Fifth Meal - Sweet and Sour Pork (2)

The moment that Yami put the plate in front of him, the fragrance of the dish made him start to drool.

No matter how many times he had had this dish already, he couldn't get enough of it.

He had only tried it for the first time because he was curious how Chinese food tasted, but the moment that he had this sweet and sour pork, it was like he had received a baptism.

It wasn't that he loved sweet and sour pork, he had had sweet and sour pork outside of this restaurant before, but it never tasted as good as the one that he had here. The one that he ordered in this restaurant was unlike anything that he had ever tasted before, it was as if it was cooking from another world.

Once it had been placed in front of him, he couldn't wait any longer as he picked up a piece of the sweet and sour pork and popped it right into his mouth.

That sweet glaze over the deep fried pork seemed to blend with the fat as he chewed into the pork itself. This gave it a strong umami taste that hit him deep in the taste buds.

It was a kind of taste that he never experienced when eating pork before.

It was almost as if this pork came from another world…

Then after taking that first bite of the sweet and sour pork, he took a bite of the rice.

He normally didn't eat rice with his meals, but he never missed out on this rice whenever he ate this sweet and sour pork.

This rice was what held the whole dish together.

If it was just the sweet and sour pork, he would have gotten tired of eating it eventually, but with this rice as a padding, it created a perfect harmony. It was like how everything beautiful needed a tiny flaw to make it perfect.

With the mix of the sweet and sour sauce, the umami of the pork, and the earthy and clean taste of the rice, it was like he was seeing the perfect balance of the universe.

It didn't take long for Sweet and Sour Pork to finish off this plate of sweet and sour pork, but he didn't stop at just that first plate. Right after he finished that first plate, he immediately ordered a second plate.

But it took a while to cook it, so he took this time to talk to his friends who had also finished eating.

After listening to Chicken Caesar Pizza complain a bit more, he turned his attention to Baked Potato and asked, "What have you been up to lately?"

Baked Potato didn't hesitate as he said, "I've been so focused on my research lately that I really haven't had time doing anything else."

Sweet and Sour Pork revealed an interested look as he asked, "What have you been researching?"

With the topic changing to his research, Baked Potato didn't hold back at all as he went into his ranting mode, "It really is the most interesting thing! I've been studying how genes affect the different crops and how they can make them grow more. If we can harness this, we'll be able to grow all kinds of super crops that taste much better and grow faster than normal crops."

Sweet and Sour Pork had a trace of disappointment flash in his eyes when he heard this.

He knew that Baked Potato was a researcher, but hearing the things that he was researching, it was natural that he would be disappointed.

After all, this was something that they had discovered a long time ago through the works of a monk called Mendel.

The crops on Earth were genetically modified already to give the best yield, so there was nothing that he could gain from Baked Potato's research. But he still said with a smile, "It seems like you're having fun."

Baked Potato nodded and said, "Of course, it's not every day that you get to inject magic into different crops and see how that affects the genes. It really was hard getting the funding and clearance for this.'

When Sweet and Sour Pork heard this, he couldn't help taking a double take before asking, "You're using magic to modify genes? You're not using selective breeding?"

"Selective breeding?" Baked Potato couldn't help repeating before he suddenly realized something. He stood up and put his face right in Sweet and Sour Pork's face as he said, "What is this selective breeding that you've mentioned? I have some ideas, but it's clear that it's related to the gene study that I'm doing."

Sweet and Sour Pork revealed a bitter smile.

He was supposed to be getting information from other worlds for his country, but now he was going to share his knowledge with the otherworlders.

But seeing how excited Baked Potato was, he had no choice but to tell him the basics of selective breeding that he knew from his high school biology classes.

During this time, Baked Potato had even held his breath as he listened, as if he was afraid of missing even a single word.

When Sweet and Sour Pork finished, his meal had been brought over and his attention had been diverted.

He already lost interest in Baked Potato's research since he didn't feel like he could gain anything from it, so he turned his attention to his food. However, Baked Potato was completely lost in the things that he had explained.

