The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

Li Can could hear the sound of air moving, and faint sobs coming from the freezers he had covered. The sobs were somewhat eerie.

Just a door away, he heard footsteps approaching from inside the restaurant lobby.

Along with it came an unusually pungent smell of cosmetics and perfume mixed together.

"Whoosh." The white printed curtain made of coarse cloth was lifted from the outside, revealing a woman's head through the fabric.

The woman had her hair piled up at the back of her head, with stray hairs swaying on either side as she moved. Her face was covered in a thick layer of foundation, making her look as white as a ghost.

Her oval face was smooth as a white goose egg, without a single wrinkle. Her eyebrows were thin and long, and although she had almond-shaped eyes, she wore long brown eyeliner.

The eyelashes cast shadows below the eyes, obscuring the expression above.

A cherry-red lipstick was painted on her small lips, and as her lips opened and closed, Li Can heard her voice.

"Honey, is the food burnt? It smells burnt."

Li Can was immediately shocked. Holy crap, this person looks like his wife... Although she looks like a paper effigy, there's no denying that she's quite pretty.

That kraft paper roll wasn't lying.

Although her face did not show signs of aging, Li Can could sense that she was probably in her early thirties.

She had completely lost the vivacity of a young girl, leaving only the weariness of an old married couple.

"Yes, it's burnt. I'll clean this pot of food." Li Can replied, turning her gaze back to the pot.

His hands, holding the shovel, were trembling slightly. He was only eighteen years old, and he already had a wife... Even though she was an NPC from a dungeon, the feeling was hard to describe.

He looked up at the sky and roared.

"No, honey, the guests have already made a reservation, and we're running late. Let me see what the dishes look like."

The woman walked in while talking. She seemed to be used to the dark and greasy environment and was completely undisturbed. She leaned close to Li Can and peered into the pot he was holding.

Li Can felt a sudden tightness in his chest. Their warm skin was pressed together, and a chilling feeling welled up inside him.

"It won't work. We'll have to make another one quickly." The woman took the spoon from Li Can's hand and bent down to scoop out the food and pour it into the food waste bin.

"Okay..." he replied, then searched for the order information on the long nails with receipts attached to the wall next to the stove.

There's only one order for the green pepper and shredded pork rice bowl right now. Luckily, with Li Can's culinary skills, making this shouldn't be a problem.

He couldn't say for sure what the shredded meat in it was made of, but it certainly wasn't pork or anything like that.

The reservation time on the order was 1:30 pm for dine-in. Li Can walked past the woman and looked at the clock in the lobby to determine the time in the dungeon world.

The wooden, round clock on the wall is currently pointing to 1 with the hour hand at 15.

"15 minutes left, that's enough."

When Li Can turned her gaze to the microphone, she found a family photo frame of the three of them in the corner of the cabinet, and a doodle drawn by a child underneath it.

The man in the photo frame is his own transformed face. He has already seen the woman before. The two are intimately embracing each other, with a little boy standing between them who only reaches his chest.

They do look very well-behaved.

Flipping over the painting underneath reveals a family portrait drawn by a little boy. On the back is an adult's neat handwriting, presumably the wife's.

Huang Xiaoqi will always love Xing Dazhuang.

Below that was a child's crooked handwriting.

Xing Tiantian will always love her parents, and our family will always be together!

Li Can fell into deep thought. It turned out that his original name in the dungeon was Xing Dazhuang, but the scroll didn't mention which signature to look for when finding the city certificate.

Is it Li Can's own, or Xing Dazhuang's?

This is still somewhat misleading because it wasn't clearly explained, but it's not a big deal. We'll keep an eye on both of the signed ones, and eventually one of them will be the real one.

"Let's catch up on the progress. I'll help you. I'll chop some ingredients for you," a woman's voice came from the kitchen.

Then came the thumping sound of chopping vegetables on the cutting board.

"Xiaoqi?" Li Can went back inside and tentatively called her name.

"What's wrong, sir?" Huang Xiaoqi looked up at him with some confusion, then handed him a bag of thawed meat.

"I'll cut some green bell pepper strips, you cut some meat strips."

"Okay, sure." After receiving a response, Li Can took the meat bun. The meat, which had thawed, was sticky in his hand and had a unique stench.

Suppressing his discomfort, he took the cleaver and began to slice off a suitable piece, then finely chopped it.

"My son's birthday is tomorrow. Could you bring me back a bottle of foundation from the amusement park? I'm almost out of mine."

Li Can was having a bit of a headache. It was nighttime, and it was hard to say whether he could find the strange creature to take with him.

With Huang Xiaoqi's aggressive application of foundation, even a large amount of stock wouldn't be enough.

However, he didn't refuse, and just nodded, "I'll bring you a bottle if I can buy it then."

Let's calm her down first.

"Aren't you going out with the kids for their birthday?" Li Can suddenly asked, puzzled. The three of them looked so loving in the painting, but from her words, it seemed like only she and Xing Tiantian were going out.

"It's just inconvenient..." she suddenly replied with a touch of shyness.

"All right."

As for what was inconvenient, she didn't elaborate, and Li Can didn't press her further. It would be disastrous if he accidentally triggered some forbidden words and his wife discovered that he wasn't Xing Dazhuang and was out of character.

Let's take it easy and learn more about this world.

The fire was lit, and the chopped green onions and garlic were sautéed in the oil. Then Li Can quickly stir-fried the shredded meat in the pan. Once it was almost done, he put it directly onto a plate and set it aside.

They cleaned the pot thoroughly, removing all traces of water. Then, they poured the shredded green peppers into the pot to dry them, releasing a pungent aroma that made the two of them cough.

The kitchen isn't great either; it doesn't even have a range hood for ventilation. I guess I'll just have to put up with it.

Thanks to the small restaurant next door owned by his childhood friend Qi Xin, he learned a lot about cooking from his friend's parents and became quite skilled at it.

In the past, when his parents went out to buy goods and were not at home, he would cook for himself and his sister.

My younger sister, Li Lan, always says that the food is better than what you get at restaurants.

I never expected that after entering the dungeon, I would find myself cooking again. It seems that no skill I learned was ever wasted.

I'm now a chef, a waiter, and a boss all at the same time. The latter two are easy to handle and don't require much skill or difficulty.

The only thing that can't be wrong is the chef, and now he's handling things with ease.

"Ding-a-ling..." The long-closed glass door was pushed open from the outside, and the small bell hanging above it rang.

"We have guests." Huang Xiaoqi quickly walked out of the kitchen to greet them.

Li Can was left alone, busy with his work.

Mix the shredded green peppers and shredded pork together, sprinkle with seasonings, reduce the sauce, and finally pour it onto the white rice plate that Huang Xiaoqi had prepared in advance. A green pepper and shredded pork rice bowl is ready.

Although the meat wasn't of high quality, after Li Can stir-fried it, the whole dish was a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.

"Honey, the guests who made a reservation have arrived. Is the food ready?" Huang Xiaoqi asked in the lobby.

Li Can picked up the plate and walked out, saying, "It's done!"

He was genuinely curious about what the "guests" were.