The next day, Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang led their team to the Jiangnan region for market research.

Ji Yan had visited the area during his college days and recommended a locally renowned restaurant. Xie Yunfan thoroughly enjoyed the feast, sampling truly authentic Jiangnan cuisine.

Take the dish “Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish,” for instance—its preparation was exquisitely intricate. Xie Yunfan went into the kitchen to observe: after removing the fish bones, the chef carved delicate cross-hatch patterns into the carp flesh, coated it in a layer of egg yolk batter, deep-fried it in hot oil until crisp, and finally poured a delicious sweet-and-sour sauce over it.

The finished dish resembled a cute squirrel in appearance and tasted delightfully sweet and tangy.

Beyond dining at popular restaurants, the group also visited local snack streets to research and understand various street foods.

Since it was a culinary game, players couldn’t be limited to only opening fine-dining restaurants.

Street food stalls—like baozi shops, rice noodle shops, wonton shops, and ramen stalls—were the everyday delicacies people interacted with most frequently.

Although snack shops lacked the high-end decor of large restaurants, their prices were cheap and accessible to everyone. Moreover, holographic games had no geographical restrictions; whether you wanted to taste Cantonese fresh shrimp cheung fun, crispy beef patties, or an authentic bowl of fried sauce ramen, you could sample them all in the virtual world.

This provided immense convenience for food-loving players.

With just a single gaming pod, one could sample snacks from all across the nation.

Of course, inputting every single snack into the system would heavily increase the workload for the data engineers. Fortunately, the game didn’t need to “peak at launch”—certain regional cuisines and street snacks could be released gradually with future version updates.

Open beta first, then expand food options and gameplay mechanics over time.

Over the following days, the group traveled tirelessly from region to region.

They sampled every variety of hot pot in Mountain City, spent days eating street barbecue in eastern coastal cities, and traveled to the southernmost tropical island to taste fresh seafood harvested by local fishermen.

While on Nanya Island, Xie Yunfan visited an oceanfront underwater restaurant. Its architectural decor was uniquely striking—built directly in the sea, surrounded by real marine life. Dining there while watching schools of fish swim past through the glass, accompanied by soft piano music, offered an incredible atmosphere.

He also visited a star-themed restaurant with distinctive decor, where the ceiling was designed into various galaxies, clearly displaying the twelve constellations with occasional shooting stars passing by, making diners feel as if they were eating under the open night sky.

And, of course, there were numerous campsites where setting up a beach umbrella created a dining table. Eating barbecue right on the sandy shore, feeling the sea breeze, possessed a charm all its own.

Xie Yunfan suddenly realized—the restaurants in the game should also feature diverse decoration styles.

They couldn’t just have the system provide a few rigid options for players to choose from; otherwise, every restaurant in the game would look identical, devoid of unique character.

It would be far better to launch a customizable “Decor System,” allowing players who wanted to open a shop to design and furnish their establishments themselves.

That way, whatever aesthetic style a player desired would depend entirely on their personal taste.

Perhaps the impulse to “open a shop” was embedded deep within Huaxia bloodlines?

In his past life, Xie Yunfan had once visited a very obscure country where the only fast-food shop in a small town of just 100,000 residents was run by a Huaxia native.

No matter which country you traveled to, you were almost bound to run into food shops opened by Huaxia locals.

Xie Yunfan believed that as long as the Shop Management System and Decor System were developed, a vast number of players would eagerly jump into the game to fulfill their dream of opening a gourmet shop.

In reality, opening a shop was incredibly cumbersome. You had to find a suitable location, and for a slightly larger storefront, the rent and renovation costs required a massive financial investment.

How could anyone start a business without a substantial sum of money?

In the game, however, the barrier to entry for opening a shop wouldn’t be nearly as high. Xie Yunfan had always maintained a conscientious player-first philosophy; he would never force players to pay real money to buy storefronts or cover rent. He would design a fee structure that eased burdens for players, allowing the vast majority to experience the thrill of being a shop owner.

The game could even be expanded globally, allowing players worldwide to sample signature delicacies from the East.

