Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

If the goal was just to resolve the current business crisis, Jiang Ran could immediately come up with two ideas. One was to have the chefs develop new dishes to attract townspeople to patronize the store, and the other was to relocate the main store in Mel Town to other towns with a relatively normal competitive environment.

Jiang Ran believed that such an easy idea must have been thought of by Shiiki Ruri.

(It seems that in addition to the history told by those people in the Gourmet Association, there must be some unknown stories about the Cat Girl Restaurant.)

Jiang Ran has no idea about this speculation for the time being, but he feels that his idea is correct.

Because there is one detail that Jiang Ran has never forgotten, that is the founder of Cat Girl Cooking Pavilion, Magai, who is also the previous "Liutang Master" of "Zhaoye Liuque".

If the Neko Musume Ryotei actually has some kind of relationship with the secret intelligence organization "Teruya Ryujaku", then many seemingly unreasonable situations may have reasonable explanations.

9.184 - Field Investigation

(It seems that I can only go to the cat girl restaurant again...)

Jiang Ran looked up at the night sky, not sure whether the Cat Girl Restaurant was still open at this time.

According to the living habits of the Earth world, the current time is undoubtedly the midnight snack time, but in the Prison Star world with backward productivity, there are no conditions to form an industry for such a luxurious way of enjoying midnight snacks.

When Jiang Ran had stayed in other towns before, he had noticed that after nine or ten o'clock in the evening, there was basically no one on the streets, only soldiers on regular patrols and homeless vagrants.

As for restaurants still open? Impossible to find.

However, Jiang Ran still decided to try his luck in Meier Town, because unlike other towns, it is a special town with an extremely developed catering industry.

As they got closer to the street where the restaurants were concentrated, Jiang Ran felt more and more confident.

The bustling voices came from the street not far away. This noisy feeling was exactly what Jiang Ran knew as the "sound of midnight snacks."

Sure enough, after turning a corner, Jiang Ran saw the brightly lit streets. Although the crowd here was not as large as during the day, compared with other towns that were like under curfew, this place was already very lively.

Jiang Ran walked and observed, and finally came to the cat girl cooking stall.

Like other shops that are still in business, Cat Girl Restaurant Pavilion has not given up the current golden hour of late-night snacks. However, unlike other shops, the business of Cat Girl Restaurant Pavilion is still quite quiet, so quiet that Jiang Ran cannot tell at a glance whether the few people who are eating there are customers or employees of Cat Girl Restaurant Pavilion.

Before entering the cat girl cooking stall, Jiang Ran looked around.

During the day, there are always many people following Jiang Ran, but now, perhaps because it is dark, the star effect of "Frost Knight Stan" has not been brought into play.

(Well, that's perfect.)

This undisturbed environment is exactly what Jiang Ran wanted. He carefully studied the location of the Cat Girl Food Pavilion and came to a preliminary conclusion:

The cat girl restaurant's business is not good, and it has nothing to do with the store's location.

·

Previously, when Jiang Ran was listening to the elders of the Food Association telling the story of the founding of the Cat Girl Restaurant, he had already summarized some of the reasons why the Cat Girl Restaurant would go downhill.

Now he continued to enrich his knowledge based on the original information, and step by step eliminated those factors that might lead to the poor business of the cat girl restaurant.

After confirming the geographical factors, Jiang Ran walked into the store, ordered all seven dishes on the Cat Girl Restaurant menu, and then sat quietly waiting for the food to be served.

(There are four waiters in the front office... This number is a bit too many compared to the number of guests...)

(There are five chefs and kitchen staff in the kitchen. Honestly, we don’t need that many people, right?)

Jiang Ran relied on the advantage of his "eyes" and studied the personnel structure of the Cat Girl Food Pavilion thoroughly just by sitting there.

Jiang Ran believed that Shiiki Ruri must be aware of the problem of "overstaffing needs to be streamlined", but she did not lay off employees to help the Cat Girl Restaurant survive. Why?

This was probably related to the original intention of the Cat Girl Food Pavilion to accommodate refugees - Jiang Ran thought so.

