He went over to check around, noticing red bloodstains on the window frame of the back window, along with two short gray-black hairs. The texture of the hair didn’t quite resemble the stone beasts he had seen before. The gap in the window wasn’t large, so whatever got in must be small and likely injured. All he needed to do was drive it out. Qi Huan gripped the iron pipe tightly and began searching the attic.

He looked through piles of clutter, under the bed, and behind the cabinet, but found no trace of the ‘intruder.’ Could it have come in and then left, just passing through? Just as he was beginning to suspect that the creature had already left, he noticed that the upper cabinet door wasn’t fully closed. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be faint bloodstains on the rusty cabinet handle as well.

Qi Huan’s heart leapt into his throat as he quietly approached the cabinet. When he was three or four steps away, a black shadow darted out, heading straight for his face. Startled, Qi Huan instinctively raised his hand to block it.

The creature’s claws scraped against the metal splint on his arm, producing a sharp, grating sound. When he focused again, he saw a palm-sized kitten crouching on the floor seven or eight steps away.

The little fellow had its tail up and back arched, with all its gray-black fur puffed out, resembling a fluffy sea urchin. Its bright eyes were fixed on the iron pipe in Qi Huan’s hand. A thin chain hung around its neck, with a white jade token attached, indicating it likely had an owner.

Qi Huan was momentarily stunned, unsure if this cat was one of Uncle Lin Sen’s free-roaming pets or if it had wandered over from a neighbor’s house. He put down the square pipe in his hand as a gesture of goodwill and softly reassured, “Sorry, I didn’t expect it to be a cat.”

“Ha!” The little fellow wasn’t buying his explanation, letting out a warning growl. Despite trying to wrinkle its nose and bare its teeth to appear fierce, its small size made it more cute than intimidating, with an adorable, babyish charm.

Qi Huan’s heart softened at its cuteness. In his previous life, he loved animals like cats and dogs, but unfortunately, he was allergic to fur. Being in the same room with them would make him sneeze uncontrollably, making it impossible to keep them. Now, the familiar sneezing didn’t occur, proving that this body wasn’t allergic to fur, meaning he could finally have the chance to cuddle these adorable little creatures in the future!

“Are you hungry? How about I get you something to eat?” He tried to express his goodwill.

The little fellow paused its growling, its light green eyes looking at Qi Huan as if it understood his meaning. Qi Huan quickly grabbed a tube of nutritional agent from the bedside, but finding no dish, he had to run back to the kitchen to get one.

When he turned around with a shallow soup plate, he found the kitten had silently followed him downstairs, now sitting on the third step from the bottom, watching the kitchen from a distance. Qi Huan tentatively took a step forward, and the kitten’s ears twitched, retreating a step in caution.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll put it on the ground for you.” Qi Huan placed the soup plate at the kitchen door and pushed it forward. The little fellow, likely quite hungry, hesitated for a moment but then cautiously approached the soup bowl step by step.

Every two steps, it would stop to scrutinize Qi Huan, ensuring he wasn’t about to pounce, before continuing forward. To show he had no intention of attacking, Qi Huan stopped looking at it and took out another bowl to pour some water.

Unfortunately, when the little fellow finally reached the soup plate, it sniffed the nutritional agent twice and then wrinkled its nose in disdain, retreating a step.

Qi Huan: …

Is it really that bad?

“How about some water?” Qi Huan awkwardly offered the bowl of water he was holding.

This time, the little fellow didn’t seem to mind, burying half its body into the bowl and taking ten or so gulps. Midway through drinking, it wrinkled its nose, jumped onto the stove in the kitchen, and looked at the plates there, then at Qi Huan.

The plates held some beast meat Qi Huan had just fried.

“You want meat?” Qi Huan guessed its intention.

“Meow~~~” The little fellow wagged its tail, drawing out its meow.

Worried that its teeth might not be strong enough, Qi Huan cut the meat into small pieces before placing them in a shallow bowl.

“Meow~” The little fellow happily darted over, immediately burying its entire head into the bowl.

Despite its small size, the little fellow had a big appetite, eating a dozen or so finger-thick strips of meat before stopping, leisurely licking its paws. Qi Huan wanted to find where it was injured to help treat it, but the kitten was very wary, quickly darting back upstairs to hide.

Since there wasn’t much blood and no obvious wounds, and the little fellow moved so nimbly, Qi Huan decided to let it be for now.

After being fussed over by the kitten, by the time he finished frying the beast meat and delivered it to the neighbors, the sky was already bright. Quan Yu, Quan Hai’s sister, answered the door, saying that a cargo ship carrying garbage had arrived today, and Quan Hai had gone with others to ‘scavenge.’

