Chapter 394: The Wave Has Arrived

Stan glanced at her once, a faint smile touching his mouth as he saw her trying hard not to acknowledge the nice aroma, he said nothing but reach into his inventory and withdrew something out... Two drops of liquid Qi fell into the pot.

The effect was immediate.

The aroma that rose from the pan intensified several times over, thicker, richer, almost alive. It carried a subtle, resonant depth that ordinary food could never possess, as though the very air had gained weight and sweetness at once. The scent curled through the kitchen and wrapped around them both.

Camilla’s eyes widened for the briefest moment. Her fingers tightened on her arms. The sudden surge of fragrance made her throat tighten with unwilling hunger. She looked sharply away again, but the damage was done.

"...What did you just add?" she asked, voice carefully flat.

"A little liquid Qi," Stan answered mildly, stirring the contents of the pan. "Just enough."

Camilla made a quiet, dismissive sound in her throat. "Hmph. Using something like that on mere ingredients... wasteful."

Yet she remained exactly where she was, crimson eyes fixed on the simmering pan despite her words. The rich, impossible scent continued to fill the kitchen, and her carefully maintained indifference was beginning to crack at the edges.

Stan tasted a small portion, nodded once in satisfaction, and began plating the dish with the same quiet precision he had shown throughout. The final result sat on the counter in two deep bowls, dark, glossy, fragrant, and far more than ordinary food.

He looked at Camilla and tilted his head slightly.

"Still uninterested?"

Stan held her gaze for a moment longer, still faintly smiling, then simply shook his head and portioned the second bowl. He carried both to the dining table, set one in front of the empty chair opposite him, and sat down with his own. The rich, complex aroma rose between them.

Camilla remained standing a moment longer, arms still loosely crossed. Pride warred with the undeniable pull of the scent. At last she exhaled through her nose, walked over with deliberate nonchalance, and sat. She picked up the utensil he had placed beside the bowl, lifted a small piece of the glossy liver, and placed it in her mouth.

The flavor unfolded at once, deep, mineral richness from the polar-bear liver, balanced by the dense, almost buttery depth of the heart. The marrow melted across her tongue in a silky wave, carrying the subtle sweetness of black garlic and the bright, cleansing note of the Arctic herbs.

Beneath it all ran something else entirely, a clean, resonant power from the liquid Qi that made every component taste sharper, fuller, more alive than ordinary food had any right to be. It was not blood, yet it satisfied a similar craving in a way she had not expected.

Camilla chewed slowly, then swallowed. Her expression remained carefully composed, but a faint color touched the tops of her cheeks.

"What’s there to brag about," she said at last, voice cool. "I guess you’re a pretty good chef..."

She looked sharply to the side, lips pressed into a small, unconscious pout.

Stan ate a bite of his own portion, the same layered intensity spreading across his tongue, and gave a quiet hum of satisfaction. "High praise, coming from you."

"It wasn’t praise," she muttered, still not looking at him. She took another bite anyway, larger this time, then another. The rich, Qi-infused flavors kept drawing her back. Each mouthful delivered the same surprising depth, the mineral weight of the liver, the meaty satisfaction of the heart, the luxurious melt of marrow, all lifted by that faint, electric resonance of liquid Qi. It was nothing like human blood, yet it scratched an itch she had not realized could be scratched by anything else.

They ate in relative silence for a while. Camilla kept her eyes on her bowl, determined not to give him the satisfaction of watching her enjoy it too openly. Every so often she would pause, as if remembering herself, and force her expression back into mild indifference, only to take another bite a moment later.

Stan spoke mildly between mouthfuls. "The liquid Qi makes a difference, doesn’t it?"

Camilla’s chopsticks hovered for half a second. "...It’s acceptable," she said at last, the words clipped. "For something that isn’t blood."

He only smiled and continued eating.

By the time their bowls were nearly empty, Camilla had abandoned any pretense of restraint. She finished the last glossy piece of heart, then used a fragment of the seared liver to wipe up the remaining sauce. Only when the bowl was completely clean did she set her chopsticks down with a quiet click.

Stan finished his own final bite a moment later and leaned back slightly, satisfied.

Camilla glanced at the empty bowl in front of her, then away again. A faint, residual warmth lingered on her tongue, rich, complex, and still faintly humming with the aftertaste of liquid Qi. She folded her arms once more, chin lifting.

"...Don’t expect me to say it was better than blood," she said, the words edged with stubborn pride. "But... it wasn’t terrible."

Stan’s quiet chuckle was the only reply he gave. ....

Stan’s quiet chuckle faded the moment he noticed the change in Camilla.

She was no longer looking at her empty bowl or pointedly away from him. Her crimson eyes had locked toward the south, sharp and utterly serious. The usual edge of pride and reluctance was gone, replaced by something colder and more focused, an alertness that bordered on readiness for battle.

He set his chopsticks down. "What’s wrong?"

Camilla’s voice came calm and even, almost detached. "It’s coming."

Stan studied her face. "What’s that?"

"The wave of Qi from Antarctica," she answered without looking away from the southern horizon. "It’s reaching this region."

At that moment, a soft ding sounded in Stan’s mind, audible only to him. A translucent system panel unfolded across his vision, displaying a map of the Earth. A faint, luminous tide crawled outward from the frozen continent, spreading across the globe in slow, inexorable waves of pale blue light.

A heartbeat later, he felt it.