Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 800 - 359 Winter Night_2

Chapter 800: Chapter 359 Winter Night_2

Cotton and Horse Soul, the renowned chefs, were not around, and what was left in Shadow were all cooking rookies. Conversely, it was a good thing they were not there, as it might have led to issues. Without automatically generated recipes, all ingredients needed to be cleaned, chopped, or processed—no one could withstand such work alone in the winter.

Assisting in the kitchen could easily lead to minor disagreements and quarrels, which in turn could break the principle of equality and lead to a hierarchy. Normally, to avoid being scolded, the assistants might have to flatter the head chef. Even if everyone could restrain themselves, emotionally, no one wanted to offend the head chef.

After three rounds of discussion, they finally decided to draw lots. Eight people were split into four groups, each responsible for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As for midnight snacks and afternoon tea, that would depend on the on-duty chef’s mood. Before drawing lots, they agreed on three rules: no scorn for unpleasant food, no instructing the on-duty chef, or else they would take the chef’s duty once.

The on-duty chef was obliged to cleanly prepare the ingredients and could improvise as long as they did not poison everyone, but wasting ingredients was prohibited. They were to try to balance meat and vegetables. Each round would involve an anonymous vote, where every individual from each group had to write down two groups’ names, and the team with the most votes would win a snack reward.

They used playing cards for drawing lots, forming pairs, and ultimately Lin Wu and Lin Meng ended up together. When the cards were revealed, everyone looked at Lin Meng with sympathy. Teaming with Lin Wu was perilous, the danger and the workload were only on you.

If Lin Wu were paired with others, perhaps they would do some work, but paired with Lin Meng, Lin Meng essentially became Cinderella. Nobody understood why these two formed such a bully-victim relationship, as Lin Wu seemed quite easy-going. Why target Lin Meng to bully? Importantly, both the process and the result seemed flawless.

Maya asked, "Lin Meng, do you want to swap with you?"

Stone egged on, "Swap, swap, that rascal does absolutely nothing." Stone and Maya had nothing to say to each other; in fact, apart from Lin Wu, everyone found it hard to interact with Maya alone, as Maya didn’t communicate. Stone would rather team up with a loafer, at least loafers would chat and share the blame.

Lin Wu sneered, "It seems everyone thinks they slack off; perhaps I should hold back a bit." But some sign of restraint wasn’t enough, so he used a sneer to control the ambiance, making others uneasy.

Lin Meng said, "It’s alright, what’s drawn is drawn. If one could reconsider a lot, why would one draw lots?"

Snow Egg applauded, "Well said."

Little Knife suggested, "I propose, Snow Egg, you switch partners with Su Shi. Can you guys cook anything edible?"

Su Shi declared, "Don’t worry, cooking is my strong suit."

Snow Egg and Su Shi were a team, while Lin Wu and Lin Meng were another, Stone and Maya were together, and Shana was teamed up with Little Knife. Everyone felt the only team worth looking forward to was Shana and Little Knife. Snow Su team would definitely produce disastrous cuisine. Double Forest team should be alright, as Lin Meng seemed relatively reliable. There wasn’t much to say about the Stone Maya duo; imagining them working in the kitchen was enough to foresee an unbearable awkward atmosphere.

As Maya said, Lin Wu with Maya and Stone with Lin Meng would have been a suitable grouping. Moreover, Shana with Snow Egg and Little Knife with Su Shi seemed like even better choices than the original. But as Lin Meng said, drawing lots was just drawing lots, they couldn’t be changed so easily.

Then, it was rare for Lin Wu to volunteer for the first shift, shocking everyone. They all tried to persuade Lin Wu; poisoning everyone was not in his best interest, making Lin Wu have Wai defend him.

After forming the groups, they arranged a move; each group’s chefs moved in together to conveniently discuss the dishes beforehand. If someone criticized the dishes, it would be best; there would be someone to take the blame and cover the shift. After Lin Meng moved over, Lin Wu and Lin Meng started discussing boiled canned goods and brown sugar pumpkin soup, giving everyone the chills.

