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Part 1: The Menu Appears… and Screams
As the sugar fog cleared, the team found themselves standing in a realm that felt... wrong.
The walls were made of sentient soup. The air smelled like old leftovers and divine spice. A massive obsidian table stood before them, plates already set.
Suddenly, the table moaned.
Pan-Pan poked it with a meat skewer. "Why's the table breathing?"
System alert dinged like a pan to the head:
> [Trial 6: The Forbidden Tasting Menu – Objective: Consume All Courses. Warning: Each dish is cursed. Each bite is a gamble.]
A floating menu materialized:
1. Appetizer: Dim Sum of Dissonance
2. Soup: Broth of Broken Truths
3. Main Course: Eternal Entree of Eldritch Essence
4. Dessert: Gelato of Grudges
5. Final Course: The Bite That Ends Beginnings
Wei Yun's stomach growled. "That sounds like a bedtime story told by a cannibal."
Mu Yao grinned. "I like it already."
Tang Zhi cautiously asked, "What happens if we don't eat it?"
The table opened a mouth full of porcelain teeth and said, "Then you become the menu."
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Part 2: The Appetizer Attacks
Dim Sum of Dissonance appeared first.
Each dumpling contained a random effect. Some glowed. Some giggled. One tried to jump into Pan-Pan's nose.
They each picked one:
Tang Zhi's dumpling gave her x-ray vision. Unfortunately, she now saw everyone's skeletons for an hour. "Ew. Pan-Pan, why is your spine… wiggling?"
Mu Yao's dumpling whispered combat techniques from the future. "...Whoa. So I am supposed to punch him with my elbow..."
Pan-Pan's dumpling made him weep uncontrollably. "Why... does cabbage have to die like this?!"
Wei Yun's dumpling gave him the ability to see through lies… but only if the liar was wearing socks.
"...Useful," he muttered, staring suspiciously at everyone's feet.
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Part 3: Broth of Broken Truths
A bowl of steaming, pitch-black broth appeared.
Mu Yao: "Smells like regret."
The moment they took a sip, their deepest secrets echoed aloud.
Tang Zhi: "I once forged a pill by mixing peanut butter and phoenix flame. It worked. Kind of. The patient now lays eggs."
Mu Yao: "I don't actually like spicy food. I've just committed too hard to the image."
Pan-Pan: "I ate a Divine Beast once. Thought it was a big chicken. I regret nothing."
Wei Yun: "…I pretended to be a blind beggar once just to get free buns. Ended up with a marriage proposal from a sect leader's daughter."
Tang Zhi spat her broth in horror. "You WHAT?!"
Pan-Pan gave a slow clap. "Respect."
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Part 4: The Eternal Entree of Eldritch Essence
The main course landed with a tremor.
A slab of meat... pulsating. Breathing. Whispering in a language only the insane would understand.
System:
> [Caution: Consumption may lead to momentary loss of identity. If you begin speaking in tongues, please do so quietly.]
Wei Yun bit in.
His eyes rolled back.
"I... see the Pasta God… He wears ravioli… as armor..."
Tang Zhi knocked him on the head. "Snap out of it!"
Mu Yao chewed hers calmly. "Not bad. Tastes like despair and five-spice."
Pan-Pan began glowing. His hair turned into noodles for three seconds before snapping back.
System:
> [Effect: +20 Spirit Resistance. Side Effect: Now haunted by a spaghetti shadow.]
Pan-Pan: "...I shall name him Alfredo."
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Part 5: Dessert – Gelato of Grudges
Spheres of icy hatred rolled out, each radiating emotional resentment.
Tang Zhi licked hers and instantly remembered every time someone stole her food.
Mu Yao's gelato whispered old insults from exes and rivals.
Pan-Pan's made him feel guilty for not eating enough.
Wei Yun's tried to shame him for past defeats—but he just ate it with a smirk. "Joke's on you. I already hate myself."
System:
> [Congratulations. You've become emotionally immune to dessert-based gaslighting.]
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Part 6: The Final Bite
The last dish floated down—a single shimmering bite, glowing with cosmic light.
System:
> [Final Bite: The Bite That Ends Beginnings – Consuming this grants insight into the source of all culinary cultivation. You must choose who eats it.]
A pause.
Mu Yao: "Give it to Wei Yun. He's the MC, after all."
Pan-Pan: "Seconded. I'd probably explode."
Tang Zhi: "Or ascend into a snack god."
Wei Yun accepted it… then immediately fed it to Pan-Pan.
Everyone: "WHAT?!"
Wei Yun: "Trust me."
Pan-Pan swallowed it. For a second, everything was silent.
Then he burst into divine light, his body floating as visions of ancient cooking methods, Dao-infused spatulas, and cosmic ovens danced before him.
He landed gently.
Pan-Pan: "I… I understand now."
Tang Zhi: "Understand what?"
Pan-Pan: "That I am the tastebud's chosen one."
System:
> [Pan-Pan has unlocked: Gourmet Sage Mode – Tier 1. New Title: Snack Immortal.]
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To Be Continued in Chapter 26: