Clutching the Pig-driving Spear, Lin Luyao wore a completely expressionless face no matter how wildly her heart hammered.
Realizing the leisurely attitude and unhurried movements of her enemies only made that oppressive sense of danger all the more palpable.
Yet, seeing them split up to fight played right into her hands, drawing an involuntary smile from her lips.
Kill two within five seconds? She had no confidence in that.
But severely injuring one? Their unhurried movements gave her a seventy percent certainty.
"Ha, now this is a novelty. This is the first time I've ever seen..."
Watching Lin Luyao smile, Floden readied a sarcastic retort, but before he could finish, her figure lunged at him like a streak of lightning.
"!"
What on earth?!
This speed was completely beyond human limits!
Floden's pupils instantly constricted.
He instantly clenched both hands into heavy fists, aiming to smash them ruthlessly down upon that frail, darting figure.
To his surprise, however, the figure suddenly vaulted upward, brushing past the wind of his punch to appear directly above him.
The Pig-driving Spear in her grip thrust downward, flashing with a blinding, frigid gleam in the sunlight.
"Ah—!"
A cry of agony rang out in the blink of an eye.
Before Grum could even figure out what was happening, he saw the chef vanish from right in front of him.
Immediately afterward came his companion's familiar scream.
Only this time, the cry was entirely distorted by pain.
Straining his eyes to look, he saw Floden clutching his eyes and stumbling backward.
Fresh blood gushed continuously between his fingers.
Yet the human girl—whom they had intended to toy with like prey before stripping of everything—had used the span of a blink to retreat behind Floden once more, viciously stabbing toward the back of his neck.
"Watch out!"
For the first time, Grum heard the panic in his own voice as he instinctively moved to block the impending scene.
Yet a distance of mere steps felt like an uncrossable chasm at that moment.
Before he could close the distance, and without giving Floden the slightest chance to react, Lin Luyao—whose agility and strength values had reached a small peak—drove the sharp tip of the Pig-driving Spear straight into Floden's nape.
Floden's skin felt like thick tree bark that had fossilized into resin over the years.
The spear's tip only penetrated a short distance before getting stuck, but that was already enough.
Sparks suddenly erupted from the top of the Pig-driving Spear.
A current of 100,000 volts instantly struck Floden's most vulnerable spot, robbing him of his life in a fraction of a second.
Until the moment of his death, Floden likely never figured out how things had come to this.
Grum was struck with absolute horror as well.
Seeing Floden's sturdy body crash heavily against the ground like a small mountain, his advancing stride froze in cowardly paralysis.
Expressionless, Lin Luyao gazed at him, reached into her pocket to grab another handful of jerked chicken, and shoved it viciously into her mouth, chewing hard.
She looked as though she were chewing Grum's very flesh and blood, scaring him into taking several more steps backward.
It turned out the rumor that this chef was a high-level player was true!
Originally, they had figured: even if this chef was a high-level player sent to help newbies, so what?
After all, it was a weak combat class; no matter how good the cooking was, could it kill people?
Never had they expected her to possess terrifying strength on par with a high-level player!
Ever since setting foot on this Survival Highway, Grum and Floden had only ever vented their frustrations on novice players; where had they ever encountered such a formidable opponent?
Looking into Lin Luyao's utterly placid eyes, Grum lost the slightest shred of courage to fight.
Without a moment's hesitation, he triggered a life-saving card that he had only managed to acquire after years of struggling and scraping by.
[Intermediate Teleportation Card: Can transport you to a pre-set anchor point within 1 to 5 seconds. Please ensure a stable posture; damage-free arrival at the anchor point is not guaranteed if body movements are altered.]
Seeing the nearly three-meter-tall giant begin to move, Lin Luyao accelerated frantically toward him without a second thought.
The Pig-driving Spear in her hand crackled with electricity, grazing fiercely across Grum's chest.
Unfortunately, before the tip of the spear could sink all the way in, he suddenly vanished.
Startled by this abrupt turn of events, Lin Luyao quickly tightened her grip on the Pig-driving Spear, shoved another handful of jerked chicken into her mouth, and scanned her surroundings.
From the behavior of the two men, she had deduced that their agility was bound to be low, and actual combat had confirmed this hypothesis; however, that did not mean they lacked hidden trump cards.
With her nerves stretched taut, Lin Luyao darted rapidly from spot to spot, refusing to leave any openings.
Only after confirming that Grum's figure had truly vanished from the area did she finally allow herself to relax a little.
Without even checking the system prompts that had popped up after she killed Floden, Lin Luyao hurried straight over to the blob of Slime that was on the verge of liquefying.
