Chapter 26
Lu Shiyu washed the soil off the parasitic planet and began to plan how to eat such a large parasitic planet.
Part of it can be served cold, part of it can be used to make soup and some can be left for stir-frying. Perfect!
"How about we eat today..." Lu Shiyu turned around and saw two people staring at him from behind.
"What, what happened?" Lu Shiyu silently grasped the parasitic star in his hand.
The two looked at each other, but ultimately said nothing. Lu Shiyu carried the Parasitic Star to another place to process the ingredients, fearing that the two would suddenly attack and drop the Parasitic Star.
Lu Shiyu roughly divides the parasitic star into three parts. The top head is used for stir-frying, the connection between the head and the root is used for making soup, and the remaining part is used for cold dishes.
First, cut off the head, then cut a section in the middle, so that the parasitic star is divided into three parts. Because most parasitic stars grow in the soil, in order to remove the earthy smell, they must be blanched in water first.
The skin of the head, while not yet fully developed and hardened, has developed a partial crust. To avoid affecting the taste, I shaved off the skin. The head of the parasitic star has a petal-like structure, so it's easy to slice. The part for soup is cut vertically into long slices, while the part for salad dressing is torn into strips by hand. This allows for better flavor absorption and is much better than cutting with a knife.
After cutting the various parts of the parasitic star, you need to blanch them in batches. The blanching steps are very simple. Pour the parasitic star into the boiling water, add some salt, and let the parasitic star roll in the boiling water. When it is almost soft, you can take it out.
Lu Shiyu planned to stir-fry the dishes first, so he took out a bowl and started to prepare the sauce. He put starch, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and soy sauce into the bowl, and finally added a spoonful of water and stirred it. The simple sauce was ready.
Pour oil into the pot. When the oil is hot, you can directly put the blanched parasitic stars into it, with the side with small tentacles facing up. Fry until the side facing down is slightly charred, then pour the prepared sauce into the pot. In order to fully blend the sauce and the parasitic stars, you need to simmer for a while to collect the sauce. Wait for the soup to become viscous, and the sauced parasitic stars are ready.
The next step is to cook the soup. Lu Shiyu put a few duck eggs in a bowl and beat them with chopsticks. After heating oil in the pot, add the duck egg liquid. The egg liquid begins to solidify quickly as it enters the hot pot. When about half of the egg liquid is fried and the other half is still flowing, pour an appropriate amount of water into the pot, and then put in the parasitic star cut into long slices. Then just cover the pot and wait for the soup to cook.
After all, he runs a restaurant, so Lu Shiyu is always very tight-lipped about arranging the preparation of dishes when cooking, and even a few minutes will be utilized.
He tore the parasitic star into long strips and squeezed out the excess water with his hands. Lu Shiyu rummaged through the bag again and again before finding a head of garlic. He picked out a few cloves and minced the garlic, then added chili peppers, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and vinegar to make a cold dressing. Lu Shiyu felt that the taste was a bit lacking. After thinking for a moment, he turned the bag upside down again and finally found a small bag of white sesame seeds and a small bag of chili powder.
"I thought I forgot to bring it, but here it is."
Add white sesame seeds and chili powder to the sauce and drizzle with a spoonful of hot oil. The sauce for the cold dish is then completely ready.
After torn into strips of parasites and the sauce are mixed with your hands, the cold parasite salad is ready. At this time, the soup is almost cooked. Lu Shiyu opens the lid of the pot and adds salt, oyster sauce and other ingredients to the boiling soup pot for final seasoning.
The parasitic planet feast is complete!
Two dishes and a soup were served, and everyone stared in amazement.
"Oh no, this really feels like a picnic," Shao Xingyang said, looking at the large plates and pots in front of him. "There are vegetables and soups, it's so rich that it doesn't even feel like a mission. But it would be nice if it wasn't all vegetarian."
Yan Hong snorted, "You've got food to eat, and you're still picking it up."
But when Shaoxing Yang was about to pick up his chopsticks, he stopped when he saw the small tentacles on the plate.
"No, why didn't you cut off all the tentacles?" Yan Hong looked at the tentacles on the Sauce Parasitic Star and was at a loss as to where to start. "It still looks very..."
"Ah, because the book said this part is very soft, so I kept it." Lu Shiyu saw that the two people were concerned, so he pushed the cold-mixed parasite star and said, "Why don't you try this first."
Because the cold-mixed parasite uses the root, it does not have the strange appearance of the head. It looks like an ordinary white strip, which is much more acceptable than the parasite with sauce.
Tang Zeyu didn't care about that at all. He picked up a piece of parasitic star meat with tentacles and put it into his mouth.
The Parasite Star is rich and tender, with a texture somewhat similar to real meat—soft yet firm, with a hint of the plant's unique aroma. The bottom is seared to a crisp, while the side facing up is unfried, leaving it soft. The many short tentacles trap the flavor of the sauce, and the sauce is hidden between the tentacles, filling your mouth with a mouthful, making it exceptionally flavorful.
Shaoxing Yang on the other side also picked up a piece of cold-mixed parasitic star with chopsticks. The snow-white long strips were covered with an attractive sauce and a little minced garlic and chili, which made people's appetites grow just by looking at it.
Shaoxing Yang only took one chopstickful of the parasite star, but because the strips were so long, that one chopstickful held nearly half a bowl. He slurped them down like noodles. The parasite star strips were crispy yet chewy, each strand coated in the sauce. The smooth, sour, and spicy flavors dominated, stimulating the appetite and relieving greasiness. The toasted sesame seeds added a fragrant aroma, making it an addictive dish.
