173: Icefield trip comes to an end

Alpha Luo's stiff facial muscles twitched. At first, there was shock, followed by intense resistance, but seeing Setsuno's seemingly gentle yet actually unyielding gaze, and recalling the terrifying pressure from just moments ago... his livid complexion gradually eased, though it remained unpleasant.

"Hmph!" He let out a heavy, cold snort, clearly extremely dissatisfied yet helpless.

He carefully supported the gourmet box with one arm, while the fingertips of his other hand gathered a sliver of energy. Like the most dexterous spoon, he quickly extracted a small portion—about one-fifth of the dreamlike liquid inside the box, roughly the size of an egg.

Without using any container, he casually and with a hint of spiteful force, "tossed" this small portion of century soup through the air toward Lin Luo!

The crystalline century soup traced a colorful arc through the air, appearing as if it might scatter and drip away at any moment, wasted in this frozen wilderness. This was both a gift and a silent challenge—if you couldn't catch it, that would be your own problem.

However, Lin Luo was prepared.

His Divine Sense had already spread out like the most precise spider web. The moment the century soup left Alpha Luo's hand, his invisible Divine Sense power softly and firmly enveloped and lifted it, forming an intangible "bubble" that steadily caught the precious liquid.

Then, with a thought, the archaic pendant hanging around his neck glowed slightly. His Divine Sense, wrapping around the century soup, silently guided it into a clean container inside the pendant.

Watching Lin Luo accept that portion of century soup so effortlessly, Alpha Luo's expression turned even uglier, yet he remained helpless.

He let out a heavy snort, said no more, and tightly guarded the remaining gourmet box as he walked toward the direction of Domiロット and the others, his figure gradually disappearing from sight.

Granny Setsuno watched Alpha Luo's retreating figure, then looked at Lin Luo beside her, who was calm and had already achieved part of his wish. The smile on her face deepened as she turned and continued walking: "Let's go, the little ones are still waiting."

"Screech—!"

A clear and piercing cry tore through the sky above the ice field! The sky was suddenly shrouded by a massive shadow.

Lin Luo looked up to see a massive Emperor Crow with feathers as black as ink and eyes as sharp as knives spreading its wings and circling down. On the crow's broad back, the man sitting steadily was none other than Coco.

"Coco?" Lin Luo smiled. "Why did you come all the way to this frozen wilderness?"

Coco "looked" at Lin Luo seriously. With just one glance, an undisguised look of surprise appeared on Coco's face.

"Lin Luo... the 'magnetic field' fluctuations on you have become stronger again, and much stronger at that!" Coco's tone was filled with awe. "I had a premonition that your trip this time would be dangerous, and I couldn't rest easy, so I specifically asked Granny Setsuno to intervene and help."

Granny Setsuno nodded with a smile: "Little Coco's divination is always very accurate. Thank you for making this trip."

Coco shook his head to indicate it was no trouble, then said: "I have already captured the presence of Toriko and the others underground, and there are quite a few of them. Please follow me, I will lead the way."

The Emperor Crow let out a high-pitched cry, flapped its wings, and took off, kicking up a flurry of snow as it flew toward the collapsed cave entrance deep within the ice canyon.

"Let's go too," Granny Setsuno said to Lin Luo, then raised her hand and gently patted her meticulously styled pink hair.

Poo-choo~

A strange, pink, translucent creature, only the size of a thumb and shaped like a jellyfish, actually popped out from her hair bun! It wiggled its tiny tentacles and emitted a faint, cute sound like a bubble popping.

Under Lin Luo's surprised gaze, this little jellyfish began to expand rapidly, as if it were a balloon being blown up! Its body became transparent and elastic, quickly enlarging to the size of a small airship, its pink hue appearing incredibly dreamlike against the backdrop of ice and snow.

Even more miraculously, one of its thick tentacles, as if possessing a life of its own, flexibly extended and transformed, forming a sturdy and elastic pink "staircase" in front of Granny Setsuno and Lin Luo, connecting all the way to an opening on the side of its round "body".

"This is... alive?" Lin Luo pointed at the "biological airship" before him. Even though he was experienced and knowledgeable, he couldn't help but feel shocked.

"That's right~" Granny Setsuno stepped onto the soft pink staircase with a steady pace and smiled as she explained, "This is a 'Ginseng Jellyfish', a very rare and gentle flying creature, and it is very much alive. The space inside its body is very comfortable and suitable for long-distance travel. Alright, hurry and come in, we need to go pick up little Erina."

She looked back at Lin Luo with a hint of playful reproach in her tone: "You really are careless, just leaving little Erina in the care of that scatterbrained Toriko."

Lin Luo rubbed his nose and followed, feeling a bit embarrassed: "That's because there wasn't any danger left down there..."

Stepping onto the staircase, the texture was warm and elastic, as if treading on Advanced gel. Entering the interior of the Ginseng Jellyfish through the opening that acted as a "cabin door," the scene before him was an eye-opener for Lin Luo.

The interior space was much more spacious than it looked from the outside. The overall aesthetic was a soft, translucent pink tone. The walls seemed to be made of jelly-like biological tissue, cool to the touch, and emitting a faint, refreshing fragrance.

Beneath his feet was an equally elastic "floor." The entire interior was cleverly divided into different functional areas: a well-equipped small kitchen, a bathroom with a biomass purification System, a living room with comfortable soft cushions, and even several small resting rooms separated by thin biological membranes. Light filtered in through the translucent walls, soft and bright.

