Chapter 1 Chapter 1 The gears of fate are stuck
Eight tables, thirty-two chairs...
Qi Huan bent his half-splinted left arm, leaned against the metal tree at the door, and silently calculated his current belongings.
The slanting wind blew through the treetops, causing the metal branches to crackle and splashing rust and sand on half of his face.
"Cough! Cough!" He turned his head and covered his mouth and nose, coughing a few times in embarrassment due to choking.
Next to the tree is a two-story building with double eaves and hip roofs. Because the texture of the stone bricks and columns is similar to that of white marble, at first glance it looks like a magnificent palace with jade and carved railings. However, a closer look reveals that it is extremely old. The walls are covered with a layer of gray dust and are full of cracks, with signs of weathering and erosion everywhere. The originally dark green iron windows have mottled and peeling paint in many places, revealing the dark red rusted interior.
At this moment, the wind blew, dust filled the air, iron filings flew, the windows and the old tables and chairs creaked one after another, making a noise that made people's heads hurt.
From a distance, it looks like a jade-like building; from close up, it looks like it is leaking and about to rain.
In this place that looks like a dilapidated building that makes noises every two steps, there is a vertical sign hanging on the right side of the gate, with four large crooked characters "Renjian Restaurant" written on it.
The two uneven door panels were covered with collection notices, and two of them were even stuffed into the finger-wide crack of the pillar on the left side of the gate. The addresses were all "9 Jinwan Street, No. 3 Base, Waste Planet No. 7", swaying in the wind, as if the owner had run away due to debt.
And Qi Huan is the 'new' owner of this shabby little restaurant.
The so-called waste star is actually an abandoned garbage planet.
This world is called the Alliance, which is formed by the union of nine star fields. Its main energy source comes from various gem energies. The purchase of gem mining stars and the subsequent series of mining and processing are naturally the hottest money-making industries.
The formation of high-energy gems requires a variety of extreme conditions. Most planets with rich mineral deposits have relatively harsh environments. They were once bustling when miners settled in to develop them. After more than a hundred years, when the mining was over and the miners moved to other places, the popularity of the planets gradually declined and they were abandoned and desolate, eventually becoming garbage disposal areas.
There are currently more than a dozen such planets in the Alliance's Ninth Star Field, and this is the one numbered seven.
From the densely packed buildings around it and the sporadic remains of the fancy street scenes, one can vaguely glimpse what this base once looked like when it was at its peak as a city.
Today, due to the severe erosion caused by the vast desert wind and sand on the outside, the whole street and the entire base have become dilapidated, with broken walls and ruins everywhere. It is like an old tree that is about to die, with signs of decay all over its body, and it is rotten and dilapidated.
The setting sun was as blazing as fire, and in the plum-colored sunset, a red airship whizzed past, injecting a strong post-cyberpunk atmosphere into the abandoned film and television base-like building complex in front of it.
Qi Huan looked up at the airship, then at the white desert in the distance, and sighed. It was said that life was a wilderness, so how come it had turned into a desert?
It is clearly a world with more advanced technology than Earth, but it happens to be in such a remote and backward place with scarce supplies, poor conditions, and even a lack of the most basic safety guarantees. Opening a restaurant in such a place, what kind of fantasy-level task is this?
Life restarts, and it starts in apocalyptic mode.
That’s right, reboot.
More than forty hours ago, he was still living in Suzhou and Hangzhou in the eastern part of the earth.
As a popular food UP host who updates his videos weekly, Saturday is the day for him to release new videos.
The evening before yesterday, he uploaded the latest video "Yóu móu Qian" reproducing the Southern Song Dynasty delicacies on time, and then rushed out to the bookstore. He had almost finished reading the books "Suiyuan Food List", "Diao Ding Collection" and "Yu Shi Pi" that he bought last time, and he thought of buying a few new ancient recipes for inspiration while he had time in the evening.
I don't know if it was because I was in such a hurry to leave that I forgot to say goodbye to all the husbands and wives in the cabinet in the living room as usual, or if it was because I had bad luck because of the wrong posture when getting out of the car, but when I was walking from the parking lot to the bookstore, I had the misfortune of encountering a gas explosion in a street restaurant.
When the number of fans was about to break the two million mark, the gears of fate not only failed to turn, but also got stuck and reversed, and more than twenty years of work had been in vain.
After the loud bang, he instantly lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in the treatment cabin of the base.
It is said that he was seriously injured and fainted in the hunting area outside. Fortunately, he was rescued and sent back to the base, where he survived.
This place seems like a parallel time and space derived from a certain era of ancient China. Everything is familiar yet strange.
For example, the houses around him, which were filled with a high concentration of ancient architectural elements, always made him feel vaguely like the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival; for example, the black clothes he was wearing, which were similar in style to a judo uniform, were actually very similar to the shorts commonly worn by the working people in ancient China; for example, the time here was also calculated in hours, but there were only twenty-two hours in a day; for example, there was also the concept of weeks here, but a week had ten days instead of seven, so it would be more appropriate to say a "decade" rather than a "week".
The only thing that is certain is that the technology of this era is more advanced than that of Earth. At least the capsule-shaped medical cabin in the base's medical area that can quickly heal all kinds of wounds on the body in twenty hours is something he has never seen before.
A metal leaf dangled and fell on his knees, and the uncorroded half of the leaf happened to reflect half of his face like a mirror.
It was a thin face with a yellowish complexion, obviously malnourished, because the cheeks were so thin that they were sunken, and the almond-shaped eyes seemed a little too large in visual proportion. The pupils were clean and clear, with a beautiful amber color, and the lip line was very soft, giving him a naturally gentle and harmless appearance.