Yan Hong also picked up a piece of cold-mixed parasitic star with chopsticks, held the bowl below to catch it, and used chopsticks to hold one end of the parasitic star strips and put it into her mouth and began to eat the cold-mixed parasitic star like noodles. As soon as she put it in her mouth, she was surprised by the sour and spicy taste, and she could hear the crisp sound when she chewed.
Chen Yunliang chose to start his meal with a bowl of soup. Even without chicken essence or MSG, the parasitic star, after being simmered, was exceptionally delicious. The broth was clear and smooth, and the floating egg droplets added a tender, smooth texture, adding to the richness. The hot soup seemed to dispel all worries and fatigue. Chen Yunliang scooped up a slice of parasitic star, which tasted and textured like meat. The whole meal felt like a meatless meal.
Yan Hong finally couldn't resist and tried a piece of parasitic star with sauce. She just thought the cold-mixed parasitic star was delicious, but then she fell in love with the parasitic star with sauce. The large piece of parasitic star meat was put into her mouth, and it was no different from eating meat.
Shaoxing Yang saw Yanhong eating piece after piece, touched Yanhong's nudge and asked how it tasted.
"Well, it's not tasty. It's simply too disgusting. You must not eat it."
As she spoke, Yan Hong picked up another piece and put it into her mouth to savor it carefully. Her expression showed that she was enjoying it. Shao Xingyang felt itchy in his heart and did not care about the small tentacles on the top of the parasitic star. He picked up a small piece, closed his eyes and put it into his mouth. Soon he did not mind the existence of those tentacles because they tasted so good.
"How can a plant taste so much like meat?" Shaoxing Yu said with a mouth full of parasitic stars. "No wonder it evolved a shell to protect itself. It's so delicious."
"It can be considered meat, you can't tell the difference at all." Yan Hong agreed.
The taste of the parasitic planet was indeed beyond Lu Shiyu's expectations. No wonder those deformed creatures loved to eat it.
Just as they were eating enthusiastically, a strange noise suddenly came from a distance, which instantly attracted their attention. The team that was originally talking and laughing suddenly fell silent. Only the crackling sound of burning firewood was left in the place. At this moment, it seemed as if even breathing was prohibited.
"snort--"
It was a sound that was difficult to describe in simple words. It sounded like the cry of some creature, or the sound of wind blowing, but there was also a sticky feeling in the sound. No one knew of any animal that could make such a sound.
Accompanied by the sound of footsteps stepping on dead leaves, several people hid instantly. Only a pile of items and uneaten dinner were left. Lu Shiyu was pulled by Tang Zeyu to hide behind a big tree. The footsteps gradually approached, and Lu Shiyu's heartbeat also beat rapidly like a drum.
Logically, she should have just hidden behind the tree, waiting for the thing to leave on its own or for Tang Zeyu to give the order to act, but the strange sound made Lu Shiyu unable to help but turn her eyes towards the source of the sound. Her strong curiosity drove her to take a closer look.
At first glance, they saw something extraordinary: a four-legged creature with giant flowers on its head approaching their camp.
This thing's inhumanity is as strong as its human-likeness. Its two legs are completely used for walking, but its two forelimbs can serve as feet while also acting as hands. It can stand and walk on two legs and pick up things. Its body can be described as dry firewood. Shriveled and dry are the first impressions, and it looks like a dead flower in a pot, but those few parts are all powerful muscles. Even though they don't look like much, they can easily deal with an ordinary person.
Lu Shiyu had seen it on the tree, but seeing it in a book and seeing it with one's own eyes in reality were two different things. Lu Shiyu covered his mouth to prevent himself from making any sound because of excessive excitement.
The deformed creature stood up after it approached the camp. When fully standing, it was more than two meters tall. Its many flower-like heads were searching for something, and several tentacle-like tongues protruded from its mouth, sensing the air.
The few people who were hiding held their breathing, trying not to make any sound, but they had already tacitly put their hands on their weapons, ready to launch an attack at any time.
Fortunately, the deformed creature did not discover them and was not interested in the things they left in the camp. After sensing around, it turned and walked to another place and began to prey on the beetles that were gnawing on the parasitic star under the tree.
After finding the parasitic planet, the distorted creature resumed its stubborn posture. The petal-like thing on its head was actually its fully open mouth. This form allowed it to have more complete perception and facilitate hunting. After discovering these beetles, the distorted creature began to feast on them. It quickly tied up a beetle with its tentacle-like tongue and put it back into its mouth to chew. Then it caught another one and ate it one beetle at a time.
Occasionally, if one tried to fly away, it would be eaten by the deformed creatures that stood up. The beetles had almost no power to fight back and could only hope for the slightest chance of escape.
Finally, all the beetles on the ground in the nearby area were eaten by the deformed creatures, and it slowly left.
Several people walked out from behind the shelter and made sure that the monster-like deformed creature had gone far away before they dared to speak.
"I'm so unlucky! How could I encounter this kind of thing while eating?" Shaoxing Yu complained dissatisfiedly.
Lu Shiyu looked at Tang Zeyu and asked, "Do you often encounter this kind of thing when you go on missions?"
Tang Zeyu answered truthfully, "It's common to encounter aberrant creatures, but those with particularly bizarre appearances are relatively rare. After all, the dangerous aberrant creatures close to the base have been mostly cleared out, and most of the time they don't stray that far, so most of the ones we encounter are not very dangerous. This is the first time we've seen one."
Tang Zeyu was originally worried that Lu Shiyu would be frightened after seeing the deformed creature, but he was obviously overthinking it. Lu Shiyu now only felt an unprecedented excitement. The weird feeling of being neither human nor inhuman and the strong sense of oppression were exactly the deformed creature she had imagined!
Lu Shiyu was not only more excited and curious than afraid, but he even felt a little disappointed that it left too quickly just now. If he was not worried about its aggressiveness, Lu Shiyu really wanted to get close to it.
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