Chapter 260 - 25: Lots of Potential

"Calm down, it’s not that bad!"

Johnson raised a hand to quiet everyone, but the heap of stuff on the table wasn’t very convincing.

What should have been crisp, individual french fries was now a sticky, black, unidentifiable mass.

Even after being scooped out of the fryer, it continued to coalesce and break apart, all while emitting unsettling moans.

This stuff couldn’t be called food at all; it was the product of stir-frying a Hell Demon’s droppings.

Anyone who saw it would never associate it with food. They would only think it was the most terrifying poison, the vomit of an Evil Dragon, or the centuries-old crystallization of sewer gunk.

Anyone who witnessed someone dare to put this thing in their mouth would have to hail them as a "hero."

Cuihua looked at his own hands, seriously suspecting the failed fries were his fault.

After all, he was a Dark Chef. It would be a disservice to his title if he didn’t create something resembling a sludge monster.

Duan Fei also looked at his own hands in confusion, suspecting he was the one who had created this thing.

After all, his Talents were all sorts of bizarre; it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he could produce some dark cuisine.

Johnson, meanwhile, carefully recalled his cooking process. He found that every detail had been nearly perfect; there was no way a problem could have occurred.

He even scooped up some of the oil and tasted it, but he didn’t find anything wrong.

"Strange. What on earth is going on? Let’s try again."

The second time, the same thing appeared on the table, its black surface shimmering with a bizarre, colorful light, like an Evil God laughing wantonly.

A member of the Mafia even came up, asked for some, and said he had a few enemies this would be perfect for.

"What in the world...?" Johnson wondered aloud.

Finally, he decided to taste it himself.

Seeing this, everyone thought the problem had finally driven Johnson insane.

He placed the black, viscous substance into his mouth. The scene was so horrifying that even though the others hadn’t eaten any, the taste of rotten fish appeared in their own mouths.

After eating the dark cuisine, Johnson’s eyes widened. He stared blankly into the distance, his mouth moving mechanically.

Just as Duan Fei was debating whether to call a doctor, Johnson finally snapped out of it and said with certainty, "This stuff isn’t french fries."

"Anyone with eyes would agree with you," Duan Fei nodded.

"But it tastes way better than french fries!"

"Anyone with a brain would disagree with you."

Seeing Duan Fei’s disbelief, Johnson handed him a spoon and made an inviting gesture.

After a moment of hesitation, Duan Fei took the spoon, scooped up a little, and brought the black substance before him.

The stuff had cooled down, looking like solidified lava. It didn’t look like food at all.

But seeing Johnson’s encouraging gaze, Duan Fei finally steeled himself and put the food in his mouth.

Completely different from its initial impression, the substance was soft and fluffy, yet also very chewy.

The two contradictory textures exploded in his mouth, leaving Duan Fei momentarily confused about what on earth he had just eaten.

Before he could figure out the texture, the next wave of sensation hit.

An incredibly intense flavor blossomed in his mouth. A taste he had never experienced before stimulated his taste buds, making him realize this really wasn’t french fries, because no french fry could ever achieve this.

It was a flavor one could only taste in a game—a mash-up of all kinds of unbelievable tastes exploding at once. That was Duan Fei’s most direct sensation at that moment.

Not only that, but he opened his status panel and found he had received a series of small buffs.

The effects of these small buffs were weak, but comprehensive, including but not limited to: increased recovery, a small temporary boost to all Attributes, and a temporary enhancement to Skill effects.

After looking through the long list of buffs, Duan Fei wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and stared at the black substance on the table. "This stuff is divine," he exclaimed.

Cuihua looked at Duan Fei in confusion, then took out a spoon himself, scooped some into his mouth, and was also completely captivated.

Seeing the reactions of the three, the other gang members couldn’t resist trying some. After eating, they too were plunged into a state of doubt about the world.

’This thing is so ugly...’

’How can it be so delicious?’

’And how was it even made?’

Unable to figure it out for the life of them, Duan Fei decided to start over with a scientific approach and have everyone experiment from scratch.

First, Johnson cooked by himself. No problem.

The french fries he made were crisp and distinct, and they tasted pretty good, but they were a far cry from the "volcanic mud."

Second, Cuihua cooked by himself. He knocked out three guinea pigs.

After waking up, they reported that the taste was fine, but they had seen an Angel and a Demon. The Demon said such a bad person must go to Hell, and the Angel replied, "You’re right, Demon."

Third, Duan Fei cooked. Nothing much changed.

The guinea pigs said the taste was average, nothing strange about it. It was just ordinarily edible.

Then, they tried pairing up. After testing different combinations of the three, they finally discovered the source of the problem.

When Duan Fei and Cuihua teamed up to cook, the fries would invariably turn into volcanic mud.

The volcanic mud made by this two-person team also tasted great, but it was still a bit lacking compared to the volcanic mud from the three-person team.

Only when all three teamed up was the resulting potato volcanic mud a true delicacy, a peerless flavor that would make God himself surrender in defeat.

Although they knew the "what," the "why" was still a puzzle.

Cuihua couldn’t figure it out, but Duan Fei thought he had a rough idea.

After running it through his mind a dozen times, he finally saw the text for his Talent light up on his Attributes panel: "The inside and outside of created food are swapped."

Cuihua’s Profession, Dark Chef, made any food he cooked poisonous. Duan Fei’s Talent, however, could make the food’s poisonous quality manifest on the outside, while turning its external characteristics into its internal flavor.

It was a classic case of a negative plus a negative equaling a positive.

Johnson’s presence couldn’t reverse the process, but it acted as an amplifier, making the original fries more beautiful, and thus the resulting poison more intense.

The final result was the creation of this incredibly ugly, but outstandingly delicious, and special-effect-laden... mashed potatoes.

The entire table full of mashed potatoes was devoured by the crowd, and a new batch was already Cooking.

Even though they were stuffed to the gills with mashed potatoes, they still stared at the batch about to be ready, their faces filled with longing.

Watching this scene, Duan Fei licked his lips as more and more ideas began to form in his mind.

Before, he just thought selling french fries had potential. But now, it wasn’t a question of *if* it had potential.

It was a question of just how *big* he could make it.