Nutritious-Free Meal

Chen Miemie arrived at the library and first went to the service desk.

The woman at the window was the same one who had issued him his library card last time. She greeted him proactively.

"Chen Miemie, welcome back. My name is Rui Xue—remember that, okay."

Chen Miemie was a bit surprised: "With so many people coming through every day, you can actually remember me?"

"Haha, my memory isn't that good. But someone as young as you having access to the third basement level is rare—it left an impression on me."

Chen Miemie's smile faded a little. So it wasn't because he was handsome.

"I'm here today to get access to the fourth basement level. Set it up for me."

"Fourth basement level? Please show me the relevant appointment documents." When it came to work, the young woman was very professional.

"I don't have any documents. This morning, Chenpi invited me to join her research team. She said she'd let you know."

"That does sound like something Lady Chen Pi would do. But I'm sorry, I haven't received any instructions from Lady Chen Pi yet. Maybe you should contact her?"

Chen Miemie: ...

That green-haired little girl Chenpi was so unreliable. The problem was, he hadn't even exchanged contact information with her.

Chen Miemie probed, "How about you call her out here?"

Rui Xue's look toward him began to hold suspicion: "You say you've joined her research project, yet you can't even contact Lady Chen Pi? Sorry, I wouldn't dare disturb Lady Chen Pi so casually."

As easygoing as Chenpi was with Chen Miemie, to everyone else in the Seal Library, she was a "foremother" who had lived across multiple eras—even the great scholars treated her with the utmost respect.

Rui Xue was just a small manager at the library service desk. Even though her office wasn't far from Chenpi's, in all these years she had barely exchanged a few words with her.

Chen Miemie didn't give her a hard time. He quietly stepped aside.

Just as he was about to leave and come back in a couple of days, he spotted a figure in black at the library entrance, carrying a small box.

"Stop!" Chen Miemie called out.

Chen Miemie had a lot of details stored away. Even if he didn't remember something himself, his mental archive always did.

This person in black was one of the two people sitting behind Chenpi in the demolition office on Fairy Tale Road No. 1.

The man in black also recognized Chen Miemie and stopped walking.

"Where's Chenpi? Take me to her now."

"Lady Chen Pi is taking her afternoon nap. It's not a good time to disturb her."

"I'm the 'logistics manager' she hired. If you won't even let me in, I'll just leave. When she asks later, don't blame me for the consequences."

Chen Miemie wasn't exactly polite. It wasn't arrogance—it was part of his life philosophy: with strangers, don't be overly courteous; get straight to the point. It's more efficient.

The man in black thought for a moment: "Fine. Wait here. I'll go report."

Chen Miemie watched him hurry down the stairs and muttered to himself: "'Report'—like this is her private mansion, not a library."

After Chen Miemie had spent ten minutes counting ants in a corner, Chenpi appeared.

She led Chen Miemie to the service desk to handle the procedures.

Faced with Chenpi, Rui Xue was visibly nervous. As part of the process, she needed to register certain documents to issue the pass. She didn't dare ask the stone-faced Chenpi for them, but if she didn't, there could be trouble later. She seemed torn.

Finally, she came up with an idea. She handed Chen Miemie a form and let him fill it out himself.

Chen Miemie took the pen and the form and started writing.

The basic details went quickly, and none of them were too personal.

When he got to the last few fields, sensitive information appeared.

For example: "Name of project you're participating in? Position held?"

Chen Miemie didn't bother asking, and Chenpi beside him didn't care what he wrote either. So he started improvising wildly.

"Project name: Chenpi Research Team. Position: Deputy Head of the project."

—Areas you're applying to access?

"All underground areas of the entire library."

—Permissions for items brought in and people accompanying you?

"Free to bring any mission-related items, and free to invite anyone associated with the project."

In short, whenever it came to permissions, Chen Miemie filled in the maximum he knew.

When Rui Xue took the form and saw what he had written, she was absolutely speechless.

