I've been possessed by a culinary genius, and I've turned Shaxian snacks into a rip-off!

"You actually gave me the knife! System, you've finally had a change of heart!"

As a chef, Li Zhibai had always dreamed of having a set of heirloom knives worthy of him, and now his dream had finally come true.

Should I claim the reward?

"Extract! We must extract it! Hurry up and stop dawdling!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a long, black wooden box appeared out of thin air in front of Li Zhibai.

The wooden box was entirely black, with no patterns or decorations on its surface. It looked plain and unremarkable, but it felt heavy in the hand. It felt like touching a piece of warm jade, and you could also faintly smell a sandalwood fragrance.

This box must be worth a fortune!

Li Zhibai held his breath and opened the wooden box. The inside of the box was lined with a layer of deep red velvet, and nine knives were quietly placed on it.

The first knife was entirely black, with a long blade covered in fine dark patterns. Upon closer inspection, these patterns resembled swimming black dragons, which was quite magical.

The hilt of the sword is engraved with two seal characters: "Slaying Dragon".

"Holy crap! They've even brought out the Dragon Slayer Sword?"

The moment Li Zhibai picked up the knife, he felt a chilling coldness spread from his palm throughout his body.

How can I describe that feeling? It's like drinking a bottle of ice-cold cola on a hot day – so refreshing and invigorating!

Then he swung the knife with his hand, without using much force, and heard the blade making a whistling hum as it sliced ​​through the air.

"Holy crap, this is an amazing artifact!"

Li Zhibai played with the knife for a while before picking it up the second one.

This sword is shorter than the Dragon Slayer sword, with a wider blade, a more curved shape, a dark red surface, and faint phoenix tail feather patterns visible on the blade.

The hilt of the sword is engraved with two characters: "Slaying the Phoenix".

"The Dragon-Slaying and Phoenix-Slaying Techniques are complete!"

Li Zhibai held a sword in each hand, then struck what he considered a particularly cool and charming dual-sword style pose, even shouting, "Take this!" before wildly waving it at the air as if he were a master swordsman who rips off customers.

After a brief test, he put the two main knives back in the box and picked up the third knife, a small and exquisite boning knife, all silver-white, as thin as a willow leaf, with the words "Boning Clouds" engraved on the handle.

Then came the fourth one, a heavy cleaver with the words "Shattered Star" engraved on the handle.

The fifth game, the sixth game, the seventh game...

Fish scale knife [Fenjiang], duck slicing knife [Caixue], fruit knife [Poyu], carving knife [Louyue]... A set of nine knives, each with a corresponding seal script inscription.

Li Zhibai examined the props carefully, swallowing hard.

This is exactly what he's been dreaming of; it's so cool!

Then he couldn't help but imagine a scene.

Late at night, in a dimly lit Shaxian snack shop, a well-dressed sucker pushed open the door and walked in. As soon as he sat down, the shopkeeper expressionlessly pulled out a "Dragon Slayer Saber" from behind him and said to the sucker:

"Sir, the deluxe package is 18888. Will you be paying by card or scanning a QR code?"

Just imagining that scene is exciting.

Just as Li Zhibai was lost in his beautiful fantasy, the system notification sounded again.

[Reward Two: Upgrade the Talent Skill "Adapting to Different Situations"]

[New Ability: Can randomly acquire "Fragments of Food Memory" from customers.]

[Fragments of Culinary Memories: Everyone has a food they can't forget, some related to childhood, some to love, some to a person, a city, or a time that can never be returned to... Fragments may drop during the host's interactions with diners.]

[Collecting and synthesizing a sufficient number of memory fragments from the same diner will activate the prerequisite quest for that diner's "Heart of Gourmet Food," eliminating the need to passively wait for special diners to come to you.]

[Friendly reminder: The more times a diner dine, or the higher their satisfaction level, the higher the probability of obtaining fragments.]

After seeing the reward, Li Zhibai was stunned for a few seconds before exclaiming from the bottom of his heart, "Awesome!!!"

"Finally, I don't have to wait around waiting for things to happen!"

Upgrading this skill is crucial.

Previously, he relied entirely on luck to unlock new Gourmet Hearts, having to wait for diners with special missions to unlock them, which was too time-consuming.

