Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 359 - 168: Gained Two More Skills! [Second Update]

Li Younan got into the car and sighed softly. Liu Yu really isn’t considerate; Younan went to their house and made a whole table of dishes, yet didn’t hear a single invitation to "stay and eat for a while." As soon as the meal was done, Liu Yu hurriedly drove him away.

However, this was already agreed upon with Liu Yu; it’s part of their plan.

Liu Yu’s idea was for Li Younan to secretly prepare meals for his sister a couple of times and then suddenly reveal one day that the food she had been eating was actually made by Younan.

This way, it might implant a seed in his sister’s subconscious: See, things from outside aren’t really dangerous.

If all goes well, Younan might officially meet his sister next.

Just now was his first time visiting Liu Yu’s house, and Li Younan was somewhat surprised. Even though Liu Yu is considered a wealthy man now, with his company easily bringing in eight figures a year, their home is located in an old neighborhood.

Their house isn’t small though, with over 150 square meters, a property left by their parents.

According to Liu Yu, it’s because his sister doesn’t want to move elsewhere, so they’ve stayed there.

Upon entering, the furnishings seemed a bit outdated, likely a continuation from when his parents were around.

Liu Li was in the room directly facing the kitchen, and she didn’t come out at all.

Thinking back, a trace of sadness lingered in Li Younan’s heart.

He found it fascinating how many strange and peculiar conditions exist in the world.

Aside from her education, Liu Li can be considered an outstanding girl, and without the brotherly bias, she’s quite adorable in appearance... yet trapped in such a small space.

Liu Li is still so young, only a 20-year-old girl.

Imagining if she spends her entire life unable to step out of that room, it’s truly pitiful.

While cooking, he overheard Liu Li and her brother’s conversation, especially her loud, princess-like tone, which didn’t feel unpleasant at all.

Obviously, what Li Younan heard was a hidden resilience, as though she was saying to her brother in that tone, "Look, I’m not that fragile, you don’t have to worry."

Still, a slight regret lingered since although Liu Yu had previously asked if he wanted to meet his sister, wandering around their house this time, he didn’t get to meet her in person, though he heard her voice, which wasn’t bad.

In the following days, Li Younan and Liu Yu followed their plan, and he went to cook for Liu Li every day.

Li Younan wanted to showcase his culinary skills, so each time he took along some carefully selected ingredients, an assortment of various kinds.

Though the dishes weren’t exactly strange, they mainly consisted of those rarely seen in everyday home-cooked meals, some even available only at high-end restaurants.

The kitchen conditions at Liu Yu’s house were limited, but that didn’t bother Li Younan at all.

During this course, Liu Yu was somewhat speechless. One day, he couldn’t help but say, "You don’t actually need to make such complicated dishes; just prepare something more ordinary."

Knowing Liu Yu was finding it hard to explain to his sister, because the previous aunt wouldn’t have made such dishes, especially the abalone and braised pork he was preparing which required precise control of the heat, a standard in many seafood restaurants.

Li Younan deliberately wanted to challenge Liu Yu and earnestly said, "How could that be? Do I look like someone who would make ordinary dishes?"

He shook his head and casually remarked, "Even the simplest gesture is a state banquet-level dish."

Liu Yu was choked by this extremely boastful comment from Li Younan, then coldly chuckled.

After finishing the meal, Li Younan still didn’t get to see Liu Li.

It’s impossible to say he isn’t curious.

Originally, he wasn’t so curious, but being only a wall apart from Liu Li each time, that curiosity grew stronger.

Nonetheless, Li Younan wouldn’t rashly or audaciously knock on Liu Li’s room door and startle her.

After all, Liu Li is still a patient; if she got frightened and there were unexpected consequences, it’d be troublesome.

By freely showcasing his culinary skills in Liu Yu’s house these days, Li Younan indeed refreshed Liu Yu’s understanding of him.

Occasionally, he would wonder how this guy developed such outstanding culinary skills.

Curiosity aside, he wouldn’t ask Younan directly.

However, the exquisitely crafted meals these days did trouble Liu Yu.

The main dilemma was how to explain things to Liu Li.

His tactic was if Liu Li didn’t ask, he wouldn’t mention it; if she did, he’d give vague answers.

He also realized that Younan deliberately made it difficult for him.

Eventually, one day, as expected, Liu Li became suspicious.

That day’s dish was a Cream of Grape Lobster Stew.

This dish is scarcely found even in fine dining restaurants domestically, yet it was plainly placed on the table.

Liu Li hadn’t even heard of such a dish, let alone tasted it.

She tilted her head and finally gazed at Liu Yu, saying, "Brother, this dish... wasn’t made by Auntie."

