Fu Chen looked back up and saw Fu Lian.

“What did you think of the trial?”

Light blue words appeared.

[You were domineering, but those people did deserve to be punished.]

Her tail was curled downwards and she was fidgeting slightly. Fu Chen started to pat her head which made her tail wag, “As a chef and cultivator, you will need to have the strength to stand alone within the realms. After I finish teaching you the basics, there will be a surprise for you.”

He stopped petting her and went into the kitchen. Fu Lian followed Fu Chen and saw him pointing at part of the floor. Suddenly, it vanished revealing the foundation of the building. 

Fu Chen noticed Fu Lian and gestured to her. She stood next to him and stared curiously at the foundation. Over a short period of time, the hole in the kitchen started getting deeper. As more and more dirt disappeared, a layer of metal was revealed.

Fu Chen faced Fu Lian and said, “Do you want to go down the hole with me?”

She nodded so Fu Chen easily held her tiny body in his arms and jumped straight down. Fu Lian screamed a little and Fu Chen laughed as they fell 100 meters down.

2 seconds later, a bubble encased the two people which slowed their fall. The metal layer disappeared and revealed a large room with several people inside. Fu Chen finished laughing and pet Fu Lian’s head, “Was that fun?”

Fu Lian looked a little dizzy and shook her head. [I’m afraid of heights.]

The inhabitants in the room stared at Fu Chen and Fu Lian who were still conversing with each other. 

Fu Chen showed a concerned look as he ruffled Fu Lian’s head, “Well that’s not good. I’ll help you get over your fear of heights.”

He inspected the room and nodded in approval, “This is perfect for a wine cellar, but I’ll need to increase the ventilation in this room and install a humidifier.”

Finally, one of the strangers inside the room couldn’t take it anymore, “Hey! Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?”

Fu Chen showed a wide, slanted smile, “Hello, gentlemen. I am inspecting my new wine cellar. Thank you for graciously preparing it for me. However…..”

He stared at several large cubes, “I don’t really appreciate that you have been using my wine cellar to store bombs.”

Fu Chen clapped his hands and the bombs disappeared. 

One of the strangers faintly whispered, “You can’t do this.”

Fu Chen laughed, “This room is under my restaurant which means that this is my real estate. Although you are trespassing on my land, you did make this nice room so…”

He clapped his hands once more and the strangers disappeared.

[Did you kill them?]

Fu Lian was amazed at Fu Chen’s powers. He shook his head and smiled, “I just sent them to people that would greatly appreciate having them. Alright, let’s turn this room into a wine cellar.”

Meanwhile….

-------

Inside an office, a man was looking at several holographic displays with reports about Fureur Galactic Empire spies. He sighed after reading the reports, “I can’t believe that the Ben and Dan clans hired so many servants that were spies. Shi Feng.”

The doors to the office opened and revealed a man of average stature walking in. He stood in front of the desk and bowed, “Sir.”

“Shi Feng, did you get any information out of the spies that Du Hong delivered to us?”

Shi Feng nodded, “Yes, the interrogation was surprisingly easy. They answered all of our questions in full detail, but…”

The man behind the desk clasped his hands, “But, what?”

Shi Feng continued, “They had no personalities and didn’t move by themselves except when they were hungry, thirsty, or sleepy.”

The man frowned, “Perhaps Du Hong learned a new energy skill and made it easier for us to interrogate them. Anyway, what new information did you learn?”

Shi Feng replied with a heavy tone, “We found out that they were attempting to blow up Elysium city with energy crystal bombs. They revealed that the bombs are located underneath the restaurant that Du Hong apprehended them from.”

“bam”

The man stood up and slapped the desk, “Deploy four teams of bomb disposal automatons and ten squads of soldiers.”

Shi Feng nodded, “I’ll contact them now.”

He was about to leave the room when, “thud”

Shi Feng turned around and his jaw dropped. “Sir, are those the energy crystal bombs?”

The man behind the desk nodded absentmindedly. 

“thud”

Several people with their bodies tied up appeared within the office and dropped onto the floor.

Shi Feng and his superior both thought, ‘What the fuck?’

---------

Lunch and dinner service had ended with no problems. Fu Chen’s restaurant gained several more customers that were brought by Su Zheng and Lang Ya. 

“nom, nom, nom”

“click”

Fu Lian put down her spoon after she finished eating a bowl of spicy beef curry. She placed the bowl and spoon in the kitchen sink where they disappeared. ‘I still can’t believe that a sink like this exists.’

Then, she walked towards a set of metal doors. It opened to reveal an elevator cab. Fu Lian stepped into the elevator and pressed a button. The doors closed and the cage silently moved downwards.

“Ding!”

The doors opened and revealed a large room. Fu Lian stepped into the room and walked towards the other end to reach a metal door. She opened the door which revealed a pristine room full of equipment and Fu Chen who was standing next to a table.

“click”

Fu Lian walked in and closed the door. Fu Chen turned around and waved at her. She walked towards him and looked curiously at the table that had a large container of brownish-yellow grain. 

“This grain is called sorghum, and I’ll be using it to make a simple alcohol today. First, we steam the grain to break the sorghum down.”

He poured the container of sorghum into a metal pot that was on top of a cauldron of water. The heat was turned on and the water started to heat up. After around half an hour, Fu Chen removed the pot from the cauldron.

“pop, pop, pop”

The water level in the cauldron had decreased due to the water boiling and evaporating.

Fu Chen added warm water into the pot of softened sorghum. Then, he moved it next to a large metal machine.

“This is a grain mill. I’m going to use the grain mill to grind the steamed and soaked sorghum into a powder.”

He turned the machine on and started pouring in the sorghum. As the grain was poured down the metal chute, it was ground into a fine powder that was collected in a metal container. 

“click” 

Fu Chen turned the grain mill off and moved the metal container filled with a fine powder of sorghum away from it. He grabbed a hose connected to a wall and placed it over the metal container.

“Now that we’ve ground up the sorghum, we add enough water to form a paste.”

He turned on the hose which started pouring crystal clear water into the metal container. 

“squish, squash”

Fu Chen started mixing the powder and water together with a wooden rod. A paste slowly formed as he added more water and continued stirring. 

“fweesh” 

The hose was turned off to reveal a brownish-yellow paste. Fu Lian sniffed the paste and took several more sniffs. ‘It smells earthy and slightly grassy.’

Fu Chen dumped the paste of sorghum onto a metal table and took out a rectangular mold. 

“After the paste is made, I shape it into a brick and dry it out.” 

He poured the thick paste into the rectangular mold and placed it into a machine that looked like an oven.

“click” 

The machine was kept running for several minutes and then Fu Chen retrieved the rectangular mold filled with the sorghum paste. He slid the newly formed brown brick out of the mold and placed it onto the metal table. 

“The surface of the brick has been dried out, but the inside still contains some moisture. I’m going to place this brick into an incubator machine to keep it cool and dry. As it incubates, healthy bacteria will grow on the brick which gives it its unique flavor.”

Fu Lian stared at the brick of sorghum. [How long will it take to incubate?]

“Without the special incubator, it would take around six months, but it only takes around a day with the incubator.”

Fu Chen placed the sorghum brick into the incubator and turned it on. After he turned on the incubator, Fu Chen started to clean the machinery. All of the grains and water covering the machinery disappeared after he made a motion with his arm. Fu Lian watched in awe as the distillery room became pristine again.

He clapped his hands, “With that done, let’s go to the kitchen and practice the basic cooking skills I taught you.”

“clang, clang” 

The metal doors of the alcohol distillery closed after Fu Chen and Fu Lian stepped into the elevator.”