As Little Knife was about to join the discussion, Shana pressed him down: "Don’t speak, as long as they can stomach it, we can too."

Only then did Lin Meng, who had been confused, realize why Lin Wu was talking about creation with him; it was to provoke criticism and guidance. He thought to himself, it should have been boiled pumpkin and brown sugar canned goods.

Maya interrupted Lin Wu’s continued attempts to allure, saying, "Second item, uomo; we need regular snow removal, at least to clear a path to the small supermarket across."

Stone said, "Let’s just crawl over. Maybe the heavy snow could bury the first floor, forming a natural doorstep."

Apart from Lin Wu, everyone thought it made sense, after all, it was Lin Wu who would be crawling.

Lin Meng pulled up the screen, rolled over to Lin Wu, and whispered softly, "What are we having tomorrow morning?" She always felt Lin Wu volunteering for the first shift had an ulterior motive.

Lin Wu whispered back, "Frozen food from the fridge."

Seeing her puzzled look, Lin Wu further explained, "I’m responsible for inventory; the frozen food in the fridge is only enough for everyone for one day. Frozen? Don’t understand? It’s food that can be heated directly in the microwave or cooked in a pot without adding any ingredients."

Lin Wu said, "No need to wash, no need to cut, just cook it until it’s done, and even if it’s not fully cooked, it won’t kill anyone."

Lin Meng suddenly realized and hesitated, "But if everyone is so familiar, isn’t it bad to play tricks?"

Lin Wu flicked Lin Meng on the forehead, "This isn’t about being cunning. Being cunning is me eating meat while you drink soup. This is about having fun."

Lin Meng rubbed his forehead and propped his head with one hand as he looked at Lin Wu, "How do you differentiate?"

"Whether it will hurt others or not," Lin Wu explained. "Taking cooking as an example, if I intentionally cook the food poorly so I can avoid cooking in the future, my intention is for my own benefit at the expense of others. That’s being cunning. If I use the ingredients I have to make delicious food while others don’t have the opportunity, that’s fun."

Lin Meng said, "But you’re using ready-made food, and everyone else has to cook properly."

Lin Wu explained, "That’s called flexible operation within the rules. Imagine we have a competition to see who blinks first; the rule is that simple. Shall we start?"

Lin Meng nodded, "Let’s start."

Lin Wu poked his hand in front of Lin Meng’s face, and Lin Meng instinctively closed his eyes, while Lin Wu smirked, "That’s using the rules. But we can’t misuse the rules either. Suppose our bet was high, involving one’s life or something significant. In such cases, even if it’s not specified in the rules, we shouldn’t cheat because it would ruin our reputation."

Shana peeked her head from the other side, "To put it simply: don’t offend or harm others."

"The soundproofing is that bad?"

Stone replied, "Yes."

Little Knife teased, "Lin Wu, leave us a pack of ready-made food."

Stone said, "I’m in the second group."

Little Knife then said, "Lin Wu, never mind."

Lin Wu announced, "We’re having hotpot tomorrow night, I’ll cook whatever ready-made food we have."

Stone reminded, "Don’t waste it."

Lin Wu reassured, "Don’t worry. Stone, you need not worry; Maya knows how to cook, and it tastes good."

Maya confessed, "I only know how to make army base hotpot."

Lin Meng asked curiously, "What’s army base hotpot?"

Maya answered, "You just put all the ingredients in the pot, cook them, season and it’s ready."

Snow Egg chimed in, "That sounds good, Su, we could do that too."

Su Shi agreed, "Good idea, I like this method."

As they talked, everyone started chatting again. In such a closed space with no soundproofing, talking was effortless.

No one stopped the chatter, and as the number of participants in the conversation dwindled, those still talking realized their conversation might disturb others trying to rest. So, they lowered their voices, gradually stopping the talk. Instances like earlier when Lin Meng whispered to Lin Wu could happen; you listen if you want, sleep if you prefer, or jump in with a comment to reignite the group chat atmosphere.

Thus, the first night passed.