Because of the time stop, the enemy is unable to put up any resistance.
Hmm... it seems there's no solution.
The only problem is that the cost is quite high; each time, the pocket watch is lost, and there's no guarantee that the wreckage can be recovered.
It's best to avoid this tactic unless absolutely necessary.
If you pause for seven seconds, you can solve the vast majority of problems.
Bai Luan's phone vibrated twice.
The Great Black Tower: I'm bringing a guest to the Black Tower Space Station.
The Great Black Tower: Get ready.
Bai Luan: Approximately how long?
Big Black Tower: I just received her, about a few system times.
Bai Luan: Are there any requirements?
Big Black Tower: She likes to eat pastries.
Upon seeing this message, Bai Luan immediately understood.
Ruan Mei is coming.
It seems that the watch repair will have to be postponed.
Do you make pastries?
It's pretty good; it's more relaxing than repairing a pocket watch.
Perfect timing! The account that's in charge of daily life hasn't been updated in a long time, so it's a good time to film a new episode.
"Inspiration Mushroom, you can be my photographer."
"Okay, mushroom."
Bai Luan went into the logistics department and borrowed the kitchen of the Black Tower Space Station.
The equipment is, of course, complete, but it's a bit smaller than the kitchen in Ms. Black Tower's house.
Bai Luan glanced at the food reserves of the Black Tower Space Station. Hmm... everything was available.
It's obvious that Estelle didn't spend her money for nothing.
With such a complete selection of ingredients, let's have some Chinese pastries.
Lotus flower pastry, mung bean cake, lotus seed cake, flower-shaped goose cake...
Chinese pastries are all about poetry and art; they're not only delicious but also beautiful.
Of course, the price of something that is delicious and visually appealing is that it requires a lot of mental and physical effort.
Take the simplest mung bean cake as an example. Just soaking the mung beans takes a lot of time, and then you have to stir-fry the red bean paste...
The best time to eat pastries is right after they come out of the oven, so you need to estimate the time roughly.
Not only do they need to taste good, but the production process of each pastry also needs to be well arranged, and time needs to be used effectively.
I'll probably be incredibly busy in a bit, but...
Bai Luan tied on her apron, the fabric rubbing together and making a slight sound.
That's quite interesting.
Let's start cooking!
Prepare the rice flour and wheat flour needed for various pastries, and soften the butter first.
While soaking the mung beans for mung bean cakes, cut the goose meat for goose cakes and season them.
Take out the flour and butter and mix them together, then add the coloring solution...
Bai Luan darted around the kitchen, making various pastries in an orderly manner.
The Inspiration Mushroom floats in the air, pointing the camera at the ingredients and recording the moment they transform into pastries.
Pink flaky pastry wraps around yellow lotus seed paste filling. The pastry is cut into three places and deep-fried. When it goes into the oil, it looks like a shy flower bud, but when it comes out, it is blooming brightly in the waves of oil.
Layers of flaky pastry unfold like flower petals, blooming into a lifelike lotus flower – this is the lotus flower pastry.
Use a mold to press the prepared dough into the shape of flower petals. Stack three white dough pieces and two pink dough pieces together and arrange them into a long strip.
Place the goose meat filling between the long strips of dough, and starting with the pink dough, carefully roll it up so that the pink side is on the inside and the white side is on the outside, resembling a rose.
Bring the water to a boil, then steam for ten minutes.
This is the flower-shaped goose cake.
All the pastries are done.
Bai Luan searched around and found several pastry boxes with an antique style.
Each pastry box has three layers, and each layer can hold four or five pastries.
Each layer held a different type of pastry, filling three boxes in total.
After everything was prepared, Bai Luan breathed a sigh of relief.
It's a pity the refrigerator isn't here, otherwise, after it's done, we could put it in there and everything would be foolproof.
Just after Bai Luan waited a while, her phone vibrated twice.
The Great Black Tower: We've arrived.
Bai Luan smiled, "You've come at the perfect time."
This is the best time to eat pastries.
