Chapter 82: Teasing People Wherever You Can
Half an hour later, the secretary accompanied Jiang Huai for a walk around the ruins to digest the food. Old Man Po Zhan grabbed Qi Huan and enthusiastically discussed various cooking and seasoning techniques. Diwu Yuan stayed in Jiufang Yu's room to study the identities of the twelve guests with him.
"These three people who bought seats are definitely here to cause trouble," Diwu Yuan pointed at the names of Huai Tong, Yang Yuan, and Qi Shan. "The remaining three people who bought seats are two media reporters and one is a self-media outlet that specializes in social hot spots. They must have come here for the popularity of the Clear Sky Banquet."
Jiu Fangyu took a quick look and continued to ask, "What about the remaining six people who didn't resell their seats?"
"Over here," Diwuyuan threw another page of data onto the main display screen, "The first two are both famous food connoisseurs on the Star Network, one with over nine million fans, and the other with three million fans. They often go to restaurants with three or four-star chefs to try out new dishes, and then comment on their reviews. They are both well-known in the food tasting circle. They both followed the live broadcast room of Renjian Restaurant on the day of the last live broadcast, and they had never taken pictures of the dishes on the shelves before. They must have come to watch for fun and grabbed a seat with their hand speed."
Diwuyuan said this while cutting out the personal homepages of the two people. The latest one was a preview of their attendance at the Chief Clear Sky Banquet. The number of comments below was more than ten times higher than before, and they were all "hungry" fans.
"The third one looks like an ordinary life account. He spends most of his time online in the competition area, and a small part of his time in the shopping area to look at the latest mechas and other things. He has almost never been to the food live broadcast area. It looks like a passerby who was attracted that day and was lucky enough to get a seat."
"Which star field?"
"He is from the fifth star domain, but his last name is Lin. At most, he is only half Jiang family bloodline, a B-level sentinel."
Jiufang Yu still stared at the name, "Have you been to Waste Planet No. 7?"
Diwu Yuan was stunned for a moment, and his fingers moved quickly, "Give me half a minute."
"According to his starship flight records, he has been traveling to the First Star Region frequently in the past three years. He has been to almost all of the waste planet hunting grounds here. He also came to Waste Planet No. 7 two months ago. However, he was lucky enough to leave a week before the last beast tide occurred."
Three years ago, he started to frequently travel between the waste stars? Jiufang Yu frowned slightly. This time point is almost the same as the time when the current leader of the Qi family took over the Qi family. The peeping incident also happened on the waste star, and he was a B-level person. If this person was sent by the Qi family to the waste star to find someone, the timeline and ability would be a perfect match. Now he has taken a photo of the seat for the Qingkong Banquet. Is it such a coincidence? Could it be another hidden chess move by the Qi family? It seems that we have to pay special attention to it at that time.
"The other three are all old viewers of the live broadcast room. They have taken photos of the dishes on the shelves at least twice. They should have enough money and want to come and try the real taste of the dishes, especially this one," Diwuyuan pointed at the live broadcast room viewer ID noted behind the last name Bufan, his eyebrows and nose wrinkled into a ball, as if he was filled with old hatred, "He's the one who always competes with us to buy."
When Jiufang Yu saw the name, he revealed a look of understanding, and glanced at the young master and said, "Don't you think this name is familiar?"
"I just think that ID looks familiar," Diwuyuan looked ahead again, "Bu Fan, is he from the Bu family in the Eightfold Star Region? Do you know him?"
Jiufang Yu sighed, closed his eyes unable to bear the sight, rubbed his forehead and said, "Search the current competitive rankings."
Diwuyuan tapped the keyboard as he was told. The third name on the league's annual competition rankings was Bu Fan.
"He is the youngest among the top five sentinels, and also the most prominent figure among the younger generation of the Bu family." Jiufang Yu explained.
Diwu Yuan made a "tsk" sound. He was not interested in mecha competitions, so he seldom paid attention to them. He did not expect that there was such a powerful person among Qi Huan's fans. He casually flipped through the news below and found that although this person looked good, his reputation was very bad. His competitive style was known for being cruel and ruthless.
