Lin Bai was a good man

Whenever he thought about these players, masters of outrageous shenanigans, eventually screwing him over, Lin Bai's restless heart urged him to strike first.

He glanced several times at the Mo Family Sword Hall across the street, sorely tempted to go in and talk to its master about taking over student recruitment.

He could build connections and earn some pocket money while harvesting the players like chives, earning a few buckets of water for his negative emotion tree in the process.

He was seventy percent confident he could pull it off. The NPCs didn't understand players yet, so they certainly wouldn't wield the knife as ruthlessly as he would. What a waste of such a lucrative opportunity.

But after weighing it over and over, Lin Bai finally suppressed his itching urge.

There was plenty of time ahead.

Push everything to its limit, and your good fortune was bound to run out early.

Let the chives grow plumper, and they would taste better when harvested.

After all, this was a lifelong marathon.

Players needed NPCs to develop, whereas he was a cheat-abusing bastard. All he needed to grow was his systems!

One relied on others; the other relied on himself.

The ultimate winner could only be him.

Drawing all the NPCs' fire onto himself right at the starting line wasn't worth it. Whatever burdens the natives ought to share, he should let them share.

Having mercifully spared the players, Lin Bai took another stroll through the nearby markets to prepare for his shop's opening.

Whether he could grind up his Martial Arts and inner force hinged on this one move.

The night passed uneventfully.

The next day.

At the first glimmer of dawn.

Lin Bai opened his eyes, feeling full of energy.

The facts proved that those four extra points of mental power really did give him more time than ordinary people.

He pushed open his door, but before he could call out,

Liu Chun, the inn's waiter, was already standing outside with a basin of water and a beaming smile.

After Lin Bai's encouragement, his passionate heart burned bright, and he was brimming with enthusiasm. Naturally, he was even happier to serve this generous guest who appreciated him.

"Sir, your washing water is ready. Neither cold nor hot, just the right temperature." Liu Chun wore an eager, expectant smile.

Lin Bai glanced at the young waiter and smiled sincerely. "Thanks, Little Guo. Keep at it. You're the best. In all my years traveling north and south, you're the most thoughtful waiter I've ever met..."

The words were just like yesterday's, but Liu Chun's eyes widened. He could no longer make out what Lin Bai was saying.

His smile visibly froze on his face. His head buzzed, and bitterness filled his mouth. "Sir... my surname isn't Guo..."

[Disappointment from Liu Chun, +1]

His Negative Emotions had increased.

But looking at the young waiter's youthful face, so devastated that he seemed to have lost faith in life itself, Lin Bai felt a flicker of pity.

He sighed inwardly, took out a few copper coins, and smiled. "I know. Your name's Liu Chun, right? I was just joking with you. Actually, I wanted to use that to teach you something. On the road to success, someone who showers you with pleasant words isn't necessarily a good person. He might be trying to use you. You need to exercise your own judgment in dealing with people and situations. And your heart must be strong. You can't start fretting over every little setback..."

"Yes." A smile blossomed on Liu Chun's face again, and he nodded emphatically. "I understand. Thank you for your guidance, sir. Is there anything else you need? I'll get it ready..."

"No, go about your work!" Lin Bai smiled and waved him away.

What an innocent kid!

Too bad the positive emotion tree hasn't unlocked. That bowl of chicken soup for the soul went to waste.

Otherwise, that would've been double the income.

After breakfast, Lin Bai arrived at his own shop. By then, it was broad daylight.

The carpenter and blacksmith waited with their workers some distance outside the shop, beside an assortment of finished implements, every one crooked or misshapen.

The player [Deng Libuduo] was among them, too. He was the most spirited of the lot, and his gaze burned as he looked at Lin Bai, as though he were looking at a plate of exquisite delicacies.

"Morning, everyone!" Lin Bai greeted them with a smile. "Why haven't you gone inside? It's pretty cold out here."

At those words,

Everyone except the player shot him a resentful look.

As if you don't know why we're not going in!

Negative Emotions shot upward, and Lin Bai watered his tree with another bucket.

Such good people!

He smiled. "Masters, get to work! Our shop opens today. Don't let us miss the auspicious hour."

"Shopkeeper, those three inside...?" Zhang Achun asked cautiously.

"Set your hearts back in your bellies. They don't come out during the day," Lin Bai said. "Besides, you've got me here, haven't you? It's the shop's grand opening. I can hardly let anything happen to you in broad daylight."

What kind of talk was that?

Nothing could happen during the day, but it could at night?

The craftsmen muttered but didn't dare argue. Carrying the defective utensils, they began fitting out the shop with their hearts trembling.

The "Chef God Restaurant" sign went up, followed by the couplet: seven characters on the first strip, "Guests come from north and south," and six on the second, "All corners of the world eat."

Inside the door,

There were three tables on the left and four on the right, all either missing corners or riddled with holes.

Not a single stool beside the tables stood without a stone propping it up.