Its green name tag was flickering erratically, as though foreshadowing that its owner could depart for the netherworld at any second.
"Can you still eat?"
Lin Luyao asked anxiously.
"It's so good that you're okay..."
The Slime's feeble voice was barely audible.
Without stopping to assess its condition further, Lin Luyao rushed back to the tricycle at top speed.
She picked up one of the mineral water bottles filled with meat sauce, rushed back to the Slime's side in the blink of an eye, unscrewed the cap, and pressed it directly against the Slime.
"Drink up! Once you drink this, you'll be fine!"
The Slime felt a searing agony throughout its entire body—a pain so intense it wanted to go berserk.
Yet the last remaining energy in its body could no longer support entering a berserk state once more.
Moreover, the sheer willpower that had kept it fighting to protect Lin Luyao dissipated the moment it saw her standing before it safe and sound.
Yet that translucent name tag, which had been slowly fading into an ethereal phantom in the air, flickered with stubborn resilience upon catching the aroma that assaulted its senses.
Struggling to look, the Slime could see nothing clearly, making out only a vague outline.
It didn't matter if it couldn't see clearly.
That rich, savory fragrance had dragged its jaws open, causing it to clamp down eagerly on the bottle's mouth.
Seeing a semi-transparent, gelatinous mass lightly latch onto the bottle opening, Lin Luyao felt a surge of joy and promptly tilted the bottle upward.
No matter what, she had to pour it in first.
"Gulp, gulp, gulp..."
The colorless Slime, which had grown nearly completely transparent from excessive blood loss, was reinjected with the vibrant green of life at a visible rate as the rich meat sauce poured in.
Its body, which had been struggling to maintain a coherent form, re-solidified, and the steady oozing of mucus stopped abruptly.
Even its much-shrunken NPC name tag gradually solidified, no longer blinking frantically as if hovering at the gates of hell.
With a smacking sound, the Slime used its tiny body to clutch tightly onto the mineral water bottle, hungrily emptying it out. It looked as though it wanted to squeeze its miniature body right into the bottle opening just to thoroughly lick clean every last trace of remaining sauce.
Fortunately, Lin Luyao was quick-witted; she grabbed the Slime—now shrunk to the size of a soccer ball—and yanked it backward, narrowly avoiding a shared head-stuck incident.
Picking it up, Lin Luyao inspected it from top to bottom and left to right. Seeing that its health seemed to have fully recovered, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
Though her heart ached a little over this freshly prepared batch of meat sauce, this NPC wasn't just a friendly unit who had patronized her business; it had even remembered to tell her to run away when it was at death's door. It was a good customer.
Trading a bottle of meat sauce for a life was a bargain beyond compare.
"If I hadn't unlocked a new recipe, you and I both would have bought the farm here today."
Lin Luyao sighed with emotion.
Indeed, one must always remain vigilant in times of peace.
This time, she had concocted a total of seven new items.
[Smoked Dried Fish (Green): I know the taste of the ocean. Consuming it grants a 75% chance to restore 1–3 points of mental energy.]
[Special Smoked Jerky (Green): An indispensable delicacy for the teething phase. Consuming it grants a 60% chance to increase strength by 1–3 points for a duration of 5 minutes.]
[Special Jerked Chicken (Green): A carnivore's carnival! Consuming it grants +10 Agility and +5 Strength. Duration: 5 seconds. Effects can be stacked.]
[Please note: Excessive consumption may induce negative states such as myasthenia, mental confusion, and severe weakness. The recommended dosage depends on the consumer's specific condition.]
[Tomato Egg Sauce (Green): A harmonious symphony for colors and taste buds. Consuming it grants +5 Stamina for 30 minutes. Effects cannot be stacked.]
[Shrimp Meat Sauce (Green): There is no trouble that cannot be solved by a bite of food. If that doesn't work, have two bites. Consuming it restores 1 health point. Effects can be stacked.]
[Tomato Egg Toast (Green): A perpetual motion machine of sweet and savory! Consuming it grants +7 Stamina for 30 minutes. Effects cannot be stacked.]
[Fresh Shrimp Meat Bun (Green): A hearty bite overflowing with meaty aroma. Consuming it restores 2 health points. Effects can be stacked.]
[Congratulations to the player for unlocking a Level 4 recipe! Reward: 200 universal points, 100 upgrade points, Divine Chef Grill X1]
[Congratulations to the player for cumulatively unlocking 10 dishes! Reward: 100 upgrade points]
[Please keep up the good work, player, and achieve even greater success.]