Fear of food

Chapter 42 Self-Rescue Through High-Quality Wild Food

Although Chen Qi was very curious about baguettes, he didn't rush to study them when the others met Xu An'an for the first time. Instead, he introduced coffee and the others to Xu An'an one by one.

Everyone showed great enthusiasm for Xu An'an's arrival.

In the words of coffee: "Your joining has improved the average age, average appearance, and male-to-female ratio of our group."

Chasing the Wind joked, "Bread, you're a girl, coming to this meeting alone so late. Aren't you afraid we'll sell you off?"

Xu An'an said nonchalantly, "What's there to be afraid of? This is Jinghai Manor. People who live here make money much faster than human traffickers."

Zhui Feng chuckled, "That's true."

Big Pancake explained, "This is just an insignificant spot among the many mansions in the coffee shop. We frequently change our residences to avoid being hunted down by our 'relatives'."

Coffee affectionately hugged Xu An'an and said, "You can come to my place anytime you want. It's fine to stay here permanently. It's a bit dangerous for you to live at school."

Xu An'an was clearly a little uncomfortable with coffee's overly familiar and intimate gesture; she stiffened slightly but did not pull away.

Just then, the broad beans finally arrived.

This was also the first time Chen Qi had seen broad beans. He was a middle-aged man with a kind face, slightly short and fat, and a bald head.

Zhui Feng laughed and said, "Biscuit, before you joined the group, Broad Bean was the youngest and freshest member in our group."

Chen Qi was slightly taken aback. Broad beans were younger than pancakes?

The flatbread looks to be at most 27 or 28, while the broad beans look to be at least 35.

Zhui Feng patted Can Dou on the shoulder and said, "Don't let Can Dou's mature appearance fool you, he's just a 25-year-old programmer."

Broad beans weren't angry; they just nodded and smiled at Chen Qi in a friendly manner.

The big pancake next to him formed a stark contrast; despite being almost thirty, he had the air of a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).

Broad Bean coughed and said, "I came here tonight specifically to say goodbye to everyone. I've packed my luggage and I'm leaving Jinghai City soon."

Everyone was taken aback: "So soon?"

Broad Bean gave a wry smile: "What's the rush? I've been enduring this for over a month, and I don't want to stay here for another single day!"

“That’s true.” Zhui Feng sighed. “Anyway, you have no ties in Jinghai City anymore, so the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll be free.”

Broad Bean's face was slightly somber: "I've done everything I could and should do. I have no regrets about leaving now. I hope you will all be safe and sound in the future and that you will be able to successfully rescue your families."

Coffee and the others nodded: "We also wish you a safe journey and hope you can start a new life out there."

Broad Bean's expression was complicated, revealing a hint of reluctance. He said, "I will leave the group later, but I will keep all of you as friends. If... I find anything unusual outside, I will let you know."

"I won't bother you any longer, everyone. The journey of life is long, may we meet again someday!"

Broad Bean waved his hand, turned around resolutely, and walked out with firm steps, never looking back.

Chen Qi recognized Can Dou's accent and asked, "Can Dou isn't from Jinghai, is he?"

Zhui Feng nodded: "Yes, he went to university in Jinghai. After graduation, he and his girlfriend stayed here and found stable jobs. The young couple originally planned to save money to buy a house and settle down, but then his food phobia broke out..." "The two kept arguing because of differences in their understanding. Can Dou wanted to leave, but his girlfriend thought he was crazy and refused to give up their current stable life."

"In the end, Candou chose to compromise temporarily and stayed in Jinghai City. He exposed the food phobia disaster on various platforms every day, hoping to attract public attention. However, firstly, he lacked direct evidence, and the few unusual videos he had were all considered to be special effects and magic tricks; secondly, the platforms limited the amount of traffic, so he never made a splash. It was because of this that Momo discovered him and joined our group."

Coffee then interjected, "The 'Food Fear Survival Guide' I sent you records some of his stories. After joining the group, he used his expertise to create a large number of fake accounts and bombarded people online for a period of time."

"In the end, all his accounts were banned, and Uncle Hat warned him not to spread rumors or create panic, or he would be punished if he did it again."

"This incident probably became the last straw that broke him. He completely lost confidence and finally decided to break up with his girlfriend and leave alone."

Xu An'an then interjected, "He's probably afraid of repeating the same mistake, isn't he? Didn't one of your group members report to the police before and then disappear?"

Coffee was surprised at first, then laughed and said, "Looks like you've read my entire 'Food Fear Survival Guide'."

"Yes, I happened to have some free time this afternoon, so I watched it from beginning to end."

At this moment, Chen Qi seemed like an outsider, completely unaware of what was going on.

He spent the whole afternoon on the road. Reading text for a long time in the car makes him dizzy, so he didn't read much of "The Survival Guide for Food Fear".

Chen Qi suddenly realized: "No wonder I was chased by the parasites before, and I passed by the police station without going in."

"Alright," Coffee clapped his hands, "Let's get back to the important matter at hand!"

"Biscuit, do you have any thoughts? After all, this is your business. You are the main character. We are just helping you achieve your goal."

Chen Qi pondered for a moment and said, "I think if we want to get the cream cake, we can't always think about achieving our goal peacefully. We need to be prepared for battle from the very beginning!"

Coffee frowned: "Why do you say that?"

As a rational person, she still prefers to use planning to achieve her goals with minimal risk.

Seeing the puzzled looks from everyone, Chen Qi explained, "When I got the jianbing guozi, I hid it in my pillowcase. But the cleaning lady who came to clean the house seemed to have X-ray vision. She insisted that there was something in my pillow and tried to take it from me."

"At the time, I thought it was my roommate who told me, but it turned out that wasn't the case."

"Therefore, I suspect that high-grade wild foods have a more advanced food protection mechanism, or rather, a self-rescue ability."

"Not only can it attract more people to protect its food when it is being eaten, it can even send out a distress signal to those around it before it is eaten!"

"So no matter how cleverly we think of a way to get our hands on the cream cake without anyone noticing, the next second we might attract the attention of security guards or even the parasites."

"It's better to be prepared for battle from the start than to be caught off guard and put on the defensive!"

"What the heck? Food? SOS? Escort?" Coffee and the others subconsciously thought Chen Qi's guesses were absurd, but when they thought about the special nature of wild food, they suddenly felt that it was not impossible.

Chen Qi continued, "Of course, I only said to be prepared for battle, not to actively seek out fights. The self-rescue mechanism of high-grade wild food is currently unclear, so there may still be opportunities to obtain it safely."

“My jianbing guozi was brought into the ward from outside by Bread, and it went smoothly. The problem only occurred when I was in his hands.”

(End of this chapter)