Chapter 164: The Plateau’s Extinction

Chapter 164: The Plateau's Extinction

This appears to be a small, log-colored building leaning backward, with the entire house seemingly cut off at the deck.

The building is quite large, taking up two-thirds of the raft's area, higher in the front and lower in the back. The exterior walls are made of logs, giving the building an abstract look. The building has two floors. The first floor resembles a semi-open booth area, with the front featuring log-colored walls paired with large floor-to-ceiling glass panels in an open foyer, without a main door, allowing direct access inside.

This booth area does not feel cramped. The walls on both sides are floor-to-ceiling glass, featuring the main characteristics of a commercial raft: good lighting and great views.

Inside, there are two double booths and one four-person booth, with two raft point exchange machines beside the booths. The design is simple but has a rustic and fresh feel. Compared to the name "snack store," Shu Fu felt this place was more like a casual dining bar.

Further inside the booth area, there is a bathroom in the middle, with stairs on both sides. One set of stairs leads upward, turning backward to the raft owner's living space, while the other set leads downward, passing through an open deck, directly to the area below the deck.

Hua Qiong followed Shu Fu's advice and first went upstairs to the living space to retrieve the electronic screen inside the door, then the two headed towards the other set of stairs.

Shu Fu had only descended a few steps when she saw the shimmering water light coming from below—this was actually an underwater shop!

The bottom should be a compressed space, but since it's only a primary set, it's not very large, estimated to be around 50 square meters. It looks delicate and compact, with log flooring and ceiling, creating a warm tone. The surrounding walls are all floor-to-ceiling glass, with electric blinds inside. Although the blinds are currently down, they are all open, which is why the shimmering water light was visible upon descent.

After discovering that the shop's official business area was in the underwater space below the deck, Shu Fu realized that the upper booth area was more like a waiting area, or a backup dining spot for guests who might not be comfortable with an underwater restaurant. This was the real dining area of the shop.

From the direction of the stairs, one could see two sets of rectangular tables and chairs by each glass wall, seating four people each. By the glass wall near the stairs, there was another set of tables and chairs. Since they were all by the glass walls, guests could choose to close or raise the blinds.

Additionally, in the middle of the shop, there was a slightly larger round table, suitable for group dining.

The kitchen was by the glass wall opposite the stairs, the first log-walled compartment, with a horizontal serving counter on the front wall and a door on the side.

The kitchen was divided into two parts, with another door in the middle. The inner room was a storage area, with two large freezers and refrigerators, convenient for storing ingredients that needed refrigeration or freezing, allowing other companions without backpack slots to help themselves. There were also many shelves and several staff lockers.

The outer room was the kitchen area, looking different from a typical kitchen, with only one cooking stove. Next to it was a long row of machines resembling cabinets, each with a display screen.

There was also a Western-style island counter with matching high stools for resting, looking more like a relaxation area than a workspace. On another counter nearby, all kitchen appliances and utensils were fully equipped.

Hua Qiong carefully examined the utensils here. Since it was a shop built on a raft, all the dishes, cups, and other utensils were made of a hard metal, likely stainless steel but more attractive, with a matte finish, neatly stored in several large drawers.

The kitchen appliances were also fixed to the cabinets or countertops, like those in a caravan kitchen, ensuring they wouldn't shake or fall during occasional large waves.

Additionally, there was a display screen on the inner wall of the serving counter, and on the outer walls of the kitchen, there were also display screens on both sides.

After studying the electronic screen in her hand, Hua Qiong was surprised to find that this was a fully automatic kitchen!

**

The side of the machine that resembled a cabinet could be opened, revealing a meal learning area, an ingredient input box, and a dish placement area.

This machine could currently simulate learning ten dishes. By placing a finished dish in the learning area and clicking to set a record on the display screen, the machine would record the dish's taste, portion, and preparation method.

Then, by placing all the required ingredients and seasoning packets in the ingredient input box, the machine would automatically start from washing and complete the preparation, with the final product appearing in the machine's serving area.

Of course, the machine could not only record but also delete a recorded dish and replace it with a new one.

For example, Hua Qiong first stir-fried a dish of green pepper and potato shreds, then placed this dish in the meal learning area, opened the screen to let the machine simulate learning.

After a certain period, the machine would display that the dish had been recorded. Then she could find this dish on the display screen at any time. When she wanted to prepare it, as long as the ingredient input box contained potatoes, green peppers, salad oil, and salt, she could directly click on the screen, select to confirm preparation, and the number of servings needed. The machine would automatically complete all subsequent processes, and after a certain time, new plates of green pepper and potato shreds would appear in the serving area.

