Although Fluoxetine might lack a conscience, Lin Yu wasn't Fluoxetine after all.
When Radish cheerfully handed him the woven bag, Lin Yu did feel slightly guilty.
Fortunately, Lin Yu didn't possess much conscience to begin with.
After some effort, he successfully overcame this minor moral dilemma.
He and Radish returned to the dining table one after another—slightly earlier than the final deadline, about five minutes ahead of schedule.
However, both had obtained ingredients that were "absolutely foolproof."
So there was no need to race against time.
They were also the first to return.
Sitting in their respective seats, Lin Yu piled all the looted ingredients together.
"Oh, most are usable except this one," Ka picked out one of the three fish Phantom had provided, "This one is completely inedible."
"Its flesh is like wood."
Having said that, Ka casually tossed it aside.
Then he turned to Lin Yu.
"So...are you going to cook all these ingredients?"
"No, spare me. I only want to eat one of them," Lin Yu pointed at the fish Phantom had brought, "This one."
It wasn't too big and looked relatively appealing.
Ka nodded and gathered the remaining fish, shrimp, shellfish, and other seafood into the sink.
"Then I'll prepare a grilled fish fillet for you..."
"As for the remaining ingredients, I won't take them for free."
After speaking, Ka took out a stack of "yellow tickets" from his chef's hat.
The small tickets were barely larger than fingernails, neatly stacked like postage stamps.
"What's this?" Lin Yu instinctively asked.
"Flavor Papers...you can consider them blessings from my master."
"At any time, you can use them to request food from my master. The more papers you offer, the higher the quality of food you may receive—though what you get is random."
"Of course...you can also use them to participate in banquet games hosted by my master," Ka explained.
"Based on the value of ingredients you provided—I grant you 99 Flavor Papers!"
With that, Ka handed Lin Yu a thick stack of the papers.
Lin Yu exhaled deeply.
"As expected, gathering more ingredients was the right move."
Though he didn't yet know the full use of Flavor Papers...
These things were definitely valuable.
[Flavor Papers: Paper coupons issued by a deity presiding over banquets. Hold them in your palm while silently reciting "delicacy" or related words to receive random food. There's a small chance to obtain food with beneficial effects, but also a slight probability of receiving "extremely dangerous" food.]
After Lin Yu received the Flavor Papers, the other players gradually returned.
Mosin-Nagant carried two medium-sized fish along with some Saucer Shrimp.
Phantom's bag had returned to its pre-robbery state.
Li Hua steadily brought a bag of squirming starfish "Cute Stars" and some unidentified shellfish.
Robin caught a large number of Transparent Fish.
It seemed almost everyone had realized that gathering more ingredients might be a good choice.
Except for Fish, that is.
This guy carried only one prey—
A ferocious-looking giant shark.
Its size was roughly three times that of Fish.
"This thing looks exceptionally strong...by the way, we don't have to eat everything we caught this time, right?"
"And it is edible, yes?"
Fish, who seemed to have just gone through an intense battle, asked seriously.
"Of course it's edible, and any excess can be exchanged for Flavor Papers with me," Ka replied cheerfully.
The same process that happened with Lin Yu repeated for everyone.
After removing inedible "ingredients," each person selected what they would eat, with the remainder converted into Flavor Papers.
Lin Yu also secretly noted everyone's Flavor Paper counts:
Radish: 32
Li Hua: 25
Mosin-Nagant: 37
Robin: 39
Phantom: 30
Fish came second only to Lin Yu, with 81.
Excluding Fish and Lin Yu, no one else surpassed Robin's count.
Their amounts didn't even reach half of what the top two held.
Especially Li Hua, who had the least.
While Mosin-Nagant, Phantom, and Radish falling short of Robin could be attributed to Lin Yu's robbery—
Why was Li Hua, the Gambler, at the very bottom?
Not even breaking the 30 mark!
This made Lin Yu wonder:
"Is this 'Gambler' just terribly unlucky, or is he genuinely bad at search-and-collect missions involving animals?"
Lin Yu couldn't be sure.
Regardless, Ka served everyone their customized, completely different [Side Dishes].
Lin Yu received grilled fish fillet.
Before Li Hua was baked starfish.
Radish got a seafood medley.
Mosin-Nagant was served steamed butterflied shrimp.
Robin's dish was sliced raw fish salad.
Phantom had pan-fried fish belly.
Fish enjoyed shark fin soup.
Since everyone already knew about the [Main Course], though each side dish was delicious, no one was in the mood to savor them slowly.
Only after finishing did they belatedly realize...
"I feel unprecedentedly energetic—my mind is exceptionally clear," Radish remarked in surprise.
Hearing this, the others also noticed the effect.
Lin Yu too felt his mental state was excellent—like the peak freshness of early morning.
Ka smiled and explained,
"Naturally, everyone. Every seafood here has the effect of 'restoring energy and sharpening the mind'...though the intensity varies by species."
"Through my cooking, their effects are maximized."
Ka then raised a tentacle toward the sky.
"After all, for the upcoming [Main Course] segment, as head chef and banquet host...I expect everyone to be fully alert!"
With that, the tables and chairs trembled again, slowly rising upward!
This time, the ascent wasn't accelerated—just a steady, leisurely pace through the cloud sea teeming with countless marvelous and delicious creatures.
Finally...
They breached the cloud layer, and everything suddenly became clear and bright!
The thick clouds now seemed to form a floor beneath their feet, surrounded by pristine, boundless blue skies.
Even the howling winds had ceased.
Ka gave a slight bow.
"Honored guests, we shall now partake in the [Main Course]."
"However, to taste the [Main Course], you must first participate in and win a banquet game."
"The winner gets to enjoy tonight's main dish."
"As for the losers...the penalty is severing two ropes."