Although Xie Yunfan didn’t yet have a crystal-clear roadmap for the specific gameplay mechanics in his mind, as he traveled to more cities with Luo Hang, visited more restaurants, and listened to numerous business owners share their store stories, the basic outline of the game gradually materialized piece by piece.

It had to be said that taking this business trip was unequivocally the right decision.

Conducting research across the nation had truly provided him with a wealth of game design inspiration.

A month passed quickly.

Over the course of the month, Ji Yan gained ten pounds. He originally had a round face, but now his eyes were squeezed into narrow slits, barely visible.

Ji Yan rubbed his belly, sighing, “What am I going to do? I’m up to 180 pounds!”

Luo Hang and Xie Yunfan, on the other hand, seemed to possess a magical constitution—no matter how much they ate, they didn’t gain weight at all.

The two bosses retained the exact same figures as when they set out. Xie Yunfan in particular—slender waist, long legs, upright posture—showed no change on the scale whatsoever.

Ji Yan was immensely envious: “Yunfan, what kind of body structure do you have? Eating so much delicious food without putting on an ounce of weight!”

Xie Yunfan said, “Every evening after returning to the hotel, I go for a run with President Luo. I guess we burn off whatever we eat.”

Luo Hang smiled and said, “It’s fine. Your weight change this trip is just… relatively noticeable. Once our holographic gourmet game is built, you’ll definitely be able to slim down quickly.”

President Luo was truly polite, phrasing “you gained a lot of weight” as “your weight change is relatively noticeable.”

Ji Yan felt a bit embarrassed. He had the kind of constitution where he gained weight just drinking water; if the holographic gourmet game could one day deliver taste satisfaction to a vast player base, wouldn’t it become a ultimate weight-loss tool?

Could he slim down through it as well?

Whenever he craved food, he could just eat to his heart’s content inside the game. He could satisfy his cravings without consuming actual calories in reality, meaning his weight naturally wouldn’t increase.

He could stick to light, plain boiled vegetables for his three meals in real life, while entering the game to feast on deep-fried foods and high-calorie desserts to satisfy his appetite. Maintaining that over time, such a weight-loss process wouldn’t feel grueling at all—it would actually be fun!

Eating delicious food while simultaneously losing weight?

The thought filled Ji Yan with even greater motivation.

He realized that what Yunfan was creating this time wasn’t merely a gourmet game; it held the potential to transform people’s dietary habits, serving as a absolute blessing for the vast population of foodies who needed to lose weight.

A month later, when the research delegation returned to Rong City, everyone noticed Ji Yan had visibly gained weight.

The employees only knew the bosses had led a business trip, but didn’t know what they were up to. A member of the Level Design Team joked, “Director Ji, sounds like you ate like a king on this trip?”

Ji Yan chuckled, “Of course! Eating and drinking all across the country, how could I not gain weight? I must have saved the galaxy in my past life to get such a wonderful business trip in this one.”

The employees froze simultaneously: “Eating and drinking all across the country?”

Wait, were you guys on a business trip or a vacation? That’s way too envious!

Ji Yan added, “It wasn’t just eating and drinking—we were actually researching catering markets nationwide.”

Since the boss hadn’t held a project approval meeting yet, everyone had been speculating about the genre of the next game. Researching the catering market? Could the next game be related to food and dining?

Everyone was burning with curiosity.

Ji Yan said, “The details will have to wait for the boss to explain to everyone. This upcoming game is going to be incredibly interesting.”

Hearing this, everyone looked forward to it with great anticipation.

Upon returning to the company, Xie Yunfan held several debriefing meetings with Qihang’s engineers.

During this period, he had filled two thick notebooks with details on origins, cooking methods, and flavor evaluations for various delicacies, along with numerous restaurant decoration blueprints. His phone was also packed with photos of dishes and restaurant interiors.

Luo Hang joked, “You could practically publish a Gourmet Guidebook at this point.”

With President Xie being so dedicated, Qihang’s engineers naturally couldn’t slack off either.

On this business trip, tasting food was secondary; data collection was the core objective. Their laptops were filled with dense records of experimental data.

The post-trip meeting was held precisely to finalize the food items that would feature in the game.

