Universe Infinite Canteen

Ma Lu's WeChat group count had reached a whopping 21, with a continuous stream of people joining.

After creating the groups, he'd just send out stall notifications and chain messages about new products, promptly silencing the notifications.

But in reality, the groups were quite lively, with all sorts thrown together, some looking for racy images, others organizing outdoor trips, plenty posting ads, debating politics, hurling insults, even campaigning for their kids...

With no moderation, the groups were basically a chaotic mess.

Right now, Ma Lu was browsing Group 1 on WeChat, which, being one of the earliest, consisted mostly of Aerospace University students, creating a somewhat better atmosphere than the rest.

These past few days, the group was primarily focused on one topic.

And Ma Lu had remembered too, considering the time of year—it was November, indeed the very time for that.

Turning his head to Old Wang, Ma Lu declared, "I've decided, we'll do a mixed vegetable dish for athletes this time, and let's price it at 66 yuan a portion."

...

Shen Yue was also feeling a bit vexed lately because she had noticed she'd put on quite a bit of weight. Although not very noticeable with her clothes on, the excess fat on her lower belly was definitely becoming apparent.

All blame pointed to The Universe's Number One Snack Stall. Ever since Ma Lu started his snack stall at the West Gate, the already barely palatable cafeteria food had become even harder to swallow.

Now, if Shen Yue didn't get something from The Universe's Number One Snack Stall every day, she felt downright uncomfortable, and she wasn't the only one with this problem. Yet, most university students were broke.

Even if they impulsively wanted to indulge, their wallets would bring them back to reason.

At most, they'd treat themselves every few days to satiate a craving, but even as a poor student herself, Shen Yue was charming, with lots of sweet sisters and generous brothers around.

So, she ended up eating at the stall pretty much every day. And the damn Universe's Number One Snack Stall mainly served meat dishes, with frequent frying and grilling. Over the past couple of months, Shen Yue was clearly getting plumper—there was no stopping the weight gain.

If it were just about getting fat, that could be dealt with, tightening her belt a bit might even go unnoticed, but the time had come.

Shen Yue had been feeling anxious for the last two days.

Since the beginning of November, the school had been gradually organizing physical fitness tests for the different grades, and Shen Yue had already completed the tests for height, weight, standing long jump, and lung capacity.

What remained was the dreaded 800/1000-meter run—the modern torture for university students—and Shen Yue was scheduled to run it at 1 pm that afternoon.

If this had been right after she started university, she wouldn't have been scared at all, and would have easily achieved at least 'good', even striving for 'excellent' wasn't out of reach. But three years of decadent university life had taken a serious toll on her physique.

Daily indulgences in drink and feast, staying up late watching dramas or singing karaoke, Shen Yue even worried she might collapse on the sports field.

All she hoped for now was to pass and avoid a makeup test, yet even this modest wish seemed hard to fulfill.

She was thinking of ways to bribe the examiner when suddenly, Ma Lu's call came through.

"What, you're asking who's running the 800 meters this afternoon? Me, I'm supposed to run!

"...Today's new item at The Universe's Number One Snack Stall? No... I'm not eating, seriously can't eat anymore, bro, I'll be even less able to run if I do.

"What… you say you can guarantee a pass? Come on boss, stick to selling snacks, why are you meddling in college sports now too? You're overreaching a bit, aren't you."

"...Ah, you're serious? Okay, I'll take a look."

After hanging up, Shen Yue peeked at Han Feifei across from her who hadn't gotten out of bed yet. The latter was already awake and hugging a pad inside the quilt, binge-watching a drama series.

Shen Yue cleared her throat, "Rich lady."

Han Feifei removed her headphones and looked over, "What is it, you want to borrow money again?"

"No no no, it's about the 800 meters this afternoon," Shen Yue looked around and lowered her voice, "I got my hands on some good stuff, really pure, but as you know I'm broke, so are you interested?"

Han Feifei regarded her roommate with the kind of look one reserves for an idiot.

Shen Yue had no choice but to talk straight, "The owner of The Universe's Number One Snack Stall, um, it's Ma Lu you know, he just told me he has a way for us to comfortably finish the 800 meters with good results."

"Has he switched to selling stimulants?"

"I don't know." Shen Yue shrugged, "He called just now, saying that this time the food is really special, told me to find more people who are prepping to run the 800/1000 meters this afternoon; if it doesn't work, we can even get our money back from him."

After a pause, Shen Yue continued, "Feifei, if you're not confident, you can front the money for one serving for me to test. I'll be your guinea pig, and if I'm fine, then you can try it."

"What's the use of you being my guinea pig? We're both testing it this afternoon together, and we might even be in the same group. Even if it turns out effective for you, it's no use to me."

Han Feifei was quite decisive, immediately crawling out of bed, "Let's go over and check it out together."

Like the two of them, there were many others who viewed the 800/1000 meters run as a formidable enemy. As soon as Shen Yue spread the word, a good number of people were tempted.

In the end, Shen Yue managed to bring together 26 people, and that was just the first batch. There were still many who had just gotten the news and hadn't had the time to come over, or others who wanted to wait and see a bit longer.

By the time Shen Yue and Han Feifei and the others arrived at The Universe's Number One Snack Stall, there were already quite a few people gathered around.

However, nobody found this strange, as The Universe's Number One Snack Stall was always bustling with business, and queuing was the norm. But when they saw what Ma Lu was selling this time, everyone was surprised, and once they heard the price, a whole lot of them were rendered speechless. Continue your adventure at empire

A bowl of vegetables, without even a hint of meat, and it's being sold for 66 yuan a serving? This was beyond daylight robbery.

The most composed among them was still Han Feifei.

She didn't care about the price at all and directly asked Ma Lu, "Boss, did you add stimulants to it?"

Ma Lu shook his head, "That definitely wouldn't do, ah. Without a prescription, most people can't buy stimulants, and besides, that stuff isn't good for the body."

Han Feifei looked a bit disappointed upon hearing this, but then listened as Ma Lu continued, "However, the vegetable medley I'm selling can indeed help you achieve good results in the 800/1000 meters."

Ma Lu pointed at Old Wang, "His great-grandfather once served as a royal physician and left behind many ancient recipes for strengthening the body and prolonging life. Our vegetable medley uses one of those ancient recipes.

"Don't judge solely by appearance, just because you see only vegetables and think I'm overcharging. In fact, I've added a lot of invisible, valuable medicinal ingredients like ginseng, Lingzhi, deer antler, and the like.

"And I've personally tried it; it definitely works and makes you feel like you have endless energy in your body. If you don't believe me, you can try it for yourselves."

Ma Lu glanced at his watch, "It's 12:26 now. Who's running first this afternoon?"