However, after identifying every employee of the Cat Girl Food Pavilion, Jiang Ran withdrew his previous speculation, because after the identification, he found out that...

Half of the employees of this cat girl cooking kiosk are combat professionals, and the lowest level is level 2 at stage 50.

·

Level 50, second order. This level is just a small fry compared to Jiang Ran now, but in the rear of the Kingdom of West, in the rural town of Mel, it is already quite remarkable.

If they have this ability, they can become the main reward hunter by going to any task guild in a town of the same level. However, these people are willing to work in this cat girl cooking pavilion. Why is that?

As long as you think about Shiiki Ruri's identity, the answer to this question is obvious.

Although the identification information did not show that these people were members of the secret intelligence organization "Teruya Liuque", Jiang Ran could basically conclude that the Cat Girl Restaurant was actually one of the cover organizations of "Teruya Liuque".

Therefore, even though the Cat Girl Restaurant was losing so much money that it was about to go bankrupt, Shiiki Ruri did not lay off any employees - Jiang Ran now felt that many of the things that were confusing before had become logical.

According to the currently known information, Jiang Ran has a new understanding of the establishment, development and current situation of the Cat Girl Food Pavilion.

The founder of the Cat Girl Restaurant, Ms. Magai, was the previous head of the Ryūdō Hall of "Tsuruya Ryūjaku". She founded the Cat Girl Restaurant with the ostensible reason of accommodating refugees from the Great Migration, and she left many refugees to work at the Cat Girl Restaurant.

Among these refugees, Magae will select suitable people to join "Zhu Ye Liu Que" and use the cat girl restaurant as a cover for everyone's identity, so that the members of "Liu Tang" can usually get together openly.

As for how much of this matter was "for the benefit of the organization" and how much was "out of kindness", Jiang Ran had no way of knowing.

Then, Magee's "Cat Girl Cooking Kiosk Model" began to be successful, and later this model was copied to the neighboring town of Sunny. Unfortunately, with Magee's death, this "Cat Girl Cooking Kiosk Model" stopped developing, and today it is even facing a bankruptcy crisis.

(Did Magee fail to pass on all his "management methods" to Shiiki Ruri before his death?)

(Or, has something changed within the Teruya Ryujaku organization?)

According to Jiang Ran's understanding, it doesn't really matter whether a cover store like the Cat Girl Restaurant makes money or not, because the one who really makes the big money is definitely "Zhu Ye Liu Que" hiding in the shadows.

As long as Teruya Ryuque gives the Cat Girl Restaurant appropriate financial support, the Cat Girl Restaurant will have no worries about lack of funds to operate.

However, judging from the previous visit of the head hall master to the Cat Girl Restaurant, Jiang Ran felt that the connection between the Cat Girl Restaurant and "Zhu Ye Liu Que" did not seem to be as close as he had guessed.

(Tsk…it’s getting a bit complicated…)

Jiang Ran raised his hand to scratch his hair, but he forgot that he was the Frost Knight Stan, wearing a helmet, and he scratched his hair in vain.

The cat-like waitress who was about to serve Jiang Ran saw this funny scene and couldn't help laughing. Then she quickly covered up her rude behavior, announced the names of the dishes properly, served them, and then trotted away.

Jiang Ran didn't care about this. He just looked at the plain clothes of the cat girl waitress and thought that if she changed into the maid outfit of the Earth world, the Cat Girl Restaurant would definitely be able to make a comeback in this Mel Town and dominate everyone.

9.185 - Unexpected Visitors

Maid outfit, as the name suggests, is the clothing worn by maids when they are working. I believe you all are already very familiar with it, so I will not post pictures here to explain it in detail.

[img=1080,1440]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/12/526705f2-a1a3-4633-8bc0-e37278bef795.jpg[/img]

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[img=868,1228]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/12/ca7a4f8b-f39d-4bc0-b3bc-7762a433eff0.jpg[/img]

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[img=1080,1424]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/12/6d221399-193d-423f-b146-e24e98f349ba.jpg[/img]

[Note: The image is from the Internet, please delete if infringed]

As everyone knows, maid outfits are work clothes exclusively for female servants, and once you get serious about it, it's extremely complicated.