Most amazingly, looking out through those transparent "walls," one could clearly see the ice field landscape outside sweeping past rapidly. The Ginseng Jellyfish was floating lightly in the air, moving with elegance and not lacking in speed at all, steadily following the flight path of the Emperor Crow, Kiss, in front.

This was simply a living, fully biological Advanced aerial RV!

Lin Luo sat on the soft cushions in the living room, feeling the wonderful elasticity beneath him and watching the flying ice and snow world outside the window. In his heart, he once again marveled at the wonder of this world's creatures and the incredibility of gourmet technology.

Soon, the Ginseng Jellyfish airship arrived at the side of an ice cliff, where there was a huge cave opening blasted open by the aftermath of the battle. Toriko, Komatsu, Erina, Teppei, Tina, and Sunny were gathered at the edge of the cave, looking down at the bottomless crevice below and the vast ice field in the distance, seemingly worried about how to leave.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone!" A clear shout came from the air.

Everyone looked up to see the Emperor Crow, Kiss, gracefully circling above them. Coco stood on the crow's back, adjusted his sunglasses, and waved with a smile toward those below.

"Mr. Coco!" Komatsu was the first to shout in surprise.

"Coco?!" Toriko was also full of surprise, which then turned into a hearty laugh. "How did you end up coming here too, you guy!"

"Coco of the Four Heavenly Kings..." Machi looked up at the figure in the sky, muttering to himself, a flash of complexity in his eyes.

However, before they could recover from the surprise of Coco's appearance, everyone's gaze was firmly captured by that large pink jellyfish slowly hovering beside the Emperor Crow, its size comparable to a medium-sized airliner!

"What... what is that thing?!" Machi's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but exclaim.

"A pink... jellyfish flying in the sky?!" Komatsu also had his mouth wide open.

"Could it be..." Surprise appeared on Teppei's face.

Just as everyone was marveling, a transparent "membrane" on the side of the pink jellyfish airship, resembling a porthole, was pushed open. Granny Setsuno revealed a kind smile, waved vigorously toward those below, and shouted with great vitality:

"Hey—!! I've come to pick you up—!!!"

"Granny Setsuno!!" Toriko, seeing who it was, immediately shouted excitedly and waved his arms vigorously.

"Granny Setsuno? Could it be..." As a gourmet reporter, Tina knew the big shots of the Gourmet World like the back of her hand. She carefully scrutinized the short old woman by the window, and a look of unbelievable shock gradually appeared on her face. "Gourmet Human National Treasure—Lady Setsuno?!"

"That's right! It's Granny Setsuno!" Komatsu nodded vigorously, his face full of pride.

"Another incredible big shot has arrived..." Machi muttered, watching the jellyfish airship and Setsuno by the window.

"Yo, hurry up and come aboard, everyone." Lin Luo's smiling face appeared in everyone's line of sight as well.

Toriko laughed and looked at the others around him. "I told you he wouldn't be in any trouble."

Tina's eyes lit up, and she waved vigorously. "Lin Luo."

Just as everyone was immersed in the joy of surprise and reunion, a thick and soft pink tentacle at the bottom of the pink jellyfish airship, like a living escalator, slowly extended and descended, precisely landing on the ice at the edge of the cave opening.

Even more miraculously, the surface of this tentacle naturally formed flat, stable, staircase-like organs, making it easy for people to climb and walk.

"You all crawled out of such a strange place," Granny Setsuno said with a smile, looking at the disheveled but spirited group below. "If it weren't for Coco's divination, I wouldn't have been able to find this obscure corner. Alright, hurry up and come aboard! Looking at you, you must be starving, right? There are so many kinds of delicious food prepared on the airship!"

"Really?!"

"Great!!"

"There's food!!"

The group, already famished and having gone through successive fierce battles and scares, burst into cheers upon hearing this! Toriko took the lead, followed closely by Komatsu and Erina. Takimaru, Teppei, and Tina also followed suit, and the Wall Penguin cub hopped along with the group, running up the elastic pink "staircase tentacle" toward the dreamlike airship cabin door above.

"Hey! Who is that old woman who suddenly popped up? What is she trying to do?!" Only Sunny remained standing in place with his arms crossed, a confused expression on his face.

His yellow-haired subordinate hurriedly whispered to persuade him: "Boss, that is an incredible big shot! And she said there's delicious food up there! Let's hurry and follow, otherwise, we'll really be left behind in this frozen wilderness!"

"Right! There's food!" Sunny's eyes lit up, and he instantly threw his confusion to the back of his mind. Waving his hand, he shouted, "Boys, charge with me!" As he spoke, he strode forward, joining the boarding line with his two subordinates.

Machi took one last look at this Ice Hell that had left them with such deep memories, then looked up at the incredible biological airship, sighed softly, and said to his three injured subordinates beside him: "Let's go. We're going up too. Seeing a big shot of this level in person for the first time... it was worth the trip." The four of them no longer hesitated and stepped onto the soft staircase tentacle.

Soon, everyone entered the warm, comfortable, and food-scented interior of the Ginseng Jellyfish airship. As the last person entered, the cabin door closed silently. The staircase tentacle also flexibly retracted, merging into the jellyfish's body.