Chapter 54 It was just pastries made with care
This wasn't Nguyen Mai's first time at the Black Tower Space Station; it was her second.
Last time, the Black Tower invited me to visit because he was bored, so I brought some souvenirs and pastries with me.
Overall, Nguyen Mai thought it was a decent facility, but nothing special.
Aside from that simulated universe project, there's nothing particularly appealing about this place, and even less worthwhile to study.
Nguyen Mai Ben will never come to a place like this again.
I came back this time to fulfill a promise I made on my first visit.
Go and meet with someone to determine if they are qualified to join the simulated universe project.
Simulating the universe, in a sense, is of epoch-making significance.
After all, before this, there had never been so many members of the talent club gathered together to work together to accomplish something.
According to Daheita, the person he was trying to judge had not been glanced at by Boshizun.
In other words, he cannot be considered a true genius.
But the Great Black Tower wants to bring such people into the simulated universe project, to pull an ordinary person into the realm of geniuses.
This... piqued Nguyen Mai's interest.
She also wanted to see what kind of mortals the Great Black Tower wanted to recruit were like.
The spaceship's journey was not bumpy, but it took a long time.
It wasn't that they didn't have a faster time to move around; it was just that the Great Black Tower told Nguyen Mai that making pastries required giving the cook some time.
Nguyen Mai, who was also interested in this, naturally expressed her understanding.
Similarly, one should attach some expectations and requirements to the pastries that one is about to taste.
Hopefully... they'll live up to the wait of these few hours.
Nguyen Mai sat at the table, quietly waiting for the pastries to be served.
The person arrived quickly.
She was dressed in a tailcoat and carrying three pastry boxes...
Ruan Mei's gaze lingered on the pastry box in Bai Luan's hand.
What a coincidence.
This is the pastry box she brought last time, used to pack gifts.
The pastry box was gently placed on the table.
Bai Luan didn't say much, but just smiled at Ruan Mei and then took out the pastries one by one from the pastry box.
Each pastry box has three layers, and each layer contains different pastries.
All the pastries laid out were unique, with no two being the same.
The moment the pastries were brought out, the first thing Nguyen Mai felt was their beauty.
Rose-shaped goose cakes, lotus-shaped pastries that bloom like lotus flowers, and delicate mung bean cakes...
Almost every pastry speaks volumes about the chef's dedication.
This table full of pastries is practically a love letter from the pastry chef to the customers who are tasting them!
After appreciating the beauty of the pastries, their aroma follows.
The freshly baked pastries, still steaming hot, were first detected by the nose before the tongue could taste their deliciousness.
How do these pastries actually taste?
The man across the street, Da Heita, had already picked up a piece of mung bean cake, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Try it; his cooking rarely disappoints."
Ruan Mei extended her slender fingers and deftly picked up a piece of flower-shaped goose cake. She parted her cherry lips slightly and gently bit off a petal-shaped piece of the outer skin.
Instantly, a delicate flavor filled my entire mouth.
tasty.
Even the subtle preferences and harmonies perfectly matched her personal tastes, as if they were tailor-made for her.
Ruan Mei did not take a second bite, but looked at Bai Luan.
"May I have your name?"
"My name is Bai Luan."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bai Luan."
Nguyen Mai's tone was flat, revealing little emotion.
"Perhaps in the future, we can exchange... our 'experiences' about pastry making."
"It is my honor, Miss Nguyen Mai."
You know my name?
"..."
I let it slip.
An urge to slap myself suddenly welled up inside me.
Oh well, I've already said it.
"Miss Ruan Mei, I suppose this is one of my characteristics: I know about some very important things without having to tell me."
"Now that you mention it..."
Ruan Mei glanced at the flower-shaped goose cake in her hand.
"Is my personal taste also a factor?"
Bai Luan smiled and offered no further explanation.
Seemingly a mysterious master, whose abilities can only be understood intuitively and cannot be explained in words, in reality...
Bai Luan couldn't explain it at all!
