Chapter 61: The New Boss!
"Forty... forty-five seconds..." the General ManagerM stammered pathetically, as the stopwatch slipped right out of his trembling fingers and shattered on the tiled floor, completely unable to process the absolute impossibility of the speed.
Master Lu frantically rushed forward, completely ignoring his old age, as he practically pressed his face against the butchered meat, inspecting the cuts with trembling hands and wide, tear-filled eyes.
"This... this is completely heaven-defying!" Master Lu gasped loudly, as his entire body shook with pure reverence, looking at Rick as if he had just witnessed a culinary god descending to the mortal realm. "The cellular structure of the meat is completely undamaged! The cuts are microscopically perfect! There is absolutely zero waste!"
"Young Master Julian merely hacked at his fish like an amateur butcher, but this... this is the true Dao of Culinary Arts!" Master Lu declared loudly, pointing a shaking finger directly at Rick. "This young man is the absolute, undisputed winner of the showdown!"
Julian’s smug, arrogant face instantly turned a violent, sickly shade of pale white, as his fragile ego completely shattered into a million tiny pieces, because he had just been brutally massacred by a man in a cheap leather jacket in less than a minute.
"No! That is impossible!" Julian shrieked hysterically, completely losing his mind, "He must have cheated! He is a fraud!"
The corrupt GM, desperate to save his relationship with the powerful hotel heir, violently pointed his finger at Rick, completely ignoring Master Lu’s legendary authority.
"Master Lu is getting old and senile!" the GM roared maliciously, actively courting death, "This street rat just violently hacked the fish to pieces with a heavy axe! It is complete garbage, so Young Master Julian is still the winner, and I am seizing the Emperor Bluefin Tuna for him right now!"
But right before the GM could even take a single step forward, a massive, deafening symphony of electronic chimes violently erupted throughout the entire market, as every single mobile phone, digital register, and computer terminal in the facility rang loudly at the exact same time.
[Ding! Quest Completed: The Master’s Supply Chain!] [Objective: You absolutely, brutally crushed Chef Julian in the butchering showdown and proved your ultimate culinary dominance!] [Reward: Instant, 100% Legal Ownership of the Neptune Platinum Market (Valued at Exactly $50,000,000)!] [Reward: +5% Chef Occupation Progress!]
Rick read the glowing blue text floating in his vision, as a dark, highly wicked smirk completely took over his face, because the God of Mischief had instantly executed the massive corporate buyout with absolute, ruthless efficiency.
The corrupt GM furiously pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket, entirely intending to ignore the notification, but the absolute second his eyes read the urgent, red-flagged email sent from the corporate registry, all the blood violently drained from his fat face.
Before the GM could even speak, the heavy glass doors of the VIP office upstairs violently burst open, as an older, wealthy man wearing an expensive suit frantically sprinted down the stairs, sweating profusely as if a gun were pointed directly at his head.
It was Mr. Sterling, the actual former owner of the entire Neptune Platinum Market, and he completely ignored Julian as he ran directly toward Rick, throwing himself forward to bow perfectly at a strict ninety-degree angle, practically kissing Rick’s heavy boots.
"Mr. Smith!" the former owner wept in pure, unadulterated terror, completely validating the massive power shift to the entire crowd. "The fifty-million-dollar buyout transaction just cleared instantly! I have completely transferred all the digital deeds, so you are now the absolute, one-hundred-percent owner of this entire market and all its inventory!"
The lackeys gasped so loudly they choked on their own spit, while the two surgically enhanced beauties instantly dropped Julian’s expensive jacket onto the dirty floor, completely horrified that they had been openly mocking a billionaire titan who could literally buy their entire lives with pocket change.
"W-what?!" Julian stammered pathetically, as his knees physically buckled, collapsing heavily onto the tiled floor in pure shock, completely unable to accept that the street rat was actually an untouchable corporate god.
The corrupt GM started hyperventilating, as his greasy legs gave out, dropping to his knees right beside Julian, frantically trying to crawl forward to beg for mercy.
"Boss! I didn’t know! I swear I had eyes but could not see Mount Tai!" the GM squealed like a dying pig, completely abandoning his arrogant facade. "Please forgive my ignorance! I will gladly serve you!"
Rick looked down at the groveling rat, as his cold, deadpan eyes offered absolutely zero mercy, kicking the GM’s reaching hand away with his heavy boot.
"You are fired," Rick stated lethally, his deep voice echoing with suffocating authority, "And if I ever see your pathetic face near my ingredients again, I will personally chop your hands off and use them for chum."
The former owner immediately grabbed the weeping GM by the collar, forcefully dragging him out of the market to appease his terrifying new overlord, leaving Julian kneeling completely alone on the floor.
