Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 13: Farmers' Market

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

The current time is five o'clock in the morning.

Ma Lu set out at 4:59 in the afternoon, and counting the time, exactly 12 hours had passed.

He had to suppress his excitement for the moment and first went to the kitchen to take out all the ingredients.

During this trip, he had collected 23 Flame Gecko, 12 Gray Elephant Shrew, 12 Jumping Mouse, 6 Two-Headed Jackal, 3 Black-Breasted Chicken, 2 Horn-Bellied Black Speed Snake, and 1 Yangsha Pangolin.

Among them, only the Two-Headed Jackal was a 2-star ingredient, while the rest were all 1-star ingredients.

These items almost filled up the small kitchen of his rental apartment, with a strong, meaty smell overwhelming the air.

Old Wang followed him into the kitchen. Before Ma Lu could say anything, he saw a metallic wire protrude from beneath Old Wang's jacket and connect to the left interface of Ma Lu's bracelet.

“I’ll transmit the recipes to you now. You can use them as a reference to formulate and adjust the daily menu based on the ingredients you have, and leave the cooking to me.”

The transmission process lasted for about a dozen seconds, and then Ma Lu noticed a new function labeled "Recipes" had appeared on his bracelet.

When he clicked on it, the first thing that popped up was a line of text:

—There is no perfect chef in this universe, only chefs who constantly pursue perfection.

Ma Lu rubbed his chin. “Hmm, it seems like whoever wrote these recipes was pretty hard on themselves.”

Old Wang, seeing Ma Lu looking at him, shook his head and said, “I don’t know who left these recipes. When I opened my eyes in this universe, they were already in my sector.”

“Alright then, let me see what’s inside.”

Ma Lu said as he continued to scroll through the list, quickly getting absorbed by the strange and bizarre dishes.

“Ah, Three-Winged Cockroach? Can you even eat that? Just hearing the name is off-putting.”

“Ma's Charcoal Steamed Sulfate? What kind of cooking method is that?”

“And what about Huo Tong? What kind of ingredient is that?”

Old Wang reminded, “Some dishes are impossible to cook with our current tools, and others require special ingredients that we can temporarily exclude. Also, if you want to open shop right away, avoid dishes that require extensive pre-processing. Most importantly, remember to make good use of the search function.”

Ma Lu, overwhelmed by the vast array of peculiar dishes, quickly typed "Two-Headed Jackal" into the search bar. The 999+ recipes immediately narrowed down to 13.

Ma Lu went through them one by one; most didn’t meet the cooking conditions, requiring either special tools or unfamiliar ingredients.

Five recipes remained feasible for now, but three were unsuitable for street vending, leaving only two viable options.

—【Jackal Sausages】and 【Fried Jackal Patties】

Next, Ma Lu searched for Flame Gecko. This time, seven recipes came up, but the ones currently feasible were even fewer: only 【Mustard Gecko Tail】and 【Young Gecko Skewers】.

The Young Gecko Skewers theoretically would be suitable for street vending, provided someone was willing to accept the appearance of a lizard without calling the police.

Unfortunately, that seemed unlikely. The Gecko Tails could pass as squid tentacles, but there were too few; 23 tails weren’t even enough to make a single plate.

Ma Lu then inputted Black-Breasted Chicken, Gray Elephant Shrew, Jumping Mouse, Horn-Bellied Black Speed Snake, and Yangsha Pangolin.

Among them, Black-Breasted Chicken had the most recipes, indicating it might be similar to chicken on Earth, with a variety of cooking methods.

The Gray Elephant Shrew and Jumping Mouse look quite similar and can be used interchangeably to some extent. They are best suited for making jerky, as this way, customers won’t see their original appearance, avoiding the same issue as with the Young Gecko Skewers.

As for the Horn-Bellied Black Speed Snake, it can be used to make snake soup or infused liquor, while the Yangsha Pangolin can be made into a clay pot meat soup.

Ma Lu also noticed the numbers at the bottom of each recipe, ranging from single digits to the hundreds.

“What’s this?” Ma Lu pointed at the number 48 under 【Fried Jackal Patties】.

“Experience points,” Old Wang replied.

“Experience points?”

“That’s right. Being a chef is a profession that requires accumulating experience through repeated cooking to improve. I don’t know how far I had advanced before, but after suffering extensive damage to my sector, all that data disappeared, so I have to start from scratch.”

“Is that so? So what’s the point of having high experience points?”

“Once enough experience is accumulated, my cooking skills will improve, unlocking more recipes and allowing me to enhance existing dishes, increasing their Taste Index.”

“Taste Index?” Ma Lu noticed the ★☆ after 【Fried Jackal Patties】. “Ah, so you’re saying that right now, you can make this dish with a one-and-a-half-star taste. What does that mean?”

“It’s hard to give you a precise answer with just words. Why don’t I make a portion for you to try? But you’ll need to gather the remaining ingredients first.”

“Sure.” Ma Lu, now intrigued, felt his appetite growing after hunting for so long.

Ma Lu remembered that there was a farmers' market less than two kilometers away from his neighborhood, though he wasn’t sure if it was open at this hour.

He had never cooked before and rarely got up early, so he’d never paid attention to that place. However, since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he decided to go take a look.

After changing into a T-shirt and shorts, Ma Lu went downstairs, hopped on his newly bought tricycle, and headed straight to the farmers' market.

To his surprise, the farmers' market was not only open at 5:21 a.m., but it was also bustling, with people and vehicles everywhere.

Most of the people on tricycles, like him, were vegetable vendors delivering goods. There were also trucks from large supermarkets and e-commerce platforms loading and unloading at the entrance.

Chicken, duck, fish, meat, vegetables, and fruits were piled high in the market. People gathered around, picking through the goods, bargaining.

Ma Lu parked his tricycle in a random corner and, instead of rushing to buy groceries, first walked around the market to get a feel for the prices.

He paid special attention to meat prices. Pork was still expensive, even for the cheapest cuts, costing 13 yuan per jin. Ma Lu quickly calculated that the meat he had brought back from his trip was worth at least 3,000 yuan.

It seemed that the trip was quite profitable, though unfortunately, the untraceable origins of this meat meant it couldn’t be sold directly and could only be used privately.

While wandering, Ma Lu also ran into some of his peers, who appeared to be chefs or owners of local restaurants. Their status in the market was like that of celebrities.

Everywhere they went, people greeted them, and the vendors would set aside the best or prime parts of the goods just for them.

So, competition among restaurants essentially began long before they opened their doors for business.

Being able to purchase the best quality ingredients at the lowest prices was like starting a 100-meter race with a 40-meter head start.

Ma Lu scratched his head, realizing that next time he goes to the other side, it might be worth learning some meat identification skills from Bocchi. Relying solely on the bracelet’s ratings felt too vague, as even within the same type of meat, the texture can vary greatly between different cuts.

After feeling like he had seen enough, Ma Lu bought all the ingredients and seasonings Old Wang needed according to the list, hopped back on his tricycle, and headed home.

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