Chapter 7: That’s My Egg Tart
1071 Words
Headquarters of the 1st Corps of the Lam Tinh Empire.
"Lieutenant Li, you have a delivery."
The communication device in the office rang, and Li Kai calmly replied, "Okay, I'll be there to get it." He then quickly left the office. Along the way, people greeted him, and he returned their greetings before entering the elevator and pressing the button for the first floor.
Li Kai was the adjutant of the youngest major general in the empire, Xia Yun Sen. As the saying goes, "The gatekeeper of a prime minister is equal to an official of the seventh rank." Although he was the adjutant to Major General Xia, enjoying the rank of lieutenant colonel, his status in the base was second only to the major general.
The elevator dinged, and as the doors opened, Li Kai stepped out. After confirming there was no one around, he proceeded.
Interstellar deliveries were not allowed to go directly into the military headquarters. All deliveries were inspected by security before the individuals were notified to collect them.
When the security guard saw Li Kai, who had a cold expression, standing at the entrance, he handed over the package without waiting for him to speak. "Lieutenant Li, here’s your delivery."
"Thank you." Li Kai nodded and swiftly took the package.
"Did Lieutenant Li just smile?" the security guard said to his colleague. "It looks like this is the first time he’s received a delivery. He seems so happy. Could he be in love?"
"Shhh!" His colleague was startled and glanced nervously towards the door. Seeing that Lieutenant Li had walked away, he sighed in relief. "Is that something you can gossip about? Where’s your professional conduct?" he scolded, though with a teasing smile. "The delivery was marked 'food'. I bet it's a meal his lover made for him, haha."
Li Kai carried the package in one hand, maintaining his cold expression as he walked back. He didn’t look any different from usual. Several officers passed by, noticing him carrying the package, and found the sight a bit surreal. Li Kai had always been solitary and serious. In all his years working at the headquarters, they had never seen him receive a delivery before.
"You even have express delivery? What is this?" The other person was very surprised, then suddenly said, "Oh— is it express delivery for the Major General? It must be a gift from some fanboy or fangirl, right? But hasn't the Major General always refused such things?"
Li Kai glanced at him, reached out to block the delivery box, and calmly said, "It's mine. I left some documents at home, and the smart housekeeper sent them."
Just at that moment, the elevator arrived. He immediately bid farewell to his teammate. As soon as the elevator doors closed, he couldn't wait any longer and opened the delivery. Inside was a transparent preservation box, a golden egg tart, and a small portion of sweet sauce lying quietly.
Li Kai, also known as 'Flying through the low sky', recalled the fresh taste when he had tried it on the livestream and couldn't help but start salivating.
It was peacetime now, and the military headquarters was quite idle, so Li Kai had developed a secret hobby—watching live streams on the Jinjiang website. Normally, he would watch mecha battles, but today he entered this food livestream channel simply because he saw it on the recommendation list. Unexpectedly, he got to taste a delicacy he had never tried before.
This express delivery was one of the three egg tarts that Nguyen Duong had sent.
Ding—
The elevator stopped on the eighth floor. Li Kai glanced outside but didn’t pay much attention. It wasn't until the elevator doors slowly opened that the silhouette of a tall, strong man appeared.
"Hello, Captain Ha!"
Li Kai, holding the preservation box, saluted the man standing outside, then watched as the other person entered the elevator and pressed the button for the twelfth floor.
He couldn’t help but hide the preservation box behind his back, carefully using the corner of his eye to glance at the young man in the military uniform, whose expression was both serious and a little weary.
Hạ Vân Sâm, the youngest major general of the Lam Tinh Empire, has just turned forty-eight this year. With adulthood now beginning at thirty and the average human lifespan reaching up to three hundred, he is still very, very young. Both his physical and mental abilities are at SS level. After graduating from the military academy, he immediately charged onto the battlefield, killing enemies and achieving glorious victories, earning the title of the Empire's War God. Though cold and serious in temperament, it didn’t stop others from admiring him. However, someone seemingly so perfect had a peculiar quirk—he utterly despised natural food.
As the elevator doors closed, Li Khai’s heart pounded, and he could only hope that the container was sealed tight, without any smell leaking out to offend their major general. His hopes were likely dashed, though, as less than a minute passed before he heard Hạ Vân Sâm’s cold, low voice ask a question.
“What are you holding?”
A cold sweat dripped down Li Khai’s forehead as he dutifully replied, “Reporting, Major General, it's an egg tart.”
“Egg tart?” Hạ Vân Sâm frowned even more. “Is this a new product from the Chef’s Association?”
In recent years, the empire had been actively promoting natural food to replace nutritional supplements. Previously, using these supplements was a necessity. Humanity had sacrificed its desire for food to prepare for long-term warfare, but this gradually led to a decline in people's mental well-being, such as irritability, mood instability, a tendency to anger, and poor sleep quality. Now that peace had returned, humans no longer needed to sacrifice their appetite to serve the needs of war.
However, in Hạ Vân Sâm’s view, this was a huge waste of time. As a mecha warrior with both S-level mental and physical strength, the nutritional supplements had no adverse effects on him. Moreover, his five senses were several times more sensitive than ordinary people, and his taste buds were extremely sensitive. The dishes the Chef’s Association meticulously prepared tasted bland as water to him, even nauseating. They weren’t nearly as tolerable as the tasteless, odorless nutritional supplements, which at least didn’t make him want to vomit.
- Writer
