Chapter 193: Fast Food on Sale
Seth hesitated for a moment, then nodded and walked over to the machine’s display screen to press the start button.
Soon, the assembly line started moving. It wasn’t fast, producing about two finished meals a minute, and the types of meals were random and couldn’t be specified.
Seth looked around but couldn’t find any containers to put things in.
’Surely I can’t just carry the meal boxes in my arms to sell them, can I?’
He remembered something and opened the software he had just used on his Light Brain. Sure enough, he found an interface where he could buy things.
After some browsing, considering his point balance, and taking suggestions from Boss Hart, Seth chose a three-tiered cart. It was all white, and its wheels rolled very smoothly.
Each tier was just the right size, able to hold about fifteen meal boxes.
He pushed the cart around for a bit, very satisfied, then noticed that a pile of meal boxes had already accumulated on the assembly line.
Seth quickly pressed the stop button, pushed the cart over, and loaded the meal boxes onto it with Lily Hart.
"How much are you planning to sell them for?" Lily Hart asked.
Seth fell silent. ’How would I know?’ But the food was so delicious, and with a limit of only two hundred servings a day, he couldn’t sell it too cheaply.
’But if it’s too expensive, will people be able to afford it?’ He shook his head honestly. "What do you think, Boss Hart?"
Lily Hart considered the price of instant noodles in the convenience store, then recalled that you could get stir-fried dishes like these at the bathhouse.
But you couldn’t get takeout from the bathhouse; you could only take as much as you could eat, and wasting food would result in a fine.
She also factored in the general spending power of the residents.
She suggested cautiously, "Two hundred and eighty-eight?"
Seth naturally agreed. He didn’t know anything, after all. It was best to listen to Boss Hart’s advice.
Seth pushed the cart out of the factory, where a few people were standing around scattered.
Some had followed from the lottery shop to see what the commotion was about, while others had noticed the new building and came over out of curiosity.
Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe were still squatting outside, their heads together as they whispered about something.
When Logan Holland saw Lily Hart come out, his eyes lit up. When he saw the meal boxes stacked on the cart next to her, his eyes shone like stars.
He hurried over, his gaze glued to the meal boxes, and asked bluntly, "How much are they, Boss Hart?"
Lily Hart nudged Seth with a look, signaling for him to answer. Seth immediately said, "Two hundred and eighty-eight points per meal."
These days, a single First-rank Crystal Core could be exchanged for one hundred points, meaning a meal cost about three Crystal Cores.
By that calculation, it wasn’t expensive at all. At least, Logan Holland thought it was very cheap. ’This is a full meal with sides and rice!’
He looked at the top tier and picked out two meals: one with green peppers, potatoes, and beef, and another with braised fish chunks.
He readily paid with six Crystal Cores, no longer interested in discussing the matter of the Central Command with Lily Hart, and happily carried his two meal boxes back to the hotel.
Seeing this, the few other onlookers gathered their courage and stepped forward.
One of them asked, "What’s inside?" ’It’s not just all peppers with no meat, is it?’ he thought.
Hearing this, Lily Hart immediately tore open a box. A rich aroma wafted out, accompanied by billowing steam.
It was a serving of stir-fried beef, garnished with green celery and red chili peppers, mixed with the brown beef.
The three colors mixed together, drizzled with a light sauce. The phrase "a feast for the senses" couldn’t even begin to cover it.
The man couldn’t help but swallow. He immediately pulled Crystal Cores from his pocket. "I-I’ll take it!"
Lily Hart smiled and handed it to him. Once the customer took it, she gestured for Seth to collect the Crystal Cores.
The customer couldn’t wait. He found a spot, squatted down, and started eating, not minding the surroundings at all.
It was a little spicy, making his nose run with loud SLURPS, but the more he ate, the more he wanted. It went so well with the rice!
The other customers couldn’t take it anymore and all bought a box that caught their eye.
Without hesitation, they chose to squat down with him. And just like that, several grown men started eating together.
Watching them, Roman Rowe inexplicably felt his mouth water again, even though he had just eaten not long ago.
Frost Shaw shot him an exasperated glare. ’Is food the most important thing right now? More and more handsome guys are gathering around Boss Hart!’
"Come on, let’s go check things out up ahead." Lily Hart called to Seth, planning to head toward the lottery shop.
Seth looked back at the factory uneasily. The roll-up door was wide open and completely unguarded. It looked like anyone could just walk in.
Lily Hart reassured him, "Don’t worry. Right now, no one can get in except you and me."
Seth looked skeptical.
"You, go try." Lily Hart called to Roman Rowe, much like someone teasing a dog.
It was as if she had casually tossed a toy, and the puppy couldn’t wait to scamper over.
But this puppy was smart. He ran to the roll-up door but only stuck a leg in and waved a hand inside.
He even looked back at Lily Hart with an expression that pleaded for praise. Seth relaxed, and Lily Hart broke into a smile.
Lily Hart waved him over. "Come on back."
The puppy frolicked back, his two-month-untrimmed golden hair flying in the wind like a fluffy ball of fur.
Lily Hart’s hands itched just looking at it. When he got close, she reached out and pretended to casually pat his head a couple of times.
’What can I do? I just have no resistance to fluffy things.’
Roman Rowe turned away demurely, but in reality, he could barely contain the smile spreading across his face.
He clasped his hands behind his back, lifted his head, and walked forward with his chest puffed out, like a child who had just received an award.
Frost Shaw watched with a pang of jealousy. ’I was just one step too slow to run over!’
’Hmph!’
Lily Hart, oblivious to everyone’s little thoughts, led Seth to the lottery shop.
Strangely, the number of customers buying scratch-off tickets had increased, and Lily Hart could tell these weren’t people staying at her hotel.
’Does that mean they must be residents from Auspice Base?’ But looking closer, she saw many familiar faces.
They were basically the same group of residents from yesterday, which made Lily Hart suspicious.
’Could it be that in a base this large, these are the only people who have Crystal Cores on them?’
’Obviously not.’
But she decided to ignore it for now. Lily Hart pushed Seth forward and whispered encouragingly, "Go on, sell these!"
Although she hadn’t known him long, Lily Hart could already tell that this kid was even quieter than Leo Colby and quite timid.
’All he has is a pitiable, handsome face. What else is there?! But I guess that’s enough...’
But if she didn’t give him a push, he’d stand in one spot for a lifetime. So, Lily Hart made her move.
Seth was suddenly shoved forward, nearly losing his balance and falling. Dozens of pairs of eyes focused on him.
His first instinct was to run. He gripped the cart’s handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white, his hold growing stronger and stronger.
At his side, he could feel Lily Hart’s encouraging gaze. His eyes fell upon the meal boxes.
He couldn’t help but swallow, unconsciously fiddling with a groove on the handle as he mustered his courage for a long moment.
Finally, he said, "I’m selling meal boxes here. Two hundred and eighty-eight points each. They’re cheap and delicious."
A customer standing nearby could make out the words on the packaging and silently read them. ’Stir-fried pork with green peppers? For real?’
’It’s not meat from some mutated zombie or mutated animal, is it? Are they just trying to fool us?!’