Most of the garbage sent to No. 7 Waste Star consisted of old machinery and machines. ‘Scavenging’ meant picking out parts that could still be repaired and used. With luck, one might even find half-used energy stones or overlooked precious metals in the machines, which were considered the more valuable items in the trash.

After leaving the beast meat rolls with Quan Yu, Qi Huan asked her for the address of Lundo’s restaurant, planning to inquire about the use of those strange kitchen utensils and ask about the market or supply channels to buy ingredients for the evening’s order.

Although Lin Jian only requested to make Spring Wind Bolo, Qi Huan felt that since he was hosting friends, he should at least choose some suitable ingredients to prepare one or two main dishes. It would be a pleasant surprise for Lin Jian, the first customer of his opening.

East City was more prosperous than West City, where Qi Huan lived. Occasionally, modified vehicles with iron patches would rumble by, carrying goods, the noise deafening. Overhead, jet airships would occasionally zoom past.

Besides selling robots, there were also many street patrol robots, only half a person’s height, resembling mailboxes with long caterpillar tracks. On the first night home, Quan Hai had ‘educated’ Qi Huan that the green-shelled ones were for selling things, while the red-shelled ones were for picking up trash and patrolling for security.

People on the street wore all sorts of clothing: long robes, short outfits, jackets, work pants, with styles covering ancient and modern, domestic and foreign. Hair colors were also varied. To Qi Huan, it felt like people from different eras had been thrown into a blender, creating a chaotic yet strangely harmonious style, with a sense of calm… madness.

Lundo’s shop was called Red Light, located on Xie Zhu Street. Who knew which foodie named the streets in the base, as every street name was related to cups, plates, bowls, and dishes.

Red Light was smaller than Human World Restaurant, with only six or seven tables. When Qi Huan arrived, the shop was already open, but since no customers had arrived yet, Lundo was diligently wiping tables with a cloth.

On the wall hung a golden metal plaque the size of a ten-inch tablet, engraved with the words [Chef Certificate – Beginner]. In the middle of the plaque was a slanted mini cleaver, about seven or eight centimeters long. The black shiny onyx handle was carved into the shape of a fierce beast, with the beast’s slightly arched body forming the handle, looking fierce and powerful, ready to strike. The beast’s tail curled into a small ring, and its mouth was wide open, connecting to the front blade. The blade’s overall shape resembled a bone cleaver, with a slightly wide back and an upward curve at the front edge, connecting to the back.

Naturally, this knife wasn’t sharpened. The area where the blade should have been was shallowly engraved with a pattern resembling a meander, visually compensating for the ‘blade’ effect, giving it an ancient and elegant look.

Below the mini cleaver was Lundo’s name, the issuance date, and the signature of the [Chef Guild].

Is this the chef certificate? Qi Huan was curiously examining the plaque when Lundo put down the cloth and approached, “Ah Huan? I heard you got injured. I was planning to visit you tonight.”

Though he was only four or five years older than the original owner, he looked quite weathered, with two deep horizontal lines on his forehead.

“It’s nothing serious, just lost my memory and forgot a lot of things. I wanted to ask you where to buy good ingredients to cook dinner tonight.”

“Can your arm handle it?” Lundo glanced at his arm in a splint. “If you want to eat, just have a meal here. Don’t trouble yourself.”

“It’s not for me.” Qi Huan explained about someone booking a table for dinner at the restaurant.

After listening, Lundo was silent for a moment, frowning, “How about I close early tonight and help you cook this meal?”

“No need, I can manage.” Qi Huan wasn’t too worried about the dinner, as he had managed breakfast with a tray, proving his culinary skills weren’t a problem here.

“Are you sure?” Lundo was a bit skeptical, “Many in the hunting squad have bad tempers. If they’re not satisfied with the food, not paying is the least of your worries. They might smash the place or beat someone up.”

“It should be fine. I already served them breakfast this morning.” Qi Huan didn’t want to disrupt Lundo’s business, but he was a bit unsure.

The cracks on the walls and pillars of the restaurant, the dents and dings on the tables and chairs, could they be from repeated smashing?

“Alright then.” Seeing his insistence, Lundo, though half-believing, agreed.

Lundo had previously been an apprentice cook at Human World Restaurant, so he naturally knew the usual supply channels for ingredients. However, that store was in West City, and they were about to prepare for lunch service, so they’d have to wait until after the busy lunch period to go.

Since Qi Huan needed to learn how to use those pots, he helped out in the kitchen.

When Lundo heard that Qi Huan had ‘forgotten’ how to use the kitchenware, he was speechless, unable to fathom where Qi Huan got the nerve to accept a dinner order.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to cook for you?”

