Chapter 59: Beast Tide
Jiufang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, "What do you want to collect?"
"How about a bonfire dinner? All the people in the base can get together to have a barbecue. It's simple but lively." Qi Huan casually picked up a pen from the pen holder and spun it around. "It can be seen as a way for you, the new star master, to have fun with the people, right?"
"The ceremony is scheduled to take place between 9 and 9:30 in the morning, which doesn't quite match the timing of the party," Jiu Fangyu reminded.
"What about making a big cake for 10,000 people? We can also use buttercream to decorate the cake with some words, such as 'Today's Base, Tomorrow's Glory'. It can not only add some atmosphere and 'momentum' to the ceremony, but also be cut into pieces and eaten as a snack by everyone. It won't be a waste at all."
"It's just a routine ceremony. There's no need to spend too much of your energy on it," Jiufang Yu shook his head and rejected it again. "If you really want to do it, can you consider something that is quick to eat, easy to take away, and not bad to eat when it's cold?"
"Is it convenient to take it away?" Qi Huan was a little puzzled by this request. Jiufang Yu rarely made any comments on food, whether it was dinner at the restaurant or the cafeteria at Tianfeng Pavilion, he almost never asked about it, but today he clearly objected to it one after another, and although the reasons given were all legitimate, he still felt that something was wrong.
"Well," Jiufang Yu nodded, "There are no seats over there in the square, and everyone has work to do, so most people will probably choose to take their things back."
"Then let's make cookies." Qi Huan put his hands together around the black ball and made a kneading motion. The making of cookies is relatively simple, and from the experience of making butter cookies and Margarita cookies before, the taste is fresh and palatable to the people in the base, and making them in advance will not affect the deliciousness at all, which is the best way to meet Jiu Fangyu's requirements.
"Okay." Jiufang Yu finally stopped objecting this time, and just reminded him, "Ask Xu Zhi to find more people to help you, don't tire yourself out."
"I understand." Qi Huan nodded with a smile, glanced at the pen in his hand, raised the corner of his lips slyly, casually removed the outer shell, took out the spring-loaded pen core inside, and solemnly handed it to Jiufang Yu opposite him.
Jiufang Yu took the pen refill inexplicably and looked around it in confusion. It was just an ordinary pen refill. "What do you mean?"
"Keep it secret for now~" Qi Huan replied imitating his previous tone, picked up the black ball on his lap, and walked out humming a song.
Jiufang Yu: ...
My hands seem to be itching again.
Time was running out, Qi Huan thought about it and decided to make a cookie with the word "auspicious" on it. Desserts are more suitable for the taste of most people, and he added words like "Fu", "Ji", "Cai" and so on on it. It tastes good and can bring good luck. He can also provide this recipe to the chefs of Feixing for free. In the future, when someone eats the cookie with the word "auspicious", they can think of the new star master's inauguration bringing good luck and fortune to everyone, and it can also expand their favorability and reputation.
He first contacted Uncle Wan to allocate the necessary raw materials, and then asked Xu Zhi to help send a message.
That evening, all the chefs in the base received a volunteer recruitment notice issued in the command hall, saying that the base was recruiting a group of chefs willing to go to Tianfeng Pavilion to help make "Lucky Cakes". All raw materials would be provided by the base, and the participating chefs would be able to get the recipe of the Lucky Cake for free and sell it in their own restaurants in the future.
After receiving the announcement, Rondo asked Qi Huan and learned that he would lead everyone to make auspicious cakes, so he arrived early the next day to help.
At one o'clock on Monday afternoon, the kitchen of Tianfeng Pavilion was crowded with chefs, including the two Yidaoxing chefs I met at the last dinner. They were too embarrassed to look Qi Huan in the eye, and they shrank back uncomfortably behind the crowd.
In fact, Qi Huan met most of his colleagues for the first time, so there was no need to exchange pleasantries. He simply and politely introduced that these lucky biscuits were gifts given free of charge to all the people watching the inauguration ceremony tomorrow. Then he randomly divided the chefs into ten groups, gave the raw material formula and production method, and demonstrated the process in detail. In order to enrich the taste, he also imitated the popular cookies in his previous life and added chocolate chips to the cookie ingredients.
After the first batch of cookies was baked, everyone on the scene was given a piece. Because it is not a high-temperature baking chocolate, the melted chocolate will also bring a wonderful bursting taste. The crispy cookies and the soft and silky chocolate sauce complement each other. The bitterness of the mellow and rich chocolate also perfectly blends with the sweetness. Everything is just right.
