Inside the Gourmet Hotel, Yao Guan had prepared a lavish feast for Lu Feng.
"Even though I just agreed, I'll be upfront: if the mission is beyond my capabilities, then I can only do nothing to help."
Lu Feng glared at Yao Guan, occasionally checking his pant leg for any suspicious transparent liquids.
"Of course, Lord Bai Ze, you'll definitely be fine!"
Yao Guan obsequiously poured Lu Feng a glass of wine, but Lu Feng didn't appreciate it; he wasn't much of a drinker.
"Then why don't you tell me first, what kind of mission is it exactly?"
Yao Guan's expression was a bit unnatural.
"It's… it's the mission to capture a Kaila Giant Crocodile."
"Capture a Kaila Giant Crocodile? Wasn't that the request Komatsu gave A Lu yesterday? How did it end up with you? Did A Lu fail?"
Lu Feng was startled. If even A Lu had failed, then he would have even less chance of completing it. In that case, Yao Guan should just face reality and find a good spot to bury himself as soon as possible.
"A Lu wouldn't exactly fail, but anyone who's seen the anime knows his personality: any prey he captures is eaten on the spot until nothing is left. There's no reason for anything to remain. The Gourmet Hotel still hasn't acquired Kaila Giant Crocodile ingredients, so this mission fell to me."
"Then why didn't you just refuse the mission? Don't you have a clue about your own skill level?" Lu Feng asked, puzzled. What was an Employee doing trying to show off?
Hearing this, Yao Guan looked even more helpless. "I'll just share the mission with you; you'll understand why once you see it."
Then, Lu Feng received a notification:
[Yao Guan has initiated a mission share: 'Capture Kaila Giant Crocodile'. Accept / Decline]
Mandatory Mission: Capture Kaila Giant Crocodile
Difficulty Level: Lv.5
Mission Brief: Kaila Giant Crocodile is one of the scarce ingredients at the Gourmet Hotel.
Mission Info: Capture Kaila Giant Crocodile
Mission Duration: 2 natural days
Mission Reward: 1 attribute point
Mission Penalty: Forced execution
...Well, well, well, it was a mandatory mission. If you encountered it, you had to accept it; there was no room for refusal.
However, Lu Feng wasn't foolish enough to accept immediately. He clearly felt that this mission was strange in many ways.
Firstly, Yao Guan was an Employee, and Reincarnation Paradise shouldn't forcibly assign him such a high-combat mission.
Secondly, the mission reward and penalty were severely disproportionate, and the time limit was extremely tight.
Completing such a high-difficulty mission only offered a meager 1 attribute point reward, yet failure resulted in forced execution. This clearly went against Reincarnation Paradise's philosophy of equivalent exchange.
Therefore, rather than saying this was a mandatory mission issued by Reincarnation Paradise to Yao Guan, it would be more accurate to call it a punishment.
"Hahaha, Heaven has eyes! What kind of heinous deeds did you commit to deserve such retribution?"
Hearing this, Yao Guan surprisingly didn't refute him. His eyes just darted around, and he stammered a bit as he spoke,
"It's… it's not like you say. It's just that I've been working at the Gourmet Hotel for so long and am still only a three-star chef. Yesterday, I finally managed to build a relationship with Komatsu, so I asked him for a small favor to promote me to a four-star chef. As soon as I got promoted, the Paradise forcibly issued me this mission."
Like a duck in a pot—still stubborn even at death's door—that described Yao Guan perfectly.
"Don't give me that. It sounds good, but I bet ten to one you used some charm-type skill or item to manipulate Komatsu, forcing him to promote you. Reincarnation Paradise is warning you, which is why it issued you this punitive mission!"
Lu Feng said in an annoyed tone. This Yao Guan really thought he could fool him like a newbie.
Seeing his little misdeed exposed by Lu Feng in an instant, Yao Guan repeatedly offered fawning smiles and frequently poured Lu Feng wine.
"Brilliant! Truly brilliant! Nothing escapes your keen eye, indeed."
If it had been yesterday, Lu Feng would have absolutely refused this mission without hesitation.
Although he and Anka possessed the ability to complete this mission, the hidden risks were too high. A slight misstep could lead to losing a limb or worse.
In such a scenario, not only would he be unable to achieve anything further in the remaining time in this toriko derivative world, but even the expected profits would vanish, making it simply not worth the effort.
