Universe Infinite Canteen

Every person in the classroom felt shocked upon hearing this, as many of them were locals from Ping City and had heard about Hou De's dire financial situation over the years. Particularly some time ago, it was said that representatives from the railway bank's Ping City branch had blocked the entrance to the school, demanding the return of loans and even planning to sell the school buildings to the Salt Gang to be converted into an opium den. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the school would have enough money to charter planes? Remembering Cao Youyi's earlier promise that as an instructor at Hou De, salaries would be paid in full and on time, and that there would be bonuses for good performance, quite a few people started to value this job opportunity even more. But this test question was quite difficult to answer. Winning over Lingnan in a week was simply impossible. The fat man in the blue vest remained deep in thought, while on the other side, a man in military uniform with phoenix eyes had already picked up a pen and began to write furiously. Ma Lu had seen the new instructor candidates and, after leaving the test questions, went to the scientific research laboratory to check on the last week's research achievements. Both the "Catastrophe Forecast" and "Surrounded" scientific research techniques had been unlocked. Now, teachers and students at Hou De not only had their spiritual power and physical strength halved in the disaster belt but also came with a debuff named "Panicked." When making combat decisions and implementing actions, there was a 20% chance of error. In exchange, the yield of education points had increased by fivefold. Not bad! Ma Lu was quite satisfied with the current rate of education point production. And his recent luck had been really good, this time stumbling upon a Level 3 Disaster Zone. Ma Lu was also aware that the disaster zones near Ping City would not be enough for his sweeping raids. The good news was that Ping City had an airport, so Ma Lu instructed Cao Youyi that any disaster zone within reach of a flight could be applied for. This week, Cao Youyi had secured a new Disaster Zone that had cropped up in Hanjiang City. Ma Lu glanced at the information in the "Catastrophe Forecast" and compared it with the data from the Talisman Master Association. The "Catastrophe Forecast" was noticeably more detailed, not only more accurate in time, giving intervals accurate to the hour, much stronger than the Jiulong Instrument's vague "this month," "soon," and the like. In addition, the information on monsters and bosses inside the disaster zones was richer, including weaknesses, names, approximate numbers, abilities, and recommended talismanic magic. For example, in the Disaster Zone they were about to visit, there were small creatures known as Picture People hiding in photographs. They would take advantage of the unsuspecting to jump out and attack passersby, dragging their souls into the pictures, and those trapped inside were unable to escape on their own. If rescuers from outside didn't act in time, the souls would be forever trapped in the photographs, becoming another Picture Person, leaving behind only a foolish husk. However, knowing their tactics made them much less difficult to deal with. All one had to do was to cover them up with an object when they came out to pull someone, preventing them from seeing light and returning to the photo; after thirty minutes, they would naturally disperse. The Item Retrieving Talisman was most suitable for dealing with them. Ma Lu also required every teacher and student at Hou De to carry a bowl with them this time. When encountering Picture People, they would use bowls to trap them; if they saw a fellow student being captured, even from a distance, they could use the Item Retrieving Talisman to send the bowl over to rescue them. Even with a 20% chance of the spell failing, the numerical advantage would make up for it. The troublesome part was the final boss, a camera Lord that, once it photographed someone, would absorb their soul onto the film. Ma Lu stuck to his old methods, exchanging for a "Copy Cookie" at the mall before using the "Copy Cookie" to duplicate the Item Retrieving Talisman. He engaged in a fierce shootout with that camera. Whenever it took a picture, Ma Lu used the Item Retrieving Talisman to hurl nearby tables and chairs in its way, blocking its lens. But that camera was truly badass; it didn't have many shutter releases yet managed to take several thousand photos and still could take more. However, this time it encountered an opponent whose standby time was just as fearfully long—Ma Lu, who had inherited the spirit and physical strength of most of the school's teachers and students, battled the camera for a full forty minutes. After chewing through four "Copy Cookies," he finally caused the camera to overheat. Ma Lu seized the opportunity while it couldn't take more pictures to rush up with a backdrop and wrap it up tightly. Yet, the camera, worthy of being a Third-level Disaster Zone Lord, was very tough, withstanding the full force output from all of Hou De's teachers and students for five minutes without breaking down. Moreover, since it wasn't a food ingredient, the Chef's Knife couldn't hurt it. Once its temperature had cooled down, it was ready to burst out of the backdrop and make a comeback. At the critical moment, Ma Lu had a stroke of genius and lured another Picture Person from the photo studio to catch it, and in the final moment, Ma Lu dodged with his agile body. He then pushed the adjacent camera toward the Picture Person, who ended up taking the camera back into the photo. Half an hour later, the camera completely turned into a Picture Person version of the camera. Ma Lu hooked it out of the photo again and covered it with a bowl, this time annihilating it. The fight was quite thrilling, although the Mutated Disaster Zone Lord dealt with last week also had Level 3 power, those with health bars were not as brutal as those playing without rules. Fortunately, the outcome was quite nice in the end—Hou De's teachers and students once again demonstrated strong resilience and unity, clearing the Third-level Disaster Zone without any casualties. But for some reason, after the battle ended, many students cried, collapsing on the ground with vacant eyes. Ma Lu figured they were probably moved, shedding tears of excitement for having overcome a powerful foe once again—at any rate, it couldn't be because they had been scared. Even if it was, that was okay; these students all signed a pact with the school when they enrolled, virtually selling themselves to Hou De—if they stopped studying at Hou De, other schools couldn't take them in. Unless they completely gave up on becoming Talisman Masters, they would still have to follow Ma Lu, the principal, to clear out Disaster Zones. After a satisfying battle, having dealt with a respectable opponent, it was time for the exhilarating harvest phase. As usual, Ma Lu called Qiutong to supervise, telling the other teachers and students not to look back. He hummed the little tune of tallying up and, carrying the Chef's Knife, walked forward to dig up the tree opposite him that was laden with film canisters. Looking at the fruit, Ma Lu initially thought it was a pear tree, but according to the Traveler's Bracelet's scan result, it was actually an avocado tree. Alright, avocados are technically pears too. Just like the "Safe House Apple," this "Film Avocado" was also a six-star ingredient. Ma Lu didn't know why these nomadic fruits were all so weirdly shaped—it must be because wandering through different planes was too dangerous, so they tried to make themselves look inedible. Fortunately, the few varieties Ma Lu had tried before tasted quite good after being processed by Old Wang. Plus, after the baptism of several planes, his tolerance for the appearance of ingredients had grown much higher. As long as it had stars, he wanted to taste what it was like.