The time for this simulation learning and serving depended on the complexity of the dish, the number of ingredients, and the number of servings required.

For example, making a bowl of bubble wontons would definitely be more complex, as it requires many ingredients: pork, flour, chicken, salt, chicken essence, scallions, ginger... The pork needs to be made into minced meat, the chicken into chicken broth, and the flour into wonton wrappers. Comparatively, it would take more time, but overall, it would be much shorter than purely manual preparation.

Most importantly, with this machine, Hua Qiong could effortlessly stockpile some dishes during non-business hours, allowing for quick sales and serving during business hours.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this is that the shop must have water and electricity.

The functions of the other three screens are almost identical; they are the daily menu display screens. After opening them, you can configure the store's menu, set the prices and points, and upload images of the food. Additionally, each page will automatically display the snack store operator's wristband QR code.

The two external screens function as a dynamic menu. When guests come in, they just need to view the menu, scan the QR code to order, and pay the points after confirming. Then, the prepared dishes will appear on the display screen inside the kitchen.

Those working in the kitchen, after preparing the food, need to click to confirm the order after the dish is prepared. After that, the snack store system will automatically display a notification on the guest's wristband, and they can then come to pick up their food accordingly.

The entire process is somewhat reminiscent of the bubble wonton shop Hua Qiong used to run. When the shop was busy, after ordering and receiving a number, guests would need to pick up their food from the pickup window.

Chopsticks, spoons, chili, green onions, cilantro, and other seasoning packets are prepared next to the pickup counter, and guests can help themselves.

This snack store, aside from the surprise of its location and the kitchen, is remarkably similar to the wonton shop Hua Qiong used to manage, especially the pickup counter, which gives her a sense of familiarity.

She carefully touched every appliance and item in the kitchen, her eyes welling up slightly.

She turned toward Shu Fu, her voice quivering slightly, "Thank you."

Besides "thank you," she really didn’t know what else to say.

Shu Fu smiled at her without saying much more and led her to check out the living space upstairs. It was a two-bedroom, one-living room space of about seventy square meters, with basic furniture and all essential household items.

What differed from her daughter’s Planting House was that this residence was upstairs, with balconies on both sides, enclosed with glass but with excellent lighting.

Hua Qiong could easily imagine spreading out a blanket, placing a rocking chair, and planting a few beautiful flowers. When they bloomed, she could sit here with her daughter, gazing out at the boundless ocean—how cozy and comfortable that would be.

Probably because this is also a commercial raft, there were solar panels on the roof for electricity, though unfortunately, there was no compressed water tank.

Fortunately, Shu Fu now had plenty of towing space. She took out the newly drawn "Water Resource" raft card, activated it, and placed it in position 9, while the original shelter raft in position 9 automatically moved to position 10.

It just so happened that the shelter didn’t have 24-hour purified water, so now it could be supplied as well.

Afterward, Hua Qiong’s raft was also given the last sharing function: power supply.

Now, the power supply for the Drift Island House is allocated for eight hours a day, which should be sufficient even if Hua Qiong runs the snack store. The solar panels can keep the refrigerators and freezers running during power outages.

Currently, the snack store can hire two employees, one for the front desk and one for the back kitchen.

The store saves the effort of taking orders and delivering food, but someone still needs to be at the front to clean up the dishes and take care of the trash. As for the used dishes and bowls, there is a large automatic dishwashing machine in the kitchen, which can automatically wash, disinfect, and dry them as long as there is water and electricity.

As for the back kitchen, with the automatic food preparation area, Hua Qiong can handle it all by herself. As long as she carefully selects and studies ten reasonably matched dishes, she’ll be fine.

So, she feels that as long as she hires one more person, they can open for business smoothly.

Unfortunately, there is currently a shortage of people on the raft. Among the newcomers, the only young and capable person left without a job is Liu Zhen.

Hiring staff is something that requires their willingness to work. For example, Xu Jiechu would rather learn combat skills than work a shift. Even his own brother couldn’t convince him, so others couldn’t force him either.

In the end, Hua Qiong thought about writing a help-wanted notice by hand and posting it in the open seating area on the deck. With the limited raft space, everyone would come over to check out the new raft structure when they got up, and they would see the notice then.

