1301 East Sunset Boulevard. A giant penguin graffiti by the door made the place look incredibly eye-catching.
This was the "End of the Earth" bar, the main headquarters of Penguin Logistics. Inside, a talking penguin and four lawless employees were carrying out the final link of their daily routine:
Accepting commissions to deliver packages; fighting gangs and anyone they found an eyesore on the road; casually destroying public property along the way; going to the police station every month to settle fines for public property damage; and finally, throwing a heartless, carefree party in the bar.
"Lungmen-style apple pie is here!"
A Sankta with a brightly glowing halo trotted over, placing a plate of her signature dessert on the long party table.
"Try it, try it, quick! It's my newly developed limited edition, I guarantee you've never had anything like it!"
As soon as the Sankta finished her pitch, Croissant, the most gluttonous, super-strong beautiful girl in Penguin Logistics, was the first to be tempted.
She put down the half-chewed bread in her hand and used a knife and fork to slice a piece off the freshly baked apple pie, bringing it to her lips.
Immediately, she smelled a sweet, mouth-watering aroma... along with an indescribable, savory umami scent.
"I'll be the first to taste-test! I believe in Sister Exusiai's apple pie baking skills!"
With that, not caring if it burned her mouth, Croissant took a huge bite, feeling the rich aroma of butter and the soft, juicy apple flesh melting on the tip of her tongue.
"So good!"
Croissant took a second bite, beaming with joy.
Just then, Sora, an active teenage idol who was quite particular about her dietary intake, asked cautiously, "By the way, Exusiai, what makes it a 'Lungmen-style' apple pie?"
Exusiai smugly rubbed her fair, petite nose, just about to reveal her secret when—
Croissant's teeth suddenly struck a firm texture. It wasn't the soft stickiness of an apple, but a chewy, meaty substance.
At first, the Forte girl didn't mind: she never refused either sweets or meat.
But the next second, the drastically different tastes of sweet and salty explosively detonated in Croissant's mouth.
The sweet and sour taste of the apple was still lingering on the tip of her tongue when it suddenly collided with the unique smoky, salty, and meaty flavor of cured meat. The originally smooth taste instantly went bad, and even the butter's aroma was completely overwhelmed.
The reason the war between the sweet faction and the salty faction existed so widely was precisely because these two flavor profiles were inherently difficult to blend perfectly—let alone in Exusiai's first-time experimental attempt.
Croissant's chewing motion came to a screeching halt. Her eyes widened in grievance, and the blissful smile of tasting delicious food on her face was instantly paused. Her mouth was filled with an overwhelming sense of wrongness.
"What kind of abomination is this! You actually put Char Siu in an apple pie?"
Even a veteran foodie like Croissant couldn't handle this combination. She almost called Exusiai a heretic—but ultimately reconsidered, realizing that such a title would be far too offensive to a Lateranan, and swallowed the word.
"Otherwise, why would it be called a Lungmen-style apple pie! You're the lucky first taste-tester! How do you feel, how are you feeling right now! Isn't it super creative?"
Exusiai stood with one hand on her hip, smiling with a sly expression.
"What?! Char Siu?!" "Good thing I haven't taken a bite yet... Char Siu in an apple pie, just thinking about it makes me feel nauseous."
Sora, who had just picked up a slice to try, instantly froze upon hearing this.
"Are none of you going to even try it? I'll be really sad!"
Exusiai forked a piece herself and put it in her mouth. She subconsciously frowned a little but still swallowed it down, relying purely on her love for apple pie.
She muttered to herself softly, "Feels like there's still room for improvement. Next time I'll add some honey to neutralize the saltiness, or try slicing the Char Siu differently."
Croissant picked up her bread again and complained, "Next time, please taste-test it yourself first, Sister Exusiai! For you, you can finish any kind of apple pie anyway!"
Sora laughed and said, "It's a good thing we don't have any native Yenese here, otherwise your treatment of Char Siu would be like making a haphazard pizza right in front of a Siracusan like Texas!"
Texas leaned back in her chair, a Pocky stick dangling from her lips, and said mildly, "It doesn't matter. It's been a long time since I remembered that I'm from Siracusa."
