Chapter 61 - Caesar

As they entered, they happened to bump into the innkeeper Tu Laogui descending from upstairs.

“Ah, what a coincidence to see you two!” Tu Laogui greeted them enthusiastically, “I was just thinking that I made two extra servings of breakfast for nothing, but lucky for me you’re back.

Eat it while it’s hot.” Saying this, Tu Laogui produced two bowls of greenish porridge, which bubbled with a slimy, gooey substance.

Not good!

Poisoned!

A sense of crisis immediately surged in Lu Hong’s heart, but this time he didn’t turn to Dao Yi with any peculiar questions—had the innkeeper changed his ways?

“Eh?

Why is this porridge such a strange color?” Lock Fan, perhaps having gone through a brief amnesia, completely failed to recall the terror dominated by dark cuisine from the day before and eagerly took the porridge from Tu Laogui’s hands, curiously inspecting it.

“Hehe, dear customer, this is our special here at the inn, ‘Green Oil Splashed Porridge’.

Please have a taste,” chuckled Tu Laogui, looking expectant.

“What about my friends?

Haven’t they gotten up yet?” Clearly, Lu Hong had no intention of drinking the bowl of porridge, so he pushed it back towards Tu Laogui.

“Your friends?

They went back to bed after drinking the porridge,” said Tu Laogui, grinning once again, a smile that to Lu Hong appeared ever so sinister.

Thud!

Lock Fan took a sip and immediately collapsed to the ground, weakly muttering, “Tu…

Tu brother…

it’s…

it’s poisoned…” before losing consciousness.

Lu Hong felt even more justified in his determination—absolutely nothing from this inn should be ingested, not even a drop of water!

“Oh my, why has this gentleman simply fallen asleep?

Look, the porridge is spilled all over the place,” Tu Laogui feigned ignorance, pretending to be concerned.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, old ghost, do you really not know what kind of dark cuisine you’re cooking up here?” Lu Hong impatiently questioned.

“What dark cuisine?

It’s just that their constitutions are too weak, that’s all.

There’s still one bowl left; do you want it or not?” Tu Laogui asked, extending the invitation once again.

“I’d rather die than drink it; you can keep it for yourself.”

“Tsk—wasting food,” Tu Laogui said nonchalantly as he tilted his head and gulped down the porridge, burping contentedly afterward.

Huh?

Was this Tu Laogui immune to all poisons, or was his own concoction simply ineffective on him?

“Do you want to carry him back to his room, or shall I?” asked Tu Laogui after finishing the porridge.

“Just let him lie here for a while; he’ll be fine,” Lu Hong found a seat and sat down before continuing, “Tu Boss, have you made any secret passages here?”

“Secret passages?

What do I need that for?” It was clear Tu Laogui had never done such a thing; he was clueless as to why Lu Hong was asking.

“I’ve gotten myself into trouble.

There’s a group of mercenaries outside keeping an eye on me, and I’m wondering how I can escape from here.”

“Ah?

You’ve gotten into trouble, sir?

And with the local garrison at that?” Tu Laogui schadenfreuded, “Alas, you’re doomed; nobody in this little town can oppose them.

You might as well resign yourself to your fate!”

“Boss, if you could provide me with a way to escape from here, I’m willing to give twenty Gold Coins,” Lu Hong blurted out his offer.

“Twenty Gold Coins?

I don’t want to offend the War Scar Mercenary Group, and besides, aren’t you well acquainted with Bo Kana?

Wouldn’t it be better to have him help you out?” Tu Laogui was utterly unmoved by money.

Is it not enough money?

Lu Hong took out another thirty Gold Coins and placed them in front of Tu Laogui, saying, “How about with these added on?”

“Well…

I might consider it…” Tu Laogui’s eyes began to wander.

This old ghost definitely had something like a secret passage hidden away.

Lu Hong took out another fifty Gold Coins and said, “A fixed price of one hundred Gold Coins—take it or leave it.”

“Deal!” Tu Laogui was easily swayed by the sight of money, emboldened without a moment’s hesitation, as he snatched up the coins and accepted Lu Hong’s task.

“Smooth!” Lu Hong replied with a laugh, asking, “Do you have a method to get me out of here?”

“I’ll have my daughter make you a bowl of soup,” replied Tu Laogui, “You carry it and wait for a moonless and windy night—no one will be able to stand firm against it.”

Lu Hong was left speechless—damn it, for a single serving of dark cuisine, he had forked over a hundred Gold Coins?

How could this man be so cutthroat?

“Right, boss, I’m really curious.

If you knew the soup you make could knock someone out with poison, then how come you’re all fine?” Lu Hong threw out his question.

