Jiang Qiuqiu slept soundly until the next morning.
The end of the month was another day closer. Just as she used to do on Earth, she instinctively opened her livestreaming dashboard to glance at her follower count. She was stunned.
'Yesterday I only had twenty-something followers, but today it suddenly broke four digits—over a thousand!'
'What happened? Even if there are a lot of Federation people, my follower count shouldn't have shot up like a rocket.'
Jiang Qiuqiu was overjoyed for a good while. At around 11 a.m., someone knocked on her door.
"Good morning, Miss Qiuqiu. The D-1 Nutrient Liquid you ordered has arrived. Please accept your delivery~"
It was the delivery robot with her Nutrient Liquid.
After she took the Nutrient Liquid, the robot asked, "Your Nutrient Liquid delivery service expires in two days. Would you like to renew it now?"
The renewal fee was 300 Star Coins. With very little cash on hand, Jiang Qiuqiu was feeling the pinch. She refused, "No, thank you. I'll renew it myself when it expires."
"Understood. I won't disturb you any further. Have a pleasant day." The robot didn't press the issue and moved on to the next house.
Holding the Nutrient Liquid, Jiang Qiuqiu did feel a bit hungry.
She rubbed her stomach, twisted open the cap, and without a second thought, tilted her head back and squeezed the Nutrient Liquid into her mouth.
One second, two seconds…
The concept of Nutrient Liquid tasting bad never existed in the original owner's memories. So, even though Jiang Qiuqiu had often seen posts on the Star Network saying it tasted like shit, the only thought that flashed through her mind was that perhaps the more expensive varieties were the ones that tasted awful.
But the moment she drank it, completely unprepared, a stream of liquid shot straight down her throat. An indescribable flavor exploded in her mouth. This type of nutrient solution was said to be an Energy Crystal Liquid refined from energy ore by the early Federation people when they had no food.
The stuff tasted nothing like food. It was filled with the flavor of rust, a briny, fishy stench, and all sorts of other strange, indescribable tastes, all mixed together—
GAG.
GAG.
Jiang Qiuqiu's face contorted in disgust. At that moment, she made a solemn vow: She would work hard and earn money. Once she was rich, she would only eat real food meant for people, never this ten-Star-Coin liquid poison again. She would have a proper meal every single time.
It took a full ten minutes for Jiang Qiuqiu to shake off the negative feeling left by the disgusting taste.
The strange thing was, after consuming just that small tube of liquid, she clearly felt some of her energy return, and the emptiness in her stomach was replaced by a feeling of fullness.
At 12 p.m., Jiang Qiuqiu opened the Taotao Fresh Food Network. She browsed the products, studied the characteristics of various ingredients, and snapped up some bargains. She did her best to identify the available items and match them to the ingredients she remembered.
Before she knew it, it was almost eight o'clock.
Jiang Qiuqiu turned on the Star Network and her streaming equipment, going live at 7:59 p.m.
Terry received the Star Network notification immediately and quickly entered Jiang Qiuqiu's "#Shocking!...#" stream.
"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to my cooking stream. I'm Jiang Juju, and the recipe I'll be making today is: Fried Meatballs."
With a flick of her wrist, Jiang Qiuqiu produced a large piece of beast meat and placed it on the cutting board.
She cut straight to the chase and began her introduction. "For today's Fried Meatballs, we'll be using meat from a Bibi Beast—"
Perhaps because there were more people in the stream now, Jiang Qiuqiu had barely gotten a sentence out before the chat was flooded with pessimistic comments.
#Changbei Tiger: With all due respect, is Bibi Beast meat really edible? Isn't it just a tiny step up from dog-shit-flavored Nutrient Liquid?#