Online discussions about Xie Sen's contracted plants were rampant. Although the military intervened to control the news, no more sensational news had emerged to divert attention in recent days, and the topic remained hot.
Discussions were particularly intense regarding plants and contracts.
Xie Sen remained completely unaffected in his apartment. True to his word, Qi Shao had installed security equipment with his men without anyone following him.
The military's equipment was advanced and comprehensive, covering not only the perimeter walls but also the airspace. Rays emanating from the walls formed a massive arc, enveloping the entire area.
Above, apart from the recorded shuttles and flying beasts, any other flying vehicles or creatures passing within the airspace would trigger an alarm. The alarm was connected to the wristbands of the military, Xie Sen, and Maine, ensuring exceptional security.
On the afternoon of the 28th, Xie Sen went to the hospital where the alien beast was to be operated on, following the address sent by Bai's father. To facilitate communication, he specifically brought Tuan Tuan with him.
Today was the first surgery for the alien beasts. The giant bear beast had already been taken away this morning, and the other alien beasts were affected by this. Xie Sen had been trying to comfort them before leaving the apartment.
Shortly after the shuttle left the apartment, Xie Sen glanced back and frowned. "Someone's following me."
Maine looked in the rearview mirror. "It's the military."
Xie Sen contacted Qi Shao, who said, "To ensure your safety, someone needs to protect you outside the apartment."
Xie Sen felt uneasy at the thought of being followed everywhere he went. "No need. It makes me feel like something bad is going to happen all the time; it's very oppressive. If you're worried about my safety, you should focus on personnel checks and security."
"That's an order from the military."
Xie Sen's brows furrowed even more. "I'm providing plants, not so I can be monitored like this! I want absolute civil freedom. If I can't, I'll make myself ordinary."
Qi Shao immediately understood. "I'll relay your opinion to my superiors. Until there are further orders, my men will follow you."
Xie Sen emphasized, "To put it bluntly, if someone's always following me, the plants I can provide will only be what you know."
Qi Shao: "I understand what you mean even if you don't emphasize it."
Hanging up, Xie Sen muttered something about how troublesome it was. Maine turned to look at him. "Don't like being followed?"
"Hmm, not used to it." Xie Sen looked out the window, the tall buildings on both sides rushing past.
In college, he was an ordinary student, wandering around freely. After the apocalypse, at first he would deliberately seek out people, wanting to huddle together for warmth and a sense of security. Later, he became afraid of encountering any living being, especially people.
If someone was following him, he would become even more nervous, feeling like something bad was about to happen. He hated having someone follow him when he went out.
Maine: "What you just said will be useful; they will agree to your request."
Maine's words were quickly proven true. After the two arrived at the hospital, the shuttle that had been following them didn't stop but drove away.
Xie Sen received a message from Qi Shao: "Contact me immediately if there's any danger."
Xie Sen replied: "Okay."
He disembarked from the shuttle and stretched his arms: "Feels good!"
Bai Jiao waved to them from the entrance to the operating room. The two walked quickly over, Bai Jiao saying as they went: "The surgery was a success. The anesthesia will wear off in half an hour."
They arrived outside a huge room. The room was carpeted, and the giant bear beast lay against the wall on the carpet. Its fangs were gone, and much of the fur around its mouth had been shaved, revealing the stitched wounds.
Xie Sen placed his hand on the transparent wall, his expression joyful. The giant bear beast had returned to its original form!
Bai's father pointed to the hole in the wall: "You can put your hand in here to touch it. It's made of special material; even if it goes berserk, it can't damage the wall. If something goes wrong, you need to pull your hand back immediately."
Xie Sen: "Okay." He reached out and touched the side of the giant bear beast's hindquarters. Maine was hugging him from behind, staring intently at the giant bear beast.
As the anesthetic wore off, the giant bear-beast roared, its breath weak, but anyone could sense the pain within. It shook its head frantically and slowly stood up.
Xie Sen shouted, "Don't move, you'll hurt the wound!" His hand had slid to the bear-beast's hind leg, and he rubbed it vigorously. "Rest on your stomach."
Tuan Tuan cried out, flying in through another opening and landing on the bear-beast's forehead: "Don't move, you're injured!"
Xie Sen's touch felt incredibly comforting to the bear-beast; the throbbing in its head seemed less unbearable than when it had its eyes open. It shifted its body, turned its head to look outside the wall, and upon seeing Xie Sen, it cried softly.
