"Ah? Where are the plates?" The female fan, who was suddenly called over, felt her mind go blank. She had been diligently chopping vegetables and wasn't familiar with the plate's location.
"The round, white thing in front of me." Brother Yin was growing increasingly anxious; the rice pot seemed to be reaching its maximum warning level.
By the time the female fan picked up the plate, the rice pot had already burst into flames.
The flames quickly grew and spread, filling the entire kitchen with urgent, piercing alarm sounds.
The burning flames kept expanding, resembling a chain of fires.
"I'll put out the fire! I'll put out the fire!" The female fan hastily put down the plate she was holding and rushed to grab a fire extinguisher in the corner of the kitchen.
"Put down the pot and go cut vegetables or prepare ingredients over there!" The live chat room was filled with the female fan's screams.
The progress bar for the orders was disappearing, as now they could serve part of the dishes in advance. However, Brother Yin was still holding a pot of cooked rice, watching her extinguish the fire.
White mist rose from her fire extinguisher, gradually suppressing the spreading flames.
As the flames were extinguished, the nearest kitchen order had already expired, and the progress bar for the remaining orders was about to end.
"Let's finish the remaining orders first," the female fan said quickly, dashing to chop vegetables while also arranging the food on plates to serve the customers.
Brother Yin looked at the rice that had turned into charcoal, scratching his head in embarrassment. This time, it was indeed his mistake; he didn't plan the timing properly.
In just a few seconds, he had already reviewed his mistakes from the previous round.
While waiting for the rice to cook, he could have placed the plates on the counter space. That way, when the rice was cooked, he could quickly put it on the plates that had already been set up.
"Didn't we agree that you would cook, and I would chop?" During the cooking interval, he could still hear her slightly complaining voice.
The fans watching the live stream were laughing as well:
"A chain of fires!"
"They're operating at a loss; it's hilarious. Managing a kitchen can lead to bankruptcy."
"Brother Yin looks kind of clueless."
"Laughing. Why are they arguing again?"
"I really wanted to strangle Brother Yin for a moment. The flames were already rising, and he was still holding a pot."
"Brothers, I have a bad feeling about this..."
"This game is really detailed. They put the fire extinguisher in the farthest corner from the source of the fire."
"Just now, I didn't even recognize that red lump as a fire extinguisher. I searched for it for a while. Luckily, the female fan recognized it."
"I was getting stressed out; the fire was really hard to put out."
...
Although an accident happened in this level, they managed to complete the game by a hair's breadth.
"The last round was a mistake. I won't mess up again next time." Brother Yin raised his hand to reassure everyone.
Just as he finished saying that, he suddenly froze. This scene... why did it seem so familiar?
I won't make a mistake even if I try a billion times.
I'll definitely succeed in the next round.
I've mastered this game.
...
Memories of death started attacking him again.
Brother Yin shook his head abruptly, recalling the time when he was tormented and his mind was muddled.
Familiar taste, familiar mental torture...
But—this is a couple's game, right?
No, that's not right, is it? Brother Yin swallowed a mouthful of saliva, staring blankly at the game screen, a sense of unease rising in his heart.
At this moment, the two of them had already arrived at the next level in their food carts.
Now, they believed they were becoming familiar with the game. But even so, when they saw the next map, they felt their heads go blank.
The levels that followed featured moving platforms, scattered ingredients, random fire and storms, conveyor belts requiring separate operation, and some parts of the kitchen disappearing periodically.
In each area of the map, there were tasks that needed to be done, leaving no space wasted. Sometimes, upon seeing an apparently simple map, both of them hadn't even had a chance to be happy before they started arguing frantically while chopping vegetables and plating dishes.
There were many reasons for their arguments. The distance between chopping and plating stations was too far, food boxes were scattered everywhere, and serving dishes required reaching another area.
Most importantly, in later levels, players needed to wash dishes!
When they ran out of plates for the first time, both of them were dumbfounded. The moment they saw a stack of dirty plates next to the counter, their heads were buzzing.
Who should wash them? The two of them had finally allocated their tasks after much effort.
"I'll do it, I'll do it." Brother Yin took a deep breath and quickly picked up the plates next to the counter.
However, when he saw the location of the sink, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. The sink was too far away from the dirty plates!
"D* mn it, we have to wash each plate one by one?"
"In just an hour, we argued a hundred times!"
"The female fan isn't speaking anymore; this game is too terrifying!"
"The silent female fan extinguishes fires and washes dishes."
"Divorce appeal: He doesn't wash dishes. Judge: Appeal denied!"
"Couples' game—hiss! Do we have to split up because of this?"
...
This game ended with the female fan angrily quitting. Brother Yin looked at the game screen, and not to mention the female fan's anger, he was pretty frustrated too!
The core gameplay of this game was quite simple, involving various tasks in the kitchen:
Gathering ingredients, chopping, frying, grilling, plating, washing dishes...
But these seemingly simple tasks were designed by the tricky game developers to become this chaotic.
Before starting the next level, both of them would plan meticulously. However, once the level began, even the most detailed plan would become meaningless.
You would face constantly moving platforms, ingredients scattered all over the place, randomly appearing flames and storms, conveyor belts that required separate handling, and parts of the kitchen that would disappear into thin air.
Even if you were familiar with the game's controls, facing the next level would make your scalp tingle.
During the game, especially when making pancakes, cakes, or steamed meat/vegetables, you needed to put the raw ingredients into a blender and mix them using flour or eggs.
After completing this step, you could place the processed ingredients into a frying pan, oven, wooden steamer, or other appropriate cooking utensils.
Additional equipment and steps further increased the game's difficulty and tension. After a flurry of frantic actions, various comical errors followed.
The recipes for the dishes became more complex as the levels progressed. Most of the time, players had to repeatedly cook the same dish.
Even if Brother Yin and the female fan argued incessantly while playing the game, there was no denying its entertainment value.
Frequent mistakes might not seem like a big issue, but the ensuing chaos could lead to the kitchen catching fire, undoing all their previous efforts.
Nevertheless, despite all this, Brother Yin still wanted to say one thing: the game was genuinely fun!
Frequent disasters continuously plagued the kitchen, but the unending chaos had turned into the charm of playing the game.