Bu Fan also has a nickname called 'Never Holds a Grudge', which doesn't mean that he is magnanimous, but that he is famous for being narrow-minded. He won't hold a grudge overnight and will usually take revenge on the spot, so there is no need to hold a grudge.
He even has a personal bounty black diamond list that is publicly released and updated at any time. It is a list of enemies. Anyone on the list is someone who has offended him and whom he has no chance to meet for the time being, such as the black fans who insulted him online because of his competitive style, and the reporters who wrote negative headlines about him.
These people will be updated into the Black Diamond List according to the severity of the offense they have caused him. The higher the ranking, the greater the bounty. Once on the list, they will be hunted down and intercepted by bounty hunters and fans from across the league, and forced into PK in the arena. If they want to survive, they must either kneel down and beg for mercy before being beaten to death, have the entire league issue an apology announcement asking for Bufan's forgiveness, or hide their identities so that others will never find them.
"He is so arrogant, is there no one to control him?" Diwu Yuan was amazed.
"He only fights life-and-death battles in the arena, which is not against the rules. Besides, the Bu family is behind him. As long as the opponent is not from one of the nine great families, how many people can compete with him? Moreover, he is indeed very strong and is highly regarded by the military leaders. Even now, everyone is saying that he is the closest to the double S Sentinel among the younger generation, but he just lacks an opportunity to achieve enlightenment, breakthrough and upgrade."
"What's there to be proud of? Aren't you also..." Diwuyuan stopped talking halfway when he thought of Jiufang Yu's injury. A few years ago, Jiufang Yu was the one who was closest to the title of Double S.
Jiufang Yu smiled indifferently and changed the subject, "I suddenly remembered that I need to trouble you to prepare something, just in case."
Early Wednesday morning, many people gathered on various platforms of StarNet, refreshing the real-time updates from time to time and paying attention to the news of the Clear Sky Banquet.
There is only one starship route to a remote place like the Waste Planet No. 7, so eleven of the guests arrived at the same time, and the remaining one was Bu Fan, who arrived half an hour earlier on a private starship.
After landing, the two reporters, the self-media, the two food critics, and Huai Tong, who first posted a message to attack Qi Huan, all turned on the live broadcast, claiming that they would broadcast the entire event live today. Bai Fu also arranged an official reporter to broadcast the entire event live, and all of a sudden, countless viewers flooded into the seven live broadcast rooms.
The airship team, with the escort team as drivers, followed the previously agreed "sightseeing route" and took the twelve guests and the audience behind the camera to tour the abandoned planet step by step.
At first, the screen was very lively, with people complaining about the old starship field, asking when the sky feast would start, and the handsome "tour guide" in uniform. When the airship entered the ruins of Base 3 with the camera, the lively barrage gradually stopped.
For most residents of the alliance, the desolation of the first star field and the abandoned planet is just a distant and vague concept. When those whistling white sand, waste rocks, broken tiles, broken walls and ruins are really placed before their eyes, the impact is completely different.
"The original situation was better than this, but unfortunately we were attacked by a large A-level beast tide and star beasts a few days ago, so we had to give up this place and find a new place to build a base." The guard introduced according to the "guide outline" given by the secretary.
The airship landed at the original location of No. 9 Jinwan Street. The guard pointed at the ruins and explained, "This is the original restaurant on earth."
The metal tree at the door was broken in half on the ground, and dark old bloodstains remained on the bumpy road surface. Under the collapsed stone pillars and walls, one could see crushed tables and chairs, broken refrigerators, damaged and deformed cabinets, and tattered tableware and kitchen utensils, which creaked in the wind and sand.
The two food critics had originally told their fans in their itinerary preview that they would check in at Renjian Restaurant, but the situation before them had completely exceeded their expectations. They looked at the mess on the floor, muttering "this, this, this" for a long time and were completely speechless.
"I heard that apart from this time, the A-level stone beast only appeared five years ago. Base No. 3 should have been very safe before the beast tide, right?" Huai Tong received Qi Shan's eye contact, walked to a loyal and honest guard team member, and tried to chat and ask questions.