Xie Yunfan stated, “For the initial open beta version, let’s first unlock four of the Eight Great Cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese, and Jiangsu. During subsequent updates, we can add Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Anhui cuisines, while gradually unlocking other regional styles and snack stalls. What do you all think?”

Luo Hang thought for a moment and said, “Doing it this way will relieve early development pressure, while ensuring future updates have plenty of content ready. Serving up every single dish and snack all at once is simply unrealistic.”

Several engineers nodded in agreement.

Just the Eight Great Cuisines alone involved a massive volume of iconic dish data that required meticulous testing and inputting, let alone the countless street snacks. Completing it all in one go? They’d work themselves to death before finishing.

Progressing step-by-step with steady updates was a far superior approach.

Hearing that “new dishes have arrived in the game” might even trigger fresh waves of player spending.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Xie Yunfan said, “Moving forward, you team members focus on finalizing those four main cuisines first. I’ll hurry and draft the game mechanics proposal so we can align our pace, developing and internal-testing simultaneously.”

Luo Hang said decisively, “Then I’ll go recruit professional chefs and prepare the testing facilities.”

With the upcoming tasks set, Qihang’s R&D team immediately sprang into action.

Luo Hang hired several professional chefs who had worked in five-star hotels or top-tier restaurant chains at generous salaries—some specializing in wheaten pasta and noodles, others skilled in Sichuan-Hunan or Cantonese cuisines.

He allocated an entire floor of Qihang’s Experiment Center, renovating it into a specialized “Test Kitchen.”

When the chefs arrived, they were thoroughly stunned.

360-degree cameras surrounded the space, recording their cooking processes in real time. There were also various taste data collectors, temperature controllers, and high-tech equipment they had never even seen before.

One chef remarked in amazement, “You guys are… way too serious just to make a video game, aren’t you?”

What kind of game company went out of their way to hire professional chefs for laboratory experiments?

Every detail—how ingredients were sliced, how they were stir-fried—required complete video capturing. What taste was produced under different heat controls also needed their precise management.

Luo Hang even requested them to fry a dish of hot and sour shredded potatoes under multiple conditions—from undercooked, to perfectly cooked, to scorched—to capture different layers of “mouthfeel.” Adding seasonings also required professional scale precision down to the exact gram.

The professional chefs all wore expressions of “well, I’ve seen everything now.”

Asking them to cook something delicious? That was easy.

But asking them to deliberately burn a dish? To make it taste bad? That was such a bizarre request.

However, since Luo Hang paid handsomely, they could only comply.

With the cooperation of the chefs, data collection in Luo Hang’s laboratory proceeded in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, on Xie Yunfan’s side, after carefully organizing his thoughts, he drafted a complete game proposal.

On March 10, Xie Yunfan convened all company staff for a project approval meeting.

Following custom, he opened the PPT slides, looked at his teammates seated below, and spoke: “The next title from our Yangfan Group will be a holographic gourmet game developed in partnership with Qihang, titled Gourmet Street.”

Xie Yunfan had given this extensive thought over the recent period.

Ever since arriving in this alternate world, starting from Netherworld Labyrinth, most of the games he created featured historical fantasy settings, with only Holographic Script Killing (the spin-off of Detective Di Renjie) set in modern times.

He had been torn over whether to set this culinary game in a historical or modern context.

If he chose a historical background, designing player costumes and restaurant interior decor would become a major hassle.

In an ancient setting, you couldn’t exactly pull off oceanfront underwater restaurants, star-themed sky dining, or revolving rooftop venues that clashed with the era’s aesthetic, could you?

Hanging a wooden plaque over a courtyard building made a restaurant, paired with wooden tables, wooden chairs, and waiters dressed as ancient tavern clerks—the ancient catering industry had a relatively uniform style, lacking the vibrant diversity of modern times.

To offer players a richer, more immersive store-opening experience, a modern setting was far more versatile.

Furthermore, the restaurant owners they interviewed during their research trip were all modern catering entrepreneurs, whose business models differed greatly from ancient trade.

After deep deliberation, Xie Yunfan decided to adopt a modern setting.

