Chapter 993: Still Wanting More
Boss Yuan glanced at her. "Pay up."
A virtual dialog box appeared in front of Lin Xue, prompting her to pay 6.88 soft coins.
Only after paying did Lin Xue feel something was off. This price... seemed way too expensive, didn't it?
The conversion rate for food in the Matrix Game Pod was 0.1% of real-world prices! That meant Boss Yuan's dish would cost 688 soft coins in reality??
Just one dish, and it was this expensive?
Lin Xue decided to stand by the counter and watch Boss Yuan cook.
She saw Boss Yuan calmly take out a prepared lake duck, meticulously rub seasonings all over its body, steam it thoroughly in a steamer to let the duck's fat render out, then pour off the broth and duck oil. After letting it cool slightly, he used a clean dry cloth to absorb the moisture from the duck's skin.
Next, he deep-fried the whole duck until it turned a golden brown, took it out at the perfect moment, placed it on a cutting board, and used an extremely sharp kitchen knife to cut it into small pieces—but without fully severing them, keeping the duck's shape intact on the plate. Then he took a small dish and filled it with pepper-salt mix and various dipping sauces.
Boss Yuan set the plated duck on the counter. "Your pan-fried duck is ready."
Lin Xue, her face full of shock, picked up the pan-fried duck, moved it to an empty table nearby, then went back to fetch the small dish of dipping sauces and utensils.
The appearance was flawless.
Lin Xue tried picking up a small piece of pan-fried duck with her chopsticks, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in her mouth.
A wondrous wave of flavor instantly overwhelmed Lin Xue's taste buds, making her even forget to chew. Her entire expression froze.
This duck meat was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The skin was crunchy with an excellent texture, while the meat inside was incredibly fine, soft, and savory, completely lacking the dry, woody texture of many roast ducks.
These two textures blended together, combined with the seasonings that had already seeped into the duck meat and the dipping sauce, giving Lin Xue an unprecedented taste of deliciousness!
Clearly, this pan-fried duck had a complex process, but every step had its reason. Steaming it thoroughly and pouring off the duck oil removed excess fat from the duck, avoiding the greasy feel of many roast ducks. The subsequent steps allowed this dish to have both the crispiness of roast duck and the freshness of the meat. Every piece of meat on this duck gave Lin Xue a different texture.
"I... I think I kind of understand why those people were crying..."
Lin Xue forcibly suppressed the urge to devour it all at once, savoring each piece slowly, hoping this delicious sensation would linger in her mouth a little longer.
If it were any other shop, she could just order another portion if she wanted more after finishing one. But this nameless little eatery only served 100 people, and each person could only randomly get one dish. Having finished the pan-fried duck today, who knew when she'd get to eat it again?
After finishing the pan-fried duck, Lin Xue still wanted more.
Yeah, she wasn't full!
Actually, not being full was normal. If players got full, they wouldn't keep spending, and wouldn't Serent take a huge loss?
Cough, cough. Actually, the main reason was to let players eat freely without too many restrictions.
For players, this feeling still needed some getting used to. No matter how much they ate, they were always in a state of neither full nor hungry, which completely contradicted their decades-long habits in reality. At first, it felt very strange.
"Great, I'll come back tomorrow to eat again."
Lin Xue reluctantly left this nameless little eatery and continued exploring.
Along the way, she encountered some drink shops and bought a lot of desserts and beverages—things like champagne, apple wine, mate tea, tequila, bubble tea, gin and tonic, etc. She bought whatever looked good and drank it as she walked, since the prices were so cheap, practically like getting them for free.
Drink in hand, she wandered to the Matrix Shopping Center's movie theater, but unfortunately found it wasn't open yet.
Soon, Lin Xue arrived at the entertainment zone of the Matrix Shopping Center.
Since the Matrix Shopping Center aimed to fully mirror real-world experiences, most of the rides and attractions in the entertainment zone were based on real-life ones.
On the first floor of the entertainment zone, Lin Xue saw a very tall mushroom swing and a small roller coaster. On the other side, there was an artificial river with a pirate ship, a shooting range, and a very tiny water park.
But what amazed Lin Xue the most was the aquarium tunnel in the middle.
This massive aquarium was an entire floor high, filled with all kinds of fish. The tunnel passed directly through the center of the aquarium, with only a thin, paper-like pane of glass separating people from the fish.
Since physical properties of any material could be freely modified in the virtual world, this thin glass could be made harder than steel and indestructible. People couldn't even feel its presence, only sensing that they were right next to the fish.
Lin Xue saw sharks, dolphins, and all sorts of bizarre sea fish. Many visitors lingered in this tunnel, discovering new fish and getting surprises every so often.
There was also a Chinese zone, with a red carpet laid out in the hall. In the center stood a massive red lantern, 10 meters tall, carved with intricate patterns and a large upside-down "Fu" character. The decorations in this area were also traditional Chinese style, giving people an illusion of traveling through time.
Lin Xue wandered for another hour and even rode the roller coaster, feeling like she was getting dizzy.
But speaking of roller coasters, Lin Xue couldn't help but wonder: would there be a dedicated amusement park in the future?
Things like drop towers? Ferris wheels? Pirate ships? Swing rides? Roller coasters? Haunted houses? Glass bridges? Glass walkways?
The Matrix Shopping Center was positioned as a shopping center, so even if it had some entertainment facilities, they were bound to be small-scale. But what if they built a dedicated amusement park? Making rides like those should be no trouble at all.
Then Lin Xue thought again: if they were going to make an amusement park, why stick rigidly to real-world designs? They should make a game version!
What drop tower could compare to the thrill of a Leap of Faith?
And haunted houses were way less exciting than Silent Hill, right?
Thinking about it, Lin Xue suddenly realized there were tons of entertainment options to develop in the Matrix Game Pod. This Matrix Shopping Center only satisfied players' cravings for food and drink. There were definitely more, more thrilling game projects waiting for players.
But by then, these projects might not feel like just VR games anymore.
They should be... a unique world?