Chapter 26: A New Sick Domain Instance Is Coming!
Qing Shi Building, first floor, cafeteria.
Niu Tunan was slumped in a chair, asleep.
Ba Lie sat grandly and comfortably, with a small mountain of buns piled on the plate before him, eating one bite at a time.
His eyes were constantly fixed on the entrance of the cafeteria, and upon seeing Jiang Yan, he smiled, stood up, and waved:
"Jiang Yan, over here. Take whatever you want to eat. When our cafeteria was built, the standard it followed was that of the world’s top hotels. Both the taste and the atmosphere are first-class."
"This is the urgent matter you mentioned?" Jiang Yan was speechless.
"Not being proactive about meals means there’s something wrong with your head. If you don’t come early, it’ll be all gone. Young people shouldn’t be obsessed with establishing merits. This kind of peaceful daily life is the best."
Ba Lie spoke righteously as he picked up a palm-sized meat bun and handed it over:
"Quick, try this big meat bun. Juicy and flavorful—saved my stomach that was used to desert cuisine."
"Huh? Director Ba, you’re from the desert region?"
Jiang Yan casually took it and asked offhandedly.
No wonder he had such a burly physique—so he was a lasso-wielding man of the steppes!
"Yeah, but I’m not a native of the desert province. I’m from Modu."
"Modu?"
Jiang Yan couldn’t associate the refined people of Modu with the two-meter-tall man in front of him.
"Haha, pretty surprising, right? Back then, because of that famine, I went to the desert along with other orphans. I was lucky to meet Eji. You never saw me when I was young—thin and small. Eji said she thought she saw a little monkey."
"To adopt us, she sold her wedding jewelry to buy a dairy cow and raised me into the strongest man on the grasslands!"
As Ba Lie spoke, he raised his right arm, proudly displaying his bicep.
Jiang Yan had heard of this touching story and asked curiously:
"Then why didn’t you stay in the desert and instead came to Jiangnan Province?"
Ba Lie replied earnestly, "I’m a child of the grasslands, and also a child of the country. Wherever I’m needed, that’s where I’ll go. Besides, all the ethnic groups of our Tianxia Alliance are one big family—so warm and welcoming, everywhere feels like home."
Jiang Yan felt a deep respect rise within him.
Such high ideological awareness!
"Because the salary for being stationed away from home is higher—the farther, the better. But Director Ba can’t live without spicy food, so he didn’t go to Nanyue Province. Instead, he chose central Jiangnan Province, near Pan’an County in Jianggan Province."
Zhao Yinman’s cold voice came from behind.
She was still wearing red and white Ming-style Hanfu, holding a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup in her hands.
Eating something light for breakfast was normal...
But thinking of her identity as a zombie, it still felt a bit weird.
"High salary and high awareness are not in conflict!"
Ba Lie spoke with righteous conviction: "I have to work hard and make money—to buy Eji so much gold jewelry she can’t finish wearing it."
Jiang Yan strongly agreed with this. Talents must be well-treated so they can give their all to their work.
'Later I should ask when the salary is paid. There are too many gold-devouring beasts at home—if this goes on, I’ll soon be blessed by the God of Poverty.'
Jiang Yan mused inwardly as he bit into the bun. The juices burst in his mouth, making his eyes light up.
"Mmm, delicious!"
It was the best bun he had ever tasted.
Especially the meat filling—minced just right, it felt like he could sense the meat trembling.
This texture was leagues beyond the frozen semi-finished products from chain breakfast shops.
Most importantly, after eating it, he felt an inexplicable calm settle in his heart, and his originally weak blood and energy felt much more abundant.
Was this... drugged?
"Hehe, tasty, right? This was made by our head chef—also your future colleague..."
Seeing Jiang Yan’s surprised expression, Ba Lie was about to introduce him, but then looked around the empty cafeteria, took a deep breath, and then...
"Yin Yiyi!"
His voice thundered, making the cafeteria tremble slightly.
It startled Niu Tunan, who was still sleeping nearby. He jolted, rolled under the chair, grabbed the table leg, looked around in alarm, and said with a frightened expression:
"Have the enemies broken in?"
"Stop yelling, I’m right here!"
A soft voice came from behind the cafeteria window.
The next second, a white chef's hat poked out, accompanied by clattering noises and the sound of a chair being dragged.
Soon, a girl wearing a chef's hat appeared at the window. Her hair was messy, her forehead covered in fine sweat, and her face was flushed.
She spoke in a soft and gentle voice:
"Director Ba, I was just in the kitchen. I could hear you talking. You don’t need to shout so loudly every time."
"You just love hiding too much!"
Director Ba laughed heartily and introduced, "This is our bureau's head chef—Yin Yiyi. She may look young, but she’s already eighteen, and also a History Walker.
She follows the path of proving the Dao through cooking. She can make food that soothes emotions, heals injuries, and even enhances spiritual power, all based on different ingredients.
If you find any special ingredients or recipes in the Sick Domain, you can hand them over to her to process. Today’s welcome banquet will be prepared by her."
"Hello, I’m Jiang Yan. The buns you made are the best I’ve ever had in my life," Jiang Yan praised from the heart.
This kind of food that replenishes qi and blood would be worth quite a bit of money outside.
But in the workplace, as long as you didn’t take it away, you could eat as much as you wanted.
No wonder the end of the universe was employment—benefits were really great!
"Thank you, my name is Yin Yiyi."
Yin Yiyi’s face turned red as she replied softly, then shrank back beneath the window, clearly a bit socially anxious.
She looked like she’d be easy to bully...
