Chapter 104: The Final Ingredient to End Dark Cuisine!

Chu Lin was inevitably surprised when he received the game notification.

This “Leisure Civilization” was a casual game set against the backdrop of four legendary Earth civilizations. Besides the Atlantis map, there were three other civilization maps. Up until now, only the Atlantis map had been accessible; the other three maps remained dormant, a silent black-and-white presence in his mind.

But now, he indeed saw that the Mesopotamia Civilization map had also lit up.

This meant he could enter the Mesopotamia map just like he had entered Atlantis.

The Mesopotamian civilization was a culinary civilization, famed for its passion for food. They excelled at researching delicacies, able to transform even the simplest ingredients into extraordinary flavors. As such, the profession of gourmet was highly popular in Mesopotamia.

A gourmet here was not like those in real life who simply sampled various dishes without any culinary skills. Instead, they truly mastered secret recipes and could craft remarkable cuisine. The more recipes a gourmet acquired and the higher their quality, the higher their rank became.

Players who chose the Mesopotamia civilization would assume the role of a gourmet, collecting recipes to elevate their status. In essence, it was similar to the compendium collection in the Atlantis map—the difference lay only in what was collected and how.

The prospect of a new map always excited him. However, since he was currently at Miss Cai’s house, he couldn’t enter the game world just yet.

Miss Cai, having ended her phone call, promptly said, “Mr. Chu, I have to go to the hospital right away. I won’t be able to join you for this vegetable salad.”

As she spoke, she removed her apron, but the strings accidentally caught her clothes, exposing a large stretch of her snowy white waist.

Chu Lin admired her perfect figure even as he asked with concern, “You’re going to the hospital—is something wrong?”

Cai Yao shook her head and explained, “My father was admitted after getting upset. Even though he can be biased, he’s still my father. I have to see him.”

Chu Lin was surprised. “All your useless brother did was lose the oyster and prawn supply—surely it’s not that serious? He looked fine when he left.”

Cai Yao explained helplessly, “I predicted it. That guy actually sold regular oysters as premium ones, took reservations across all branches, and of course, customers are furious. The Consumers’ Association got involved, then the industrial and municipal authorities came too. They took him, Li, and those other managers away for investigation. That’s why my father ended up in the hospital.”

“Is he a complete fool?” Chu Lin was shocked by Cai Sen’s actions.

This guy seemed bent on bringing Zhizhen down as quickly as possible.

Indeed, nothing dooms a company faster than putting an idle rich kid in charge.

Still, Miss Cai was right. No matter what, Cai Da was her father, and she should visit him at the hospital.

But as for Cai Da and Zhizhen, they had nothing to do with Chu Lin. After Miss Cai left, he hurried back to the farm, eager to explore the new map.

Once in his bedroom, he entered the Mesopotamia map with a thought.

Unlike the Atlantis map, Mesopotamia was a vast indoor space, surrounded by all sorts of kitchenware, culinary stations, and workbenches related to food preparation.

Here, one could find every tool, prop, and stove associated with the culinary arts, and on the walls were various food-related maxims.

At the center stood a special platform, and upon it floated a scroll shrouded in radiant light.

Chu Lin understood that this was the beginner’s gourmet recipe for the newly unlocked Mesopotamian map.

He stepped forward to grasp the scroll, but a barrier of light blocked him. Instead, he received a special note:

[Mesopotamian Cooking Wine Recipe: Quality 1]

[Beginner’s gourmet ingredients are divided into sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty-umami, aromatic, numbing, and mild. Each can be paired with food to enhance flavor. This cooking wine recipe is a combination of aroma and salty-umami ingredients among the beginner’s category.

Condition: Collect the required materials to synthesize and obtain the recipe!

Required materials: water, edible alcohol, yellow wine, cardamom, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, ginger… MSG, salt, caramel color…]

Chu Lin was taken aback by this special notification.

So he had to collect ingredients just like in the game to obtain the recipe?

In Mesopotamia, besides buying or trading recipes in the market, the only way to collect them was through map-generated recipe quests or market-triggered tasks. Fulfilling the material requirements would yield the recipe.

For instance, he had just received a beginner’s cooking wine recipe. If he wanted it, he’d need to gather all the required ingredients.

In the game, players could use currency to buy materials in the market or forage for them in the wild.

But here, as with Atlantis, there was no in-game market or wilderness to search for items.

The only solution was to bring real-world materials into the Mesopotamia map, just as he had done with Atlantis.

Water, edible alcohol, yellow wine—all these were available in reality.

