The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland

What do you call a surprise?

This is what you fucking call a surprise!

Shen Lu’s expression instantly went from ￣へ￣ to (〃’▽’〃).

What?

What did she just draw?

A kitchen robot—the kind that can process ingredients and cook dishes?!

She remembered this robot selling for 200,000 popularity value in the System Mall. WAHHH, so those four "Thanks for playing" were just sacrifices, all to draw this amazing prize?

Okay, okay, she had misjudged Tongzi.

Shen Lu eagerly took out the kitchen robot. A 1.7-meter-tall bionic praying mantis appeared before her.

Uh...

Actually, looking at it closely... it had thin arms, long legs, and a small head with two lightbulb-like eyes. But its hands were very lifelike, with ten distinct fingers. It looked like it would be great at chopping vegetables.

’Oh well, as long as it works, who cares what it looks like?’

Shen Lu hypnotized herself into reluctantly accepting that her back kitchen would now have a mantis-shaped robot.

If it wasn’t such a hassle, Shen Lu would have dragged the robot to the back kitchen to test its skills right then. Filled with high hopes for tomorrow, she happily burrowed into her bed.

...

With something on her mind, Shen Lu woke up especially early the next day.

After quickly washing up and changing, Shen Lu went downstairs, humming a song.

Cai Su had stayed up late the previous night cleaning the food cart and kitchenware, so she woke up a bit later today. By the time she walked into the back kitchen, Shen Lu was already directing a giant praying mantis as it kneaded dough.

’Wait... I’m not seeing things, am I?’

’A person-sized praying mantis is kneading dough in the kitchen?!’

Shen Lu waved to Cai Su. "Sister Cai, come quick! We’re making buns for breakfast today!"

Shen Lu had been craving a big, homemade bun for a long time. It wasn’t that the System’s products weren’t delicious—they were just expensive. Nothing beat the value of making them yourself.

Besides, making stuffed buns was more troublesome than simple steamed bread. If it weren’t for the kitchen robot, she wouldn’t have even considered it.

"Oh, oh." Cai Su snapped out of her daze. As she got closer, she realized it wasn’t a mutant beast as she had thought, but a robot. It was just so lifelike that, in her sleepy state so early in the morning, she had mistaken it.

"This is...?" Cai Su asked curiously.

"Our new partner. Just call it Little Mantis," Shen Lu replied casually, handing Cai Su a handful of washed scallions to chop.

Shen Lu planned to make pickled vegetable buns and scallion-pork buns for breakfast, both fillings she loved. She was determined to eat her fill today.

The pickled vegetables were made from pickled radish greens. After being thoroughly rinsed, they needed to be stir-fried again to bring out the fragrance and re-seasoned. They tasted sour and spicy, a flavor Shen Lu adored.

The scallion and pork filling was an old classic. You could find buns with this filling all over the country; it was a taste loved by all ages.

With a robot tirelessly kneading the dough, all Shen Lu had to do was prepare the fillings and wrap the buns. And to her surprise, the robot even knew how to wrap them!

Although it could only make one specific type of bun, that was more than enough. The resulting buns were neat and beautiful, as if they had been made by a machine.

’Oh, I almost forgot—it *is* a machine!’

Shen Lu: ︿(￣︶￣)︿

Shen Lu felt an indescribable joy. The weight on her shoulders suddenly felt more than halved. The robot was said to have only the skill of a junior chef, but for the current Little Deer Cuisine, it was enough. More than enough.

The young woman’s cheerful mood was obvious, which gave Cai Su an indescribable sense of frustration and disappointment.

’Does Boss Shen think I’m improving too slowly? Is that why she bought this robot?’

Cai Su pressed her lips together firmly. ’I have to work even harder!’

Shen Lu made a pot of soymilk to go with the buns. She poured it into large bowls, and now all they had to do was wait for the buns on the stove to finish steaming before they could eat.

Wang Daguo also arrived rather late today, so flustered that he had even buttoned his shirt wrong.

"Sorry, I overslept."

"It’s fine. Just be careful next time," Shen Lu said.

Wang Daguo rubbed his face and went to change into his work uniform. The moment he stepped into the kitchen, he smelled a delicious aroma.

"Why do I smell meat?"

Shen Lu: "We’re having buns today. There’s a meat filling."

Wang Daguo’s eyes widened. "Boss Shen, you’re too generous!"

Shen Lu was never stingy when it came to food, but Wang Daguo was still astonished.

"It’s all thanks to Little Mantis." Shen Lu pointed to the robot, which was temporarily dormant against the wall. "Without it, I really wouldn’t have bothered making buns."

Only then did Wang Daguo notice the new partner. Men, after all, are always interested in mechanics.

Wang Daguo walked over, looking here and poking there. He was especially fascinated by the robot’s incredibly anthropomorphic hands, examining them from every angle, inside and out.

"Boss, this robot must have cost a fortune, right?"

He might not have seen much of the world, but even he could tell this was no ordinary robot.

Shen Lu just smiled without answering. ’Of course it’s valuable. Buying this thing in the System Mall costs 200,000 popularity value. And even though I didn’t buy it, I still had to sacrifice four Lottery Tickets to draw it.’

It was time for the buns to be done. Shen Lu had Wang Daguo get the steamer baskets.

The meat buns were round, and the pickled vegetable buns were triangular, making them easy to tell apart.

Shen Lu took six of each type of bun, carrying two full trays of food upstairs to eat.

Wang Daguo couldn’t wait, grabbing a meat bun and stuffing it into his mouth. It was so hot he kept blowing air out, but he refused to spit the bun out.

Cai Su shook her head helplessly, took a reasonable number of buns, and went back to her dorm to eat with her son. By the time Ye Fan and Lin Zhou came over, Wang Daguo had already scarfed down four buns, his mouth greasy with oil.

Lin Zhou, disgusted by Wang Daguo’s messiness, took his buns and soymilk back to his post to eat. Ye Fan didn’t mind; he ate the same way himself.

As he ate, Ye Fan suddenly sighed. "You’re a lucky kid, following a good boss."

Wang Daguo slurped down his soymilk, finishing a bowl in one go before getting another and adding sugar.

"I think I’m pretty lucky too, but you Superpower Users are the real cream of the crop. I can’t tell you how much I envy you."

’If I had a superpower,’ he thought, ’I could definitely give my family a better life.’

Ye Fan shot Wang Daguo a look but didn’t say anything.

Everything was a double-edged sword; with the good came the bad. Becoming a Superpower User certainly made you a cut above the rest, but it also came with chronic discomfort in the Spiritual Sea. And the higher the Superpower Level, the more violent the fluctuations in the Spiritual Sea, and the greater the impact.

Why were Superpower Users above the Seventh Level so rarely seen?

It was because of the Spiritual Sea. Many Superpower Users at the Seventh Level and above would apply to enter cryogenic stasis pods once they felt their Spiritual Sea becoming uncontrollable, thereby delaying its collapse.

Perhaps a corresponding treatment technology would emerge in the future, at which point they could be awakened from the pods.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Ye Fan casually wiped his mouth with his hand and headed back up to the fifth floor with his stomach full.

Being a security guard at Little Deer Cuisine was actually a pretty cushy job. Aside from being a little busy on opening day, there hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary.

Ye Fan sat cross-legged and meditated for a while. Suddenly, he felt the barrier he had long struggled to break through actually show faint signs of loosening.