He declared clearly, “Our Huaxia culinary culture is immensely developed, with countless delicious dishes. Both mobile and PC platforms have seen gourmet management games before, but the most significant breakthrough in our holographic game this time—will be the Taste System.”

The next slide displayed images of Qihang’s Taste Laboratory.

Xie Yunfan introduced: “Qihang possesses a professional Taste Laboratory, and during our nationwide research trip, we visited numerous restaurants. Qihang’s engineers will work rapidly to break through technical barriers, ensuring the Taste System in our holographic game achieves over 90% similarity to real life.”

Hearing this statement, the employees below widened their eyes in disbelief.

Holy crap! For real?!

They frequently played holographic games themselves, and in current titles, “food” items were sparse to begin with; even when present, the mouthfeel when players ate them was indescribably poor.

For instance, if a plate of sweet-and-sour pork ribs sat on a table, you could roughly taste a blend of sourness and sweetness.

As for the actual tenderness of real pork ribs, the chewiness, or the mouth-watering, unforgettable aftertaste—that was impossible to experience. Some foodies even found in-game food downright unpalatable.

But if the Taste System could genuinely achieve over 90% fidelity compared to reality?

In the world of holographic gaming, that was a breathtaking, revolutionary breakthrough.

Noticing the expressions on their faces, Xie Yunfan smiled gently and said, “You all feel surprised, don’t you? But our partner indeed possesses the boldness to resolve a challenge that sounds virtually impossible.”

The crowd: “…”

Is he praising President Luo? President Luo really is remarkably bold—first executing dual-end real-time connectivity between mobile and holographic platforms, first breaking through massive-scale cross-server multiplayer, and now aiming to revolutionize the Taste System.

Both bosses constantly advance side-by-side; this is truly a blessing for the gaming industry.

Xie Yunfan continued, “Qihang has invested substantial capital into tuning the Taste System this time, so our side cannot drag our feet either. Next, I’ll walk through the game’s core gameplay mechanics.”

He opened the game concept art and explained in detail.

“Players in the game can choose between different roles. The first role is Shopkeeper, which offers many players who dream of running a store an opportunity to fulfill their wish.”

“A Shopkeeper needs to choose a storefront location in the game. After renting the venue, they design and decorate it themselves. This ties into the in-game ‘Decor System’—we will invite professional interior designers to build an in-game furniture and building materials market, allowing players to select items according to their personal preferences.”

“This ensures every player-owned store features a unique decoration style, granting players maximum freedom while allowing diners to experience distinct environments when visiting different restaurants.”

“The second role players can choose is Chef.”

“There will be NPC chefs available in the job market for Shopkeepers to hire directly. However, there can also be Player Chefs. Players who enjoy cooking or want to learn culinary arts can select the Chef role, and our game will feature a complete menu tutorial system.”

“I spent over a month learning culinary skills recently. In reality, learning to cook is quite tedious—purchasing ingredients, preparing seasonings—and a slight misstep might even blow up the kitchen.”

Hearing this, everyone perked up their ears, their eyes gleaming with gossip as if to ask—

Boss, did you blow up the kitchen?

Xie Yunfan said helplessly, “When I first tried cooking, I almost burned the kitchen down.”

A burst of laughter erupted across the conference room.

The atmosphere in the room instantly relaxed.

Xie Yunfan continued, “If players can learn cooking in a holographic game, they won’t have to fear burning down their kitchens—after all, an in-game fire won’t threaten real-life safety.”

“The Chef System makes it convenient for players who want to learn cooking to practice. Meanwhile, players who already know how to cook can find jobs as chefs in the game, preparing dishes for other players to enjoy and experiencing the thrill of being a master chef.”

“Of course, with Shopkeepers and Chefs, there must naturally be Diners.”

“Players can also choose to play as Diners, sampling delicacies from various restaurants. They can taste dishes from all over the country within a holographic game without worrying about weight gain, stomach heat, or indigestion.”

Hearing those final words, many people in the room lit up with excitement.

Who didn’t want a perfect figure and the ability to wear all kinds of stylish clothes?

Who didn’t want to feast on spicy, flavorful food every day without worrying about whether their stomach could digest it?

