Five portions of meat sauce noodles.
The noodles were distinct strand by strand, topped with a large spoonful of bright red, thick sauce where the rich minced meat and soft-boiled vegetable dices could be clearly seen.
The most impossible-to-ignore and irresistible part was that piercing, sour-fragrant aroma.
The very instant it permeated the nasal cavity, the stifling heat brought by the high temperature was forced back by a large margin in an instant. A strong appetite was stimulated, and the oral cavity immediately flooded with saliva.
Almost simultaneously, the five people picked up their chopsticks.
Coating every single strand of noodles with the rich sauce, as the chopsticks tossed them about, the aroma spread more and more rapidly. Saliva secreted uncontrollably; swallowing and mixing at the same time, they finally couldn’t wait to pick up a large mouthful and shove it into their mouths.
Delicious…
Satisfying…
The body, fatigued for a whole day, was smoothed out by the sweet and sour fruit fragrance of the tomatoes, and the hungry stomach gave a satisfied sigh under the comforting embrace of the meat aroma and carbohydrates.
The sauce was thick and smooth, teasing the taste buds with every possible method, while the small particles of minced meat made chewing interesting.
Swallowing a mouthful, the lips and teeth still retained the slightly sour, slightly sweet, mellow-savory flavor, along with a trace of lingering lemon fragrance.
The chopsticks of the five people switched to automatic drive.
Mouth after mouth, they couldn’t stop.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the bowls hit the bottom.
Then, they carefully and meticulously picked clean the remaining sauce and minced meat at the bottom of the bowl until the entire bowl looked as if it had been washed.
Still unsatisfied.
How they wished they could have another bowl!
The dark, thin youth referred to as the captain thought of something, raised his hand, and motioned toward Connie’s direction.
“Boss, can you pack another portion of both items?”
“Of course.”
Connie swiftly rummaged out two takeaway boxes and packed the remaining salad and meat sauce noodles.
“How much in total?”
The dark, thin youth glanced at the menu and didn’t find the corresponding listed price.
“Both items are our shop’s new creations. The salad is forty original coins, and the meat sauce noodles are fifty original coins per portion. That’s three hundred and eighty in total. I’ll give you a discount and call it three hundred and fifty.”
This price was decided upon after Connie and A Huai consulted with each other just now.
The salad portion was large, and egg whites were added. The cost of the mayonnaise was also not low. A gross profit of forty original coins was around forty percent, which complied with the industry regulations for Tier-3 restaurants. The meat sauce noodles were the same: the meat provided was ample, the sauce was generous, and the profit on fifty original coins was actually less than that of the salad.
However, as a restaurant in the fourth ring, a dish priced at fifty was already the top limit; any higher and there would be no market for it.
Obviously, the dark, thin youth didn’t think there was any problem with the price. In fact, a dinner that was fully equipped with vegetables, meat, and eggs, nutritionally rich, and of top-tier taste was simply an unexpected surprise.
Compared to the restaurants in the third ring, it was much more affordable.
Paying readily, the dark, thin youth left contentedly with the takeaway bag and his companions.
“They’ve got money, all right. Three or four hundred coins and they spend it just like that without blinking. Yet I can’t even bear to buy a single egg. What should I do when I’m feeling a bit annoyed?”
Connie, who was busy packing things up, glanced at Ning He and chuckled upon seeing her expression full of envy.
“Those people are elites from the Mecha Academy, carrying out extremely high-risk missions. The safety of the entire Beiluo City depends on them. Could they be poor? If they couldn’t even afford tens of coins’ worth of food, word getting out would make other cities laugh at us for not even being able to feed our own soldiers.”
So that was how it was. It seemed the students of the Mecha Academy had a boundless future. No wonder the original body was dead set on clinging to her ex; at least her eye for potential was somewhat decent.
When she went to the academy cafeteria in the future, she would have to find a few people to get on good terms with, no matter what. Completing the system’s illustrated handbook tasks might just depend on some nepotism.
“Stop standing there like a pillar! Come help clean up; we still have to get up early tomorrow to simmer the sauce!”
Connie’s urging voice rang out, and Ning He hurriedly pulled back her thoughts.
“Coming right up!”
At this moment, it was already ten o’clock at night, and the control room at the very center of the command post was still brightly lit.
Staff members responsible for the shelter’s operations and material dispatch worked in three shifts, ensuring the normal underground operation of everyone in the city.
On the other side of the control room was the wartime conference room. Under a state of emergency, all important decisions were produced within this conference room.
At this moment, Leo was still inside the conference room.