How do you explain the effect of food automatically adapting to individual tastes after it has been transformed into a magical object?That's great, mushroom."
"Inspiration Mushroom, would you like to do voice-over for my video? Your voice is quite nice."
"Great mushroom!"
Inspiration Mushroom agreed quickly, her tone filled with eagerness:
"Gu really enjoys chatting with people, and many of her colleagues chat with her to relieve their boredom."
"You're my confidante, right?"
"Mushroom... Mushroom still prefers the name Inspiration Mushroom."
"You can use 'intimate mushroom' as a title; the two are not contradictory."
"That would make the name too long."
"Hmm... 'Know-it-all Mushroom' and 'Inspiration Mushroom' is indeed too long. Do as you please."
Bai Luan chatted with Linggan Gu while teasing Qianhe.
Wherever the Inspiration Mushroom drifts, the White Luan follows.
Anyway, Bai Luan didn't have any important plans, so he could wander around the space station aimlessly like this.
I just kept walking aimlessly...
Then they met Nguyen Mai and the Big Black Tower.
Bai Luan was speechless.
The Black Tower space station, it's not round.
How could two groups of people heading in different directions possibly bump into each other?
Don't go too far!
This was certainly not a coincidence.
After all, the simulated universe is still building its infrastructure, so you can tell what the current situation is just by glancing at it.
After watching all of that, there's nothing left to see in the simulated universe.
With the simulated universe becoming uninteresting and the space station offering no other attraction for Ruan Mei, the focus naturally shifted back to the main mission: assessing whether Bai Luan possessed the ability to join the simulated universe.
There are plenty of Black Tower dolls on the entire space station; you can easily find Bai Luan anywhere.
"Alright, I've brought you to him. How do you want to test him? How about a question, Ruan Mei?"
Ruan Mei didn't reply to the big black tower, but looked straight at the origami crane flapping its wings next to Bai Luan.
A sense of unease suddenly rose in Bai Luan's heart. He was just about to explain that the origami crane was a biomimetic drone he had created.
But Nguyen Mai spoke first.
"How did you create that creature next to you?"
"biology?"
The big black tower raised an eyebrow and looked at the origami crane. The doll seemed to have written something about this thing in its report...
It's just that so much time has passed that she doesn't remember.
Although Daheita couldn't remember what reason Bai Luan gave for explaining why this paper crane, which looked like it was folded from paper, was moving.
But she clearly remembered that Bai Luan definitely didn't say that the origami crane was a living thing.
Long ago, did I, as his assistant, acquire the ability to create life?
Moreover, it's an illogical creature?
And they even kept it from me for so long?
He kept this so interesting a secret from me for hundreds of years?
The Great Black Tower smiled as it looked at Bai Luan.
Meanwhile, Bai Luan was drenched in sweat.
On one hand, the look in Daheita's eyes made his hair stand on end.
On the other hand, Bai Luan didn't know how to explain Qianhe's existence to Ruan Mei.
It might work to fool people who don't know anything, but Nguyen Mai is an expert in this field, even one of the top experts.
If she wanted to make a fuss, she probably wouldn't even finish the first sentence before Ruan Mei realized something was wrong.
I told you we couldn't include it in the simulated universe project, right?
Facing two geniuses, in just one day, two of the things he was trying to hide had been seen through.
Bai Luan sighed in despair.
Now that things have come to this point, it's clear that there's no way to hide it anymore.
But obviously, even if you tell them the whole truth, they won't believe you.
Therefore, Bai Luan could only pretend that she didn't know why either.
The only option left is to mix the truth with falsehood.
With a smile tinged with helplessness and self-abandonment, Bai Luan began to explain:
"Actually, I don't quite understand it either. I guess it's a kind of ability that's beyond my control? That day, I just folded a paper crane out of a piece of paper, and it came to life."
"If that's the case, why not just say it directly? Why keep it a secret?"
"I don't think I've fully mastered this ability yet, and it's hard for me to explain why things have turned out this way."
and..."