Sora then remembered that the Lupo girl in front of her felt no sense of belonging to her homeland, and couldn't help but inwardly curse herself for misspeaking.
"Wow! Texas is always so cool!"
Exusiai leaned in close to her. Completely unlike Sora, who was slightly reserved around Texas, Exusiai straightforwardly tugged at the Lupo girl's arm.
"So do you want to give it a try? It might unexpectedly suit your taste!"
"Not interested."
Texas turned her head away, rejecting her cleanly and crisply.
Meanwhile, the boss of Penguin Logistics—the gold-medal music producer whose outward appearance was literally a penguin: Emperor—was still sipping fine wine on the side while listening to his vinyl records.
Suddenly, a subordinate in a suit hurried in. Holding several music sheets in hand, he rushed over to Emperor with an excited expression:
"Boss! A message came from Siren Records saying they received a few incredible submissions. The head of the country and rap division said you absolutely have to listen to them yourself!"
"Oh? For the department head I carefully selected to take it so seriously, did they unearth some incredible golden hit?"
Emperor's interest was piqued. He put down his wine glass and took the sheet music.
He glanced at the melodies on the sheet music and the lyrics written in the Victorian language.
Emperor had spent a lot of time in Columbia, which used Victorian as its official language. Country and rap music were exactly the two most popular genres in that nation.
Although this lyricist's phrasing and word choices were very strange, with many methods differing from modern people.
If he had to put a finger on it, it was actually more similar to the ancient Victorian language from Emperor's distant memories.
In short, Emperor could understand the lyrics and the sheet music. Even though they hadn't test-sung it yet, Emperor could still feel that the melody of this song was extraordinary.
These few songs were, of course, extraordinary. They were pop hits with such massive popularity in Denji's original world that, even after coming to Terra, he was able to recreate the lyrics and melodies by hiring underground gang singers.
As for why Denji submitted them to Emperor, it was naturally to secure the first financial backer for his entertainment route.
Most entertainment investors in Lungmen were very realistic, valuing—
Coincidentally, the active idol Sora was right there in the bar. Emperor waved the sheet music:
"Sora, come, sing these songs once through with the bar's band."
"Okay, Boss!"
Sora immediately agreed, took the sheet music, and quickly began coordinating the performance with the bar's resident band members.
The person who submitted to Emperor was naturally Denji. As for the reason for the submission, it was naturally to execute his entertainment route for spreading fear.
Most entertainment investors in Lungmen were relatively realistic, valuing seniority and commercial returns more.
But Emperor was different.
According to the intel Denji had gathered, this boss of Penguin Logistics and Siren Records had a fanatical, pure passion for music, especially an obsession with rap.
As long as he encountered a work that suited his tastes, he would spare no effort to heavily promote it, making him the perfect first collaborative partner for Denji's entry into the entertainment circle.
Not to mention, Penguin Logistics' intelligence network in Lungmen extended in all directions. They were already a target Denji wanted to contact in his search for companions.
Lungmen's newspapers featured Emperor's recruitment ads and photos. Denji took one look at it, pointed at the portrait on the T-shirt Emperor was wearing, and exclaimed out loud:
"Isn't this fucking 2Pac? How did he also win the resurrection match and transmigrate? Or is this penguin also a transmigrator?"
Thus, Denji became even more determined in his idea to collaborate with Emperor.
It was just that one thing was very troublesome: Terra's language was similar to Earth's, but not entirely identical.
Denji couldn't accurately memorize those massive blocks of lyrics in rap songs at all, let alone adapt them into rhyming schemes that fit the Terran language.
Just as he was agonizing over this, he suddenly remembered that in his past life, there was an English pop song containing rap lyrics that had become incredibly familiar due to a certain trending internet meme. It allowed even an English academic failure like Denji to memorize large chunks of the lyrics.
"This is the one! Let that man achieve cyber-immortality in another world too!"
With the help of local gang singers, Denji completed the sheet music for this golden internet hit and mailed it to Siren Records.
And at this moment, inside the bar, Sora cleared her throat and sang the first lyric with deep emotion: "It's been a long day without you my friend..."
────────────────────────────────────────
Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Spring Sale Special – 20% OFF!
Arknights: Chainsaw Man Buccia
Join the journey and become part of the story!
────────────────────────────────────────