Chapter 2 – Puffy Food

Chapter 2 – Puffy¹When food is deep-fried, it expands a little and becomes sort of puffy-looking. Food

He didn’t know if it was his own imagination but he felt the Lightbrain become silent for a moment, as if he was talking about an impossible dream.

Jian Luo became angry: “Are you lagging?”

The Lightbrain finally spoke: “There are two conditions that need to be fulfilled to become an excellent farmer.”

Only two? This will be easy.

“First: Total household savings must reach 1 million Stars Dollars.”

“Second: Have a Dark Star registry ID account.”

…

This was beyond Jian Luo’s common knowledge. The first one was relatively understandable. As for the one regarding the account, was it not commonplace for one’s ID account to be registered from birth?

Jian Luo hesitated: “How do I get a Dark Star ID account?”

The Lightbrain froze for a second, as if it was questioning Jian Luo’s IQ.

Jian Luo became annoyed and angry: “Are you going to spit it out?”

The Lightbrain checked very quickly: “Humans need to meet two conditions in order to obtain a Dark Star household registration. First, make a special contribution to the Dark Star. Second, the total household output must reach 10 tons of vegetables per year.”

…

Jian Luo felt like cold water had been poured over him: “So I don’t stand a chance?”

The Lightbrain was still processing: “No, you do.”

“Really?” Jian Luo was suddenly excited: “What must I do?”

“By marrying a Dark Star, you will be able to get a Dark Star account. In doing so, you can also leave Peace Paradise and head to the Sky city.”

As a dependent race, human beings were only allowed to live in Peace Paradise which was at the bottom. Most of the Dark Stars were basically living in Sky city, which was the most prosperous and high-tech capital of Dark Star.

The corner of Jian Luo’s mouth twitched: “What a joke. How could I marry²In the chinese language, the word marry is gender-specific. Jià 嫁 is to marry into a guy’s family while Qǔ 娶 is specific for marrying a woman out of her family. a man? Why don’t you just tell me to get pregnant?”

The Lightbrain said: “As of now, the possibility of marriage for you is 20%. As for the probability of pregnancy…”

Jian Luo was actually f/king curious, he had to hear this: “How much is it?”

“0%.” The Lightbrain said: “According to Big data calculations, if you manage to successfully marry a Dark Star, you can obtain a registered ID. The Dark Stars have stopped giving birth to new life a hundred years ago. If you can get pregnant successfully, you will become the entire planet’s hope.”

Jian Luo was stunned: “A hundred years? Then how was this race still the strongest in the universe? Wasn’t it going extinct?”

“You don’t have to worry. The Dark Stars have the best technology for cloning and regeneration.” The Lightbrain felt as though he was giving a lesson: “Especially for dragons like the Marshal or His Majesty. It is not a problem for them to survive for hundreds of years.”

Jian Luo was still puzzled: “Why was there no new life being born?”

Could it be that the entire species was infertile?

This was too shocking.

“Dark Star’s people are born brave and good at fighting as well as elites in various fields. The more advanced the children of the race are, the harder it is for them to be conceived.” The Lightbrain lightly explained with an example: “For the powerful dragon clan and blood clan, even after a hundred years, it is difficult for them to conceive cubs. In the universe, this is just common sense.”

Jian Luo was silent for a while: “Why do I feel as though you are shaming us humans?”

The Lightbrain said carefully: “Humans rarely have twins. Most of them have one child at a time so their level can also be considered high.”

Okay, that makes sense.

Jian Luo was actually persuaded by its logic.

“Forget it, let’s not talk about these unrealistic things.” Jian Luo asked, “Is there an entertainment section? Like live broadcasting or something? I’ll have a look.”

The Lightbrain thoughtfully transferred him to the largest entertainment section. Live broadcasts regarding food will always be the most popular channel on Dark Star, because this powerful planet loves delicious food.

Jian Luo scrolled around and found that there were various kinds of food but almost all of them were limited to cooking with new flavors of nutrient solution or meat. None involved vegetables.

In his previous life, he was a blogger and liked to study marketing.

As such, he was naturally interested in new platforms. After being introduced to it, he wouldn’t be able to lose interest so quickly.