Bai Luan glanced at the Great Black Tower:
"I really don't want to be dissected and studied by you."
"No... you still remember that joke..."
The Great Black Tower sighed in exasperation.
Did my words back then have such a profound impact on you?
"Although hundreds of years have passed for Lady Black Tower, it is not that long for me, but I think I will still remember it very clearly even hundreds of years from now."
Bai Luan tilted her head slightly, as if she was seriously calculating something.
Finally, a smile appeared on his face, a smile that mixed helplessness, absurdity, and self-deprecation, and he said:
"If we convert this to a different scale...would this be considered a kind of... 'childhood trauma'?"
Chapter 56 The Magician Who Believes in Science
I don't want to be dissected and studied, recorded for hundreds of years, or have life created at will...
Even Nguyen Mai was intrigued by this, and she asked:
What exactly happened when you first met?
"If I were to go into detail, there would be too much to say, so I won't go into it. You just need to know..."
The Great Black Tower pointed at Bai Luan and said:
"This guy appeared in my house without warning more than nine hundred years ago. In order to get him to tell the truth about where he came from, I used a slice of his body to scare him, and he still remembers it now."
There are many stories behind this, but Nguyen Mai has no intention of exploring them.
She gleaned a great deal of information from the brief summary of the Great Black Tower.
Longevity, at least the ability to transcend time and remain ageless, a unique origin and ability, valuing life, capable of invading the Black Tower's home, no simple matter.
Ruan Mei silently noted these down as criteria for scoring Bai Luan.
Of course, more than any of these, what Nguyen Mai was most interested in was the origami crane that defied all logic and came to life.
"Can I see this little guy?"
"Yes, its name is Chizuru."
Upon hearing this, the Great Black Tower said:
"You even gave it a name?"
"The first life form I created, of course I need to give it a name."
Qianhe flapped its wings and landed in Ruan Mei's palm.
Ruan Mei's gaze fell on Qian He.
No matter how you look at it, it looks like a paper crane. How did this creature survive?
A sense of curiosity arose in Ruan Mei's heart.
Ruan Mei reached out and gently poked Qianhe's little head.
Watching it, like a small animal, it lowered its head to receive the force, and after its fingertips left its head, it shook its head slightly.
If we could study this creation, it could be of great help to our own life engineering, right?
Unexpectedly...
There are still things on this space station that can attract me.
How come I didn't notice it last time I came?
Was it because we were in too much of a rush?
At this moment, Qianhe flapped its wings and flew towards Bailuan, circling slightly twice before landing on his shoulder.
Ruan Mei's gaze also fell on Bai Luan.
"Can you recreate this kind of creature?"
"It should be alright."
"I want one."
Nguyen Mai's statement was straightforward and unadorned.
"You can name your conditions."
Bai Luan glanced at Ruan Mei, and seeing that her expression didn't seem like she was joking, she really wanted one.
Faced with her request, Bai Luan fell into deep thought. After weighing his options, he spoke:
"I can give it to you without asking for anything in return, after all, it's just a few sheets of paper, but…"
Bai Luan then changed the subject, her tone becoming serious:
"No matter how cheap the materials used to make it are, from the moment it comes into being, it has the weight of life."
"Okay, I understand."
"I haven't finished speaking, don't agree so quickly."
Bai Luan did not relax because of her agreement; on the contrary, his gaze became even sharper.
Please don't... hurt it too much.
His tone was almost pleading, yet it carried a stubborn insistence.
"Please try to use research methods that do not harm the subject, such as observation, scanning, and X-ray vision."
Dissection… I will not allow it."
"..."
Nguyen Mai fell silent.
Clearly, what Bai Luan was referring to was on Ruan Mei's research list.
Seeing Ruan Mei remain silent, Bai Luan's tone became somewhat forceful:
"If you cannot agree, or if you agree but then breach the contract, then I have the right to refuse to provide you with origami cranes again—even though they only cost a few sheets of cheap cardstock."
Nguyen Mai listened attentively.
The Great Black Tower, however, was simply enjoying the scene.