Before the food was brought out, Ares held no expectations for Lu Xiao's cooking.
He'd only thought Lu Xiao was curious about the idea of cooking. But now, faced with a meal that was a feast for the senses, Ares was completely stunned. He never would have imagined that when Lu Xiao said she was going to cook, she was going to *actually cook*.
Not only was it beautiful to look at, but the flavor was better than anything he had ever tasted.
'Why is a female so good at cooking?'
Even the most sought-after master chefs in the Empire couldn't produce flavors like these.
Lu Xiao ate with her head down for a while. When she looked up, she caught Ares's look of astonishment before he could hide it. "What's wrong? Why aren't you eating? Don't you like it?"
"No, it's just... I've never had anything this delicious. You're incredible." Ares's praise was completely sincere.
The skill Lu Xiao had just displayed was certainly enough to keep him in shock for a good long while.
Lu Xiao was quite happy to be praised. "Glad to see you have good taste. Now hurry and eat. It's best while it's hot."
With that said, Lu Xiao paid Ares no more mind and went back to her meal. 'To have so much delicious food in front of you and think about anything else is just disrespectful to the food itself.'
After the meal, Lu Xiao was exceptionally satisfied. 'Sure enough, living well means eating and drinking well. Good food can cure anything.'
'In order to enjoy this good life, I have to make money!'
She left the task of cleaning up the dining area to Ares. After all, since she cooked, it wasn't too much to ask him to do the dishes.
Back in her room, Lu Xiao opened her computer, ready to look for a suitable job. Back in her old world, at the start of the apocalypse, she had unexpectedly awakened a Healing Ability. Hers was a purification-type ability, capable of removing viruses and Dark Matter from the human body.
The presence of Dark Matter had contaminated the water sources and land, making them unusable and causing severe resource shortages.
And because of this, she had ended up on the path of a "doctor."
'Come to think of it, the ability of females here to soothe males... isn't that a form of purification too?'
'Maybe I can find a related job. After all, I have experience with this sort of thing.'
'If that doesn't work out, I could also see if any restaurants are hiring chefs. I should be able to do that, too.'
And what do you know, as she was thinking this, she actually found one: [The Fifth Research Institute is hiring a female Healer for a high salary. Contact information...]
'Isn't this exactly what I need!'
'The only problem is, this posting is from two years ago. I wonder if they're still hiring?'
With a "might as well try" attitude, Lu Xiao sent them a message: "Hello, I saw your job posting for a Healer. Are you still hiring? I would like to apply. Could you please let me know what information I need to provide?"
After sending the message, Lu Xiao started to wonder, 'Was it too rash to contact them so suddenly? Shouldn't I first confirm whether my purification ability actually works on males? It would be so awkward if it doesn't.'
She could feel that her purification ability had come with her to this world.
'I just don't know if the abilities of the females here are the same as mine.'
'But as for whether my purification ability works, I'll know once I try it on Ares.'
'I have a perfectly good male right here. It'd be a waste not to use him.'
Just as Lu Xiao was about to go downstairs to find Ares, she received a reply: "Yes, we are hiring. When are you available? You can come over anytime. The address is..."
'For some reason,' she thought, looking at the message, 'they seem even more desperate than I am.'
It wasn't her imagination. The job posting had been on the recruitment site for over two years. The only reason Lu Xiao found it so easily was that someone had been refreshing it every single week. Even so, in more than two years, Lu Xiao was the only person who had ever contacted them.
Meanwhile, in an office at the Fifth Research Institute, unseen by Lu Xiao, a group of people was ecstatic over her message.
"Is someone really applying for the job?!"
"It's true! It's true! Teacher Ai Li just got the message. There's no mistake! This is wonderful! Is our institute finally getting a new recruit?"
"Let's not get our hopes up. What if they contacted us by mistake?"
After all, they hadn't received a single application in over two years. Getting one so suddenly felt unreal.
"Who cares! Even if it's a mistake, at least it proves people can still see our job posting!"
Honestly, they had started to wonder if their posting had been shadow-banned, which would explain why no one ever responded. Now they had proof that it hadn't.
Lu Xiao hadn't expected such a quick reply; she figured she'd have to wait at least a few days. She hadn't even had a chance to test whether her purification ability would work.
She hesitated, deciding not to reply for the moment. Instead, she got up and went downstairs. "Ares, are you busy right now?"
Ares, having just finished cleaning the kitchen, heard her and replied, "Not at all. Do you need something?"
"Spiritual Soothing." Right before coming downstairs, Lu Xiao had flipped through the partner handbook. It stated that females had a responsibility to provide Spiritual Soothing to their male partners.
However, whether this actually happened generally depended on the female's mood and conscience.
But Lu Xiao felt she could use this to her advantage.
After saying this, she beckoned to Ares. "Go sit on the sofa."
Little did she know, her words shocked Ares as much as the first taste of her cooking had.
'Lu Xiao is offering to perform Spiritual Soothing on her own initiative.'
'Females were known to dislike performing Spiritual Soothing for males; it made them feel unwell.'
'That's why he'd never held out any hope for it, even though he was truly at the point where he needed it.'
Lu Xiao, who had already walked over to the sofa, turned to see Ares still standing frozen in place. Confused, she asked, "What's wrong? You don't want it?"
Ares snapped back to his senses and walked toward her. "No, it's not that. I... Thank you."
He wanted to say that he could wait longer, but when he met Lu Xiao's clear, dark eyes, the thought of refusing vanished.
'Only an idiot would refuse.'
"This is my first time doing something like this," Lu Xiao said, hoping to get some pointers from him. "Have you ever received Spiritual Soothing from anyone else?"
Unfortunately, Ares shook his head.
'How could he have? A female's Spiritual Soothing was an incredibly rare blessing. Half the reason males went to the battlefield to earn commendations was in the hopes of using the money to buy a session of Spiritual Soothing before their conditions flared up. But the reality was, a female's Spiritual Soothing couldn't be bought, not for any price.'
"Oh, I see. Well, let's just take it slow then. Lie down." Lu Xiao reached out a hand, then realized Ares was simply too tall. If they were both sitting, it would be a struggle for her to reach his head.
Hearing this, Ares glanced at the sofa, but there wasn't a good spot for him to lie down. Just as he was wondering what to do, Lu Xiao raised a hand and patted her own lap. "Lie here!"
Ares saw the spot she was patting, and the tips of his ears turned red.