this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
Jiang Ci’s arrival not only brought warm meals but also comfort to their hearts.
After distributing the pot helmets and milk tea, Jiang Ci’s special emergency mission was complete. By then, Song Jinchuan had finished cooking the food, and the remaining survivors each received a bowl.
Everyone sat on the open ground, eating bite by bite, feeling as though their fear and exhaustion were slowly melting away.
The ability users, who had been busy most of the night, finally each received a portion of food and sat down beside Jiang Ci to eat.
Not long after they finished eating, rescue teams from other bases arrived.
Most bases were now located far apart, and transportation was inconvenient, so they arrived quite late.
They took over the subsequent arrangements for the survivors. Since the base was no longer habitable, they planned to take the survivors back to their own base for temporary shelter.
Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan, having completed their tasks, bid them all farewell and left.
On the way back, Jiang Ci was still thinking about the person she had seen earlier. From a distance, she could only make out a faint silhouette under the moonlight.
Though she couldn’t clearly see the person’s eyes, she instinctively felt a sense of danger.
[Host,] the system’s voice suddenly chimed in, [I just detected the presence of a fellow system.]
Jiang Ci frowned slightly. “Are you saying that man also has a system?”
The thought made her chest tighten. She had originally believed she was the only one in this world with a system, but now it seemed like she wasn’t an exception. Could she be in danger? What was the other person’s mission?
Sensing Jiang Ci’s tension, the system quickly added, [Don’t worry, host. The rules of my world dictate that only one system and host can be deployed in each small world. I’ve just investigated, and the other system doesn’t seem to be registered with any official number. Although it is a system, it’s one that has been exiled from its planet, and its energy reserves are extremely low. Don’t worry, it poses no threat to you, host.]
After a pause, the system continued, [I’ve already reported this to headquarters, and a specialized department will soon arrive to eliminate it.]
The system’s words did help somewhat ease Jiang Ci’s lingering unease.
“But what about that man? He killed so many survivors,” Jiang Ci said indignantly.
[My apologies, host, we don’t have the authority to deal with humans,] the system replied. [But without the system’s assistance, he likely won’t be able to do such things again.]
Jiang Ci nodded, thinking that if she ever encountered him face-to-face, she would make sure he didn’t escape.
“By the way,” Jiang Ci thought for a moment and said to the system, “Shouldn’t I also have some kind of ability? There will probably be more missions like this in the future, right? I can’t always just hide behind Hui Hui and Song Jinchuan every time, right? People might start talking behind my back, and it wouldn’t help me manage the store any better.”
She paused and continued, “Even though I have a protective shield, what if I encounter another exiled system? It might not be enough to protect me.”
Jiang Ci framed the issue in a broader context, even tying it to the shop’s operations. As expected, the system didn’t immediately reject the idea and instead began to seriously consider it.
After ten minutes of silence, just as Jiang Ci thought the system wouldn’t respond, its voice finally spoke up again, [Host, given your physical condition, you probably won’t be able to handle the abilities of this world. But don’t worry, I’ll find another kind of power that will be suitable for you.]
With the system’s assurance, Jiang Ci finally felt completely at ease and began checking her mission rewards.
The barbecue street stall had already been placed in her backpack, and now she could see it more clearly.
By the time dawn broke, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan finally returned to the hotpot store. The employees had already arrived and were bustling around, preparing for the day.
As soon as the two returned, they informed the staff and went straight to the backyard to catch up on sleep.
By the time Jiang Ci woke up, it was already noon. Mao Qianqian and the others were hesitating at the courtyard door, seemingly debating whether to wake Jiang Ci up for lunch.
Upon seeing Jiang Ci, Mao Qianqian’s conflicted expression instantly turned joyful, “Perfect timing, Boss, let’s eat.”
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
After the meal, Jiang Ci walked to the back of the shop and brought out the barbecue street stall. The stall looked quite long, with a charcoal grill on one side and a large beer and white liquor barrel on the other. The most amazing thing about these barrels was that their temperature could be adjusted, making them suitable for both summer and winter. Below them were small refrigerators, one side for freezing ice and the other for keeping ingredients fresh.
Next to them were a few foldable tables and chairs. It could be said that although the stall was small, it had everything you could need for a street stall.
However, whether it was beer, liquor, charcoal for the barbecue, or ingredients, all would need to be purchased by Jiang Ci from the mall. This time, because it was a task reward, none of the ingredients were provided for free.
Jiang Ci took a look and found that the ingredients were still very cheap, requiring only a few points to buy a substantial portion.
She began to fill the barbecue stall with items, one by one.
Watching the stall gradually become more abundant, Jiang Ci felt a sense of satisfaction.
She quite enjoyed this part, which felt like she was playing a store management simulation game.
The ingredients for the barbecue stall and those for the hotpot and barbecue restaurants were purchased from different sections of the mall. Items like lamb skewers, beef skewers, and lamb kidneys were all quite large, priced at one second-level crystal core per skewer for meat and one first-level crystal core per skewer for vegetables. Buying ten skewers would get you one free.
