Forge a path to success

"Qingxia, did you learn any other plant-based stimulant techniques?" Ji Huaisu asked curiously.

"No, I'll use a virus."

"……Why?"

"Hmm?" Qingxia tilted her head.

Ten seconds later, the children in front felt a gust of wind from behind. Turning around, they saw the "Goo-boo Smash Car" suddenly surge forward, its ferocity resembling a plague-ridden pig with its rear end on fire. Inside the Smash Car, laughter filled the air: "I'm carsick!" "Hahaha, so fast!" "My butt's on fire..." "Holy crap, this car's on fire!!"

The Gubo Smash Car is visibly transforming from a farm-style armored tractor into a high-octane street-racing machine, its rear half turning a vibrant red, with crimson particles constantly being released from its exhaust pipe as it drives. The Qingxia virus has driven the Smash Car to unleash its full potential, even at the cost of self-destruction; at this moment, it's moving at a speed comparable to a Formula One race car! And as the price, the car is burning with a self-destructive force!

Qingxia stepped onto the hood of the vehicle and exclaimed excitedly, "From now on, this vehicle will be renamed Red Hare! Just like the mythical rabbit in the legend, it will become incredibly fast when it catches fire!"

Chu Hengkong couldn't hold back any longer: "Red Hare is a horse! Just like you, it's a horse!!"

Qingxia was shocked upon hearing this: "What did you say..."

"Didn't I give you a proper explanation of the Three Kingdoms from beginning to end? Why would you still have such a common-sense misunderstanding?!"

"But Chu Hengkong, you didn't say that Red Hare was a horse."

"I..." Chu Hengkong felt as if he had a fishbone stuck in his throat, "You..."

Qingxia pondered, "I was wondering how General Lü rode a rabbit into battle... So Red Hare was a horse? Does that mean Dilu was also a horse?"

"Tell me first what you originally thought Lu was."

"Judging from its ability to leap across the Tanxi River, which is several meters wide, it must be an extremely large flying fish."

"It's amazing that you could come up with the fish knight Liu Bei!"

Chu Hengkong involuntarily imagined Liu Bei riding a flying fish and Guan Yu riding a giant rabbit galloping across the battlefield. His imaginative mind even filled in the blank with a fierce Zhang Fei riding a wild boar. This bizarre image made his vision go black, and he wished he could erase half a minute of his memory to avoid contaminating his brain.

The appearance of this unusual vehicle also had a significant impact in reality. Prosecutor Banningtick immediately pulled out his notebook and quickly wrote: "There is a fire safety hazard in the plant assembly process..."

Vande glared at him: "Can you please wake up, Prosecutor? You're in the Divine Tree City-State. Why don't you find me something non-flammable here?"

Banningtik was taken aback upon hearing this, his expression darkening as he changed his writing: "As reminded, the city-state of Jingsha has significant fire safety hazards..."

"I didn't ask you to change the range, you idiot."

"...I recommend conducting a city-wide fire hazard inspection next month." Banningtik concluded. "Please stop that burning vehicle immediately! Your actions have seriously threatened the municipal safety of Jingsha!"

Vande slapped his eye, thinking that there was absolutely no room for rebuttal on that one sentence. He whispered a reminder: "Shouldn't we put out the fire first..."

"Gulibo, can we test fire this cannon?" The only knight who could splash water asked in an innocent and cute tone.

"Sure, I've prepared bomb pumpkins as cannonballs!" the little animal replied in an even purer and more harmless tone.

"And then they started dealing with weapons! Do you guys even have any self-awareness about being in an amusement park?"

"But we do need weapons for the road ahead."

Vande took out his leopard-gazing tube and saw various glittering snacks and candies appearing on the road ahead. These "drops" were arranged at very guiding intervals, all pointing to different race routes. A few floating candies were even marked with clear numerical scores, and Xiaoye was using a machine gun to fire a net at them one by one.

"In other words, it's the Ma X Ao racing car," Chu Hengkong said.

"Moscow racing probably doesn't allow cars with such supermodel-like features to participate in races..."

Objectively speaking, the track design is ingenious, and the reward distribution is reasonable, even comparable to maps in the game. However, the Red Hare Smash Car is simply too large and too fast, causing it to snatch up all the reward food in the four lanes ahead. The other toy cars couldn't even get a scrap.

The kids on the next track were already sulking. "This is so unfair!" "Make that car retire!" "That awful gardener..."

Ji Huaisu poked his head out, not to be outdone: "This is the power of an adult, hahahahaha!"

"Hey, there are shameful adults arguing with kids here. Can you please control your girlfriend?"

Chu Hengkong gently advised, "We should concentrate our efforts on getting the more difficult prizes."

"Speaking of high difficulty..." Qingye peered through the lookout hole, "There's a big reward at a 65° angle ahead!"

“That…” Vande muttered, “That thing does have a high score, but… it should be a reward for the next round, right?”

At the center of the scope was a pirate ship floating in the sky, about 5,000 meters away from the group. The ship was painted with an extremely tempting, glittering gold "1000".

·

On the airborne pirate ship, the man in the suit put away his binoculars, and the voice of another assassin came through his earpiece.

