Lust System: I will Cuck Everyone

The salty ocean breeze swept across the pristine teakwood deck of the Azure Harbor Marina, yet the elite crowd remained frozen in a suffocating, heavy silence, since the highly respected culinary historian was still kneeling on the floor weeping over a dark root.

Chef Francois stood behind his designated prep station, as his face turned a sickly, ashen shade of gray, staring at his pristine two-million-dollar Alba White Truffle resting under the silver cloche.

His grand masterpiece had just been turned into an insignificant joke in a matter of seconds, and his fragile, aristocratic pride shattered into a million tiny pieces, because his narrow mind simply could not process how a common hotel cook possessed a mythical artifact worth hundreds of millions.

Instead of accepting defeat with grace, the crushing humiliation mutated into blinding, venomous jealousy, forcing Francois to abandon all professional decorum as he stomped directly toward the center presentation table.

"Lies!" Francois roared, slamming his heavy fists onto the wooden table with bone-rattling force, making the silver trays rattle loudly. "This is nothing but a pathetic, orchestrated scam! The old man has gone senile!"

Elder Chen gasped in sheer horror, scrambling to protect the ancient wooden box with his shaking hands, since he treated the Emperor’s Black Lotus Root like a holy relic.

"Have you lost your mind, Francois?!" Elder Chen rasped, his wrinkled face flushed with pure indignation. "You dare question my sixty years of flawless appraisal experience?! This root radiates the pure, unfiltered essence of the ancient mountain springs!"

"I question your sanity!" Francois shrieked, pointing a shaking finger directly at Rick, whose hands remained lazily slipped into his pockets. "Look at him! He is wearing a cheap black uniform and chops fish for a living! A street beggar like him does not possess the foundation or the wealth to secure a mythical ingredient that went extinct three centuries ago!"

The lackeys standing behind Francois’s station immediately stepped forward, eager to support their master’s crumbling ego, as they started barking insults at the stage.

"Chef Francois is right!" a sous-chef yelled to the crowd, pointing a mocking finger at Rick. "This kid is just trying to steal the spotlight with a piece of carved driftwood!"

"He probably soaked a cheap yam in soy sauce to make it look old!" another rival chef sneered, crossing his arms in disgust. "The Peninsula Hotel must have bribed the historian to fake the appraisal, because they are terrified of facing a true Michelin-star grandmaster!"

The wealthy billionaires, snooty socialites, and rival chefs in the audience immediately began whispering among themselves, easily swayed by the loud accusations, since their frog-in-a-well mentalities found it much easier to believe a young cook was a fraud rather than a hidden dragon.

"Francois makes a valid point," a fat real estate mogul muttered, rubbing his chin in deep suspicion. "The Black Lotus Root is a legend found only in ancient texts. It defies all logic for a hotel employee to pull one out of a simple wooden box."

"He is trying to scam the entire Expo," a wealthy woman agreed, fanning her face with a designer pamphlet. "He insulted Chef Francois’s genuine two-million-dollar truffle with a piece of dirty wood! Throw him off the stage!"

Elena gripped the velvet ropes separating the VIP section from the stage, her ice-blue eyes narrowing into a freezing glare, since she knew Rick possessed limitless power and would never stoop so low as to present a fake item.

"You are just jealous because your expensive fungus looks like cheap garbage next to a real masterpiece!" Elena shouted fiercely, defending Rick against the mob of barking dogs, refusing to let them tarnish his name.

Francois turned his bloodshot eyes toward Elena, letting out a loud, hysterical laugh that reeked of unearned superiority, as he puffed out his decorated chest to assert his corporate dominance over the entire marina.

"You want proof that this root is a pathetic forgery?!" Francois demanded, his thick French accent echoing through the high-end PA system, ensuring every single journalist and critic heard his grand declaration. "I will give you proof!"

Francois took a heavy step forward, raising his chin as if he were looking down from the peak of a high mountain, leaning on the immense power of his financial backers.

"I am the reigning champion of the international culinary circuit," Francois boasted, a smug, venomous smile stretching across his face. "And my primary corporate sponsor is the Neptune Platinum Market!"

The crowd gasped at the mention of the name, since the Neptune Platinum Market was universally recognized as the absolute, undisputed premier ingredient hub for the city’s elite, controlling a massive monopoly over all high-end restaurant supply chains.

"The Neptune Platinum network tracks, audits, and secures every single rare ingredient on the face of the globe," Francois lectured the audience, treating them like ignorant children. "They supply the greatest kitchens on earth, they command billions in inventory, and they possess eyes in every single shadow auction house in the mortal realm!"

Francois turned his piercing glare back to Elder Chen, using the massive weight of his corporate sponsor to bully the old historian into submission.

"If an authentic Emperor’s Black Lotus Root truly existed in this world, my sponsors would have acquired it instantly!" Francois declared, his voice ringing with blind arrogance. "The Neptune Platinum Market holds a strict monopoly on miracles, meaning any rare ingredient that does not come from their elite vaults is a guaranteed, worthless fake!"

