After Chen and Raymond tasted the food and showered it with praise, and with Wayne's repeated reassurances, several of the braver customers—including Arator and the Westbrook quartet—stepped up to give it a try.
Though they held their noses and approached the golden-fried cubes with extreme caution, once the pieces entered their mouths and were bitten open, they all seemed possessed. One by one, they reached for another.
Chen Stormstout eventually summarized the essence of the dish: "It is precisely this foul-smelling brine that, after soaking, permeates the tofu. Once deep-fried, it's encased in a golden, crispy skin that locks in the aroma and juices. This creates the effect of smelling foul but tasting heavenly."
"Add to that these two sauces—one sweet and savory, the other spicy—and the texture becomes incredibly layered. With one bite, the flavors stack together, making you crave another immediately."
By the end, even female players like Amy and Tess joined in. After smelling it for a while, everyone agreed that the stench wafting from the basement kitchen didn't seem quite so unbearable anymore...
Wayne told them the dish was called "Stinky Tofu." This specific golden-fried style originated from a place called "Shaoxing," and the two sauces were sweet bean sauce and chili sauce.
To these people, who had only learned to use chopsticks after meeting Chen at the cafe and still grabbed Xiaolongbao with their hands, tofu and sauces were completely unheard of.
Chen was the most excited. He knew that while tofu was unknown in Azeroth, it was a food frequently made by the Pandaren of Pandaria, and sauces were indispensable in their daily cooking.
He felt that Shaoxing, the birthplace of this stinky tofu, must be in Pandaria. Due to its pronunciation, Chen even wondered if the place had some connection to the last emperor of the Pandaren, "Shaohao."
Since leaving the Wandering Isle, this was the first time he had seen someone hand-make a delicacy passed down from Pandaria. Furthermore, Wayne's proficiency with chopsticks was far beyond what a beginner could achieve.
He must have been to Pandaria!
This thought undoubtedly deepened Chen's expectations and affirmation of their five-year pact.
"Miller, is there any more?" Arator asked. "I didn't get enough... I only managed to snatch two pieces..."
Wayne looked at the cleared plates and the longing gazes of the crowd. He tossed his head back. "Hmph. Who was just saying that eating this was like eating dung? What, you've developed a taste for it now?"
Raymond and the others who had been hiding outside scratched their heads and gave awkward smiles. "Teacher, we were just ignorant and lacked worldly experience..."
"Heh, you've got some nerve, eating my tofu and acting so righteous about it," Wayne joked.
A few interested people followed him down to the kitchen. Truthfully, no matter how good it tasted, being close to the vats of fermenting brine and soaking tofu was still enough to make one's head spin from the stench.
Chen studied the fermentation method up close, as well as how to prepare the brine using amaranth and salt. He didn't recall Wayne mixing brine a few days ago, but Wayne thought to himself that he certainly couldn't reveal he had bought it from the vending machine. He simply claimed it hadn't fermented long enough for the smell to emerge, so Chen hadn't noticed.
After frying another large batch, the group ate and drank their fill. With the cafe owner healed and back at his post, everyone opened windows and doors to air the place out and returned to their respective game worlds.
Wayne continued through the main quest of The Elder Scrolls V with Shadowbreaker, Arator, and Amy.
Picking up from where they left off with Chromie, the group met a contact in Solitude. They each received a false identity, handed over their combat gear, and changed into noble attire to infiltrate a banquet hosted by the elves known as the "Thalmor" at their embassy.
The banquet was attended by many celebrities from Skyrim, including Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun.
Balgruuf, who knew Wayne and the others were Dragonborn, did not expose them. He merely gave them a knowing glance and a subtle nod.
Despite being in a game, the etiquette and atmosphere of the banquet were incredibly realistic.
At this moment, the difference in background was apparent. Shadowbreaker, a Duke in reality, was like a fish in water in such a setting.
Having shed his armor for fine robes, he completely outshone all the nobles present. He even caused a spat between two single noblewomen, both of whom wanted him as their dance partner for the night.
Arator was a descendant of a noble house and had grown up in a high-ranking household, but his parents had crossed the Dark Portal on the Outland expedition shortly after his birth. His aunt and uncle who raised him were strict; one was busy rebuilding Dalaran day and night, while the other had long since abandoned the elven lifestyle of song and dance due to personal trauma. Consequently, Arator was not particularly skilled at dancing or drinking.
Then there was Amy. Having changed into noble clothing, she proactively approached and reached out her hand to invite Wayne for a dance in the hall.
Wayne instinctively accepted the invitation. Looking at Amy, he realized she possessed the temperament of a beauty in any attire—be it her usual mage robes, her combat gear in the game, or her current silk and gold-trimmed dress.
With her long hair flowing freely and a faint blush on her cheeks, Wayne felt for the first time amidst the cheerful, melodious music that playing a game could be this wonderful.
