---o---
"Holy crap, what the hell? How did I earn 50 crystals the moment I submitted this Curio? What did Yurine Hanazono do with it?"
Just as Chen Li ran to Kaguya Houraisan's room, intending to have her try out the tablecloth, he noticed his crystal balance had suddenly increased by 50, and he'd also gained 800 Starstones in an instant.
[Dad]: What happened? @[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]
[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]: What's wrong?
[Dad]: You didn't happen to waste any of the food you got from the tablecloth I sent you, did you?
[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]: I did not.
[Dad]: Oh, good!
[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]: Because I wasn't the one who used the tablecloth, nor was I the one who wasted the food.
[Dad]: Huh?
[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]: After that Jashin-chan girl saw your message about 'never wasting food,' she started spouting nonsense like, 'How could a Curio be so inconvenient?' and 'Why should I, a high-ranking demon, be bound by rules?' Then she flipped over the massive spread of food she had just summoned.
[Dad]: ...And now?
[The Strongest Black Mage on Earth]: Let's just say... I have never seen a sadder Jashin-chan. To put it bluntly, it's like her mom just died. It's a sight to make onlookers grieve and listeners weep.
Yurine looked at Jashin-chan, who was lying on the floor, silently weeping and muttering "Mommy, Mommy." She couldn't help but offer a piece of advice.
"You should call her. Your mom."
Jashin-chan's vacant eyes lit up. She took Yurine's phone and dialed the number of her parents in the Underworld.
"Hello, it's me..." Jashin-chan clutched the phone in anticipation.
Yurine was also curious about what Jashin-chan's parents were like.
And then...
A dial tone sounded from the other end.
Jashin-chan's parents had hung up on her.
"Waaaaah! I can't go on living!" Jashin-chan burst out crying.
She went downstairs. Not by the elevator, nor by the stairs, but through the window.
"..." by Chen Li.
"..." by Kaguya Houraisan.
Looking at the picture of the utterly despondent Jashin-chan in the group chat, Kaguya flew into a rage.
"Chen Li! I thought of you as a good brother! I could let it slide that you want to sleep with me, but now you're trying to harm me too!"
"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want! When did I ever try to harm you?"
"Then why did you want me to use this tablecloth?"
"I already told you, as long as you don't waste the food, there are no side effects to using this tablecloth. And it doesn't even limit how long you have to finish the food, or even stop you from giving the food to someone else to eat," Chen Li explained.
It was because of that last effect, combined with the fact that the tablecloth produced all sorts of strange and bizarre food for him, that Chen Li had planned to have Kaguya use it to generate food for him to feed to the Herrscher of the Void.
The food Kaguya would want would naturally be the perfect kind for cultivating a shut-in. Letting Kaguya, the veteran shut-in, lead the Herrscher of the Void, the rookie shut-in, would accelerate the Herrscher's domestication project.
There was nothing wrong with Chen Li's logic. And as the Curio Forger, even after giving the Curio to someone else, Chen Li could spend Starstones to use it simultaneously.
"But how can you be sure that if the Herrscher of the Void wastes the food, I won't be the one who suffers?" Kaguya asked.
"Hiss... that's a very tricky angle to your question." Chen Li suddenly felt that Kaguya had a point.
The Curio's description didn't mention the answer to that at all. It only said that wasting food would result in punishment, but not who would be punished. And in Jashin-chan's case, she had used the tablecloth to summon the food herself and then wasted it herself, all because she wanted to treat Yurine to some "Underworld delicacies."
"Speaking of which, if the person being punished is the one who uses the tablecloth and not the one who wastes the food... what if I have the Herrscher of the Void use the tablecloth to make food, give it to me, and I waste it? If I waste it eight or ten times, wouldn't the Herrscher of the Void become more obedient?" Kaguya mused, stroking her chin.
"Huh?"
"Think about it. If you want to rebuild a house, you first have to demolish the original one into ruins. Only by breaking the Herrscher of the Void can you better control her."
"..."
"So? Isn't my idea brilliant? You get to save the world and enjoy the pleasure of b***king her at the same time."
"I told you not to play those weird galgames! Can't you play something normal for once?" Chen Li smacked Kaguya on the head with The Guide to Forging Curios.
"Tch, keep pretending. You dare say there wasn't even a little part of you that was tempted?"
"Nope. Because I'm afraid of turning the Herrscher of the Void into a yandere."
"Hmm... that is a possibility." Kaguya nodded in deep agreement. Playing such a wicked game could indeed lead to trouble.
"In that case, first move some beanbag chairs over for her, then give her a set of loose-fitting clothes... Speaking of which, the Herrscher of the Void is in Kiana's consciousness space. Can a sofa even be transported there?"
"It can. Even physical food can be transformed into something the Herrscher of the Void can eat, so it's not a problem."
