Chapter 4

Five minutes later, Rao Ke emerged from the kitchen carrying a steaming pot of instant noodles in a hearty beef-flavored stew.

To make up for missing out on the Orleans-style roast chicken, she had boiled two packs of noodles and added sausages, luncheon meat slices, fried eggs, and baby bok choy.

"Sesame Paste, come eat!" Rao Ke called out to the kitten, who was in the living room, cackling at a comedy movie like a goose.

"Coming!" The next second, a small black ball materialized right in front of Rao Ke.

Just as she was about to serve the noodles, Rao Ke suddenly remembered, "You're a kitten now—can you even eat this?"

"Of course I can!"

Rao Ke poured two-thirds of the noodles into Sesame Paste's bowl, then added a fried egg and some of the toppings.

She watched as Sesame Paste used a fluffy little black paw to deftly wield chopsticks and slurp up the noodles.

Seeing this, Rao Ke asked, "Want some cola too?"

"Yes! Ice-cold!" Sesame Paste had long wanted to try the fizzy black drink that was all the rage on Blue Star.

"You really know your stuff!" Rao Ke couldn't help but laugh. She went to the fridge, grabbed two bottles of iced cola, and even opened one for Sesame Paste.

Sesame Paste took a tiny sip, then its eyes flew wide open.

The moment the black, fizzy liquid hit its mouth, Sesame Paste felt countless bubbles popping on its tongue, followed by a refreshing lemon flavor spreading across its palate. The icy, tingling drink left the whole cat feeling cool and invigorated.

"How is it?" Rao Ke watched Sesame Paste keep sipping the cola, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"I love it." Sesame Paste declared that from now on, this would be its favorite drink.

"If only it weren't deep winter right now—imagine selling this in the scorching summer. It would be a huge hit!"

"By the way, you went out today—do you have any plans?" Sesame Paste kept sipping its cola, its tail flicking happily, which drew Rao Ke's gaze.

"What else can I do? I need to make money first." Rao Ke eyed Sesame Paste's tail with barely concealed longing.

"You can exchange points for silver coins at a one-to-one rate."

"I feel like I'm playing some kind of management game," Rao Ke muttered under her breath.

Sesame Paste glanced at her. "That's one way to look at it. We're basically the NPCs in the game."

"That's fine. It's not like I'm going to save the world anyway." Miss Rao, a veteran corporate drone, shrugged.

"Hang tight for a bit—I have a feeling someone will come calling tomorrow." Rao Ke slurped a mouthful of noodles with a look of deep contemplation, only to be jolted out of it when the broth burned her tongue.

Sesame Paste didn't ask.

One cat and one woman, sharing a lavish bowl of instant noodles and ice-cold cola while watching a silly variety show, ended the second day in the other world in blissful comfort.

In the middle of the night, the snow-covered Kaqisha Continent underwent a dramatic transformation in an instant.

The ice began to melt, the temperature rose, and before long, torrential rain started pouring down.

Amid the rain, seeds buried in the soil burst forth and grew wildly, making rustling sounds as the entire Adventure Forest grew even more lush, mysterious, and dangerous.

Across the continent, magical beasts also received a boost in power, each radiating an aura unlike before.

*Bang-bang-bang!*

Rao Ke, who had been sound asleep, was startled awake by the strange noise.

Frowning, she sat up and noticed Sesame Paste lying by the window, watching something downstairs with great interest.

"What are you looking at?"

Rao Ke walked over behind Sesame Paste—and found herself face-to-face with a sunflower roughly four meters tall that was spitting sunflower seeds at the window.

"!"

"What the heck is that?!" Although the sunflower didn't have visible eyes, Rao Ke inexplicably felt like she was locked in a staring contest with it.

"Yesterday was the last day of the winter season. Now it's spring. Take a look downstairs."

Rao Ke looked down and saw many smaller magical beasts and plants aggressively attacking below, but they were all blocked by a blue barrier that extended about two meters beyond the wooden cabin.

Rao Ke and Sesame Paste watched the magical creatures relentlessly batter the protective barrier with interest for a while.

"Wait a minute—if they keep attacking like this, how are we supposed to run the shop?" Rao Ke's smile vanished.

Sesame Paste nodded. "I'll go clear them out right now."

Rao Ke watched Sesame Paste with a touched expression. Without this cat, how would the world keep spinning? What a magnificent little kitty!

Sesame Paste went down and easily cleared away the beasts and plants attacking the building in three or four moves, leaving only the large sunflower behind.

Whatever Sesame Paste did, the sunflower not only stopped attacking the cabin but began guarding it instead. Any small beast that came near was chased off by the sunflower's seeds.

Rao Ke leaned by the window watching, her face showing no fear—only a longing for magic.

When Sesame Paste came back up after finishing, Rao Ke handed it an opened bottle of iced cola.

"Good work."

"Piece of cake. That sunflower said it wants to be my underling, so just treat it as a watchdog... flower!" Sesame Paste cradled the cola and gulped down several big swallows before stopping with satisfaction.

"Sesame Paste, do you know how to learn magic?" Rao Ke asked seriously.