"Ah Sen, it said thank you," Tuan Tuan translated.
Xie Sen breathed a sigh of relief: "The wound will hurt a lot, you have to bear it. Don't move around too much; lying down will help it heal faster."
The bear-beast lay back down, still looking at him.
"You really can soothe it! Its reaction is much better than we expected," Bai's father exclaimed in surprise.
Xie Sen asked, "How long will it take for the wound to heal?"
Bai's father replied, "Contracted beasts have strong regenerative abilities. It should be able to move around normally in about a week. To fully heal, it will take about twenty days, provided it doesn't worsen."
Xie Sen stayed with the giant bear beast for an hour, leaving Tuan Tuan to chat with it, before returning to his apartment.
On the way, worried that the contracted beasts might act strangely because of the giant bear beast's departure, he checked the situation through the live stream's monitoring. Seeing that everything was normal, he cut off the feed and checked his fans' private messages.
He scrolled through several, and the content was almost identical, all reminding him not to forget the giveaway. August was almost here, and preparations for the meet-and-greet at the beginning of the month needed to begin.
Xie Sen slapped his forehead; he had really forgotten. However, it was unlikely that the event could be held at the beginning of the month, as there were beasts undergoing surgery every day starting today.
He calculated the time and, thinking about getting his graduation certificate on the 13th, posted an announcement: "Sorry, the contracted beasts in the lab are in a critical period of treatment, so the August meet-and-greet is canceled, and two will be held in September. As compensation, a food event will be held on the 10th, and twenty lucky viewers will be drawn to have lunch together. The rules for the draw remain the same, and the deadline is 8:00 AM on the 9th."
He was now full of energy and didn't need to hide the existence of various foods, so there were no food limitations. When he wrote about the food event, he suddenly thought of hot pot and decided to make hot pot. With so many people, eating together would definitely be super lively.
As soon as his announcement was posted, a bunch of fans started sending gifts, and the live stream was flooded with gift notifications.
"Oh my god, lunch! A meal, not just a piece of fish!"
"I'm going to wash my face first, then I'll send gifts."
"I really want to go, I'm so lucky!!!"
Xie Sen watched for a while, and the constant stream of gift notifications and comments made him feel dizzy. He turned off his bracelet.
In the following days, Bai's father revised the surgical plan, performing two surgeries every day, operating on two contracted beasts each day. By the morning of the 6th, all the surgeries on the beasts were completed.
After discussion, the contracted beasts that had undergone surgery were sent to Xie Sen's place. Their mental state was too poor and their bodies too weak to be given sedatives. Living with their companions and being closer to Xie Sen would make it easier for them to recover.
The accommodation area became even more lively. Originally there were ten contracted beasts, now eighteen more have joined, making a total of twenty-eight. Adding Big Crab and Little Silver, there are thirty intelligent beings, making every day exceptionally bustling.
Many of the contracted beasts are duplicates, so Xie Sen distinguishes them by calling them by their unique characteristics, such as Little Spot. The rest are called according to the order in which they were met; for example, the giant bear beast brought back from Blue Star is now called Big Bear, and the first giant bear beast to undergo surgery is called Second Bear.
The contracted beasts don't care about the names at all. When the two giant bear beasts heard Xie Sen distinguish their names, they happily started dancing on the spot. Big Bear was the star of the dance, while Second Bear, still recovering, only clapped and screamed.
Following the Giant Lion Beast and Giant Wolf Beast, Xie Sen discovered another promising spectator—Second Bear.
The contracted beasts have diverse personalities; some are taciturn, others are talkative; some are gentle, others are irritable. However, they all have linear thinking, are particularly simple-minded, and sometimes even naive, providing unexpected laughs every day.
Xie Sen's chair was moved outside from the accommodation area again. Maine got him a sun umbrella, but it was broken by the contracted beasts trying to get close to it in less than a day.
Maine was about to get another one, but Xie Sen stopped him, relaying Black Panther's words: "No need. If you don't want to get sunburned, just ask any contracted beast to block your view."
All A-level contracted beasts were over three meters tall. He sat in the chair, and the contracted beasts lay down next to him. As long as the position was right, they could completely block his sunlight, and they could be moved at any time, much smarter than a sun umbrella.
On the morning of the 9th, Xie Sen had breakfast and took a walk, then sat in the recliner as usual.
The contracted beasts had finished their treatments, and it had been three days since the last contracted beast underwent surgery, so he immediately turned on the live stream and checked the list of lucky viewers.
