Chapter 138 Mermaid Cruise

If you don't actually enter here, it's hard to imagine that there would be such a luxurious banquet hall on a cruise ship.

Crystal chandeliers hang high in the ceiling, appearing in a row above the dining table, illuminating every corner of the hall. The statue of the Virgin Mary made of stained glass sparkles with charming brilliance under the bright lights.

Today is the last day of the cannibal banquet and not many guests come to attend.

In the center of the restaurant is a long table. The dark red tablecloth with dark patterns is soft in texture, and the longer parts hang down naturally. Decorative bouquets of flowers are placed at intervals in the middle of the long table.

There were twenty-one guests in total, and the long table was not even full.

In the past, whenever the main course was served, it would always be the most exciting moment for the guests.

But today is different.

Every guest sat in their chairs in a daze, looking at the plates in front of them with a confused look on their faces.

After listening to the speech of the young chef at the door, everyone lowered their heads and looked at the plates again.

There were no familiar delicacies on the plate.

Vegetables and fruits were cut into various shapes and placed around the plate, and a small white porcelain bowl was placed in the center of the plate like the moon surrounded by stars.

There was nothing in the bowl but some water.

The atmosphere became tense.

Even the band playing beautiful music on the small round stage nearby couldn't help but stop what they were doing, not to mention the waiters who had just helped serve the dishes, each of them holding the silver placemats in their hands, at a loss.

When he noticed that the music had stopped, Xu Zhiyan glared at the musicians in the band until the soothing music started again, then he looked away.

“It is an honor to be here with the chef to serve tonight’s dishes to all our guests.”

Handing the chef's hat to Chef Octopus, Xu Zhiyan put on a gentle smile and rolled up his sleeves to reveal a piece of his white wrist.

Looking around, he found that no customer immediately turned hostile after seeing the bowl of water. Everyone's eyes were on his face, and some even looked at him with a dazed look.

Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief.

According to information collected from various sources, guests like good-looking humans.

The pros and cons of this hobby are very obvious.

If a good-looking human appeared on the deck and was noticed by a guest, then there was a high probability that something bad would happen - just like what happened to Mr. Gordon in the Sea Serpent Casino.

But if the location is changed here, all the guests will have a bowl of boiled water in front of them, which seems to be funny. A beautiful chef will make the guests have more patience.

So before the dinner started, Xu Zhiyan dressed himself up.

He rummaged around in the kitchen for a long time before he found a set of clothes that fit him so well. His hair was perfectly styled, and the teardrop moles under his eyes seemed to be glowing. Combined with the huge and sturdy body of the octopus chef next to him, his well-proportioned figure and excellent appearance were even more striking.

Of course, he didn't wear a hat so as not to affect his perfect hairstyle.

The guests were not fools.

Even though the new chef was indeed very handsome, someone soon began to express his dissatisfaction.

The guest who was closest to Xu Zhiyan and the door raised his hand. His tone was a little angry, as if he was questioning whether the handsome young man in front of him was fooling him.

"Excuse me, are you sure this is the main course for tonight?"

His blue eyes rolled around as he looked up and down at the chef in front of him, then he smiled disdainfully as if he had thought of something.

"I'm not interested in why the chef in the kitchen suddenly changed. The food cooked by the previous chef was not good either. But if this is your gimmick, and you want to film us with a living person next, this is too unoriginal."

He crossed his arms, his expression critical, his eyes full of sarcasm.

After listening to this, some of the other guests nodded in agreement, some whispered to each other, and some looked amused and wanted to see how the new chef would explain it.

Xu Zhiyan was not afraid at all. He even hoped that such a troublemaker would jump out and cause some trouble.

He took the card handed over by Chef Octopus and walked towards the guest who spoke with a smile: "Mr. Seaborn, I'm sorry to take up a little of your time, but I believe today's main course will satisfy you."

Each guest has a card of his or her own, and after enjoying the main course, the guests will give a score to the dinner dishes.

The Octopus Chef needs to reach an 80% approval rate to avoid death, but Xu Zhiyan is even more greedy. He wants to reach a 100% approval rate to get extra rewards.

After controlling the Octopus Chef, he obtained the information of the twenty-one guests.