Even though the protective barrier could keep her safe, Rao Ke preferred to fight battles she was sure of winning. Now that she was in a world of magic, how could she not learn it?

"Let's test you first." Sesame Paste pulled out a white stone and had Rao Ke hold it, close her eyes, and meditate in her mind.

Before long, the stone erupted with green and gold light—so bright that Sesame Paste had to shut its eyes.

"Alright, open your eyes."

As Rao Ke opened her eyes, the stone crumbled into dust and dissolved into light, vanishing on the spot.

"Your magical talent is excellent. Wood and gold elements have answered your call." Sesame Paste smiled.

"As for the basics of magic around here, I'm not really familiar with them." Sesame Paste scratched its head.

System combat power came pre-installed from the factory.

"Forget it—we'll see if the bookstore has anything when we go to town."

When Rao Ke had gone to the town yesterday, she'd noticed that almost every resident could use magic, even five-year-old children.

That meant learning magic was probably fairly common on this continent.

"How much longer is this rain going to last?" Rao Ke looked at the downpour outside, a little troubled.

"The spring season gets a lot of rain. This one should last about five more hours." Sesame Paste held its can of cola, taking a sip every now and then.

Hearing that, Rao Ke relaxed and went back to bed to sleep.

At eight-thirty in the morning, Rao Ke was woken up right on time by her alarm.

After washing up, she casually tied her hair into a bun and went to the kitchen to see what she could eat.

She also checked her supplies. Since she didn't cook much at home, her ingredients were limited—enough for about a week when counting lunch and dinner.

That was thanks to Xu Ruozhen, who had brought over a bunch of hotpot seasoning and ingredients when she visited.

As for drinks, milk, and bread, she had plenty—enough to last half a month.

"I still need to finish the beginner quest first," Rao Ke thought while munching on bread with milk.

*Ding-dong!*

"Three customers are here," Sesame Paste hopped over to Rao Ke's side.

Rao Ke took out her tablet and opened the sandbox module. Three little figures had appeared in front of her wooden cabin—two were gray, and one chibi figure was none other than Laiensi, whom she'd met in town yesterday.

"Let's go. Guests are here." Rao Ke swallowed the last bite of bread and headed downstairs.

"Welcome to Keke Shop!" Rao Ke opened the door and greeted the three guests outside with a gentle smile.

Among the three, the leader was clearly the blonde woman in an elegant chiffon dress and black cloak.

The woman's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise at the sight of Rao Ke, but she quickly concealed it, greeting Rao Ke with a warm smile and a simple salute.

"My lady, I apologize for the intrusion. I am Mo Duoya Kashu, the town leader of No. 7 Wandering Town. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"No trouble at all. Keke Shop welcomes anyone who abides by the shop's rules."

"This is Selen, my steward." Mo Duoya gestured to the middle-aged man beside her, whose hair was combed flawlessly and who wore a steward's suit.

As for Laiensi, Mo Duoya didn't elaborate—he was probably even more familiar with Rao Ke than she was.

The reason they were all here at this hour was entirely thanks to the instant noodles Laiensi had brought to the town center the previous night.

At five o'clock the night before, Laiensi had carried three packs of instant noodles to the town center and handed them to the cook.

After explaining to the cook the exact instructions Rao Ke had given for boiling the noodles, he rushed upstairs to the second-floor conference room.

He made it to his seat with barely a minute to spare, only to receive a knock on the head from Selen the moment he sat down.

"How dare you show up late when Her Ladyship is already here!" Selen elegantly dabbed at the hand he'd just used to discipline Laiensi with a silk handkerchief.

Laiensi grumbled inwardly—of course, with his usual tardy partner nowhere in sight, he was the only one getting scolded. Still, he kept a humble expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, Dad. But I specially prepared a special dinner for everyone!" Laiensi prayed silently that the so-called instant noodles would actually taste good.

"Alright, alright. Since everyone's here, let's begin the meeting." Mo Duoya mediated from the head seat.

Other than Mo Duoya, only Ailier, Laiensi, and Selen were present.

Mo Duoya's main topic was the town's upgrade plan. She intended to upgrade No. 7 Wandering Town to a preliminary-level town in July of this year.

"That's all for now. We'll continue once the others return." After laying out the general framework of the plan, Mo Duoya stopped.

"Ma'am, when will everyone be back?" Laiensi took the opportunity to ask.

"As of now, only Ai Huike has confirmed—about half a month. The others are still undecided, but the latest they should be back is early February."

"By the way, Ailier mentioned that a lady in a black robe holding a black cat came today?" Mo Duoya asked with interest.

At the mention of this, Laiensi nodded. "Yes, and her magical level is probably above my father's. The food I prepared today was exchanged with her."

"Putting that aside, that lady has exquisite taste—she really appreciated my special potions!" As Laiensi talked, he managed to circle back to his potions again.

The other three were used to it and didn't dampen his spirits.

"Something like that, from an unknown source—how can you just feed it to Her Ladyship? You child!" Selen frowned.

"It's fine. I'll run the detection and purification later." Ailier smiled gently in explanation.

Just then, a rich, irresistible aroma wafted over, capturing everyone's attention.