Universe Infinite Canteen

Ma Lu had been confined to the small dark room for almost fifteen minutes when the door was opened again.

The monk standing outside the door was the same one as before, but the Daurian Starling and the other Witch were no longer present. Moreover, the monk's attitude had noticeably improved.

"Judgment Chief Oss and Judgment Chief Queda thank you for your cooperation, Sir Knight."

"So the Tribunal has finished its investigation of me?" Ma Lu asked. "Am I free to leave this place?"

"Of course," the monk replied. "The two Judgment Chiefs just wanted to ask you a few questions. Now that the questions have been asked, you are certainly free to leave anytime."

"Alright then," Ma Lu said as he headed for the elevator, then he remembered something and looked back. "I don't believe I've asked for your name yet."

"Messenger; you can just call me Messenger," the monk bowed to Ma Lu.

Ma Lu returned the bow and then took the elevator down to the first floor.

He kept his composure until he stepped out of The Great Tower's main entrance. But once outside, Ma Lu could no longer worry about whether anyone was watching him from above.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

He pushed the power of his mechanical armor to the maximum and started sprinting down the street, unconcerned about anyone around him.

He had no choice; the countdown on the Traveler's Bracelet had only 6 minutes left.

Ma Lu had to make it back to his apartment within 6 minutes, or he would be performing a public transformation on the streets.

Under his full-blown sprint, he managed to compress a journey that normally took 20 minutes into just 5 and a half.

By the time he opened the door to his apartment, the bracelet had begun the final countdown.

Ma Lu quickly closed the door, only half out of his armor, and then disappeared from the room.

When he came to, he was back on the living room sofa.

"That was a close call!" he said, patting his chest.

"Hmm?" Old Wang, who had been hanging up laundry, looked up.

"I almost didn't make it back to the save point, but I should have passed the level by now," Ma Lu leapt off the sofa. "The trouble on that front is over for the moment, now the focus should shift to... well, next week's menu."

"It looks like you've got some ideas already."

"Indeed," Ma Lu snapped his fingers, walked over to the surface breeding farm, and bent down to take a look. The total weight of the surface breeding farm was now 2,844 pounds.

Thanks to Ma Lu's strategy of controlling sales, it had grown from last week by roughly two hundred pounds. The bad news, however, was that the ingredients used for last week's best-selling dishes - Black-Breasted Chicken and Crocodile Bullet Ant - had greatly diminished in number and needed protection.

On the contrary, the Redback Scorpion and Spiked Leg Tailless Scorpion had become the majority within the surface breeding farm.

The Redback Scorpions were especially on the verge of becoming a plague.

Ma Lu planned to use them up this week.

He had already searched through the recipes and found the perfect dish for this purpose - Tomato Stewed in Scorpion Meat. Its Deliciousness Index was the same as Fragrant Yearning Konjac Noodles, both at four stars.

However, when Ma Lu wrote this dish on the small blackboard, He Xiaoqian thought he'd made a mistake and promptly suggested a correction.

"Boss, you meant to write Tomato Stewed in Crab Meat, right?"

"No, it's scorpion meat."

"Ah, are we selling scorpions this week?" He Xiaoqian exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes."

"Isn't that a bit... too hardcore?"

In fact, Ma Lu and Old Wang had sold even more hardcore items when they set up their stall at the entrance of Aerospace University, but such things couldn't be casually mentioned.

So, in the end, Ma Lu just said, "It's fine, as long as it tastes good, there's no problem. Didn't we also sell crocodile meat last time? Everyone's feedback was quite positive."

Having worked at the Universe Infinite Canteen for a week, He Xiaoqian was becoming more and more familiar with Ma Lu's way of doing things.

She knew the boss didn't like to follow rules and often improvised, sometimes even coming up with weird and strange things. The menu was decided on the spot just before opening for the week, completely different from ordinary restaurants.

For an employee like her, there were no standard operating procedures, which meant that on her first day, she could only rely on herself to figure things out. The biggest feeling she had was chaos.

Firstly, so many people flooded into the shop all at once, and this was without Ma Lu hiring musicians to drum up publicity outside like other newly opened eateries to attract customers.

As a result, there weren't enough seats inside the shop, and many people ended up having picnics by the roadside.

Even with Shen Yue joining in, the two of them were still completely overwhelmed.

Secondly, some of the regular customers, upon discovering Ma Lu had significantly raised the prices, felt disgruntled toward the new restaurant. However, they couldn't find fault with the taste, so they picked on the service instead.

He Xiaoqian couldn't remember how many times she had apologized that day, but it was amid such chaos that Universe Infinite Canteen sold nearly a thousand dishes, setting a record with a turnover of 130,000.

Ma Lu gave everyone a bonus on the spot.

In the following days, the chaos didn't stop. Reviews of Universe Infinite Canteen online were mixed, far from the endless praise Ma Lu and Old Wang received when they had their stall outside the university.

Especially when she saw those online comments criticizing the service at Universe Infinite Canteen, He Xiaoqian couldn't help but feel upset inside.

On the contrary, Ma Lu, the person involved, didn't seem to care at all. When He Xiaoqian mentioned it, he even seemed excited, asking who had made the harshest comments and for He Xiaoqian to give him the IDs, saying he would summon experts to deal with them.

He Xiaoqian had grown accustomed to Ma Lu's outrageous actions by now.

But she was still a bit worried about how well the new menu would be received by everyone.

Fortunately, aside from the rather outrageous Tomato Stewed Scorpion Meat, the other three dishes were relatively normal.

The previously best-selling appetizer was retained, though Ma Lu said he would replace some of the ingredients. In addition, Ma Lu put out a Mushroom Pot and a Bacon Vegetable Corn Chowder.

However, after seeing the prices, He Xiaoqian realized she might have been a bit too optimistic.

Tomato Stewed Scorpion Meat, as the signature dish of the week, taking over from Fragrant Yearning Konjac Noodles, was the most expensive of the four dishes, priced at 398 yuan per serving.

The reason it was 130 yuan more expensive than the Fragrant Yearning Konjac Noodles was mainly because the price of scorpions themselves was much higher than crocodile, costing at least four or five hundred yuan per pound, with larger ones going for over a thousand.

In comparison, crocodile meat was only a few tens of yuan per pound, so in fact, the pricing of Tomato Stewed Scorpion Meat was more reasonable compared to Fragrant Yearning Konjac Noodles.

Of course, what the customers would think upon seeing this price was not something Ma Lu could control.

The price of the Mushroom Pot also increased compared to the Spinach Cheese Chicken Breast Rolls, but thankfully the rise wasn't as outrageous as the Tomato Stewed Scorpion Meat, only going up by 30 yuan, coming to 138.

Only the last dish, the Bacon Vegetable Corn Chowder compared to the previous Soft Soft Konjac Cake, was slightly cheaper, but still priced at 168.

Looking at the new menu, He Xiaoqian couldn't help but swallow nervously; she had a premonition that a new storm was about to come.