Manpower shortage.
Before, Zhang Wei might have worried about this, but now that the First Taste had been developed, Zhang Wei could increase the number of cell awakening individuals by tens of thousands daily if needed.
With just a little training...
Speaking of training, he had just signed a contract with the Black List, and their training camp should be established on the Great Glacier soon.
It was estimated that the first batch of students alone would exceed three thousand.
However, the Black List's training had a high casualty rate, and it was estimated that only a few hundred would survive in the end.
"Speaking of which, stealing ingredients is also the Black List's old trade!"
Mo Du had originally come from an affiliated organization of the Black List, the Heavenly Thieves Alliance.
Chu Xiang, the manager of the Heavenly Thieves Alliance, was also an old acquaintance of Zhang Wei, who was later avenged by Mo Du for betrayal and selling him out.
A few days ago, Scorpion had come to pledge his loyalty, so it was a good time to get some people from them.
With such a large organization as the Black List, bringing in one or two thousand people shouldn't be a problem, right?
Afterward, Lola led Zhang Wei to the warehouse.
After a brief count of the items.
Zhang Wei stored all the ingredients in the Treasure Hall.
Lola was very envious, her eyes burning as she said, "Space equipment is so convenient. Even ten or a hundred ships can't compare!"
"Chef Zhang Wei, are you collecting ingredients to cross the ocean and sell them to the North Continent?"
"Using spatial equipment and scarce attributes to shuttle ingredients between the two places and earn the price difference?"
This was easy to figure out.
It was also a normal profit model.
However, Lola did not know that all the ingredients she sold were perfect products from the Treasure Hall!
Zhang Wei had only casually increased the capture level by 7-10 levels. From a nutritional perspective, however, they were not inferior to ingredients of higher levels.
Zhang Wei's reason for selling them in different places was simply to avoid being recognized as the prototype of perfect-grade ingredients.
After storing all the ingredients in the Treasure Hall, Zhang Wei left behind ingredients worth 300 million. The sales channels in Leningrad had already been opened and were still growing rapidly.
It was estimated that the daily sales would reach about 2 million within ten days.
"Warm Port!"
"Take me to Sichuan Chengdu!"
...
Chengdu.
The chefs of Kikuka-tei were ready. With the strong promotion from the observation group, there were about 400 people who would officially go this time.
If each of them was used like a donkey, it would be enough to supply food for eighty thousand people.
Before leaving, Shao An walked up to Master Abe and said, "Master, these are ingredients I brought from the Great Glacier. They are rare in the initial continent. In the entire Kikuka-tei, I only trust you to bring out their perfect flavor."
"Shao An... be careful there, take good care of yourself, and write to me if you need anything."
Looking at Master Abe, Shao An was speechless.
He could only nod and say, "Master, you too. Wait for me to return after I've learned a lot, and then I'll challenge you."
Watching Shao An enter the Warm Port.
Master Abe said softly, "Actually, you are the one truly suited to inherit Kikuka-tei..."
Returning to the Northern Territory.
After arranging the chefs, Zhang Wei announced that he would go into seclusion to research new recipes.
During this period, the ingredients collected by several merchant guilds and their affiliated powers were increasing, piling up like a mountain every day.
Now, Zhang Wei only needed to stay at home and immerse his mind in the Treasure Hall, collecting frantically every day.
Opening the ledger.
225 new level 1 ingredients...
135 new level 2 ingredients...
155 new level 3 ingredients...
...
73 new level 10 ingredients...
...
45 new level 15 ingredients...
...
31 new level 20 ingredients...
...
27 new level 25 ingredients...
"According to intelligence, among the known ingredients from level 1 to 7, excluding extinct or pending extinction species, the Great Glacier has collected over 45%!"
"The other ingredients either require time to accumulate or have harsh acquisition conditions, but all known ingredients have been included in the plan!"
"More ingredients are stored in the East, South, and West continents."
"As long as three more branches are established, the plan to collect all ingredients in the human world can be initiated!"
"Just imagine... all the ingredients in the entire human world... and when everything is in order, all the ingredients in the gourmet world will also be collected by me!"
National Chef!
Inside the Treasure Hall, Zhang Wei could also summon the power of the National Chef, although the visual effect was weaker.
[Detected Capturable Ingredient: Chocolate Cicada]
[Capture Level: 1]
[Description: They emerge from the soil during the warm season and feed on cocoa branches and leaves, accumulating a large amount of cocoa butter in their bodies. They mature in three years, and the entire chocolate cicada will transform into an edible state.]
Chocolate cicadas are similar to ice cream bees. As long as the inedible thorax and limbs are removed, leaving the plump abdomen, the collection is complete.
