Chapter 71: The Upgraded Kitchen and Bedroom!
The kitchen upgrade, of course, was not limited to just the stovetop.
Overall, the kitchen was rectangular.
The range and the prep counter ran along one of the “long sides,” which directly faced the glass service window on the opposite wall.
Abutting this stretch, at the far end of the “short side” of the kitchen, a stainless-steel reach-in unit had been added.
Ling Jing opened the glass door and found it was a dual-temperature combination cabinet—one side refrigerated, the other frozen.
It was standard commercial kitchen storage, and remarkably spacious.
With her system rewards, she never had to worry about freshness; neither raw ingredients nor cooked dishes would ever spoil.
However… certain recipes and prep steps strictly required chilling or freezing.
It would definitely come in handy.
The corner between the dual-temp cabinet and the prep counter was bridged by a two-tiered stainless-steel worktable of matching height.
Ling Jing swept her eyes over it and saw that the automated vegetable slicer and skewer machine, which used to sit directly on the counter, were now tucked onto the lower shelf. The fit was seamless.
With everything neatly stowed, the kitchen felt open, clean, and uncluttered.
High above the two-tiered table, a double-decker wall shelf had been mounted, anchored between the wall and the top of the dual-temp cabinet.
It was deep enough for condiment crocks, allowing her to store jars and bottles without eating into her usable prep counter space.
On the kitchen’s other “long side”—the wall with the service window:
To the left of the window stood a wire rack holding steel sheet pans; to the right rested two massive stainless-steel stockpots used for simmering the Malatang broth.
Both sides had room to spare.
Ling Jing eyed the empty space beside the wire rack. It looked large enough for a sizable dish cabinet.
The floor space next to the soup vats was generous as well, leaving plenty of room for future planning.
Along the remaining “short side” wall sat two heavy-duty trash bins for kitchen refuse.
Next to the bins was a sturdy tall cupboard.
Its depth aligned flush with the doorframe.
The doors leading out to the dining area, the back bedroom, and the dry storage were closest to this corner.
Square daylight panels overhead illuminated the entire kitchen, making it bright and airy.
She even felt there was enough floor space in the center for an island prep table.
There was no rush, though. She was running the kitchen solo, and current business didn’t demand that level of staging yet.
Taking in the entire layout, Ling Jing could not help marveling that this Rapid Upgrade Gift Pack was far more than just “not bad.”
It had not only expanded the square footage, but also upgraded an array of remarkably practical core facilities.
No wonder it had previously been designated only as a “Rudimentary Restaurant.” This back-of-house now easily met the standards of a “Standard Restaurant”—and then some.
Worth it. Utterly and completely worth it.
This only solidified Ling Jing’s resolve to keep pushing her daily turnover higher.
Pacing herself step-by-step only yielded the system’s stingy milestone bundles, while rapid upgrades delivered pleasant surprises stacked upon pleasant surprises.
A flash of inspiration struck, and she turned toward the back door of the kitchen.
If memory served… the living quarters upgraded in tandem with the primary business entity.
Ling Jing pushed the bedroom door open—sure enough, the room had grown.
Her ninety-centimeter-wide cot, which had resembled a cramped university dorm bunk, had widened to a proper 1.2-meter single bed.
A bed this size made sleeping far more comfortable; she could curl up on her side without worrying about her toes hanging over the edge and inviting a ghost to play tricks on her.
Beside the bed, the boxy wooden desk had been replaced with an ergonomic curved workstation.
The wooden stool had become an upholstered swivel chair in crisp white, complete with lumbar support.
Next to the curved desk sat an armchair, and a simple magazine rack was mounted to the wall, slotted with two newspapers.
Intrigued, Ling Jing walked over and slipped out one of the papers.
Would it carry news from her old world, or intelligence regarding this apocalyptic wasteland?
Issue No. 432112: System Mall Monthly
“Top 10 Most Popular Items Among Hosts in the System Mall!”
“Must-Read Mall Guide for Management-Type Hosts!”
“Notice: Wasteland Base-Building Mall Flash Sale—”
“Massive Survival System Clearance! Buy These Items Before They’re Delisted!”
“Never Winning What You Want from Gacha? Here’s Your Lucky Draw Strategy Guide! 1. Spend more points in the Mall…”
Ling Jing: “?”
She had transmigrated to an apocalyptic wasteland, and somehow spam ads were still finding ways into her home?
She pulled out the second paper to check.
Issue No. 432111: System Mall Monthly
?
She had only been here for a week, and they were dumping last month’s back issues on her, too?
UNSUB.
Unsubscribe, thanks.
…
Having inspected the kitchen and bedroom, Ling Jing walked back out to the dining hall.
It was time to officially build out the second floor.
Opening Interior Décor & Layout, she selected the glowing item: [Standard Restaurant Second Floor].
The system panel shifted back into the chibi, pixel-art blueprint view.
Once she highlighted the second floor, a translucent blue wireframe model automatically snapped into place above the ground floor, locked in position without any option to reposition the footprint.
The only customizable element was the location of the stairs connecting the two levels.
Ling Jing examined the blueprint with care.
She noticed that the second floor unlocked with her one thousand points did not match the current ground-floor footprint toe-to-toe.
To be precise, it mirrored the square footage of the original ground floor from the very beginning—the starter [Rudimentary Restaurant].
It did not factor in the ten-square-meter extensions she had added to the left and right dining wings.
The staircase needed to be prominent, but without choking foot traffic.
Ling Jing assessed the room’s current flow.
The cashier counter sat a fair distance from the Malatang table on the left.
She dragged the counter slightly inward on the grid, clearing a wider berth near the entrance.
As the counter shifted, Caicai, who had been idling nearby and watching the two Lucky Cats wave their paws, rolled two paces forward as well.
Wearing an “OVO” face, it resumed watching the two figurines wave in sync.
Ling Jing rotated the orientation of the staircase, turning it so that it faced toward the roaster station rather than head-on toward the front door.
She positioned the flight along the left wall just inside the entrance.
Whoosh—
On the screen, the pixelated single-story, pitched-roof restaurant transformed into a two-story building.
In the real dining room, the staircase materialized almost instantly.
It was not overly wide—roughly 1.2 meters across, enough for two people to pass each other on the steps.
The outer side was fitted with a clean wooden handrail.
Now, anyone stepping through the front doors would immediately spot the staircase leading up to their left.
Ling Jing located the staircase runner in her system storage and dragged it onto the newly placed steps.
A deep brown carpet settled into place.
“Caicai.”
“Caicai is here, Boss!”
Caicai tore its gaze away from the waving cats and rolled over on its wheels.
“See if you can head up to the second floor.”
“Right away, Boss!”
Tank treads instantly deployed over Caicai’s wheels with a soft hum. With a forward roll, it glided up the stairs with remarkable smoothness.
Ling Jing, following behind, could barely keep up.
Quickening her stride, she took the steps two at a time. Beneath the warm glow of the overhead lamps, the newly built second floor of the Chinese Restaurant came into view.
—It was wonderfully expansive.
Although its footprint was identical to the original ground floor, it had no walls partitioning off a kitchen, bedroom, or storage room. The entire sixty-plus square meters was dedicated dining space.
Windows opened on all four walls.
The natural light during the day was going to be fantastic.