The guest, Sibourne, is sarcastic and likes to eat human flesh.

He never missed any cannibal banquet, had very strict requirements for the main dishes, and rarely gave good reviews.

"Before I explain tonight's dishes, I have a question for you. As an ultimate food connoisseur, what do you think is the most important thing for perfect food?"

Complex adjectives please the sarcastic guests.

Sibourne thought for a moment, raised a finger and said, "Of course it's innovation!"

"It's meaningless to serve the same thing twice. The guys in the kitchen always use the same cooking methods to fool me. I've been dissatisfied with them for a long time!"

Xu Zhiyan smiled, feeling very satisfied with the other party's answer.

This is why he chose to ask Siborn, because the octopus chef said that the other party overturned the plate at yesterday's dinner because it cooked a calf in the same way as the day before.

"I think what you said is very right. When anything appears a second time, it loses its meaning."

After saying that, Xu Zhiyan reached out and picked up the silver spoon in front of Siberian, stirred it in the porcelain bowl, and took it out again.

Seeing the young chef in front of him so confident, Sibourne couldn't help but feel excited and his eyes fell back on the bowl.

However, nothing happened.

Clear water that is stirred by a spoon is most likely to return to calm.

"...Why...why hasn't it changed?" Siborn pointed at the porcelain bowl.

You know, when the chef just walked up and stirred the spoon, his expectations were raised to the maximum, and then disappeared?

Just when his anger was about to reach its peak, Xu Zhiyan coughed lightly and spoke.

"Why don't you try it?"

"The main dish for tonight was prepared by the kitchen staff with great effort."

Sibourne glanced at the chef, his mouth curled up in a sarcastic arc: "What if I taste it and am not satisfied?"

"How can you be satisfied if you don't even taste it?" Xu Zhiyan didn't respond, but instead played Tai Chi. Although he was confident, he always had a plan B prepared. Who knows if there would be any complications if he responded with the wrong question.

"Oh? If this main course doesn't satisfy me, then I hope to see your beautiful eyes on the plate tomorrow."

After Sibern finished speaking, he finally picked up the spoon, scooped a spoonful of water from the bowl, and put it into his mouth to taste it.

“…”

The moment the clear water entered his mouth, his expression of lack of interest froze for a moment, and he subconsciously sat up straight.

He thought he tasted something.

Not sure, try it again.

After thinking about it, Siborn scooped another spoonful, and this time he almost filled the spoon and put a full spoonful of water into his mouth.

"This is... this is... this..." Siborn widened his eyes. He felt that the taste in his mouth was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember what was familiar about it.

Seeing that the other party had almost finished tasting the food, Xu Zhiyan handed him a towel and spoke with a smile.

"This is a dish customized for you. It uses the ingredients you specifically selected and is brewed using a special secret method."

"This is the smell of the morning sun shining on the deck, this is the smell of the white clothes that have not yet dried swaying in the sea breeze, this is the smell of the beautiful soul of a sixteen-year-old girl... A connoisseur like you, Mr. Seaborn, must be able to taste it, right?"

Xu Zhiyan has a nice voice.

He spoke slowly and calmly, saying these words in a gentle and clear voice, which seemed to have the power to bewitch people.

Siborn nodded blankly and drank the little water left in the bowl.

“Really…I tasted it!”

"Indeed, it is exactly the flavor I requested! Oh my God, how did you do it? Is there any more?"

The critical look in his blue eyes disappeared, and they were filled with surprise.

Xu Zhiyan smiled bitterly, his tone full of apology.

"I'm sorry, this cooking method is too unique. The kitchen has been busy all afternoon, but only this little bit is available. If you need it, the kitchen will prepare it for you tomorrow."

After hearing the explanation, Siborn did not embarrass the beautiful cook any further.

After tasting something quite novel, he even became quite tolerant and nodded in praise.

"I tasted soul food for the first time, you are a great cook."

"It's my honor to receive your compliment." Xu Zhiyan accepted the compliment without hesitation and presented the card at the appropriate time.

“Are you satisfied with this main course?”

Sibourne took the card and ticked a big "Satisfied". "Satisfied, of course I am satisfied. This is the most satisfying cannibal dinner I have had since I got on board!"