It can be considered one of the easiest ingredients to collect.
Flash of knives!
Using the power of the National Chef, Zhang Wei made 23 consecutive cuts, stripping the entire chocolate cicada.
These 23 cuts took only 0.3 seconds, so fast that the limbs of the stripped chocolate cicada had not yet fallen onto the table.
"So this is the structure."
"If I cut in a circular motion along the spine towards the gaps on both sides, and use a pineapple cut at the connection of the carapace and six legs, I can save at least 11 cuts!"
Once again!
0.17 seconds!
The speed was almost doubled!
Third one!
Fourth one!
He slammed the table, and the phản lực sent all the chocolate cicadas flying. Zhang Wei began to dance in the air.
Flashes of phantom light, and collection prompts rained down like snowflakes!
[Collection Complete: Chocolate Cicada]
[Replication Time: 1 day]
...
[Collection Complete: Chocolate Cicada]
[Replication Time: 1 day]
...
No time for hesitation.
Zhang Wei immediately proceeded to the second one!
[Horned Rhino]
[Capture Level: 19]
[Habitat: Legal Island White Forest]
[Description: A terrifying creature capable of destroying a skyscraper with a single charge, covered in countless sturdy rhino horns from head to back. Adult male rhinos weigh over 20 tons and stand over 3 meters at the shoulder!]
A rare large creature!
Unlike the small guys weighing a few pounds before, this thing weighed twenty tons, while an ordinary Ice Field Yak weighed less than three tons.
First step: Anesthesia.
Zhang Wei headbutted it, knocking the strong Horned Rhino unconscious.
Second step: Bleeding.
Cutting the throat with a curved knife and splitting it downwards along the chest and abdomen can speed up bleeding.
The blood must be drained before the heart stops, otherwise, blood accumulation will affect the taste of the Horned Rhino meat.
Third step: Skinning.
The hide of the Horned Rhino is valuable, but it has no culinary value for Zhang Wei.
Fourth step: Internal organs.
The offal, such as liver, lungs, and connective tissues, can all be used to research cooking methods and develop distinctive dishes.
Fifth step: Dismantling.
Cutting along the joints, each separated limb has a completely different handling method.
Fifth step: Butchering.
The most important step, but some skeletal muscles are intentionally left behind. Bones with a slight trace of meat are perfect bones.
Fifth step: Marrow extraction.
The Horned Rhino's spine is particularly strong to support its massive body and all its horns.
After removing the overgrown horns, open them along the joints one by one and extract the transparent, paste-like substance inside.
This is also the most delicious part of the entire Horned Rhino.
After busy for half an hour, Zhang Wei couldn't remember how many cuts he made on this single bull. The main reason was that the movements required for such a large creature were very large.
The placement of bones and meat also took time.
[Collection Complete: Horned Rhino]
[Replication Time: 55 days]
Although the time consumed was long, the returns were also good.
The collection time for a single chocolate cicada was only 0.3 seconds, but it only yielded about 300 grams of chocolate.
The Horned Rhino, on the other hand, not only had a large amount of meat, bones, and internal organs, but also highly valuable rhino horns, which could be used for art processing.
The high-quality meat of the Horned Rhino was about 800 kilograms, which could be sold at a high price of over 160 Beli. The secondary meat was also nutritious but might have a slightly inferior taste, selling for only about 75 Beli, but the yield could be over 8 tons.
Relative to the cost of time, the value created by collecting these large creatures was higher.
"However, for me, what I want more is the complete collection of all ingredients!"
There were still many Horned Rhinos...
Afterward, Zhang Wei discovered many ingredients that only existed in the original work.
Artificially raised White Fur Cinderella Cows, capture level one, but their taste grade far exceeded that of Ice Field Yaks. More than half of their meat was extremely high-quality snowflake beef, and it contained a high amount of collagen, making it very popular among women.
A total of 150 of them!
Striped Salmon, Almond Cabbage, Bacon Leaf, Piano Lobster...
These items were all artificially cultivated and were in sufficient quantities.
Among them, the caviar from Striped Salmon was famous in the human world and was also synonymous with good quality and low price. However, high-grade caviar was more often made from sturgeon roe.
In the original work, Bacon Leaf and Rainbow Fruit were a perfect match, and Zhang Wei had never tried it.
Pork Belly Tofu, Fart Bug, Black Grass, Cocoa Yolk Tree Grass, Creamy Matsutake, Soy Sauce Grasshopper...
Among them, Soy Sauce Grasshoppers stored high-grade soy sauce in their backs. The older the adult, the better the taste. However, Zhang Wei had only obtained larvae, and their capture level did not exceed three.