Immediately, there was a continuous stream of praises from the kitchen. Although most of them were chefs, they seldom came across dessert recipes, and it was their first time to eat cookies. They were amazed by the taste, and thinking that they had already got the recipe, after learning it here, they would be able to add this delicious dessert to their own menu in the future, they all rubbed their hands, eager to give it a try.
From that afternoon until the evening, the cookie baking group operated on the assembly line filled the entire communication hall with the sweet aroma of milk, which attracted all passers-by to look back and ask what the smell was.
At 8:30 am on September 9, the inauguration ceremony of the new Star Lord officially began. At Jiufang Yu's request, the originally complicated and lengthy ceremony was reduced to three simple parts: worship of star soil, seal-granting ceremony, and speech by the Star Lord.
It was at this time that Qi Huan learned that the lift platforms on each floor of the command hall could be mechanically extended outward. That morning, the platform on the east side of the fifth floor was extended outward by more than 20 meters and served as the "rostrum" for the entire inauguration ceremony.
People watching the ceremony standing in the square can see the people on the stage just by slightly raising their heads. If they can't see clearly, there are huge projections on both sides of the square playing the video simultaneously.
The sound of music floated in the air in the square, and it was crowded with people just after eight o'clock. Most of the base residents were very much looking forward to and curious about the new star master.
Qi Huan also brought people to prepare bags of auspicious cakes at the entrance of the communication hall, waiting to distribute them when the auspicious time arrived.
The Wan couple, the second and fifth Wan brothers and sisters, Rondo, and all the acquaintances who knew that he had been helping out at Tianfeng Pavilion during this period all gathered around when they saw the flag of Tianfeng Pavilion. Even Wu Ke came over with his grandmother.
Quan Hai and Wu Ke were used to helping out in the restaurant, so they took the initiative to roll up their sleeves and start arranging the boxes.
"It's over. Looks like I have to pay two more lunches as labor fees." Qi Huan pretended to have a headache and joked with the two of them.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier that there would be lunch and labor fees? I'm just sitting around doing nothing anyway."
"that is."
Lao Wu and Wan Lao Er also immediately made gestures to help.
"No, no, there's not enough lunch to share." Qi Huan stopped the two with a smile.
While everyone was talking and laughing, Ah Shui from the garbage collection team happened to pass by. Seeing Qi Huanquan, Hai Wuhe and others, he came over to say hello.
"Where is your friend named A Tu? There is also a kid named A Tu in the kitchen here, so it's a good opportunity for them to meet each other." Qi Huan gossiped casually.
Ah Shui shook his head. "I don't know where that kid ran off to. I didn't see him last night."
As they were talking, another person in the conversation, Ah Tu, suddenly ran over in a hurry and said, "Chef, something bad has happened."
Everyone looked over when they heard the noise. Qi Huan quickly gestured to him to keep quiet, took him aside and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
"Some of the lucky biscuits I made yesterday might taste strange." Ah Bu hurriedly handed an empty can in his hand to Qi Huan. It was a salt shaker.
Ah Tu used to be used to following Sai Wen. He would check the kitchen utensils and various seasonings in the kitchen every morning and be responsible for refilling them. However, this salt shaker was completely empty. Everyone knew the daily consumption of seasonings in the kitchen. It was obviously more likely that someone had used it up yesterday than that it was accidentally spilled.
Ah Tu held the empty can nervously, "Could it be that someone among the people who came yesterday deliberately caused trouble?"
Qi Huan frowned, he was worried about the "safety" of the lucky biscuits, so on the one hand, the raw materials used were provided in a unified manner, and the teams were arranged to collaborate and "supervise" each other. On the other hand, toxin scans were specially arranged when packing. Unfortunately, the taste difference between sweet and salty was not within the alarm range at all.
"What should I do?" Ah Tu looked at the long queue of people nearby and stamped his feet anxiously. Now he had no way of knowing whether the man was so busy that he mistook salt for sugar, or was doing something malicious on purpose. But it was impossible to find those salty cakes anymore.
"Be patient." Qi Huan patted A Tu's arm and opened his personal terminal to contact Xu Zhi.
It was a bit strange. At Jiufang Yu's inauguration ceremony, shouldn't Xu Zhi, Tao Zhe, Chen Ye, Kong Hu and others be there? But there seemed to be only a row of secretaries on the top platform of the tower. Xu Zhi and others hadn't seen anyone since morning.
Qi Huan briefly described the current situation in the message and then provided a solution.
