IRDFPFCIW Chapter 45

When Jiang Tang woke up, it was already the next morning. The fatigue from the previous day had vanished and now he felt refreshed.

The store he was collaborating on with Gu Chen had gotten on the right track, and there wasn’t much work left for him to do. Looking at his account balance steadily increasing, Jiang Tang mouth couldn’t help but curl into a wide smile.

Indeed, no matter which world you’re in, having a healthy account balance gives the greatest sense of security!

In a good mood, Jiang Tang hummed a tune while getting ready. Thanks to the exposure from his recent live streams, he had become a popular streamer on the Star Network. But since Jiang Tang didn’t often surf the Star Network, he wasn’t fully aware of his current influence.

That was until he received a call from Gu Chen.

“Ah? Why is the Academy of Sciences looking for me?”

Jiang Tang was trimming his fluffy cat’s nails. The kitten that used to resist was surprisingly well-behaved today. Holding its pink paw, he gently squeezed to extend the claws and skilfully clipped the tip of the nails using the line.

Just as he finished one paw, Gu Chen’s call came in, saying that the Academy was unable to reach Jiang Tang.

“I don’t know about that, but they sounded very polite.” Gu Chen was surprised.

The Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences had big authority and influence in the interstellar era, standing alongside the military and the royal family. Even compared with the military and royal family, the Academy of Sciences often received even more public support on Star Network because it was more mysterious.

Only the brightest geniuses could enter the Academy of Sciences, and geniuses often viewed the world differently like having their eyes on top of their heads. After all, geniuses couldn’t see the mundane lives of mortals!

So when Gu Chen received such a polite and sincere message from the Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences, his first thought was that it might be a scam.

Upon reading further, he realized that they wanted to collaborate with Jiang Tang but couldn’t reach him directly, so they tried to do the roundabout way and contacted him.

“Oh, I see.” Jiang Tang thought for a moment before remembering that he had turned off his private messages in the live stream backend due to the overwhelming number. He nodded instinctively. “I received too many private messages and found it troublesome, so I blocked them all.

Wen Renyuan saw that Jiang Tang only finished one paw and his attention was drifting away. His other paw was still being held, and he meowed in dissatisfaction.

Not understanding his meaning, Jiang Tang looked down to see the kitten staring up at him. Jiang Tang was instantly smitten by the cuteness and couldn’t help but lean down to kiss its paw.

A loud “smooch” echoed.

Wen Renyuan: …

Cough, cough, fine, just continue.

“I got it, thank you.” Jiang Tang quickly finished trimming the remaining nails, set the kitten aside, and picked up the little snow wolf that had been waiting patiently.

Gu Chen’s face showed that familiar expression of wanting to say something but holding back.

Jiang Tang: ?

He asked, “Is there anything else?”

“No, no, nothing.” Gu Chen waved his hand, “I’ll get back to work and won’t disturb you. We can contact each other if anything comes up.”

Before hanging up, Gu Chen couldn’t help but take another glance at the little snow wolf lying on Jiang Tang’s lap with its belly turned over. This wolf looked more and more like his cousin! If it weren’t for the fact that it didn’t respond when he spoke, he would think it was his cousin as a child.

Thinking about his cousin who had gone missing for some time with no news, Gu Chen’s expression grew serious. Now that the news of Gu family was still suppressed, nothing major would happen. He wished for his cousin’s safe return soon.

Jiang Tang opened the blocked private messages. Suddenly, a terrifying number of private messages flooded in like a tidal wave, causing the backend to lag.

Jiang Tang was even kicked out of the system twice. “… This is terrifying.”

There was no way he could go through the sea of private messages to find the one from the Academy.

With a sigh, Jiang Tang exited the live streaming platform and directly searched for the Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences on Star Network. To his surprise, as soon as he sent a message, it seemed they had been waiting for him to respond because they replied immediately.

[Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences v: Dear streamer Mr. Jiang Tang, I apologize for the trouble. Your live stream on the Star Network about natural foods is unprecedented and incredibly captivating. It has greatly inspired the scientific research of our academy. For this, our academy is very grateful. The entire academy sincerely invites you to participate in further in-depth research or to come and guide us at the academy…]

Jiang Tang found the flowery written language overwhelming. As expected of a scientific researcher, although the wording was a bit incoherent, it could be seen that they had tried very hard.

But, scientific research?

Jiang Tang recalled how he barely passed his science classes in his previous life and couldn’t help but ponder: …

Even if a science loser transmigrated, they would still be a science loser! What could a chef possibly contribute to a research academy? Surely, they didn’t want him to provide meals for those genius researchers!

[Jiang Tang v: Uh, sorry, I’m just a chef and know nothing about scientific research. I may not be able to help you.]