In reality, craving spicy hot pot meant those with sensitive stomachs feared diarrhea; craving high-calorie sweets meant exercising strict self-control due to weight management.

If a game existed where you could freely sample every type of gourmet food?

None of those would be an issue anymore!

Whatever you wanted to eat, you could eat to your heart’s content.

After listening to Xie Yunfan’s presentation, everyone felt immensely eager for the upcoming game.

Xie Yunfan added, “The Shopkeeper System forms the core of the game. Aside from official food courts, over 95% of storefronts will be handed over to players for independent operation. This resembles traditional management games, but the difference lies in the massive innovations within our business model.”

“Traditional management games usually involve the system issuing quests, NPCs coming to order food, players assigning NPC chefs to cook, and daily income/expense settlements.”

“Playing that mode for long periods gets quite repetitive.”

“Our business model will mimic the real-world catering industry to the greatest extent possible—from menu design, dish pricing, to store decoration, everything is left for players to decide.”

“For a plate of hot and sour shredded potatoes, you could set the price at 8 yuan, 12 yuan, or even over 20 yuan like a five-star hotel. Whether to pursue low-margin high-volume sales or elevate the restaurant’s class to attract high-end clientele looking to enjoy the environment—those are all business strategies.”

“At the same time, storefronts will feature a Review System. Any guest who dines there can leave a rating for the store, and based on those ratings, the system will grant Shopkeepers financial incentives.”

If “simulated management” worked like this, it truly wasn’t just “simulated.”

It was almost terrifyingly realistic.

“Of course, in-game currency conversions will require meticulous verification from the Data Department, including store rent and player dining expenses—it cannot be a 1:1 match with reality.”

If eating a meal in the game cost several hundred real yuan, players definitely wouldn’t accept it.

It wasn’t actual food entering their physical mouths, so why charge so much money?

The specific monetization model for this game would still require thorough discussion.

After the afternoon meeting concluded, the employees were bursting with drive. They had a hunch that this gourmet game was going to be another explosive hit.

Forget how shocked players would be when the time came—even they themselves wanted to try playing it immediately. Foodies in particular couldn’t wait to taste all the in-game delicacies.

The boss had also mentioned that in the game, the exact same dish would taste different depending on who cooked it.

When players cooked, the game would mirror real-world steps—how many grams of salt, soy sauce, or vinegar were added would directly result in variations in the final product’s flavor profile.

That was absolutely mind-blowing!

In reality, different restaurants produced different flavors. To think such subtle differences could be realized inside a game too!

It had to be said that the boss’s game development philosophy far outstripped industry peers. Who else in the industry would carefully ponder these painstaking, tedious details?

Competitors would undoubtedly fix the taste of braised pork ribs or spicy beef into rigid presets.

Forget flavor variations in dishes—just the ability to freely design restaurant decor placed them far ahead of the competition.

That very afternoon, Xie Yunfan summoned HR Manager Liu Muyao, instructing her to recruit talent specializing in interior design to work specifically on the “Restaurant Decor System.”

Immediately after, he gathered the Data Department team, ordering them to conduct market research as quickly as possible to design complete pricing structures for dishes and raw ingredients. Supermarket prices and vegetable wholesaler prices needed to have distinct variations.

He brought in the Art Team to start designing the game’s cities and NPCs.

This time, he wanted to create several endless “Gourmet Streets.”

Along these crisscrossing streets, a vast number of storefronts would be available for players to select.

As a Shopkeeper, would you spend higher rent to open a store at the prime crossroad location? Or start small with lower capital, building up a cozy specialty shop in a quiet corner?

As a “Diner,” players definitely couldn’t finish exploring such endless Gourmet Streets in a single day.

If one visit wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, you were welcome to return next time.

Perhaps the next time you logged into the game, that restaurant you previously visited had gone bankrupt and changed owners? Or perhaps the restaurant you had your eyes on became wildly popular, requiring you to queue up on your next visit.

Xie Yunfan intended to meticulously manage every single detail of the game.

He wanted to build a true—Gourmet Cultural Capital—within a holographic game.