The Great Lion, the first giant lion beast, lay down behind him, blocking the sun for him. Contracted beasts were lying around the chair, having just finished their morning run, lazily swishing their tails and chatting.
Except for a few that underwent surgery and were recuperating in the dormitory area, almost all the contracted beasts were outside, creating a spectacular sight. Xie Sen was surrounded by half of the area; the dormitory area and the apartment on both sides were empty, and Xie Sen could see what was happening on either side when he looked up.
"The streamer suddenly went live again!"
"Oh my god, this is so spectacular! If it were someone else, being surrounded by beasts would scare them to death."
"I think this is heaven, I'm so envious..." "
Waaah, why am I so unlucky? I couldn't get tickets to the meet-and-greet, and I still couldn't get tickets to the food event!"
"Hey, don't remind me of this sad thing!"
"Wow, the injured contracted beasts look like they're recovering well, that's great."
"'A-Jian' sent the streamer a watermelon rain: Streamer, streamer, tomorrow's food event, please come and watch!"
"Yeah, I won't eat, can I just stand far away and smell it?"
Xie Sen heard the system announcement, stopped writing the private message with the notification address and time, and glanced at the contracted beasts: "They're still recovering, they can't be disturbed, the location I chose isn't suitable for watching."
"Not here? What about the live stream? You can't even live stream?"
"Please don't! Even using the bracelet to live stream would be fine."
"Hey streamer, I can provide a venue! I'll book a concert hall for your event, and I absolutely have to watch!"
Xie Sen saw this comment, rested his chin on his hand, and thought for a moment. A concert hall was indeed a suitable venue for a food event.
However, thinking about this particular event, he chuckled, "This event is really just compensation for the delayed meeting—it's lunch together. Watching someone eat feels a bit strange."
"Not strange at all!"
"Yeah, besides, the compensation is only for twenty people. What are we going to do? We're begging for a live stream and for me to watch."
Xie Sen looked at the copied and pasted message and thought for a moment, "Okay, I'll see if I can rent an open-air concert hall. If I can, I'll rent it. If not, it's okay, at least I'll stream it."
"Looking for a big shot to provide the venue!"
"I can't not rent it, I want to watch!"
Xie Sen smiled, "I can't take advantage of my fans. I'll try my best to contact people, and I'll post an announcement when there's news."
He thought for a moment, then contacted Huo Feng. Huo Feng, as expected of a big boss, indeed knew people. With his help, he directly contacted the owner of the venue.
The club owner was incredibly enthusiastic: "My son really enjoys your livestreams. Before we even started communicating, he contacted me. He said he wouldn't charge you rent, just let my son have lunch with you, is that alright?"
Xie Sen thought for a moment: "It wouldn't be right not to pay rent, so a discount would be fine." "
Sure," the other party readily agreed, "I'll have someone help you sell tickets. What price should we set?"
Xie Sen was a little confused: "Do outdoor venues have tickets too?"
"Of course, it's outdoor, not open to the public. Different locations have different prices, there are three options, how would you like to set it?"
Xie Sen pondered for a moment: "How many seats?"
"Twenty thousand."
"That much?" Xie Sen was shocked. Just for a hotpot lunch, it seemed too extravagant. "Do you have any smaller venues?"
"Not many, not many. With your popularity, we don't have enough seats," the club owner said.
Xie Sen: "Okay, how about one hundred, fifty, or thirty? Just a small token." Xie Sen was a little embarrassed, after all, not everyone who entered could eat there, they were just watching him eat.
"This is too cheap. You can't even cover the rent. Half the rent is three million. You don't need lighting effects. Security and other small details will cost at least five million." The club owner advised, "I think 500, 300, or 200 would be fine, and it would still be packed."
Xie Sen: "Forget it, this is compensation for the event. We'll set different prices for food events in the future."
In the past, five million would have been an astronomical sum for him, but now he didn't care much. The prize money he had won in the raffles these past few days was far more than five million.
After negotiating with the club owner, Xie Sen posted an announcement: "The food event will be held at the Hongfu Concert Hall. It will start at 11:00 AM. Tickets will be sold on the club's official website."
He got up and went back to his apartment. Mei Yin came down from the second floor: "Do you want to go to the club first?"
Xie Sen walked towards the kitchen: "No need. We can go tomorrow. Did you hear what I said?"
"Yes."
