Chapter 26: A food tour.

The landing of the helicopter had been a tad more dramatic than Liwu had expected. A gust of wind from nowhere had forced the helicopter into a tree. But luckily, everyone had survived unharmed.

Despite being unable to find her phone, Liwu and Majesty forged forward, leaving behind two bodyguards to find the lost gadget.

[+70 points: bad landing. If the helicopter had exploded, you would have earned more points.]

Liwu shuddered. If the helicopter had exploded, she and Majesty would be served as appetizers in Flame street. “Next time, we will drive.”

Majesty chuckled. “With your bad luck, it will make no difference.”

As soon as they crossed the toll gates, the real Flame street came into view, starting with fire street, a riot of color and chaos. It was like a boulevard that had been set on fire and then decorated by a pyromaniac with a love for food.

“It was not what I was expecting.” Liwu said, with a frown. In pictures, it looked like a painting by some divine painter from the 60’s. “Clearly, they exaggerate its beauty.” There was too much red. It was in the neon signs, the golden lion cub statues that were spitting fake flames!

Some were breathing in chili peppers. Now that part, Liwu found highly entertaining!

Like many tourists who were getting their pictures taken with the lion cub statues, she did the same, as did Majesty. With her smart watch, she paid for the polaroids and they walked ahead.

“I think its charming.” Majesty shrunk his size and jumped onto Liwu’s shoulder.

The scent of food dominated the air. Smoke curled from food stalls carrying the delicious scent of roasted chicken, duck, sizzling skewers, caramelized onions and garlic. The streets were filled with eager vendors and tourists, some buying in bulk and others tasting a little bit of everything.

“Do you think that if you walk a little too close to a chef, they will mix up the seasoning?” Majesty asked her.

“I hope not.” Liwu whispered. “My luck is like too much salt and not enough sugar. If the seasoning is mixed up, no doubt the food will be ruined.”

As if the universe wanted to remind her that her bad luck was still around, her heel snapped clean off. Liwu stumbled forward, arms flailing and nearly toppled into a vat of boiling broth. The chef caught her just in time, righted her and then winked as if rescues were part of the menu.

“Oh, look, a golden brick!” the chef exclaimed, looking down where Liwu’s broken heel lay on the ground.

The chef took a knife and spatula, determined to dig for the brick. Tourists and clients gathered around to witness the recovery of the golden brick. As the size of the crowd grew, Liwu was squeezed out.

She sat down on at one of the tables and changed to another pair of boots. The bag she carried was a gift from her mother. It was a system product, one with enough space to fit a human.

[+10 points: tripping.]

Her system sang.

The tour continued. They did not wait behind to see if the brick would turn out to be real gold.

“Welcome to Flame Street!” An energetic middle aged woman boomed. “Try our Firecracker chicken noddles, guaranteed to explode in your mouth.”

Liwu’s interest was captured, and so was Majesty’s. They walked to the stall and the vibrant, overly energetic woman led them to a table with two seats. The noodles arrived in two steaming bowls, spice-infused and sparkling, as if charged with static.

“Do you need a feeding assistant for the cat?” The woman asked.

“Just give me a fork.” Majesty answered for himself.

Soon, one woman and one cat, were lost in the deliciousness of their food. Each bite released a pop of heat, a fizz of citrus and smoky flavor in the chicken that lingered like fireworks in a night sky or sunset. As they laid down their chopsticks and fork, smoke escaped from their mouths.

“Explosive indeed,” Majesty purred, whiskers twitching.

Liwu paid and they were off to the next delicious treat. They wandered deeper into the district, to a place where red holographic menus floated next to stalls. At one stall, they sampled Dragonbone soup, which was a high seller from the size of the crowd around.

Its aroma was pungent and unpleasant–like stale eggs and wet iron but the taste was rich and oddly comforting.

Next came the rabbit gear-grilled dumplings in a steam-punk themed restaurant. They smelled oily but burst with fragrant herbs and molten cheese. The taste made up for the excessive sound of excited humans moving around in rusty or creaking iron metals.

Dessert was a must, for Liwu. That was how they found themselves in a little corner shop named ’Custards for fairies.’ The name was weird, as were the custard desserts. Majesty was skeptical about the Sunny Custard which glowed bright yellow. Its scent was too medicinal, but the flavor was sweet, airy and tinged with sunflower.

So far, bad luck was staying away from Liwu and the duo strolled to the candy alley that looked like a cross between a Victorian apothecary and modern day gaming arcade. Bright neon signs promised “Sweetness Beyond Galaxies.”

“All the shops with that sign are owned by a single family.” One of the bodyguards told Liwu. “So is half of the candy street.”

Liwu nodded. That part was not in the brochure, and although it was not knowledge she needed now, maybe someday in future it could come in handy.

The first shop they entered looked like the lab of a mad scientist. The candy in jars appeared spooky! It glowed with strange shapes like eyeballs, ears, fingers!

“Welcome to spooky candy land.” A line of three women shouted. All of them were dressed in halloween like outfits, with pale make-up covering their faces and traces of blood on the corners of their faces.

“I love this city.” Majesty declared. You could walk through Beijing and not find one weird shop like this one.

Liwu’s first purchase were the eyeballs which were volcanic rock candies. They fizzed like lava when bitten, releasing bursts of cinnamon heat. Majesty on the other hand was disdainful. But that went away after taking a crunch on one.

“Order more of these, Alix will love them.” he told Liwu.

She did as the cat suggested. Not just for her mother, but everyone in the family. Every candy that appealed to her tongue was put on the order list.

“You should order some cotton candy for your husband.” Majesty suggested.

Liwu frowned. “Why? Does he eat it?”

Majesty was surprised, his eyes widened. “You don’t know! I took the picture and saved it in your phone. Didn’t you see it?”

That’s when a shout rang out. “Thief!”

A man darted past the shop, clutching a stolen purse. Liwu’s instincts flared. “Bad luck system, initiate minor misfortune. Target, the thief.”

[-10 points.]

The thief’s shoelace snapped. He tripped sprawling face-first into a candy cart parked next to the wall. Candy fell everywhere.

Liwu smirked as she made her way to the criminal. “Well, that was easy.” Her days of chasing criminals were over.

She grabbed the man by the collar, dragging him upright. “You chose the wrong day to steal and the wrong path to take.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep