Why is my territory in a 2D anime art style?

The next day

It was the same time Wang Zhen and his group had agreed to start mining. Early in the morning, Wang Hu sat on the wall eating breakfast, occasionally glancing southeast, towards the direction of Jiangcheng.

"Tiger, do you feel my cooking skills have improved a bit?" Sui An sat to the side and blew hot air onto the unidentified piece of meat on his chopsticks.

Wang Hu turned to look at Sui An, swallowing the piece of meat in his mouth before he could even chew it properly. He stammered for a long time before finally managing to utter a few words.

"How about I have my dad come over?"

"..."

Sui An rolled his eyes at Hu Zi helplessly, then turned away and started eating his breakfast.

Wang Hu's father, Wang Ping, is a special professional, and a very rare one at that: a chef.

To distinguish them from ordinary chefs, they are generally referred to as professional chefs.

Although Uncle Wang is only at level three.

When I was a child, I often went to Hu Zi's house for meals, and Uncle Wang usually cooked them.

Compared to other professions, the demand for professional chefs among ordinary professionals is actually quite low.

The energy-generating meals prepared by professional chefs not only have various powerful time-limited buffs, but also accelerate the recovery of energy and stamina.

However, energy-rich foods need to be prepared and consumed immediately, as most foods are not easy to preserve.

To restore energy and stamina and gain buffs in the wild, you can actually use Source Energy Potions.

Despite its many drawbacks, it doesn't mean that professional chefs are not in demand in a large city that has been stable for decades!

On the contrary, he is very popular among mid-to-high-level professionals, since these are the elite class who no longer need to scrimp and save to improve themselves and can pursue more powerful buffs.

Leaving aside these elite classes, even a low-level chef like Uncle Wang runs a small steamed bun shop in a residential area, and his business is doing very well.

If we had to point out any drawback to this profession, it would still be the limitation of the recipes.

Similar to alchemists, simply knowing the proportions of raw materials and being familiar with the production process can only produce inefficient finished products. One must unlock the recipe and enhance their professional abilities to create food with complete effects.

Sui An thought about it and was still very unconvinced. He put the empty bowl and chopsticks in his hand on the wall next to him and complained.

"How could I possibly compare to Uncle Wang? He's a professional chef!"

"How about we switch to Aunt Xu?"

Wang Hu finally finished the meat in his bowl, sat there for a moment, and then uttered another name.

"..."

Sui An gave up completely, it seems that his culinary talent is indeed terrible.

Aunt Xu is Wang Zhen's mother. Among the aunts in her small circle, she is the oldest, and she is an ordinary person.

But the food she cooks really does taste delicious.

However, it's not advisable to let Aunt Xu work as a chef here anytime soon. My territory is still too weak. It's best to let them stay in the more stable Jiangcheng.

Beep~ Beep~ Beep~

The sound of a loudspeaker blared in the distance, immediately drawing their attention. A familiar transport truck was driving towards them.

"They've arrived, you don't need to keep watching them anymore."

Sui An took the bowl and chopsticks from Wang Hu and jumped down from the wall, while Wang Hu went out to greet him.

The group arrived at Sui An's courtyard, where Sui An had already set up small stools. However, they noticed that Wang Zhen's face was somewhat pale, his head was wrapped in bandages, and his thigh seemed to have some wounds. He also looked unsteady on his feet.

Sui An frowned. Apart from the last time Wang Zhen was attacked, this was the first time he had seen Wang Zhen like this.

"Brother Zhen, what's wrong?"

"It's a long story, first treat my injuries!"

Wang Zhen forced a smile, which looked somewhat bitter. He didn't say a word as soon as he entered and walked straight toward the stage.

Sui An quickly activated the stage's healing effect. Fortunately, Wang Zhen's injuries were not too serious, and it seemed that his bones and internal organs had not been damaged too badly.

However, Wang Zhen was, after all, a level 4 combat professional, and his healing speed was obviously not that fast. It took about ten minutes for the wound to heal and recover.

Wang Zhen removed the gauze from his head and touched the wound. He could still feel it faintly, but it wasn't very noticeable.

