As Quan Hai transformed into an arm-footed creature, his blue hair also faded significantly. Correspondingly, from his cheeks to his arms, all the exposed skin on his body sprouted baseball-sized blue spots. Looking at the others, some had turned into beast heads, some had grown in size with their skin turning to stone, bursting through their clothes. Some were sitting on the shoulders of giant bears as big as trucks, while others wore masks and cloaks, seemingly not wanting others to see their transformed appearances.

Did they fall into the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” experience zone? This scene was just too abstract. Qi Huan took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the surprise in his heart, and with Quan Hai, they dismantled a chair and rushed over together.

The area around the west gate was originally a small circular square paved with various waste ores. Now, the small square was divided in half by the gate and a protective shield, with one half inside the base and the other half outside.

The stone beasts had dug their way in, and at this moment, nearly a hundred people were gathered on the semicircular square inside the gate. Some were busy filling the holes in the ground, while others were blocking the stone beasts. Without anyone directing, the scene was chaotic and noisy.

In the middle of the crowd were five half-human-tall creatures, reportedly called Duoduo Beasts. They looked somewhat like white lizards, but their entire bodies were glossy and bright, with a jade-like sheen, even carrying a semi-transparent texture under the light.

Although Qi Huan had heard that stone beasts were companion beasts of various gemstone mines and came in many varieties, he hadn’t expected them to look so peculiar. Seeing them suddenly, it was as if white jade sculptures had been possessed by something and come to life, absurd and eerie, and just thinking about it was terrifying.

The situation was urgent, leaving no time for more thoughts. He could only grit his teeth and follow Quan Hai into the crowd to help block the beasts.

The Duoduo Beasts had average combat power, but their skin was very thick, and they moved extremely fast, darting left and right among the crowd, making them quite tricky to handle. Fortunately, the encirclement was large enough that although they couldn’t be caught for the moment, they couldn’t escape either.

After about twenty minutes of stalemate, four jet airships of different colors arrived from the east city, riding the airwaves in mid-air. Compared to the dusty base residents below, they were cool and flashy.

“The hunting squad is here,” someone shouted joyfully.

In contrast to the chaotic crowd, the hunting squad was clearly professional. They wore stylish one-piece combat suits, wielded well-crafted weapons, and were well-trained and coordinated. The larger team controlled two beasts, while the others each handled one, quickly subduing the Duoduo Beasts and dragging them onto their respective jet airships.

With the crisis resolved, the crowd dispersed, and Qi Huan and Quan Hai walked back to their street together.

“I wish I could join a hunting squad someday,” Quan Hai said, full of envy as he watched the jet bikes disappear into the sky.

He had a few scratches on his face, and the blood was dark. Qi Huan was a bit worried, “Do the Duoduo Beasts have poison? The color of the blood from your wound doesn’t look right.”

Quan Hai shook his arm-foot, returning to his normal form, and casually wiped the wound on his cheek, laughing, “Don’t worry, we from the Klei tribe have a gene for strong poison. Even if it is poisonous, it can’t be more poisonous than me.”

“Klei tribe?” Qi Huan couldn’t help but glance at the leopard-headed man who had just walked past. What kind of world is this?

Quan Hai patted his forehead and clicked his tongue, seemingly unsure where to start explaining. In the end, he just raised his chin, signaling Qi Huan to look at his neck.

Only then did Qi Huan notice a coin-sized octopus-shaped blue pattern on Quan Hai’s neck below his left ear, resembling a tattoo.

“Those with alien patterns on their necks are non-human races.”

After Quan Hai’s fragmented explanation, Qi Huan finally understood the basics.

In the Ninefold Star Domain of the Alliance, many races lived. Due to being ruled by humans for a long time over ten thousand years ago, most races gradually accepted the human appearance as ‘superior.’ Most of them got used to living in humanoid forms, only reverting to their true forms during battles or when extremely excited.

Alien patterns are usually the true forms of various races, making them easy to identify, and it’s a customary rule.

As for the few who aren’t accustomed to human forms, they either live in remote corners of the star domain or left the Ninefold Star Domain thousands of years ago.

“If the pattern is of a beast form, they usually have a more aggressive temperament. Try not to provoke them when you encounter them,” Quan Hai advised Qi Huan again as they reached the door.

“Don’t worry,” Qi Huan said, raising his arm still in a metal splint, “I’m already like this, I wouldn’t dare provoke anyone.”

Once inside, Qi Huan casually tossed the chair leg he was holding behind the door and headed straight for the washroom. His neck was clean, not even a mole.

It seemed the original owner was likely human.

Qi Huan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, his worldview stabilizing. Honestly, in terms of personal appearance, he was more accustomed to humans. He could barely accept animals like cats and dogs, but if his true form was something bizarre or grotesque, like a nine-headed worm, it would really take some time to adjust.

Wait, if humans turned into beast forms, wouldn’t they be monkeys or gorillas?

Various movie scenes about gorillas inexplicably flashed through his mind, and Qi Huan quickly shook his head. Except for his family’s super brave Monkey King, he couldn’t really accept any of them.

After all the fuss, he was covered in sweat. The house had a bathtub, which was perfect for resting his injured arm on the low rack on the left side of the tub, so he decided to take a bath.

