DING!

As this thought popped into Su Chen’s head, a sudden mechanical notification sound in his mind made him jump.

[A new objective has been established by the player. Activating optional side quests.]

[Side Quest One: Back from the Brink. Faced with a company on the verge of bankruptcy, you will work together with your employees to transform the company and successfully revive it. Quest Objective: Successfully pay next year’s rent. Quest Reward: Chinese Cuisine Collection (Fragment)]

[Side Quest Two: A New Perch. The company’s bankruptcy is inevitable. As a smart player, you will choose to abandon the company and forge a new path. Quest Objective: Own your own restaurant. Quest Reward: Home-Style Recipe Book (108 dishes)]

[Note: Side quests are timed. You have one month to complete them. Failure to complete by the deadline results in quest failure (no penalty).]

"Huh?"

Su Chen took a closer look. ’So this is how you activate side quests?’

No wonder the previous system introduction said he was the only player in this world. In other words, looking at it from another angle, everyone else was basically an NPC.

’To activate some quests, besides interacting with characters, does the player also need to have a clear objective?’

The rewards for both quests looked tempting, but they pointed in two different directions. One was the boutique route, and the other was the mass-market route.

If this were the Su Chen who had just transmigrated, he would have definitely chosen a quest based on its reward and difficulty.

But now...

People change.

...

「The next day.」

Wang Rui took the morning shuttle bus to the Development Zone. As usual, he walked into the Xinghui building. He pulled out his employee ID card to swipe it, but then he paused.

’Why do I have this nagging feeling that something’s off?’

Standing at the elevator bank, he adjusted his black-framed glasses. He wracked his brain but just couldn’t put his finger on what felt wrong.

"This is so frustrating," Wang Rui muttered.

It was like when you were about to say something and the words were right on the tip of your tongue, but then your mind suddenly went blank. Utterly frustrating.

Following his usual routine, the first thing he did upon arriving at the company was clock in, then head to the company cafeteria.

"Egg-fried rice with no visible egg," Wang Rui said, skipping the first window. "Tea eggs with shells that aren’t even cracked." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Millet porridge with no millet, buns made with cheap oil."

He shook his head and decided to leave the cafeteria and return to his desk.

As he was taking things out of his backpack, Wang Rui felt something soft.

"Ah, right!" He suddenly remembered. Hadn’t he gotten a steamed bun to-go from the building across the street yesterday?

He’d been too stuffed last night, so when he got home, he didn’t feel like doing anything and just crashed.

He’d been in such a rush to get to the company this morning that he’d completely forgotten about the bun.

"Heh heh, good thing I have this magical device." Wang Rui pulled an electric kettle out from under his desk, cleverly placed the bun on its spout, and switched it on to heat the water.

’Figures the company would ban microwaves...’

Just as the water began to boil, Wang Rui sniffed the air and caught a very rich, meaty aroma. It was even stronger than when he had eaten the bun yesterday!

’This definitely isn’t coming from my bun.’

He glanced around and saw only the girl from the warehouse, nibbling on a mantou.

"Hmph, a free mantou from the cafeteria? Not even a dog would eat that."

Although he spoke quietly, the girl from the warehouse heard him loud and clear. Wang Rui was all set to bicker with the young lady for a good half hour, but to his surprise, she just snorted.

Then she turned her head away and went back to eating her mantou.

"Huh? A personality transplant?"

Wang Rui felt a little thrown off. He bent down to grab his now mostly-warm bun. As luck would have it, his gaze landed on the older woman sitting across from him.

"Sister Wu, you’re eating a mantou too?"

Although Sister Wu sat across from Wang Rui, she was in the Human Resources department, so she hadn’t been at the dinner party the previous night.

"Yes, Xiaoxia gave me a fried egg—a fried egg with aspic on it, haha. It’s my first time seeing one, but it’s delicious in a mantou."

’Isn’t that the fried egg from yesterday’s takeout?’

Wang Rui watched as Sister Wu broke a mantou in half and carefully took the fried egg out of a small food container.

’How did the fried egg turn into that?’

The thin fried egg was coated in a layer of dark, sauce-colored aspic. The moment she placed it inside the mantou, the aspic around the edges began to melt. Sister Wu put the top half of the mantou back on and took a big bite!

"Mmm~ Xiaoxia, how did you make this aspic-fried egg? The meaty flavor is so rich! It’s even better than a roujiamo."

The girl from the warehouse shot Wang Rui a smug look. "I didn’t make it, heh heh. It’s a leftover I packed from the dinner party yesterday. I left it overnight, and the sauce congealed into aspic. I didn’t expect it to be so good this way."

Aspic is a product of rendered pork skin that has been cooled and allowed to solidify. It has a springy, bouncy texture, and many restaurants serve it as a dedicated cold dish.

Normally, few people would eat the aspic that forms after a braised pork knuckle cools. Even if they did, they would add some water, reheat it, and strain it. Otherwise, not only would it be terribly salty, but it would also inevitably contain impurities.

The girl from the warehouse also hadn’t wanted to eat something cold in the morning, which is why she’d thought of putting the fried egg with its aspic directly into a mantou, creating a sort of DIY "roujiamo." The plainness of the mantou perfectly offset the intense saltiness of the aspic, which was complemented by the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside texture of the fried egg and its full, meaty aroma.

She had actually managed to stumble upon a minor delicacy by accident.

You could only say that delicious food will taste good no matter how you prepare it.

Wang Rui stood up and looked around again. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone in the office had an "egg-in-a-mantou," and he was the only one left out.

"Liu Xia, you did that on purpose!"

The girl from the warehouse sneered. "Just eat your bun. It’s full of meat, isn’t it?"

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Wang Rui sat down in a huff. He resentfully put the half-eaten bun back in his backpack. As good as the bun had been, a reheated, day-old bun wasn’t actually that tasty. The pork skin that had once melted in his mouth was now chewy and a bit tough, and the lean meat had started to dry out and become stringy.

’So that’s how you want to play, huh? Then don’t blame me!’

’I’m going across the street to buy freshly steamed buns right now and make you all jealous!’

Zhou Kai had never mentioned that Director Li had to pull some strings with a friend just for them to eat there. Seeing things like an "Employee Card Discount" sign on the door and the large characters for "Delicious" hanging at the entrance, Wang Rui had subconsciously assumed it was some kind of fast-food company.

Why else would it be self-serve, buffet style?

He opened up DingTalk and quickly filled out a request form to leave the premises.

It was convenient for employees in the General Affairs Office. If they wanted to step out, they just needed to find an excuse. After all, there was always an endless amount of work to be done outside the office.

Unsurprisingly, Zhou Kai approved it almost instantly.

Grabbing a random file, Wang Rui stormed out of the office. When he reached the first-floor lobby,

"Aiya!" Wang Rui slapped his forehead. "I knew something was off! I should have gone to the company across the street first thing this morning!"

No wonder he’d felt so out of sorts. This time, as he headed straight for the building across the street, Wang Rui felt a wave of pure, refreshing relief!