Elder Chen’s hands trembled, his face turning a sickly shade of gray, as the sheer political and financial weight of the Neptune Platinum Market made him hesitate for a fraction of a second.

The old historian knew his own senses were flawless, but fighting against a multi-million-dollar corporate monopoly was a fast track to ruining his own lifelong reputation, making him lower his head slightly under the heavy pressure.

"See?!" Francois roared in triumph, noticing the historian’s hesitation. "Even the old fool knows he cannot argue against the supreme authority of the Neptune Platinum Market! This root is a cheap replica carved from rotten wood, designed to mock the sacred Dao of Culinary Arts!"

The audience erupted into a chaotic chorus of boos and mocking laughter, fully buying into Francois’s confident lie, treating Rick like a disgusting scammer who had tried to cheat his way to victory.

"Kick the fraud out of the marina!" Francois’s lackeys chanted, sensing blood in the water. "He is an insult to the Michelin stars!"

Rick stood perfectly still behind his presentation table, as he listened to Francois brag about the Neptune Platinum Market, feeling a deep, villainous amusement welling up in his chest, because he found the sheer stupidity of the disabled frog highly entertaining.

Rick did not yell, he did not panic, and he did not defend himself, simply letting a dark smirk play on his lips, waiting to see just how deep Francois was willing to dig his own grave.

Driven by the sycophantic cheers of the crowd and a desperate need to reclaim his status as the undisputed king of the event, Francois made a fatal, irreversible decision.

He decided that merely exposing the fake was not enough to satisfy his shattered ego, since he needed to play the ultimate hero and literally destroy Rick’s foundation on live television.

"I will not let this disgusting fraud taint the pristine reputation of this global Expo!" Francois shouted righteously, as he lunged forward with surprising speed, snatching the dark, shriveled root right off the silk cushion before Elder Chen could even react.

"No! Stop!" Elder Chen shrieked in pure terror, reaching out his shaking hands, but his frail body was too weak to stop the enraged Michelin chef.

Francois held the priceless artifact high in the air, displaying it to the flashing cameras, before he marched directly toward an industrial, heavy-duty organic waste disposal grinder situated at the edge of the prep stations.

"This is exactly what happens when poor, uneducated peasants try to cheat the culinary heavens!" Francois sneered, locking his venomous eyes onto Rick’s deadpan face, fully expecting the young man to fall to his knees and beg for mercy.

Without a single ounce of hesitation, Francois threw the legendary, hundreds-of-millions-dollar Emperor’s Black Lotus Root directly into the gaping metal maw of the industrial disposal unit.

He slammed his hand onto the activation button, as the heavy steel blades roared to life with a deafening, mechanical scream.

CRUNCH! WHIRRRRR!

The sickening, heavy sound of the priceless ancient root being instantly shredded into worthless sludge echoed across the quiet marina, as the disposal unit ground the heaven-defying artifact into wet dust in a matter of seconds.

Loud gasps of pure horror ripped through the elite crowd, as the sheer, dramatic escalation of the confrontation left the wealthy billionaires and rival chefs staring at the spinning metal blades in stunned disbelief.

Elder Chen collapsed onto the teakwood deck, clutching his chest as he wept agonizing tears, mourning the loss of a national treasure that had survived hidden for three hundred years, only to be destroyed by a jealous fool.

"It is done," Francois breathed heavily, wiping his hands together with a smug, self-satisfied grin, feeling like a righteous savior who had just purged a demon from his kitchen. "The fake is destroyed, and the integrity of the Azure Harbor Expo remains pure. Now, security, remove this scammer from my sight before he pollutes the air any further."

The lackeys cheered loudly, clapping their hands to celebrate their master’s decisive action, assuming the war was already won.

Elena gripped the velvet ropes so hard her knuckles turned white, her heart hammering against her ribs, but as she looked at Rick, her panic slowly melted into deep confusion.

Rick did not scream in anger, he did not lunge across the stage to break Francois’s jaw, and he did not look upset about losing an artifact worth a literal fortune.

Instead, Rick slipped his hands out of his pockets, standing tall under the bright stage lights, as a dark, wicked, and highly lethal smirk stretched across his sharp jawline.

[Ding! System Notification: The God of Mischief is highly entertained by the blind arrogance of the rival chef!]

Rick read the glowing text fading from his vision, feeling the satisfying surge of a trap snapping shut flawlessly on its prey.

Francois had destroyed the artifact to prove he was protected by his corporate sponsors, using the Neptune Platinum Market as his ultimate shield to justify his psychotic behavior.

But Francois was just an ignorant frog trapped at the bottom of a well, completely unaware that Rick had literally won 100% legal ownership of the Neptune Platinum Market just a few days ago, firing the corrupt management and securing the entire fifty-million-dollar supply chain as his own personal domain.

Rick let out a low, carrying chuckle that sliced directly through the cheers of the lackeys, dropping the temperature on the teakwood deck to freezing levels, as he reached into his black uniform and slowly pulled out his sleek titanium phone.𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