Aizahár wasn't lying. She could indeed handle everything in an orderly manner on her own.
Bianka didn't help at all. Even the food was brought to the table by Aizahár, who held a tray in each hand.
"It's done!"
Aizahár, having completed her task, had a smug look on her face, as if she were just short of writing "Praise me" on her face.
Unfortunately, Bianka's attention had already been drawn to the plate of food Aizahár had set down.
The resilience of the nutrient paste was somewhat beyond Bianka's expectations. It didn't melt into a mushy state when heated, but rather turned into a jelly-like form similar to konjac.
And though it was called cooking, in reality, Aizahár had simply cut the nutrient paste into several pieces, pan-fried them at a high temperature, and then sprinkled a layer of roasted chicken-flavored seasoning on top.
If she closed her eyes, Bianka might have actually thought there was a steaming hot roasted chicken in front of her.
Next to the nutrient paste was a large puddle of an unidentifiable mush. Unlike the black nutrient paste, the color of the mush was hard to describe, a brownish color with specks of green...
At least, Bianka really did hesitate for a moment, then cast a pleading look at Aizahár.
"Canned curry, you've had it before, right?" Aizahár took out two iron spoons and handed one to Bianka. "Compared to the nutrient paste, this stuff is much tastier!"
So it was curry. Then there was no problem with its appearance.
As a relatively famous dish, the Fire MOTHs cafeteria had served curry a few times, but at that time, it was served with beef, rice, and other things. Bianka had never seen it paired with nutrient paste before.
And the quality of this curry was completely incomparable to the one from the Fire MOTHs cafeteria.
Aizahár sat down opposite Bianka, quickly tapped her shoulders, then lowered her head and gently touched her forehead. Finally, she clasped her hands together and, after a series of devotional prayers that Bianka couldn't understand, she excitedly scooped up a large spoonful of food and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Blegh..."
Clearly, the prayer had not made the food taste any better. Aizahár's expression turned into the familiar bitter melon, and she chewed the food in her mouth with a pained expression.
It seems to be very unappetizing.
Bianka also scooped up a piece of nutrient paste with her spoon, along with some sticky curry sauce, and then put the nutrient paste, the roasted chicken-flavored seasoning, and the curry sauce of unknown taste into her mouth.
Alright, the taste was indeed a bit bad...
The taste of the nutrient paste was not completely covered up. Bianka could still feel the salty and bitter taste, like a special flavor.
And the taste of the roasted chicken was too sharp. It stole the show but failed to take the main stage, instead acting like a gong in a symphony orchestra, only occasionally breaking the balance and giving the ears a hard blow.
And the curry... it was a little smelly...
Overall... Bianka thought it tasted pretty good, and was still edible.
So Bianka started her second spoonful with a normal expression, which made the person opposite her, who was wearing a mask of pain just to eat the food on her plate, stare in a daze.
But then, a look of envy appeared in her eyes.
If only she could also find this stuff delicious... then she wouldn't have to suffer so much every time she ate it...
With the help of the mukbang, Aizahár's speed of finishing the food was also a little faster than before.
The two children sat opposite each other, quickly finishing their lunch.
Nutrient paste lived up to its name. Just one plate could give Bianka a little bit of a full feeling.
Although she wasn't completely full, her current body didn't consume much energy without strenuous exercise, so eating only this much was not unacceptable.
"Ugh, I'm so full..." Aizahár, on the other hand, was a little overwhelmed. She had never eaten so much before. This time, she was stimulated by Bianka to eat so much, and she had to digest it for a while.
"Aizahár... when did your mother get Honkai disease?" After eating someone else's food, Bianka felt that she had to do something in return.
Aizahár was stunned for a moment, and after a moment of silence, she still gave an answer.
"It's been a long time... although I only found out two months ago that my mother had Honkai disease, she has actually been in a coma for four months."
Four months... wasn't that shortly after the Great Honkai had just descended?
"A few days after the Great Honkai descended, we came here. At first, my mother was fine, but suddenly, she fell ill..."
"Suddenly?" Bianka was stunned. "Weren't there any warning signs?"
Aizahár shook her head. "No, we had a fixed route every day for those few days, and there were absolutely no accidents. But on that day, my mother, like many others, suddenly fell ill..."
Bianka was stunned.
Aizahár said... like many others?
"Are there... many people with Honkai disease here?!" Bianka exclaimed. She didn't expect that there would be so many people with Honkai disease here, while there were none in the Fire MOTHs.
And... four months ago? Could Honkai disease really allow a patient to survive for so long?
"Hmm... if I remember correctly, at that time, almost everyone in the City of Sighs had the same situation as my mother," Aizahár said in a low voice. "But at that time, it was like a cold, everyone just said they were not feeling well.
"Later, I couldn't see those familiar people anymore, and I realized that everyone might have fallen ill..."
---||---
"Why was this information hidden?" In the magnificent office, Siegfried had one foot on the expensive-looking desk, completely disregarding any important documents that might be on it.
He was holding a middle-aged, fat man in a suit by the collar, and it was clear that he was angrily interrogating him.
"The outbreak of those patients was very concentrated. We didn't have professional testing personnel at the time, and the instrument scans all came out as gibberish. We didn't know it was Honkai disease!" The fat man in the suit did not struggle in Siegfried's grip, but his small eyes were so sharp that they were a little terrifying.
"With this kind of incident happening shortly after the Great Honkai descended, we could only manage them centrally! At the same time, we blocked the news to avoid causing greater panic!"
On the other side, a woman who was even larger than the middle-aged fat man, and could almost be called "bloated," trembled with fat and shrieked, "As for why we had to execute those guys... they turned into the Dead, you know?!"
The shrill voice made Siegfried and Shigure Kira feel an inexplicable sense of annoyance.
"Are you asking us to accept those guys who looked like they were about to turn into zombies right after we had just experienced a zombie crisis?!
"We're not Kaslanas!"