The Highest Bounty

Biggie gloomily sat on a bench under a street lamp beside the starport.

His job lasted less than a month. Although he was scolded every day, it was still a job that allowed him to keep a roof over his head and fed him. Now that he lost his job, he felt lost.

His body type was different from everyone else and he had to consume way more food than a regular person. That was why he cherished every job he got. Most of the time, when his bosses felt he ate more than his money’s worth, he would be fired.

Biggie turned his head and spotted the two guests from the tavern. He smiled kindly and said, “I’m fine.”

“Your boss was being unreasonable. It’s not your fault you tripped. They had just finished cleaning and the floor was slippery and wet,” Gu Ding complained on behalf of Biggie.

“Yeah, those tables and chairs weren’t even worth a penny. The owner was obviously swindling you.” Although Liliath admitted that the food was rather good, she disapproved of his character.

“It’s alright, I’ll just find another job.” Biggie scratched his head shyly after hearing them standing up for him.

“Woah! That cargo spaceship is filled with food!” Liliath suddenly saw dozens of cargo ships docking nearby unloading their cargo which mostly consisted of food.

“Tomorrow’s Derisis Food Festival and there’ll be a carnival party that runs from dusk to dawn. It’s the liveliest time of year in Derisis.” Biggie tried to keep his eyes off the ingredients, but his belly betrayed him, rumbling loudly in protest.

“Uncle, haven’t you had lunch yet?” Gu Ding grinned his pearly teeth. “It’ll be our treat!”

“I…” Biggie was too shy and wanted to decline the offer, but Gu Ding grabbed his wrist and pulled him up.

“If you refuse, Gu Ding will be really sad.” Liliath lowered her voice and secretly whispered to Biggie.

Only then did Biggie follow the two to the entrance of a high-end restaurant. When he saw the signboard, Biggie shook his head because he felt out of place. “It’s alright, I think it’ll be better if I stayed outside.”

“Gu Ding, how about we treat Uncle over here to your signature egg fried rice!” Liliath suddenly proposed, “He won’t be so shy if it’s so.”

“Alright! Uncle, come and be our guest on our spaceship!” Gu Ding nodded and invited him warmly.

Biggie was not used to refusing other people and when he saw how enthusiastic Gu Ding was, he had no choice but to agree.

“This is your spaceship?!”

When he saw the Grey-faced Buzzard, Biggie’s jaw dropped. It had been a long time since Planet Derisis saw that sort of spaceship and many of the locals around the starport took pictures of it as a result of this.

“Isn’t it cool?” Gu Ding grinned as he brought Biggie up onto the spaceship.

When they entered the spaceship, Biggie started to find himself admiring Gu Ding and Liliath’s lives. Their spaceship had a homey feel and it was big enough, even for Biggie. The thing he loved most about the spaceship was the spacious open kitchen, and at that very moment, he suddenly had a strong urge. He wanted to stay.

However, he soon felt ashamed of his thoughts. His head told him that he did not have any valuable skills and all he would do was eat up their food supply, which would mean nothing but trouble for them.

Gu Ding quickly got busy in the kitchen while Liliath served Biggie a drink.

“Make yourself at home. Here’s a drink to get your blood sugar up first, Gu Ding will be done in a jiffy.” Liliath turned on the video projection so Biggie would feel more at ease while Neptune switched it to the local frequency band.

They were showing information about the Food Festival on the screen. Biggie, who felt a little restrained at first, soon relaxed a little because most of his attention was diverted toward the projected program.

With Liliath’s unique observational skills, she quickly noticed that when the cook appeared in the show, Biggie would stare at the cook’s movements. She sneaked into the kitchen and told Gu Ding about her discovery.

“Lili, are you saying that we should ask Uncle to be our cook?” Gu Ding raised his eyebrows. After he gave it a thought, he decided that it was a good idea and said, “Alright, now it only depends whether Uncle agrees to it or not.”

The egg fried rice was served quickly. When Gu Ding considered Biggie’s body size, he guessed that he was a big eater, so he prepared a full pot’s worth of food.

When Biggie smelled the aroma of the food, he almost drooled. After he thanked the two of them profusely, he began wolfing the whole thing down. The entire pot of egg fried rice was emptied in under two minutes, not a single grain of rice was left.

“That was really delicious!” Biggie gave Gu Ding a thumbs up as he licked his lips.

“Uncle, would you consider staying as our cook?” Gu Ding suddenly offered the position.

“Your cook?” The offer took Biggie by surprise. “But I don’t have any qualifications to be a cook. Furthermore, I’ve only been to a kitchen once all my life, only to be kicked out right after.”

“But your dream is to be a cook, right?” Gu Ding’s question struck an emotional chord.

Biggie fell quiet…

At that moment, Liliath placed the rice paddle onto Biggie’s hand, “Why don’t you give it a try? If you really think you can’t we won’t force it onto you.”

Gu Ding nodded in agreement.

Biggie looked at the large open kitchen a few feet away then turned to look down at the rice paddle in his hand, “Well… I’ll give it a try…”

“All of the ingredients are in the fridge. Use whatever you want!” Gu Ding shouted at him with his thumbs up as Biggie walked toward the kitchen.

Biggie racked through his brain for any dishes he had secretly picked up over the years as he rummaged through the refrigerator to find the ingredients for them. There was a variety of ingredients in the refrigerator as prepared by Liliath and that gave Biggie a lot of choices to choose from. Soon after, he picked out three dishes to try his hand at.

The moment he clenched the kitchen knife in his hands, he was filled with energy.

When Gu Ding and Liliath heard the speed of the chopping sound created from the kitchen knife colliding with the chopping board, they were surprised, to say the least. They were surprised because Biggie’s chopping sounded professional.

“Neptune, what do you think of him?”

“I looked up his information. He’s an orphan and was sent to a youth detention center previously for stealing food when he was seven years old. During his time in juvie, he had his first fight which awakened his first ability, Knife Heart. After his ability was awakened, he disappeared for three years. Three years later, he reappeared in Derisis.

All his memories of those three years have been erased. The only thing that changed was his body shape.” Even though Neptune investigated in detail, he could not find data on where Biggie had gone in those three years.

“His body size? What do you mean by his body size changed?” The statement intrigued Liliath.

“He was thin and tiny before this, around the same size as Gu Ding. After going missing for three years, he grew more than two meters, becoming the muscular man that you see today. His change wasn’t caused by his special ability. In fact, it can only be achieved through long-term exercising and regular medicine shots.” Neptune explained.

“What kind of ability is Knife Heart? Is it related to knives?” Gu Ding was interested in Biggie’s special ability.

“He can tell everything about a knife in an instant, which is an ability admired by countless people in martial arts. He had managed to master the realm where he is one with the knife at just seven years old.” Neptune’s explanation made Gu Ding and Liliath’s jaws drop as they listened in awe. “However, I suspect that his super ability may have been seized.”