Fear of food

Chapter 44 The Aroma of Food

After more than an hour of discussion, Chen Qi and his team finalized the details of the two plans.

Chen Qi warned, "Be careful of Dr. Zhao in the inpatient department when we take action tomorrow."

Zhui Feng analyzed, "When you were in the hospital, he didn't force himself on you, which means he was still in the early stages of parasitism and didn't want to reveal his true form easily, so as not to affect the progress of parasitism."

"But we can't let our guard down. We've all eaten high-end food before, and as a parasite, he might discover our identities, which could hinder our actions."

Coffee smiled confidently: "Dr. Zhao, right? Leave it to me, I'll handle him."

The swill-washed man scoffed, "You're not drunk from coffee, are you? How are you going to deal with him? Drink more coffee and then piss on him?"

“Foolish!” Coffee retorted. “Who said we have to confront him head-on? I just need to hold him off and buy you time.”

Chen Qi asked curiously, "Coffee Sister, how do you plan to stall him?"

"He's a doctor, so let's see him for treatment."

"But he's a resident physician, not an outpatient physician..."

"Don't worry about that, I have some connections."

Since Coffee said so, Chen Qi naturally believed it unconditionally and didn't ask any more questions.

"Alright, it's getting late, let's all go home," said Gan Shui as he stood up.

Coffee said, "Since we have to meet tomorrow morning anyway, why don't you all sleep at my place? I have plenty of rooms."

Chen Qi and Zhui Feng were already homeless, and with Da Bing joining them, the three of them agreed to stay at Coffee House.

Swill insisted on going back, and Xu An'an, who lived at the school, also had to go back to deal with dormitory checks.

Coffee said, "Bread, you should apply for a day student visa as soon as possible. It's safer to live outside. I can help you with anything you need."

Xu An'an shook her head: "I don't have money to rent a house."

Coffee smiled and said, "I'll help you solve it."

Xu An'an hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not refuse and whispered a thank you.

Zhui Feng nudged Chen Qi with his elbow and said, "It's so late, it's not safe for a girl like you to go home alone. Why don't you take Biscuits home? I'll lend you my electric scooter."

When they were returning from Yushan City, Zhuifeng drove his electric scooter, which he had parked by the roadside, over halfway there, saying he was afraid someone would steal his battery at night.

Coffee chuckled: "It's pitch black at night, do you think it's safe for people to ride your electric scooter? Besides, your scooter is painted so gaudy, don't you feel ashamed to ride it out?"

She asked Chen Qidao, "Biscuit, can you drive?"

"Yes, I will." Chen Qi nodded. He got his driver's license in his freshman year of college and often drove his mother's car around during winter and summer vacations. He had already honed his driving skills.

"Go pick one from my garage, the keys are in the box on the wall."

Zhui Feng retorted, "What do you know? The romance of riding in the front and back seats of an electric scooter is something you could never experience even in a luxury car worth millions."

Gan Shui put his arm around Zhui Feng's shoulder: "I don't mind your electric scooter, take me home."

Finally, Zhui Feng rode his electric scooter home to deliver swill, while Chen Qi and Xu An'an went to the garage to choose a vehicle.

Upon arriving at the garage, Xu An'an handed Chen Qi a paper bag containing baguettes, saying, "Take it, no need to pay."

Chen Qi picked up the baguette, reached out and flicked the crust. It was hard and the impact made his fingernails ache.

"This doesn't look like something you can eat!" he said with a doubtful expression.

"I didn't say it was edible. Didn't you say you wanted to try it?" Xu An'an said indifferently.

Chen Qi tentatively took a bite and almost broke his teeth.

"Forget it, I can't eat any more." He gave up immediately.

Xu An'an subtly curled the corners of her lips, then resumed her expressionless state, saying, "I even wore out a bread knife trying to cut it."

Chen Qi was slightly taken aback, and tentatively asked, "How much? I'll pay you back."

"Four yuan and fifty cents, bought from Pinduoduo."