Currently, she is hiring for front desk staff, with no special requirements, offering free meals, and setting the workdays at five days a week. This means that even when the snack store opens, Hua Qiong will only operate it for five days a week, unlike before when she worked 365 days a year non-stop.

After completing the towing and upgrading the set, Shu Fu returned to the Drift Island House. She was curious about the red first prize she won again in her ten consecutive draws. She now had three upgrade set gift pack cards to use.

**

Out of curiosity, she tried it on the function screen. As before, a list of available rafts would pop up for her to choose from.

This time, the list showed: 1. Chen Fa’s raft; 2. Hua Qiong’s raft; 3. Liu Shuang’s raft.

The first two names were within her expectations. She estimated that after using the cards, both Chen Fa’s and Hua Qiong’s stores would be stocked with various ingredients, filling up the currently empty shelves, fridges, and freezers.

But can the gift package for the Drift Island House really be used for the Shelter House too?

What would happen if she actually used it?

She thought that once there were actual evacuees living in the Shelter House, she could discuss it with Liu Shuang and maybe try using the accompanying gift package card.

Thinking this, Shu Fu went to have some breakfast and then began her new day of rescue activities.

The official rescue operations were 24 hours long, as the personnel could take turns, but when the weather suddenly turned severe, the regular boats had to temporarily halt their operations.

As for the raft of the person with special abilities, it could handle ordinary severe weather conditions. Even if the owner of the raft needed to sleep, the rescue team members could board it and continue assisting with the rescue work.

The rescue personnel and the survivors could stay in the container houses for shelter, and they could also operate the additional marine engines or sails on the raft.

Shu Fu wasn't afraid of severe weather, but she had to rest because only she could operate the Drift Island House. So, she had been very busy these past two days, spending all her time, except for the seven to eight hours of sleep, maneuvering the raft between the Ruined City and the huge ships.

As for the companions on the raft, they had been curious and nervous during the initial rescues, watching everything closely. However, after realizing they couldn't help but also wouldn't get in the way, they went back to their respective tasks and lives.

**

By the evening of that day, when the Shelter House arrived inside the huge ship with another batch of survivors and unloaded all the personnel, Shu Fu, standing on the terrace of the Drift Island House, suddenly heard the air-raid sirens ringing in the surroundings.

Her first reaction was that the unique shape of the Shelter House had finally attracted official attention and that someone was taking it seriously, inspecting all the rafts of the persons with special abilities to confirm that this strangely shaped round house raft did not belong to their official rescue team.

But soon, she dismissed this guess. If it were just for her raft, they wouldn't have sounded such a high-level air-raid siren. Wouldn't it be better to just send a few team members with guns to surround the Shelter House?

She walked to the railing, looking around, and soon noticed that the rescue personnel on the nearby ships were also on high alert. They stood up, listening intently to the air-raid sirens echoing inside and outside the huge ship, and soon showed grave expressions. After exchanging a few words, they began urging the survivors still on the boats to quickly board the ship.

The survivors were also tense. Like Shu Fu, they had heard the air-raid sirens but didn't know exactly what they meant.

There had been nasty weather in this area over the past few days, causing rescue boats to be briefly halted, and the time when they were supposed to board the ships was delayed. However, even with all this, no one had heard of the huge ships sounding the air-raid sirens.

W-what could be coming? Is some big disaster coming?

The survivors already on the huge ships also heard the drawn-out, ear-piercing sound of the air-raid sirens coming from two ships simultaneously. The noise made their eardrums buzz, and their hearts started to race uncontrollably.

The survivors who had been separated into different cabins on the huge ships all rushed to the windows, crowding around and looking through the double-layered glass. It was said that the window glass on the ships was made from submarine glass, highly durable, highly transparent, and able to withstand the intense pressure of the deep sea.

Because of this, to conserve materials, some of the windows in certain cabins on the ships were made very small.

At this moment, so many people were crowded around the windows, but no one could figure out what was happening outside.

They could only see that the boats and rafts that had been moving orderly between the huge ships and the land had started to accelerate. The boats closest to the huge ships skimmed across the water’s surface, not caring about the rough waves, quickly rushing toward the opening below the huge ships.

Meanwhile, the boats and rafts still in shallow waters turned back, rapidly heading toward higher ground to the north. Under the guidance of the rescue team members, they quickly disembarked and found solid shelters on land.

From above the huge ships, more than a dozen helicopters took off simultaneously, heading toward the ruined city to sound air-raid sirens across the region.