Chapter 69: Lin Bai's Culinary Skills

"City Lord, can you change someone else to watch Shopkeeper Lin?" Xu Longyun was busy approving official documents when Zhao Tong pushed the door open and walked in, his face ashen, his legs trembling as he stood there.

"What's wrong?" Xu Longyun was startled by Zhao Tong's appearance.

"City Lord, I really can't take it anymore. Shopkeeper Lin doesn't do a single human thing!" Before Zhao Tong could even finish speaking, tears began to flow. A Dark Guard of the City Lord's Mansion, a man of iron who wouldn't blink if stabbed, was now acting as aggrieved as a child.

"..." Xu Longyun put down the document in her hand, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. "Did he bully you?"

"He... he forced me to eat the food he made." Unpleasant memories flooded his heart, and Zhao Tong felt a churning in his stomach; he subconsciously covered his belly.

Recalling the taste of the dishes Lin Bai made, Xu Longyun inexplicably felt a bit full. She looked at her guard with sympathy and asked, "Is he still stir-frying?"

"No more." Zhao Tong shook his head and stammered, "He... Mr. Lin has started making flour-based foods now."

"Flour-based foods?" Xu Longyun looked up in surprise.

"Yes, steamed buns, noodles, flatbreads, and the like. Basically, none of them are the same." As Zhao Tong spoke, he couldn't help but let out a burp, his face looking even worse.

"That shouldn't be a big deal, right!" Xu Longyun said. "Although the dishes Lin Bai stir-fries are a bit unpalatable, they shouldn't be a major problem for you all. Don't you even eat raw meat when doing survival training?"

"City Lord, at least raw meat can be swallowed, but the flatbreads Shopkeeper Lin makes are harder than blue bricks; when he steams buns, he puts in a huge handful of lye, and the buns come out bitter and astringent. That food is even worse than what my wife makes..."

Zhao Tong wanted to control his expression, but as soon as he spoke, the sense of grievance welled up, and a stream of bitter tears flowed down involuntarily. "City Lord, either you replace me with someone else to monitor Shopkeeper Lin, or you go and persuade him to hurry up and start Pill Refinement. He really isn't cut out for cooking! I truly can't hold on anymore."

Xu Longyun chuckled: "If you don't eat it, can he really force you to?"

"He not only forces me to eat it, but after I finish, he asks me if it tastes good?" Zhao Tong said with a mournful face. "As long as I say it doesn't taste good, he immediately puts it back in the furnace to redo it, without a moment's hesitation. Your subordinate can barely withstand his enthusiasm..."

Just as they were speaking.

Lin Bai walked in from outside carrying a flatbread. Seeing Zhao Tong, a smile immediately climbed onto his cheeks, and he enthusiastically grabbed his hand: "Brother Zhao, I knew you were here. Come, come, come, try the flatbread I just made..."

Flatbread?

Xu Longyun stared at the pitch-black, disc-shaped object in Lin Bai's hand, her throat bobbing as she subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva: "Shopkeeper Lin, you call that a flatbread?"

"Yes, Brother Zhao said the last one was a bit undercooked, so I added more heat this time. I guarantee it's not raw anymore," Lin Bai said.

It certainly wasn't raw!

It had turned into charcoal!

Anyone who wasn't a fool would know this thing couldn't be eaten!

This guy was absolutely doing it on purpose!

Xu Longyun's temples throbbed. Seeing the look of distress Zhao Tong was casting her way, she said: "Shopkeeper Lin, Zhao Tong has other official duties. Let me assign someone else to you!"

"No." Lin Bai shook his head decisively. "I taught Zhao Tong a set of 'Seven Injury Hand'. As a price, he agreed to help me taste my dishes. If I change to someone else, wouldn't my Martial Art have been taught in vain?"

"You taught him your Martial Art?" Xu Longyun looked at Zhao Tong.

"City Lord, I was thinking of adding another set of techniques to the Dark Guard Mansion..." Zhao Tong explained stammeringly.

Eating someone's food makes one's mouth soft; taking someone's gifts makes one's hands soft!

You gave him the opportunity; if he doesn't pit you, who would he pit?

