"Speaking of which, Erina, you said you were going to teach me how to cook. But aren't I technically the one cooking right now?"
Shaking off his heavy thoughts, Li Ke offered a teasing grin to Erina, who was sitting snugly in the iron drum kept warm by the small fire. Erina blinked in confusion for a fraction of a second before the realization hit her.
"You absolute idiot!"
Blushing furiously, she splashed a handful of water straight at him, only to immediately cover her chest in a panic.
Even though Li Ke had already seen and touched every inch of her during their intimacy, she still couldn't shake her deep-seated maidenly shyness. After all, they had only known each other for a few days before progressing to this extreme stage. It was only natural that her aristocratic modesty hadn't completely vanished yet.
"How dare you say something like that in front of a professional chef! You're terrible!"
Erina glared at him with puffed-out cheeks. Her adorable expression made it impossible for Li Ke to hold back his laughter.
However, bringing up the topic of cooking involuntarily triggered another memory from her world.
He recalled a specific girl from her academy who constantly talked about high-grade A5 beef—Mito Ikumi, nicknamed "Nikumi." She was exactly his type: a golden-haired, tanned tomboy with a spectacular, well-endowed figure.
Most importantly, her choice of clothing was scandalously skimpy. It bordered on terrifying. She essentially wore a bikini to class; if you took away less than twenty centimeters of fabric from her usual outfit, she would literally be walking down the street in nothing but her underwear.
Truthfully, while she spent all day obsessing over premium cuts of beef, anyone looking at her would immediately think that she was the real prime grade-A specimen.
Then again, Erina didn't lose out to her in the slightest.
"But if we're talking strictly about looks and figure, you'd easily rank as an A5 cut yourself, wouldn't you, Erina?"
Erina immediately retaliated with another aggressive splash of water.
"I told you to stop using crass kitchen terminology like that!"
She glared at him, absolutely steaming. A5 beef? Didn't he realize she had just ended up with this useless, out-of-shape middle manager precisely because of a piece of meat?
While she didn't necessarily regret how things turned out, it still felt like they had skipped too many steps. There had been no proper dates, no romantic courtship, and certainly no dream wedding.
And most importantly!
Li Ke wasn't gentle at all!
Feeling the dull, lingering ache between her thighs, Erina let out a resentful huff. She completely chose to forget that, by the end of it, she had been the one refusing to let him leave.
"My bad, my bad. Alright, time to swap your water."
Li Ke quickly raised his hands in mock surrender. He pointed to the clean barrel sitting nearby. He had prepared this fresh batch of hot water ahead of time, and it had finally cooled down to a perfect, comfortable temperature.
"Hmph. I'll let you off the hook this time."
With a cold sniff, Erina allowed Li Ke to help her transfer into the clean barrel, where she quickly finished rinsing off her body.
By the time she stepped out and did a final rinse, the spare clothes Li Ke had sterilized for her were completely dry. With Erina decently covered, it was finally Li Ke's turn to take a bath.
As he stripped down, his body showed signs of having quickly recovered its stamina. Erina gave a quiet huff and carefully walked a wide circle around him. She made sure to steer well clear of his front, terrified he might suddenly give in to his primal urges again and render her fresh bath completely pointless.
Still, her eyes involuntarily drifted downward for a split second. After all, it was that very object that had just introduced her to a level of mind-melting pleasure she had never known existed.
It looks so ugly and bizarre... yet just a moment ago, it actually managed to...
Blushing at her own scandalous thoughts, Erina glanced down at her own lower abdomen. Though it felt a little tender and swollen, it looked completely unchanged, making her marvel at the sheer resilience of the human anatomy.
Meanwhile, Li Ke wasn't overthinking things. He was genuinely exhausted. He sank straight into the iron barrel, letting the glorious warmth of the water envelop him.
"Ah... yes. Hot water is a godsend."
The moment his skin hit the heat, Li Ke let out a deep, satisfied groan. The sound made Erina's face flush scarlet all over again as she buttoned up her shirt. Hurriedly hiding her body under the clean fabric, she sat down a short distance away and began folding Li Ke's dried clothes to distract herself.
Li Ke's underwear hadn't been ruined, so he had only needed to boil and sanitize two or three spare shirts, which he had already scrubbed clean earlier.
Once Erina finished neatly organizing his spare wardrobe, she sat quietly by the fire, keeping her eyes peeled as she took first watch over their surroundings.
Men finish bathing quickly. In no time, Li Ke was already stepping out of the barrel, drawing a highly dissatisfied look from Erina.
"Did you even wash yourself properly?" Erina grumbled, poking him in the lower back. From her perspective, his bath was far too rushed.
Li Ke could only shrug helplessly and point toward the horizon. "We don't exactly have a choice. We need to get back inside, fast."
The sun was nearly below the tree line. In a zombie apocalypse, racing against the dark was a matter of survival.
"Hmph. Fine, blame it on me," Erina huffed, crossing her arms and turning on her heel. "But if you ever take a sloppy bath like that again, don't even think about stepping foot into my room!"
Li Ke watched her walk away, a bit speechless. Man, the moment a girl transitions into a woman, she really starts changing, doesn't she?
Her girlish bashfulness was still there, but Erina was now exhibiting the distinct, assertive attitude of a wife running the household. It was a domineering energy that carried a unique charm. Of course, it would have been a lot more convincing if her face weren't so bright red that she actively avoided eye contact with him.
The two made a swift retreat back to the RV to prepare dinner. Because Erina didn't dare cook again after the afternoon's incident, Li Ke took over the kitchen.
Though Erina guided him through every single step, the moment the dish was ready and she took her first bite, she let out a helpless, dramatic sigh.
