"Who are we?"
"Hehehehe..."
"Merely castaways of a new world!"
The first creature, with three heads and six arms, green skin, fangs, and flowing green hair, declared, "I am Montocatu, Lord of the Old Days, one of the rulers of the previous cosmic era!"
The second, with dragon wings, a serpent's tail, an alligator's head, and ox horns, its body encased in scales, stated, "I am Tuga, the Good Dragon, a god of faith and sincerity, the protector of intelligent beings!"
The third, round like a ball, with white wings, a massive eye dominating its entire form, and surrounded by metallic rings, announced,
"Nivida, the All-Seeing Eye, the embodiment of truth and knowledge! Ruler of the Heavenly Paradise!"
The fourth, lacking a physical form, shrouded in thick mist within which coiled what seemed like octopus tentacles and serpentine bodies, declared,
"Camons, the Mysterious Hidden One, a collection of shadows and secrets!"
Such grand titles!
Montocatu, Lord of the Old Days?
Tuga, the Good Dragon?
Nivida, the All-Seeing Eye?
Camons, the Shadow?
These titles hardly seemed to belong to the Gourmet World.
"So, the four of you are what are called gods?"
"Yes, at least, we were!"
"Then why are you here?"
"It is a long story."
The four creatures, led by Montocatu, exuded an aura of past power.
With a wave of its hand, Montocatu conjured illusions, showing the convergence and transformation of stars.
Montocatu raised its six arms, its voice seeming to echo from the ancient past: "Aeons ago, before the universe was reintegrated, we already sought to dominate this boundless existence."
"In a certain interlude, a new power suddenly emerged within our universe, entirely new and unknown."
"Through our investigations, we discovered this substance originated from an unknown extraterrestrial space, and it caused panic among the gods. Anything unknown like this, we always sought to destroy."
In the illusion.
There was a planet similar to Earth, where delicacies were brewing!
"Gourmet Cells!" Zhang Wei exclaimed.
"You call it that..."
Montocatu continued, "This power was highly contagious, transforming everything on this planet, granting its inhabitants extraordinary abilities far beyond what they should possess."
"Simultaneously, it birthed an essence that even gods coveted—a wondrous flavor condensed from the very earth."
"With that energy, several nascent cosmic beings were born on this planet, driven by an obsessive pursuit of deliciousness, and they spread... these so-called Gourmet Cells."
"Wherever these cells went, they subtly altered everything."
"Transforming ordinary, useless matter into food that could sustain the energy of cosmic beings."
"At that time, our perspective changed. We regarded this power as a supreme treasure, yearning to use it to transform the desolate universe."
According to Montocatu's description, the universe back then was nothing but barren rocks. Planets that could nurture life, like Earth, were as rare as pearls in a sea of sand.
In a way, it was quite similar to the universe Zhang Wei had known before.
Later, through the propagation of these beings, Gourmet Cells spread throughout the universe, indeed creating considerable splendor.
It was during that time that beings like Montocatu underwent the transformation from cosmic beings to gods, a leap in power measured in billions, surpassing countless of their peers.
Consequently, the power level of this universe advanced by several stages.
"Isn't... isn't that a good thing?"
"A good thing? Hehehehe..."
In Montocatu's eyes,