After spending all morning in his nest, Jian Luo got hungry again in the afternoon. He tried to get up from the bed but started coughing wildly before he could take another two steps. His whole body even started to tremble.

“Brother?” His younger brother appeared at the door and came to support Jian Luo.
Jian Luo’s face turned red: “It’s okay.”

The younger brother helped him to sit down: “Brother hasn’t recovered yet, don’t simply walk around.”

“It’s okay.” Jian Luo felt that he might finally hear the reason why he was in this state: “Mom isn’t here so can you tell me how I got hurt?”

The younger brother was shocked for a moment before he closed his eyes with a guilty conscience.

Jian Luo frowned: “Are there only three of us in the family?”

His younger brother nodded. He knew about his brother’s amnesia, so he said, “Dad passed away very early on and our mother has always been the one to raise us.”

Jian Luo thought that sure enough, even though his body was only in its early 20s, he was a little weak, like a farm chicken that hasn’t been fed well.

The younger brother hesitated for a moment: “Big brother, you were injured after trying to protect mom.”

Jian Luo: “Tell me more about it.”

So next, his younger brother briefly explained the ins and outs of the matter. In Dark Star, the law was that the strong ate the weak. This was especially true in Peace Paradise, which was under looser regulations. Whoever had money and power had the greatest right.

Peace Paradise’s main source of income came from growing and exporting melons and fruits.

Both Jian Luo and his younger brother, Jian Sheng were still students, so the burden of the family fell on the woman named Su Liang. How much labor could a woman bear? Her efforts would only amount to a single drop in a bucket.

That was not the worst part.

Su Liang was beautiful and her husband was dead. Naturally, it was easy for her to become coveted. After the original owner of his body came back from school, he happened to see someone trying to r/pe his mother, so he fought the other person. However, he was too weak, resulting in his beat up appearance now.

His younger brother, Jian Sheng said, “Big brother, that group of people was really too much. They even threatened us to pay for their medical expenses!”

Jian Luo widened his eyes: “What?”

“It’s because you hit him in order to protect mom so he came back to ask us to pay for his medical expenses.”

Jian Luo was fuming: “Mom was afraid that they would cause trouble, so she could only give them the money.”

Jian Luo: “Isn’t this illegal?”

Jian Sheng sat cross-legged on the bed: “It’s because of their little sister.”

Jian Luo: “So what?”

“Their little sister is married to a Dark Star.” Jian Sheng said, “That’s why they can do whatever they want in Peace Paradise.”

“…”

Jian Luo was speechless: “Do Dark Stars have so much power?”

The younger brother smiled and said, “In school, humans cannot study with the Dark Stars. If humans violate the rules, they will be expelled from school. If the Dark Stars violate them, they will just receive a scolding.”

Jian Luo fell silent.

He’s travelled to the future, but the future was dark.

This family only had a house with four walls to protect them. His only mother was coveted by those evil b/stards and his younger brother has to go to school. The remaining one capable of labor was Jian Luo, who was still crippled in bed.

“…”

What a painful life.

Jian Luo looked at his younger brother who followed his gaze. He didn’t notice it before but he realized that although this child looked scrawny and his skin was an unhealthy yellow, he had big eyes.

He was only about ten years old and the clothes he was wearing were tattered.

Jian Sheng asked cautiously, “Big brother, will you be okay?”

Jian Luo snapped out of his thoughts and said kindly: “Choi³An exclamation similar to touchwood, what can happen to your big brother, aren’t I still healthy right now…cough cough!”

He couldn’t control himself and started coughing wildly.

His younger brother patted him on the shoulder and said, “Big brother, I don’t want to go to school anymore.”

Jian Luo wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes: “What nonsense are you saying? When I’m no longer here, what can you do when you’re just a little brat?”

Jian Sheng looked at him: “But big brother, with you like this now…”

“I won’t die!”

Jian Luo was not a pessimist, nor was he someone who will sit still. Thinking of the entertainment channel he watched today, it seems that he would need to sign with them to become a host there. However, the potential host must submit a gourmet dish first and pass the broadcast reviews before they will be accepted.

There was a voice outside. Su Liang came in and asked: “Luoluo, are you hungry? There are still some potatoes left at home, do you want mom to cook it for you?”