Bear Horse, Terror Bird, Phantom Hood, Rock Drum, Zebra Gorilla...
These, like the Horned Rhino, were extremely powerful monsters with huge bodies and destructive power, and their yield was sometimes not high.
For example, the Rock Drum, with a capture level of 26, was captured by 40 high-level gourmet hunters from the Great Glacier due to their gregarious nature.
The meat of the Rock Drum was very scarce and not tasty, but its rock-like shell was a perfect marble material, comparable in price to gemstones.
In the original work, a certain character once kicked the protagonist group tens of kilometers away.
Demon Crocodile, Purple Horn, Two-Faced Dragon, Swamp Fish, Eight-Headed Snail, Crocodile Dragon, Phantom Bird Lupin, Snake Rock, Guarana Eel...
Familiar names appeared before Zhang Wei one after another.
These small piles were quite concentrated original ingredients that were rarely seen before.
"It seems to be... a specialty of Legal Island!"
"According to the map in the original work, this should be a specialty of the West Continent."
Unfolding the map, Legal Island in the original work was indeed on the West Continent!
"West Continent... the territory of the Forge Mountain Villa Merchant Guild. Speaking of which, I should also contact these merchant guilds in the human world."
It was worth noting that in the human world's delicacies in the original work, Legal Island's Legal Mammoth was the most shining element.
The Gem Meat produced by the Legal Mammoth was even superior to the Jelly Deer of Wolf Valley, truly a treasure among meats.
Even Legal Island was named after the Legal Mammoth, which showed its influence.
...
...
A month passed quickly...
Inside the Treasure Hall, time had already approached a year.
Without the time advantage brought by the Treasure Hall, Zhang Wei would not have had enough time to process so many ingredients.
With the latest addition of over a thousand types of ingredients, the number of perfect collectibles increased, and the daily output of the Treasure Hall reached at least 3 billion.
With such a quantity, even with Zhang Wei's astonishing appetite, he could not consume even one percent of it.
"The quantity is increasing."
"Once the replication time for an ingredient becomes one day, it will not shorten further. However, the compensation is that after each collection, it will be amplified by one-tenth of the size of the collected item."
"In other words, for one kilogram of potatoes, the perfect-grade replica will increase in size by 0.1 kilograms each time."
"Ten replications can double the original mass."
Zhang Wei sighed, "Although it's calculated by percentage, the original size of the collection is also very important. One-tenth of a Horned Rhino and one-tenth of a Chocolate Cicada are worlds apart."
Stretching his arms.
During this month, Zhang Wei's mind had been mostly in the Treasure Hall, and he felt that the muscles of this body were about to wither.
Exiting the warm storage.
The familiar bone-chilling wind swept across his face.
The Gourmet Bank had already taken initial shape. The new Great Glacier was ten times larger than before. The ice blocks used were all made by melting snow and water in the warm storage and then uniformly pouring them. The firewood consumed in this process was astronomical.
The foundation of the affiliated academy had been completed half a month ago, and a castle-like architectural complex was rising from the ground. One hundred thousand laborers were sweating day and night.
If Zhang Wei needed to speed up the progress, he only needed to increase manpower. Currently, one hundred thousand people were sufficient, so Zhang Wei had formulated a series of work plans.
Including laborers working two shifts a day, four hours per shift.
And arranging four delicious meals.
This way, although the working hours were reduced, the laborers' efficiency was higher, and they were enthusiastic about their work every day.
Workers...
If the horse isn't fed, how can it run?
But if there were those who slacked off and were lazy, Xifeng's supervision was not for show.
Xifeng descended from the sky, and in just a few days, his level had increased from 36 to 38.
"Xifeng, you've been enjoying yourself lately."
"Hehe, it's really that the chefs of Kikuka-tei have such good skills. Those spicy Sichuan dishes are a perfect match for the ice and snow."
Zhang Wei changed the subject and spoke about the matter of Legal Island.
The huge quantities of Rock Drums, Demon Crocodiles, and Purple Horns were all specialties of Legal Island.
Xifeng said, "These were purchased from the west coast. It cost quite a price back then. It's said they were from a merchant caravan from the West Continent."
"Oh... it's a pity your cargo is missing one item."
Xifeng was shocked and cried out in grievance, "Boss, I've been working diligently for the past six months, never daring to sleep in, and I've been loyal to you. I've never embezzled anything!"
"I'm not talking about embezzlement, but that this batch of goods is missing a top-quality item."
Anything that Zhang Wei would covet was not ordinary. Xifeng quickly asked.
"What exactly is this top-quality item?"