Chapter 14: Tomato Soup Base Unlocked!

In order to find more monsters and speed up the upgrade, Zhu Yu walked quite far away from the hot pot restaurant, which also meant that the return journey would take a lot of time.

She was a little tired from fighting monsters just now, but when she thought of the sweet and sour tomato soup base, she couldn't help but speed up her pace.

On the way back, she opened the menu and checked the latest updates.

The new ingredients added to this hot pot are:

Meat dishes: hot pot beef ribs, sausages, luncheon meat, fried dough sticks and shrimp balls.

Vegetarian dishes: bean curd, kelp sprouts, potato chips, and water spinach.

Seeing these fresh hot pot ingredients, Zhu Yu couldn't help but swallow.

This time, a player was promoted to Level D earlier than her. Without the game broadcast, she didn’t have to worry about players associating her with 996. She decided to put the tomato hotpot and all these new dishes online as soon as she returned to the store!

By the way, the player who leveled up earlier than her was an acquaintance she had met before - the tailor player Cheng Yuying.

Since that meeting, Zhu Yu often saw her in the hot pot restaurant, so when she received the game's server-wide notification, she recognized her player ID at a glance.

As a life player with the profession of "tailor", Zhu Yu can fully understand Cheng Yuying's upgrade speed.

The temperature has continued to drop recently, and warm clothing has become a necessity, and many players are eager to buy them.

After all, not everyone can get suitable cold-proof equipment from treasure chests or wandering merchants, so there must be many people who go to players with related professions to customize clothes.

Perhaps Cheng Yuying is not the only player who is a tailor, but the fact that she can stand out among her peers and become the first life player to be promoted to level D is enough to show her superb skills and rich experience.

Zhu Yu suddenly remembered the wolf skin he had obtained from killing monsters before and the wool dropped from an F-level bleating monster.

Wolf skin and wool sound very suitable for making warm clothing to keep out the cold.

Then why didn't she ask Cheng Yuying to make some winter clothes?

After upgrading, the player's physical fitness has improved, but this does not prevent her from wanting to wear warm and comfortable clothes.

Walking in the vast snow was really boring, so Zhu Yu simply opened the group chat, applied to add Cheng Yuying as a friend, and sent a transaction request.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yuying accepted the order very quickly.

Seeing the other party reply that the goods could be delivered today, Zhu Yu couldn't help but secretly admire her efficiency.

This old man is really hardworking, no wonder he was able to be promoted to D level so quickly.

At around five or six in the afternoon, Zhu Yu finally returned to the camp.

Excited, she changed her clothes and walked straight into the hot pot restaurant through the main entrance.

It was the dinner rush hour and the seats in the hot pot restaurant were almost full.

The rich aroma of the hot pot filled the air and the store was bustling with activity.

Players sat around the table in groups of three or four, chatting and eating hotpot in a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere.

When the door of the hot pot restaurant was pushed open, a cold wind blew in with snowflakes, and everyone's eyes were drawn over.

As Zhu Yu entered the room, he felt the eyes of a large group of players falling on him.

She was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure, cleared her throat, waved her arms, and announced loudly with a smile: "Everyone, the hot pot restaurant has a new tomato soup base and several new ingredients today! Guests who like it can try it to their heart's content!"

As soon as he finished speaking, players at several tables put down their chopsticks and the whole store immediately became lively.

"I was just about to order the spicy beef oil hotpot, but the tomato hotpot is now on the shelf? Let me change it!"

"Ahhh, tomato soup base! I've been waiting for this! The sweet and sour taste is just right for someone like me who doesn't like spicy food!"

"That's right, a tomato head simply can't resist a hot pot with a tomato base, okay!?"

“The menu has finally been updated with potato chips this time! The texture of cooked potato chips is so soft and sticky that it makes me drool just thinking about it!”

"Is fried dough sticks and shrimp balls a new product? Why haven't I seen them before? Order one to try and see how it differs from regular shrimp balls."

"Wait a minute. When did the beverage bar have a 'Coke' option?"

"Ice Coke goes best with hot pot! I have to get one!"

“…”

"Oh my god, look at the added effect of the tomato base this time!"

After Zhu Yu finished speaking, a player immediately opened the menu and scanned the detailed information of the tomato soup base.

The moment he saw the additional effect, he couldn't help but exclaimed, his voice even drowned out the noise in the store.

"It can actually improve the efficiency of life skills!" He continued in surprise, looking extremely excited. "This way, we can make things even faster! Those life players will definitely go crazy. This is more practical than improving physical fitness!"