"Then if the Herrscher of the Void casually tosses a yellow garbage bag in her consciousness space, does that mean Kiana's mind at that moment would be full of yellow garbage?"
"Er..."
"And looking at it from another angle, could the Herrscher of the Void create some imaginary items in her consciousness space and then send them to you? If so, would you receive a physical item?"
"I'll test it out while I'm... cultivating the Herrscher of the Void," Chen Li said after noting these speculations in his memo.
"Hmm. You know, the format of this memo of yours is a bit unique... why does it look so much like a chat interface with a client?" Kaguya asked after glancing at the contents of Chen Li's memo.
"It's not 'like' one, it is one."
"Huh?"
"This client is named Vita. I've sent her a lot of messages, but she's never replied, so I just use her as a memo pad."
"...Does that count as harassment?"
"Vita hasn't said anything about it," Chen Li said with a wave of his hand.
He had actually gotten the idea from Sparkle. Although his Guide to Forging Curios did have a memo function, sending a few more harassing messages to Vita would ensure that when she couldn't take it anymore, or when she finally woke up, she would contact him immediately.
That Vita, is she planning to sleep all the way to the grand finale?
Still, Chen Li felt that Vita might have made the right choice. The later it got, the more funds he would have, and the better the Curios he could forge would be. Just as the past Chen Li could never have imagined that the exquisite Curios he made were merely novice-level items that couldn't even be rated with stars.
"Alright, I'm off to find some loose clothes for the Herrscher of the Void... and then I'll prepare some happy fat otaku water, chips, instant noodles, and the like." Chen Li stood up.
"It's not that much trouble. I have some unworn loose clothes in my closet," Kaguya said casually.
"Ermm... I have a feeling they might be a bit tight on the Herrscher of the Void, especially in the chest area."
"CHEN! LI!"
---o---
"Did you hear? A stall called the 'Try Not to Cry Challenge' recently appeared in Changle. It costs 1,000 Credits to participate. If you can withstand the Curio's punishment after wasting food without crying, you win 1 million Credits! But so far, no one has managed to win the grand prize."
"What 'Try Not to Cry Challenge'? It sounds like some kind of attention-seeking gimmick... Let me give it a try!"
"Hey, hey, isn't it a bit too crowded here? I'm Sushang of the Cloud Knights. Everyone, listen to me and spread out a bit. Hmm? Little Gui, what are you doing here?"
When the Cloud Knight Sushang saw the large crowd and volunteered to maintain order, she spotted her best friend, Guinaifen, in the throng.
"Here to take the challenge, of course! Shanshang, you might not know this, but this 'Try Not to Cry Challenge' is really popular right now. If I can beat it, my fame will skyrocket, and we can make big money together!" A red-haired woman in red clothes waved at the approaching Cloud Knight.
"You... are you really going to try? I saw that guy crying his heart out," Sushang said, moving closer to her friend and pointing fearfully at a Xianzhou native who was stuffing food into his mouth while crying and shouting, "Mommy, I'll never waste food again!"
"Don't worry. What kind of scene haven't I, Guinaifen, seen before?" Guinaifen patted her chest confidently.
After sending off the well-fed but sobbing Xianzhou native, Chen Li looked up at the next challenger.
"Hmm? Guinaifen, right?" Chen Li said, looking at her.
"Shanshang, did you see that? I'm famous now!" Guinaifen was thrilled that he knew her name and excitedly told the girl in the apricot-yellow dress beside her.
"Yes, yes, stop shaking me." Sushang felt like her brain was about to be scrambled. She knew her friend, whom she had only recently met, had a fiery personality, so she wasn't angry.
"Can I get your autograph? I'll waive the challenge fee," Chen Li said to Guinaifen.
Chen Li was quite interested in the "Xianzhou Black Tights King" before him. In the game Honkai: Star Rail, besides Guinaifen, all the other gacha-pullable characters from the Xianzhou either wore white stockings or had bare legs. The black tights attribute was a real rarity.
"Really? Of course! Where do I sign?" Guinaifen was eager, seeming very interested in signing autographs.
"Just sign on this liability waiver."
"Ah, I need to sign a waiver?" Guinaifen was taken aback.
"Some people cry really hard. I'm worried about accidents," Chen Li nodded.
"You're kidding, I'm super brave, okay? Watch me!"
...
"Waaah!"
Thirty seconds later, Guinaifen let out a loud wail and burst into tears.
Chen Li just silently handed her a tissue from the nearly empty box beside him, not at all surprised. He had even written "Single-parent families and orphans, please attempt with caution" on the side, but... that title might have just triggered their rebellious instincts.
Chen Li wasn't bothered. He just kept his eyes on the Entry forming above his head.
[Orphan Killer] Entry extraction in progress...
Progress: 30/100 (Progress increases by successfully breaking an orphan's composure with a mother-related attack)