After waiting so long, Chenpi grew impatient: "Is there a problem?"

Chen Miemie immediately played the bully: "Problem?"

"N-no, none." Rui Xue backed down.

She began processing Chen Miemie's permissions.

She slowly reasoned it out: as soon as those two left, she would file a report with her superiors. If they had a problem, they could take it up with Lady Chen Pi themselves. She was just a low-level operator; it wasn't her problem.

This time, Chen Miemie swaggered over to the Bixi stone tablet and followed the proper procedure down to the fourth basement level.

"Chen Miemie, on this fourth basement level, my lab only takes up about a fifth of the space. Don't wander into the other areas—it's dangerous."

Chen Miemie's curiosity was instantly piqued: "How dangerous?"

Chenpi's tone turned very serious: "Extremely dangerous. Most of the people running secret experiments here aren't good people. Some project groups even have strange creatures locked up for special research."

Chen Miemie nodded repeatedly: "That really is 'dangerous.'"

When the two men in black behind Chenpi saw Chen Miemie "backing down," they smiled. When they first learned about this place, they had been terrified every time they came down here, and it took a long time before they got used to it.

They had no idea that once Chen Miemie showed up, this place would become truly dangerous.

What was so dangerous about strange creatures locked in labs? The real danger was a group of strange creatures touring the labs—they were already right there with them.

Chen Miemie had a peculiar mindset.

He wouldn't hate strange creatures just because they had killed someone, nor would he feel pity for a strange creature being used in experiments and fight for its rights. As long as the one being hurt wasn't someone he knew or acknowledged, he basically treated it as "none of my business."

Chenpi's lab was empty and spacious—a large area with very little equipment.

The four of them entered a break room.

Chenpi sat down on the sofa, opened a small box, and started eating lunch by herself.

Chen Miemie was a bit annoyed. This little girl was eating alone right in front of him.

He moved over, plopped down next to her, and glanced into the box.

It was the box the man in black had been carrying earlier.

Inside was "food"—if you could call it that—and it was enough to destroy anyone's appetite.

"Chenpi, do you like eating mud? And green mud at that?" Chen Miemie felt sick just looking at it. The pungent smell made his stomach churn.

"Mud? Heh, that's a pretty accurate description. I don't like eating this, but I have to."

Chenpi clearly didn't want to continue this topic. She lowered her head and just kept shoveling the "green mud" into her mouth with her spoon.

After Chenpi finished eating, she left the room.

The man in black packed up the lunch box.

Chen Miemie looked at him: "You prepared this, didn't you? She clearly doesn't like it—why does she force herself to eat it?"

The man in black paused slightly, as if weighing whether to reveal the information. Perhaps he thought Chen Miemie would become a part of this place from now on, and that this wasn’t too big a secret.

“This is a specially made [No-Nutrient Meal]. Not only does it taste awful, but it truly has no nutritional value.”

“Wait,” Chen Miemie interrupted, struggling to wrap his head around this twist. “So what you’re saying is, it’s neither tasty nor nutritious?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then why eat it? I thought it was some kind of special nutritional supplement to meet Lady Chen Pi’s physical needs.”

The man in black lowered his voice. “Because Lady Chen Pi also gets hungry, but she can’t absorb nutrients. This [No-Nutrient Meal] is a product of high sugar, trans fats, high salt, and preserved foods processed with a special technique. It’s an extremely unhealthy meal that accelerates aging.”

Chen Miemie seemed to grasp the key point. “Lady Chen Pi wants to age herself, then.”

“It’s not about wanting—it’s a necessity.

Lady Chen Pi was originally an adult—she didn’t start out in her current state.

Due to certain reasons, every 120 years, she grows one year younger. Consuming nutritious, healthy food would only accelerate this process.”

“Getting younger as time goes on—sounds nice. So what’s the catch?”

“The process is irreversible. In the end, she will regress into an infant, and eventually cease to exist.”