"No, in fact, the base's protective shield was very poor before, with holes everywhere." The man shook his head and said, "I followed the new star master to the abandoned star more than a month ago. I am not sure how often the stone beasts attacked in the past, but since I got here, I have experienced at least three attacks by stone beasts. Places like the Human Restaurant, which are close to the base gate, are always the first to be affected. Anyone with more money would probably want to move out as soon as possible."
Huai Tong choked and walked away angrily.
On the way to the Qingkong Banquet, they passed three ruins one after another and even went around the vagrant base. The live broadcast staff sent by Baifu brought the nutrient supplements purchased with the reward donated by Qi Huan last time. The skinny appearance of the children and their unconcealed joy when they saw the nutrient supplements deeply shocked everyone in front of the camera.
Bu Fan frowned and whispered to the butler beside him, "Go and make arrangements. Buy 300 bottles of high-quality nutritional supplements and send them over every month."
When an exaggeratedly long stone table appeared in everyone's sight, the guards pointed at the long table and reminded them that that was the venue for the Clear Sky Banquet. Only then did everyone's depressed mood finally improve a little.
In the desolate white desert, sand dunes stretch out endlessly, with a half-bald metal tree and a long table made of old stone beams and pillars standing alone in the middle.
The setting sun stretched the shadows of the skinny branches extremely long. The gray and black colors against the sand that was dyed golden red by the twilight looked like a casually smeared freehand landscape painting, lonely and empty.
On the tree hung a black signboard half a person's height, creaking and swaying in the wind. On it were written four large gold-painted characters: Renjian Restaurant.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The place was devastated, remote, desolate and the environment was harsh. In such a place where survival was extremely difficult, could a talented chef with amazing skills really be born?
"Welcome everyone to today's Clear Sky Banquet. I am your chef today," Qi Huan walked down from the small starship next to him with a sunny smile on his face. He was wearing the apron embroidered with the names of restaurants and various dishes on it that he often saw in the live broadcast room. "The restaurant still needs to be rebuilt. Before that, we can only ask everyone to condescend to visit this temporary store. Please take a seat according to your ID nametag. In the next few hours, I hope you will enjoy the dishes I carefully prepare for you."
In his smile, the twilight seemed to have an inexplicable warmth, and everyone's hearts relaxed, and they all walked towards the long table.
One of the green-haired men walked straight towards Qi Huan.
Jiufang Yu and Diwuyuan, who were watching the surveillance camera in the starship, frowned at the same time.
"It's that suspicious guy named Lin!" Diwuyuan looked at Jiufangyu anxiously, "Is he stupid enough to kidnap someone now?"
Jiufang Yu frowned, and was about to inform No. 2 and No. 4, who were standing behind Qi Huan pretending to be kitchen helpers, to stop him. No. 2 also silently tensed his arms and was ready to go, but Qi Huan took the initiative to raise his hand to the man warmly, "Long time no see."
"Long time no see. I just heard that you have so many delicious dishes hidden away." Lin Jian and Qi Huan clapped their hands and greeted each other with a smile.
Jiufang Yu & Diwuyuan & No. 2: ...
They considered various scenarios, except the possibility that the two knew each other.
When Lin Jian sat down, everyone noticed that there were two empty seats at the table. They couldn't help but feel curious. Wasn't there only twelve seats at the Clear Sky Banquet?
"In addition to everyone present here, there are two distinguished guests from the celebrity chef and food industry attending the dinner tonight. Before they appear, I solemnly remind everyone," Qi Huan said seriously, "According to the agreement, you are not allowed to use any form of recording equipment during this banquet. Once discovered, it will be destroyed immediately, and all property losses will be borne by the violator personally. If you have similar equipment that violates the agreement, it's not too late to put it away before the two distinguished guests show up."
Yang Yuan and Huai Tong exchanged glances and showed disdain at the same time, but like everyone else, they turned off the live broadcast equipment and put it away.
"Star chefs and VIPs from the food industry?" The food critic with nearly 10 million fans showed a surprised expression. To be called a VIP, at least he has more fans than him, right? But the number of food critics with more fans than him in the entire Star Network can be counted on one hand. I haven't heard that anyone is coming too?
"Maybe he's the VIP of Waste Star." Yang Yuan emphasized the word "Waste Star" in a sarcastic tone, implying that the person who will appear later should only be well-known in a remote and backward place like Waste Star, and no one will care about him if he leaves here.
