Chapter 261: Chapter 197: My research course needs someone like you!
The sky was darkening as a few people followed the sign to the slaughterhouse in the logistics department.
Located behind the first dining hall, within a small forest.
Zhuo Wen and Zhuo Wu looked around curiously, saying, “Brother Cheng, this place feels a bit eerie, don’t you think? Can you smell something weird?”
“Mmm,” nodded Zheng Cheng. “The smell of blood.”
He had spent some time in a slaughterhouse to practice his random autopsy skills.
In addition to his experiences on the radiation island, having fought through piles of corpses and rivers of blood, he was very familiar with this kind of smell.
“I smell the blood too… ”
“But why does it stink?”
The two brothers chatted as they walked and soon arrived at the designated place.
Suddenly, groups of students started to arrive one after another.
“Is this where our elective class is held? This is too bizarre.”
“Shit! If I knew earlier, I wouldn’t have enrolled in this elective course…”
“If I weren’t a Potion Master and the teacher didn’t recommend me, I wouldn’t have chosen the course called ‘Special Food Nutrition and Health’…”
The students were grumbling when a silhouette emerged from the crowd.
The figure was cloaked in black, accompanied by a heavy smell of blood and an indescribable strange scent.
“Cough cough…”
The man coughed and the chattering students instinctively stopped their conversations.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Shen Tu Dao. I am your substitute teacher for the elective course ‘Special Food Nutrition and Health’.”
“Special foods are foods made from organs that possess unique characteristics, taken from dissected mystical beasts and demonic creatures.”
“These special organs are very rare and are only found within certain mystical or demonic creatures.”
“These special foods, after being cooked and refined in certain ways, become special foods with different properties…”
Shen Tu Dao did not beat around the bush and started his lecture immediately.
“When exploring special foods, the first thing you need to master is how to butcher mystical and demonic creatures!”
As he spoke, he made a gesture and activated his space ring.
The next second, a giant corpse appeared amidst the crowd of students.
It was a five-meter-tall, mountain-like giant spider.
Shen Tu Dao continued, “This is the corpse of a six-star mystical creature called the Hundred-Eye Spider, weighing fifteen tons. Its body contains a special ingredient known as ‘Dizzying Eye’, which can be cooked along with medicinal materials like Golden Flower, Poison Dragon Grass and Sickle-fruit Seed, to produce a special dish called ‘Hundred-Flower Spider Eye Soup’.”
“After consumption, it can quickly restore one’s spirit in a short time, and depending on the quality of the ingredients, it can provide resistance against various mental abnormalities for different durations.”
Shen Tu Dao proceeded, “Later, I will personally demonstrate how to dissect a Dizzying Eye from the Hundred-Eye Spider, and then it will be your turn.”
As he finished speaking, he drew out a long, thin knife, walked up to the corpse of the Hundred-Eye Spider, and stabbed its massive head.
The Hundred-Eye Spider might have been a six-star mystical creature, but at this moment, it was merely a corpse.
Dozens of protruding pupils grew densely over its huge head, resembling the back of a toad.
As soon as Teacher Shen Tu Dao stabbed the spider, a milky white liquid spurted out.
It seemed like he had already predicted the direction of the liquid’s squirt, easily avoiding it.
“Ss…”
The liquid landed on the ground and immediately corroded a hole, catching the attention of the students around him.
“Holy shit… That giant spider’s blood is toxic!”
“He’s dissecting the ingredients right away? I came here to learn how to cook…”
“Me too! Oh no, I only have experience killing chickens…”
“Ugh… I can’t handle it…”
The faces of the group of students turned pale, but it was already too late for them to back down.
Having registered for this elective course, they would face serious consequences if they decided to quit halfway.
In less than three minutes, a pupil of the Hundred-Eye Spider was dissected by Shen Tu Dao, held firmly in his hand.
The viscous milky white liquid continuously flowed down from his hand, creating a pungent smell as it hit the floor.
Shen Tu Dao seemed not to notice, walking toward the students with eyeball in hand.
“Observe, the Dizzying Eye is the most critical organ of the Hundred-Eye Spider. Unlike its corrosive and poisonous blood, the liquid in the eye carries medicinal properties that are effective in treating diseases like dementia and dizziness.”
After explaining, he noticed that all the students looked somewhat uncomfortable.
Especially the students seated up front, the viscous liquid from the eyeball almost dripped onto their heads.
“Now, y’all can touch this eyeball with your hands, feel its texture and smell…”
The front-row students almost gagged, and Shen Tu Dao chuckled, seemingly enjoying the students’ reactions.
“Teacher Shen Tu.”
Zheng Cheng suddenly raised his hand and said, “I’d like to feel it.”
As soon as he said that, the expression of Zhuo Wen and Zhuo Wu who were sitting next to him, changed.
“Bloody hell Brother Cheng, don’t do it! It’s all sticky and gooey… ”
“Brother Cheng, you are really our big brother…”
The surrounding students also looked over with concern while whispering amongst themselves.
Shen Tu Dao laughed, “Alright, you are called…”
“Zheng Cheng.”
“So, you’re Zheng Cheng…” Shen Tu Dao sounded even more interested, “Here, catch.”
He then nonchalantly tossed the eyeball of the Hundred-Eye Spider into the air in Zheng Cheng’s direction.
“Holy shit!”
“Quick, get out of the way!”
