

Judging from her appearance, Li Zheng knew that this succubus princess, a stunningly beautiful girl, had been corrupted by him.

Yes, Li Zheng is aware of this.

He felt that he bore an unshirkable responsibility for how Miriel had become what it was.

If it weren't for the fact that he's been following me around lately and has been influenced by what I see and hear, he would search every matrix room thoroughly, leaving no valuable thing behind.

How could a princess of the succubus clan, of such noble status, possibly do something so tasteless?
No, I need to get Miriel to apologize to Kangor later, so he doesn't look down on our generation of players.

Li Zheng thought to himself.

After washing up, Li Zheng sat down at the low table. Miriel poured him a bowl of thick, white soy milk, which smelled delicious and made his mouth water.

I picked up the bowl, ignoring the scalding hot soy milk, and put myself in a complete isolation zone, tilting my head back and gulping down the whole bowl of soy milk.

"Mmm, rich in soybean aroma, smooth in texture, and easy to drink." Li Zheng gave a thumbs up: "Kanger truly lives up to his reputation as a seasoned plant cultivator. All the ingredients he produces here are top-notch. Even you, a cook who is making soy milk for the first time, have managed to make it so delicious. Amazing!"

"It's clearly because my cooking is better." Miriel rolled her eyes smugly, looking absolutely gorgeous.

Li Zheng looked away and said regretfully, "It's a pity there are no fried dough sticks. Otherwise, tearing them into small pieces and soaking them in soy milk would be absolutely divine!"

Soy milk and fried dough sticks are a perfect match; no one on Earth would disagree with that statement.

When eaten together, the enhanced flavor is far more than just one plus one equals two.

“Who said there aren’t any fried dough sticks?” Miriel pointed to a plate on the table. “Isn’t this one?”

Li Zheng: "..."

This is so awkward!

Is this a fried dough stick?

He picked up a baguette, which was longer and thicker than his arm, but with a crispy exterior and a soft interior. It was definitely not the baguette Li Zheng had initially thought it was.

"How did you do that?" Li Zheng silently tore off a few pieces and tasted them.

It has an oily aroma, but it's not greasy.

The first bite was a little unusual, but after a couple more bites, I found myself wanting more.

It's like when you're scrolling through short videos and suddenly come across Tian Yiming, the first time you hear "I dried up the silence," you might have the expressions of someone on the subway, an old person, and a mobile phone.

But after listening to it a few more times, it will become:

"Hmm? That's weird. Let me listen to it again."

"Huh? It actually sounds kind of nice."

"..." "I dried the silence~ destroyed impulsively~ even if I made a mistake this time, it was just because I was afraid of missing out~" Twist, twist, twist.

Overall, it can be summed up in two words: It's really delicious!
However, when Li Zheng put the fried dough stick into the soy milk for ten seconds and then took a bite, his eyes widened instantly, looking like two light bulbs.

The aroma of the fried dough sticks and the soy milk blend perfectly. After soaking for ten seconds, the dense honeycomb-like air pockets inside the fried dough sticks are fully soaked in the rich soy milk. When you take a bite, the crispy outer skin cracks open, and the rich soy milk inside explodes in your mouth like an aroma bomb.

Caught off guard, a large amount of soy milk spilled out of my mouth, and I couldn't hold it in for a moment, so it flowed out from the corner of my mouth.

"good to eat!"

Li Zheng swallowed the delicious food in his mouth, and his eyes involuntarily became a little moist.

How long has it been since he last tasted this flavor?

It seems like a month, or it seems like hundreds or thousands of years.

While in the matrix, he ate more advanced, more varied, and more delicious food than others every day.

But he has always had one regret: he couldn't find a way to make the traditional breakfast he used to eat almost every morning.

Soy milk and fried dough sticks.

The two simple breakfast items were something Li Zheng thought he hadn't tasted in a long time, but in fact, it had only been a short while.

When he learned from the clone that he was a clone, and that even his memories were the original version implanted by the original, he suddenly felt a sense of being torn apart.

It turns out that I haven't tasted the flavor of my hometown's breakfast for countless years.

Perhaps the original body had already fulfilled this wish through various means, because the stove blueprint that Li Zheng obtained from the treasure chest system most likely also came from a restaurant or factory in the outer city.

The recipes that come with the stove are almost all kinds of food from around the world.

If something like this exists, the entity behind it must be pulling the strings.

Regardless of whether the main body has achieved food freedom, for Li Zheng personally, this is the first time he has tasted a long-lost hometown breakfast after 'entering' the Matrix.

I still remember that this was my favorite way to eat it.

A bowl of soy milk with fried dough sticks.

If you're still not full, have another bowl of tofu pudding.

Douhua can be sweetened with sugar, or savory with ingredients such as dried shrimp, seaweed, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and chili oil.

Li Zheng himself doesn't like sweets, so he often eats savory tofu pudding.

A bite of smooth tofu pudding, paired with the perfect blend of several ingredients, is, in retrospect, one of the most exquisite pleasures in the world.

"Ugh……"

Recalling the past, Li Zheng sighed, "It's a pity there's no tofu pudding..."

"Have!"

Miriel brought out a large pot that looked like it was filled with soy milk from behind the stove, placed it on the table, and lifted the lid: "Tofu pudding!"

Li Zheng was taken aback, then said, "It's a pity there's no seaweed or pickled vegetables to go with it..."

"Have!"

Miriel pointed to several other plates on the table, containing several ingredients that Li Zheng did not recognize. Miriel explained, "These are substitutes; they should taste just as good."

Li Zheng was deeply moved. He held Miriel's little hand, choking back tears, and said, "When you grow up, could you...?"

"No!" Miriel immediately refused, "I could never marry you!"

"Uh...you misunderstood." Li Zheng finished speaking: "When you grow up, can you come and be the head chef at my restaurant?"

(End of this chapter)