"All the flowery scents fade in April each year, while blossoms in the mountain temple have just started to bloom."
In this huge and bustling metropolis, a small shop at the juncture of the 2nd and 3rd Ring Road was just as inconspicuous as a tiny fly. But in the dimly lit room of the shop, Yuan Zhou seemed ignorant of that.
"Damn it" Yuan Zhou sat on the only chair with intact legs. Looking around the tiny room, he sighed as his thoughts drifted away.
This small shop was the only inheritance left by his parents, besides 50 thousand RMB.
The two-storey store was located at a bustling street, backed against a commercial office building. This store was formerly a warm home on the 2nd floor, and a noodle restaurant at the 1st floor.
Since his parents died from a traffic accident three years ago, he had never been to the store located at the 1st floor anymore. Whenever he left, he would exit through the back door.
The house was now extremely dusty. The tables and chairs were also smashed into pieces, while the remaining bowls and chopsticks were strewn about in a mess. The 2nd floor wasn’t any better than that. Except for the places where he frequently moved about, it was exactly the same as how it was three years ago.
Little did he expect that someone would take over the shop, as it had been 2 years since he posted the sales notice.
With his face filled with unwillingness and helplessness, Yuan Zhou stood up and looked around the whole house carefully, as if to imprint this messy noodle restaurant in his mind forever.
Nevertheless, his expression could not even last 3 seconds before he stepped on god-knows-what, forcing him to plant his face against the floor, accompanied by a dust cloud he created while falling.
"Damn it. My face." Yuan Zhou kneaded his left face while attempting to get up with a pained look.
"Man, just wait. Tomorrow, you are going to be taken over by other people." Yuan Zhou immediately got to his feet, and his face didn’t feel so painful anymore.
While he dusted himself lightly, he mumbled something towards the shabby house and sighed in his heart. He no longer wanted to say anything anymore.
Walking through the messy hall, he arrived at what had been the kitchen. Near the back door, there was a narrow and concealed stairway, barely enough for a person to pass through.
Walking along the stairway, Yuan Zhou was expressionless. However, his hands were kneading the part of his body that came into contact with the ground just now.
The stairway was not long, with only 8 steps. He got to the 2nd floor with just several steps. The daylight here was much better than that on the 1st floor.
Near the stairway was a creamy white shoe cabinet, yet it was full of dirt now. On the 1st shelf were two pairs of leather shoes that look worned out; on the 2nd shelf were several pairs of old-fashioned women shoes; shoes on the 3rd tier were much better, including sports shoes that were washed a snowy white, and also some comfortable and casual leather shoes.
Disregarding the amount of dust on the shoes cabinet, Yuan Zhou took off his slippers, put them on the cabinet, and walked into the room barefooted.
The modest 2nd floor was divided into three rooms, two of the rooms stood intimately next to each other, and the third one had a yellow wooden door at the very end on the right. The two rooms next to each other didn’t seem to make the floor crowded. A Mandarin character symbolizing luck and the characters wishing good fortune while leaving were posted on each of the white doors. Those characters had aged, therefore, the bright red color had already faded.
"Ka Cha!" A harsh sound was made when he opened the door to the room on the right with the characters wishing good fortune while leaving. Dirty clothes were scattered all over the room and even on the floor. The cabinet beside the bed’s headboard was half opened. Clothes inside of the cabinet were stacked neatly. A black laptop was placed on the cabinet with its power light twinkling, showing it was still working.
The double bed was the cleanest object in this room. The quilt and pillow were stacked fairly neat and tidy as well.
Taking a look at the dust on his body in disgust, Yuan Zhou got some clean clothes from the wardrobe. Leaving the door of the wardrobe open, he walked straight into the yellow wooden door.
Putting away the rest of the clothes, Yuan Zhou started to wash his face in the washbasin. The mirror above the washbasin, reflected a man aged 30 or so, with a mature-looking face and a pair of deep charming eyes. His appearance revealed maturity and calm, which added some points of charm to his ordinary facial features.
Yuan Zhou carried an inapparent scald scar on his hand and an incised wound on his fingers. His fingers didn’t look good while the muscle of his arms were, on the contrary, fairly beautiful. As for his other parts, there were all average.
Although he had wanted 6 pack-abs to pick up girls, he gave up after he looked towards his abdomen and found that nothing had changed after 3 months of effort.
After washing and changing his clothes, he went back to his own room. Just then, his mobile phone rang. He wiped his hands dry and clicked on the new message from Boss Wang. There was only one sentence.
"Yuan Zhou, I have gotten some people to work here. You don’t need to come to work tomorrow. I will wire your salary into your account on time at the middle of the month."
He breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had already resigned for half a month, his boss told him to wait according to the usual procedures until the replacement staff arrived. For a long time,Yuan Zhou already had the notion of leaving this sorrowful place and traverse the outside world.
Looking at the photo upside down on the table, Yuan Zhou felt slightly at ease. Nevertheless, he also got annoyed when he thought of the customer coming to see the house tomorrow.
After all, his parents were quite hopeful for this small shop and had wished their son could inherit this property even if he couldn’t obtain any other accomplishments. However, he had never tried reopening the shop since his parents died. Yet now he was going to rent the shop to others. Thinking about that issue made Yuan Zhou a little agitated. He stretched his arms to move the photo further away.
Lying on the bed, he looked at the gradually darkening sky outside of his window. He then closed his eyes and cleared his messy mind, preparing to fall asleep like that.
"Di Di...It is tested the host is psychologically stable and is suitable for binding. Binding begining. Binding ends."
An unexpected electronic voice sounded in his mind. Yuan Zhou opened his eyes, his face was expressionless but his eyes were filled with surprise.
"System?" Yuan Zhou couldn’t help murmuring in a low voice.
"Host, I am here," a serious and cold electronic voice responded to the curiosity in his mind.
"Ha?" Yuan Zhou got really muddled right now.
"What the hell is that?" Yuan Zhou started to look around at every corner of the house, trying to locate the source of the voice or anything different from yesterday.
Of course there was nothing more he could find in the house except for the meal box lying in the trash bin. He threw it away after his lunch today.
"Host, you don’t need to look for me. The system is bound to your brain….." When the electronic voice mentioned the brain, Yuan Zhou reached out to his brain swiftly like a clap of thunder and probed very carefully for several times, only to find nothing. Not even a simple bulge.
However, the electronic voice still continued, "This system is invisible to the naked eyes, microscope or any other means. This system is the Master Chef System. The host is qualified. Now beginning the first mission."
"Wait, wait, what system?"Yuan Zhou failed in looking for that. Then he sat back on his bed and asked.
"Master Chef System. In order not to waste unnecessary power, the description of the system has been displayed in your mind in a written form. You can just concentrate your attention to see it." The cold electronic voice then disappeared completely.
Text description: This system came from a galaxy unknown to you. It was invented by famous Dr. A, in order to let humans obtain higher levels of spiritual enjoyment. It was cast away to the earth 2500 years ago and has experienced 10 hosts. You are No. 11."
Target: The system will help you to get a thorough knowledge of both western and traditional Chinese foods so you can become the top Master Chef in the world.
Host: Yuan Zhou (Ordinary Human, Nationality: Chinese Han)
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Physical quality: C (overall evaluations of neural response, strength, coordination and dexterity, etc.)
Cooking talent: Unknown
Skill: None
Tools: None
5 Dimensions Cooking evaluation: Novice
(You are only a novice in the cooking circle. You haven’t mastered how to cook Fried Rice with Egg even with 2 years of cooking experience. )
[Mission]...