To keep it a surprise, Zhan Xiao led his team out and didn’t return until evening.

When he returned to the city, he discovered that the streets leading to his home were lined with colorful lights.

The corners of his lips curled up uncontrollably.

"Wow, it looks like the Gang Leader’s wife went all out."

"It’s our Gang Leader’s first birthday celebration ever. It ought to be a grand one."

"Exactly, we can afford it!"

"Let’s hurry, let’s hurry! I heard from the quartermaster that the Madam took out a lot of food ingredients today. Maybe we won’t have to drink nutrient liquid tonight!"

"I hear that when people hold banquets, it’s all about roasted meat. We could roast some too."

Zhan Xiao pursed his lips into a smile. "Go to the storeroom and bring out a few edible beasts. We’ll roast them and share them later."

"Whoa, that’s great!!"

"Thank you, Gang Leader!"

"Hehe, we’re in for a treat tonight."

It wasn’t easy for them to get an edible Alien Beast, so they were usually sold. After all, that stuff was expensive.

As for themselves, drinking nutrient liquid was usually enough, though they would occasionally treat themselves to a proper meal.

But the meat they roasted themselves didn’t actually taste that good, because their gang didn’t have a chef and didn’t know how to prepare this Exotic Beast Meat.

It was only because they so rarely got to eat it that they found it delicious.

...

As Zhan Xiao led his team back to his doorstep, a series of loud POP POP POP sounds erupted behind him.

In that instant, his first reaction was to turn around, on guard.

But what he saw instead were fireworks filling the sky behind him.

And his subordinates, who had suddenly appeared by his side to sing him a birthday song.

The person he most wanted to see still seemed to glow in the crowd.

Her loose, long dress billowed like waves in the wind.

The gentle smile on her face was enough to make a man drown in its tenderness.

"Happy birthday, Gang Leader!"

"This is the birthday song the Madam taught us. Do you like it?"

Zhan Xiao smiled and nodded. "It sounds great."

"Come on, cut the cake and make a wish first."

Mo Han pushed over a cake that was a full six tiers high. Although its shape was a bit irregular and the frosting on top was lumpy and uneven, everyone acted as if they were blind.

They praised it blindly. "The cake the Madam made is huge!"

And huge it was, because she wasn’t sure how to make a cake very tall.

But that was fine; Jiang Qin had her own unique approach.

As long as she made the bottom layer big enough, she could definitely make it tall by shrinking each subsequent layer.

That was why the cake was so massive.

As for the shape and decorations, she had never done it before. Even if she spent time on it, she couldn’t manage to make it look very refined.

So she simply used some fake flowers and other decorations to cover up most of the surface.

Although Long Yue felt the cake wasn’t very refined, she had seen all the ingredients Jiang Qin used, so she figured that even if it tasted bad, it couldn’t be *that* bad.

At worst, it would be a bit cloyingly sweet, but that was fine. She loved sweets.

"Gang Leader, hurry and make a wish, then blow out the candles."

Zhan Xiao was silent for a moment. This was his first time celebrating his birthday, but he had always heard that you were supposed to make a wish.

He remembered one year, also on his birthday.

Back then, he had nothing. He couldn’t even fill his stomach. He had built a small sand pile, stuck a piece of wire in it as a candle, and made a wish.

Maybe it was because the "cake" was fake, but in any case, his wish didn’t come true.

So, his obsession later became that he absolutely had to make a wish again, in front of a real cake.

But after he grew up and could afford to buy many such expensive desserts, he never once bought one.

Because he had already learned that wishes don’t come true.

So desserts like that had become meaningless.

This time, he decided to believe in that childhood legend just one more time. ’Maybe if my wish is simple enough, it’ll come true.’

After all, asking a cake to resurrect the dead was a bit much to ask of a cake.

After silently making a simple wish, he blew out the electronic candles in one breath.

"They’re fake candles. Can the wish still come true?"

Everyone: "..."

’Seriously? Is our Gang Leader this naive?’

’It’s just a formality!’

Jiang Qin: "...It can, probably. Everyone uses these candles. I heard... I heard they’re quite effective.

But sometimes they don’t work. The most important thing is for your heart to be sincere, and you have to work hard yourself. You can’t just rely on wishing."

"Mhm!" Zhan Xiao responded earnestly, his eyes filled with a longing for his wish to be fulfilled.

"Ahem, let’s cut the cake."

"Hehe, this is a cake made by the Gang Leader’s wife’s own hands. I’ve got to have at least a bite, no matter what."

"It smells so sweet and fragrant."

"The first piece is for the Madam, who worked so hard all day!"

Zhan Xiao was in charge of cutting, and the Vice Gang Leader was in charge of serving.

He very cleverly gave the first piece to Jiang Qin, earning a satisfied glance from Zhan Xiao.

’As expected of my Vice Gang Leader. He knows what’s what.’

"This second piece must be for our Miss Bai Yue. She’s been busy helping the Madam all day. Thank you for your hard work."

Only the third piece went to Zhan Xiao, followed by Mo Han. After all, Mo Han was just a guest, not a member of the gang.

So, guests first, then the females within the gang, and then it was distributed to the males according to their rank.

Only after everyone had received a piece of cake did they all start to eat together.

The first bite... they couldn’t taste much of anything.

The second bite... something was a little off.

The third bite... some people had already frozen up.

Zhan Xiao finished his entire piece without a change in expression, even crunching on something he found midway through with a loud KAKA sound.

Seeing that he had no reaction, no one else dared to react either. They all pretended to be calm and finished their cake.

The strange texture was enough to drive one to despair.

Long Yue noticed something was wrong after three bites. Beaming, she gave her portion to Mo Han.

"I’m on a diet recently, so just having a taste to satisfy my craving is enough. You can have the rest."

"..."

As for Jiang Qin, she wasn’t fond of sweets due to her pregnancy, so after having a taste, she simply gave her piece to Zhan Xiao as well.

After all, wasting food was bad. She hadn’t made a mess of it; her spoon had only touched it once.

Seeing Zhan Xiao quickly finish two pieces, Jiang Qin asked, "How does it taste?"

"Delicious. Very sweet."

"Do you want more? There’s still a lot left."

"I’ll see if anyone else wants some later. If nobody does, I’ll put the rest in my Space Button."

"Okay." ’As long as it doesn’t go to waste.’

In reality, though, there wasn’t much left.

The members of the Golden Sand Gang were suffering in silence, forcing smiles as they finished the cake in their hands, not daring to look at the rest of it again.

This was especially true for those who had bitten into some foreign object. They had been about to spit it out secretly, but one glance from Zhan Xiao, and they swallowed it instantly.

’This sweet burden is something the Gang Leader should bear by himself in the future. We’re not worthy of such a blessing!!’

’Thankfully, there’s still roasted meat later. Otherwise, we’d have to wait for the party to end and then secretly go drink some nutrient liquid.’

’You have to understand, many people had come tonight with intentionally empty stomachs.’

’All for the sake of having a few extra bites of the giant cake Jiang Qin made...’