Iron chopstick holders sat on the tables. A closer look revealed that the chopsticks inside varied in length and thickness, without a single matching pair;

The teapots were iron, with either crooked spouts or lids that wouldn't fit snugly...

Wooden menu plaques hung on the walls, bearing bizarre dish names such as "Deep-fried Flower Ox," "Mandarin Duck Fried Frame Earth," "Red Bean Bow Rice," "Sun Spring Noodles," and "Owe Pancakes."

The tables, stools, pots, bowls, ladles, and basins were all new, yet not one was intact. It was practically designed to drive anyone with OCD to their grave.

"An extraordinary man. He must be an extraordinary man."

[Deng Libuduo] watched the shop take shape bit by bit. Though it made him uncomfortable, he grew ever more certain of his guess.

Everything was ready-made, and Lin Bai's requirements for the restaurant weren't particularly strict. Once the items were in place, a mission-completion notification sounded in his mind.

[Congratulations on owning a restaurant of your own. Reward: 10 taels of Bai Yin, available for withdrawal at any time.]

[Even a god of cooking must feed himself. Please sell your first dish. Reward: 1 tael of Bai Yin.]

"Is this goddamn God of Cooking System broken?" The follow-up mission and reward left Lin Bai utterly speechless.

I spend a hundred taels opening a restaurant, and you reward me with ten. Sell a meal, and you reward me with more silver...

Are you raising a god of cooking or a god of wealth?

Did you never consider that the system's owner might not know how to cook at all?

What about knife skills?

Signature dishes?

How am I supposed to keep a restaurant running without those? We're all busy here. Surely you don't expect me to go learn cooking somewhere else!

Still.

Complaints aside, Lin Bai paid no attention to the follow-up mission.

In his eyes, this so-called God of Cooking System was merely a bonus tacked onto the other systems, something he could take or leave.

If he genuinely intended to rely on the God of Cooking System, he wouldn't have opened his restaurant here, let alone decorated it like this.

With players everywhere, was he really going to spend his whole life cooking in a restaurant?

Still, he ought to withdraw the silver. At least he could recoup a little of his investment.

He silently commanded a withdrawal.

"Please specify the withdrawal location."

Lin Bai paused, then silently said, "My palm."

Then.

A gleaming silver ingot appeared in Lin Bai's palm.

The silver appearing out of thin air made Lin Bai's eyes light up. Holy shit, the God of Cooking System isn't useless after all! I can specify where withdrawals appear. Once I have enough money, I could suddenly release it to smash someone. This silver feels pretty hard...

Everything was in place.

The carpenter asked the blacksmith quietly, "Shutang, what about the money? Are we still asking for it?"

The blacksmith's expression shifted uncertainly. "We should! If we don't get paid, we'll take a loss!"

If Lin Bai had still been that fool the Brokerage had deceived, asking for payment would have been perfectly natural.

Now that Lin Bai had become a fearsome man capable of suppressing Ghosts, asking for payment had become a problem.

"You go first. I've still got a few things to do. I'll go once I'm finished." The carpenter glanced at the blacksmith and reached out to rock a nearby table, testing its stability.

"..." The blacksmith choked, then reached out to fiddle with a chopstick holder. "I'm not fucking finished either!"

Before he had finished speaking,

The two men, who had been watching Lin Bai the whole time, both noticed the silver appearing in his hand, and their eyes immediately lit up.

He's already taken out the silver. He isn't planning to stiff us!

A man of principle!

The carpenter immediately straightened up and muttered, "I heard cultivators don't leave karmic debts unpaid. Turns out it's true."

Upon hearing that,

The blacksmith stopped fiddling with the chopstick holder and hurried toward Lin Bai.

The carpenter hastily followed.

Seeing the two craftsmen come before him, Lin Bai asked, "Anything else?"

The carpenter chuckled. "Shopkeeper, the work's finished. About the labor and material costs—could you settle the bill?"

Lin Bai raised an eyebrow, and his face abruptly darkened. "Masters, are you joking with me? Look at your work. Even the sign is written wrong, and the couplet has seven characters on one side and six on the other. How could we justify this to anyone who saw it? You're lucky I haven't demanded compensation, and you still have the nerve to ask me for money?"

Zhang Achun's face instantly flushed red. His throat worked. "But you were the one who..."

"I was the one who what?" Lin Bai said. "Did a donkey kick me in the head? Would I pay you to make furniture like this?"

[Anger from Zhang Achun, +1+1+1...]

[Anger from Zhang Shutang, +1+1+1...]

That was right.

Lin Bai was a good man. He couldn't bear to bully someone as weak as the waiter, but these two craftsmen had colluded with the Brokerage and were clearly trying to swindle him out of his deposit.

If not for the Ghosts, and if he really had been an ordinary person, their swindle might well have left him dead in a foreign land.

Did being a good person mean he deserved to be bullied?