Especially when it comes to organizing a customized meal event, he feels a bit constrained. For example, last time, luckily, Grandpa Huo was cunning and shrewd enough to book the entire venue and steal the show, otherwise he might have risked being accused of rigging the deal by giving Grandpa a back door to get first place.

Furthermore, customized activities cannot be done frequently, which is not only restrictive but also prone to failure.

Now that he has this food memory fragment, his room for maneuver is much greater. Anyone who gets a customization slot can unlock the corresponding dish development by collecting fragments.

In short, it doesn't matter who comes in first place in the cooking event next time, since he can activate the Gourmet Heart quest through the other person's fragments anyway.

This upgrade is just perfect for him, it's amazing!

[Reward 4: Daily visitor limit adjusted.]

[Current daily limit: 60 people (effective).]

"System, why are you suddenly being so generous today? Legendary weapons, skill upgrades, and extra slots—you seem like a completely different person to me!"

[...Perhaps this system is a little kinder than its host.]

Li Zhibai: "..."

No, system, what do you mean?!

What do you mean you're kinder than me?

Fine, I'm in a good mood today, so I won't bother with such a small system.

They even won the championship today!

I even lost in front of the Wuhan media today!

Today I also obtained the legendary knife I'd always wanted, and unlocked a new feature that lets me rip off gullible customers, plus the overcharging limit has been increased...

With so many good things happening on the same day, he really felt that his life was about to take off.

"Hehehe..."

[Please be mindful of your facial expressions, host.]

"Why worry about managing my expressions? I'm happy today, so I can laugh however I want!"

"Hehehehehe..."

[Host, according to the test, your facial muscles are showing signs of mild impending spasms.]

"..."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai's smile vanished instantly. He quickly pressed his hand to his cheek and took several deep breaths.

"Okay, calm down! I'm calm!"

After finally managing to suppress the uncontrollable wicked smile on his lips, he couldn't wait to open the panel.

"System, check the current status."

[Host: Li Zhibai.]

Age: 23.

Physical fitness: 8.

[Cooking Skill Rating: God-tier.]

[Foodie Hearts: 3]

[Unlocked dishes: Fragrant Mixed Noodles, Crystal Steamed Dumplings, Chicken Leg Rice, Wonton, Stewed Pot Series, Bodhi Jade Vegetarian Restaurant (Unique), Secret Recipe Braised Pork, Vegetarian Dust (Unique).]

[Crowd control rule: Daily effective passenger flow ≤ 60 people.]

[Talent Skill: Tailoring Your Approach to the Scheme (Upgraded Version)]

[Items in hand: A set of legendary swords.]

[Gourmet Heart Missions: None]

[System's Recent Review: This is an extremely shameless and unscrupulous boss who will stop at nothing to get his money back. His ruthlessness has reached unprecedented levels. The system suggests that the host should tone it down in the future, but the system knows you won't listen.]

Li Zhibai: "..."

He didn't know why, but he always felt that this damn system was becoming somewhat alienated from him.

Wasn't that book, "The Black-Hearted Boss," given to me by the system? Why does it feel like I'm trying to distance myself from it now?

Li Zhibai turned off the system panel and walked towards the parking lot carrying the wooden box.

Su Su had already driven her BMW Mini out of the underground garage and was waiting for him in a temporary parking space on the side of the road.

Seeing her master approaching carrying a dark box, she asked in confusion, "Master, is this a knife? I've never seen you carry one before."

"Oh, this? I had it custom-made in advance, and a friend brought it over for me." Li Zhibai made up a reason.

Su Su simply said "oh" and didn't ask any further questions, letting her master get into the car.

After Li Zhibai got into the car and fastened his seatbelt, he said to her, "By the way, Sister Su Su, I won the championship in today's competition. Shouldn't we celebrate tonight? It's on me!"

"Where would you like to celebrate, Master?"

"Let's go to the lotus pond in the gentle rain!"

"...Master, are you trying to freeload off Master Fang again?"

"What do you mean by 'getting something for free'? This is called fostering friendship among colleagues. Besides, I just won the championship, and as my good friend, shouldn't Master Fang treat me to a meal to congratulate me?"

"I think Master Fang probably doesn't want to see you."

"It's okay, I want to see him."

Su Su had no choice but to take out her phone and send a message to Fang Guoping.

"Master Fang, my master said he wants to celebrate at your shop after winning the championship."

A few seconds later, Chef Fang replied with a message.

[...Make him get out of here!!!]