Chapter 77 Second Server Merge - You're not kidding me, are you?
[Dear player, welcome to Chef King Island! You will be automatically registered for the "Chef King Competition" upon arrival. Please arrive at the island's culinary arena within twenty minutes, or your level will be reduced by one.]
A cooking challenge island? Shen Dixin and Lu Mingang exchanged glances. "It's up to you. Make sure you do a good job and share some with me."
Lu Mingang nodded, his eyes gleaming with eagerness.
They all knew the person in charge of Chef King Island, Jin Sha, the chef examiner, who stood on the stage and surveyed the entire audience.
The players below looked at each other in confusion, then pushed and shoved their way onto the stage and found their seats.
This situation can occur when you are paired with another player, for example, you might be randomly assigned to one of their class islands.
However, this is not a bad thing when they have the strength; they are aiming to take the top two spots.
Shen Dixin simply shirked her responsibilities and decided to watch the show! Her leisurely yet scrutinizing demeanor made her seem more like a judge than Jin Sha!
Most of the people present were not chefs; they were basically people who had cooked too many dishes during the red tide and ended up on stage themselves. As expected, Shen Dixin did not see any familiar faces.
"Good heavens, am I not a sailor? What have I done here?"
"Are we really going to have to cook? Is there a penalty for losing? I've been cooking for a week and haven't managed to cook a single dish successfully. I'm doomed!"
If it weren't for the red tide, there shouldn't have been so many non-chefs sneaking in. Jinsha seemed to have noticed this as well, and rubbed her temples with a headache.
The group was worried because they were only half-baked. Fortunately, the elimination penalty was only 50% of the ingredients. A proper chef could pass the test, but an unprofessional one might not even be able to eat for a day with 50% of the ingredients!
Jinsha may seem cold and unapproachable, but he's surprisingly lenient with his actions.
The competition began, and the materials were raised on the platform. Lu Mingang deftly wielded his cleaver, a flash of cold light appearing first, followed by shredded cucumbers falling down, which he then pinched into a base.
The rules of the Chef King Challenge are that you must make three dishes with different ingredients and seasonings in a row, so Lu Mingang chose sashimi as his first dish.
In a short while, two crisp and refreshing sashimi dishes were made, served with wasabi soy sauce.
Lu Mingang's action of handing the dishes to Shen Dixin was noticed by the people next door, who were trying to get something for nothing.
"Dude, can you make one for me too? If we win a prize, we'll split it 50/50!"
Lu Mingang glanced at him coldly. When he wasn't speaking, his face was indeed very deceptive. The man immediately scratched his head awkwardly and fell silent.
Seeing that Sands did not stop the trading, the players' minds immediately started to stir, and they began to whisper among themselves.
"Hey bro, let's team up? You just need to contribute one person, and if we get a place, I'll give you 80% and you 20%."
"Want to sell the ingredients? You've been standing here for so long without moving, you probably don't know how to cook, right? You might as well sell them to me to cut your losses and make a little profit!"
With nothing else to do, Shen Dixin started preparing the ingredients, munching on a grated tomato. She looked up and met Jinsha's wide eyes, then smiled at him.
Amidst the noise, Shen Dixing suddenly heard the female player behind him call her Spider Toast, the one who was always jumping around and being generous with other people's money, but after learning from the previous incident, she never bothered Shen Dixing again.
"Really? You're not kidding me, are you?"
The girl smiled gently, "If you're worried, we can add each other as friends."
"It really is you, Spider Sister! You gave me the plank before, remember? I'm only alive because of you."
The man immediately changed his expression and started to get close to Spider Toast in a friendly manner.
Despite Spider Toast's bad reputation among high-level players, her high ranking on the leaderboard, coupled with her well-known saintly nature, makes her very popular among ordinary players.
Despite the dramatic change in her attitude, she wasn't annoyed and even attracted a few more onlookers.
Shen Dixin glanced at it but didn't intend to get involved, while Spider Toast approached her on its own initiative.
"Do you still need these ingredients? I can offer a higher price than they are."
She refused and piled the things on Lu Mingang's table.
Spider Toast, undeterred, continued with concern, "If you don't have any dishes to hand in later, I can make you an extra one. We should help each other out when we're traveling!"
Shen Dixin brushed it off, clearly not taking the other person seriously, and Coffee Toast, seeing this, stopped bothering her.
Jinsha leaned back in her chair and lazily called out, "Everyone back to your seats, don't disturb the others while they're cooking, there are only forty minutes left."
Everyone listened symbolically, but the disputes never stopped.
Lu Mingang worked quickly and efficiently, and soon prepared the dishes for himself and Shen Dixing.
As expected, Lu Mingang came in first and Chen Dixin came in second.
The total rewards were 3 exclusive chef-specific blueprints and 1 gold chef medal. The dishes made by the more than 20 players present were divided among the top three.
【Item Name: Gold Chef Medal】
Item Quality: Purple
[Item Description: A chef recognized by Chef Jinsha, whose fair complexion attracts customers willing to pay 5% more for your dishes.]
Lu Mingang used the blueprint on the spot, but unfortunately, professional blueprints can only be used randomly. The seaweed jellyfish sashimi, the special sea salt flounder drink, and the steamed king crab claws that he randomly got were all of high versatility, except for the jellyfish sashimi.
Spider Toast's cooking skills were mediocre and he didn't win any awards, but he was very successful in social situations. Before the event ended, he asked for contact information, using a grand and righteous excuse to unite all forces that could be united. This time, he had his eye on Lu Mingang.
The moment Lu Mingang realized her identity, he glanced at Shen Dixin almost imperceptibly. 'To give it or not?'
Shen Dixin stood not far behind Spider Toast, signaling Lu Mingang to agree and see what this guy was up to.
They returned home, and soon after, the second server merge began.
[The server merge will officially begin in ten minutes. Players have been matched into channel 1 of region 8425. Please prepare accordingly.]
Nominally, it's completely random, but the system's server merging logic follows the principle of complementarity. Since Chen Dixin and his team are strong, the average level of players they are matched with is not high.
Only over 5,000 people have joined, leaving 12,666 remaining.
This wasn't the first time, so the players weren't surprised anymore; they simply quickly gathered information about the other side.
Shen Dixin immediately opened the shop interface. This was her livelihood, and with only one more shop, it seemed that the opposite shop was also in a situation of one dominant player.
She noted down the names and then went to the leaderboard. With her current strength, Shen Dixin didn't need to take the initiative; new players would naturally be drawn to her by the crowd.
The rankings didn't change much; roughly speaking, only 20-30% of the names were new.
The new channel is even worse than the first one after the server merge. Not only are the average players weak, but there aren't many high-end players either.
Keep in mind that there will be competitions between channels and servers in the future, so the strength of the channels will definitely have an impact.
He calmed his mind and began preparing for the fifth-class ships.
[Character Level Required for Ship Upgrade (8/8)]
[Ship upgrade required job progress (Monster Hunter): Cleared Monster Tide Waves (54/50)]
[Materials required for ship upgrade: Planks (1w8/3w8), Plastic (1w6/3w8), Rope (101/1000)... Rebar (35/120), Concrete (21/120), Gears (76/20)]
We've only been out of the shadow of the red tide for less than half a day, and everyone's health hasn't even recovered yet. Where would we find extra supplies or anything to cleanse our minds about?
By the time all the materials were gathered, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
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