"This stage seems to have a good therapeutic effect. Is it very taxing?"

"It's alright. Your injuries don't show any signs of being worn out, but serious injuries might not be healable, like broken arms or legs."

Sui An glanced at his secondary core but couldn't see much change, so he figured the consumption hadn't exceeded 1%.

Erhu also glanced at the core of the instrument. Although he had never been an architect, he still knew some basic information.

"Then this is much more cost-effective than an alchemist's healing potion."

"It's different, isn't it? Medicine can be carried around, so it's normal for it to be more expensive." Sui An shook his head. This situation is different, so it's definitely not a good reference.

He turned to look at Wang Zhen, who had jumped off the stage, and asked again.

"Brother Zhen, you still haven't told us what happened. Why are you in such a mess?"

Before Wang Zhen could speak, Erhu pursed his lips and said, "What else could it be but the mess in the transport team? If the chief commander doesn't show up soon, the transport team will really fall apart because of these people."

"Erhu is right. Baldy has disappeared. We tracked down his trail and found ourselves in the wilderness. We ended up fighting with a group of people, but we couldn't catch them and eventually lost track of them. Although we can't be sure it was the transport team who did it, it's most likely related to the last attack."

The paleness on Wang Zhen's face had faded, but he still looked unwell.

Sui An found it hard to believe; the bald man had disappeared?

That always-smiling young man, a level 3 combat professional, has simply vanished, and even been kidnapped. Has the transport team fallen into such chaos?

"From what you're saying, the bald guy was kidnapped. What's the point of that?"

"That's not right. Even if your chief commander isn't here, isn't the transport team under Jiangcheng's logistics department? Doesn't the Chamber of Commerce's higher-ups intend to intervene and suppress them?"

Erhu scoffed at these words: "How can you suppress them? You haven't caught anyone, and you have no concrete evidence. If you dare to accuse them, they'll just slap a false accusation on you."

"Besides, how do you know the logistics department has absolutely no connection with these people? You know, although the Chamber of Commerce was established under the leadership of the First City Lord, the Second and Third City Lords have roughly equal influence in the business world. The relationships here are a mess..."

Wang Zhen did not deny it. He sat there quietly listening to the erhu player and Sui An's discussion, seemingly thinking about something. After a while, he finally spoke.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's get down to business. In this day and age, strength is what matters. If I can break through to level 5 quickly, these things won't fall on my shoulders."

Wang Zhen spoke up, and Erhu and Sui An's discussion stopped. Zhao Feng and Wang Hu also came out of the wooden house next door.

"Xiao Hu can't go today. That big guy was really dangerous last time. It'll just be the three of us going today. If things don't go well, we'll have to escape."

Wang Zhen stood up: "Indeed, Xiao Hu should not go in before we confirm the situation inside."

Although Sui An had never been inside, Erhu had told him about the situation inside last time, so he had a general idea of ​​what it was like.

After thinking for a moment, he looked at the black and yellow banner beside him and spoke.

"Alright then, I'll give you a blessing effect that lasts for 5 minutes. While it's active, go in and investigate as soon as possible. If things go wrong, it'll also help you escape faster!"

Erhu raised his head and looked at the flag. This thing had always been very inconspicuous. He usually didn't notice it when he came in and treated it as an ordinary flag.

"That's great, I'll give it a try and see how it works!"

"My flag currently has two effects. One is the kind you experienced before, Brother Zhen; the other enhances the first 10 weapon attacks, making it more powerful but not increasing speed, just like when I shattered the Source Crystal Puppet last time, it also lasts for five minutes. Which one do you want?"

Having never experienced the erhu before, I could only turn my attention to Wang Zhen to see what his opinion was.

Wang Zhen pondered for a moment, then looked up at Sui An: "Then let's choose the first option. Speed ​​is still very important. As for the attack effect, it may not be that much of a boost to us."

"Okay, get in the car first!"

The group sat in the car. Sui An activated the banners, bestowed blessings upon the three, and then drove quickly toward the secret realm.