Like hell she would!
At the welcome banquet that night, Jiang Yan watched as the girl whose hair turned into countless blades instantly dissected a whole pig and grinned menacingly at the skeleton. In that instant, he felt...
This Pan’an sub-bureau was beyond saving!
But then again...
So fragrant!
The dishes not only tasted great, but also replenished qi and blood.
In the end, everyone had a great time. Yin Yiyi turned back into her soft and cute loli self and started blushing after just one sip of baijiu.
Niu Tunan devoured food like a starving ghost, who knew what he had gone through in his dreams.
The only pity was that two other colleagues had been pulled away by headquarters for work and might not return for a whole month.
They asked Ba Lie to apologize on their behalf and said they’d gather next time.
Jiang Yan completely understood. Who hadn’t been a corporate workhorse?
Over the next few days, Jiang Yan retrieved his luggage from the Gold Brick Hotel and officially moved into the staff dormitory.
Of course, it wasn’t just because it was free or because of the free meals—he simply loved his job.
Although most of the time, he was holed up in his room, busy with one major task:
Farming!
But he wasn’t using soil. Instead, he used...
Flesh and blood!
In the room.
"Brother Pig, your sacrifice is worthwhile!"
Jiang Yan looked at the eight large pigs before him, already dead with their brains pierced by blood threads, and wore an expectant expression. He had used the Burial Coffin’s need to feed as an excuse to ask Yin Yiyi where to find pig farms.
Yin Yiyi looked into it and suggested adding his name to the ingredient wholesale list.
Each big white pig was around three hundred and fifty jin, and only cost four thousand apiece.
All eight cost only thirty thousand yuan—just ten yuan per jin on average.
He formed a seal with his right hand and whispered:
"Large rat, large rat, eat not my millet! Blessed land, blessed land, eternal and unceasing."
The Blessed Land of Large Rats Spell activated.
Rustle—
Root tendrils of rice ears spread through the void. Grains of rice scattered across the pigs’ corpses.
Once stained with fresh blood, they quickly took root and sprouted.
In the blink of an eye, lush, blood-colored rice ears had grown.
The eight pig corpses, meanwhile, turned to ash.
Then, the Spirit of the Burial Coffin would sweep the place with a broom.
It always kept its master’s living environment clean and tidy, including its own belly, which was also spotless.
Ready for move-in at any time.
"Eight pigs in exchange for a single rice ear—if Grandpa knew about this food production ratio, he’d kick me out of the house with a broom."
Jiang Yan muttered, picking up a rice ear that bore twelve grains, each about the thickness of a pinky, their surface as lustrous as blood jade.
With practiced ease, Jiang Yan rubbed off the husks with his fingers. No need for a rice cooker—he bit down directly.
Crunch.
After a few chews, a rich rice fragrance burst between his lips and teeth.
The taste was soft, glutinous, sweet, and extremely delicious. He felt immense satisfaction, as if all his desires had been fulfilled.
It was like stepping into a worry-free Blessed Land.
"No wonder it’s called Blessed Land Rice. It really does make you feel happy. If only Yin Yiyi could process it a bit, it would be even better."
Jiang Yan calmed his heart and sensed streams of invisible energy flowing through his limbs and bones, gently strengthening his body.
"Burp~"
Without stopping, he ate twelve grains of Blessed Land Rice in a row and couldn’t help letting out a satisfied burp.
Not only did it replenish the qi and blood he had sacrificed, but it also eased the discomfort caused by the worsening liver cancer.
Of course, this couldn’t have happened without the dietary supplements from Yin Yiyi.
"Over the past few days, I’ve eaten roughly two hundred grains of Blessed Land Rice. The effects have diminished slightly, but not by much. Once I build up more experience, reaching Foundation Establishment Stage with the physical body shouldn’t be too hard.
The excess spiritual energy has also accumulated within my body. Once the cultivation method is in place, I should be able to advance smoothly to the peak of Spirit Awakening Stage.
With my current physique, a single punch could take down a small tractor."
Jiang Yan smiled. In the past, farming was done with oxen, and people measured strength by saying someone could kill a cow with one punch.
As a modern person, he had to keep up with the times—so he simply used a farming tractor as the new benchmark.
"The only downside is that it’s too expensive!"
Jiang Yan was a bit distressed.
For the first time, he felt like his money was running dry too fast.
Not only did he need to eat spiritual rice, but the Burial Coffin had to keep burying corpses, and he also had to satisfy the Mouth of the Purified Altar’s cravings and its absorption of life force.
As a result, the one million yuan reward plus over a hundred thousand in savings from work had now dwindled to just three hundred eighty thousand.
The God of Poverty was calling.
In the meantime, he had also experimented with other animals, including some invasive species, but they all lacked sufficient qi and blood, and the yield of Blessed Land Rice was terribly low.
After trying all kinds, only pigs, cattle, and sheep were suitable.
Among them, pigs offered the best cost-performance ratio.
"Sigh, the Rice God of Wealth Church only needs to find flesh-rice seeds and can suppress the rice-eating mutations by eating a lot of meat. But I have so much more to consider..."
Jiang Yan sighed. Just as he was about to order another batch of Brother Pig, he suddenly saw rust-colored Historical Dust spreading out from the void—sparkling, not many in number.
They drifted slowly and gradually gathered, causing Jiang Yan to frown as he murmured:
"So soon already?"
According to Zhao Yinman’s handwriting, the active appearance of Historical Dust signaled a forewarning from the River of History.
At any moment, he could...
Enter a new Sick Domain!