"Splash splash splash—"

Boiling water was poured into a crystal teapot, and through the steaming walls, the ingredients inside could be seen plentiful.

The golden-yellow dried longans are perfectly round, the dark red dried dates are wrinkled, the dried kumquat slices are a tender green, the bright red Ningcheng goji berries are large and plump, and the golden-yellow small sand dates are distinct. In addition to tea leaves, Xu Milu added a handful of sesame seeds, a piece of yellow rock sugar, and finally a few still vibrant bloodthirsty rose dried flowers.

"This is Eight Treasure Tea from my hometown. It tastes great, please try it."

Xu Milu poured a cup of hot tea and pushed it in front of Liu Peiqiang, observing his expression as she said:

"This tea is for entertaining guests and does not require any energy. All the ingredients in our shop come from various dimensions of the universe. You can choose the dishes on the menu. I am Xu Milu, the owner of this restaurant. Is there anything you would like to eat? Of course, we do not have earthworm, cockroach, or mosquito dumplings here."

Liu Peiqiang finally came to his senses, looked down at the cup of tea in front of him, and carefully reached out to touch it:

The temperature is very high; it doesn't seem fake.

He cautiously raised the teacup and took a small sip, feeling his entire nasal cavity filled with a strong, sweet floral and fruity aroma. The sweet tea moisturized his chapped lips, while simultaneously stirring up a storm in his heart.

Sight and hearing can be deceived, but smell and taste cannot.

The house was filled with expensive green plants, and freshwater fish that should have disappeared swam in the water tank. Even the tea and dried fruit that the shop owner casually served to his guests were extremely rare in this era.

—If this is a scam, Liu Peiqiang doesn't understand what he, a retired soldier, has that would make the other party go to such great lengths to scheme against him.

Could it really be as this young woman, who claims to be the "restaurant owner," says, that this is a shop located in the universe?

The thought had barely crossed Liu Peiqiang's mind when he quickly dismissed it.

If extraterrestrial life truly exists near Earth, why hasn't the United Government received any information about it?

His gaze fell behind the counter—where a display screen showed the prices of the dishes:

[This Month's Recommended Menu:]

【Peony Silver Scallop Sashimi (Ingredient: Silver Wing Flying Fish), Price: 500 Energy Points/Fish】

【Braised Abalone and Pork Belly in Shaoxing Wine (Ingredients: Gourmet Pork Belly, Gourmet Abalone), Price: 200 Energy Points/Serving】

【Rose-Scented Glutinous Rice Balls (Ingredients: Earth Glutinous Rice, Culinary Modified Bloodthirsty Rose), Price: 50 Energy Points/Serving】

[Pork, Water Chestnut, and Egg Dumplings (Ingredients: Earth Wheat Ear Passion Fruit, Gourmet Lolo Pig, Gourmet Giant Delicious Mushroom, Earth Water Chestnut), Price: 50 Energy Points/Serving]

[Vegetarian Steamed Buns (Ingredients: Journey to the West Wheat Flour), Price: 1 Energy Point/each]

[Meat Bun (Ingredients: Journey to the West Wheat Flour, Gourmet Lolo Pig, Gourmet Giant Delicious Radish, Earth Cabbage, Gourmet Tall Green Onion), Price: 2 Energy Points/each]

Liu Peiqiang quickly glanced at the menu and asked impatiently:

"What are energy points? Can I pay with United Government Credits?"

Although the menu looked strange and there were many parts he didn't understand, it didn't stop him from realizing that they sold steamed buns here!

Steamed bun!

Steamed buns made with wheat flour!

Back when he was serving in the coalition government, the mess hall served him steamed buns and rice every day. The food, with its natural wheat fragrance, was incomparable to the "hard lumps" made from mixed flour with insect powder that are now mixed with wheat.

Xu Milu pointed to a vending machine-like machine next to the fish tank and suggested:

"I only accept energy points here. You can use that energy machine to exchange for energy."

—Everything in the system space is under her control, and it's not difficult for Xu Milu to create an exchange machine by consuming energy.

Liu Peiqiang tightened the gray backpack on his shoulder, standing in front of the machine with a mixture of belief and doubt. A pale yellow laser scanned him from head to toe, then emitted a loud sound:

[500 grams of lunar soil fragments detected. 500 energy points can be exchanged for them. Would you like to exchange?]

Liu Peiqiang suddenly remembered that he had a toy of his son in his bag—a small moonstone that his master had sent back from the lunar base.

He took the stone out of his bag and put it into the machine. The next second, a stereotypical electronic voice sounded:

[Redemption successful. Welcome to make a purchase at our store.]

It actually works!

Liu Peiqiang felt a surge of joy, but he gritted his teeth to control his expression and turned to look at Xu Milu:

"Five hundred energy points. I want to buy three hundred vegetarian steamed buns and one hundred meat steamed buns—"

His gaze suddenly stopped on the menu, and he hesitated for a moment before continuing:

"No, please give me one serving of pork, water chestnut, and egg dumplings, and exchange the rest for vegetarian steamed buns. Can I take them with me?"

He sounded somewhat reserved, clearly having not ordered food in a long time.

"Of course, please wait a moment."

Xu Milu frowned slightly. She hadn't expected that her first customer's order on the first day of business would be so simple and unpretentious.

Four hundred and fifty steamed buns!

Thankfully, there were people in the shop to help out, otherwise the donkey would have been exhausted just from grinding the flour.

...

...

"More than four hundred vegetarian steamed buns! Wow! Has some pot-bellied monster who looks like the Cleansing Altar Messenger come to the shop? Even an ordinary monster couldn't eat more than four hundred vegetarian steamed buns in one go!"

Under Liu Peiqiang's watchful eye, Mo Xuan carried two bags of freshly ground flour into the restaurant and began to complain.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!