Chapter 141.2: Why Can’t Our Chef Make Proper Food?
"Hello Dear Sir, I’m Luca from Shelter 404, I extend my sincerest regards to you for my master. During this period of cooperation, I will be responsible for liaising with the residents of our shelter. If you need anything, please feel free to communicate through me."
Although it was a bit strange that the title of a master appeared in a shelter, Li De didn’t say anything.
The East Coast was not without slaves. Some of the lower-level employees of Enterprise were nominally employed, but they were no different from slaves. If they did not work, they would be quickly kicked out of the staff quarters, and once they were kicked out, they would die.
Of course, the benefits of middle-level employees were still acceptable, not to mention someone at his level.
The Silver Wing Corporate Group spent a lot of money to prepare the First Pioneering Corps, and their standard of living was almost the same as when they were on the East Coast, or even better than when they were there.
The only fly in the ointment was that it was far from home.
Looking at Luca, Li De nodded. "I have already learned about the situation from the liaison officer. My colleague will communicate with you about the next work arrangement."
After speaking, the man standing next to Li De smiled and stretched out his right hand. "Hello, my name is Wei Te! It’s a pleasure to work with you!"
Old Luca quickly shook his hand. "Hello! My name is Luca..."
"I heard it already. Take it easy, I also came out of a shelter, but it’s been a few years. You can treat this as your home, and you can contact me with any questions," Wei Te said with a friendly smile."Okay, I’ll leave it to you here. I have to urge our engineers." Li De patted Wei Te on the shoulder, then nodded to Luca, and left with Captain Lu Yang.
Luca’s expression was somewhat restrained.
He wanted to say that although he was carrying a VM, he didn’t actually come out of a shelter, but he felt like the other party would not be interested in whatever he would say.
However, Wei Te didn’t seem to mind it. He skillfully took out a folding computer from his pocket, pulled open the flexible screen sandwiched in the middle, and began to talk to him about the mobile barracks that had just completed construction.
"Long story short, this operational camp is now yours. During the cooperation period, we will be responsible for your safety, and our water trucks will also deliver water for you free of charge. There are plumbing pipes in the barracks, which are connected to the boilers of the central functional facilities of the camp. They are very easy to use. You just need to boil the water, and the residual heat can also be used to heat the water for bathing. But we are only responsible for delivering water, and as for the firewood or coal for boiling water, I am afraid you will have to solve it yourself.
"But this is also an easy problem to solve. There is no shortage of wood in the area, and there’s a forest further west. But I suggest you go as far east as you can, because we bulldozed a lot of wood on the way here, so you can try to recycle them.
"In terms of today’s work. Our scouts found an underground garage at the community hospital in the abandoned town to the north that contained about 2,000 high-value car remains. We need to remove their frames, doors, wheels, hood, and suspension… Basically, take out all the metal that can be recycled.
"Our marines have already cleaned out the mutants out there, and your job is to use the equipment we provide to recycle the vehicle’s recyclable parts. Please cut and disassemble them, and then press the removed parts into cubes before putting them on our transporters.
"Due to the terrain, our transporters can’t go deep into the urban area because the road conditions there are too bad. You will know when you arrive. In short, it is about 800 meters from the community hospital to the resource point. I am afraid that you will have to use carts to manually transport the materials for the remainder of the way.
"That’s all for work. If there are new arrangements, I will notify you. It’s 10:15 now, you can settle down first. We will set off on time at 12:00 noon and return at 6:00 in the evening. There will be no time to eat during that period, so you better prepare some dry rations.
"If you need to buy materials, you can tell me. You have a budget of 600CR now, and today’s remuneration will be settled at 12:00 midnight."
Luca nodded. "No problem."
...
The players were quickly assigned to their rooms.
After the cooking utensils were delivered, Luca immediately issued a mission on VM to recruit several Lifestyle Profession players, set up a large pot in the middle of the barracks, and started cooking.
The water truck responsible for delivering water just happened to arrive, and used pressure pumps and water pipes to inject water into the water tank in the center of the camp.
When filling the water tank, two drivers from the logistics department took out two cups of freeze-dried food from the car and poured boiling water into it.
Food like that was very convenient. It could be eaten as soon as it was soaked in boiling water. It had carbohydrates, protein, and vitamins. It was hygienic and nutritious to eat, and there were five flavors to choose from.
Usually if there was still work to do in the afternoon and they were too lazy to take the elevator back to the fortress, they would simply settle their hunger with their rations.
In fact, they heard that the logistics department planned to deploy mobile kitchens on the ground, but the shelter residents actually refused, saying that it would be better to just give them the money directly.
They really didn’t know what those blue coats were thinking!
In short, their stingy boss canceled the plan to deploy a mobile kitchen after hearing that their allies wanted to cook by themselves.
After all, their people would dine in the fortress most of the time, and only come out on duty rarely.
For the lunch of a few people, it was really not worth it to deploy a mobile kitchen, so it was better to just pay them.
