Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

after an hour.

Howard brought the bag of flour to Char's warehouse, but this time he was not tied up or blindfolded. Instead, he was invited in openly.

"Mr. Howard, is there anything I can help you with?" Facing Howard's visit, Xia seemed very calm. Before Howard came, he was talking to his men, but when Howard came to visit, he interrupted the conversation.

After what happened last time, Howard also understood that the man in front of him had only two states: calm or crazy, and as long as his sanity potion could be delivered to his brain in time, he would always remain calm.

Howard placed the bag of flour he had tampered with in front of him.

"I found a lot of impurities in the ingredients delivered today," Howard said. "I think even though our customers don't trust the claims we make about our packaged products, they're willing to tolerate our products because they're effective. But if we were to fool them with such inferior products, they wouldn't necessarily be willing to tolerate us."

After hearing what Howard said, Xia reached into the bag, grabbed a handful of flour mixed with impurities, and poured it in again.

Then he turned to the boy who came with Howard and asked, "What's going on?"

"I...I don't know..." The boy stammered, "This bag of flour was clearly normal when I was transporting it..."

"So you opened it and looked at it during transportation?" Char asked calmly.

"No, no! Absolutely not, I swear!" Char's question startled the boy, who quickly jumped up to explain, "When I say normal, I mean there was no damage or mix-up during transportation. It's the same as before."

"But that doesn't make sense," Xia said. "In my opinion, the most likely scenario for this problem is that the bag of flour was damaged and contaminated during transportation, and then you found a new bag to cover it."

"Absolutely not!" The boy was so scared when he heard this that he knelt down.

"I don't think it's his problem." Howard couldn't stand it anymore, so he spoke up for the boy.

"So what do you think?" Xia asked Howard.

"The debris in this bag of flour is sand and wheat hulls. If the flour packaging was damaged during transportation, then these debris should not be inside." Howard said, "So after eliminating all the impossible, I can only think of two possibilities."

"Number one: I opened the bag of flour and threw this stuff in to mix it up when no one was around," Howard said.

"What about the other option?" Char asked, seemingly assuming that the first option was ruled out.

"I mean, is there a possibility that this bag of flour was like this when it was packaged at the place of production?" Howard said.

"The people I work with are all shrewd and honest," Char replied. "If he consistently provides me with top-quality products, our partnership will continue, and both parties will profit. But what does he gain by giving me a bag of adulterated flour? Only the negligible price difference between the two flours of different qualities, but at the cost of losing me as a partner."

"No, no, I'm not saying your partner is cheating you," Howard explained. "I mean, isn't it possible that he made some small mistake? For example, because of heavy labor or a machine malfunction, a bag of low-quality flour was packed into a package of high-quality flour and then sent here?"

After listening to Howard's analysis, Xia nodded repeatedly and said, "After comprehensive analysis, this is indeed the most likely scenario. I will communicate with the other party about this matter, and this kind of problem will not occur again."

"I don't think there's any need to communicate with the other party over such a small matter. What if the problem is caused by a third reason that goes beyond ordinary logic and neither you nor I expected? If you rashly negotiate with your business partner before the problem is confirmed, it may cause some unpleasantness." Howard added.

Xia fell into deep thought, and after a long while he said, "So, Mr. Howard, how do you think this matter should be handled best?"

"From wheat sowing to making pancakes, there are three main steps: production and processing, transportation, and cooking. I'm responsible for cooking, while processing takes place on the grain-producing planet. Transportation is shared equally between us, so I believe the transportation link is most likely to cause problems and create issues." Howard thought for a moment and then said, "For the next few purchases, I want to inspect the goods immediately at the airport and supervise the entire transportation process. If this situation doesn't recur, then today's problem may just be a minor, unconventional incident. If I find a problem during my inspection, then the responsibility is not ours. It won't be too late to negotiate with your business partner then."

"This will give you a lot more work," Xia reminded.

"I'm a perfectionist." Howard raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, I agree to your request." Xia said.

Howard nodded and said, "That's all. I can use lower-quality flour this week. Those gentlemen probably won't be able to taste it anyway. Their tongues can only distinguish red wine from swill."

Howard was about to leave after saying this, but he suddenly remembered something and continued to ask, "You didn't find anything about the warning Adrien gave you last time?"

"A lot. Countless pieces of information are difficult to discern, and they contradict each other. However, the number of unusual reports has indeed increased dramatically compared to the past," Char replied. "Perhaps something is indeed about to happen, but I believe we've made the most basic preparations."

"What is...the most basic preparation?" Howard was puzzled.

"Food, fuel, ammunition, and medicine," Char replied. "As long as we have sufficient supplies of these, we can withstand any eventuality."

"That's good." Howard felt a little relieved. Although hoarding supplies foolishly seemed a bit stupid, it did work. In a complicated and uncertain situation, accumulating strength to deal with all kinds of changes was definitely not a stupid move.

But when Howard was about to leave, Xia called him back.

"Mr. Howard, for your own safety, you should stay in the upper nest."

"I hate going to the nest," Howard replied simply. "Goodbye."

Six days later, late at night.

Howard, who was snoring and drooling in his sleep, was awakened by a knock on the door. He answered in a daze, turned over and continued to sleep.

The knocking on the door stopped for a while, and then there was a stronger knock.

"Who..."

Howard got up from the bed in a daze, without putting on shoes, turning on the lights, or even opening his eyes. He just walked step by step to the door and opened it.

The door opened a little, and a beam of light came in. The person outside threw something to Howard. Howard subconsciously caught it in a panic. He was nine points sleepy and woke up a little. He opened his eyes and saw who was outside clearly.

It was Arabelle, dressed in a new outfit. She wore a long blue shirt and trousers, brown faux leather gloves, and a gray cap.

Seeing Arabelle, Howard regained some clarity. Then, he suddenly realized that he was naked and only wearing shorts. He regained another degree of clarity. He hurriedly hid behind the door, scratching his head and greeting Arabelle: "Good morning...good morning..."

Arabelle looked at him with an expression of helplessness yet accustomed to it, then said, "Do you want to go to the airport to inspect the goods?"

Howard's eyes suddenly widened and all sleepiness disappeared.