My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 63

Although the decision to start a barbecue stall had been made, there was still plenty of prep work to handle. For instance, Huo Keyu needed to develop her own secret barbecue sauce and seasoning powder, while the boys set to work transforming those industrial racks into a mobile barbecue cart for her.

To create the secret sauce and powder, they needed fresh aromatics like scallions, ginger, and garlic to supplement the seasonings provided by Ren Chenxi. Mu Ning’s group already grew scallions and ginger, but they had to head into the wild to forage for the rest. They didn’t need a perfect match for every ingredient; whatever they could find would suffice. Meanwhile, the boys also needed to scavenge additional materials to finish the cart.

Thanks to everyone’s combined efforts, Huo Keyu’s stall finally made its debut on the third evening. Over those few days, Du Tian and the other two girls had learned the ropes from Huo Keyu so they could act as assistants during the rush. They had all braced themselves for a slow start, but the reality was quite the opposite. Huo Keyu’s barbecue stall became the most popular spot among all the street food vendors so popular, in fact, that Zhang Tongqi and Chen Gu eventually had to jump in to help keep up with the demand.

Even though a single skewer was priced at 10 Level 1 crystals, customers couldn’t resist the generous portions and fresh ingredients. More importantly, the flavor was absolutely top-tier. Even by pre-apocalyptic standards, these skewers could have competed with professional barbecue shops. The reason they stood out so much was that none of the other street food in the base could even come close.

Take, for example, the braised food stall that was considered one of the better options. According to Chen Gu, the owner never changed the braising liquid; he just added a bit of water every day. The flavor was weak, but that wasn’t the worst part—the owner often mixed in stale meat or vegetables. Chen Gu had once bitten into a piece of meat that tasted “off” and had never gone back since.

A “Malaban” spicy stir-fry stall followed the same pattern. They served the dish dry because the owner wanted to keep the broth simmering indefinitely, and because they constantly diluted it with water, it tasted bland. Just like the braised stall, the owner wasn’t above using questionable ingredients.

In the apocalypse, food was precious, and many vendors couldn’t bear to throw away meat or vegetables that had sat out too long. Some crafty stall owners would simply re-process the old ingredients and sell them anyway. Furthermore, seasonings were so rare that a “signature flavor” of the base was simply being stingy. Most vendors used seasonings so sparingly that the food tasted far more bland than anything from the old world.

Because the food was often bland or stale, most street snacks didn’t cost more than 1 Level 1 crystal. At Huo Keyu’s stall, the price of a single skewer was enough to buy a full meal elsewhere!

When the price was first announced, several ordinary people who came to inquire immediately turned around and left for the neighboring stalls. The vendors selling cold salads nearby almost laughed out loud. Initially, when Huo Keyu and the girls pushed their cart over, these neighbors had planned to drive them away. They didn’t want any competition, regardless of what was being sold.

The base was mostly dark at night, lacking streetlights, but people had hung lightbulbs from trees or wooden poles. In the snack area, a bulb was strung up every few stalls. Under the dim, yellow glow of an old-fashioned bulb, the salad vendors had seen only Huo Keyu and the other non-ability users at first and intended to bully them off the spot. However, before they could speak, they saw Zhang Tongqi and Wu Tong following close behind. The words died in their throats.

Hardly anyone in the base didn’t recognize Mu Ning, the Level 5 dual-system ability user, and they were intimately familiar with Zhang Tongqi and Wu Tong, who were always at her side. Though Mu Ning didn’t show up personally that night, the salad vendors greeted the group warmly and watched helplessly as Huo Keyu and her team took over the spot next to them.

The neighbors had been worried that the barbecue stall would steal their business, but when the first wave of customers was scared off by the 10-crystal price tag and ended up at the salad stalls instead, they relaxed. It seemed these newcomers weren’t stealing customers they were driving them right into their arms!

Huo Keyu wasn’t bothered by the first group leaving. Her prices were high, and she hadn’t expected ordinary people without abilities to indulge in such a luxury. Seeing the customers walk away, Chen Gu glanced at the now-busy salad stall and asked Huo Keyu to grill a few skewers for the group first.

They had eaten these skewers at home, and the taste was incomparable to anything else. Chen Gu was confident that once they started eating, the sight and smell would attract ability users who actually had the currency to spend.

Sure enough, as the savory aroma began to drift through the air, more customers started drifting over. They asked the price and winced it was expensive—but look at the size of those meat chunks! Look at all that seasoning! And look at how much those guys were enjoying it!

