The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 502 - 500: Mandatory Requirements

Chapter 502: Chapter 500: Mandatory Requirements

As this month’s schedule was packed, William had initially planned to visit the Circus but couldn’t make it,

This time, perhaps by jointly cooking in the kitchen, he would have a chance to talk with Mr. Rabbit, who was second only to the boss. Regarding the Physical aspect, William was very particular.

While following Jian to the kitchen, William curiously asked:

"Senior Jian, I heard that the Magic Banquet invites all major members of the Circus, so to ensure the freshness of the dishes, there must be requirements for simultaneous serving, right?

The time intervals must be limited within a certain range, correct?"

"Yes, the preparation of dishes for the Magic Banquet is mainly divided into two parts,

The first is ingredient preparation, which we can start as soon as we reach the kitchen.

The second is dish preparation, which must be completed between 17:45 and 18:00.

If there is a deviation in timing, the qualification to participate in the Magic Banquet will be revoked."

"Understood, but with so many people cooking together, can the kitchen accommodate everyone?"

"Don’t worry, the kitchen in the Magic Banquet Room will be adjusted according to the number of people, and the head chef will supervise the entire process to ensure there is no interference during meal preparation."

"Good."

This time heading to the kitchen wasn’t through a secret passage, but directly from the dining area where the Magic Banquet was held.

A large number of attendants, adorned as emotionless poker faces, were setting up the dining area,

not only arranging the tables but also placing fear-inducing, mood-regulating decorations in the diagonally adjacent niches,

like organ fake mountains, large intestine candles, crawling fingers, and more, each worthy of being called a Fear Collection.

However, what William cared more about was the banquet table, which was ’assembled’ using poker faces carrying age-old corpses.

Desiccated, stiff, and flat,

but upon closer observation, they didn’t quite resemble humans. Some skulls were elliptical, some bodies were elongated, resembling an alien species, yet they all had one common trait: a strong Aura of Fear emanated from them.

The poker faces assembled these corpses like playing a puzzle, slowly forming a long table,

Oddly enough, there were tables but no chairs.

William looked around and raised a question, "Haven’t the chairs been brought over yet?"

Jian explained nearby, "The chairs will be customized according to the Traits of the participants and will only be placed at the end; it’s still early."

"So I will also have a chair customized according to my Trait."

"I don’t know about that, for someone like you, William, such exceptions are rarely seen... Previously, any non-main participants in the Magic Banquet appeared directly on the table in the form of dishes, naturally, there was no need for chairs."

"Haha~" William could only respond with an awkward laugh.

"Let’s go, we should hurry... I have a bad feeling; today’s Magic Banquet seems a bit different."

The special passage connecting the kitchen to the banquet hall had opened after complete Disinfection, and William, still dressed in gentleman’s clothes, simply put on a chef’s apron and passed through the check.

"William!"

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he heard a familiar voice. Catherine, standing among the vegetable gardens with a basket in hand, was waving excitedly.

With Catherine’s loud call, the main members in the kitchen also turned their heads to look at this newcomer who had joined the Magic Banquet as an exception.

William felt embarrassed, realizing he was the last to arrive, "Um... has everyone arrived before me?"

At this moment, Jian also walked up, hand on his shoulder, "What else? The Magic Banquet is very important, I was just a bit late because of makeup needs."

As William and Jian, the last two participants, arrived,

a sound of Physical compression came from the incinerator area, and Chef Timi, his body wrapped in tongues, stepped out from the flames,

When his feet touched the kitchen floor, whoosh! His tongue armor quickly retracted, most of it pulling back into his body, and some accumulated in the breathing mask on his face.

Chef Timi held a peculiar syringe in one hand, still containing some special nutrients, resembling some kind of live eggs or larvae.

And in his other hand, he clutched a crystal pearl harboring primitive fear.

With a pop! the head chef crushed the pearl.

The overflowing primitive fear was immediately absorbed by the kitchen floor, instantly creating a sensation as if space itself was activated, or rather, as if the circus tent came to life.

The entire kitchen space immediately began to expand, and even new cooking equipment sprouted from the ground until it met the specifications for the number of participants.

Everyone was accustomed to this, only William was quite shocked,

He had just felt the awakening and writhing of some terrifying creature, a horrifying thought forming in his mind.

"Could it be that the ’Circus Tent’ is an interspatial creature fed by the boss, specially devouring fear?"

Clang, clang, clang!

Chef Timi, holding a steel spoon, tapped it against the pot lid, his clear sound drawing everyone’s attention.

"In the process of injecting nutrient liquid into the boss just now, I discussed something, today’s magic banquet will be slightly different.

The boss seems quite intrigued, so he added a temporary rule, requiring each participant to include ’meat’ in their dishes today.

The meat from the meat cabinet can be chosen by everyone, but you can only select one piece."

Those words caused Mr. Rabbit, Jian, and Art to slightly widen their eyes. Such a mandatory requirement had never appeared before, and although they were already familiar with handling meat, this sudden insertion of conditions would inevitably disrupt their cooking plans.

Jian immediately realized the origin of this rule, patting William’s shoulder lightly, "It seems, the head chef must have whispered about your cooking skills to the boss,

and added this rule temporarily just so you, a newcomer, wouldn’t steal the show at the magic banquet.

After all, most of us here are experienced with using meat."

William gave an awkward laugh, "Haha, that’s right... Is there anything I should be aware of when using meat?"

At this moment, Jian’s expression under his mask turned serious, "Chef Timi should teach you. From now on, I’ll focus on conceptualizing my dish and won’t be able to continue talking. William, you better do your best on your own."

"Yes..."

At present, the only ’Meat Cabinet’ in the kitchen was already crowded with members choosing their pieces of meat,

using a special Abyss Magic, Jian took a moderately sized piece of meat from the air and began preparing his dish.

As a newcomer, William naturally couldn’t rush forward or feel entitled to compete.

After everyone finished selecting, he slowly approached the mysterious and taboo meat cabinet, with only three pieces of meat left inside.

One piece was like fatty meat from the buttock, large and greasy,

one piece was only the size of a fingernail, and because it had been stored for a long time, the meat had aged and dried out.

Another piece was a moderately sized piece of meat, but it was oddly shaped with visible pores on the surface, even constantly sucking as if it was eager for external ’hair’ to penetrate it,

After hesitating for a moment, William still chose the somewhat bizarre, but appropriately sized piece of meat.

At this time, Catherine specifically walked by, glanced at the piece of meat in William’s hand, "William, you sure know how to pick... Teehee! I’m going to focus on my cooking, don’t bother me today, the sudden rule has made everyone very nervous."

"You rascal..."

When William arrived at his own cooking station, Chef Timi also came over.

"Since this is your first time handling ’Meat’, I need to remind you specifically, the ’scalp meat’ you’ve chosen is rather difficult to handle and also the most dangerous type of meat.

Even with so many people in the kitchen, you still need to watch out for hairs that might get into the meat. If any hair penetrates the meat, not only will you be disqualified, but you will also face severe punishment.

Furthermore, there must be absolutely no waste when processing the raw material. The final product’s meat retention must not be less than 90%.

You better take a quick look at this ’Physical Meat Handling Handbook’; don’t make any mistakes in the process of handling the meat."

"Okay!"

William took the black booklet, unlike the other circus members who were writing recipes, collecting ingredients, or making other preparations,

he first wrapped the chosen scalp meat with his clothes, began reading the book on the chopping board, and while learning about meat handling, he started designing a brand new dish.