Chapter 108: Chapter 108: Ms. Lu Retires on the Spot

The crepe looked decent enough. As the batter heated, it released a natural wheat aroma. When it first touched his lips and tongue, Lou Xiaotian felt a little smug.

But as he began to savor it, his mood shifted.

The batter wasn’t spread evenly, so some spots were too thick and felt gummy in his mouth.

There were too many sesame seeds.

It was dry and stuck in his throat, making him feel like he was choking.

What Lou Xiaotian found even more unacceptable was the combination of ketchup and spicy strips.

The chili oil from the otherwise delicious spicy strips had seeped into the ketchup, which was also spread far too thickly. The result was a taste that was neither sweet, nor spicy, nor sour.

The bizarre flavor made Lou Xiaotian feel a little sick.

In short, it was an indescribable mess.

After struggling to swallow the mouthful, Lou Xiaotian looked down at the huge crepe in his hands, then turned a pleading gaze to Lu Wu.

"Ms. Lu..."

Lu Wu turned her head and whistled, pretending not to hear.

’He’s calling for Ms. Lu. What does that have to do with me, Boss Lu?’

’Ms. Lu is retired.’

By now, the sky was starting to lighten.

In the pitch-black Little Sea Village behind them, a few lights flickered on.

The villagers were waking.

The quota for this mission was high, so Lu Wu had to guarantee she had business every single day.

At a single glance from Lu Wu, Lou Xiaotian used a Spell to obliterate the crepe, then obediently stood aside.

’From this day on, I’ll just be a customer.’

’Getting my hands dirty just isn’t for me.’

She washed her hands, then cleaned up the mess on the griddle.

Once the griddle was hot enough, Lu Wu began to make a new crepe.

She poured a ladleful of batter and spread it quickly. Her technique was exceptionally skilled, and the batter was spread to a perfect, uniform thickness.

She cracked an egg, sprinkled sesame seeds...

Every step that followed was identical to Lou Xiaotian’s, but in her execution, Lu Wu’s technique possessed a certain pleasing beauty.

"Boss Lu, you’ve practiced this before, haven’t you?"

Lou Xiaotian asked, unable to accept defeat.

"Nope, it’s my first time. This is the sort of thing anyone with hands can do."

The boomerang he’d thrown flew right back and struck him in the heart. It stung.

At first, the aroma of the batter seemed faint, but it slowly seeped into the air, a delicate and lingering scent.

Lu Wu was using sweet chili sauce and adding pork tenderloin.

Making this kind of snack required speed and precision. In just a moment, a crepe was ready.

The crepe and the egg cooked together into a tempting golden-brown.

White sesame seeds and green scallions dotted the surface, their contrasting colors giving the crepe a more refined look.

Lu Wu cut it in half.

At the cut, the crispy cracker, slices of meat, and vegetables were stacked in distinct, orderly layers.

The steam trapped inside began to soften the crepe’s skin. Biting into it now, the sound of the cracker snapping would be heard beneath the soft, chewy wrap.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

First came sweetness, then sourness, and finally a hint of spice—the unique flavor profile of the sweet chili sauce.

The spicy heat, mixed with a honeyed fragrance, transformed an ordinary crepe into something exceptionally delicious.

The crispness of the vegetables and the tenderness of the pork tenderloin created a whirlwind in her mouth, her taste buds greedily screaming for more.

The combination of textures made Lu Wu take a second bite.

The rich aroma was punctuated by a series of crunches.

As Lu Wu continued to eat, Lou Xiaotian’s expression went from intense to crestfallen, before the flames of hope were finally rekindled in his eyes.

He swaggered up to the stall and slapped some Spirit Stones on the counter.

"Boss Lu, I’ll take six crepes. I’m not picky, you can choose the fillings."

’The helper doesn’t get to eat, but a customer does.’

’And look, the moment the Spirit Stones are out, Boss Lu has to put down her half-eaten crepe to serve me.’

Lu Wu found Lou Xiaotian’s petty revenge amusing.

But the saying was true: the customer is always right.

Lu Wu picked up her tools again and diligently began making crepes.

Scrape, scrape. The aroma of the crepes drifted toward the village.

The blind old man was of advanced age and always woke early. The first thing he did each day was head to the village entrance.

He knew his appearance was frightening, and he used it to scare away many who tried to enter Little Sea Village.

Yesterday he’d been at the eastern entrance; today he would go to the western one.

Perhaps because he had lost his sight, his other senses were heightened.

He had just stepped out of his thatched hut when a scent drifted through the air.

It was fragrant!

At this hour, some villagers would indeed be up preparing breakfast, but the old man, having lived in the village for decades, could guarantee that no one from the village could create an aroma like this.

The source was... at the village’s eastern entrance.

The old man leaned on his cane and headed east.

The path wasn’t long.

In recent years, the village’s population had dwindled, and its boundaries had shrunk.

As he walked, he began to hear voices.

"Boss Lu, are you done yet? Hurry up!"

"Boss Lu, I’ve already finished one, why isn’t the second one packed yet?"

"Boss Lu..."

All of the above came from Lou Xiaotian’s incessant nagging.

One look at Lou Xiaotian’s expression would reveal that he was just teasing.

But the old man couldn’t see. He could only judge by the impatient tone that this was a difficult customer.

Someone was running a stall here, and the owner was dealing with a rude patron.

For a moment, the old man didn’t know whether he should drive the vendor away or sympathize with them.

To ensure the purity of their bloodline and thus better serve the Sea God, Little Sea Village did not intermarry with outsiders.

They didn’t accept outsiders, either.

After a moment of hesitation, the devout faith he had held for years made his decision for him. He walked over, determined to drive them away.

His world was one of darkness, but he could feel himself drawing closer to the stall.

Flames flared. A spatula scraped against a griddle.

An eggshell cracked. The swish of a brush.

The world that these many sounds painted in the old man’s "mind’s eye" wasn’t chaotic, but rather orderly.

And accompanying these sounds was a fragrance he couldn’t possibly ignore.

The smell hadn’t been as distinct from farther within the village. Now that he was here, the aroma of cooked food was showing its full, unreserved power.

His sensitive nose allowed the old man to capture the scent in even greater detail.

’Crepes,’ he thought. He remembered that rude customer mentioning crepes.

’But how can something made from simple batter smell this good?’

The old man hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and his stomach couldn’t handle such temptation. It immediately let out a loud gurgle in protest.

The old man, who had lived for decades, suddenly flushed beet-red.

’How embarrassing! So embarrassing!’

’How am I supposed to drive them away now?’

With Lu Wu’s current cultivation, she could sense the newcomer at such a close distance.

After finishing Lou Xiaotian’s last crepe, she looked toward the blind old man.

The sky was still dim. In the nascent light of dawn, the old man stood dressed all in black, his face grim, staring at her with a pair of grayish-white eyes.

A single word popped into Lu Wu’s mind: ’Ghost.’

It wasn’t a figure of speech, but an intuition.

The Green Origin Realm had Ghost Cultivators, and their bodies were often tainted with a great deal of Ghost Energy.

Gloomy, damp, and cold—that was how Ghost Cultivators were described.

Up close, the feeling this old man gave her was very similar to that of a Ghost Cultivator.

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