Jian Luo stood up: “No, Mom. I’ll go to the kitchen with you.”

The woman was a little puzzled, but Jian Luo insisted.

Exiting the room, the outside was shabby too, but at least it was clean. There was a small sofa in the small living room and a window on one of the walls. The sun shone in, adding some vitality to the house.

Jian Luo walked to the kitchen and found that there were only nutrient solutions in the cupboards. Other than that, there were potatoes and corn on the chopping board.

Su Liang asked, “Luoluo, what do you want to eat? Shall mom cook it for you?”

“No.” Jian Luo walked to the chopping board and began to think about how to make a delicious dish with corn and potatoes.

First of all, people in Dark Star must have eaten corn and potatoes before, so they can no longer be considered delicious food. Furthermore, cooking would be too unrealistic. After all, there were no peppers or other condiments here.

Jian Luo looked around the kitchen and noticed that there was a basin of water in the corner: “What is that?”

Su Liang came over to take a look: “It’s the vegetable oil left over from the machine when I was selling potatoes yesterday. It’s useless and mom didn’t have time to throw it away.”

Was that oil?

This was absolutely good stuff!

Jian Luo was overjoyed. He had an idea and turned his face away: “Mom, could you pass me that corn too?”

Su Liang was stunned for a moment, that was for his younger brother, Su Sheng to eat…

Jian Luo quickly added: “Mom, don’t worry, I will definitely make a lot of money in the future and let the family eat vegetables every day.”

“This child…” Su Liang sighed softly before gently smiling: “Okay, I’ll pass it to you.”

It’s not too big of a deal. If anything, she’ll just have to work harder to feed Su Sheng for the next few days.

After Jian Luo received his answer, he got to work. First, he asked his brother and mother to help grind the corn up into powder, then he found a knife and began to cut the potatoes into strips the size of a pinky finger.

Su Liang and his younger brother looked at Jian Luo’s odd behavior. It seemed like it would be a waste of food, so they were a little puzzled.

Jian Luo smiled: “It’s alright, trust me!”

Su Liang felt that there was something abnormal going on with her son’s head since he woke up from his injury, However, her son has always been autistic and because he seemed more cheerful now, she just let him continue.

Jian Luo wrapped the potato strips in cornflour before heating the oil in the pan and putting them into the pan to start frying them when the oil was ready.

As more time passed, the aroma slowly wafted into the air. The potato strips slowly became golden and crispy. As the oil was boiled, the soft and waxy potato strips gradually became harder. The wonderful smell of deep-fried food began to tickle their noses.

His younger brother sniffed the air and was suddenly hungry.

He used to think that potatoes were fragrant, but for some reason, this one fried in oil was even more fragrant!

“Okay.” Jian Luo turned off the fire and fished out the potato pieces. He picked up a piece using chopsticks and turned his face to look at his younger brother. Smiling slightly, he said: “Come on, help big brother try it.”

The younger brother was a little apprehensive but he still came over and bit the fries held between his chopsticks.

The golden crispy fries entered his throat, filling him with a wonderful satisfaction.

Jian Luo didn’t know if he was successful or not, so he could only ask, “How is it?”

The younger brother slowly widened his eyes. They were full of amazement: “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten!”

Su Liang also came over to taste it. Taking the deep-fried snack into her mouth, she also displayed the same surprised expression as his younger brother.

Knowing that it was successful, Jian Luo hurriedly turned on his informatic wristband to enter the taste and shape of the food before uploading it to the live streaming broadcast platform for review.

As long as the fries can successfully pass the review, he will be able to livestream and make money!

He was just unsure if the people of this interstellar age would like snacks…

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T/N: Hopefully the next chapter will be posted soon…

The ML has not appeared yet. He will briefly appear in the next 10 chapters, don’t worry 👋≧◉ᴥ◉≦

If you like dragons, and want to read smut, why not check out my original work, This Sly Dragon’s Getting a Little Too Close For Comfort? There’s a H scene straight from the first chapter featuring a double D dragon and his cute little master who has some… ahem, extra special anatomy down below ehe! There’s more where that came from hehe, because if anything, I love snu snu the most *insert proud degenerate’s face*

Consider liking the writer’s work or buying a kofi for me <3 who knows, might update a lil faster hehe
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