"What is Young Master Chu doing?"

“You know, I made a lot of decisions before taking on this surveillance mission. I thought Snake must have a purpose for coming here, and we would be able to glean the enemy’s next move from him,” the man in the suit said. “But it seems that he just came out to have fun with women. My biggest takeaway is that I learned he’s cheating on me.”

A loud cough came through the earpiece: "Huh? Him? Cheating?"

The man in the suit picked up his binoculars and glanced at her: "Not only is she cheating, she's having affairs with three men at the same time."

To make his point more convincing, he emphasized: "Three boats!"

“My God, I really can’t imagine… You should have taken a picture. If you mess this up, we can use the evidence of the Snake of Life’s infidelity to buy our lives,” the man behind the earpiece urged him.

“Forget it. The snake probably won’t care about sparing your life, but he’s bound to kill me,” the man in the suit said. “That’s what makes this mission interesting.”

NO.7 wasn't here today. The woman cut off all communication immediately after receiving the news, intending to play the coward to the end, but she knew the other party would eventually come. Compared to that manic-depressive guy, NO.5 was much more decisive. This man named Guo Yutu didn't have a blood feud with Verus, which was perhaps why he dared to act.

The man in the suit adjusted his binoculars: "Are you sure this surveillance camera is working properly? I'm terrified that a snake might suddenly turn its head and stare at me."

“I don’t have any surveillance cameras; the ones watching him are the surveillance cameras at Feiyan Amusement Park. I just ran a cable through the surveillance system, and that cable went through 37 relay stations to reach my studio in the third pulse sequence, and then through three layers of firewalls before reaching your binoculars,” Guo Yutu said. “If Young Master Chu can even detect this, it means his aura is so sharp that he can sense even a single extra twitch in a cell of the divine plant’s camera. If he’s that strong, I suggest we forget about any missions and just jump into the sea together and commit suicide; that would be faster.”

"So the surveillance footage is working properly."

"No problem. The reason your image quality is so bad is because I don't dare to take any risks. I also chose the observation point in advance. They won't make contact with the pirate ship until the second half of their flight, which is more than enough time to gather intelligence."

“Very well. So, automata expert.” The man in the suit lowered his binoculars. “Could you explain what I just saw?”

"Let me see……"

Guo Yutu, far away in the third vein, choked for the second time: "What do you mean by a pumpkin bomb flying in from five thousand meters away?!"

The man in the suit jumped off the pirate ship without hesitation. The next moment, the pumpkin bomb cannon struck the ship's hull, causing the treasure inside to spill out prematurely, creating a rain of candy above the amusement park. A glittering 1000-point number flew towards the speeding Red Hare. The knight lady waved her fist: "Hit!"

"Bad news, Snake's new girlfriend is also a lunatic."

"The future looks bleak," the assassins said in unison.

Chapter 317 My Cooking Skills Are Unrivaled

"Finally..." Qingye gasped for breath, "we've reached the finish line!"

Qingxia wiped the sweat from her brow: "I didn't expect it to be so difficult for the Smash Car to run on the roller coaster track."

"I threw up twice."

Now, the car with only one seat left finally stopped behind the finish line, and the legendary kitchen awaited the victors ahead. Chu Hengkong, carrying a large bundle full of ingredients, recalled what could only be described as an epic half-day.

The cars were being tossed around in a rain of gold coins from the pirate ship...

The car overheated and derailed during three consecutive S-shaped hairpin bends...

Rescuing Sethlen, who was caught in a truck's wooden claw while trying to put out the fire...

The second-generation smash-up car is stuck on the roller coaster track...

The hardships and obstacles they had overcome along the way flashed before their eyes like a still frame. Chu Hengkong sighed, "Amusement parks are truly cruel places."

"It's you! You're the cruelest ones!" Van der shouted.

Ji Huaisu sighed, "When I came to my senses, we were the only car that had reached the finish line..."

"Because no kids want to play with our car anymore! Everyone's gone to participate in the second round of racing that Sethrun organized on an emergency basis!"

"I have a feeling that someone fell off that pirate ship that gave us a reward," Chu Hengkong muttered.

"I already told you it was your imagination~" Ji Huaisu patted him. "Besides, if someone can even deceive your senses, they must be a master. Would such a person be afraid of pumpkin bombs?"

Chu Hengkong was quick to agree, and without further thought, said, "That's right, let's cook then."

Behind the finish line is an open kitchen, complete with pots, pans, and utensils, all of which are exaggerated in shape as if they came out of a comic book. They are probably just low-level relics with the added memories of cooking delicious food.

Opposite the row of stoves was the judging panel, prepared for the employees. The actual employees were nowhere to be seen, presumably off cleaning up the mess left by some lousy car. In their place stood a trembling hand; Prosecutor Banningtik leaned on the judging panel, emanating a burnt smell.

"Finally...once this evaluation is finished, today's inspection will be over..."

"Ah, it's the prosecutor who rear-ended the Red Hare!" Qingxia said cheerfully.

"I was going through a bend and a big, burning truck suddenly came rushing towards me, and you call that a rear-end collision?!" Banningtik roared.