There was a burst of low laughter at the table. Lin Jian glanced over coldly. Yang Yuan pretended to turn his head to avoid his gaze.
"Well, I'm old, and I've retired to the second line. There aren't many opportunities for me to be treated as a VIP." A strong voice came from the hatch of the starship. Everyone looked over and couldn't help but widen their eyes at the same time.
Nine out of ten people who are sitting here are interested in food and have watched a few chef competitions. So how could they not know Po Zhan, the former president of the Chefs' Guild who has been on the stage to present awards and one of the only two five-star chefs in the world?
Seeing the white-haired figure, Yang Yuan and Huai Tong both took a breath. How could it be possible? How could this little star chef from a remote and waste star be so worthy of Po Zhan?
Qi Shan secretly clenched his fists, vaguely feeling that today's plan might not go so smoothly.
The two reporters and two food critics immediately stood up to greet them. What VIP guests? The Pozhan couple are clearly the leaders in the star chef food world. They dared to invite them to come and notarize. It seems that this little star chef is very confident in his cooking skills.
After Po Zhan and Jiang Huai sat down, Qi Huan arranged for tea and four snacks to be served to everyone, and then walked to the sink and stove that were also temporarily built between the starship and the long table and started working.
The kitchen counter was completely open without any obstruction. The food cabinet and kitchen utensils were neatly placed next to it. It was just a bit far from the long table. The position and angle were also carefully chosen, so that everyone at the table could see his every move when cooking, but they could not see the details clearly.
"Aren't you going to show off your cooking skills today to dispel the rumors? Why are you so far away? Do you feel so guilty?" Huai Tong questioned loudly, deliberately letting the audience in Qi Huan's live broadcast room hear his voice.
Yang Yuan immediately followed up with a sarcastic remark, "Are those rumors on Starnet true? Could it be that he needed to look up the recipe while cooking, so he deliberately kept it so far away that no one could see it clearly?"
"After all, this is the wild, with strong winds and sand. If we get too close, the fumes might choke you and affect your dining experience." Qi Huan explained with a smile, kneading the black dough for the Taotie Pastry without delay. "Also, since you two brought it up, I also wanted to ask, who made those things that you think I can't make?"
"Of course, you can ask those awesome senior star chefs to make it for you." Huai Tong answered without hesitation.
"Cooking for you? How?" Qi Huan's smile deepened, but his eyes were cold. "I've been live streaming for 40 to 50 days, and I've released more than 20 kinds of dishes. Is there anyone in the entire Star Network who dares to stand up and say they can make it?"
Huai Tong was dumbfounded. Qi Huan blocked his way and he was speechless for a while. He subconsciously looked at Qi Shan and Yang Yuan.
"You might have learned it from some rare cookbook." Yang Yuan quickly helped Huai Tong to smooth things over.
"Rare recipe? Where did the recipe come from? What's it called? How many dishes are in it?"
"This..." Yang Yuan was confused by his series of questions and couldn't answer, "How should I know this?"
"So you didn't know? How dare you make up stories without any evidence?" Qi Huan sneered, spread out the dough, added some oil pastry, and began to roll it out skillfully. "If you spread rumors and slander in a remote place like our Waste Planet No. 7, you will be deducted points for law and order and expelled from the base. You people from developed star fields dare to attack others without any evidence. Don't you have to take responsibility?"
"Yes, Huanhuan, that's it, tickle them." Diwu Yuan, who was standing in front of the monitor, cheered for Qi Huan's sharp remarks.
Jiufang Yu looked at the young master speechlessly, "What are you doing to them?"
"Before the broadcast, I was afraid Huanhuan would be nervous, so I jokingly asked him what route he planned to take for today's live broadcast. He asked me in return, "Do you know what the next line of 'Since I came out of the cave, I have no rivals' is?"
The young master paused deliberately, and looked at Jiufang Yu with his big black and white eyes.
Jiufang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, "What?"
The young master raised his chin, and with his porcelain-white, childish face, he imitated Qi Huan's tone at the time and said in a clear and melodious voice, "Tickle people when you can."
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