With a thought, Chen Wan pulled a packet of sour vegetable fish soup seasoning and a tin of luncheon meat from the compressed storage. Beef was off the table for Jiang Wanning, but sliced and pan-fried luncheon meat with a noodle soup was a decent substitute — at least there would be something meaty in it.
Chen Wan sliced the luncheon meat, gave the pieces a quick sear in a little oil, then tumbled the pickled mustard greens into the pot and stirred them briefly before adding water. When it came to the boil, she added the noodles, and almost immediately the sharp, bright fragrance of the sour broth began drifting through the RV — layered underneath with the slow, rich smell of the braising beef. Every head in the vehicle turned in the direction of the kitchen.
The hungriest people in the RV were undeniably Chen Wan and Qin Ke, who hadn't eaten since the previous night. Chen Wan's own stomach had started making its complaints known some time ago. The first bowl she ladled out went to Jiang Wanning — piled generously high.
Yang Yang watched from nearby, visibly entranced, lower lip beginning to tremble with want. She reached for Chen Wan in that particular way that meant she was about to deploy every weapon in her arsenal. "Mama... hungry~."
"Your auntie can't eat beef, little one," Chen Wan explained with a smile. "We'll have our meal with lots of meat very soon — this sour soup is specially for her, all right?"
Yang Yang considered this with great seriousness, then nodded — though her large eyes remained fixed wistfully on Jiang Wanning's bowl.
Jiang Wanning noticed, reached out, and cupped Yang Yang's little cheek gently, then stood and turned to Chen Wan. "Do you have a small bowl? Just a tiny bit for Yang Yang — something to tide her over."
Chen Wan smiled helplessly and handed over Yang Yang's small bowl and spoon set. Jiang Wanning ladled in a modest amount of noodles and a spoonful of broth, and Yang Yang seized the spoon with both hands and began eating with such focused intensity that her whole head rocked gently back and forth with each mouthful.
With Jiang Wanning's portion sorted, Chen Wan started a large pot of noodles to go with the braised beef. The quantity was too much for a single batch, so she divided it between two pots. By the time the second pot was ready, the high-pressure cooker had finished with the beef as well.
Jiang Yanxin stood at Chen Wan's shoulder, ladling noodles into bowls and spooning in generous portions of beef and braising broth. Chen Wan pulled the grill pan out of the oven — the roasted chunks had come out beautifully — and set it on the table for everyone to share.
Jiang Yanxin served Qin Ke, her parents, and Yang Yang first. She and Chen Wan would eat from the second batch.
Ye Lan looked down at the bowl in front of her — fragrant braised beef noodles, the broth a deep, glossy brown — and started eating before she'd quite finished admiring it. The smell alone had been making her restless for the past twenty minutes. She took one bite and stopped.
The beef was impossibly tender. No toughness, no gamey undertone — just clean, rich flavor, soaking into the noodles along with the broth. She had not eaten a proper meal since before any of this had started. Her eyes went red before she could stop them. She nudged Jiang Zhao Yuan with her elbow. "Lao Jiang, try it — this meat is something else."
"It really is." Jiang Zhao Yuan set down his chopsticks for a moment and looked over at Chen Wan with genuine curiosity. "Extraordinary stuff. How did you manage to get beef in the middle of all this? Is it from an ordinary cow?"
"It's from a mutant, Dad. We hunted it ourselves — they're enormous, about the size of an elephant. The meat is of far better quality than regular beef, and eating mutant animal meat actually does something good for your body. Please eat as much as you like, both of you — and try the roasted pieces too. Those are wonderful in a different way."
Jiang Yanxin, worried that Chen Wan was running herself into the ground on an empty stomach, picked up a few pieces of roasted beef with her chopsticks and held them out to Chen Wan while she was still tending to the second pot.
Chen Wan leaned forward and bit the offered piece right off the chopsticks, eyes going warm. "Thank you, honey. It always tastes better when you feed it to me."