After a while, Baked Potato said, "It really is interesting, I never thought that there would be such a way. It almost makes the magic crystal research that I've been doing seem silly."

Sweet and Sour Pork had been lost in his food, but the moment that he heard the words "magic crystal", he immediately turned back to look at Baked Potato. After staring at him in a daze for a bit, he couldn't help asking, "What is this magic crystal technology that you mentioned?"

Baked Potato was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard this. After hesitating for a second, he explained the magic crystal technology to Sweet and Sour Pork.

After all, Sweet and Sour Pork had given him a key clue to his research.

As he listened, Sweet and Sour Pork's face filled with more and more shock.

That was because this "magic crystal" technology was something that he had never heard of before.

The information that they had received from the other countries was that people had to be able to manipulate magic energy with their bodies to be able to use it. That was why the people of Earth hadn't been able to make much progress with this since they lacked this ability.

The people of the other worlds used magic naturally, so even they couldn't explain how they used magic to the people of Earth.

So the people of Earth were unable to use magic at all.

However, this "magic crystal" technology was completely different.

This didn't rely on the human body to manipulate magic power, but rather it used machines to gather magic energy in the air into magic crystals that could be used for many different things. So even if one couldn't control magic power with their body and mind, they would still be able to use magic power.

This was the breakthrough that they had been looking for the entire time!

If Sweet and Sour Pork was able to get this technology for his country, that would mean that his country would have an edge over every other country. He could already imagine the different uses that they could have for this technology.

The most important thing was naturally that it was most likely a source of clean and reusable energy!

This was the dream of every civilization!

So he tried to keep his voice calm, but there was still a slight tremble in it as he asked, "Can you tell me how to make magic crystals?"

Baked Potato could hear the strange tone in his voice and he looked at him with a strange look.

Magic crystal was something that was the most basic of all technologies and was something that even children knew how to do. So he was surprised to hear that this friend of his didn't know about this at all.

But his friend had helped him with the clue that he needed the most, so naturally he wouldn't be stingy with this friend.

So he took a napkin and started drawing the blueprint for the most simple magic crystal creation machine that he could.

As Sweet and Sour Pork watched him, his eyes couldn't help trembling in excitement and shock.

As a spy, he naturally had some knowledge in certain fields. This allowed him to have a basic understanding of the blueprints that Baked Potato was currently drawing for him.

But of course, it wasn't important that he understood it since there were more qualified people to take care of that.

The most important thing for him was whether they would be able to reproduce a machine like this with Earth's current level of technology. And what his limited knowledge told him was that this was definitely possible!

As long as he took this blueprint back, he was certain that their scientists would be able to whip up a working prototype in just a few days.

So that was why he was shaking with excitement.

After he finished, Baked Potato said, "Sorry, this is the most basic one that I can give you. I would give you something more simple, but this is the most simple one that I can remember. It's not my field of research, so I can't really do anything else for you."

Sweet and Sour Pork grabbed his hands and shook his head as he said, "No! This is plenty!"

Baked Potato was a bit scared when he saw Sweet and Sour Pork like this, but he still gave a nod in response since this was his friend.

After obtaining this, Sweet and Sour Pork didn't have any intentions of staying any longer. He wanted to bring this back to his boss as soon as possible, so they could start working on this.

So he quickly paid his bill and also paid Baked Potato's bill.

Baked Potato revealed an awkward look as he said, "Brother, you've already given me an important clue to my research. It really puts me in an awkward position if you do this."

Sweet and Sour Pork waved his hand and said, "You can just treat me next time!"

Then without waiting for a response, he ran out with the napkin in hand.

Baked Potato watched him leave with a bitter smile on his face, but he didn't stay any longer either since he was also excited to try out these new concepts that he had learned.

Both Chicken Caesar Pizza and Rare Steak were left there, but neither of them minded since this was just how this restaurant was.

Everyone here came from a different world and had their own circumstances, so they didn't judge.

They just knew that they were friends bonded over the delicacies of this restaurant.