After getting 5,000 points, Xu Zhiyan no longer looked at the guest in front of him.

Bai Jin was in mixed feelings.

When Siberian was finding fault just now, the other guests were watching, and he wanted to step forward to help Xu Zhiyan out several times.

But as soon as he made a gesture to stand up, he would receive a glare from Xu Zhiyan.

It was not until Siburn expressed unprecedented satisfaction that he realized that the lowly man in the chef's clothes was not doing it casually, but was well prepared.

And...and the taste of the soul...it's too magical!

Even Bai Jin couldn't help but feel a little curious about what Xu Zhiyan had just given Siberian to drink that made this picky eater drink so well.

The same was true for the other guests.

Regardless of whether they were guests who came for the meat or were forced to attend the cannibal feast before the party, almost everyone present began to discuss the bowl of soup in front of them with great interest.

"Oh my god, this is amazing, I can't wait."

"Hey? Our soup seems to be a little different?"

"It seems so. My soup looks a little yellow..."

"My soup base is red. Oh! I smell it. Is it blood? I can't wait to try what this soup tastes like!"

"To the satisfaction of Sibourne, this new chef seems to have some real talent for cooking."

"Speaking of which, this chef is really handsome. He is so beautiful..."

"But he seems to have an owner. Look at his bracelet. I wonder if I can swap him with another guest."

"Hey, you're dreaming. If I were his owner, I would never replace him."

Everyone started talking about it. Although everyone wanted to taste the soup in front of them, which was said to be made from souls, they waited patiently when they saw that the young and beautiful chef would explain the soup to every guest after tasting it.

After the successful experiment on Siberian, Xu Zhiyan did not get stage fright, but became more confident.

He walked to each diner with great patience and stirred the water in the guest's bowl with a spoon.

Seeing the second customer frowning slightly, he quickly reminded: "You tasted it, right?"

"It is the burning air, the flying dust, the coal that stores strength and the sweat of hard work."

The guest's brows relaxed and his expression changed from solemn to surprised.

"Yes, that's right, I tasted it!"

“I ordered the coal burners and that’s what they taste like!”

Xu Zhiyan handed over the card with a smile, and when he saw the customer tick the box with satisfaction, he said gratefully, "It's great that you are satisfied."

As each guest tasted the soul soup, surprised and praised it one after another, and Xu Zhiyan's mouth never stopped moving. As his lips opened and closed, he gained 5,000 points one after another.

In the live broadcast room, the audience who knew the truth about soul soup laughed so hard that they were crazy, and the comments were filled with comments.

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HELP]

[I can’t take it anymore. Sooner or later I will die of laughter in this live broadcast room hahahaha]

[Hahahahahahahahaha, I give up. I almost vomited my dinner from laughing! Hahahaha burp! ]

[Fuck, I can’t take it anymore. This soup makes me feel sick and want to vomit. What’s going on?! ]

[Hahaha, you guys are laughing so loudly, it’s disturbing my ears! ]

[The main thing is that the expressions of the guests are funny, damn, but they don’t know how Xiao Baiwan made the soup, and he’s also a fucking chef. I can’t do it hahahaha]

Some people arrived late and were very confused by the laughing comments and the compliments from the guests on the screen.

[Brothers, please stop laughing. I didn’t watch the live broadcast for the whole afternoon. How come the wind direction has changed? ]

[Quick, quick, quick, someone tell me what happened, how did Xiao Baiwan get this soup? I'm so curious! I'm so anxious! ]

【Urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent! Quick! 】

Finally, the first group of viewers who knew the truth and laughed so hard that they almost choked recovered a little and began to explain to other viewers who had not watched the afternoon live broadcast.

[Ah, it’s a long story. After Xiao Baiwan paid the Octopus Chef, he got the menu and rules. The menu was rather strange. It required occupations, which meant that these customers would eat people according to their occupations…]

[Can the Bodhisattva above please keep it short? 】

[Hahahahahaha, let me tell you, after Xiao Baiwan learned that the customers chose the ingredients because they wanted to taste the flavors of humans from different professions, he added the flavors of these professions into the water. It’s so funny.]

