Universe Infinite Canteen

In novels and animation, there's often that plot where the protagonist suddenly encounters a mysterious beautiful girl one day, and after that, his peaceful life is shattered, thrusting him into a grand, turbulent adventure.

Like Touma Kamijou in "A Certain Magical Index," or Tomoki Sakurai in "Heaven's Lost Property."

Ma Lu never imagined he'd find himself in such a situation one day.

But what he encountered was not a beautiful girl, but a middle-aged, bald uncle in a windbreaker who claimed he was a mechanical life form from another universe and had lost most of his data (memories).

And since Ma Lu brought Old Wang home, two weeks had passed without him encountering any danger or being targeted by some weird organization, with the only real scare being the electricity bill.

Ma Lu had already recharged nearly 3000 yuan into it, but now there was only less than 26 yuan left in the account.

Moreover, his job hunt was still not making any progress, and even next month's rent was becoming a problem.

Ma Lu shifted his gaze to Old Wang, who was intently watching "Empresses in the Palace" at his side.

"What is a eunuch?"

"A eunuch is an author who doesn't end his stories properly," Ma Lu turned off the TV. "You won't understand modern society by watching palace dramas, and we've got more important things to worry about right now."

"What's more important?" Old Wang asked.

"Making money."

Ma Lu was concise, "Without money, I can't continue to live here, and you can't use the outlets at will, sleep on the couch in the living room, or enjoy the air conditioning while binge-watching shows."

"That does sound important," Old Wang's expression turned serious too.

"Do you have any idea how to make money?" Ma Lu asked. "Like utilizing that, um, skill of yours. Speaking of which, do you actually have any skills?"

Ever since Old Wang had shorted the café's insurance, he hadn't displayed any special abilities. He had been cooped up in the rental apartment day and night binge-watching shows, a perfect couch potato.

If it weren't for him helping with cleaning, Ma Lu would've considered throwing him back out onto the street.

"I can cook," declared Old Wang.

This answer disappointed Ma Lu a bit. As a guest from a different dimension, he was expected to have skills more impressive than cooking; after all, household helpers could cook and clean too.

"I can cook all the foods listed in the 'Multiverse Ingredients Compendium.' We can open a restaurant to make money. Based on my observations over this period, I've found that there are very few delicacies in this universe, which makes it perfect for opening a restaurant."

Old Wang's follow-up caught Ma Lu's interest afresh, "So, you're a chef?"

"I don't know. I've lost many sectors, but the only intact and most important Sector 7 contains 79% data related to cooking, so your inference is likely correct."

Ma Lu stroked his chin, "But opening a restaurant requires quite a bit of startup capital. Even a roadside dive needs an initial investment we can't afford right now."

"Oh right, if we're going to open a restaurant, I have one request."

Old Wang seemed to remember something and pulled open his blue windbreaker. Ma Lu again saw those three metallic wires entwining an egg and placing it on the coffee table.

"This Bug Egg can take people to different dimensions in the multiverse. I'd like to entrust you to collect ingredients for me there."

......

In September, the temperatures in City B remained stubbornly high, with the incessant chirping of cicadas showing no sign of weakening.

Ma Lu handed Old Wang the freshly passion-drafted partnership agreement that he had downloaded from the internet ten minutes earlier. It still had some clauses that needed to be deleted, such as the part about Party A investing to buy forty sows.

But the core parts about equity, dividends, and exit mechanisms had already been outlined.

However, after reading the agreement, Old Wang said, "I don't need equity or dividends, as long as you allow me to continue sleeping on your couch, charging, and watching TV."

"Really, you sure about that?" Ma Lu was a bit surprised.

Old Wang nodded, "We silicon-based life forms don't have as many desires and needs as you carbon-based life forms. As long as our basic living conditions are met, currency holds no value to us."

"But your sudden nobility makes me seem rather petty." Ma Lu thought for a moment and simply tore up the partnership agreement.

"Forget it, this thing probably won't have any real binding power over you anyway, let's not worry about the distant future and just focus on making next month's rent first,"

Old Wang was somewhat puzzled, "Have you really decided to open a restaurant? But didn't you say you don't have the startup capital?"

"No worries, how could such a small matter possibly trouble me? Give me half an hour," said Ma Lu, slapping Old Wang's shoulder with full confidence.