[I suggest reminding everyone when distributing them that we have prepared some extra non-sweet surprise lucky cookies. If anyone eats them, they are welcome to go to Tianfeng Pavilion with the remaining lucky cookies to get a surprise card. You can use the card to exchange for a meal at Tianfeng Pavilion at any time within the next three months. The estimated cost is about 3,000 to 4,000 silver coins.] Qi Huan estimated the capacity of the salt jar. If used as sugar, it can make about 120 pieces at most.
【Just do as you say.】
After the two of them finished discussing, Qi Huan quickly found a few staff members at the distribution counter and reminded them of the wording. When they returned to the front of the counter, it was time to start distributing the tickets.
Seeing the staff begin to distribute the cards team by team and give explanations, Qi Huan finally felt relieved. He turned around and asked Ah Tu to go to the communication hall to print 150 "surprise cards".
The printed paper card only had a simple serial number and three words, which was easy to forge. Qi Huan thought about it and signed his name at the bottom. His signature was designed by someone at a small price. In the past, he used it to sign the cards for the annual fan draws and gifts. He didn't expect that it could now be used as an anti-counterfeiting mark, which was considered to be fully utilized.
After all the lucky cookies were distributed, more than thirty people registered and received their surprise cards.
"Chef, you are amazing!" Ah Tu looked at the list and then looked at Qi Huan with admiration, with stars in his eyes almost flying out. If something tasted wrong, they would usually just scrap it and wait for a fine, but they never expected that the chef would come up with such a perfect solution in just a few minutes. If he didn't know the whole story, he would definitely think it was designed this way.
"It's not amazing, it's just borrowed ideas from dumplings, fortune cookies, and king cakes." Qi Huan patted his shoulder. There are actually many foods that create a sense of surprise. During the Chinese New Year, people like to put coins in dumplings to predict wealth, notes in fortune cookies, and small porcelain dolls in king cakes. They all follow the same idea.
"What kind of cake?" Ah Tu scratched his ear. He had heard of dumplings, but what were the other two kinds of cakes?
"I'll teach you how to make it when I'm free." Qi Huan asked A Tu and the others to continue setting up the table at the exchange counter. Many people probably didn't eat on the spot, so more people would come later.
The inauguration ceremony was about to begin. Qi Huan rubbed his wrist, which was a little sore from signing, and looked up in the direction of the top of the tower. There were still only two rows of secretaries in red uniforms.
He checked the time. It was eight twenty-nine.
The air was inexplicably heavy, making it hard to breathe, but it didn't have the stuffy and sticky feeling that one had before a rainstorm. Qi Huan couldn't tell for a moment whether the discomfort really came from the air or from himself being too nervous.
The music around faded, and the people in the square immediately looked up at the platform in the sky.
The leading secretary held up a magnificent white jade scepter and announced loudly, "The Star Earth Sacrifice Ceremony begins now."
The morning light penetrated the single diamond-shaped star on the top of the scepter and fell straight towards the square.
Countless golden points of light emanated from the ground of the square, soaring straight up, and finally gathered in the sky to form a brilliant and colorful star map.
Images flashed on the display screens on both sides: primitive, flourishing, developing, prosperous, brilliant, heyday, lonely, decadent, silent, and dilapidated. The history of the abandoned planet No. 7 over the past thousand years flashed by frame by frame, making people feel deeply moved. By the end, the square had already been silent.
"The stars carry the light, the earth carries the world. Today, I present a grand ceremony to thank the stars and the sky..."
The secretary read the sacrificial words aloud, and Jiufang Yu's figure finally appeared on the podium.
He was wearing a neat black military uniform and a black cloak. The thick and luxurious golden epaulettes on his shoulders were shining brightly, and the tassels and ribbons hung down, swaying with the cloak. On the back of the cloak was the same star map, but it was embroidered with various gems inlaid in it, which was gorgeous, noble and cold.
The morning light cast a beautiful golden glow on his handsome features, so bright that it was impossible to look directly at him.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounded, and several red beams of light shot up into the sky from the nearest east gate of the base.
"Stone beast! It's a stone beast!"
Someone in the crowd shouted in surprise.
Qi Huan's nerves suddenly tensed up. Didn't the stone beasts usually attack the base at night? How could they break in during the day?
"Don't panic, everyone. The guards will be responsible for dealing with the stone beast," Jiufang Yu signaled the secretary to interrupt the sacrificial words he was reciting and turned on his microphone. "In one minute, two starships will land nearby. All you have to do is open your personal terminal or follow the direction indicated by the staff and board the nearest ship for shelter."
The voice of the new star lord was extremely unfamiliar to most of the people in the base, but his unhurried and calm tone had a very soothing effect.