Two years into the apocalypse, most ability users in the base were Level 2 or higher. They were perfectly capable of earning Level 1 crystals. Besides, the reproduction rate of mutant beasts far outpaced humans; for a strong squad, earning 10 crystals was the work of a few minutes. Soon, a long, winding queue began to form in front of Huo Keyu’s stall.

The neighboring salad vendor, who had been gloating moments ago, was now caught between jealousy and uncontrollable salivating. Eventually, they couldn’t resist the aggressive fragrance of the grilled meat. With pained expressions, they bought a single skewer to share among themselves. It was only a tiny bite each, but damn, it was good! With ingredients this real, it was no wonder it was so expensive.

Since it was their first night, they hadn’t prepared a huge amount. Within thirty minutes, all 200 skewers were sold out. As they began to pack up, people still waiting in line grumbled at them, telling them not to be so “stingy” and to prepare more for the next night. Letting people smell the food without letting them eat it was just cruel!

Du Tian and Yue Yue nodded with smiles, sweetly promising that there would be more tomorrow.

From 200 skewers, they earned 2,000 Level 1 crystals. It sounded like a lot, but after factoring in the meat, the labor, and the quality of the marinade, the profit margin wasn’t actually that high. Ren Chenxi was even worried—if Huo Keyu kept using seasonings this lavishly, what would they do when they ran out? Even though she had several slots of seasonings in her inventory, Ren Chenxi opened the Apocalypse Mall to check the prices. Fortunately, while things were expensive like a bottle of peanut oil costing 1,000 crystals, she was a “50% off” VIP member. She could get a massive 10L jug for just 500 crystals!

Well, they could afford to be a little extravagant then.

Huo Keyu insisted that the 2,000 crystals be put into a communal fund. As ordinary people, they didn’t have much use for crystals beyond rent or basic goods. Since rent was covered and there wasn’t much to buy, it made more sense to save them or trade them for higher-level crystals to help the others upgrade their abilities. However, high-level crystals were notoriously hard to find for trade.

On the second night, they prepared 500 skewers and sold them all just as quickly. The third night was the same—500 skewers gone in half an hour. That night, Qi Sheng even brought a large group and became their biggest customer, buying over 300 skewers by himself.

Initially, Qi Sheng had come by as a favor to Ren Chenxi because she had sold him the generators, but after one bite, he and his men were completely hooked. They stayed at the stall and ate until every last skewer was gone, ignoring the disgruntled people in line behind them.

In three days, they had sold 1,200 skewers. Although Ren Chenxi had meat in her space, Mu Ning felt they had been idle for too long. She planned for the team to head out the next day to hunt more mutant beasts and look for some Level 3 crystals.

During these three days, Ren Chenxi used her free card draws to get two R-grade “Explosion” cards, five “Grease” cards, three “Flash” cards, and five “Transformation” cards. She synthesized the five “Transformation” cards into another R-grade “Explosion” card. Considering they were from free draws, she felt it was a good value.

Naturally, she hadn’t forgotten her daily tasks. Having realized that any way she could make Mu Ning smile no matter how simple—would complete the “Make Mu Ning Smile” task, she had stopped trying so hard. She would simply wake up and ask Mu Ning for a smile, and Mu Ning would obligingly comply. Task completed, Ren Chenxi would get an SR-grade “Recovery” card.

However, the system seemed to have caught on to this “bug.” On the fourth day, the “Make Her Smile” task was gone, replaced by “Good Morning Kiss” and “Good Night Kiss” tasks…

Ren Chenxi had no choice but to skip those and focus on the “Breakfast with Love” task. But for two mornings in a row, the overly enthusiastic Zhang Tongqi and Wu Tong had beaten her to the kitchen. Since Sun Jia’s condition was improving and her withdrawal symptoms hadn’t returned, everyone was so grateful to Ren Chenxi that they insisted on handling all the cooking.

Because of their eagerness, Ren Chenxi had only managed to complete the breakfast task once, earning an SR “Shield” card. Her dream of synthesizing two SSR “Explosion” cards remained out of reach.

On the fourth morning, Ren Chenxi woke up at 5:00 AM specifically to make breakfast. She had stayed up until midnight to use her five draws, getting one R-grade “Explosion” card, three “Grease” cards, and one “Flash” card. She had so many “Grease” cards that she used fifteen of them to finally synthesize one R-grade “Explosion” card (after failing twice and getting a “Shapeshift” and an “Acceleration” card instead). Finally having five R-grade “Explosion” cards, she immediately synthesized them into an SR-grade “Explosion” card. She now had nine of them. Since the daily task for “Breakfast with Love” offered an SR “Explosion” card as a reward, she was determined to claim it this morning!

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