The players around him came over immediately after hearing this, "Is this true? I was just wondering whether to change the flavor, but I didn't expect the tomato base to have this effect!"

"Some of my friends happen to be life players. I will call them over to try out the additional effects of the new pot base!"

"Okay, okay, let's see what the second additional effect is."

"Immune to weakened states?! This is too strong!"

"Yes, when you are fighting monsters, you will easily become weak if you get hurt. Not only will your stamina drop drastically, but you will also be about to kill the monsters, but in the end you can only watch them escape, or you may even be killed in return. If you eat this tomato soup base before fighting monsters, you won't have to worry about this problem!"

Listening to the players' heated discussions, Jing Miao behind the counter couldn't help but open the menu to check the detailed effects of the tomato base.

The first additional effect of the tomato pot base is: [Life skill efficiency increased by +20%]

"The tomato soup base is rich in nutrients, which can keep players energetic while working, especially life players. After taking it, it can improve the efficiency of life skills. Whether it is tailoring, cooking or forging, the operation is smoother and the success rate is also improved. The effect lasts for 3 hours and cannot be stacked within 24 hours."

The second additional effect is: [Immune to Weakness Status]

"The unique sweet and sour taste of the tomato soup base can improve the player's mental state. After taking it, it can make the player immune to the effects of weakness. It is especially suitable for long-term monster fighting or high-intensity combat. After taking it, it lasts for 2 hours and cannot be stacked within 24 hours."

Jing Miao: "Wow, Boss, this time the additional effects of the tomato soup base are one suitable for life players and one suitable for combat players. It's a perfect match."

Zhu Yu grabbed the little orange that was waving its claws at her, and said to Jing Miao with a smile: "Not bad, but I think the former is more important. After all, there are already enough additional effects for combat players. This time, there is finally an additional effect that has a stable bonus to life professions."

And in this way, there will definitely be people who cannot get hot pot takeout and will rush to the hot pot restaurant to consume.

Players who are doing well now have already accumulated a lot of gold coins, and these are all potential big customers.

As she expected, before closing the store in the evening, not only were all 1,000 servings of tomato hotpots sold out on the takeaway platform, but players continued to flock into the store to consume as it was close to closing time.

After finally waiting for the last player to leave the hot pot restaurant, Zhu Yu did not immediately check today's hot pot restaurant revenue settlement, but decided to expand the hot pot restaurant first.

Fortunately, she was well prepared. In the afternoon, after seeing the crazy reactions of the players after the tomato hotpot base went online, she paid for part of the takeaway hotpot in advance with wood and iron blocks instead of gold coins.

After collecting 1,500 pieces of wood and 1,000 pieces of iron, she successfully expanded the hot pot restaurant to twice its original size.

The hot pot restaurant expanded quickly. Zhu Yu looked around and was excited to find that the seasoning self-service counter that she had always dreamed of appeared in the center of the hot pot restaurant!

She walked over quickly and saw the table filled with all kinds of condiments: vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, MSG, minced garlic, chili powder, chopped coriander, chopped chili pepper, chopped green onion, minced beef, chopped celery, crushed peanuts, mushroom sauce, sesame paste, peanut butter, and spicy sauce.

Each condiment is packed in a sinking iron can, and each can comes with a long-handled spoon for easy use.

However, Zhu Yu did not see any bowls or plates for condiments. She guessed that after players ordered hot pot from the menu, a condiment bowl would automatically appear on the table.

"Boss, come to the door and take a look!"

Jing Miao's excited shout interrupted Zhu Yu's attention on the seasoning self-service counter and made her turn to look outside the door.

"Look, boss," Jing Miao grabbed Zhu Yu's arm as soon as she saw her, pointed to the newly set up area outside the hot pot restaurant and said, "This is the waiting area for the players!"

Zhu Yu looked at the newly appeared waiting area. The benches against the wall were neatly arranged. On the tea table next to it, a steaming teapot was ready. The waiting players could help themselves to free hot tea to dispel the cold.

Not only that, there is also an automatic order pickup machine next to the waiting area, where players can pick up their orders and enter the store to dine in order.

This will undoubtedly greatly alleviate the peak queues that the store may face in the future and make the entire dining process smoother.

Zhu Yu is very satisfied with the changes in the hot pot restaurant.

After they calmed down, she walked back to the store. Just as she was about to check the hot pot restaurant's revenue settlement for today, a new message suddenly popped up on her friend page:

[Explorer]: Boss 996, I found traces of Mithril Mine here! Do you want to cooperate with me?