Rick slowly turned his gaze to the broken young master, as he casually slipped his Shadow-Forged Cleavers back into his inventory, looking down at Julian with absolute disgust.
"You lost the bet, Julian," Rick commanded crudely, entirely enforcing his absolute dominance. "So start crawling out of those doors and bark like the pathetic dog you truly are, before I decide to completely destroy your father’s hotel chain next."
Julian completely broke, as tears of pure humiliation streamed down his face, dropping to all fours on the dirty tiled floor, and slowly started crawling toward the exit, letting out pathetic, whimpering barks while his former lackeys watched in absolute, horrified silence.
Rick did not even bother watching the trash leave, as he casually commanded the terrified market staff to safely pack the legendary, hundred-thousand-dollar Emperor Bluefin Tuna into a heavy cooler, tossing the massive box directly into the trunk of a sleek black SUV he had the market provide for him.
An hour later, the sun had fully set over the city, as Rick parked the heavy SUV in the ultra-luxury underground garage of a massive residential tower, carrying the premium fish directly up to Lexi’s high-end penthouse apartment.
He had texted the voluptuous food critic earlier, commanding her to let him use her private, high-end kitchen to formulate his Summit appetizer, since his own depressing apartment lacked the proper equipment, and she had eagerly agreed.
Rick knocked firmly on the heavy wooden door, and just a few seconds later, the door clicked open, revealing Lexi, completely flushed and breathing slightly heavily.
She was wearing a loose, oversized grey t-shirt that barely covered the top of her thick, pale thighs, completely hiding her massive, heavy breasts, but her ice-blue eyes were completely hazy with intense, undeniable submission.
"You are here," Lexi whispered softly, her thighs instinctively clamping tightly together the absolute second she looked up into his dark, predatory eyes, because she was entirely addicted to his raw alpha energy ever since the brutal alleyway massacre.
"I need to prep this tuna for the Summit," Rick stated lazily, carrying the heavy cooler directly inside, entirely taking over her apartment as if he owned the place. "Go clean yourself up, critic, you look like a mess."
"I... I was just about to take a shower," Lexi stammered obediently, completely unable to talk back to him, as she quickly scurried toward the master bathroom, shutting the door behind her as the sound of running water instantly filled the quiet apartment.
Rick set the cooler down in her pristine, modern kitchen, but as he realized he didn’t want to get fish blood on his dark clothes, he casually walked down the hallway toward her master bedroom, completely intending to just grab a simple apron or a towel.
He pushed the bedroom door open, entirely invading her privacy without a single ounce of hesitation, as he casually opened her massive, expensive wooden wardrobe.
He pushed past rows of expensive designer dresses and tailored pantsuits, fully expecting to find some basic household items, but his hand suddenly bumped into a hidden, locked bottom drawer.
A highly villainous, curious smirk stretched across Rick’s face, as he didn’t even bother looking for a key, simply using his system-enhanced strength to aggressively yank the drawer open with a loud snap, completely breaking the cheap wooden lock.
Rick looked down into the hidden stash, as his eyebrows shot up in genuine, highly amused surprise, because the serious, professional lead judge of the International Culinary Summit was apparently hiding a massive, incredibly degenerate secret.
The drawer was completely packed to the brim with ridiculously slutty, highly revealing cosplay outfits, including a micro-mini schoolgirl skirt, a leather cat-woman suit with a matching whip, and a completely sheer, see-through nurse’s uniform.
But what truly made Rick laugh out loud was the massive collection of highly expensive, vibrating pink toys scattered among the dirty lingerie, completely proving that the strict food critic was an absolute, sex-crazed degenerate behind closed doors.
Rick casually reached down and picked up a thick, bright pink vibrator, as he casually pressed the power button, making the heavy toy hum violently in his large hand.
Just as he was admiring the powerful vibrations, the bathroom door suddenly clicked open, and Lexi stepped out into the bedroom, completely wrapped in a single, thin white towel, with her blonde hair dripping wet down her pale shoulders.
The absolute second Lexi’s ice-blue eyes locked onto Rick standing casually in front of her broken secret drawer, actively spinning her favorite pink vibrator around his finger like a toy gun, all the blood violently rushed to her face, turning her entire body a furious shade of crimson red.
"R-Rick!" Lexi shrieked in pure, unadulterated horror, as her hands desperately clutched the edges of her towel, completely paralyzed by the sheer, devastating embarrassment of having her most shameful secrets entirely exposed to the exact man she desperately wanted to submit to.
"Well, well, well," Rick mocked crudely, a dark, incredibly villainous smirk completely taking over his face, as he took a slow, predatory step directly toward the dripping wet, heavily panting critic, "It looks like my new assistant has some very interesting hobbies, so why don’t you show me exactly how you use these little toys, Lexi?"