"During the Chinese New Year, we must have chicken, it is festive, and we must also have fish. We must have fish every year, and pork is definitely indispensable..."

While Feng Yu was earnestly explaining to Lu Ban the etiquette of celebrating the New Year, he was also skillfully preparing the ingredients.

She deboned whole chickens, removed fish bones and cut them into flower-shaped pieces, removed bones, and shredded cucumbers. She was just like the God of Cookery in the movies. She handled the ingredients that Lu Ban bought very clearly, making people want to become the fish under her knife and enjoy the pleasure of being cooked with ultimate culinary skills.

Lu Ban took a deep breath.

"I didn't expect you to be so virtuous. I couldn't tell."

"There's a lot you don't see."

Feng Yu grabbed the tail of the cut fish fillet with one hand, coated it with flour and placed it in the hot oil pan. With the other hand, he picked up a spoon and poured hot oil on it again and again. When the surface was slightly crispy, he threw both pieces of fish into the pan and fried them.

In another pot, she was cooking pork elbow in sauce. The rich aroma of the sauce wafted through the kitchen, making Lu Ban in the mirror want to stick his head out.

The fish was almost fried, so she scooped it out with a strainer and prepared to fry it again. When she turned around to get the ingredients, she saw a thick, gloomy black mist wrapped around the vegetables.

Feng Yu frowned.

"Go back to your room."

Lu Ban waved his hand hurriedly, causing the black fog to dissipate, revealing the radish underneath.

"Maybe they're all hungry."

After explaining, Lu Ban saw Feng Yu pick up the radish, wash and peel it, then cut it into slices neatly, and then cut the slices into shredded radish without stopping. Her technique was so skillful that it seemed that if the radish was replaced with something else, she would be able to complete these steps without blinking or beating her heart.

"The braised pork must be fried, otherwise the fat will be greasy. Shredded radish is easier to taste. And chicken soup is too oily if it is boiled directly. The chicken tastes better when cooked with chicken soup..."

Feng Yu continued to cook while explaining his operations.

She seemed to really be trying to teach Lu Ban a lesson.

They were busy until the evening, and the Spring Festival Gala program was almost over, so the two of them sat down at the table in the living room.

Squirrel fish, boiled chicken, braised pork elbow, taro pork, stir-fried squid, crab fried rice cake, eight-treasure duck, cured meat platter, stir-fried pork with chili... these are all dishes that Lu Ban doesn't usually get to eat.

The full table made Lu Ban’s living room seem a little small.

"You don't usually cook for yourself, do you?"

Feng Yu watched Lu Ban put the dishes and chopsticks on the table, eight sets in total, and she was stunned.

"You have quite a lot of people in your family."

"We are all friends. We will see each other sooner or later. It's New Year's Day, let's have a meal together."

Lu Ban smiled.

He and Feng Yu sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. The Spring Festival Gala was about to begin.

"Many takeaways come in meal packs, which are unhygienic and unnutritious. In addition, they add a lot of oil and salt to cover up the staleness of the ingredients. It's easy to gain weight if you eat them. If you have the chance, you should cook more often and eat lighter meals."

As Feng Yu spoke, he put the largest piece of chicken leg into Lu Ban's bowl.

"…eat something light."

He didn't know whether the two people had some deviation in their understanding of lightness.

On TV, the Spring Festival Gala began, with singing and dancing, and the atmosphere was peaceful.

In the living room, Lu Ban and Feng Yu were eating New Year's Eve dinner while chatting. They thought they would not be able to finish the dishes, but somehow all of them were finished.

Lu Ban even felt like he wasn't full.

It looked like everyone was enjoying their meal.

He watched the skits on TV which were becoming less and less funny, and thought that sometimes this was a good thing.

"Sure enough, my feeling at that time was right."

Lu Ban couldn't help but sigh.

"What does it feel like?"

Feng Yu asked from the side. She was watching the Spring Festival Gala very attentively. Sometimes she was tickled by the funny spots and her shoulders were shaking.

"You are the woman who can be my mother."

Lu Ban spoke the truth.

"I'll take it as a compliment."

Feng Yu smiled and didn't pay attention to Lu Ban's strange ideas.

“It’s snowing.”