Whether it is the style design or the selection of fabrics, these all have a significant impact on the success of a maid outfit. If you are more serious, "tailor-made" is also an indispensable and important part of the maid outfit.

Therefore, it was not something that Jiang Ran could do easily by simply thinking about it, to change the cat-girl waitresses of the "Cat Girl Restaurant" into maid outfits.

However, Jiang Ran was just thinking divergently. He knew very well in his heart that wearing a maid outfit was purely unorthodox. Even if it could attract some customers, it was not a long-term solution - especially in Mel Town, where food is the core.

If you want to truly save the Neko Musume Korakuten, you must first start by understanding the "truth" about the Neko Musume Korakuten.

(It seems that using Shiiki Ruri...is not as easy as I thought.)

Jiang Ran withdrew his thoughts for the moment and turned his attention to the seven dishes on the table.

A customer like him who orders all the dishes in the restaurant at once is unique in any restaurant, so it is natural that he attracts everyone's attention.

Jiang Ran turned a blind eye to the various gazes "launched" from all around him. When he "used" the vest of "Frost Knight Stan", this kind of treatment had become the norm.

In addition, the Frost Knight Stan's vest has another advantage, that is, even if Jiang Ran did something so arrogant, no one dared to question him, including the waitress who just took the order, she did not dare to say a word and obediently went to place the order with the kitchen.

However, after doing whatever he wanted, Jiang Ran should "pay his debts" next.

If he failed to properly handle the seven dishes on the table, the image and reputation of Frost Knight Stan would be greatly affected.

(Okay, let’s start.)

Jiang Ran took off the lower half of his helmet, leaving only his mouth exposed, and began to taste the seven dishes one by one.

It has been mentioned before that after Jiang Ran's combat professional level was upgraded to level five, his physical fitness has surpassed the concept of ordinary humans. Correspondingly, his body has also begun to require more nutrition and energy, and he needs to eat more food to maintain the body's energy consumption.

Therefore, for Jiang Ran, eating these seven dishes by himself is not a problem at all. What he really needs to do is to find out the problems with the dishes in the Cat Girl Restaurant by tasting them.

·

In a short while, Jiang Ran had tasted all seven dishes. To be honest, Jiang Ran thought the taste was acceptable, but compared with other restaurants in Mel Town, it lacked some novelty, or personality.

Just as Jiang Ran was about to finish all the dishes, a silver-pink figure appeared beside him.

"Sorry to interrupt your meal, meow. I'm the manager of the Cat Girls' Kitchen. Would you mind chatting with me while you eat, meow?"

The person who suddenly spoke to Jiang Ran turned out to be the cat-man girl, Shiiki Ruri. It is no exaggeration to say that her arrival immediately made Jiang Ran feel that the surrounding environment was much more beautiful.

"You don't mind, just sit down."

Jiang Ran pointed to the seat opposite him and asked Shiiki Ruri to sit there.

This seemingly casual action actually contains Jiang Ran's calculations.

If Shiiki Ruri sat next to him, it would be inconvenient for him to pay attention to Shiiki Ruri's inner thoughts in real time while he was eating. And if he wanted to open the "all-round vision", it would be a challenge for Jiang Ran's current limited remaining magic power.

Therefore, letting Shiiki Ruri sit opposite him was actually a decision Jiang Ran made after careful consideration.

"Thank you, meow. By the way, my name is Liu Geng Liuli. What's your name, meow?"

Shiiki Ruri sat down and talked to Jiang Ran. If she hadn't mentioned the name "Ryugu Ruri", Jiang Ran would have almost forgotten that the cat-man girl's "external name" was different from his "identification results".

"Just call me Stan. I'm just a wandering knight. You don't have to be so polite, boss lady."

Jiang Ran immediately entered into the state of acting, showing the rough style of Frost Knight Stan to the fullest.

