Chapter 992: The Nameless Little Eatery
Lin Xue wandered around for quite a while without deciding what she actually wanted to eat.
She deliberately observed these restaurants. Although the aroma of food was enticing and there were plenty of customers, she still felt something was off compared to the real world.
The virtual world's material quality was one factor, but another important reason was that the dishes in these restaurants were basically brought straight out from the back kitchen. It was easy to guess that these dishes were just relatively complex models. For example, spaghetti could indeed be picked up with chopsticks and put into your mouth, with sauce residue left on the plate, but Lin Xue suspected that the back kitchen probably didn't even have a cooking process at all.
This plate of spaghetti was just data generated out of thin air. Every material had its parameters, and whatever texture and flavor the players experienced were all written into the code. Even if each dish's taste varied slightly, it would only involve adjusting a few variables within a very small range. After all, this was a virtual world—there was no way they'd actually have a chef replicate the entire cooking process.
Still, thinking that these dishes were just virtual data, Lin Xue felt a bit disappointed.
Maybe her obsessive-compulsive tendencies had suddenly kicked in. Lin Xue continued deeper into the food district, passing through a dazzling array of all kinds of restaurants, hoping to find one that was unique enough.
Fortunately, the waitstaff in all the restaurants throughout the food district were very quiet. No servers called out to customers outside the shops. It was basically an attitude of "whoever comes eats; if you don't come, no pressure," which made Lin Xue feel quite at ease. Come to think of it, that made sense—since all the food was virtual, the servers were NPCs, and there was no pressure to make a profit.
Lin Xue kept walking forward when she suddenly spotted a small, inconspicuous eatery in the corner of the food district. It didn't even have a signboard, so she had no idea what it was called.
At the entrance stood a small blackboard with elegant handwriting: "Open daily at 10 AM. Limited to 100 customers per day."
Lin Xue's mind instantly conjured up a dramatic scenario, and she didn't hesitate to duck into this little eatery.
As the saying goes, "The greatest hermit hides in the city," and "Masters are found among the people." Chen Mo had built such a massive Matrix Shopping Center; he wouldn't place a mediocre restaurant in the food district just to annoy players.
Besides, this eatery had quite the air about it—limiting itself to just 100 customers a day. This was definitely protagonist treatment!
And after Lin Xue saw the layout of this nameless little eatery, she became even more convinced: the food here must be amazing!
Because the space was very small, with only a long counter and a dozen or so tables. The layout was reasonably arranged and didn't feel cramped. But the most crucial point was that all diners could clearly see the scene in the back kitchen.
It seemed the young man in the back kitchen was both the owner and the chef. He had a delicate face and slender fingers, looking like a frail student, but his culinary skills were impressive. His hands were incredibly steady, and his movements were flawlessly smooth, like a machine precise down to the millimeter and millisecond.
This young master's superb culinary skills almost fooled Lin Xue—until she took a look at what he was making.
Hmm... he was making a jianbing (Chinese crepe).
He spread a layer of mung bean batter on the griddle, forming a thin sheet with no part too thin or too thick. He took two eggs, cracked them on the side, spread them over the crepe, and scraped the yolk and egg white evenly, covering the entire crepe skin with a golden, shimmering layer. Using a delicately crafted small brush, he evenly applied specially prepared sweet bean sauce, then sprinkled on finely chopped scallions, each piece perfectly uniform in size. Finally, he added a crispy wafer, folded the four corners of the crepe like a soldier folding a blanket—neat, square, and stylish—then plated it and handed it to the eager customer waiting at the counter.
The customer waiting at the counter quickly took it with both hands and said hurriedly, "Thank you, Boss Yuan!"
Lin Xue was stunned. Spend 300,000 to buy a Matrix game pod, then come to the Matrix Shopping Center to eat a jianbing???
You're even more outrageous than those happy fat guys who come in for fast food and drink "happy fat guy cola"!
But even so, when that customer drifted past Lin Xue holding the crepe, she still caught a very tempting aroma. The customer found an empty seat, sat down, carefully picked up the crepe, and took a small bite.
His expression froze. His hands trembled slightly. His lips began to twitch lightly, and tears actually welled up in his eyes.
Lin Xue was shocked. Bro, do you really need to overact this much??
Are you about to cry? What do you think you're doing? Filming "Chinese Little Master"?
Shouldn't there be a custom BGM playing, with a surfing scene flashing through your mind to make it more fitting?
Mocking aside, Lin Xue still went to the counter and said to the boss who was cooking, "Boss, do you have a menu?"
The boss remained focused on his work, not even lifting his head. "On the wall."
Lin Xue was a bit confused. She turned her head and saw some rules written on the wall.
"1. Limited to 100 customers per day."
"2. Wasting food or questioning the owner's looks and culinary skills results in a permanent blacklist."
"3. No ordering. I make what I make, and you eat what you get."
"4. No credit. Pay first, then queue and wait. Pick up your food at the counter."
Lin Xue: "..."
That's a lot of rules... I can accept the others, but isn't rule three a bit too much??
No ordering? I eat whatever you make? What the hell, consumers don't even have the right to choose?
And from the looks of it, with only 100 customers a day, that means each person can have at most one dish here per day. Forget about ordering a full table of food...
Like that guy just now—he queued up and only got a single jianbing...
Lin Xue hesitated. Boss Yuan's next dish was already ready, and this time it was even more outrageous. On such a large plate, there was only one... salted duck egg.
The customer waiting at the counter thanked him profusely again and carried it away.
Lin Xue stared at this customer, thinking, Could these all be NPCs? Hired actors by the owner? If so, this owner's AI must be pretty advanced.
She watched as that customer happily carried the salted duck egg to his seat, picked up chopsticks, carefully tapped open the hollow end of the egg, and gently poked it with the chopsticks. With a "squeak—" sound, glossy red oil flowed out along the chopsticks.
The customer carefully picked out a bit of the yolk with his chopsticks. It was completely red. He put it in his mouth, savoring it with a look of pure bliss on his face: "Gaoyou salted duck egg—fine texture, rich oil, tender egg white, mellow flavor, melts in the mouth... Enjoyment... pure enjoyment..."
Lin Xue: "..."
She walked up to the counter. "Boss, what am I eating?"