With that, he exited the game, fetched a basin of water from the farm, and brought it into the game, attempting to place it on the platform.

[The current water quality does not meet the recipe requirements. Please replace with higher-quality water!]

Chu Lin was actually pleased. Though the water didn’t qualify, this meant the method worked.

He exited the game, fetched his kettle, poured a cup of water, and brought it into the Mesopotamia map, placing it on the platform.

A message appeared:

[Water quality meets requirements. You have collected one ingredient!]

Chu Lin smiled and, without hesitation, exited the game again, drove his Panamera to the largest Yonghuang supermarket in Pingjiang and several ingredient markets to shop.

By late night, he had purchased edible alcohol, yellow wine, cardamom, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and more, buying at least three types of each.

He then returned to the farm, brought everything into the Mesopotamia map, and placed the items on the central platform.

[Yellow wine meets requirements. You have collected one ingredient!]

[Sichuan pepper meets requirements…]

[Ginger meets requirements…]

…

Chu Lin added the ingredients one by one. As this was only a beginner’s recipe, everything went smoothly until he tried the edible alcohol.

[The ethanol content of the current edible alcohol does not meet the requirements. Please replace with compliant edible alcohol!]

[The current edible alcohol is overly diluted with water. Please replace with undiluted edible alcohol!]

[The current edible alcohol is brewed from rotten sweet potatoes. Please replace with sufficient-quality edible alcohol!]

“What…?” Chu Lin was exasperated to find all three types of edible alcohol he’d bought were substandard—even counterfeit.

What was this?

He knew there were plenty of counterfeit liquors on the market, but even edible alcohol was so rampantly fake?

What happened to integrity?

Don’t unscrupulous merchants feel any guilt?

Chu Lin immediately went to the Consumers’ Association website and filed complaints against the market vendors and the edible alcohol, detailing the issues. He was certain an investigation would confirm his claims.

To think the final ingredient would cause such trouble.

Annoyed, he decided he wouldn’t let these businesses off the hook.

He checked the time and sighed. It was too late; the stores selling edible alcohol were already closed.

He’d have to rest and return to the ingredient market’s morning fair the next day.

The following day, the Atlantis map’s prawns, oysters, and blue-ringed jellyfish refreshed as usual. There was no activity on the Mesopotamia map, except for the beginner’s scroll still floating on the central platform.

Chu Lin got up, washed, and checked his phone for news, unexpectedly coming across a local report from Min City.

“Zhizhen, a well-known local restaurant brand, was exposed last night for large-scale consumer deception and passing off inferior goods. The Consumers’ Association, in conjunction with industry authorities, launched an investigation. The evidence is conclusive. Zhizhen faces massive compensation claims and a week-long closure for rectification…”

Though he’d already heard about this from Miss Cai the night before, seeing it in the news still left him amazed at Cai Sen’s stupidity. The chaos he’d caused seemed even greater than expected.

Chu Lin sneered inwardly but paid no further attention, entering the game to transfer the oysters, prawns, and blue-ringed jellyfish out of the Atlantis map.

He placed the blue-ringed jellyfish in its dedicated farm, set aside the prawns and fifty oysters for shipment, and reserved the rest for high-end restaurants.

After finishing, he made himself some breakfast and headed straight to the ingredient market.

The morning fair was open, and he went directly to the edible alcohol section, purchasing several more types.

By the time he returned, Liu Fa had already collected the prawns and oysters. Chu Lin immediately brought the newly bought edible alcohol into the game.

This time, the first type yielded good news:

[Edible alcohol meets requirements. You have collected one ingredient!]

[Congratulations! You have met all the ingredient requirements for the beginner’s recipe, obtaining the complete Mesopotamian Cooking Wine Recipe and a bottle of finished cooking wine!]

Chu Lin saw that the scroll on the platform was no longer floating or shrouded in light, and there was now a bottle of unbranded cooking wine beside it.

Delighted, he grabbed both the recipe scroll and the bottle, reading the notes:

[Mesopotamian Cooking Wine Recipe: Quality 1]

[This is a recipe for Mesopotamian cooking wine, capable of producing extraordinary results. Use it to receive detailed instructions! Use now?]

[Mesopotamian Cooking Wine: Quality 1]

[This is a type of cooking wine from Mesopotamia. When used in cooking, it produces special effects—even with poor culinary skills, it enables the creation of delicious dishes. It is one of the essential ingredients to banish disastrous food.

Special effects: Aroma +1, Flavor +1, Appetite +1.]

(End of chapter)