This was the first time Xu An had questioned Ze Yuan's words.
The reasons behind it were simply too bizarre.
Sensing Xu An's skeptical tone, Ze Yuan actually got annoyed.
He snorted, "Believe it or not, I'm not saying anything else!"
Hearing Ze Yuan's petulant retort, Xu An burst into laughter.
Looking at Xu An's amused expression, Zhou Haimei also felt a pang of curiosity.
"An'an, what are you laughing at?"
Xu An glanced at Zhou Haimei, her smile fading back into calmness, and replied, "Nothing."
On the other side, she turned to ask Ze Yuan again.
"Stop messing around, quickly tell me, what exactly is going on?"
Seeing Xu An's serious demeanor as she steered the conversation back to the main topic, Ze Yuan stopped teasing her.
"Alright, alright."
"These red fruits are fine on their own, but the owner of this barbecue stall combined the red fruits with mustard greens, creating a seasoning that is rich in aroma and addictive."
Xu An listened, completely bewildered.
"What are mustard greens?"
Ze Yuan looked at Xu An with an expression akin to looking at trash, as if condemning her for her ignorance of basic things and lack of practical skills.
Of course, Xu An couldn't see Ze Yuan's actions.
"Hurry up and tell me, what are mustard greens?"
"They are just ordinary wild grass, but they have a strong fragrance. Especially when heated, the aroma stimulates the appetite. Red fruits are tart and sweet wild berries that also whet the appetite."
"Originally, the combination of these two would at most result in a more fragrant and appealing taste, it shouldn't be addictive, but..."
Upon hearing this, Xu An's eyes sharpened.
"So, in the end, the problem lies with the meat?"
Ze Yuan hummed in agreement. "Although this meat isn't human flesh, it's taken directly from a wild beast. To ensure the freshness of the meat and a taste that makes people linger, the vitality of the body must be maintained..."
Xu An found it hard to believe the words she was about to speak.
"You're saying this meat was cut from some animal while it was still alive?" Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly, as if she were muttering to herself.
She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or someone else.
"Impossible, how could that be? How could any animal have its flesh cut off and not die?"
She seemed to have found an explanation for herself.
"Ze Yuan, you don't think they captured very strong animals, killed them, and made barbecue out of them?"
But even Xu An couldn't convince herself of this theory.
Let alone the fact that after the apocalypse, most animals had mutated.
Even if there were bounty hunters willing to hunt for a high price, this barbecue stall's enormous meat supply
no hunter could handle.
Ze Yuan found humans very strange.
They always seemed to prefer to evade the truth at crucial moments.
"Are there really none?"
"Are there really no animals that can't die?"
Ze Yuan, like a seductive Satan whispering temptations into people's ears, asked Xu An, sentence by sentence.
"Are there really none?"
Xu An knew there were.
If there were still monsters in this world that could have their flesh cut endlessly without dying,
it would surely be animals infected by the little mushroom.
Seeing Xu An fall silent, Ze Yuan didn't press further.
He simply stated indifferently,
"Monsters like these, infected by the origin consciousness, that don't commit evil, are generally close to developing sentience. If you can extract the origin consciousness, you would actually be helping it indirectly."
Although Xu An hadn't met this "monster" they spoke of yet,
a hint of pity had already begun to stir in her heart.
No one knew better than her the power that ordinary-looking little mushroom possessed.
Whether it was the rabbit-headed monster that had injured Xu An and Qin Chuan when it was already wounded,
or the sea monster that had recently caused so much trouble for everyone,
all the oppressed creatures that possessed the power of the little mushroom
were fighting against this world in their own ways.
But this "little monster" that was willing to endure the pain of being butchered once a month without harming others,
Xu An felt heartache for a monster for the first time.
Zhou Haimei nudged Xu An with her elbow, "An'an, what are you spacing out about? It's our turn. Can we eat this meat? Should we buy it?"
Xu An looked at the fragrant meat before her, the urge to devour it gone.
"The meat is edible, but I don't want it anymore. If you want to try it, you can buy a small amount. Remember not to buy too much?"
Xu An cautioned.
Hearing Xu An say the meat was fine to eat, Zhou Haimei eagerly stepped forward.
"Boss, give me 10 skewers!"
The proprietress, responsible for collecting money, looked at the spirited girl before her, unsure if she was genuinely ignorant of the rules or trying to cause trouble.
"Miss, our barbecue is limited to three skewers per person, at most."
The proprietress did not forget to emphasize the word "most!"
Zhou Haimei's face fell.
"Three skewers?" She looked at the barbecue, which was no larger than her thumbnail, "This isn't a skewer per bite? And you have purchase limits?"
As soon as Zhou Haimei finished speaking, a chorus of laughter erupted from behind her.
"Are you buying or not? You want ten skewers, even if there wasn't a limit, could you afford it?"
"Yeah, this woman probably doesn't even know how much a skewer of barbecue costs?"
A bald, pot-bellied man stepped forward, his protruding belly almost pressing against Zhou Haimei.
"If you can't afford it, don't cause trouble here. Ten skewers of barbecue are 100 contribution points, and you?"
The man's eyes were filled with disdain.
Zhou Haimei looked at the greasy man, who could still eat so heartily in the apocalypse.
It was clear he wasn't a good person. Anger flared up.
"Why can't I afford it? If I say I can, I can afford it."
"Besides, I was just questioning why this barbecue has purchase limits. Isn't it okay to ask?"
"Tch, outsiders are just outsiders. You look like a savage wandering in the wilderness. It's understandable that you don't know the rules, but this is the Southern Base, not a place for you scavengers to run wild!"
The bald man, unfazed by Zhou Haimei's demeanor, pointedly accused her with an arrogant tone.
Most bafflingly, quite a few people behind her were egging him on.
"Are you buying or not? If not, get out of the way, don't block the path! Good dogs don't block the way!"
"Exactly, why are you acting so tough when you have no money?"
Just as everyone was shouting curses,
a person walked out from the front of the line and spoke to Xu An and Zhou Haimei, addressing the bald man.
"Brother Zhou, you've encountered these two women too? I say we should find the enforcement team and arrest these two!"
The man also asked the passersby with an air of gossip.
"What happened? What did these two women do?"
As soon as he spoke, someone nearby began to explain in a torrent of words.
"Them? They're the two women who cut in line earlier..."
[PS: Red fruits and mustard greens are purely fictional creations by the author.]