Xu Longyun glared at Zhao Tong in annoyance, pondered for a moment, and said: "A real man should keep his word. Zhao Tong, the City Lord's Mansion will remember your sacrifice..."

"City Lord, but it was called Seven Injury Hand, yet there are only six moves!" Zhao Tong argued urgently.

"Brother Zhao, this is where you are wrong. If you learned the Broken Arm Blade, would you really chop off your own arm? If you learned the Crane Control Skill, could you only hit cranes?" Lin Bai said. "Seven Injury Hand is just a name; it's normal for it to only contain six moves."

"..." Xu Longyun had black lines on her forehead. Watching the unreasonable Lin Bai, she waved her hand: "Go, Zhao Tong, this is an order."

Lin Bai was also at his wit's end.

Thirty-six dishes; he struggled until midnight before finishing, harvesting the fire technique rewarded by the Chef God System and collecting the three basic skills of a chef.

Lin Bai, thinking he had mastered the fire technique and Basic Alchemy, believed that by referring to medical books and combining medicinal herbs reasonably, even if he couldn't refine good pills, he could produce a useless pill to fool the system.

But who knew, because the proportions were wrong, all that came out of the Alchemy Furnace were residues.

Even when he used honey to roll the residues into Chinese medicine balls, the system didn't recognize them.

With no other choice.

Lin Bai could only turn his attention back to the Chef God System.

The next task of the Chef God System was: make eighteen types of flour-based foods and win the approval of the same customer without using violence, verbal threats, bribery, or prior collusion; the reward is the Ingredient Property Analysis Technique.

Lin Bai believed that the reason he couldn't refine pills was his lack of familiarity with medicinal herbs.

Most ingredients possess medicinal properties; once he understood their properties, perhaps he could refine Inedia Pills, Yangyuan Pills, or other diet-related pills.

Once he made even one, the formula for the Rejuvenation Pill would be in his hands.

But perhaps the Chef God System found his way of clearing levels too unconventional, not at all like a proper chef.

This time, it actually imposed three restrictive measures: no violence, no verbal threats, no prior collusion, and no bribery.

It truly stumped Lin Bai.

He ate in the cafeteria at school, had instant noodles in the dorm, and ordered takeout when he was too lazy to go out.

How could he know any proper culinary arts!

The few dishes he stir-fried yesterday were learned on the spot while watching Master Zhang cook at the Rice Divination; otherwise, he wouldn't even know the steps for stir-frying.

Just making eighteen types of flour-based foods would be fine; he could figure it out with some effort. The key was to get the customer's approval!

Wasn't this making things difficult for him?

For someone whose culinary skill was near zero, how much time would it take to make eighteen types of flour-based foods that a customer would approve of?

Did he still have time to race against the players!

If there weren't so many restrictions, finding players to grind the task would be the best choice; they would do anything for rewards...

But without collusion and without using money, the only reward he could offer to make a player say "good" was his Martial Art.

If the other party kept refusing to say it was good, would he just keep giving rewards and let the players exploit a bug to keep grinding Martial Arts from him?

He wasn't the type of person to suck up to players!

Therefore.

The only ones who could suffer were the Dark Guards sent by the City Lord to monitor him.

Compared to players, the Dark Guards were clearly much easier to bully; with a set of the ordinary Seven Injury Hand, Lin Bai had traded for the qualification of food tasting from Zhao Tong.

Lin Bai knew that he had no talent in culinary arts, and it was simply impossible to gain Zhao Tong's approval through skill.

Therefore.

He could only do the opposite.

Whenever Zhao Tong dared to pick faults with the food he made, he would definitely make it taste even worse next time, just to force Zhao Tong to say it was good against his will when he couldn't eat it anymore.

Yet Zhao Tong happened to be a blockhead who didn't know how to be flexible; a disaster that could have been avoided by simply saying it was delicious, he insisted on pointing out some deficiency in every single pastry!

Thus, they fell into an extreme vicious cycle, and Lin Bai had to rack his brains to make even worse food, almost to the point of adding shit into the meal...

What the f*ck!

This guy has never been in a relationship at all!

(End of this chapter)