Xie Sen went into the kitchen and checked the food. In addition to the food directly redeemed by the system, there were many processed dishes. For example, a few days ago he exchanged a lot of wheat and corn, ground them into flour, and made some fish balls and meatballs. He also exchanged soybeans and made bean sprouts and tofu.
In addition to the system's food, there were all kinds of meat, all of which were sliced thinly and cooked quickly in the hot pot.
Maine said, "Everything is ready. The ten tables you mentioned and the matching hot pots are also ready."
Xie Sen nodded, swallowing hard as he looked at them. He could finally eat hot pot again! He had activated star anise and Sichuan peppercorns a few days ago, so he was particularly looking forward to the hot pot. This hot pot was even more lavish than before, with a wide variety of meats.
Maine put her arm around his shoulder: "Want some? How about some for lunch?"
Xie Sen was tempted, but after glancing at his stomach, he shook his head: "No, eating too much will make me feel hot. Let's save the surprise for tomorrow."
Xie Sen counted the people: twenty audience members. Although the owner had only said to send his son, he decided to invite the owner as well, since there was plenty of food prepared. He also needed to invite Long Teng and Bai Jiao, making a total of twenty-six people including himself and Mei Yin.
"We only need about seven hot pots. Bring them all tomorrow, just in case." Four people per pot, otherwise it would be too crowded.
Mei Yin said, "They're all in our backpacks."
Xie Sen checked the large bones and ingredients for the soup, making sure everything was okay, and then left the kitchen with Mei Yin.
Early the next morning, he and Mei Yin went to the clubhouse. The owner and his son personally greeted them. The owner's son, a sixteen-year-old college freshman, was a very outgoing and excited boy.
The owner laughed, "The tickets sold out in less than an hour! Some people even asked us to add seats! If you're ever doing a food event, come here!"
Xie Sen said, "Okay, have lunch with us."
The owner's eyes lit up, "Really?"
Xie Sen nodded, and the owner hesitated, "I won't go, can my partner come instead?"
Xie Sen said, "Come on, it's not good to leave anyone home alone." There were still empty seats.
The owner laughed, "Sure, I've never eaten chili peppers before, only smelled them."
The owner's son wrinkled his nose, "I can never get any of the stuff from Fuyou Supermarket!"
The four of them chatted as they went backstage. The owner said, "The stage can be raised and lowered; you can prepare anything down here."
Mei had someone bring over the kitchen utensils and started cooking bone broth in a large round pot. After that, they brought out seven tables and matching hot pots, placing the pots in the table holes, the rims almost flush with the tabletops.
The owner and his son watched with great interest, both very curious, but neither asked a question. Watching them busy themselves, and seeing Xie Sen ask Maine to arrange the tables side by side, the two quickly offered their help.
Seven tables were arranged in two rows, one in front of the other, with two stools on each side, making a total of twenty-eight seats.
Looking at the messy seating, Xie Sen asked Maine to bring out another table, making two neat rows, which looked much better, with thirty-two seats in total.
"Thank God, with so many seats, will there be a raffle?" the owner's son asked curiously.
Xie Sen replied, "I have some friends coming over." He had arranged to have dinner with Long Teng and Bai Jiao yesterday, but there were only twenty-seven people present, with five seats left over.
He contacted Xu Da, whose voice rose upon hearing about lunch: "When? I'm still on the spaceship."
Xie Sen suddenly realized why Long Teng hadn't mentioned him: "Noon, if you don't have time, we can reschedule."
"It's settled then, let's eat together tonight."
Less than three minutes after the call ended, Xu Da contacted him again: "No, I want to eat together at noon! That brat A-Teng, he didn't tell me about something so important, luckily I saw the news when I turned off my bracelet."
Xie Sen: "Aren't you on the spaceship?"
"I'll have them speed things up, we'll be there by 11 o'clock! A-Teng's father and dad are there too, can they come with us?"
"Sure, there are still seats available."
Not long after Xie Sen finished communicating with Xu Da, Mu Lin contacted him: "I've just finished being busy for a while and have some free time, I wanted to see your food event. I tried to buy tickets through various channels but failed, so I came to you, do you have any family/friend tickets?"
Xie Sen smiled: "Seated tickets are gone, but stage tickets are available, exactly two."
"Really? That's great!" Mu Lin laughed.
Now, all thirty-two seats were arranged.
Long Teng and Bai Jiao arrived before 10:00 AM. The bone broth already smelled delicious, and twenty lucky audience members were backstage, craning their necks to watch.