Jiang Yanxin shot her a look. "Behave yourself. Everyone is right here. Say one more thing like that, and I'm done feeding you."
"Honey would never leave me to starve." Chen Wan returned to the pot, utterly unrepentant, continuing to wheedle even as she stirred. Jiang Yanxin made an exasperated sound, tried to glare at her, failed, and kept feeding her pieces of roasted beef anyway.
Yang Yang had demolished two and a half small bowls of noodles in the time it took most of the adults to finish one. When her bowls were clean, she looked up — and caught her mama being hand-fed by her mommy.
Her small mouth opened. Her chubby hands flexed with purpose. She puffed herself up and announced in her most judgmental baby voice: "Mama is getting fed by Mommy! Mama is embarrassing~."
She even illustrated the point by waving one small hand in front of her face in the classic gesture of secondhand shame.
Chen Wan looked down at her daughter with fond amusement. "And how exactly is that embarrassing, sweetheart? Your mommy feeds you, too, doesn't she?"
Yang Yang tilted her head, thought about this very carefully, and arrived at her conclusion with total confidence: "That's embarrassing too!"
The entire RV laughed.
Yi Yi, seeing that Yang Yang had finished eating, wiped the little one's mouth and settled her into her lap to play. The RV didn't have toys to speak of, but a thoroughly chubby, wriggly baby turned out to be an entirely adequate source of entertainment.
The second pot of noodles was ready not long after. Chen Wan and Jiang Yanxin pulled two stools up to the small dining table — with so many people aboard now, the space felt noticeably more crowded, in the best possible way.
Jiang Wanning had finished eating and gotten up to stretch her legs. She wandered over toward Yi Yi and noticed there was no bowl in front of her. "Aren't you eating?"
Yi Yi kept her eyes on Yang Yang, bouncing the baby gently, and smiled. "I'm an android. I don't need the same things you humans eat — as long as I have enough crystal cores to maintain my energy levels, I'm fine."
"An android?" Jiang Wanning's eyes went wide. She had genuinely assumed Yi Yi was an ordinary beta. How had she missed that entirely? "What does that mean, exactly?"
"Honestly, we're not that different from you in most ways. We just don't need to eat or sleep — everything else is more or less the same." Yi Yi smiled as she explained.
Jiang Wanning gave a slow, slightly skeptical nod. It sounded a little too convenient to be true, but she believed it well enough.
Chen Wan sat down and finally started eating. She was absolutely famished — she'd piled her bowl high, and given how much energy she and Qin Ke had burned through today, both of them ate considerably more than usual. By the end, every last piece of the roasted beef had disappeared between the two of them.
After the meal, Jiang Yanxin and Jiang Wanning practically fought each other for the chance to wash the pots, leaving the stovetop and cooking area spotless. Chen Wan sat on a stool nearby and rested — it had been, by any measure, an exhausting day.
By the time everything was cleaned up and put away, it was six in the evening. Chen Wan smiled around at everyone. "We've all had enough today. Let's turn in early. We're on our own ground now — no need to sleep with one eye open. Mom, Dad, get some rest. Oh — let me grab some things for you first."
She focused briefly, and a small pile appeared on the table: several sets of comfortable home clothes in both men's and women's styles, along with a full range of toiletries — face wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and more.
Ye Lan stared. "Chen Wan — you have all of this too?"
"Yanxin, Qin Ke, and I cleared out quite a few places before all of this," Chen Wan said with a smile. "We've got plenty stored away. You, Dad, and Wanning don't need to worry about running short of anything."
"That's such a relief. Chen Wan, I don't know what we would have done without all of you." Ye Lan shook her head, genuinely moved.
"It's nothing, Mom. Oh — one more thing." Chen Wan reached into her compressed storage and produced a small collection of crystal cores. "These are mutant crystal cores. Thirty in total — ten each for you, Dad, and Wanning. Don't eat more than your share at once; that's already the safe maximum. They're good for your bodies, and there's a chance they might awaken an ability in you someday." She passed the cores to Ye Lan as she explained.
