Chapter 63: Instantly Recognizable Landmarks

At the bedroom desk, Qin Lang carefully added the final stroke to the hand-drawn illustration before him.

A brand-new hand-drawn landscape painting was thus completed.

This was the fourth landscape painting to appear, following the successful unlocking of the third one.

Unlike the previous three landscape paintings, the background of this one was not a forest or a natural landscape, but the hazy silhouette of a city, while its central subject was a deer-shaped statue with its head held high.

"I have a feeling that the location corresponding to this painting will be found very soon," Qin Lang said earnestly, rubbing his chin.

A deer-shaped statue in the middle of a city was quite distinctive.

"Gulu~"

Danbao lay limply on the desk, its round body flattened a bit from complete relaxation. It listlessly echoed Qin Lang's words and then raised a soul-searching question.

"Gulu?"

"Not yet." Qin Lang's expression instantly collapsed.

It was all that egg's fault.

The egg laid by the chubby little chicken earlier was only enough to make a single portion of egg fried rice, which Qin Lang and Danbao split in half, leaving them far from full.

Even now, the rich aroma of the egg seemed to linger on their lips and teeth, making both human and spirit start craving top-grade eggs all over again.

"If only we could have another egg," Qin Lang said with a yearning look. "An egg like that would definitely taste amazing made into steamed eggs."

"There's also poached eggs, egg puffs, seaweed and egg drop soup..."

As Qin Lang reeled off various egg-related dishes like a seasoned gourmet, Danbao began to water at the corners of its mouth.

You useless chicken, hurry up and lay another egg!

Just as both human and spirit were about to sink into despair, a loud, clear crowing resounded in Qin Lang's mind.

Qin Lang's eyes lit up instantly. He snapped upright, closed his eyes impatiently, and entered his inner vision.

After the last crow, the chubby little chicken laid an egg.

Would it lay an egg this time as well?

With this thought, Qin Lang looked inside the chicken coop.

His expression froze instantly.

Bad news: the chubby little chicken did not lay an egg.

Good news: it laid a chicken leg.

That's right, a chicken leg was quietly lying in the nest, and it had even been thoughtfully plucked of its feathers.

Moreover, it wasn't just any ordinary chicken leg, but a drumstick complete with the upper thigh—a full pistol-leg.

Pulling out from his inner vision a top-grade chicken pistol-leg that was a size larger than a normal one, Qin Lang still wore a slightly dazed expression.

So this was how a rare spirit drops top-grade ingredients?

Although it felt absurdly out of place, it somehow seemed strangely logical.

Never mind, that wasn't important.

Squeezing the incredibly springy, richly fleshed top-grade pistol-leg in his hand, Qin Lang swallowed hard, picked up the hand-drawn sketch, and walked out of the room.

"Dinner is secured."

-----------------

"The rare spirit has produced top-grade ingredients already?!"

Zhao Qian stared dumbfoundedly at the pistol-leg in Qin Lang's hand, casting a somewhat suspicious gaze toward him.

"You brat, you didn't abuse it, did you?"

"How could that be?" Qin Lang summoned the chubby little chicken and handed it over to Zhao Qian. "Look at it, it's been raised nice and plump."

Zhao Qian was rendered speechless.

After just a few hours apart, this rare spirit was clearly in much better condition, and by no means looked like it had been abused.

Setting the rare spirit down, Zhao Qian looked back at the pistol-leg Qin Lang was displaying, her eyes instantly blazing with enthusiasm. "So... we can eat this soon?"

"That's right." Qin Lang nodded with a smile.

Since he had promised to share the top-grade ingredients with Zhao Qian once he obtained them, he naturally wouldn't break his word.

As for the previous top-grade egg...

Ahem, that one didn't count!

"Hey, hey, hey!" Cao Dongdong cast a resentful glance from the side. "Are you guys really not planning to explain this to me?"

What rare spirit? What top-grade ingredients?

Why did he feel like he had missed out on so many things?

"Well, that's a long story." Qin Lang smiled and briefly recounted what he and Zhao Qian had experienced that afternoon.

Upon hearing the story, Cao Dongdong cried out in regret. "Next time something this interesting happens, you absolutely have to call me!"

"Alright, alright." Qin Lang nodded with a smile. "Didn't I make sure to call you when it's time to eat?"

"That's true." Cao Dongdong quickly broke into a smile and patted Qin Lang on the shoulder. "Good brother."

"A single pistol-leg isn't enough for us to eat, so I just happened to cook the beef I had left at home."

"Is that the Silver Frost beef?!" Cao Dongdong's eyes lit up.

"No." Qin Lang rolled his eyes. "It's the beef I bought myself beforehand. The quality is still pretty good, and the leftover amount is just enough for us."

"Tsk~" Cao Dongdong curled his lips. "Stingy."

"Are you going to eat or not?"

"Eat, eat, eat!" Cao Dongdong nodded like a pecking chick, offering a flattering smile.

"Whatever Chef Qin makes, I eat."

Qin Lang curled the corner of his lips and walked into the kitchen, while Cao Dongdong and Zhao Qian sat obediently at the dining table, waiting for the meal to be served.

"Huh?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Zhao Qian caught sight of the hand-drawn sketch that Qin Lang had casually left on the dining table. She instinctively picked it up, glanced at it, and a look of surprise crossed her face.

"Another new sketch?"

"What is it?" Cao Dongdong asked out of curiosity.

"Take a look and see if you can recognize where this is." Zhao Qian silently flipped the sketch over and handed it to Cao Dongdong.

"Huh? This is the White Deer City landmark, the White Silver Deer statue!" Cao Dongdong glanced at it and said offhandedly, "I saw it when I traveled to White Deer City a couple of years ago, I definitely won't remember it wrong."

As he spoke, Cao Dongdong noticed Zhao Qian's increasingly peculiar expression. "Is there a problem?"

"No." Zhao Qian shook her head. "It's just that I'm guessing Qin Lang is going to White Deer City soon."

"Ha?" Cao Dongdong blinked. "Why?"

"This is Qin Lang's hand-drawn sketch." Zhao Qian paused slightly. "Both times before, he used sketches to find things."

Whether it was searching for the Crimson Land Lotus or finding the rare spirit, Zhao Qian had witnessed it all with her own eyes.

"Since he's drawn the landmark of White Deer City now, I'm afraid it won't be long before he goes there."

As Zhao Qian's voice trailed off, the two of them fell silent at the same time.

-----------------

Inside the kitchen, completely unaware of the conversation between the two in the dining room, Qin Lang skillfully deboned the pistol-leg. Feeling the incredibly springy top-grade chicken meat—which was somewhat more translucent than ordinary chicken meat and entirely free of any gamey odor—he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"Chicken meat like this made into Kung Pao Chicken is going to be out of this world."

Yes, the moment he got this oversized pistol-leg, Qin Lang had already made up his mind about what dish to make.

It had to be the super-duper rice-stealing Kung Pao Chicken!

"Thump, thump, thump—"

Using the heel of his knife to sever the fascia of the deboned chicken leg meat, Qin Lang moved his knife like flying, cutting the chicken meat into 1.5 cm-wide strips before dicing them.

To the diced meat, he added scallions, ginger, cooking wine, white pepper, and light soy sauce, massaging it for 30 seconds so the flavors were fully absorbed by the chicken. Then, he added wet pea starch that had been mixed with water in advance, and finally a splash of water, massaging it once more until it became taut and bouncy.

Having finished the preliminary preparation of the chicken, Qin Lang looked at Danbao beside him and suddenly asked, "Danbao, do you like cucumbers?"

"Gulu?"