“And that porridge just now, I bet my brothers upstairs are all poisoned by now, right?”

“What do you mean ‘poison’?

Can’t you speak nicer?

It’s just a bit odd in taste.

Everything’s properly edible and healthy food, how could it be poisonous?” Old Ghost Tu obviously disagreed with Lu Hong’s statement.

“Then why aren’t you affected?” Lu Hong pressed on, hoping to uncover a secret method.

If he got a hold of it, he could surely sweep through the whole town with Old Ghost Tu’s poisonous soup and be invincible.

“You can’t learn this, my daughter and I have no sense of taste or smell.

Actually, every time we cook these things, it’s all in the hope that maybe it’ll stimulate our taste and smell.” Old Ghost Tu, having collected Lu Hong’s money, didn’t hold back any secrets and candidly revealed the truth.

So it turned out that Old Ghost Tu and his daughter had been dedicated to developing these dark cuisines to recover their senses of taste and smell, which suddenly made one feel a bit of admiration!

But at this moment, Lu Hong was somewhat stunned.

He remembered a globally sensational quest that had occurred in the Skyline game.

Although Lu Hong had never been involved in it, he had learned about the whole thing from the world channel’s chat.

It went like this: an ordinary player obtained a strange quest from a father and daughter, asking him to gather specific ingredients and develop dishes to help restore their sense of taste and smell.

The player initially thought it was a regular quest, but no matter what kind of dish they tried to make, they couldn’t complete the quest.

Eventually, after posting questions in the world channel, they found out they were the only one who had taken on the quest.

It was a unique hidden quest!

Unique quests in the game offer enormous rewards and temptations.

After half a year of relentless cooking, the player still couldn’t complete the quest.

As the task remained unfinished, more and more people joined the discussion, offering ideas, looking for solutions, still with no success.

In the end, the player decided to give up and went to the father and daughter to cancel the quest.

And with the player’s cancellation, another stumbled upon the quest.

Afterward, like a relay baton, it was passed on to who knows how many people until, one night, a player finally succeeded.

The recipe that completed the quest—Heart of Naga, Blood of Lion King, Spirit of Dragon, mixed with rotten carrots, old cucumbers, stinky eggs, boiled for forty-nine days!

Drink it and you’re cured of all ills!

Of course, these weren’t the vital parts.

The key was the true identity of this father and daughter.

As the quest finished, their identities were also revealed, and naturally, Lu Hong too came to understand all this.

“Old Ghost Tu, you didn’t lose your sense of taste and smell from birth, did you?” Lu Hong snapped back to reality, asking excitedly.

“Yeah, it happened later in life.

Struck by a great calamity,” Old Ghost Tu looked at Lu Hong strangely, wondering why he suddenly became so excited.

“How old are you this year?

Fifty-eight?

And your daughter, is she twenty?” Lu Hong asked eagerly, unable to contain his anxious heart.

“How do you know that?

Did you check my household registration?” Old Ghost Tu spat out, “And you said you weren’t here for my daughter!”

“It really isn’t about her.

I’m just confirming my guess.

Now, I’m almost one hundred percent certain,” Lu Hong said with a smile.

“What are you guessing?” Old Ghost Tu curiously laughed and asked, “Say it out loud, let’s see if you’re right.”

Facing Old Ghost Tu’s smiling face, Lu Hong slowly said, “Let’s start with your surname.”

“My surname?” The two words seemed to stir Old Ghost Tu’s memories, “Haha, go ahead, you’ll be rewarded if you’re right!”

“Then I am indeed looking forward to the reward from the Plough family,” Lu Hong stretched the name ‘Plough’ quite long.

As he uttered those words, Old Ghost Tu’s expression froze instantly, but only for a moment before he regained his smile, “Haha, Plough?

My dear guest, you really have quite the imagination!”

“So, is my guess accurate?”

“Of course not, how could a humble innkeeper like me have any connection with the renowned Plough family?

You must be drunk, dear guest,” Old Ghost Tu denied Lu Hong’s speculation.

Lu Hong knew it wouldn’t be so easy to trick the old ghost into exposing his secrets, so he added more to his claim, “Oh?

So the once ruler of the Holy Divine Empire is also going to fool an ordinary person like me?

That doesn’t quite fit with the stories about the Great Emperor Caesar.”

This time, Old Ghost Tu’s expression could no longer stay composed, but there was no panic.

Simply guessing his identity was not enough to disrupt the former emperor so accustomed to dealing with numerous incidents.

“I’m curious how you figured out my identity,” Old Ghost Tu spoke, his casual posture becoming much more solemn; just by sitting up straight his royal demeanor naturally revealed itself.