149 Roasted Chicken Wings

"Good, just like that. Now, release your hellfire."

"Don't be impatient. You must maintain a balance of power and not let your emotions affect you!"

"Good performance, keep it up."

"Hold it steady! Steady! Hey, why are you messing up again?!"

Jos looked at the charred chicken wings in his hand—burnt on the outside and raw on the inside—and glared with dissatisfaction at the flames on Ghost Rider's head. He then tossed the piece of carbon into the trash can nearby.

This stuff simply could not complete the system quest. Obviously, successfully grilling a skewer of chicken wings was the only way to count as a success; any other finished product that was undercooked or burnt counted for nothing.

"What is the point of this kind of thing..." Compelled by Jos's overwhelming might, Ghost Rider didn't dare to speak his anger, so he simply sat on the ground and served as a human-shaped gas stove.

This was the training method Jos had invented for him. Before the items from Tony Stark arrived, Johnny had to try roasting a batch of chicken wings with hellfire, and only when he succeeded would his training be complete.

Jos tapped Ghost Rider's bones with his barbecue skewer and said, "How can it be useless? Look at you, you can even talk now, right? Could you do that before?"

"Uh... I suppose so...?" Johnny's face... oh, he didn't have a face right now so his expression was unreadable, but his voice was clearly a bit hesitant.

Although what you're saying sounds very reasonable, I still feel like something is not quite right...

Jos casually picked up a new skewer of chicken wings, placed them over the hellfire burning on Johnny's body, and basted them with oil as he spoke:

"You need to know that controlling the size of the flame so they don't burn is training for the release level of your power. Maintaining the exact same temperature for a long time is training for your control, and also... and also... well... figure it out yourself! I'm training you and you still ask so many questions!"

Johnny, who had been yelled at for no apparent reason, wore a blank expression—or rather, a blank skull—yet he had to admit that the two points Jos mentioned were actually somewhat useful. He could only shut his mouth and continue regulating the flames.

[You have successfully grilled the chicken wings!]

[Quest completed]

[Obtained Source of Courting Death *40,000]

[Extra obtained: Hellfire Chicken Wings *3]

After wasting nearly five pounds of chicken wings, Jos finally managed to grill a proper skewer. Hearing the completion prompt from the system, Jos finally wore a satisfied smile.

Although halfway through the process, the hellfire controlled by Johnny had already reached a stable temperature without flickering, his own grilling technique clearly still needed improvement, otherwise he wouldn't have ruined so many batches.

"Well, I suppose I won't tell him about that part," Jos thought to himself.

Originally, according to the system's quests, this side branch offered the most points. The reason was undoubtedly that doing this would infuriate Ghost Rider, potentially causing him to abandon his mission of defeating the demons and come straight after Jos to kill him.

Moreover, the Ghost Rider one would face under those circumstances would undoubtedly be at full health with all buffs active. By then, let alone beating him up effortlessly like now, it was a toss-up whether Jos and the others could even manage to escape.

However, Jos had previously taken advantage of Johnny's distraction and the moment of his transformation under extreme anger to absorb a portion of the hellfire, leaving Ghost Rider in a weakened state. Then, a barrage of verbal sparring had completely bewildered him, so Jos naturally had no fear of any attacks from him.

"So this thing... does any of you want to taste it?"

Lifting the hellfire-grilled chicken wings in his hand, Jos looked toward the three women. All three of them shook their heads in unison, and even the little foodie Xiao Hei showed no sign of interest in the item.

After all, this thing was supposedly roasted with hellfire, the flame of demons. Who knew if there would be any problems after eating it?

Looking at this rare... bizarre delicacy, Jos for the first time experienced the dilemma of not knowing whether it tasted good or bad, feeling that discarding it would be a bit of a waste.

Ultimately, driven by the spirit of "seeking death leads to no death, but if you court death you might not die, yet if you must die you have to court death," Jos gritted his teeth and took a bite.

"This flavor?!"

The moment the chicken wing touched the tip of his tongue, an incomparable, wonderful taste exploded inside Jos's mouth!

Unfortunately, he was no culinary connoisseur, so he couldn't utter any earth-shattering reviews.

Nor was he a food critic from some culinary manga, unable to unleash the power of food to forcefully blast away all his clothing without damaging a single inch of his skin.

Therefore, he could only catch his breath and let out a mighty roar: "It's so damn good, ahhhhh!!!!"

Startled by the sudden roar, Lilith and the others looked at Jos. At first, they thought he was joking or trying to trick them into tasting a bite.

Before any of them could react, Jos had already wolfed down the remaining two chicken wings in the blink of an eye!

"Wait? Is it really that good?" Xiao Hei, being a dedicated foodie, was the first one who couldn't sit still anymore.

"He must be joking... It's definitely one of those terrible-tasting things, and he's just putting on an act on purpose," Tornado furrowed her brows, searching for a reasonable explanation.

"But he ate all of them," Lilith said concisely, exposing the truth in a single sentence.

In fact, Jos had no intention of tricking anyone. His hands moved extremely quickly as he placed a dozen more skewers of chicken wings directly onto Ghost Rider's body to roast.

Originally, the girls thought Jos was just messing around on a whim out of boredom. Seeing this scene now, none of them had any lingering doubts, and their gazes were firmly fixed on the chicken wings in Jos's hands.

"I'm telling you guys... don't go too far!!!"

Johnny, who had remained silent all this time after being forcibly used as a barbecue grill, finally couldn't help roaring in anger. His eyes, burning with infernal flames, glared straight at Jos!

Seeing the flames in the other's eyes flicker unpredictably, Jos's expression also turned serious. Ghost Rider's right hand lashed out fiercely, and three burning fingers slashed toward Jos!

"I want forty percent! Since I grilled them, asking for forty percent isn't too much, right?"

Jos's expression remained unchanged as he skillfully flipped the skewers in his hand, casually tossing away two burnt ones. He glanced sideways at Ghost Rider and said lightly, "At most twenty percent. There are four people on our side, so any less won't be enough to eat."

Ghost Rider slammed his hand against the ground as raging hellfire surged upward, roaring, "No way! At least thirty percent!"

Jos narrowed his eyes slightly, tossed away two more charred chicken wings, and snorted coldly, "Twenty-five percent, not a single percent more."

Ghost Rider let out a heavy breath, nodded fiercely, and said, "Deal!"

He never expected that he would one day have a chance to walk the path of the God of Cookery, even though it had entirely nothing to do with him.

Sighing inwardly with a faint sense of pride, Jos casually tossed away two more burnt chicken wings.

"Enough, step aside. I'll do it," Tornado finally couldn't watch any longer.