It’s already terrifying to be stared at by several large eyeballs.

Let alone large eyeballs floating on blood-red soup.

At this moment, Zheng Qing felt that his physical discomfort had spread to psychological discomfort, and without needing a mirror, he knew his expression must have turned very grim.

"I’ve already paid."

Xin Fat Man noticed the male wizard beside him had the urge to escape and reminded him, "Don’t look at me like that. Mr. Shangguan Congwen mentioned that there are three levels of gourmets — the lowest ones are obsessed with color, aroma, and taste; the middle ones return to simplicity and only pursue taste bud satisfaction; the highest ones go further, seeking psychological and soul impact beyond satisfying color, aroma, and taste — remember the feeling when the spiciness of peppers first exploded in your mouth? Now what you’re experiencing is the aftershock of lamb eye juice exploding in your soul."

"Even eating shit could give your soul a similar explosive experience." Doctor Xiao, who had been observing the floating and sinking lamb eyeballs with a small bowl, suddenly chimed in.

As soon as he said this, Zheng Qing felt a sudden realization.

Indeed, he had just realized that Xin Fat Man’s earlier talk of the ’three levels of gourmets’ had the flavor of describing eating shit as elegant and refined.

But before he could put down his small bowl, Doctor Xiao, who had just proposed the ’eat shit theory’, offered a vague comment on his lamb eye juice: "It seems the tomato juice contains extracts of bold hemp and snowmountain flower, surprisingly refreshing... although the eyeball has been pickled, it doesn’t have much taste on its own, but when you bite into it, it bursts in your mouth... the gelatinous vitreous inside the eyeball fills your mouth, rich and special in flavor, definitely worth a try."

Zheng Qing glanced at the small bowl in his hand and then at the doctor smacking his lips, unable to help but ask, "Didn’t you just say it was like eating shit?"

"No, I was just expressing that Xin’s analogy was inappropriate." Xiao Xiao pulled out a beautiful handkerchief, wiped the corner of his mouth, and corrected him seriously.

Zheng Qing suspected he ate those two eyeballs just to show off his handkerchief, which clearly belonged to a witch.

"Don’t let it sit... eat it while it’s fresh, it tastes best when fresh!" The vendor standing behind the cart couldn’t help but interrupt the young wizards’ chat, making a gesture to eat quickly.

This made Zheng Qing feel a bit embarrassed — discussing topics like shit, urine, and fat sheep in front of a snack vendor felt somewhat disrespectful — although the vendor didn’t seem to mind, his face always wore a kind smile.

"The meaning of life lies in constantly trying the unknown." Xin Fat Man, also holding a small bowl, advised from the side: "If you taste the same flavor day after day, what’s the fun in life?"

"Why don’t you eat it?" Zheng Qing looked at the fat wizard suspiciously.

"Uh... I’m waiting for the doctor’s reaction."

Xin Fat Man glanced at the still healthy-looking short male wizard, happily blinked, "After all, it’s the North District, although the owner used his best ingredients, who knows if there’s any side effect... and it’s a bit exaggerated to do a toxicology test for a few lamb eyeballs, so having someone to help experiment is the best... I didn’t force you, you chose to eat it first."

The last sentence was directed at Xiao Xiao, who had already come back to his senses.

Looking at Xin’s eyes, Zheng Qing suddenly realized that what he was wary of wasn’t just an upset stomach — after all, every year, wizards from other districts eat mystery drugs in the North District and end up stripped and dumped on the streets.

Though the chance of them targeting First University students in broad daylight was low, the fat wizard would never underestimate the allure of a single gold bean to the people in the North District.

Just like how many people say, in the North District, you can have no gold, but you can’t have no vigilance.

Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, his face slightly pale but expression as calm as always: "I’m not Mr. Zha, why would anyone poison me for no reason?"

This sentence was purely an attempt to shift blame onto others.

Zheng Qing’s face immediately fell.

"Don’t scare yourself... before I brought you here, I didn’t even know I was planning to eat this." The fat wizard was clearly happy to chat a bit more, continuously stirring the tomato soup in his bowl with a small spoon while comforting Zheng Qing: "I randomly chose this snack stall... those kids who want to poison you aren’t this capable."

"Then how about we switch?" Zheng Qing glanced at him.

The fat wizard hesitated for a few seconds, thought of the scale of grudges his own captain had, finally chuckled without a word, and quickly scooped the lamb eyeballs from his bowl, chewed them down in a few bites.

Zheng Qing eventually put down his own bowl, waved his hand to the vendor, indicating he didn’t want it.

"No refunds," the lamb eye juice vendor gestured, the smile on his face gone, speaking firmly: "You’ve already held the bowl, no refund!"

"No need, no need." The boy shook his hand repeatedly, pulling the sleeves of his two companions, indicating they should leave quickly.

A short distance away, Zheng Qing looked back and saw his bowl of lamb eye juice already eaten clean by the vendor, and the fat wizard’s slightly teasing voice rang in his ears.

"If you’ve never done anything wrong, you won’t be afraid of ghosts knocking at your door at midnight." He shook his head, displaying an air of a moralist: "... having done too many wrongs, you’re afraid to eat well, afraid to travel far, even afraid to speak a few words with a pretty girl, what meaning is there to life?"

"At least, pretty girls often come to talk to him," Xiao Xiao sneered, throwing a jab at the fat wizard, clearly not forgetting about being the passive taste tester.

Listening to their bickering, Zheng Qing didn’t feel much regret.

He wasn’t really a gourmet person in the first place.

A short walk further, he suddenly slowed his pace.

"Something’s off."

The captain of the Yuzui Hunting Team whispered, slowing his pace further, and as he spoke, his hand was already at his waist, gripping Silver Python’s hilt, gently rotating the cylinder.

"What madness is possessing you now!"

The fat wizard, who somehow had found a piece of beef jerky slathered in hot sauce, was crunching away happily, rolled his eyes at this: "Didn’t we agree just now on the way back today we’d focus on good food, not any unease?"

Before Zheng Qing could speak, Xiao Xiao on the other side reminded the fat man.

"Something really is off."

The doctor lowered his voice, his lips barely moving: "Don’t you find the speed at which the passersby are disappearing a bit fast... the flow of magic around is a bit strange."

Xin Fat Man, though momentarily distracted by the delicious food, was quick to realize the anomaly at the alerts from both his companions.