She looked out the window and saw that the gloomy weather of the past few days had finally condensed into ice crystals, and snowflakes were falling from the gloomy sky.

Looking down through the window, you can see some young people walking out of their homes and strolling in the snow downstairs. It’s obvious that they are from the south and haven’t seen snow in more than ten years.

"I'm ready to go too. Want to go down and take a look around?"

Feng Yu picked up her clothes. She certainly didn't plan to spend the night here.

"Okay, I'll ask them to clean up the table."

Lu Ban also took a coat and the two went downstairs.

The snow had accumulated a little and had not yet completely covered the road, but there was already a crisp crunching sound when stepping on it. Lu Ban and Feng Yu were walking on the road in the community, one in front of the other.

At this time, Lu Ban would feel that there was nothing different about this world, and the exotic scenery seemed like a fantasy, far away and out of reach.

However, Lu Ban soon discovered that the neighborhood was not actually noisy. The feet of those playing in the snow made no sound on the ground, their conversations were vague and ethereal, and the whole world was as silent as death, with only the sound of melting snowflakes.

“The world is changing.”

Feng Yu said softly.

"Pollution from foreign lands is gradually invading here, or perhaps some beings sealed here are about to awaken. No matter which one it is, it will eventually lead to some results that you don't want to see."

"Is there anything I can do to stop it?"

Lu Ban asked.

Personally, he thought it was better to live in a carefree modern city than in a world where a blood moon might come, monsters might harass, or insects might invade at any time.

"There is no way to stop it. This is the trend of the entire world. Do you know about heat death? When the entropy in the universe increases infinitely and reaches its maximum value, everything in the world will be converted into heat energy, and the energy to sustain life will no longer exist."

“Is this a setting from some science fiction novel?”

Lu Ban was puzzled.

"Although this theory is not complete, in the foreign land, at least in my understanding, there is a phenomenon similar to entropy increase, which is the expansion of pollution."

"With the erosion of pollution, all rationality will eventually turn to madness, and humans will be alienated into monsters. The more peaceful the world is, the more serious the consequences of pollution will be. The degree of erosion here is too low. If something unexpected happens, it may trigger a chain reaction of collapse."

Feng Yu sighed.

"You mean, everyone's sanity is very high, so when they encounter those monsters, their sanity will drop more seriously, so it is easier to become alienated?"

Lu Ban roughly understood what Feng Yu said.

In the Land of Silence, knowledge represents pollution, and pollution equals knowledge. In a place like the Kingdom of Darkness, the knowledge about evil gods and indescribable great existences is already very deep, but Xia and the others did not fall into madness. Perhaps the mages of the Kingdom of Darkness have found some way to alleviate the pollution brought by knowledge.

Or to think about it another way, the cognition of Xia and others has changed because of the changes in the world. They have become accustomed to the existence of many monsters and are not tortured by their rationality.

The place where Lu Ban is now can be said to be almost unpolluted, and public cognition is still above the normal level. Therefore, once any knowledge from foreign lands suddenly invades, it will lead to rapid erosion.

"You can think of it this way. Most of those foreign lands have found some ways to coexist with pollution after suffering devastating blows. As for this world, there is no direction for the time being."

Feng Yu nodded.

"Perhaps...if I were to spread this foreign knowledge, those indescribable great beings, and the knowledge of those evil gods in this world, it would be able to alleviate the subsequent erosion to a certain extent."

Lu Ban suddenly had an idea.

We are all very rational, but when we encounter strange events, we tend to become crazy. This is just like people who have never seen horror movies before are more likely to be scared when watching a horror movie.

If everyone watches horror movies frequently and their sanity is more or less tortured, then when real weirdness, monsters, evil gods, and indescribable great existences come, will people be less affected?

"…Are you serious?"

Feng Yu hesitated for a moment, stopped, turned to look at Lu Ban, and asked back.

"You have to try it anyway."

Lu Ban felt that this method might actually work.

"But maybe there is indeed a way. If you want to fight madness, you must first fall into madness."

Feng Yu's soft murmurs were buried in the falling snow.

"Since the world will inevitably change, it would be nice to at least let the world adapt in advance, right?"

Lu Ban stared at the sky, thoughtfully.