"Yes, it recorded some new recipes I've been researching recently," Himeko said with a hint of regret, "I originally intended to cook them for you all to taste tonight. Since it's not to be found, forget it; I probably just set it down somewhere and forgot."
"What a pity!" Aidan said, his tone filled with regret, "We were really looking forward to Sister Himeko's new dishes! Really! Especially, especially looking forward to them!"
Dan Heng twitched the corner of his mouth silently in the back.
"It's okay, although the recipe book is missing, I still remember some of them roughly."
Aidan:?!
Still remembers?
Aidan's expression became very colorful.
"Of course, it seems like stir-fried moth silk risotto, deep-fried watermelon strips, duck leg confit with coffee beans, strawberry devil-spicy tofu..."
It sounded desperate just listening to it.
He turned to look at Dan Heng, but Dan Heng's cold sweat was streaming down even faster.
"Don't you think these few new dishes sound very creative? I think so too—especially that strawberry devil-spicy tofu."
"It certainly sounds delicious..." Aidan forced a smile, his voice dry, "Sister Himeko is truly... so creative. It's simply unprecedented and will never be surpassed! But Sister Himeko, cooking so many dishes must be exhausting, right? Shall we... uh, shall we just have the Conductor whip something up? After all, you're already busy enough worrying about the big and small matters of the Astral Express, how can we let you do the rough work of cooking yourself!"
"It's not exhausting," Himeko replied crisply, "Cooking is a form of relaxation for me. Besides, I've already prepared the ingredients."
It's over.
Aidan felt his vision go dark.
"Um... Dan Heng said he wants to eat something light tonight!" Aidan, thinking quickly, grabbed the still-dazed Dan Heng, "Right, Dan Heng? Didn't you just say your stomach hasn't been feeling well lately and you wanted to have some plain congee or something?"
"Right. Stomach hurts. Want congee. Plain congee. The kind with nothing added."
There was silence outside the door for two seconds.
"Stomach hurts, huh..." Himeko's voice sounded concerned, "There's also a Bitter Melon Cooling Mint Special Drink in the new recipe book, it's said to be especially good for the stomach, clearing heat and detoxifying. I'll go make you a cup right now, it'll be quick; hot ginger juice, chili powder, bitter melon, mint..."
"!"
No!
Aidan was almost driven to despair.
Accompanied by a strong tremor, everything became extremely slow, and finally stopped completely.
Looking from space, the Astral Express seemed as if it had been frozen by an invisible blue force field.
However, there was a time limit, so Aidan had to hurry and take advantage of the time he could stop to revise Himeko's recipe into a new one—
Must write something normal.
Must write something humans can eat.
Must write something that Sister Himeko won't suspect, and that can actually be made.
"Sweet and sour pork ribs!"
"Fish-flavored shredded pork!"
"Potato beef!"
"Honey citron tea!"
Aidan added new content to the notebook and tore out the old content—anyway, it was just two pages, it wouldn't be noticeable.
Although time had stopped, Aidan could feel the energy in his body being consumed rapidly.
As the last stroke fell, Aidan felt like his wrist was about to break, and he quickly placed the revised recipe notebook outside the Data Bank.
"Time... flows again."
The colors of the world became vivid again.
The drop of cold sweat hanging on Dan Heng's chin finally fell, shattering on the floor. Himeko's voice from outside the door seamlessly connected in.
"...and so on."
Aidan's legs went soft, and he almost lost his footing.
"What's wrong with you?" Dan Heng quickly steadied him.
"It's nothing... just a bit tired..."
Footsteps came from outside the door, followed by a soft sound of surprise.
"Huh? Why is this recipe book here?"
Himeko's voice carried surprise.
Silence.
Then, the footsteps moved from far to near.
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Dan Heng? Aidan? Are you still there? I found the recipe book."
Aidan took a deep breath, trying hard to make his voice sound normal: "Yes, we're here! Sister Himeko found it? That's great!"
"Yes, right on the floor outside the Data Bank," Himeko seemed very puzzled, "Strange, I clearly remembered putting it in the kitchen... Well then, I'll cook according to the recipe tonight."
"Good... that's good..." Aidan's voice was a bit weak.
"By the way, there's also that Bitter Melon Cooling Mint Special Drink," Himeko added, "It's especially good for the stomach, Dan Heng, you must try it."
Dan Heng's expression froze.
"Okay."
Outside the door came the sound of Himeko's footsteps fading away, and the two of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
"What did you just do?" Dan Heng asked in a low voice.
"I stopped time."
"You... stopped time?"
"Right, paused it for about... a little while," Aidan leaned against the wall, panting, "I changed the recipe. I tore out the original two pages and wrote new content on them."
"What did you write?"
"Sweet and sour pork ribs, fish-flavored shredded pork, potato beef," Aidan counted on his fingers, "They are all dishes that normal people can eat, absolutely safe."
Dan Heng was silent for two seconds.
"So... what about the Bitter Melon Mint Special Drink?"
"Changed it to Honey Citron Tea."
"Thank you."
However, at dinnertime, in front of Aidan was stir-fried moth silk risotto, in front of Dan Heng was deep-fried watermelon strips, in front of March 7th was strawberry devil-spicy tofu, and in front of Welt was duck leg confit with coffee beans.
"Oh my, everyone don't be polite, try it."
Aidan looked up and met Himeko's smiling eyes.
"What's wrong? Not to your taste?"
"Sister Himeko," Aidan took a deep breath, trying hard to keep his voice steady, "May I ask, the dishes you cooked tonight... seem a bit different from what was written in the recipe?"
"The recipe?" Himeko blinked, "Oh, you mean that. That was indeed something I jotted down casually, but I thought about it later and felt those dishes were too ordinary, lacking creativity."
"So..."
"So I just went with my own ideas," Himeko said matter-of-factly, "This is also part of the Trailblaze, after all."
Aidan felt his stomach starting to twitch.
March 7th looked at the strawberry devil-spicy tofu, the bright red chili oil paired with fresh strawberries, poured over the trembling white tofu—the visual effect was like a small murder scene had just occurred.
Strawberries and devil-spicy tofu could actually appear in her stomach together.
But these two things absolutely must not appear in her bowl at the same time!
The duck leg confit with coffee beans in front of Welt looked the most normal, at least in shape it was still a duck leg. But the rich coffee bean aroma mixed with the duck fat produced a chemical scent that made even Welt unconsciously lean back.
Dan Heng appeared calm, but in reality, he had been gone for a while.