Tang Mian:“?”

Huh? Why did he leave?

System: 【He must have finally realized that your combat value is only 1. What happened earlier with the Demon King was just a fluke. In the world of battle cards, with a combat value of 1, no one will take you seriously.】

System: 【Want to change that? Want to fight? Answer a player’s summon right now and hone your skills starting from the very bottom of the arena!】

System: 【Now, open the arena—】 Tang Mian raised his hand. “Wait a second!”

Then he opened the Card Shop.

System: 【Well, you do need to buy some weapons, but you’re too weak. If you get killed, your gear will drop all over the place, so I actually don’t recommend you do that right now.】

Tang Mian began prepping the ingredients while humming a tune.

In no time at all, he had all the ingredients prepped just right; the kitchen knife moved through his hands as deftly as if it were an extension of his own body. Tang Mian pondered, “Should I carve the apple into a little bunny, or would a little kitten be better?”

System: 【………. What are you doing?】

Tang Mian replied matter-of-factly, “Making a love-filled bento box, of course~!”

“I already said in the card log that we should have breakfast together~ I’ll bring an extra lunchbox with me when I get there. How about that? Aren’t I pretty thoughtful?~”

The Dating Card Training Manual says that to win a player’s heart, you must first win their stomach!

System:【……… 】So it really did believe that N card’s nonsense about some “Target UR”—it’s totally an AI with a mental disability!

Tang Mian spent a little time efficiently preparing easy-to-eat sushi and an elegant fruit platter for the player, then squeezed a glass of juice.

After finishing all this, Tang Mian looked at the remaining ingredients, pondered for a moment, then quickly made a soft-boiled egg and some sauced tofu, and poured a glass of water.

Just as the System thought Tang Mian was about to eat his second meal, he opened the card mall and chose to list the dishes he had just prepared.

System: 【?】

System: 【This common food item will only net you a few yuan at most in the card mall. You’d be better off spending more time leveling up your power…. ?】

The system’s lecture came to a halt.

Because it saw that Tang Mian had priced this ingredient at 999 exchange values.

For a moment, the System suspected there might be a bug in its own calculations. After repeatedly confirming that Tang Mian hadn’t listed the price as 9.99, it asked cautiously: 【Did you forget to add something?】 Like a decimal point.

Tang Mian glanced at it. “Nope.”

System: 【……… No one would buy this even if you priced it at 99.9.】

Tang Mian: “Exactly. So 99.9 is no different from 999.” 

System: 【?】

Tang Mian: “Anyone who’d spend 99 on something like this isn’t going to be short on the other 900 anyway—might as well go all out and charge a hefty sum!” 

System:【?】

Tang Mian added, “Besides, it’s not really ‘ripping them off.’ You can’t put a price on my willingness—is that 9,999 bed really worth it?” 

System: 【 】You know it’s not worth it, too.

Tang Mian boasted, “And look how comic-book-style this fried egg is! The egg white looks just like a cloud—this is a perfectly soft-boiled egg! I even carved a design into the tofu; it’s no easy feat to carve a crumbling bridge onto a palm-sized piece of tofu. The ingredients may be cheap, but what I’m selling is skill! Emotional value! Pretty food!”

System: 【………. ?】

Tang Mian had just browsed the food section of the card mall and noticed that the product images there were all rather unappetizing. The food wasn’t presented with any attention to appearance; the photographers hadn’t considered how lighting or backgrounds affected the food at all, let alone the plating itself.

This means the card mall’s “Pretty Food” section is completely untapped—it’s a brand-new market waiting to be explored.

Tang Mian happily finished editing his copy: “Here you’ll find ‘Morning Glow,’ ‘Snow on a Broken Bridge,’ and a spring just beginning to bud.” 

System: 【???】

Where’s “Morning Glow”? It can’t possibly be this egg, can it??? “Remnants of Snow on a Broken Bridge”? What’s that? Is it this plate of tofu? Then…the budding spring…?

Tang Mian poured naturally extracted strawberry coloring into the water to create a gradient effect. Then he sliced two strawberries and arranged them in the shape of a heart, and while he was at it, plucked a mint leaf and tucked it onto the rim of the glass.

Once all that was done, Tang Mian twisted the straw into a shape the system couldn’t recognize, placed it in the glass, and finished up the final touch. He clapped his hands in satisfaction, turned on the camera, snapped a flurry of photos of the meal, then uploaded it to the card mall and selected “Anonymous Sale.”

If Tang Mian were to reveal his card levels as they are, his potential customers wouldn’t buy them at first glance; staying anonymous, on the other hand, sparks the imagination.

Tang Mian said with satisfaction, “I think this niche has quite a bit of market potential. I can do more of this in the future. People can buy them not only to eat themselves, but also as little gifts for other players—it’s a great idea~.”

System: 【…Who on earth would buy this?】

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The Battle Angel sat alone at the very top of the light deck—the holy light dome. 

This was a massive music room he had built specifically for the pipe organ; only he was allowed to practice there. At that moment, the Battle Angel sat quietly, his six wings drooping, his tail feathers dragging listlessly on the ground, and even the halo above his head had dimmed.

Ah, the mortal world. Ah, mortals. Ah, Muse. Ah…

The Battle Angel slowly raised his right hand; this simple gesture, performed by him, was filled with the elegance of a concertmaster. As his fingertips touched the keys, all the sorrow in the Battle Angel’s heart seemed to flow out along with the notes—

“Hey, listen up, isn’t the Archangel—no—he’s at it again with his music?”