The students in front yelled in shock and scattered.
Zheng Cheng glanced at what was falling and immediately caught the eyeball in mid-air.
The anticipated mess did not happen. Holding the eyeball, he felt as if he was gripping an elastic ball.
His hand felt a bit sticky and the eyeball had quite a bounce to it when he applied some pressure.
He examined the eyeball in his hand closely. It was the size of a ping pong ball, creamy in color with red lines crisscrossing its surface.
The pupil was a mix of black and gray, disturbingly dull and lifeless.
[Special Ingredient: Vertigo Eye]
[Quality: Six-star]
[Effect: Consuming it will stimulate mental state and increase magic casting speed and mental recovery speed. Boosting spirit points by 10 for 5 minutes. There’s a chance of entering a hallucinatory state where you lose self-control.]
[Description: This organ was dissected from a Six-star magic beast named Hundred-Eyed Spider and is known for its hallucinatory abilities.]
“Is this what an ordinary special ingredient looks like?”
Zheng Cheng muttered. His motive for directly handling the Vertigo Eye of the Hundred-Eyed Spider was to understand what set the special ingredients used by other professionists apart from the ones he dissected himself.
First impressions reveal that the most significant difference lies in the effect.
Ordinary techniques for dissecting special ingredients yield results that possess both enhancing and toxic properties.
Monsters and magic beasts inherently possess uneven levels of toxicity that would affect humans.
However, the ingredients he dissected with his randomized dissection technique tend to permanently increase attribute points and offer enhancement effects.
Based on effects, the ingredients he obtained through the randomized dissection technique are clearly superior.
“Hehehe…”
Shentu Dao asked with a smile, “How does it feel?”
Zheng Cheng answered, “It’s quite elastic, not like what I imagined.”
“Of course,” Shentu Dao explained with a smile, “The strength of a monster or magic beast’s flesh is reflected in the toughness of their internal organs.”
“Ordinary people cannot dissect them with normal tools. That’s where we professionists come in!”
“Next, I will teach you how to dissect this corpse of the Hundred-Eyed Spider.”
After saying this, he distributed dissection knives to everyone and had them gather around the corpse of the Hundred-Eyed Spider.
“The only useful part on the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s corpse is its Vertigo Eye. What we need to do is follow the muscular patterns on its head, insert the knife along these patterns, and gently dissect the Vertigo Eye…”
Under Shentu Dao’s guidance, the students started dissecting the Vertigo Eyes of the spiders with their knives.
Some were choking back waves of nausea, some were disgusted, fearful, but others were quite excited.
Zheng Cheng himself also achieved his first successful Vertigo Eye dissection, earning praise from Shentu Dao.
In the process, he had to suppress his impulse to use the randomized dissection technique.
The following one, Shentu Dao, is a professor at the University of Beijing. His ability and perception are not weak at all. What if he got an inkling of something…
After class, Shentu Dao also distributed a textbook to each student.
“This is the elective course textbook, ‘A Comprehensive Guide to Common Special Ingredients and Their Hosts’. It details over a hundred different types of monsters and magic beasts. They all bear special ingredients. I suggest you all memorize them.”
As he flipped through the textbook, Zheng Cheng saw over a hundred illustrative diagrams of various kinds of monsters and magic beasts, along with brief text descriptions for each.
It seemed that not all monsters and magic beasts bore special ingredients. Only his randomized dissection technique could…
“Oh yes!”
Just then, Shentu Dao chimed in again, “I also have a task that requires a few people to accomplish. Every week, I will arrange a dissection task involving magic beasts and monsters.”
“I will personally lead the task. Students who complete it will be rewarded with course credits and a cash prize. If anyone is interested, you can register with me now…”
Before he’d even finished his sentence, dozens of students had scattered and fled.
Only Zheng Cheng, Zhuo Wen, Zhuo Wu, and another chubby boy remained seated.
Zhuo Wen stammered, “Brother Cheng, aren’t we going?”
“No need to, I think this hands-on learning experience is perfect for me.”
Zhuo Wen and Zhuo Wu exchanged helpless looks, raising their feet as if to leave but ultimately choosing to stay put with a bitter smile.
“Brother Cheng, we’ll follow you.”
“Since big brother said so, I guess I have no choice but to stay…”
“Not bad, not bad.” Shentu Dao’s voice rose again, “I am surprised to see four of you staying. I thought only one or two would.”
“Zheng Cheng, Zhuo Wen, Zhuo Wu, and… Zhuang Shuai, right?”
The plump boy named Zhuang Shuai gave a shy smile and scratched his head, “Professor, I want to stay, but I have a question.”
“What’s your question?”
Zhuang Shuai hesitated, “Can I have a share of the special ingredients we dissect? I want to experiment using these ingredients to see if I can cook up something else.”
“You want to develop new special foods on your own?” Shentu Dao’s eyes gleamed, “Most of the special foods on the market were developed by national researchers or professionist guilds after hundreds of years of experiments. You, being a freshman, want to…”
“Your name is Zhuang Shuai?”
Shentu Dao suddenly changed his tone, “Are you the seven-star Dark Chef?”
“Uh…”
Zhuang Shuai sheepishly scratched his head again, “Yes, that’s me.”
“Hahaha!” Shentu Dao laughed out loud, “I need talents like you for my research class!”
“You four, report in tomorrow!”