Beer was priced at five first-level crystal cores per can, and white liquor was also priced the same despite the liquor cups being smaller than the beer cups.
After setting the prices, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan pushed the barbecue stall to the front yard.
There was no resistance at all when pushing the stall, and it was very lightweight. After finishing with business, they could easily push it back to the backyard for storage.
The survivors queuing in the front yard saw Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan pushing something out and curiously gathered around.
“A barbecue stall?” The survivors saw the words on the cart and the price tags, their eyes immediately lighting up. “Boss Jiang, you’re amazing, you even managed to bring out barbecue and beer!”
Although barbecue wasn’t a staple food, it was still something the survivors deeply missed, especially when paired with beer or liquor. The thought of it made their mouths water, and they eagerly looked at the small stall.
Since it hadn’t reached their turn in the queue yet, why not grab a small drink and some barbecue? Plus, since they didn’t need to sit down to eat this, they wouldn’t have to wait for a seat to become available.
Thus, even before Jiang Ci had started the fire, a line of survivors had already formed in front of the cart.
Jiang Ci placed the charcoal under the iron rack and lit it with a lighter. The charcoal quickly transformed from black to a burning red.
Once the iron grill was heated, Jiang Ci placed the skewers ordered by the first survivor onto it.
The first survivor turned out to be an old acquaintance, Zhou Lin. He mentioned that Xu Yan and Gu Qi had gone to queue at the barbecue restaurant, while he had come to queue for skewers and was planning to bring a few back for each of them later.
He ordered ten beef skewers, ten lamb skewers, ten squid skewers, and ten enoki mushroom skewers, along with three large cups of beer.
Since the promotion was “buy ten, get one free,” the total came to forty-four skewers.
Each skewer was generously loaded with meat. As the meat sizzled on the grill, the fat soon rendered, and the aroma intensified after the seasoning powder was sprinkled on.
Jiang Ci followed the system’s prompts step by step, but because she had never grilled skewers before, it inevitably led to some of her flustered movements. Song Jinchuan, standing beside her, wasn’t faring much better either.
However, thanks to the system’s timely reminders, the skewers didn’t burn and turned out tender and perfectly cooked.
Jiang Ci then filled three large paper cups with beer, covered them with lids, packed them in a bag, and handed them over to Zhou Lin along with the packaged skewers.
Clutching the skewers and beer tightly, Zhou Lin eagerly hurried off to reunite with his companions.
Xu Yan and Gu Qi had just entered the restaurant and found a seat when Zhou Lin arrived, carrying the skewers and beer.
“Come on, Old Zhou, it’s finally our turn.”
“We’ve come three times, and today we’ll finally get to taste what this barbecue is all about.”
Zhou Lin sat down, opened the bag, and distributed the three cups of beer first. Then he unwrapped the skewers and opened the box packaging.
Instantly, a tantalizing aroma of cumin and chili powder began to spread out from their table.
“Wow, what’s that smell? It’s so fragrant.”
Most of the customers in the barbecue restaurant had just arrived, and their grills hadn’t heated up enough to cook yet.
The aroma of the skewers quickly overpowered the lingering scents of previous diners’ meals in the room.
Jiang Ci’s skewer stall had just been set up, so naturally some survivors were still unaware of it.
When they traced the source of the aroma and saw a table full of skewers and beer—especially the beer with its floating square ice cubes—their eyes nearly popped out in astonishment.
“Skewers? Beer? Is this for real? Bro, where did you get these?”
“Right outside, at Boss Jiang’s new stall. If you want to buy some, you’d better hurry. Boss Jiang said it’s a first day trial operation, so she hasn’t prepared very much…”
Before Zhou Lin could finish, the survivors who had just sat down bolted out like the wind.
However, they were still a bit too late. A long queue had already formed in front of the skewer stall, and Jiang Ci had gone from being flustered to somewhat proficient.
Jiang Ci sighed as she looked at the seemingly endless line and said to Song Jinchuan beside her, “Looks like we’ll need to hire a skewer griller.”
Before Song Jinchuan could respond, a burly man in the queue, who looked about two meters tall, boomed, “Boss, my wife and I used to run a skewer shop before the apocalypse.”
The woman beside him was around 1.7 meters tall, but next to the man, she still seemed petite and delicate.
Despite their imposing stature, both had kind faces. The man was named Du Ke, and the woman was named Fu Wei.
Seeing someone volunteer, Jiang Ci immediately called them over to give it a try.
Du Ke took the skewers from Jiang Ci’s hands and skillfully fanned them out in his grip before pressing them onto the grill.
A sizzling sound followed, then the sprinkling of seasoning and flipping of the skewers.
It had to be said that with this, the contrast immediately highlighted the difference between a professional and an amateur.
i’m so hungry for skewers rn (go to kwafood fried skewers if ur in australia!! gimme one fried skewer is also super good too, they have curry seasoning powder if u don’t like spice^^) for skewers u have to get mantou and potato slices and for meat def get the fatty aussie lamb!