“No, no.” Qi Huan knew he probably looked like a money-grubbing scammer to Lundo, trying to pocket a meal fee without doing the work, but he couldn’t explain some things and had to play dumb.

After watching Lundo’s operation, Qi Huan finally understood that those ‘iron footballs’ were similar to automatic woks. You needed to press a button in the middle of the stand to open the control panel, then you could open the tightly sealed iron lid, follow the recipe, throw in the prepared ingredients and accurately measured seasonings, set the time, temperature, and stir frequency on the panel, and then wait for it to finish.

There were also fully automatic vegetable washing baskets, fully automatic stewing pots, fully automatic steam ovens, semi-automatic slicers, and more. Except for the fine processing of a few ingredients, almost everything could be done with machine assistance.

Qi Huan didn’t oppose the electronic and automated nature of some kitchenware, as it was convenient and time-saving. He himself used to enjoy trying out new kitchen gadgets. However, there were so many types, and learning the operation of various machines all at once was a bit overwhelming, making him suspect that the chef certificate exam could weed out a lot of people just by testing the use of kitchenware.

Song Ci once joked with him and the boss that a Western kitchen was like a chemistry lab. Now, seeing Lundo’s methodical approach to cooking, weighing salt to the gram, it really felt like doing experiments in a lab.

Most of the hunting squad returned to the base at dawn and slept in the morning, so few came out for lunch. Naturally, Lundo’s lunch business wasn’t too busy. After serving the customers, he made two extra dishes, saying they were staff meals, but they were actually two signature dishes: braised shrimp and boiled meat.

Lundo was Uncle Lin Sen’s apprentice, so Red Light’s signature dishes naturally followed the same lineage as Human World Restaurant. To guide Qi Huan, he explained each step and operation in detail.

Qi Huan knew this was Lundo’s goodwill, teaching him two simple and easy-to-learn signature dishes that weren’t easy to mess up, and also letting him eat something better than nutritional agents to nourish his body.

The boiled meat wasn’t much different from what Qi Huan was familiar with, but the braised shrimp was a shrimp version, with the heads and shells removed. The finished product tasted quite ordinary, with the shrimp and meat overcooked, making them chewy and losing the texture of the ingredients. Additionally, the machine’s stir-frying didn’t mix everything evenly, causing some seasonings to clump together and even taste bitter. However, compared to nutritional agents, it was still much tastier.

“Why doesn’t your shop have that interstellar food rating plaque at the entrance?” Qi Huan asked, recalling he hadn’t seen a rating plaque outside earlier.

He wanted to estimate the scoring standards for dishes here based on Red Light’s food rating.

Lundo pushed the braised shrimp towards him, “Our Waste Star is remote. Only restaurants that have been open for a year get a rating plaque. Red Light’s plaque will be sent in a few days.”

Qi Huan also inquired whether the chef certificate affected the restaurant’s food rating. According to Lundo, it didn’t affect the rules, but many in the hunting squad came from high star domains and had picky tastes. For them, the chef certificate represented the Culinary Guild’s endorsement of the restaurant chef’s level, and in some ways, it was even more reliable than the food rating.

There were over a hundred restaurants across the bases on No. 7 Waste Star, but only about ten had a one-star chef, and one had a two-star chef. If they strictly limited by the chef certificate, most restaurants would have to close.

If the taste of a one-star chef was like this, wouldn’t the taste of other restaurants be even worse? Qi Huan immediately felt more confident. With his skills, he would definitely be competitive here.

Unfortunately, the star chef exam was only held once a year, and this year’s had already passed. Even if he wanted to take it, he would have to wait until next year. Human World Restaurant already had the worst rotten egg six-egg rating, so it didn’t seem to make much difference whether he had a chef certificate or not.

“Actually, we used to have two two-star chefs on No. 7 Waste Star.” Lundo sighed.

Qi Huan silently lowered his eyelashes, knowing Lundo was referring to the late Uncle Lin Sen.

Red Light still had to prepare for the evening service, so after finishing their meal, the two hurried back to West City.

On the way, Lundo also gave him a brief introduction. There were two relatively established ingredient stores in West City. The one they were going to was smaller than the other, but the owner was honest, and it was the closest to Human World Restaurant, so Uncle Lin Sen had been sourcing from there for years.

But neither of them expected that as soon as the store owner saw Qi Huan, he immediately turned hostile, rushing out to grab his collar, “You little brat, you dare to come here? Just in time to pay off your debt!”

Debt? Both Lundo and Qi Huan were a bit stunned.

“Three thousand five hundred and seventy-two silver coins!”