Chen Wan distributed cores to the rest of the group as well. The most visibly delighted recipient was, without question, Yang Yang — who had been thinking about her precious "candy" for quite some time. She received hers and began eating them one by one with tremendous seriousness, pausing after each one to smack her lips and reflect carefully on the flavor.
Ye Lan held her share and felt immediately guilty. These people were already feeding her family out of their own supplies — she couldn't possibly accept something this precious on top of that.
"Chen Wan, we really can't take these," she said, moving to hand them back. "This is far too valuable. You young ones should keep them for yourselves. We're not contributing anything as it is, and now you're giving us all of this too—"
"Please keep them," Chen Wan said warmly. "We're family. If you, Dad, and Wanning take these like I said, you might develop abilities before long — and then you'll be able to help in ways none of us can predict."
Jiang Yanxin came over and added her own gentle persuasion until Ye Lan finally relented and tucked the cores away. While the adults had been talking, Yang Yang had quietly finished every last one of hers.
Chen Wan laughed, picked the little one up, and pressed a kiss to her soft cheek. "You ate those fast."
"Mama, the candy is so yummy~" Yang Yang wriggled contentedly against her, in an excellent mood. She loved being back in the RV — in here, she could talk as loud as she wanted and play without anyone telling her to be quiet!
"Little glutton. There'll be more candy tomorrow, no need to rush." Chen Wan patted Yang Yang's small, round tummy, which was indeed noticeably rounder than before. "Come on, sweetheart — let Mama walk you around the RV for a bit. Look at this little belly of yours."
Yang Yang nodded agreeably. "Okay~"
Ye Lan and Jiang Zhao Yuan, worn out from the day's events, were already beginning to flag. They said their goodnights and headed upstairs to shower and rest.
The younger members of the group gathered around the dining table. Chen Wan walked Yi Yi through everything that had happened with her ability in more detail. Now that they were face-to-face, Yi Yi could sense her host's energy fluctuations directly. She listened with her usual bright expression and nodded. "It's a mental-type ability — specifically, the power to control zombies. At Level 1, you can control around fifty zombies at a time. As you advance, both the number you can hold and the duration will increase."
"And the dizziness I felt afterward?" Chen Wan asked.
"You were drawing on your mental energy — your psychic force — more than it was accustomed to. Mental energy is like a muscle: it needs training. At this stage, you can probably only sustain control for about ten to fifteen seconds before you start to feel the strain. With consistent practice, that will grow to minutes, then tens of minutes, eventually hours."
"Then why didn't Qin Ke feel anything?" Chen Wan asked. "Her ability seemed just as demanding."
Qin Ke nodded in agreement. "I didn't feel dizzy at all. Everything felt completely normal."
"Because Qin Ke's is a Level 1 firearms ability," Yi Yi explained. "That's a practical-application type, not a mental type. It enhances precision in real time — essentially, she hits wherever she aims. There's no psychic strain involved, so no dizziness."
Qin Ke gave a quiet, satisfied nod. She had no complaints about that.
Chen Wan nodded as well, processing it all.
Yi Yi smiled and added, "Yanxin and Yang Yang — your abilities may be close to awakening as well. Worth paying attention to over the next little while."
"I will." Jiang Yanxin smiled back with genuine curiosity. She had been wondering what form her own ability might take.
"Yi Yi — is there a way to develop mental energy faster?" Chen Wan pressed.
"The most effective method is direct psychic combat with another mental-type ability user. Alternatively, you and I could spar within the mindscape directly."
"Let's do that. Tomorrow, whenever we have a moment — train with me."
"Done. No problem."
Jiang Wanning had followed most of the conversation, though one part still puzzled her. Sparring in a mindscape — did that mean Chen Wan and Yi Yi could communicate mentally at will?