Chapter Thirty-six: A Terrifying Assault on the Senses! [Please add to your favorites and recommend]

Tanya was utterly astonished!

Drinking more soup is indeed good for the skin, but it usually takes a long time before any effects become visible.

Yet now—

She could distinctly feel her pores tightening, without any clear evidence, just a strong intuition.

"Is your face uncomfortable?" The young man, who had somehow appeared at the kitchen doorway, asked with a solemn expression.

"It's fine, actually."

"That's good." His chest relaxed as if relieved.

Tanya was a little puzzled, sensing something odd in the way he looked at her—almost as if he were observing a laboratory mouse.

Thinking it over, she realized it wasn't surprising. The price of these two dishes was so steep, and she was the first to try them; naturally, he wanted feedback on the taste.

Understanding this, Tanya smiled and shook her head, thinking the young man was simply too shy, unable to ask a straightforward question. It was hardly anything shameful.

As for the "Savory Bone and Meat Soup," it was truly flawless!

The viewers in her livestream were urging her on, so Tanya cast aside her thoughts and focused on the second dish.

Atypical Secret Sauce.

"This dish..."

She touched the edge of the plate, finding a layer of condensation, as if it had just come out of the refrigerator—cold to the touch.

"No wonder the serving was so fast; everything was pre-made."

Tanya felt no displeasure. After all, there are countless ways to prepare food; not every dish must be freshly cooked.

But from a sensory perspective, the second dish seemed hardly worthy of its 288 price tag!

Its dark color, cold temperature, and lack of any discernible aroma or flavor—she couldn't distinguish sweet, sour, bitter, or spicy.

To put it bluntly, it looked like leftover food from yesterday, with nothing remarkable.

If it had any distinctive feature, it was the generous amount of sauce—well, aside from the sauce, there wasn't much else.

She picked up her chopsticks and stirred the sauce gently, revealing black-brown and pale yellow granules.

The brown granules appeared to be bits of meat, while the yellow ones were clearly peanuts.

The meat pieces were not soft, even somewhat hard, likely due to freezing.

Both the meat and peanuts were coated in what looked like white sesame seeds—plenty of them.

When she pulled out the chopsticks, there was a strong resistance.

The dark sauce clung to the tips, stretching as the chopsticks moved, like spun sugar—extremely viscous.

Tanya watched the sauce closely. Under the light, it gleamed like amber, and the "white sesame seeds" embedded within shone like impurities in amber—

Not jarring, but rather presenting a seamless artistic beauty.

She opened her mouth and licked off the sauce...

It was icy cold,

So cold that her entire mouth felt frosted,

Every breath chilled to the bone.

Tanya pressed her tongue against her palate, her brows furrowed, "It seems... there's no flavor..."

"No flavor?"

"How can there be no flavor? Surely it's at least sweet, sour, bitter, or spicy?"

"This is the most expensive dish here; it doesn't make sense."

"I was going to try it myself, but now it's tricky."

"Looks like not every dish is a winner."

...

The restaurant guests murmured among themselves, and outside, Zhao Gang and his group listened, openly mocking.

"Li Can, has this dish been in the fridge too long?" Su Rui approached Li Can quietly, uncertain.

She had brought ingredients for scallion beef that morning, only to find Li Can already up, and learned in their conversation about these two other dishes.

According to Li Can, he'd created them on a whim the night before, using ingredients from a mysterious friend.

Su Rui believed him wholeheartedly.

After witnessing the arrival of Azure and Azure Heavy, she realized Li Can was far more complex than he appeared.

As for why he worked at her restaurant, she didn't want to know—the more she knew, the more troubled she'd become.

With his culinary skills and methods, he surely wouldn't stay long.

Su Rui only wanted to cherish this time.

But now wasn't the moment for such worries.

Li Can shook his head uncertainly, "I don't think so."

"Even you aren't sure?" Su Rui's lips twitched.

"It's not that I'm unsure, it's just that inside..."

Li Can was confident in his cooking and refrigeration techniques, but couldn't guarantee what would happen to monster meat—he'd secretly tasted it a few minutes ago, but even so, couldn't be certain.

Who knew if it would change in the next minute?

For this reason, he kept watching.

Both fell silent, like everyone else, and continued observing Tanya.

After failing to taste anything the first time, Tanya tried again.

But before the sauce even entered her mouth, her eyes brightened.

"Huh."

She pressed her tongue against her palate, uncertain, and as the chill faded from her mouth, the flavorless sauce suddenly blossomed with taste, growing stronger and stronger.

Rich and full-bodied,

A savory aroma overflowing,

Like chocolate slowly melting, hidden in every corner of her mouth, lingering endlessly.

"No, there's a faint spicy note..."

Instinctively, she took a second bite of the sauce.

The spicy note was again masked by the cold, disappearing without a trace.

Then came the third bite, fourth, fifth...

Again and again, the heat was obscured, then revealed, over and over.

The sixth bite...

This time, Tanya not only tasted the sauce but also meat and peanuts. As she chewed, the meat juices blended perfectly with the sauce, becoming increasingly fragrant.

Each swallow left her with an intense feeling of longing, an irresistible urge to keep tasting.

The seventh bite...

The eighth...

The ninth...

As her oral nerves became more active with constant chewing, Tanya sensed something was amiss.

What had been a subtle heat was now impossible to ignore—like a runaway horse, wildly assaulting her tongue and throat.

Hiss, hiss, hiss—

Tanya sucked in cool air, wiping beads of sweat from her nose, her eyes reddening.

Yet she kept eating.

The surrounding guests were stunned, and viewers in the livestream noticed something was off.

At that moment, perhaps because the spicy flavor had built up too much, Tanya, without thinking, scooped up a spoonful of hot soup and poured it into her mouth.

BOOM!

The heat exploded instantly!

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—so spicy!"

Tanya's cheeks flushed, she fanned her tongue, desperate for relief from the soup, but it was useless—she broke out in a sweat.

She finally understood why the chef had chilled the meat sauce: only by doing so could the spicy flavor be suppressed!

By the time diners realized something was wrong, they were already caught in the eye of the flavor storm, unable to escape.

Because this secret sauce was simply too delicious—so good it drove her mad,

An absolute delight!

"Hurry, eat it with rice."

At the crucial moment, the young man at the door smiled and reminded her.

Tanya paused, then realized.

No wonder he insisted on not taking away the rice—it was meant to help with the spice!

Tanya could have cried, grabbing the plain rice and eating in big, unladylike bites.

"This guy obviously just wanted to see me embarrassed—his conscience is completely rotten!"

(To be continued...)