And indeed, it took less than twenty minutes before Ma Lu called Old Wang downstairs.

In front of him, on an empty space, was an electric tricycle about 1.3m in length, with a canopy fitted on top. The canopy was surrounded by light boxes, which displayed five big characters—Scooped Sauce Seafood Delight.

Below, the body of the tricycle was also covered in advertisements, with a tagline upfront—"A serving of Scooped Sauce Seafood Delight, a blissful life like that of immortals."

"What do you think, are you satisfied with our soon-to-be-open new shop?" Ma Lu asked.

"But where's my kitchen?" Old Wang asked, puzzled.

Ma Lu patted the nickel-plated, rust-proof steel plate mounted on the side of the tricycle, "When the time comes, you'll cook right here, an open kitchen, so customers can eat with peace of mind."

"If the kitchen already takes up most of the space, where will customers dine?"

"On the street, the whole street is our lobby, they can eat wherever they like, emphasizing freedom."

"What about waiters?"

"I'll do it," declared Ma Lu, rolling up his sleeves, "I've worked part-time as a tutor in college, it's all service industry, shouldn't be too different."

"But..."

"No 'buts' now. Never seen a street vendor before, never eaten at a roadside stall, what's with all these dumb questions?" An impatient little chubby guy wearing a giant T-shirt cut off Old Wang.

"And waiters? Do you want me to open a bottle of '82 wine for you to sip with your snails too? God, I hate posers the most. If you're not buying, don't waste my time; I need to go back and play King of Glory."

"Don't rush, Little Brother Yang, my friend here is fresh out of the mountains, just got to the city, knows nothing, don't take his words to heart," Ma Lu grabbed the little chubby guy who was about to head back upstairs, "We'll take your tricycle, name your price."

The little guy's face improved a bit upon hearing this, looking Old Wang up and down, "Came out of the mountains, huh? Not a programmer looking for a second career? Hmph, fine, I'll give you a discount, 2500 yuan and the tricycle is yours."

"Can we make it any cheaper?" Ma Lu said, walking aside with his arm around the little chubby guy's shoulder.

"It's already super cheap. The tricycle alone cost me 3600 when I bought it, then I spent another 800 fitting the canopy and brackets, not to mention the PVC boards cost money too. I've slashed the price to 2500, that's very sincere."

"I know, but how many people in City B can live in the same building by chance? For the sake of this fate, can't you cut your brother here a little more slack?" Ma Lu deployed his bargaining skills.

"A deal is a deal. I've hardly used this tricycle, it's practically new, selling it to you for 2500 is already a steal," countered the little guy warily, "Otherwise, I might as well sell it to someone else."

"But I heard that your tricycle's been sitting in your yard for several months now, doesn't seem that easy to sell, and your dad has scolded you plenty over it..."

In a lowered voice, Ma Lu continued, "Just last week I overheard you guys arguing again. Little Brother Yang, don't say I didn't advise you, hanging on to this thing is just a curse, better to offload it sooner rather than later."

The little guy's expression soured as he heard this; he was a native of City B with seven apartments to his name, so he could have lived comfortably without doing anything until the end of his days. That led to a lack of drive since childhood; he didn't study hard and ended up only getting into a third-rate university.

After graduation, he stayed at home playing video games, watching anime, and building models. His father couldn't stand it and forced him to set up a street stall, but he only lasted two days before quitting due to the hard work. The newly bought tricycle was then left abandoned in the yard.

And every time his father caught sight of that tricycle, his anger shot up, leading to constant spats between father and son.

The little guy knew Ma Lu had a point and had been wanting to sell the tricycle, so he grit his teeth and said, "2100, I can't go any lower."

"1666, let's make it lucky," suggested Ma Lu.

The little guy stared at Ma Lu for a full half minute before finally speaking in a hoarse voice, "Why not 1888 for luck?"

"That works too, thank you, Little Brother Yang. Let's settle on that," Ma Lu shook the little guy's hand, offering his thanks, "I'll pay you in three installments."

"You're not buying a luxury car, even for a tricycle you want to do installments?!" the little chubby guy exclaimed wide-eyed.

Seeing the deal might fall through, Ma Lu quickly sweetened the offer, "Additionally, you can store your figurines at my place, that way you won't have to worry about your dad smashing them."