[What? The taste of profession is added to the water? ]

[Well, the one just now, Sibourne, he wanted to eat the clean 16-year-old girl in the laundry room, Xiao Baiwan added half a spoonful of laundry powder to his soup. And the one across from him said he wanted to eat the muscular crew member, Xiao Baiwan asked someone to get the crew member's socks and soak them in water. Ugh, they smelled like sweaty feet. This stupid customer was drinking well...]

[Hahahahahahahaha vomit, shit, this is both funny and vomit-inducing! ]

[The coal-burner one is simple, just add some coal, hahahahaha, the customer who wanted to eat the coal-burner is still drooling, it's so funny. ]

It turned out that after Xu Zhiyan discovered that most of the guests had become completely perverted and enjoyed eating people of different jobs, and often complained that the food prepared in the kitchen did not taste like professional cuisine, he began to think about how to satisfy the guests without harming the ingredients.

Don’t you like to eat famous food? Don’t you find it picky and dislike that various professions don’t have unique flavors?

Then let him satisfy the strange tastes of these guests.

In the kitchen of the cannibal banquet, the twenty ingredients gathered together squatted in the empty warehouse, shivering.

But this time, they were not overwhelmed by despair.

Everyone looked at their flesh-patterned bracelets and prayed that the guests would be satisfied with the 'soul soup' they made that afternoon.

After all, although Xu Zhiyan could give a general idea, when it came to details, he didn't know the taste of their professions as well as the selected ingredients did. So when making the soup in the afternoon, everyone racked their brains, striving to make their own soul soup to perfection.

Although some of the tastes are ridiculous and some are even disgusting, this production is undoubtedly a success!

Suddenly, someone shouted in surprise.

"My bracelet has changed! It's really changed!!" A girl dressed as a laundry worker held her wrist and laughed, then burst into tears.

It was clearly the sound of crying, but it brought hope to the people around her.

Afterwards, people kept exclaiming in surprise.

"Ahhh my bracelet has changed color too! Oh my god!"

"And mine, mine..."

"That's great. I won't die, right? I won't die, right..."

The sounds of crying and laughing mixed together, filling the entire warehouse.

In the banquet hall, Xu Zhiyan smiled and accepted another satisfaction card, glancing at the task progress panel out of the corner of his eye.

【Branch Chef Hat】

[Note: It was detected that the player has gained control of the cannibal banquet dishes...]

[Note: For the entire dinner, 80% of the guests need to be satisfied.]

[Tip: Please prepare dishes according to the menu]

[Reward: When a guest selects "satisfied" on the rating form, you will receive 5,000 points. ]

[Current reward progress: 75,000 points (15 guests are satisfied)]

[Reward: When satisfaction reaches 100%, you will receive the item [Delicious Soup Spoon]]

This branch line is well hidden and the rewards are quite gratifying.

When he saw the sixteenth guest, Xu Zhiyan was stunned at first, then he stopped smiling.

It’s my old acquaintance Wei Le.

This iron-blooded fisherman is chaotic neutral and doesn't seem to like eating people. He has no interest in the soup in front of him, but he recognizes Xu Zhiyan as the person who went to him to fish that day.

The two looked at each other, understood each other tacitly, and did not mention anything about fishing.

Xu Zhiyan felt a little nervous when he thought that the other party had filled in a random flavor.

Well, it was bad. Because Wei Le had no choice, the leader randomly grabbed a sailor like he did him, and he asked the food himself to copy another soup with the flavor of a muscular sailor...

Seeing the old acquaintance frowning and staring at the water soaked with his smelly socks in front of him, his rare conscience moved slightly.

But it was just a movement.

Now if you ask the other party not to drink the soup, he has to make up some excuse to cover up this logical loophole.

Wei Le pursed her lips and put the tip of the spoon close to her lips. She didn't know if it touched her lips or not, but she immediately took it away, let out a long sigh, and almost immediately snatched the card from Xu Zhiyan's hand.

Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. It was good that he didn't drink it.

"I am very satisfied."

“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

The inexplicably synchronized conversation between the two was unusually harmonious, but Bai Jin, sitting at the head, was keenly aware that this guest seemed to know his inferiors...

