Who has ever killed a mountain chicken the size of a pig?
Ellie grabbed the metal hose and poured clean water into the big pot.
"Such a waste!"
"Even Zach the chef doesn't use water like that."
"Stop bragging. Let's see how she handles this! She's definitely going to have to pay for the water!"
Ellie didn't pay attention to any of this.
She didn't have a conscience.
In the wasteland world, water was precious, but in her memory, the spoiled children of the Shen family took baths every day, and they were in huge bathtubs.
Even Yazhi had a small pool.
A pool!
This pot of water wasn't even as much as their footbath water.
Save water? Was she supposed to save it for their footbath?
Better to handle the mountain chicken properly and make some star coins.
Once the water was nearly full, she pressed the mechanical button with a flame symbol on the control panel.
A light blue flame appeared under the pot.
Ellie grabbed the dying mountain chicken by the neck and started plucking its feathers without expression.
With each flick of her hand, the chicken's neck got a bald spot.
The people who had come back from outside the base went through radiation treatment at the entrance, with methods Ellie didn't understand.
So she wasn't worried about radiation while handling the chicken.
The half-dead chicken's eyes drooped, its neck soft.
Ellie rubbed the chicken's neck a few times.
Such a long neck. If it were made into a Zhou black duck, it would sell for 250 a box!
"Do you even know how to handle a phoenix?"
"If you don't, just say so. Don't waste everyone's time." One of the team members was unhappy.
They hadn't seen Zach handle a phoenix, but they figured that plucking feathers wasn't done starting at the neck.
"You talk too much. When you guys are out hunting beasts, do you talk this much?"
"You..."
Ellie glanced around and took out a stainless steel basin from below the control panel.
She washed it in the pot, then placed it on the ground.
"Do you want the chicken blood? Or should I say, phoenix blood?"
The team leader shook his head.
Next to the control panel was a waste blood container. The dried blood inside showed that the beast blood was usually poured into the dirty disposal pit.
When she got a clear answer that they didn't want the blood, Ellie continued working.
She pulled out a knife and swiftly cut across the chicken's neck.
The familiar feeling. It reminded her of her farm days, making her want to stretch her fingers a bit, feeling nostalgic.
The chicken didn't struggle at all. Its huge head tilted, completely lifeless.
The bright red chicken blood poured into the basin.
Drop by drop, plop plop plop.
The sound echoed in the ears of those around her.
Such a big chicken, and just the blood filled the basin. Too bad they didn't have any salt, or the chicken blood would have coagulated faster.
After the bleeding stopped, the water in the pot had also boiled.
The chicken was so big, it wouldn't fit in the pot.
Using her strength, Ellie couldn't lift the nearly 200-pound chicken, so she grabbed a knife and first chopped off two large chicken legs.
Turning off the fire, she threw both the chicken legs and the body into the boiling water. Using a big iron shovel, she stirred the water a few times to ensure the chicken was fully submerged.
"Now what is she doing?"
"Is she boiling it directly? Aren't we supposed to cook it last? It still has feathers!"
The people gathered around in a circle, chatting nonstop.
The robot came over to join in the fun, its little red eyes spinning.
The team leader crossed his arms, looking like he was waiting for a good show.
The ten nutrient pills were right in front of them.
Officially, everyone's nutrient pills were distributed by the government.
But that was just on the surface. In the black market, a single nutrient pill could be sold for 500 star coins, so it was worth making some profit.
Thinking of this, the team leader relaxed, his frown disappearing.
Ellie timed it, and when the skin on the chicken's legs could be easily peeled off, she quickly fished out one big chicken leg and started plucking the feathers.
Large black feathers came off easily.
Of course, these couldn't be thrown away. She piled them on the ground, planning to take them home and deal with them later.
At this point, the others realized.
"Wait, does boiling the chicken first make it easier to pluck the feathers?"
"It seems so. Look how easily she's handling it."
The crowd of onlookers thought it was funny.
Ellie thought to herself, "Easy? Not at all, this is a hot potato."
But when she thought about the rewards she would get soon, she could bear with it.
After becoming the white-strip chicken, Ellie took the knife.
"Do you want the phoenix head, the phoenix claws, or the phoenix innards?"
"No, no, who wants those?" The team leader shook his head like a rattle drum.
Ellie only asked this to follow the procedure.
In her past life, she had dealt with people who bought vegetables and grains, so she always asked beforehand, or she would dig a hole for herself.
This wasn't a cultivation world; the only use of the exotic beast here was as food, and no one would want the innards.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She chopped off the chicken head and claws and threw them aside.
She cut along the chicken's belly, from bottom to top.
She pulled out the chicken's intestines, along with egg yolks the size of cantaloupes and apples—these were unformed chicken eggs.
This confirmed Ellie's thoughts.
This was a mutated ordinary mountain chicken, with internal organs just like a normal chicken.
She squeezed the chicken's poop out of the intestines.
The chicken's poop was silver-white and had no smell.
"Little girl, can these be eaten?" the team leader asked.
"Yes!" Ellie replied.
The intestines could definitely be eaten, as long as they were properly processed.
"That's fine then," the team leader quickly grabbed an empty bowl and scooped the silver-white poop into it.
Ellie: ...
"This doesn't have much nutritional value, so maybe we shouldn't eat it," she said, worried about them getting a stomach ache.
She didn't want to get blamed later.
Then came the innards that the team leader didn't want, such as the chicken heart, liver, and kidneys. Ellie had already figured out how to eat them.
There was also thick chicken fat.
Unfortunately, the team leader tightly held onto the bowl of chicken poop, not even looking at the innards that everyone knew were useless.
"Do you want me to cut it?"
Ellie asked naturally, holding the knife.
The team leader and others had now confirmed that this girl really could process the phoenix, and she was doing it very skillfully.
"Cut, cut, go ahead," the team leader said, nodding.
Of course, they wanted it cut. Otherwise, they would have to cut it themselves when they got back, and that could cause problems with uneven portions or poor presentation, lowering the price.
Ellie moved the knife quickly.
She cut the neck, wings, and body into almost equal pieces.
Bang!
With one last sharp swing, the blade of the cleaver slammed into the stainless steel cutting board.
The cleaver bounced up.
Oops!
She had forgotten where she was, still thinking it was her wooden board at home.
Fortunately, her reflexes were quick, and she caught the handle, pressing the cleaver back onto the cutting board.
"Nice!"
The crowd, enjoying the show, started clapping.
"Okay, it's all done, check to make sure there's no problem," Ellie said with a forced smile, remembering how close the blade had come to her face.
The team leader was also a bit stunned. After the previous chefs finished, they would just leave, no one ever checked anything. Who dared?
But this little girl was surprisingly considerate.
The phoenix was such a valuable ingredient, and the price was high. He didn't mind, so he went up to inspect the pieces.
The cuts were smooth, the sizes were even, and there were no feathers.
He believed even if Chef Li came, it would be the same level of skill.
Of course, he wouldn't say that out loud.
"Not bad, not bad," the team leader nodded repeatedly.
"Okay, if everything checks out, then let's settle the payment, 2500 star coins," Ellie said, raising her small arm and shaking her bracelet.
"Uh..."
Seeing the leader hesitate, Ellie's face darkened. "You're not trying to avoid paying, are you?"