Chapter: Recruitment Offer
As supreme commander of the Northern Fortress, General Barney had his own private residence—a three-story building.
Cheng Yu followed Barney out of the Northern Fortress and went to Barney's private residence to help him make authentic Nine-Turn Large Intestine.
"Brother Cheng Yu has superb cooking skills. Who did you learn from? In my impression, even the court chefs in the imperial capital don't have skills like yours."
Barney was also a high-ranking official in the Black Sun Empire. He'd eaten plenty of delicacies from land and sea, but none could compare to the food made by Cheng Yu.
"Self-taught."
"Brother Cheng Yu really is a young talent."
Barney smiled and praised him to win Cheng Yu's favor.
Then he changed the subject. "We're still short of people in the Northern Fortress kitchen. Is Brother Cheng Yu interested in joining our Northern Fortress?"
If Cheng Yu could be recruited into the Northern Fortress, he could not only make delicious food for the frontline soldiers to boost morale but also make authentic Nine-Turn Large Intestine for him anytime and anywhere. Killing two birds with one stone.
"What are the benefits?"
Barney was the supreme commander of the Northern Fortress. Cheng Yu's direct refusal might make him lose face, so he didn't refuse directly. Instead, he asked about benefits first to see what kind of compensation the other party could offer.
"This..."
The chefs in the military canteen were logistics support personnel. Their salary and benefits were the lowest among all departments in the Northern Fortress.
Barney knew very well that salary and benefits definitely wouldn't attract Cheng Yu.
So he played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses. Instead of talking to Cheng Yu about salary, he talked about ideals and feelings. He asked in a very inspiring tone, "Dear Brother Cheng Yu, do you want to be a hero respected by the people?"
"No."
Cheng Yu's expression was calm.
"..."
Cheng Yu's words left Barney at a loss.
A young man in his twenties actually didn't want to be a hero respected by everyone.
Is this reasonable?
Barney adjusted his tone and asked, "Do you have lofty ideals and pursuits?"
"Yes," Cheng Yu said.
Barney was delighted. It turns out young people all have ideals and pursuits. "Tell me about them."
Cheng Yu remained calm. "My biggest ideal is that I don't have to work and I have endless money."
Barney's weathered face darkened. His eyes were speechless. He'd originally wanted to fool Cheng Yu with the same trick he used on Joyce, but he'd discovered Cheng Yu's values seemed incompatible with ordinary young people in the Black Sun Empire.
"Since you're not interested, forget it."
It was impossible to talk about ideals with Cheng Yu. He didn't expect the meager salary of a Northern Fortress chef to attract him either.
Barney gave up the idea of recruiting Cheng Yu.
The two entered the three-story building next to the Northern Fortress.
Cheng Yu pulled out the large intestine from the third-tier Black Armored Pig, washed it slightly—not too thoroughly—and started cooking.
Not far from the mansion was the Northern Fortress Archery Training Camp.
Smelling the odor of the authentic Nine-Turn Large Intestine, the archers looked pained.
"This smell... ugh..."
"Where is this smell coming from? Did a manure pit explode?"
"This smell—I'm going to vomit."
"Now there are two of me in the training camp. One is me. The other is also me. I'm torn apart."
A dozen minutes later, a "delicious" authentic Nine-Turn Large Intestine was served to Barney.
Smelling that special "deliciousness," Barney closed his eyes and showed an intoxicated expression. "Ah~ This smell is wonderful~"
Then he picked up his knife and fork and ate heartily.
Seeing Barney eat so enthusiastically, Cheng Yu remembered that when he was on Earth, there'd been a special food in the southeastern Guizhou region of China—ox stomach soup.
Ox stomach soup was soup made with the undigested contents in a cow's stomach. It was similar to authentic Nine-Turn Large Intestine.
For the next half month, Cheng Yu, Mina, and Ivennie lived at the Northern Fortress.
Every day, they set up a stall to sell barbecue on schedule—earning money while gaining positive emotion points.
Cheng Yu could grill over 2,000 skewers of barbecue daily and gain about 5,000 positive emotion points.
Except for spending a small amount of positive emotion points to exchange for barbecue seasoning, the rest of the positive emotion points were all added to strength and defense attributes.
After half a month of crazy point allocation by Cheng Yu, his strength attribute reached 1,009 points. His defense attribute also reached 1,009 points.
Such physical defense was invulnerable to swords and spears, impervious to water and fire.
While his defense was high, his strength was also quite amazing. Cheng Yu had once shattered a small earthen mound twenty to thirty meters high with one punch.
Half a month later in the evening, in a small grove next to the Northern Fortress, Cheng Yu and Joyce practiced magic in the woods.
Cheng Yu held a magic staff in one hand and chanted magic incantations.
After over ten seconds of casting, a circular magic array condensed at the staff's tip. A basketball-sized fireball flew out of the magic array and struck a large tree not far away.
Seeing the charred tree trunk, Joyce looked surprised. "Cheng Yu, didn't you say you only have a little bit of magic talent? Why do I feel your magic talent is much higher than mine?"
When he'd been at the Imperial Magic Academy, Joyce had once been called a genius boy.
However, even a genius like him would need one or two months to master fireball technique.
Cheng Yu had mastered it in half a month. Though not particularly proficient, it was already amazing.
"It really is just a little bit."
Cheng Yu made a small gesture with his index finger and thumb.
"It's a shame you're not becoming a mage with such good magic talent."
"I still prefer being a chef and bringing happiness to everyone with delicious food."
Being a chef could gain positive emotion points, which could be exchanged for strength and defense points. As long as he added points, he could easily become stronger—much faster than being a mage.
Cheng Yu's current combat power could almost walk sideways in several nearby major cities.
"Being a chef isn't bad. Your barbecue is delicious."
Joyce had eaten Cheng Yu's barbecue and found it tasty.
"By the way, speaking of barbecue, do you know about the God of Food?" Joyce asked.
"God of Food? What's that?"
Cheng Yu was a bit confused. He'd never heard of this organization.
"It's an organization formed by people who like your barbecue."
"Huh?"
Cheng Yu's handsome face turned into a confused expression.
"Is this God of Food you're talking about a cult?"
If it was a cult, and he'd traveled to another world to sell barbecue only to somehow become the leader of a cult—that would be absurd.
"No. People who join the God of Food simply think your barbecue is delicious. Their purpose is to buy your barbecue every day, support your barbecue business, and help boost your sales."
Boosting sales?
Cheng Yu recalled that when he was on Earth, those popular young idols would release music albums.
Large numbers of fanatical female fans would frantically buy albums—one person buying a hundred copies—to boost sales for their idols.
He hadn't expected he'd also be boosted by others one day.
"I should write a book when I go back: My Years as an Idol at the Northern Fortress."
"The organizer of the God of Food is a man named Herman," Joyce said.
"Herman? Who's that?"
"The first person in line to buy your barbecue every day."
Cheng Yu had some recollection. Over the past half month, the first person in line to buy barbecue every morning had been the same person.
A thin middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance—the kind you couldn't find in a crowd.
"I'll ask him when I set up the stall tomorrow."
Cheng Yu also wanted to find out what kind of organization this God of Food was.