The feeling of being poached is not good.

Bai Jin frowned, looked at the soup in Wei Le's plate, then looked down at the note in his own plate.

...Damn it, why?

Why are other people’s plates filled to the brim? Regardless of whether there is soup or not, at least there are side dishes. But there is not even any side dish on his plate!

This kind of differential treatment that anyone with a discerning eye could see made the young Bai Jin jealous. He frowned, exuding a cold air, and his eyes were fixed on Xu Zhiyan, who was smiling and explaining the soul soup dish to the next customer.

He wanted to see what excuses this lowly person could come up with!

How could Xu Zhiyan not feel anything when Bai Jin was staring at him?

But he was very puzzled. He didn't understand what was wrong with this kid and why he had to get angry at this critical moment. Could it be that Bai Jin also wanted to taste the soul soup made from this stinky sock?

In fact, Xu Zhiyan thought about whether he should give Bai Jin a bowl of water as well.

But he and other guests said that each bowl of soul soup was made from the soul of an entire person. If he served Bai Jin a bowl of soup, there would be no explanation for why he was still standing here.

Finally, the young man in the white chef uniform came to the last customer with the first twenty satisfactory reviews.

Someone had already noticed that Bai Jin's plate was empty.

The guests couldn't help but lower their voices, and almost everyone fixed their eyes on the distinguished young master.

Xu Zhiyan held the card hesitantly.

Although he knew that Bai Jin was angry, he didn't know why he was angry, which made him a bit difficult to deal with... The original plan was to just let this obedient child write "satisfied" on the card and be done with it.

But now when he met the other person's eyes, Xu Zhiyan inexplicably saw a hint of grievance?

Grievance? Grievance about what?

"Master Bai, I don't think your dishes are suitable to be served here. How about you give me a satisfactory one first?"

He stuffed the card into Bai Jin's hand with an ambiguous and suggestive tone.

However, at this moment, after Bai Jin discovered that Xu Zhiyan and Wei Le seemed to know each other, he was overwhelmed by jealousy and did not want to give face to the inferior person in front of him.

"No, I won't give you satisfaction until I see dishes that satisfy me." Bai Jin said this almost with gritted teeth.

"..." Xu Zhiyan's mouth twitched.

Damn, I should have given this little slice a bowl of soup!

The guests around also noticed that the two seemed to have a special relationship and started to watch the fun. Some even began to speculate whether Xu Zhiyan had prepared some food that was more advanced than soul soup for Bai Jin.

Seeing the unexpected turn of events, Xu Zhiyan was worried that if he waited any longer the other guests would start making a fuss, so he simply gritted his teeth, reached out and unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt, revealing a section of his white chest.

He grabbed a strawberry from the fruit bowl beside him and put it in his mouth. He raised his legs and sat on Bai Jin's body, then leaned over and fed the strawberry mouth to the dumbfounded Xiaopian.

"My young master, are you sure you want to enjoy your main course here?"

Xu Zhiyan lowered his voice and put his hand on Bai Jin's shoulder.

Although it was a bit embarrassing, but when he thought that after the slices were fused, it would be Party A who would be embarrassed, he suddenly felt that it was not so bad?

After all, it wasn't him who wasn't cooperating, it was the slice that wasn't cooperating.

Bai Jin, who was jealous just now, was stunned after a brief moment of shock. He was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to respond while biting a strawberry.

But unlike Bai Jin who was so stiff that his whole body crashed, Xu Zhiyan who couldn't help but play a prank saw Xiaopianpian become stupid as expected, and he felt a sense of successful revenge in his heart.

He leaned over, took a bite of the strawberry stuck in Bai Jin's mouth, and licked his lips.

Forget it, I'm not angry anymore.

It’s better to coax such an innocent and obedient little piece.

Bai Jin's breathing became heavier.

He felt that he should lower his head, but his eyes looked over uncontrollably. After the other person bit off the strawberry, a few drops of bright red juice dripped from the lips to the chest.

"So can you give me a good review now?"

He heard the young man's bewitching voice in his ears and a piece of card was stuffed in his hand.

“…Yes…Yes.”

Bai Jin heard his own answer.