At this moment, there was still some sand and rust on the cheeks that had not been shaken off just now, making this pale and thin face look even more confused and desolate.
Qi Huan pursed his lips helplessly. This face was about 60% similar to him, but it was much thinner and more childish.
When he was a kid, he was splashed with hot oil while cooking, leaving a peanut-sized scar above his right eyebrow. After so many years, the red mark is still there, so every time he gets his hair cut, he asks the hairdresser to cover that area. The bangs on the face in front of him are two centimeters shorter than he is used to, revealing the smooth skin of the entire forehead, without any scars at all.
In addition, he was wearing a blue ball-shaped earring on his left ear, but he did not have a pierced ear.
The scar left by a kitchen knife on the tip of his left index finger was gone, but there was a conspicuous Z-shaped red spot on his wrist under his sleeve.
All in all, it is 100% certain that this is not his body.
After waking up, he had almost no memory of the original owner of this body and could only pretend to have amnesia. With the explanations of medical staff and neighbors, he learned some details about the base and the original owner's condition.
It is now the year 13235 of the new star calendar. The original owner was called Qi Huan (huān), which has the same pronunciation as his name. He is seventeen years old and is a survivor of the starship accident that crashed on the abandoned planet No. 7 many years ago. He was later adopted by an uncle named Lin Sen in the base.
This small restaurant was opened by Uncle Lin Sen. He fell ill and passed away half a year ago, leaving the original owner alone to support the business until he unfortunately lost his life in the hunting area a few days ago.
After thinking about it, he felt that the biggest possibility was that he had experienced "time travel", or the legendary soul travel, also known as "reincarnation".
Can I still go back? Judging from the situation when it exploded, I'm afraid my body is gone a long time ago? Qi Huan kneaded the metal leaves in his hand depressedly. If only Song Ci was here, it would be great. Using his brain is not his specialty.
As time goes by, the plum-colored sunset glow in the sky becomes increasingly purple, making people feel sad.
"Creaky", a sharp sound came from the house with khaki windows diagonally opposite, the door was half opened, and a skinny blue-haired young man came out carrying an old helmet.
The young man's name is Quan Hai. He has been a neighbor of Uncle Lin Sen and the original owner for many years. Last night, he was the one who went to the medical area to pick up Qi Huan.
The light blue clothes he was wearing were similar in style to Qi Huan's, with many black stains on the sleeves and trouser legs. Because he was too thin to support it, the clothes looked a bit empty. Compared with Quan Hai, who was skinny and bony, Qi Huan could even be called healthy.
"Have something to eat." Quan Hai handed the rusty helmet with a strong mechanical style to Qi Huan.
The people at the base didn't speak Chinese, but Qi Huan didn't have much trouble communicating with them. For example, the sign at the restaurant entrance was not in simplified Chinese, but he could understand it, probably because the original owner understood it.
After taking the helmet, Qi Huan saw clearly that it was a basket made from a helmet, which contained four green tubes of medication as thick as sausages and two bottles of purified water.
The main food in the base seems to be this kind of nutrient. After waking up, he has been eating this stuff for several meals, including in the medical area. He also saw it on the way back yesterday. You can buy it from every vending machine running on the street. The green one is the cheapest, one silver coin for ten tubes.
He was indeed hungry, so he didn't hesitate to say thank you and picked up the tube of nutrient solution. He opened it and took half a sip despite the strong smell of rust in the air.
It tastes like jelly with fruit pulp and is lightly seasoned. It's not hard to swallow, but it's definitely not delicious. How should I put it? It's at the level of the legendary meal that maintains vital signs, and it does give a strong sense of fullness.
But at this moment he really had no right to complain.
"I will definitely make you a big meal when your injury heals." Qi Huan shook his arm with a metal splint towards Quan Hai, making a half-joking, half-seriously promise.
The horrific and hideous wounds on his body have been almost healed in the medical cabin, but problems like fractures still require some time to recover. The nurse asked him to go back for a checkup in about 25 days and remove the splint after there are no problems.
"No, no, I appreciate your kindness." The young man waved his hands hurriedly, and his patched cuffs swung back and forth at a high frequency along with his skinny arms.
Qi Huan sensed something was wrong from his evasive attitude.
Quan Hai hesitated for a moment at his inquiring gaze, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he pursed his lips behind him.
Qi Huan turned his head and looked at the metal tree behind him.
Probably because of the harsh desert climate, it is difficult for plants to survive, so the greenery landscapes left on the streets are actually made of metal. To be honest, the workmanship is fine enough, but unfortunately, due to the long time and lack of maintenance, most of the metal trees have rusted into dark red, giving off a sense of desolation and decay after the prosperity has been stripped away.
But what does this have to do with the topic they were talking about just now? Qi Huan looked up and down at the metal tree in the dim light, his face full of confusion.
"The back." Quan Hai coughed lightly and continued to remind.
Qi Huan leaned over and saw a red "sign" nailed to the side of the tree trunk facing outward:
[Alliance Star Food Rating: Rotten Egg Rating 6, Suggested Closing Down. ]
Qi Huan: …………
Are the original owner’s cooking skills so...bad?
"Don't worry, I've secretly learned how to make it recently. I guarantee it's delicious, and I'll definitely be able to upgrade it in the future." Qi Huan made a vague excuse, full of confidence in upgrading the food rating.
He was a culinary prodigy who could cook noodles by standing on a small stool at the age of four. His sister Qi Qing's colleagues at the research institute and the top students in the university dormitory were all conquered by his cooking skills.
Quan Hai was slightly surprised, "Did you pass the exam?"
Qi Huan: ???
What certificate?
No, in your place like Feixing, do you need a license to cook a meal for guests?
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