Chapter 1

When the flowers of April have all faded in the world, the peach blossoms in the mountain temple begin to bloom.

In this vast and bustling city, the small shop located at the intersection of the second and third ring roads is like an insignificant fly. But Yuan Zhou, standing in the dimly lit room, had no heart to think about these things.

"Ah," sitting on the only chair that wasn’t missing an arm or a leg, Yuan Zhou looked around the small room and sighed, his thoughts drifting far away.

This was the only thing left by his parents, apart from the five ten-thousand-yuan funeral expenses.

A two-story shop on a miscellaneous street, backed by an office building, the upper floor was once a warm home for a family of three, while the lower floor operated a small noodle shop.

Since his parents died in a traffic accident three years ago, he hadn’t come to the lower shop, and even when he went out, he used the back door.

Now the room was full of dust, and the tables and chairs, as well as the bowls and chopsticks, were in a mess, shattered by the shock of the accident. The second floor wasn’t much better; except for the areas he usually used, everything was the same as it was three years ago.

He never thought that the transfer notice he posted two years ago would finally find someone willing to take over.

Yuan Zhou stood up and took one last look around the room, his mature face showing a hint of沧桑 (cāngsāng, meaning "weathered" or "world-weary") and helplessness, as if he wanted to remember this messy noodle shop in his heart.

But this expression lasted for no more than three seconds. He didn’t know what he stepped on, and with a "bang," he made an intimate contact with the hard tiles, accompanied by flying dust.

"Ouch, my face." Yuan Zhou, wincing, got up and rubbed his left cheek, which had hit the ground.

"You just wait, someone will take over you tomorrow." Yuan Zhou quickly stood up, feeling the pain in his face subside.

He patted the dust off his body and muttered to the dilapidated room, sighing in his heart, not wanting to say anything more.

He walked through the messy hall and skillfully went to where the kitchen used to be. Near the back door, there was a hidden, narrow staircase, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Climbing up the stairs, Yuan Zhou’s face was expressionless, but his hand was rubbing the place where he had just fallen.

The stairs were short, only eight steps, and he reached the second floor in a few strides.

The lighting on the second floor was much better than on the first.

Near the stairs was a shoe cabinet, a milky white one, now covered in dust. The first shelf held two pairs of old-looking leather shoes, the second shelf had a few pairs of women’s shoes, outdated in style, and the third shelf was much better, with snow-white sports shoes and comfortable, stylish casual leather shoes.

Yuan Zhou didn’t care about the dust on the shoe cabinet, took off his slippers, and walked into the room barefoot.

The second floor, not very large, was divided into three rooms. Two of the rooms were close together but not crowded. The white door panels had a "Fu" character on the left and a "Joyful Welcome" on the right, but the colors had faded, showing their age. The last room was at the far end on the right, with a yellow wooden door.

"Click" came a sharp sound.

Turning the handle of the door with "Joyful Welcome" on it, the room was filled with dirty clothes. The cabinet by the bedside was half open, with clothes piled up haphazardly inside. On the bedside table was a black laptop, the screen flickering, still working.

The only tidy thing in the room was the double bed, with the quilt neatly folded and the pillows neatly arranged.

Disgusted by the dust on his clothes, Yuan Zhou took out some clean clothes from the wardrobe, didn’t bother to close the door, and walked straight to the yellow wooden door.

After putting the clothes down, he washed his face at the sink. The mirror opposite the sink reflected a mature face, around thirty years old, with deep, captivating eyes that added a sense of maturity and calm, making his otherwise ordinary features exude a charm of a popular "uncle" type handsome man.

Yuan Zhou had some not-so-obvious burn marks on his hands and some cuts on his fingers. His fingers weren’t particularly beautiful, but his arm muscles were well-defined, and the rest of him was quite ordinary.

Although he had once wanted to train to get abs to attract girls, after three months of training, he looked down at his abdomen and found no change, so he gave up.

After a quick wash, he returned to his room, and his phone buzzed. He dried his hands and opened a message from Boss Wang, which read: "Yuan Zhou, I’ve found someone to replace you. You don’t need to come tomorrow. Your salary will be transferred to your card by mid-month."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had resigned half a month ago, the boss said he had to wait until a replacement was found before he could leave. Yuan Zhou had long wanted to leave this place of sorrow and go out to explore.

He glanced at the photo on the table, feeling a bit lighter, but thinking about the guests who would come to see the house tomorrow, he felt a bit troubled.

After all, his parents had great hopes for this small shop and said that if he didn’t achieve anything in the future, he could inherit it. But since his parents passed away, he had never opened it, and now he had to rent it out, which made him feel restless. He reached out and pushed the photo further away.

Lying on the bed, he looked at the darkening sky outside the window, closed his eyes, and cleared his mind, apparently planning to go straight to sleep.

"Beep, detecting host’s mental stability, suitable for binding, binding started, binding completed."

A mysterious electronic voice suddenly sounded in his mind. Yuan Zhou opened his eyes, his face still expressionless, but his eyes were full of surprise.

"System?" Yuan Zhou couldn’t help but say softly.

"Host, I am here," a serious and cold electronic voice responded in his mind.

"Huh?" This time he was really confused.

"What the hell is this?" Yuan Zhou began to look around the room, trying to find the source of the sound or something different from yesterday.

Of course, in the end, the only thing in the room that was different was the lunch box that was still in the trash can.

"Host, there’s no need to search. This system is bound to the back of your head..." As the electronic voice mentioned the back of his head, Yuan Zhou quickly reached back and felt it carefully several times, but found nothing, not even a bump.

The cold electronic voice continued, "It cannot be seen by the naked eye, microscope, or any method. This system is the Chef God System. The host’s conditions are met, and the first task is now starting."

"Wait, wait, what system?" Yuan Zhou, finding nothing, sat back on his bed with a calm face and asked.

"Chef God System. To avoid wasting energy, the system’s explanation will appear in the host’s mind in text form. Just focus to read it." The cold electronic voice completely disappeared.

Text explanation: This system comes from a star system you don’t know, invented by the famous Dr. A, to allow humans to achieve higher levels of mental enjoyment. It drifted to Earth 2,500 years ago and has had ten hosts before you, making you the eleventh.

Objective: This system will help you master both Eastern and Western cuisines and become the world’s top chef.

Host: Yuan Zhou (ordinary Han human)

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Physical Fitness: C (comprehensive score of nerve reaction speed, strength, coordination, agility, etc.)

Culinary Talent: Unknown

Skills: None

Tools: None

Culinary Five-Dimensional Rating: Novice

(You are a novice in the culinary world. Have you even learned how to make scrambled eggs with rice after two years of culinary training?)

[Task]...

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