Leaning against the door of the water truck, the two drivers chatted as they watched the shelter residents who set up cauldrons to cook while waiting for the freeze-dried food to be cooked.
"What are they doing?"
"Looks like they’re peeling potatoes? Is that a potato?"
"I heard it’s called shofar potatoes, maybe mutated potatoes... Look, they’re starting to boil water."
"Firewood for cooking? It’s primitive enough. At least use an electric stove. But then again, why didn’t they put the potatoes directly in the pot, but put them on top of the cauldrons?"
"Maybe they want to cook the potatoes with steam... I’m actually quite curious, can food made this way taste good?"
The two suddenly looked at each other tacitly and said in unison.
"Let’s trade for some food…”
...
There was a long queue at the camp.
Tomato Eggs, who was in charge, shouted while standing in front of the cauldrons, "One each, everyone has some and don’t panic and try jumping in the queue! We are all the luckiest players who are the first to experience the expansion! Don’t let the idiots on the forum look down on us."
After finally getting the lunch box, Mosquito had so much feelings that his eyes almost teared up.
"I miss it so much! It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten the cauldron food made by Tomato Eggs!"
Night Ten, who had just received his share, also sighed, "Same here. Speaking of which, since which version did our respected administrator stop providing free meals?"
Mosquito said while holding the lunch box, "I remember that very well! After the currency system was created in Alpha 0.3, we had to spend money to buy food! Thinking about it, I really miss those times. At that time, none of us knew how to cook, so we all bought potatoes and squatted in the square to eat it. "
“Yes, yes, haha, I also remember it now! Later, only after the North Gate Market was opened, did Lifestyle Profession players run over to sell stewed vegetables."
"Unfortunately, Boss Yaya doesn’t want special mushrooms."
"Speaking of which, where is she?"
"I guess she probably failed to get a qualification. She has never gotten lucky…”
While they were chatting, two NPCs in gray coats came over. They seemed to be the two who drove the water truck.
"Hey." One of them raised his hand and greeted Night Ten amicably.
Mosquito and Night Ten looked at each other in confusion.
"What do they want?"
One of the NPCs pointed to the bowl of uneaten lunch in Night Ten’s hand, and then pointed to the cup of instant noodles in his hand, and said something.
Although Mosquito didn’t understand their language, he understood their body language. Plus with their expression and tone, he roughly figured out what they wanted.
Mosquito raised an eyebrow in shock. "He seems to want to exchange with us?"
Night Ten couldn’t help but gasp, "Should we trade?"
"Isn’t this obvious? Of course! Let’s try their food." Mosquito snapped.
Night Ten’s eyes lit up in response. "Good idea!"
The two players happily handed the lunch boxes in their hands to the two NPCs who drove the water truck, and then took the instant noodles from them.
Thanking each other in their own languages, the two NPCs quickly slipped away.
Night Ten and Mosquito ignored them and couldn’t wait to lift the lid of the instant noodles.
"Let me see what’s in it?"
"Instant noodles? It doesn’t seem like it?"
"Damn! How many dried vegetables did they put in it? What are these?"
"I seriously suspect that found some noodles from somewhere and mixed them in with the vegetables.”
"But it smells pretty good."
"But it doesn’t taste as good as Tomato Eggs’ mashed potato! Oh, it’s a pity that Teng Teng is not here. Since Tomato Eggs stopped cooking and became a butcher, she hasn’t eaten it for a long time, right?”
Taking the lunch box from the residents of the two shelters, the two NPCs opened it like a treasure, clumsily digging a lump of mashed potatoes with a wooden spoon and stuffing it into their mouths, with a surprised expression on their faces.
"This, not bad!"
"Good, good!"
"Mashed shofar potatoes and mixed with soy sauce and minced meat? This tastes a bit like potatoes, but not exactly like it. It’s amazing."
"This stewed meat is also very delicious. What kind of meat is it?"
"Who cares! This is much better than vegetables!"
The two of them devoured the meals quickly, but they didn’t seem to be satisfied.
Returning the lunch box to the shelter residents, they looked at each other and immediately reached a consensus. They quickly went back to get two more cups of instant noodles, and excitedly found the shelter residents who had just received their lunch. They made the same gestures as before, trying to exchange the lunch boxes again.
That was the first time the players have seen such a strange thing. All of them were very curious, so they didn’t refuse, and decisively handed the lunch box in their hands to the NPCs.
After gobbling down the food again, the two NPCs finally returned to the water truck with satisfaction this time, and drove the water truck that had long been empty back to the garage next to the Pioneer outside the camp.
"This is the first time I’ve had such good food since I left the East Coast!"
"Me too! Compared to those shofar potatoes, those dried vegetables are just rubbish! Ptooey!"
"Agree! Why can’t our kitchen make good food? Is it difficult to upgrade the program? We can clearly grow potatoes!"
While counting the supplies to be handed over to Shelter 404, Li De happened to hear the conversation of the two who came out of the garage, and his expression was one of slight confusion.
Shofar potatoes?
Dried vegetables are garbage?
What are these two idiots talking about?