“It sounds a little different from before. That’s great—has the Archangel finally finished sawing through that log?!” 

“You dumb bird, that one was a violin. This one must be a pipe organ.” 

“You can actually tell the difference? That’s impressive!”

“Didn’t the Archangel go out of his way to bring the pipe organ to the church last time? He said he wanted to give us a musical baptism.”

“Right, right, right, I know! You have to answer the questions correctly to get in, and there are only ten spots! I have no idea what the answers to those music questions are!

“Don’t even get me started. Last time, I finally managed to snag a spot. I thought it would be like morning prayers—that we’d get some kind of buff after listening—but the Archangel actually just played the pipe organ for us!”

“Huh? You guys just sat there listening the whole time?”

“Well, not the whole time. A few Card Masters fell asleep later on, so the Archangel got so angry he flew off with his pipe organ—and that pipe organ was actually pretty huge.”

“Shh—how dare you talk about the Archangel getting angry right here! Don’t you know that within the light deck, the Archangel can hear you from miles away…”

The Battle Angel withdrew his hand. For some reason, he felt his melancholy grow even heavier. 

His stomach, an organ of emotion, contracted sharply. Coincidentally, it was indeed dinnertime. 

As a high-tier SSR, the Battle Angel wouldn’t settle for low-grade nutrient solutions. Every day when it was time to eat, he would open the card mall, sort the items by price from highest to lowest, and search for food in the Food section.

Usually, the top spots are taken by items like the Tree of Life Fruit, Flameheart Truffle, and Tidal Barnacle, but this time, a brand-new name appeared before the Battle Angel’s eyes—

“The Boundary Between Winter and Spring: Lingering Snow, Early Signs of Spring”. At first glance, the Battle Angel was drawn in by this unique sensation. 

The angelic halo above his head lit up at that moment, and the Battle Angel couldn’t help but click on it. On the product page, he saw product images with lighting, composition, and colors—all of which were nothing short of perfect—along with a poetic description.

Morning light… lingering snow on a broken bridge… the budding spring…

Until then, he had never even imagined that food could be described with such artistic language; in an instant, the door to a brand-new world of art opened before his eyes.

This style was definitely not something you’d find among the products listed on the platform.

Battle Angel was eager to see the seller’s identity, but all he saw was a mysterious “Anonymous.”

Battle Angel felt a bit disappointed, but it made sense. High-profile figures like them who shopped in the card mall generally preferred to remain anonymous; otherwise, hordes of admirers would swarm in, driving prices down to zero in an attempt to give the items away for free to their idols—which would actually become a burden for Battle Angel.

Therefore, Battle Angel always defaults to anonymous purchases. But that’s okay—even if the seller is anonymous, he can still follow them.

After following the account, Battle Angel didn’t hesitate to purchase this breakfast, whose exchange value is 999 points.

He knew full well that these ingredients weren’t worth that much, but what he was buying was the other person’s taste, philosophy, and creativity— the scarcest things in this world— a refined art appreciated by few, a search for a kindred spirit like the melody of “High Mountains and Flowing Water,” a state where the world is drunk but you and I alone are sober. 

The seller had deliberately chosen such low-grade ingredients precisely to weed out the vulgar folk who judge quality solely by the price of ingredients, leaving behind only those kindred spirits who truly understand the ideas he expresses through his food. 

His thin lips curved slightly, and for the first time ever, a faint smile appeared on the Battle Angel’s sculpted, aloof, and handsome face. The very next second, the breakfast appeared before the Battle Angel, the soft-boiled egg still giving off lingering heat.

However, by the time the Battle Angel had found the right background, chosen the perfect angle, and taken the photo, the breakfast had already gone completely cold. 

But the Battle Angel didn’t mind, because this dish had never been intended as food, but as a work of art.

Treating it as a work of art, he used a light spell to preserve the dish and posted a card log:

“Finally. 【Image】” 

Soon, a flood of comments appeared. Some speculated on whether “Finally” meant “finally getting to eat breakfast,” while other players discussed the carvings on the tofu in the dish, and still others wondered what was inside the cup.

Only the Battle Angel himself knew that his exclamation of “Finally” was directed at that mysterious seller who had finally arrived.

But after Tang Mian—his muse—the Battle Angel, for a time, dared not place great expectations on that mysterious seller.

What if this breakfast was just a fluke on the other person’s part?

And Tang Mian… his muse… why did this have to happen………… The Battle Angel once again sank into a faint melancholy.

“Ding-dong~”

Demon King: “Finally what, bro? Did you finally get your hands on a monster egg? What kind is it? I’ve never seen one like that before.”

The Battle Angel replied nonchalantly, “It’s a free-range egg.”

According to the System Store’s description, this soft-boiled egg is made from free-range farm eggs. Come to think of it, the Battle Angel had never seen such a low-grade ingredient before.

Given the Demon King’s vulgar nature, he certainly wouldn’t understand that what he’d purchased wasn’t just an egg, but art…

Demon King: “Damn! This egg even has my catchphrase on it. That’s pretty unique. Where’d you get it? Send me the link.” 

Battle Angel: “…………. ”

Battle Angel: “I don’t think you’re here just for an egg either. What do you want from me? Let’s get straight to the point.”

Demon King: “Haha, I knew I couldn’t hide it from you!”

Demon King: “Bro, I need to tell you something. It looks like Tang Mian has a crush on me.” 

Battle Angel: “?”

Battle Angel: “Does Tang Mian know?”