On the screen was a projected map of Beiluo City’s defense, marked with several special indicators.
Today, the surface temperature inside the city had already exceeded the threshold, triggering more than a dozen fires. Fortunately, the early warning system inside the city reacted fast enough, and ground troops arrived in time to control the fire; otherwise, the losses would inevitably have been massive.
However, the extreme heat was still continuing, and tomorrow’s situation would be even more critical. He needed to ensure that all preparations were completed without any omissions.
“Thud, thud, thud.”
A knock on the door came.
“Come in.”
Leo withdrew his gaze and looked toward the doorway.
The command post had a strict security system. Aside from staff members, only a few important figures had entry permissions in the control room district.
He wondered who had come over at this hour.
“I knew you brat were working overtime again.”
An old man with a bushy white beard pushed the door open and walked in, waving the item he was carrying in his hand toward Leo.
“Jack bought some good food wanting to send it to you, but couldn’t find anyone in the lounge. I happened to run into him and delivered it on his behalf.”
Leo’s gaze landed on the food box inside the bag, and he smiled slightly.
“This kid actually knows how to care about people.”
The old man gave a humph: “You think everyone is like you, with your heart set entirely on work? I reckon you didn’t eat much properly today again, did you? Hurry up, fill your stomach first.”
The old man greeted him, pulled a chair over to sit down, and took the items out to arrange them. Leo turned off the projection, sat down opposite him, and took the chopsticks.
“This silly kid, why buy a salad? Since when has he loved gnawing on greens?”
The old man opened the first food box, and seeing a patch of green, he couldn’t help but blow his beard in disgust, directly pushing the food box to the side.
The second food box was opened, and the bare noodles made the old man’s eyeballs almost pop out of his head.
“The kid didn’t buy the wrong thing, did he? Which restaurant has such poor standards? Can this kind of boiled noodles even be put out for sale?”
“It’s right here.”
Leo fished out a box of sauce from the corner of the bag that had been squeezed to the side and casually opened it.
The two of them froze in unison.
Striking deep red thick sauce with a dense texture, topped with a layer of enticing red oil.
Following that was an unmistakable, rich aroma of savory sauce.
“This smell… it’s very much like a kind of meat sauce noodles I used to eat in the Central City.” The old man stroked his beard, took a deep breath of the air, and recalled, “Though it certainly can’t compare to that place, it doesn’t look bad either. Eat up quickly.”
Stimulated by the sour and fragrant aroma of this sauce, the forgotten feeling of hunger in Leo’s body swept over fiercely and abruptly. He poured the sauce into the noodles, tossed it a few times, and swallowed it in big mouthfuls.
Leo had always been very casual about his desires of the flesh; he was the type of person who wouldn’t mind eating paste all day long.
However, this mouthful of noodles made his expression change somewhat.
A bit of surprise, a bit of approval.
“Yo, looks like it really hits the spot for you. That kid Jack has some eye for taste.”
Noticing Leo’s satisfaction, the old man said with a beaming smile.
Leo didn’t speak and ate the noodles in large mouthfuls.
The old man, on the other hand, felt a bit hungry himself, and only then noticed there was still a portion of sauce left in the bag, which should have been meant to go with the salad.
Forget it, he was getting older, so eating something vegetarian was good too.
Opening the box, the old man grabbed a small section of celery stalk, dipped it in the sauce, and took a bite.
The next second, his grayish-blue eyes lit up.
Leo ate fast; in just a few minutes, a bowl of noodles was finished. Raising his head to look, he paused slightly.
The former Mecha Academy president sitting opposite him was currently devouring the salad at an astonishing speed.
This surprised Leo.
In his impression, this big figure had been picky about food and loved meat all his life, and back when he was young, it was precisely because the academy’s food was good that he decided to stay.
Why was he now actively eating vegetables, and eating them with such relish?
Lytle, having satisfied his craving, swallowed the final piece of egg white contentedly, looked at the now-empty sauce box, and felt embarrassed for once.
“Um, during the physical examination a few days ago, the doctor said I need to eat more vegetables. Hey, you know the temper of the one at my place; I was just doing it to complete a mission.”
“Alright, I won’t disturb you anymore. You keep working, the safety of Beiluo City depends on you!”
Lytle patted Leo’s shoulder, casually gathered the empty food boxes on the table, and swaggered out of the office.
Walking out of the command post, Lytle came to a trash can. Seeing that there was no one around, he fished out the food box from the bag and memorized the name on it:
Jin’s Meat Sauce Noodle House
Hmm, I’ll go take a look tomorrow.