On the other end, the name “Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences” changed to “typing”.

Jiang Tang waited for a while, but nothing happened. Instead, he saw “Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences” and “typing” flicker back and forth several times.

Jiang Tang: …

What is the other side struggling with over there?

Finally, the Imperial Capital Academy sent a reply.

[Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences v: Tang Tang, I’m your fan! QAQ The food you made during the live stream was simply too, too, too delicious! I had no idea natural foods could be this good!]

Jiang Tang: ??? Did someone switch accounts?

He looked at this message that was completely different from the previous serious tone. It sounded just like a fan. He didn’t expect that among his fans, there would be someone with such high IQ to get into the Academy! Jiang Tang, the “science loser”, felt oddly gratified.

He hesitated and replied, “Thank you for your support,” but didn’t know what else to say. Honestly, he was still confused. Surely, his fans weren’t trying to facilitate this collaboration.

[Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences v: Hello, streamer. Here’s the thing: our Academy of Sciences has been dedicated to researching the energy present in natural foods. Recently, we have made some progress and can now preliminarily confirm that there is indeed some kind of energy in natural foods. We will increase our efforts to conduct a series of in-depth studies in the future, but the research has encountered some difficulties and we need your help. Please do not underestimate yourself.]

This message seemed to come from a different person. Jiang Tang raised an eyebrow slightly.

[Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences v: Actually, the natural foods they made are just too hard to swallow, and the volunteers are starting to protest by going on hunger strikes!]

A second later, this message was retracted.

Jiang Tang: … He seems to know what kind of help the Academy of Sciences is seeking.

So they indeed wanted him to provide meals!

But he was somewhat interested in the energy present in natural foods.

[Jiang Tang v: There is some kind of energy contained in natural foods?]

[Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences v: Yes QAQ]

Jiang Tang didn’t continue to pry further. He knew that this involved research confidentiality, and the Academy disclosing this much already showed great sincerity.

As a chef, he had a great interest in various foods. But in his previous life, he focused more on the rich flavors of different ingredient combinations. Now learning that there was unknown energy involved made him feel like another door was opening before him, stirring his curiosity.

[Jiang Tang v: What do you need me to do? Should I come to your Academy?]

As a non-interstellar person, Jiang Tang didn’t have a clear understanding of what “joining the Academy of Sciences” meant. His tone was as casual as asking which supermarket to visit tomorrow. If someone were beside him, they would surely shake his shoulders and shout, “Wake up! This is the Imperial Capital Academy of Sciences! It’s not your garden or a vegetable market. Do you think you can just walk in?”

But the reality was that upon hearing Jiang Tang’s acceptance, the geniuses of the Academy of Sciences, who usually wanted to grow their eyes to the sky and had a stinky face when seeing people from the military, began cheering. They jumped half a meter high, wishing Jiang Tang would appear at the Academy right away.

Researchers A and B hugged each other and jumped in place, while Researcher C clenched his fist and shouted, “Yes!”

Ding, the usually composed and mature researcher D threw a batch of what looked like biochemical weapons but were actually natural foods into the garbage disposal, mumbling, “Finally, I don’t have to eat this awful stuff anymore. Ugh!”

Jiang Tang couldn’t leave the barren planet for the time being, but he promised the Academy that he would send “samples” every three days for them to study, ah no, to eat. After all, he had to cook daily. It was just a matter of cooking a bit more.

Meanwhile, Wen Renyuan was sharpening his claws on the floor. The group of people from the Academy was trying to recruit people before he even had a chance to act. They also wanted his wife to cook for them?!

“Kitty, how about we have beef noodles for breakfast?” Jiang Tang’s voice came, causing Wen Renyuan, who had been grinding his teeth, to deflate like a popped balloon. He had forgotten that he was just the damn “kitty” in Jiang Tang’s heart. The journey to truly bring his wife home was still a long one!

Wen Renyuan maintained a calm face while quickly calculating in his mind. The injuries in his spiritual sea had mostly healed, and he even felt more robust than before the injury.

He couldn’t keep appearing in front of Jiang Tang in his beast form forever. He was well aware of his intense desire to possess Jiang Tang and protect him well, so perhaps it was time to leave.

And he always had a premonition that something bad would happen. In the face of a storm, he wanted to stand in front of Jiang Tang to shield him from the wind and rain.

Wen Renyuan looked at the small figure busy in the kitchen. From behind, the waist in the apron seemed so delicate that it could be held in one hand. His eyes softened. Such a good boy should be cherished and protected.

So Wen Renyuan contacted his subordinates and left the barren planet overnight. However, he never expected that he would regret this decision more than once in the future.