Afterwards, Shiiki Ruri exchanged a few polite words with Jiang Ran, saying that the Knight's reputation had spread throughout Mel Town in recent days, and that it was a great honor for the Cat Girl Restaurant to receive the Knight twice.

Jiang Ran listened to what Shiiki Ruri said, and secretly praised the girl's maturity and sophistication. What she said to him now did not sound like something a 19-year-old girl could say.

(She's already a boss lady at such a young age...it's for a reason after all.)

Afterwards, after finishing the warm-up remarks, Shiiki Ruri tactfully got to the point. She told Jiang Ran that she had come to disturb him mainly because she wanted to ask Jiang Ran about his dining experience tonight and what he thought of the dishes.

"To be honest, we haven't had any new customers in a long time, meow... It's really rare for someone like you to be both a new customer and order all the dishes at once, meow. That's why I mustered up the courage to interrupt your meal. Oh, and as an apology, all your orders tonight are free. I hope you'll come back often in the future, meow."

Perhaps because of the nervousness, Shiiki Ruri said a lot of things in a burst of words, and then her face turned red with embarrassment.

It was not until this moment that Jiang Ran saw the youthful innocence beneath the girl's pretended sophisticated appearance.

"Boss, you don't have to be so polite. I won't pay you less than a penny. Don't think I'm ignoring your kindness. Just think of it as my support for your store."

Although Jiang Ran was praising Shiiki Ruri in his heart, on the surface, he still wanted to continue to interpret the ruthlessness of the Frost Knight Stan.

Then, he took this opportunity to talk directly with Shiiki Ruri about the issue of the Cat Girl Restaurant, hoping to use this as an opportunity to find out some inside information about the Cat Girl Restaurant.

"As for my opinion of this restaurant and the dishes, my opinion is that the basic quality of your restaurant is quite good, but it's a bit too ordinary. It feels a bit like eating home-cooked meals at home... Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. I've been wandering around a lot, so I like the taste of home. That's why I come to eat here again."

What Jiang Ran said were his true inner thoughts, but these were just preludes. The topic he really wanted to discuss was actually hidden behind it.

9.186 - Night Canteen

"The feeling of a home-cooked meal... That description is quite accurate, meow...!"

Shiiki Ruri was sincerely happy about the evaluation of the Frost Armor Knight, because the style of their Cat Girl Restaurant is to create a feeling of returning home for the guests.

Regarding this point, Shiiki Ruri had heard Aunt Magai explain it when she was a child. At that time, Aunt Magai was busy in the kitchen and told little Ruri that the purpose of establishing the cat food stall was to provide a place to rest for those who suffered from the "Great Migration". Therefore, the dishes she cooked would only be in the style of home cooking.

However, Aunt Magee once accidentally let it slip that another reason, or perhaps the fundamental reason, why the cat food kiosk only made home-cooked meals in the beginning was that Aunt Magee only knew how to make home-cooked meals and nothing else.

In any case, whether it was intentional or unavoidable, the home-cooked style became the signature of the cat food kiosk and has continued to this day without any change.

·

"But, boss, let me tell you something you may not like. You can't open this shop just for me, nor for just a few customers. Based on my observations over the past two days, your shop's operating conditions should be insufficient to cover its expenses, right?"

The soul-searching questioning from Lord Frost Armor Knight after his evaluation caught Shiiki Ruri off guard and caused her to suffer immense damage in her heart.

"Income is not enough to cover expenses" is the big problem that Shiiki Ruri has been worried about recently. She doesn't know when it started, but the income of the cat food kiosk has been less than the expenses.

At first, the operating loss was not large, so Shiiki Ruri did not pay much attention to it. After all, when Aunt Magee handed the cat food kiosk to her for management, there was still a lot of surplus cash on the books, and she was not afraid of a loss for a few months.

However, as time went by, Shiiki Ruri discovered with some panic that the monthly losses not only did not decrease, but continued to increase!

At this point, Shiiki Ruri finally realized the seriousness of the problem. She immediately called the employees together to discuss countermeasures and put them into practice. However, after they tried many methods, the business situation of the cat food kiosk still did not improve. At this time today, it was already at the end of the road.