บท 68: C68: You misunderstood me!

[Wang Han POV]

After a few simple novice tutorials.

We started the story mode in the game.

I and Zhang Yi were talking and laughing while playing.

The first few levels were elementary—refresh the orders of each guest in the top left corner, complete each dish on time, and then place the completed dishes in the window.

The first two levels are elementary—nothing more than cutting sashimi, and the more complicated part is burning rice.

But starting from levels 3-4, Wang Han and I could feel the difference.

In this level, the background shifted to the middle of the road. A street cooking...

Hmm...let's not question why we're cooking in the middle of the road.

Anyway, that's the setting.

A good cook should be able to cook anywhere, with anything, in any situation.

To be a good cook, all your attention should be on the food.

This level was different from what we'd experienced before.

Most of the scene was blocked by our stove, and the path we could walk was shaped like a horizontal S.

But here's the twist: The vertical paths were now paved with one-way acceleration conveyor belts.

And the dishes requested by the guests weren't just sashimi or cooked rice that we could prepare easily.

Now we had to cut, steam, boil, and fry. It was a whole new level of complexity.

The level is simple if the goal is to clear it—filling the four plates in the middle and serving the dishes could get us past the level.

But clearly, our goal wasn't just to clear it; we were aiming for a higher score and a three-star rating.

As the level progressed, the orders came faster and faster.

Before we could finish one dish, another order would appear.

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"Hurry up and cook the rice!" I shouted

"Wait a minute! What's your rush? The cucumber isn't even cut yet!" Zhang added.

"What about the seaweed? And why hasn't the fish been cut?" I exclaimed.

"Stop rushing me! They keep dropping things too far away!" he added.

"Hurry! The order time is running out!" I added annoyance tinting my voice.

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Compared to the earlier calm cooperation where it was lighthearted, the flood of orders overwhelmed us.

Especially with new orders piling up and old customers getting impatient, our anxiety started kicking in.

The worst part was that we both had different ideas on how to handle it. I wanted to cook the rice first, and Zhang Yi wanted to cut the side dishes.

Suddenly, everything became chaotic.

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"Why do we have so much seaweed!?" he asked quickly.

"Isn't seaweed for sushi?" I added.

"We can just place the seaweed directly on the plate; there's no need to rush! You focus on cooking first!"

"I'm cooking! I'm cooking! Stop nagging me! What are you doing? Chopping vegetables over there!" I mocked him.

"I'm waiting for you to cook the rice! How can I combine the vegetables without it?"

"Wait, why is everything on fire? Fire extinguisher, where's the fire extinguisher?!" I asked with a weird frown on my face.

"It's right next to the stove! Where are you going?!"

"Hurry up and put out the fire! You saw the fire extinguisher, so pick it up and put it out!" I shouted.

"The conveyor belt! worry about it later!"

"Wash the dishes quickly! There are no more dishes to use!"

"Why do I have to wash the dishes? This guest is picky. It'll be fine even if we don't use them soon!" he asked.

"Do you think this is some cheap kitchen? Happy to eat on dishes without washing them! Stop arguing and wash the dishes!" I exclaimed

"You're too slow at washing dishes, aren't you?"

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With the influx of orders, the customers waiting in front were getting irritable, making us even more anxious.

Things started getting messier.

The orders on the top-left screen kept disappearing, accompanied by alarms.

The rice cooking on the stove began to catch fire, one batch after another.

And in this game, if the fire isn't put out with a flamethrower in time, it'll keep spreading.

Eventually, the whole kitchen was engulfed in flames, and time ran out.

We only received a two-star rating.

"We were so close to three stars!" I looked at the two-star evaluation, feeling regretful.

"It's half the points, just a little bit short. We had it!" Zhang Yi beside me complained.

"What can we do? In the end, you didn't put out the fire with the extinguisher in time." I pouted, staring at the screen.

"Hey! How can you blame me? Didn't you notice the rice was about to catch fire?" Zhang Yi was annoyed, not wanting to take all the blame.

I wasn't having it, either—I had my reasons. "Can you blame me for the rice catching fire? You took forever to chop that vegetable, and I had to help!"

"Then you kept getting in my way! You even threw a dish off the conveyor belt!" Zhang Yi's voice was rising.

"I was in a hurry! And when the kitchen caught fire the first time, why didn't you handle it sooner? Why is this on me?"

"When the fire started, weren't you still trying to wash the dishes? You took forever to clean even one! I had to step in and help!" Zhang Yi huffed.

"Are you yelling at me?" I puffed my cheeks like an angry panda, annoyed.

"I'm not yelling! Just stating the facts!" Zhang Yi snapped back, clearly frustrated, still feeling like it wasn't his fault.

'This is a Valentine's Day gift from Chen Xu to all the couples' The translator thought, feeling a bit weird.

"Okay! You mean I wash dishes slowly?" Zhang Yi widened his eyes at Wang Han.

"That's right! You are indeed slow in washing the dishes!" Wang Han nodded.

"What do you mean, you despise me for washing dishes slowly?" he clenched his fists tightly, feeling insulted.

"Yes, you are slow with dishes!" Wang Han replied confidently.

"If you dislike me so much, then I won't wash the dishes or bowls at home anymore. You'll wash them all for now!" I raised my voice and finally snapped.

Hearing my raised voice, and remembering the argument from just now, Wang Han looked a little unconvinced.

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[Zhang Yi POV]

What's with the yelling? Why so loud? It's not like I missed some big task like handling the back-end code!

Without thinking, I stood up, my face flushed with frustration, and shouted back, "Fine! I'll wash them, and from now on, you can leave all the dishes to me! I'll show you what efficiency means—what real speed is!"

The words escaped my mouth before I even realized it.

Wait, something felt off.

What did I just say?

In my frustration, I seemed to have made a pretty wild promise, didn't I?

"Since you insist, Comrade Zhang Yi, I'll gladly hand over all the dishwashing to you. Show me what efficiency and speed look like!" Wang Han patted me on the shoulder, clearly excited and surprised.

"No! That's not what I meant—" I started, but was stopped.

"Don't talk! You know what you meant. It's settled! After all, this is your strong request!" Wang Han pulled my hand over the mouse and keyboard, sealing the fate of this ridiculous dishwashing argument.

You misunderstood me!

Staring at the cartoon villains in "Overcooked" on the screen, I felt utterly defeated.

What kind of game is this?!

Where's the warmth and friendship? How did things escalate so quickly?

If it weren't for that heated argument earlier, how on earth did I agree to such an unfair deal?!

Worse, I rushed in to accept it!

And judging by the way things are going with the other players, the atmosphere in this game is only getting more and more explosive.

To be continued...