Chen Qi transferred the money on the spot, and Xu An'an accepted it instantly. "Do you still want this bread?" After receiving the money, Xu An'an's tone became more cheerful.

Chen Qi didn't answer immediately. Instead, he held the baguette in his hand, weighing it in his hand, and said to himself, "What do you think is the point of this bread?"

Wild foods are Chen Qi's special delicacies, while dried bread is Xu An'an's staple food.

However, this baguette, made by Xu An'an using Chen Qi's twisted dough sticks as ingredients, is essentially the culmination of their combined abilities, yet neither of them can eat it.

Chen Qi casually swung the baguette in his hand a couple of times, and it was surprisingly easy to handle.

"This thing seems perfect as a weapon!"

"The length and weight are just right, it feels good in the hand, and most importantly, it's sturdy enough that it won't arouse suspicion, so you can take it anywhere."

Chen Qi's heart skipped a beat: Tomorrow's operation just happens to be missing a suitable weapon, isn't this perfect!
Chen Qi said, "I'll keep this baguette."

Even if you don't need it tomorrow, you can still carry a baguette for self-defense when eating wild food in the future.

Xu An'an nodded indifferently and said, "The 'Food Fear Survival Guide' says that pagans cannot use their abilities to reprocess other people's exclusive food, but I succeeded."

“I feel that this has nothing to do with me; it’s mainly because your wild food is special.”

Chen Qi realized that this was something that others couldn't do, but then his eyes lit up: "So, Zhui Feng and the others should also be able to process wild food."

But when he thought of a way for several people to transform food, he shook his head, as it seemed difficult to implement.

Even dogs won't eat wild food, and it's impossible for it to appear in takeout. Neither "Chasing the Wind" nor "Big Pancake" can complete the conversion.

I just threw it into the swill bucket; I don't know if it will be of any use to the swill.

As for coffee... Chen Qi has not yet discovered any wild-caught beverages or soups.

"Let's look into this later." Chen Qi didn't think too much about it. He figured he could try converting coffee into wild beverages later.

"Oh, right!" Chen Qi suddenly remembered something and asked, "Did you go to see Brother Sun later?"

“I went there this morning,” Xu An’an said.

"How was it? Did he have any reaction after eating my wild lychees?" Chen Qi was a little nervous. Ever since he learned that wild food could cause terror, he was afraid that Sun Xuechao might suffer some harm from eating them.

Xu An'an shook her head: "He said it tasted awful, really awful!"

Chen Qi felt relieved and said with an awkward smile, "It's good that everyone is alright."

There were six cars parked in the garage, including cool sports cars, luxury sedans, and rugged SUVs... all of them were luxury cars worth over a million yuan.

Chen Qi wasn't the type to show off, so he ultimately chose a relatively low-key Cayenne.

The car was covered in a layer of fine dust, indicating it wasn't driven often.

Chen Qi sat in the driver's seat, started the car, adjusted the seat, and suddenly sniffed the air:
"Do you smell anything strange?"

As soon as Xu An'an sat in the passenger seat, her pert nose twitched slightly, and she shook her head, saying, "No."

"Is it just my imagination?" Chen Qi frowned slightly.

"What does it taste like?" Xu An'an asked.

"I can't quite put my finger on it." Chen Qi swallowed. "It smells a bit fragrant, like the aroma of food, but it's subtle."

The fragrance was so faint that Chen Qi wasn't even sure if it actually existed.

He looked around but found nothing, then shook his head: "Never mind, I'll take you home first."

The only thing that could attract him was wild food; if there were wild food in the car, he would have detected it long ago.

Chen Qi stepped on the gas, and the car drove out of the garage and onto the internal road of the community via the private passage.

Standing in the courtyard, the coffee shop owner saw the Cayenne drive away and was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected Chen Qi to choose the most inconspicuous car.

"What's wrong?" Big Pancake noticed that Coffee's expression was a little off.

Coffee shook her head: "It's nothing, I just remembered some things."

(End of this chapter)