However, now he had found the 'correct way to use' the Beast Soul Master, and a mere Level 5 Kaila Giant Crocodile was nothing in his eyes.
It was just that this scoundrel had fleeced him yesterday. Now, with the tables turned, there was no reason for him not to return the favor.
"Don't just talk the talk; pay me back the 2400 Paradise Coins you scammed me out of yesterday first, then I'll see if I'm in the mood to take this mission."
"It was clearly only 1600 Paradise Coins, and you still owe me 800 that you put on credit!"
At the mention of Paradise Coins, Yao Guan reacted strongly, immediately refuting him.
"Hmm?" Lu Feng glared, making to stand up and leave.
Yao Guan now just wanted to slap himself. Why couldn't this scoundrel change his ways? He hastily pulled Lu Feng back.
"No, no, no, Lord Bai Ze, I remembered wrong. 2400, it was indeed 2400."
Seeing Yao Guan relent, Lu Feng finally sat back down with satisfaction. So this was what it felt like to be a scoundrel.
But before he could enjoy it for a few seconds, he heard Yao Guan say hesitantly,
"But all those Paradise Coins have already been spent. I'm penniless now."
"Hmm?" Lu Feng glared again. "Are you a Pixiu? All intake and no output, no asshole!"
"Roar (Are you being polite?!)"
Anka was happily eating nearby, grease dripping from his mouth, since Yao Guan was paying. But suddenly, he heard Lu Feng cursing him. You guys talk among yourselves, why are you suddenly attacking me personally?!
"Ahem, Brother Tiger, I wasn't talking about you; keep eating."
Lu Feng chuckled awkwardly, then his tone changed.
"Don't try to fool me. Not a single Paradise Coin less than 2600. If you're worried I'll default, you can give me half first, 1500 Paradise Coins would also work!"
"Stop, stop, stop, Lord Bai Ze, please put away your divine powers. If you keep calculating like this, you might as well feed me to the Kaila Giant Crocodile."
Yao Guan knew that just explaining wouldn't work, so he directly showed Lu Feng one of his skills:
[Advanced Chef: LV.25 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: When cooking special ingredients, there is a chance to upgrade them into restorative food.
60% chance to upgrade to White quality
20% chance to upgrade to Blue quality
1% chance to upgrade to Purple quality
LV.10 Additional Ability
Practice Makes Perfect: White quality upgrade chance increased to 80%
LV.20 Additional Ability
Expensive is Good: The more precious the ingredient, the higher the chance of upgrading to Blue or Purple quality
..."This is my bread and butter skill. Every time I enter the 'toriko' world, I prepare a large sum of Paradise Coins in advance to exchange for various ingredients at the hotel's reputation store. After making them into restoratives, I sell them in Reincarnation Paradise. Otherwise, where do you think I get so many restorative foods?"
"Then use those ingredients to pay off the debt. I'm not picky."
Lu Feng gritted his teeth. At worst, after returning to Reincarnation Paradise, he would spend more time setting up a stall and selling them slowly. Eventually, he would be able to get rid of those ingredients.
"After I pay, the ingredients are directly sent to my exclusive room. My storage space can't hold so many ingredients, and there's a 10% discount for prepayment."
Fearing Lu Feng wouldn't believe him, Yao Guan even pulled out the invoice Reincarnation Paradise had given him after his purchase.
This made Lu Feng scratch his head. He was determined to squeeze some profit out of this stingy guy today. Otherwise, even twenty years later, if he woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this, he'd slap himself a few times.
Lu Feng hadn't considered asking Yao Guan for an IOU, but Employees earned money too slowly, and collecting the bill would take forever. He needed immediate benefits.
Yao Guan, having mingled among Contractors for years, was naturally a shrewd individual. He could tell Lu Feng had the idea of taking on this mission; otherwise, he wouldn't be haggling with him. It was just that he had scammed him too badly yesterday and wanted to get some benefits back from him.
And truthfully, the reward for this punitive mission was indeed pitifully low. To turn Lu Feng's idea of taking the mission into actual action, it would depend on whether his 'sincerity' was enough.
Having figured this out, and knowing that a major hemorrhage was unavoidable this time to save his life.
Yao Guan gritted his teeth and pulled out a large pile of items from his storage space, placing them on the table.
"Lord Bai Ze, pick anything you like!"