Chapter 42 - 40 - Huh?

Back in Boulder Town, Wende told Stelle to go explain the situation to Natasha herself. Then, under Stelle's resentful gaze, he returned alone to the Goethe Hotel. March 7th and Dan Heng were still in the Robot Settlement helping Clara with a few things, leaving Wende as the only guest in the hotel at the moment. "Dr. Wende, you're back! You've worked so hard lately. I'll go to the kitchen and whip up a few good dishes for you in a bit." The owner, who was sitting at the entrance, enthusiastically rushed over the moment he saw Wende. After all, the entire Underworld had witnessed the contributions of the Trailblazer's team. While the residents couldn't offer much help, doing what they could for these heroes was a good deed in itself. "There's no need, boss. May I borrow your kitchen?" Wende asked the owner with a gentle smile. "Of course! The meal you cooked here last time smelled absolutely heavenly! You even shared some with us back then. To be honest, that was the best meal I've ever had in my life..." The owner's face was filled with awe. "Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it." Perhaps this was the joy of cooking. Whenever others praised his food, Wende always felt a faint warmth in his heart. Arriving in the back kitchen, Wende was faced with a dilemma as he looked at the bizarrely shaped ingredients before him. Life in the Underworld was incredibly difficult. The only source of meat here were the "magical little creatures" from underground, but... the most you could say about them was that their protein content was high. As for the taste... "Sigh..." Wende let out a deep sigh. This time, even a clever housewife couldn't cook without rice. Fortunately, there was a plant in the Underworld similar to a potato. Combined with the seasonings Wende still had left, he should be able to make a decent dinner... right? "What the hell is this! Sampo actually came to help us carrying Natasha's main body!" Kakaya, who had just finished his data calculations, jumped straight into the Svarog boss fight the moment he started his stream. The instant he saw Sampo arriving to assist while carrying Natasha's grenade launcher, he couldn't hold it in. "Pfft... HAHAHAHAHA! What a genius! Hahahaha!" Kakaya lost it on stream, and his viewers lost it even more. [Sampo: I shall attack in Natasha form!] [Fast forward to Sampo in a dress.] [Sampo: I'm a doctor, you know~] [I can't. Sampo lugged a cannon all the way back from Boulder Town.] [As expected of you!] [Lol] After this scene was posted on ACFun, the wider online community responded in kind. A massive wave of related meme videos quickly followed! Sampo-Natasha Face Swap Dancing to 'Dangerous Party'.mp4 Nata-san (Natasha with Sampo's Head) and Sampo in Titanic.mp4 MMD: Miss Sambo's Fatal Attraction.mp4 Sampo x Svarog: The Times Have Changed!.mp4 Never in a million years would the Follower of Elation, whose goal was to seek fun, have expected to become the biggest joke in the real world. But he wasn't the only one getting the meme treatment from the players. There was also our very own... Wende! Number one on the new releases list of a certain webnovel site: Star Rail: My Mother is Wende, a story about how Wende, having lost something precious due to the will of the great author, becomes the protagonist's mother and ends up joining the Astral Express with his child in tow. A meme fan-creation on ACFun: Star Rail Edition: Home with Kids Father: Wende Mother: Kafka Eldest Son: Trailblazer (Stelle) Second Son: March 7th (Mistake) Eldest Daughter: Dan Heng (Mistake) On the ACFun hot search list, "A Thesis on Why Wende is a God" successfully garnered over a million views. A well-known data-focused streamer compiled statistics on the ownership of Wende's Eidolons, and the results were unexpected. Although Wende was one of the starter "trio," only one percent of players had any of his Eidolons. Of that one percent, eighty percent only had him at Eidolon 1. Aside from the whales who could spend tens of thousands to pull on the standard banner, players with Eidolon 2 Wende were as rare as a phoenix's feather, to say nothing of a fully maxed-out Eidolon 6 Wende. Someone even did a comparative analysis: a single Eidolon 6 Wende would cost roughly 30,000 to 100,000 yuan, depending on the puller's luck. From the perspective of the current version, Wende had undoubtedly earned the title of a T0 F2P god-tier character. Even an E0 Wende could perfectly cover all the needs of an early-game player. Without considering Eidolons, Wende was a universal utility character who combined the Paths of Abundance and Harmony. If you added Eidolons to the mix, his power would become even greater! But, it all came back to that one saying! Wende, a rich lady's plaything! (Sour Grapes) "Wende! We're back!" March 7th waved at Wende, who was waiting at the entrance. Behind her and Dan Heng were Clara, Seele, and Bronya. When they heard that Wende was treating everyone to dinner as a rally before heading to the Overworld, everyone except for a puzzled-looking Clara showed expressions of excitement. Seele knew exactly how delicious Wende's cooking was. Back when she was spying on them under the big boss's orders, she was drooling so much her saliva nearly dripped down the streetlight! March looked like she was on the verge of tears. A beautiful girl's stomach truly couldn't take the torment of the Underworld's black bread any longer! Dan Heng remained expressionless, but a flicker of relief crossed his eyes. He hadn't eaten for a whole day and night... "It seems we've arrived just in time." Natasha and Stelle slowly walked toward the group. "Nata? You're here too!" Seele was a little surprised to see the approaching Natasha, but then figured that if she was invited, Natasha naturally wouldn't be left out. "Wende, I think you need to get your child under control," Natasha said, gently stroking Stelle's hair with a kind expression on her face. "Err... don't say it, let me guess..." Wende rubbed his temples, a headache forming as he looked at Natasha's expression. "She... went through the trash cans again?" Natasha shook her head. "Shook the streetlights?" Natasha still shook her head. "Neither of those, but... this child seems to have a lot in common with the scavengers..." Natasha said, her gaze complicated as she looked at the blushing Stelle. "She took every book and note she could find in the clinic, even the medical records..." "..." × N "Sigh..." Wende covered his face, utterly exhausted. "I'm sorry, Natasha. I'll supervise Stelle more closely in the future," Wende said, formally apologizing to her. "Mm..." Beside them, Dan Heng and March 7th looked at Wende and Stelle with complicated expressions. When... did they become a father-daughter pair? Aren't we all teammates?!!