"Why doesn't my soup smell this good when I cook it?"
"I can't wait! This is definitely the luckiest time of my life."
The backstage wall displayed the audience entry status at each entrance, and by 10:30 AM, the seats were almost full.
At 11:00 AM, the stage rose, and Xie Sen, Mei Yin, and various tools appeared before the audience. Xie Sen glanced around; the screens around the audience were all showing scenes from the stage.
He wore a headset and greeted the audience. Mei Yin ladled the cooked broth into the clear broth portion of the hot pot.
Xie Sen lit a fire to fry chili oil and added a lot of spices. The aroma instantly wafted out, and the audience in front immediately shouted, "It smells so good!"
Xie Sen stood aside, and Mei Yin ladled broth into the pot. A sizzling sound filled the air, and the aroma became even stronger. After the pot quieted down, Mei Yin ladled the broth into the spicy broth portion.
After the hot pot broth was prepared, Xie Sen gestured to Maine, who then placed the various prepared foods on the food rack next to the table. There was a lot of food; it didn't look like a group of people eating hot pot together, but rather like a display stand in a hot pot restaurant.
He introduced to the audience, "This time we're having hot pot. All the food is cooked in the pot. There are spicy and clear broth options. While chili peppers are delicious, not everyone is used to spicy food."
He smiled, "The preparations are complete. Now, welcome everyone having lunch with us. They are my friends, and also lucky viewers from the live stream. Let's welcome them together."
The platforms on both sides slowly rose, with fifteen people standing on each side. Xie Sen greeted Xu Da and Long's father. Xu Da smiled broadly, "Haha, finally made it! It smells so good! Wow! What are all these dishes?"
Long Teng also rushed to the food rack, "Ah Sen, should we just put them in to cook?"
Xie Sen pointed to the seats, "Let's sit down first." Thirty-odd people were quite a lot; standing together would take up a lot of space.
The two outermost seats were reserved for Xie Sen and Maine, and the rest of the people took their seats and looked at Xie Sen.
Xie Sen said, "There are plates under the food rack. Use a plate to get what you want. Since there are many people, each table can have one person serve the food. Take only what you can eat to avoid waste. These kinds of meatballs are a bit harder to cook; wait until they float to the surface before eating. The rest of the food cooks relatively easily, especially the various meat slices. Just blanch them briefly until they change color, and they'll be ready to eat. Cooking them for too long will make them tough. This is tofu; it's very fragile, so be careful when picking it up."
He pointed to the dishes as he introduced them, and then smiled, "Now you can get your food." He sat back down, and Mei Yin took a plate and started serving. Bai Jiao and the viewers in the live stream were also at his table. He smiled and said, "Wait for Mei Yin to bring the food."
The Long Teng family had exactly four seats, right next to them, and Mu Lin and Guluo were next to them. Long Teng and Mu Lin were both incredibly fast; as soon as Xie Sen finished speaking, the two of them jumped up and started serving.
Each of the other tables also sent a representative, all of them tall males, who were very efficient. Before long, people were starting to eat.
"Wow, this is so delicious!"
"Ugh, this tofu is so tender! It breaks apart with just one touch."
"I usually get sick of meat, but this is the first time I've discovered it can be this good!"
The people on stage were glowing with excitement as they ate, steam rising from the hot pot and spreading its aroma throughout the audience. Close-ups of the pots on the surrounding screens showed various foods in both clear and spicy broths. Although most of them were unfamiliar, they looked incredibly appetizing.
Tender cabbage was picked up from the spicy broth; white, emerald green, and red hues blended together, glistening with oil under the light, looking especially appetizing. Soft tofu was scooped up with a spoon, trembling slightly, its melt-in-your-mouth texture immediately apparent.
At first, the people on stage had time to praise the food, but later, when it was cooked and there was more to eat, they all buried their heads in their food, eating without saying a word, letting their actions speak for themselves how delicious it was.
"It's truly a bittersweet experience." The audience members stared intently at the stage, their faces contorted in pain.
Viewers watching the live stream flooded the screen with comments: "Kind people, tell me, what does it taste like? I'm crying, I can't believe it!"
"Why can't I even get a ticket?! I'm crying in the bathroom."
"Streamer, tell me! How can we become friends? What kind of person do you like? I'll definitely do it!"
"I want to be friends with the streamer too, this is so wonderful!"