"You have completely desecrated this meat," Erina said, looking at him with utter disbelief. "Your heat control was terrible, your tossing technique was nonexistent, and you did absolutely nothing to mask the flaws of these low-grade seasonings. You just threw everything into the pan and expected them to magically work together. It's... barely edible. Just remember, if we were back in my world, I wouldn't even let a dish like this near my table! Hmph!"
Despite the harsh review, Erina immediately picked up another piece of meat with her chopsticks, huffed, and ate it anyway.
Li Ke scratched his head awkwardly. He had tasted her cooking earlier; weird side effects aside, the flavor was leagues ahead of anything he could ever hope to make. Still, watching her steadily eat his subpar cooking brought a warm smile to his face.
What he didn't realize, however, was the profound shock gripping Erina's inner world.
Why... why doesn't this taste awful to me? There are so many flaws...
Erina chewed the meat thoughtfully. Li Ke had failed to bring out even a fraction of the ingredient's potential; in fact, he had thoroughly ruined a premium cut. Yet, as she ate, while her sharp palate could easily detect every technical mistake, her senses were somehow drawn entirely to the tiny, hidden hints of deliciousness.
The pleasant flavors took over her taste buds first. It was only when she consciously activated her "God Tongue" that the poorly cooked, unpalatable elements became noticeable.
This discovery was nothing short of miraculous to her, bringing an overwhelming sense of profound relief. She couldn't understand why her palate had changed, but she knew one thing: if this had happened to her past self, she would have broken down in tears of pure joy. This meant she would never have to worry about starving to death. It meant her mother could be saved. It meant she could finally just enjoy food.
But as she looked up at Li Ke's awkward smile—which barely hid his stubborn, slightly bruised ego—the taste of the food suddenly didn't matter as much anymore. Instead, she realized that simply watching his endearing, comical expressions was enough to give her a hearty appetite.
What a strange, magical feeling... Is this what it's like to be a married couple?
Erina didn't know the exact reason behind this sudden shift, but she knew it was an absolute blessing. She quietly resolved to keep this discovery a secret. If Li Ke ever found out his cooking could actually satisfy her legendary palate, he would get incredibly cocky and stand tall with pride.
Then again, a certain other part of him had been standing quite tall lately, too...
Watching Erina polish off the last piece of meat, Li Ke's thoughts drifted down a different path. Unlike Erina, who was experiencing a deep psychological breakthrough, Li Ke simply assumed the ingredients themselves were inherently top-tier. Even with his abysmal culinary skills, the flavor of the meat was absolutely spectacular.
It tasted exactly like the idealized concept of meat you would imagine in your head. It wasn't just a steak; it was the literal platonic ideal of meat given physical form.
As expected of a video game world, Li Ke mused, suddenly feeling a lot more optimistic about their future survival here.
Once dinner was over, he endured Erina's standard look of deep disdain as they crawled into her bed together to sleep through the apocalyptic night.
When morning arrived, Li Ke woke to find Erina burying her face snugly against his chest. He couldn't resist gently stroking her shoulder, which jolted her awake. Blushing furiously, she scrambled to move her hand away from a highly sensitive area.
"Morning," Li Ke chuckled, offering a warm smile.
Erina's face burned scarlet as she tried to reply. "Good morn—mmph?!"
Her morning greeting was instantly cut short, replaced by a series of soft, muffled whimpers.
Sometime later, as Li Ke stood outside under the morning sun grilling breakfast, a freshly washed Erina marched out of the RV. Having used yesterday's remaining hot water to scrub herself clean, she threw his jacket straight at his back, her face still utterly flushed.
"You absolute brute! Look what time it is!" she yelled, entirely vexed. "Hurry up and finish making breakfast! We have a schedule to make up for today!"
She was genuinely throwing a tantrum, mostly because Li Ke had been utterly shameless this morning.
Li Ke just grinned, casually slipping his jacket back on. Once they finished eating, the duo geared up and headed right back to the mine they had cleared the day before.
They fell right into yesterday's rhythm. The two separated to mine different nodes, immediately using their inventory crafting queues to turn the raw iron ore into robotic turret ammo.
Due to certain... physical limitations, their mining speed was admittedly a bit sluggish today. A few stray zombies stumbled into the cave during their shift, but fortunately, no terrifying screamers or bloated feral types showed up, allowing the pair to dispatch them without much effort.
They ate lunch inside the massive cavern they had carved out. As they dug deeper, they began uncovering a treasure trove of resources. Huge deposits of nitrates and coal were unearthed, and Li Ke even managed to hit a vein of tin ore. This classic, game-like clustering of completely different minerals in one spot saved them an immense amount of real-world time.
Still, the most lucrative item in their inventory remained the robotic turret ammunition crafted from scrap iron.
By the time they finally called it a day, Li Ke's vision flashed with a level-up notification—he had officially hit Level 15. However, the game system itself showed no signs of unlocking new features. To make matters worse, a dull, throbbing ache flared up in his lower back, and his arms felt entirely numb from swinging the tools.
Beside him, Erina wasn't faring any better. She was gently stretching her arms and rotating her hips, clearly unaccustomed to the grueling, manual labor of a wasteland miner.
Li Ke quietly realized that they would probably have to take a mandatory rest day tomorrow just to recover.
However, once they arrived at the Trader's compound to cash in their hard work, they ran into a highly awkward roadblock.
The moment Li Ke sold exactly three thousand rounds of robotic turret ammo to the Trader, the NPC abruptly refused to accept any more from him. Yet, when Erina stepped up to the counter, the Trader was perfectly happy to buy another batch from her.
Li Ke stood there, completely bewildered by the sudden trade restriction.
Is there a hard limit of three thousand rounds per person?