"Delicious! This is delicious! The meat is incredible, and this one too! What a delight!" Ye Lan excimed between bites, devouring the food at an astonishing pace. She held a skewer of meat in each hand, alternating between them without pause.

  It was almost unbelievable that someone with such a small frame could eat so much. The food on the table disappeared rapidly, and Chen Peng began to feel nervous, gncing toward the kitchen and the visibly stunned chef.

  "Boss! Another round of the same dishes we ordered earlier, please!" Chen Peng called out urgently.

  "Coming right up!"

  The owner, a mix of thrilled and bewildered, rushed to fulfill the order. This customer was something else entirely. He could only hope he had enough ingredients on hand, after all, this was a tavern, not a restaurant.

  Lamb, beef, chicken, duck... Ye Lan left nothing untouched. Ptes emptied one after another, stacking so high that they nearly obscured Chen Peng's view of her.

  "Ye Lan, you're truly increíble, not just your combat skills but your appetite too" Chen Peng remarked with an awkward smile, dabbing sweat from his forehead with a napkin.

  Glup!

  Ye Lan swallowed a rge piece of beef, but her expression changed immediately. She pounded her chest with her fist to ease the feeling of choking.

  "Hey! Don’t tell me you’re falling for me or something! Let me warn you, I don’t like men!" she decred, narrowing her eyes at Chen Peng in mock arm.

  "I already have a girlfriend! And besides, I’m not into that sort of thing!" Chen Peng excimed, waving his hands frantically in defense.

  "Bah! So unfair. You already have a girlfriend, so why don’t I?" Ye Lan sighed deeply, her expression momentarily mencholic, as if reminiscing about her past life as a man.

  Chen Peng froze, utterly stunned. A girlfriend? Good grief! Could it be...? No, no, that’s impossible. Still... I better make sure she never meets my girlfriend. Who knows? She might steal her! (After all, my girlfriend did have a certain taste for unique traits...).

  As he watched Ye Lan continue devouring rge pieces of meat with unrelenting enthusiasm, something suddenly struck him as odd. Why was she still wearing a hat, even while eating?

  "Aren’t you hot with that hat on? Why don’t you take it off?" Chen Peng asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he reached out to touch it.

  "No!" Ye Lan excimed, her voice sharp as she quickly brought her hands to her head, firmly holding the hat in pce.

  Startled by her sudden reaction, Chen Peng withdrew his hand and apologized timidly. "I’m sorry, that was really thoughtless of me"

  "Well... the truth is, this hat holds special meaning for me. I don’t usually take it off" Ye Lan lied, trying to defuse the situation.

  The real reason, of course, was to conceal her animal-like features. As long as the hat stayed on, she felt she could interact with others without issue. However, the events of her past had left her with a lingering trauma she had yet to overcome.

  Chen Peng listened to Ye Lan’s expnation without pressing further, immediately letting his imagination run wild.

  "I get it now! It’s just like Luffy in One Piece! That hat must have been given to you by someone really important, right?! I totally get it, really!" he excimed excitedly, barely stopping himself from shouting 'I’m going to be the King of the Pirates!'

  Ye Lan felt a bit awkward but nodded. When it comes to an overactive imagination, you really are in a league of your own. She thought.

  "Changing the subject, judging by your looks, you’ve just arrived in the United States, haven’t you? What are you doing here? Wouldn’t it have been better to stay in your own country?" Ye Lan asked as she polished off the st skewer of meat.

  Chen Peng gave a bitter smile, csping his hands and resting his chin on them.

  "I didn’t have much of a choice. My mother insisted I come here. She says that even though the world has changed, a degree is still the most important thing. That if I don’t get a degree and a good job, she’s going to be furious. So, I had no option but to come" Chen Peng expined with frustration.

  Ye Lan pursed her lips and crossed her arms. Seriously? People still think a degree is the most important thing? If you lose your life, what’s the point of a diploma? Parents these days really overvalue education.

  "You should’ve stood up to her!" Ye Lan excimed.

  "I tried, but my mom is very stubborn. You know how the older generation is, it’s hard to reason with them, especially about education" Chen Peng replied, shrugging his shoulders.

  Ye Lan remained silent. As an orphan, she couldn’t fully rete to Chen Peng’s struggles, but she knew better than to press further.

  Shaking herself lightly, she suddenly stood up with a cheerful smile.

  "Now that we’re full and satisfied, let’s go!" she announced.

  "Huh? So soon? Those guys are probably still outside..." Chen Peng said nervously.

  "Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered" Ye Lan replied confidently, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. With her hands in her pockets, she strolled out of the tavern as if nothing could faze her.

  Just as she anticipated, the thugs were still loitering outside. Upon seeing Ye Lan and Chen Peng step out, their initial surprise quickly turned into twisted grins.

  "So, you finally decided to come out. I’ve got to admit, ignoring us took some guts" one of the thugs sneered, casually spinning a sharp knife in his hand.

  Chen Peng swallowed hard, his nervousness evident, but Ye Lan stepped forward with unwavering composure.

  "What’s with all the chatter? If you want something, come at me. Or are you too scared?" she taunted, tilting her head slightly and meeting their eyes with confidence.

  Ye Lan had already assessed their levels beforehand, they were all at level 20, just within her detection range. Even without her [Phantom Star] equipment, she knew their pitiful knives wouldn’t come close to breaching her defenses.

  Looking at Ye Lan’s confident attitude, the thugs frowned, clearly annoyed.

  "Alright then, we’ll teach you a lesson!"

  Just as the thugs prepared to attack, a sleek bck luxury car sped toward them, skidding to a halt right beside Ye Lan and Chen Peng.

  In an instant, several men in bck suits exited the vehicle, moving with precision and efficiency. Before the thugs could react, they were swiftly pinned to the ground.

  "Lady Priestess! Why did you leave without informing us? We were almost te! If anything had happened to you, we wouldn’t have been able to face the consequences" one of the men said anxiously, addressing Ye Lan with reverence.

  Ye Lan pursed her lips, visibly annoyed. She had been hoping for some action, but these men had arrived too quickly and ruined her fun.

  Meanwhile, Chen Peng stood frozen, his eyes wide with disbelief. He immediately recognized the man who had spoken, he was a high-ranking UN official! Chen Peng had even seen him standing alongside the President of the United States during televised events.

  For someone of such stature to speak so respectfully to Ye Lan was beyond anything Chen Peng could comprehend.

  "Y-Ye Lan, W-who are you really?" he stammered, swallowing hard as his mind raced to piece together the situation.

  Ye Lan gnced at Chen Peng’s stunned expression, then sighed, her frustration giving way to resignation. It seemed there was no point in trying to hide the truth any longer.

  Ye Lan removed her hat, revealing a pair of furry ears.

  "I... I’m from the Beastkin race..."

  Chen Peng was utterly speechless. Everything suddenly made sense, the effortless way she had thrown a man with one hand and her insistence on keeping her hat on, even while eating.

  He stared at her, his mind racing to process what he had just learned. The Beastkin race, a group that until now he had only heard about in official reports, was real, and standing right in front of him.

  He could never have imagined that she belonged to the beastkin race, which until now was only known through public information.

  Suvn