“But we didn’t hit your car,” Qingye said. “You were trying to make a sharp turn and your foot got stuck in the sled…”

"That's why I said there are too many safety hazards!" Banningtik shouted. "We found 47 problems on just one route this afternoon. I have no doubt that this cooking game also hides deadly dangers!"

“Have you considered that the problem lies with them, not the rides…” Van der said.

Banningtik sneered, "Just you wait. If I get sick from eating this in half an hour, the amusement park's budget review for next quarter will be quite a show..."

"Wait a minute!"

Just then, a familiar rabbit call came from the sky. Mr. Gray and his giant salamander pet "Wawu" descended from the sky, leading a bunch of balloons. Wawu landed first, and Mr. Gray landed on Wawu's back.

"To ensure the fairness of the food evaluation and to prevent the amusement facilities from being tarnished by overly subjective opinions, I, Mr. Grey, hereby represent an impartial third party to conduct the evaluation!"

“But you’re on the first side, aren’t you?” Chu Hengkong said.

“That’s right, it would be too unfair to let this guy be the judge all by himself.” Mr. Lan made his entrance, sitting on another large animal. “Therefore, we have specially invited a well-known food critic who is absolutely impartial in food matters to be our third judge!”

"Mmm!" The sea seal raised its paw.

Gulibo looked up and stared at it for a few seconds: "Manager, you better tell me honestly, did you sneak into Feiyan to eat and get caught?"

The sea seal silently turned away without uttering a word.

"I knew it!"

"Now, let's move on to the final round of the castle exploration route! The time limit is half an hour. The materials you can choose are all the ingredients you've collected along the way. The lucky winner among all the competitors will receive a giant chocolate lucky egg." Mr. Gray opened his pocket watch. "Everyone, take your positions—begin!"

"I'm not a good cook, so I'm giving up." "I can't cook, Bo." Chu Hengkong and Gu Libo raised their hands.

"Two people surrendered in the very first second. The participation rate is really low this time."

Compared to the animals who showed no fighting spirit, the girls were exceptionally enthusiastic about cooking. Ji Huaisu brought over a huge pile of chocolates, fruits, and gold coin candies, and was vigorously stirring the soup pot like an old witch; Qingxia suddenly lit a fire in the pot and danced with her arms and legs in front of the flames, like a shaman performing a ritual; Qingye carefully cut chocolate with a knife, behaving as properly as the only good student in the class amidst the chaotic dance of demons.

"I feel so gratified to see you taking cooking so seriously," Chu Hengkong said.

"It's because I'm not good at cooking that I lack motivation..." Qingye said with a long face. "Besides, all the ingredients we gathered on the way were chocolate and candy. I can't think of anything else to make chocolate."

"Make chocolate with chocolate?" Gulibo asked curiously.

"It's a custom of our Shura Island..."

Qingye melted the chopped chocolate, added milk, stirred, and poured it into a mold. She sped up the process slightly and took out a perfectly square piece of chocolate.

"Here, I feel like this is the best we can go."

Chu Heng took a bite and commented, "How should I put it, it's perfect."

"I knew it."

Qingye listlessly tossed three pieces to the other side, and the judges quickly gave their opinions.

Banningtik: "Non-toxic. 60 points."

Sea Seal: [If I had to find an adjective, I'd have to use "standard." 55 points.]

Mr. Gray: "This is the most standard high school girl's homemade chocolate, right? You buy store-bought chocolate, melt it down, reshape it, and that's it. Because the processing technique isn't very sophisticated, the taste is hard to improve compared to the raw materials, so it can only get a subtle evaluation at this level. But the reason why handmade chocolate is so coveted by countless boys is because of the unique ingredients added during the melting process: cookie crumbs, nuts, strawberry jam, and the sincere heart of a high school girl. And in this chocolate—"

The gray rabbit twitched its ears: "They didn't add anything at all."

“What high school girl would add something to a cooking competition at an amusement park? Besides, I’m a disabled person,” Qingye said.

"It's colder than the handmade chocolates I received when I was a student. 50 points."

Qingye turned around and leaned into the car: "55-point contestant, Guangshi Qingye, is out..."

"If you really care, then go practice your cooking skills."

"No, that's a waste of time. We'd rather practice swordsmanship."

After Xiaoye turned into a dead fish, the second contestant's amazing dish was ready. Qingxia slammed a huge pot over with a bang, her face full of anticipation: "Tropical roasted fruit with hot chocolate liqueur, please enjoy."

A dozen or so charred fruits lay in the pot, while a small cup beside them was filled with a dark liquid—it looked like a culinary disaster. Chu Heng popped a fruit into his mouth, took a sip of the drink, and exclaimed, "Not bad!"

"Hehehe~" Qingxia said smugly.

The sun-dried skin is easy to peel, revealing flesh with both a caramelized and refreshing aroma; the taste is like a samba dance on the tongue. [After eating several fruits, the tongue feels slightly astringent, but the specially blended chocolate liqueur provides an excellent balance. A classic local dish, 74 points!]

Banningtick: "Non-toxic. No points deducted for the taste, but the presentation isn't elegant enough. 70 points."