Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

“There’s a mountain stream about 500 meters ahead, which is a good place for us to take a break. You guys should go hunting and make sure to get enough for two meals. Sheila, help me gather some dry branches, and I’ll make some soup for breakfast. Captain, give me the item,” Ruo Manni said, extending her hand to Hebrew Adam.

Only then did the others notice that Ruo Manni’s delicate hands were stained dark green from handling the plant leaves.

Hebrew Adam, hearing Ruo Manni’s instructions, took a palm-sized box out of his backpack and handed it to her. The others, who hadn’t seen the item before, couldn’t guess what it was and curiously glanced at it. They were also impressed that Ruo Manni dared to ask Hebrew Adam to carry something for her. That was pretty bold.

“What is that?” Sheila, always acting as the spokesperson for the group, asked.

“You’ll find out soon,” Ruo Manni replied with a deliberately mysterious tone, enjoying how Sheila’s overwhelming curiosity left her scratching her head in frustration.

The other boys were just as curious as Sheila, but the captain pulled them away to go hunting.

Ruo Manni and Sheila continued walking towards the mountain stream, and from a distance, they could smell the aroma of grilled meat.

“Is there someone up ahead?” Sheila asked cautiously, showing she wasn’t just a pretty face.

“It’s the team of cadets we saw earlier, the Asimu team,” Ruo Manni replied.

Although they were opponents, they weren’t enemies. The two girls didn’t avoid the group and continued walking up.

Around the small slope near the mountain spring, the two girls walked over and were not at all surprised to run into a group of ten military academy students.

The ten boys were gathered around a fire, roasting meat. Due to their lack of skill, some of the meat was burnt, while other pieces were undercooked. When Ruo Manni smelled the air, she could tell that, besides salt, there were no other seasonings. It was impressive that they could eat it in large bites.

Upon seeing the two girls, the ten boys froze for a moment, glancing at the roasted meat in their hands with expressions of slight embarrassment.

“Hello, would you like to join us?” the leader, Abulaiti Asimu, greeted them awkwardly.

He was a tall and strong boy with features that, while not handsome, had a rugged and resolute look. As he greeted them, his expression was a bit embarrassed, clearly aware that the food in his hands was less than impressive.

“Thank you for the offer, but our captain and the others have also gone hunting,” Ruo Manni replied with a smile.

Since she was the vice-captain and Sheila wasn’t interested in speaking, it was up to her to respond.

After speaking, Ruo Manni handed the net bag to Sheila, saying, “Sheila, take these leaves to the water and wash them.”

In front of others, Sheila respected Ruo Manni as the vice-captain and, without a word, took the bag.

Ruo Manni then found a rock to sit on, opened the small box in her hand, and took out a piece of golden metal, which she started molding with her hands…

The members of the Asimu team watched in wide-eyed confusion…

About ten minutes later, the boys from the Adam team, who had successfully caught their prey, arrived at the mountain spring. They finally realized what was going on when they saw Ruo Manni boiling water in a golden pot over the fire. The pot was made from molded rubber gold!

Rubber gold is a unique product of the Imperial City, a very fascinating metal. Although it’s solid, it has a slight softness, which makes it highly malleable. This peculiar metal has excellent flexibility, and a high melting point, and lacks the toxicity common in most metals, making it safe for close contact with the human body.

Typically, the most common use of rubber gold is for creating various models. With some effort, a strong person can mold it into different shapes.

But their vice-captain had ingeniously thought of using rubber gold as cookware, molding it into a pot that could withstand fire, along with six bowls and six spoons.

The realization dawned on everyone that rubber gold could be used in this way. Their vice-captain was truly clever.

“Vice-captain, I think I still have a piece of rubber gold left,” Su Forty-Three said.

“You’ll be able to use it in a moment,” Ruo Manni replied with a smile, her eyes shifting to the pile of prey. She really had foresight.

The members of the Asimu team watched in disbelief as the other members of the Adam team, under Ruo Manni’s direction, quickly skinned, cleaned, and cut the prey into pieces before putting it into the pot. In less than five minutes, the air was filled with a completely different aroma from that of the roasted meat—a rich, savory scent.

But that wasn’t all. Ruo Manni also added edible leaves to the meat soup and instructed someone to bring out small bottles and jars, sprinkling various seasonings into the soup. Soon, a mouthwatering fragrance wafted through the air.

The Asimu team members suddenly felt that the roasted meat in their mouths was dry and tasteless, like chewing on wood, starkly contrasting with the rich aroma of the meat soup. Each of them felt they couldn’t bear it any longer; they could no longer continue eating and threw away what they had in their hands, deciding to march on before they got even hungrier.

None of the Adam team members, except for Ruo Manni, noticed the embarrassment of the Asimu team, as even Hebrew Adam was completely captivated by the rich aroma of the wild vegetable and meat soup, unable to focus on anything else.

Tamaki Kazia kept glancing eagerly at the pot, unable to resist asking several times, “Vice-captain, it smells so good, I’m starving. Can we eat now?”

The Asimu team heard the genius girl softly say, “Hmm, yes, you can.”

Unable to endure it, the Asimu team hurriedly left. Just as they were leaving, the Hua team arrived, drawn by the enticing aroma. When they saw the Adam team enjoying the delicious soup made from exotic beast meat and wild vegetables, they felt the same crushing disappointment as the Asimu team, and their stomachs growled with hunger.

“How did you come up with using rubber gold this way? How did you make this soup, and what ingredients did you add?” Hua Deli couldn’t help but ask.

The fact that rubber gold could be used like this was eye-opening for the Hua team. They had no idea who came up with this clever idea, but they strongly suspected it was Ruo Manni.

Since none of them, having grown up far from the kitchen would have thought of using rubber gold in this manner, they had initially planned to just hunt and barbecue.

“Our vice-captain is the chef; the rest of us are just assistants,” Sheila kindly explained, enjoying the sight of the Hua team’s envious but unable-to-eat expressions, which made the meat soup in her hands seem even more delicious.

As the Hua team prepared their own food, they couldn’t help but be tempted by the tantalizing aroma of the exotic beast meat and wild vegetable soup. They felt that life was truly difficult and decided to avoid being around them for the next two days to prevent themselves from being unable to eat.

After the Adam team had their fill, they took out six rubber gold-wrapped balls from the fire, washed off the dirt in the stream, and placed them in their backpacks.

Hebrew Adam had no intention of sharing the remaining soup with them. He pinched the top of the rubber gold pot to seal it, ensuring the soup wouldn’t leak, then used Ruo Manni’s vegetable-picking net to wrap it up and tied it to Su Forty-Three’s backpack.