After awkwardly finishing his bath, he was a bit tired, so he didn’t continue tidying up. He went upstairs, sat on the bed, and flipped through the two notebooks he had found earlier.

The diary seemed to have been started by the original owner when he was very young.

He didn’t write every day, and the entries were short, mostly recording childish arguments and reconciliations with Quan Hai, Lundo, and others. Occasionally, there were mentions of incidents at the restaurant, like irate customers causing trouble and breaking windows, or people bullying him for being young by tripping him for fun while he was clearing dishes. Sometimes, he would unexpectedly receive a ‘surprise tip’ of a C-grade stone beast tooth.

There were also ‘tragic’ experiences of taste-testing new dishes created by Uncle Lin Sen. But the original owner didn’t mind taste-testing; he even mentioned countless times that he wanted to grow up quickly, learn culinary skills, and help Uncle Lin Sen run the restaurant well.

Unfortunately, the original owner seemed to have no talent for cooking. Uncle Lin Sen was a two-star chef, but the original owner failed the exam for the junior chef certificate three times.

The diary spanned six or seven years intermittently, with the last entry from half a year ago, containing only one line written with great force: “I will definitely run Uncle’s restaurant well!”

Clearly, the original owner had deep feelings for his adoptive father Lin Sen and the restaurant.

The other notebook was a handwritten recipe book, also in the original owner’s handwriting.

It started with two particularly familiar names: Tomato Scrambled Eggs and Kung Pao Chicken.

Qi Huan’s fingers paused slightly. These were his sister Qi Qing’s favorites. Whenever he asked her what she wanted to eat, nine times out of ten, she would choose these two dishes, as if she could never get enough of them. So much so that during the time he delivered meals to the research institute, it was always a 2+1 model: these two were must-haves, plus one ‘whatever’ he enthusiastically recommended.

Since Qi Qing joined the Tianma research group and went missing, he hadn’t made these two dishes for a long time.

Sis, I probably can’t go back. I hope you can return home safely. Qi Huan stared sadly at the names of those two dishes, silently making a wish.

He glanced down a few more lines. Probably due to the lack of tomatoes on the Waste Star, although the name was ‘Tomato Scrambled Eggs,’ the ingredients were ‘purple squash’ and ‘eggs.’ Kung Pao Chicken was similar, with most ingredients being substitutes.

The recipes were recorded in a format of ingredients, auxiliary seasonings, methods, little tips, and taste reviews. At a glance, they seemed well-organized, but upon closer inspection, the details were scattered and unusable. However, considering the age at which the original owner wrote these recipes, it was understandable.

The later recipes were the signature dishes hanging on the restaurant wall downstairs: Braised Shrimp, Boiled Meat, Purple Squash Scrambled Eggs, Braised Fish Chunks, Kung Pao Pork. Most were familiar dishes with unfamiliar ingredients.

The notebook contained about twenty recipes. The earlier ones seemed to be the original owner’s favorite dishes, while the later ones were his own whimsical ‘creations.’ The final reviews changed from ‘especially delicious’ to ‘surely will be especially delicious,’ full of enthusiasm and drive.

The notebook’s childish handwriting was filled with the original owner’s earnest attitude, lacking technique but full of emotion.

As night deepened, drowsiness hit, and Qi Huan fell asleep on the bed, clutching the recipe book.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Before dawn, a drum-like knocking came from downstairs. Startled awake, Qi Huan thought more stone beasts had broken into the base and hurried downstairs to answer the door.

Two strangers stood at the door, both in gray jumpsuits, similar in style to those worn by the hunting squad that came to capture the Duoduo Beasts last night, only in a different color. Looking further back, there was indeed a green airship parked, an open-top sports car model, looking more advanced than the water scooter models from last night. Qi Huan understood that these two were likely from another hunting squad.

The one knocking had dark skin, was tall and burly, with arms thicker than Qi Huan’s thighs. The restaurant’s door frame barely reached his neck. The transparent acrylic-like round clasp at the collar of his jumpsuit was pulled open, and the bear-shaped pattern on his neck was particularly conspicuous.

The other, with green hair, had a handsome face but was covered in blood, looking sinister in the dim light. His jumpsuit wasn’t open, and the alien pattern on his neck was only half visible, its shape twisted and coiled, making it hard to tell if it was a vine, a snake, or something else.

The green-haired man was quietly bandaging the wound on his arm, and upon hearing the door open, he glanced up slightly. Seeing Qi Huan’s astonished face, he shrugged nonchalantly, “Don’t worry, most of it isn’t my blood.”

Qi Huan: …

The burly man rudely pushed Qi Huan aside and ducked into the door. Only then did Qi Huan see that the man was bald, with a firework-shaped scar at the peak of his left eyebrow, making his face look even more menacing.

“Starving, hurry up and make us some signature dishes.” The bald man found a table, stacked the two chairs on the other side of the aisle, and magically pulled out a giant chair to sit on.

Qi Huan: …

The green-haired man followed leisurely and sat across from him.

Qi Huan helplessly raised his arm in a metal splint to the two of them, “Sorry, my hand is injured, the shop can’t operate for now…”

“Don’t want your other hand either?” The bald man snorted coldly, slapping the stone table’s corner, breaking it. The broken corner hit the ground, shattering into pieces. “Open now, or never open again, your choice.”

Qi Huan: …