At the same time, everyone's personal terminal also popped up the base's evacuation reminder, reminding everyone that the stone beast is attacking, and a starship will be parked at the west square of the command hall and the intersection leading to the south city. Please go to the nearest starship for shelter according to your location.
Before he finished speaking, twenty airships immediately filed out from the take-off and landing platform, breaking through the light barrier in an orderly formation and flying into the sky. They were then divided into two teams, with eighty percent of the airships speeding towards the east gate, while the remaining airships quickly formed an arrow shape, pointing to the location where the South Street starship was parked.
These orderly measures also made the people in the square slowly calm down. Living in a place like the Waste Star, wouldn't they encounter a few attacks from stone beasts every month? Now that the guards were dispatched at the first time, they didn't have to go on their own. The situation was much better than before.
And what did the new star master just say? Prepared a starship for everyone to take shelter? Not to mention the starship, most of them were like Qi Huan, who had never even seen the appearance of the garbage ship clearly. Now they had the opportunity to ride the starship because of the stone beast's attack. For a moment, the excitement and surprise even overwhelmed the fear.
The several teams of staff who were originally standing around the square to maintain order were also well-trained to take on the work of evacuation guidance. Those who were elderly and looked inconvenient to move or were with children would immediately contact the airship for guidance in the air to come down and pick them up, with priority given to sending them to the direction of the west square of the command hall.
Qi Huan, who was standing in the square, naturally heard Jiufang Yu's words. He was originally a little worried that there might be some residents near the east gate who did not come to attend the ceremony, but when he saw that two small teams automatically separated from the tail of the flying airship team and landed towards the residential area, he knew that Jiufang Yu had already arranged countermeasures in advance with reference to the situation of the last attack, and he immediately felt safe.
And as far as he knew, Kong Hu had successfully upgraded the alarm system of the base's protective shield a few days ago, expanding the alarm range to two hundred meters outside the protective shield. In other words, when the alarm sounded, the stone beast was still more than a hundred meters away from the gate, leaving the guard team with a certain amount of dispatch response time.
"Come on, don't push. Everyone, keep some distance and watch your step." Qi Huan took the initiative to call on several people around him who were distributing auspicious cakes to help maintain order, and together they assisted in evacuating the crowd to both sides.
The Wan family, Quan Hai and others were standing near Qi Huan, and they followed suit to help. Wu Ke originally wanted to stay, but his grandmother was old, so the two of them were the first to board the airship and be sent to the West Square.
Fortunately, most of the people in the base were gathered in the square today, so information was transmitted smoothly and a lot of time was saved.
The evacuation work was carried out in an orderly manner. The guards over there started to fight with the stone monsters that rushed over. The hunting team that received the news reacted slower than the guards, and now they also set out to fly towards the east gate.
Seeing that most people had been evacuated, Qi Huan persuaded the Wan couple, A Tu and others to leave as well.
While he was busy, he suddenly felt pain in his arm. He turned his head and found that Lao Wu was holding his arm tightly, with fear on his face and even cold sweat on his forehead.
"Fifth brother, are you feeling unwell?" Qi Huan asked with concern.
At this moment, most of the people around them had left, leaving only the fifth brother, the second brother Wan, and all the siblings in the family.
Lao Wu's teeth were chattering and he was speechless for a moment. He could only raise his shaking arms and point tremblingly to the south.
Everyone was confused, and they looked up with Qi Huan in the direction of Lao Wu's finger. They saw yellow sand rolling outside the south gate of the base, smoke rising into the sky, and several colorful lights and shadows looming in the dust, rushing straight towards Base No. 3.
Could this momentum, like thousands of horses galloping, be a beast tide? Several people were startled. Qi Huan was about to send a message to Jiu Fangyu to warn him, when a shadow passed over his head. More than 30 airships were already heading straight for the South Gate.
Looking at the shadows of those airships, Qi Huan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, Jiufang Yu was standing at such a high place, he must have discovered those shadows earlier than them.
In addition, a dozen airships roared into the air and flew in all directions of the base, searching street by street for the missed indigenous people.
"Don't worry, the escort team has already passed by." Qi Huan patted the back of Lao Wu's hand to comfort him.
Instead of relaxing, the other party held on even tighter.
"Fifth brother?" Qi Huan looked at the fifth brother in surprise.
“…A-level.” Wan Laoer, who was standing next to him, looked ashen, his bones were cold and his hair stood on end. He used all his strength to finally squeeze out these two words from between his teeth.
What? Qi Huan was stunned, his eyes suddenly widened, "You mean, among those who came from the South Gate, there are A-level stone beasts?"
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