His mind began to wander, but his feet lost their rhythm. He missed a step and Amy gently stepped on the top of his foot. "Hey... are you doing this on purpose?"
"Who are you calling 'Hey'? I'm two years younger than you," Amy retorted.
"We're here for a quest," Wayne whispered. "There are a lot of tasks waiting for us."
"Didn't you say we had to blend in first so others wouldn't get suspicious, and then find a chance to cause a distraction?"
Wayne didn't know if his own face was red, but Amy's certainly was. He could only stammer, "Right... right..."
Inwardly, he thought: How am I supposed to cause a distraction like this...
Just as he became a bit absent-minded, Amy stepped hard on his toe. This wasn't an accidental slip; she put weight behind it. Wayne couldn't help but let out a sharp cry: "Ah!"
This completely dazed Wayne.
Amy pointed toward a corner, her voice filled with feigned anger as she accused him, "Hmph! You're looking at someone else while dancing with me!"
In the hall, the surrounding guests had just turned their gazes toward them. Hearing Amy's words, they shifted their eyes to where she was pointing—a pair in the corner of the room who were huddled together, passionately kissing.
One look was enough to cause a scandal.
That pair consisted of a married woman from Markarth and a married man from Windhelm. They had intended to hide in the corner for a brief tryst with an old flame, but being observed by the entire room was equivalent to a public sentencing.
Whispers immediately broke out:
"Oh my, how could they do such a thing?" "I wondered why they both arrived alone." "Many people knew about it already, but everyone turned a blind eye. Now that it's public, it's going to be a problem..." "Even if such things are rampant in private, they can't be acknowledged openly."
At that moment, the disgraced male noble lowered his head to leave. As he passed a server, the server cleverly nudged his hand, which landed squarely on the backside of a nearby waitress.
"You!" the waitress screamed. Now, even Elenwen, the mistress of the embassy, had to intervene.
The banquet hall descended into chaos.
That server was precisely their contact.
The two noblewomen who had been "competing" for Shadowbreaker immediately ran off to avoid being associated with the trouble. After confirming eye contact with Wayne, Amy, and Arator, Shadowbreaker also feigned an exit and entered the kitchen.
There, they found their combat gear, which the contact had brought in earlier. After a quick change, the group split up to infiltrate the embassy's backyard. They used stealth to take out the patrolling Thalmor guards and began searching for secret documents.
Wayne led the way, crouching in stealth. He couldn't help but look back at Amy. "My foot hurts... did you really have to step that hard?"
Amy replied with a hint of displeasure that wasn't true anger: "You said we had to blend in and not let others get suspicious. Of course I had to use force to make it look realistic."
At the stairs of the backyard building, two fully armed Thalmor guards happened to walk down.
Amy, a mage in the game as well, lacked stealth abilities. She immediately cast Invisibility to hide herself completely.
Wayne hid in the shadows at the corner of the stairs, with Shadowbreaker and Arator—the two warriors—behind him.
Once the guards were down, Amy used Paralysis to trap one of them. The two warriors charged out with Dawnbreaker and cut the other down instantly.
Wayne, from the shadows, drew his bow and loosed an arrow with incredible speed, piercing the first target's neck.
Having dealt with the guards, the four searched the area and found a highly confidential dossier in the Ambassador's desk.
The files recorded the political intentions and true stances of many important figures in Skyrim in their dealings with the Aldmeri Dominion. Furthermore, just as Delphine had said, it contained the approximate location of another member of the Blades: "Esbern."
At that moment, warning shouts from other guards echoed outside. They had clearly noticed the four disappearing from the front hall and found the bodies in the courtyard.
Without wasting time, Wayne took the key from Elenwen's bedside table and opened the dungeon door. After the four dealt with a small squad of dungeon guards and freed two prisoners, they mounted their horses and galloped toward Riften, in the far southeast of Skyrim, near the Fort Dawnguard.
On the road, Arator asked Wayne, "Miller, is this old man really that important? Can we not find that black dragon without him?"
Wayne nodded. "Yes. Because some secrets are known only to him."
Shadowbreaker asked, "And once this old man helps us find the black dragon, can we kill it? Will the world be at peace then?"
Wayne shook his head. "It won't be that easy. That black dragon isn't an ordinary dragon. It can't be killed just like that."
"Then... if we find it but can't kill it, what do we do?" Arator asked. "Is the world doomed?"
"There's always a way," Wayne replied. "Just follow the quests step by step."
Amy, thinking of reality, asked from horseback, "Do you think... the black dragon in Dustwallow Marsh is also unkillable?"
Wayne answered confidently, "No. If the timing hadn't been wrong last time, I would have ended her with an axe long ago."
"However," Wayne added, "her father is a different story."
The three of them gasped: "Her father?!"