Liu Yu saw his sister’s expression, serious and earnest, even with a hint of resistance. Only then did he realize that his sister’s physiological aversion seemed to have reappeared.

With a slight worry in his heart, he remained calm on the surface, pulled out a chair and sat down, saying, "You’re right, it wasn’t made by Auntie. You’ve been eating it for several days in a row; you probably didn’t just discover this today."

Liu Li hesitated for a moment, then gently nodded.

She hesitated again, slowly walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Gazing at the exquisite dish, she picked up the cutlery, then set it down, tentatively asking, "Was it made by Li Younan?"

Liu Yu nodded and then secretly observed his sister.

At this moment, he was still very worried.

Liu Li didn’t say a word, sat silently in her seat, her gaze fixed on the several dishes.

After a while, she suddenly smiled, a smile so bright that it stunned Liu Yu for a moment.

Then she took a fork and knife, cut a large piece of Australian lobster meat, placed it on her plate, and began to eat with gusto, even getting sauce on her face.

Liu Yu stared blankly at his sister; to be honest, her eating manner wasn’t very graceful... not elegant at all.

But it looked very appetizing; he had never seen such an expression on his sister’s face before.

His first reaction was that his sister was pretending to ease his worry, but he quickly realized that wasn’t the case; his sister was genuinely happy eating, even licking the sauce from the bowl after finishing the meat.

Liu Li put down the bowl and licked the corner of her mouth, saying, "I used to wonder while watching Li Younan’s videos what the food would taste like... was it one of those things that looked good but tasted just average? That day I wanted to come out, but you didn’t allow me, was that the day he cooked?"

Liu Yu nodded.

Liu Li said, "That day, I actually had an inkling. Auntie’s cooking can’t be said to be bad, but compared to what Li Younan made, it’s far inferior. I guessed at the time... it might have been made by someone else. My initial thought was that maybe you ordered takeout from a hotel, but while eating, there was this inexplicable familiar feeling... as if I had tasted that flavor in a dream."

Liu Yu blinked.

Liu Li continued, "Back then, a shocking thought popped into my head—could it be made by Li Younan? When I thought that if it was made by Li Younan... I wasn’t that resistant."

Liu Yu was taken aback, his expression becoming somewhat complicated.

As they talked, tears suddenly formed at the corners of Liu Li’s eyes.

Liu Yu was slightly shocked.

Liu Li wiped her tears while smiling, saying, "Brother, I think it’s really delicious. And it didn’t scare me or make me feel uncomfortable at all..."

As she spoke, she reached out for another dish.

She was really focused on eating.

Liu Yu slowly came to his senses, a smile gradually appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he casually grabbed some tissues nearby to hand to his sister: "Wipe it, your nose is about to run."

"Brother... you’re annoying."

Liu Yu slowly exhaled, turned and looked out the window, a smile gradually appearing on his lips.

Light spilled in from outside the window.

...

The next significant event was the fishing competition.

Before that, Li Youran didn’t waste time idly, instead, he went to a couple of check-in points nearby to acquire two more skills. One was at Leshan, a skill not so lovely—slaughtering skills, but with the support of his zoologist and culinary skills, this skill also upgraded and combined.

[Slaughtering Skill Level 2: With an anatomical map in mind, you can precisely locate the animal’s aorta with just a feeling, making a clean and neat cut without damaging surrounding tissues. When disassembling, the blade "swims" along the muscle fibers, perfectly separating each muscle fiber, even the finest fascia can be stripped as needed, reaching a "human-knife unity" level of skill.]

After looking at this skill description, Li Younan thought that the famed "Butcher Ding carving a cow" from history was probably at this level.

This skill was effective for killing fish too, but it didn’t include humans.

The other skill was acquired at Qingcheng Mountain; it was a passive skill similar to high-altitude adaptability, called deep-sea lineage, allowing the body to adapt and withstand extreme high-pressure environments.

Surprisingly, these two skills could also complement each other.

It’s understandable; one is for high-pressure, one for low-pressure environments, they are separate physiological adaptation systems for different environmental pressures, with different core adaptation focuses but no essential conflict, supporting each other with underlying physiological regulation abilities like cardiopulmonary functions and metabolic flexibility.

[Deep-Sea Lineage Level 2: Your thorax has more resilient fibers, higher blood oxygen exchange abilities, connective tissues with stronger cushioning capabilities, enhanced gas solubility like nitrogen in tissues, and improved aerobic metabolic abilities in muscles and nerve tissues, maintaining normal activities under low-oxygen or high-pressure environments. Human deep-sea limits are far from your limits.]

But at the moment, this skill was of no use to Li Younan, because with his current swimming skills, even with this skill, he wouldn’t dare dive.

Then, the day of the official start of the fishing competition finally arrived.

Li Younan drove to pick up Liu Yu.