Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 248 - 247: The Illusion of Flames

Chapter 248: Chapter 247: The Illusion of Flames

"Wow, the dish is served!"

When Eriina brought the steamer to the table, Ren Xue, who had just arrived, was actually the most excited.

"Take a photo!"

She left her seat and took several pictures with her phone, then hesitated, "That’s not right, does today’s menu need a steamer for any dish?"

Doubting her memory, Ren Xue turned her head to look at her boyfriend.

"Do we need a steamer for any of the dishes?" she asked.

Shuigu Jun thought hard for a moment and then shook his head: "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" Shuigu Jun’s eyes flashed with a hint of helplessness.

Ren Xue immediately turned her head and stared at Eriina, dissatisfied, "What’s going on, is there a new dish that’s not shown on the website menu?"

Tiqie Eriina said with a chuckle, "Sorry, this dish is not publicly on sale."

"What do you mean?"

As Ren Xue wondered, she was pushed aside.

The tall Lancelot, at six feet, easily pushed the petite Ren Xue aside.

"Professor, Chef Cao!" Lancelot bowed slightly and handed a pair of chopsticks to Cao Chun and Smith, who followed him.

Lancelot turned around, intending to lift the lid of one of the steamers.

"Let me do it—"

Smith stopped him.

Lancelot’s arm stiffened, reluctantly retracting it.

Ren Xue opened her mouth to ask, but Smith, without delay, firmly grasped the lid of the steamer and lifted it off!

"Whoo—"

Hot steam billowed out!

The view was a white blur, but suddenly, flames covered the barely visible steamer.

"It’s on fire!"

Ren Xue exclaimed, but then realized something was amiss, her palms crossed over each other, tightly covering her mouth, her eyes showing disbelief.

She remembered what this dish was!

Moreover...

Carefully glancing at the stunned Lancelot, Ren Xue muttered to herself and stepped back two or three steps, "No wonder this guy looks so familiar... he was Yu’s previous opponent in a Food Battle!"

On the day of the Food Battle, Ren Xue was there and witnessed the creation of "Flame Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausage."

At that moment, she suddenly had a small dream—

To taste this dish!

"Flame!"

Though Cao Chun and Smith showed surprised expressions, they didn’t lose their composure.

The smoke swiftly dispersed, and the light faded as well.

"Artwork!"

On closer inspection of the five fish fin sausages arranged in the steamer, Cao Chun couldn’t help exclaiming, "So beautiful!"

He trembled as he picked up a fish fin sausage with chopsticks and brought it close to his eyes; his pupils seemed to reflect the fiery red color, internally startled, "No wonder Lancelot was so tragically defeated!"

This was the second time Cao Chun reflected on Lancelot’s defeat.

Not that he wasn’t strong, but the opponent was just too formidable!

"They say Chinese cuisine values color, aroma, taste, shape, meaning, and nutrition. In my view, the perfect ’color’ and ’shape’, and wait, also ’aroma,’ just like this!"

Cao Chun began to speak slowly.

Color is the appearance of the dish.

Shape is about form and presentation.

Aroma is the scent of the dish.

Flame Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausage needed no extra decoration to be perfect; deeply inhaling the rich fragrance just out of the steamer, Cao Chun was intoxicated.

Seeing this, Lancelot also quietly inhaled the enticing scent, then thought to himself, "There’s no burning sensation like last time, could it be that this finished product isn’t as good as the one made on the Food Battle Stage before?"

He was very angry, a conflicted heart.

On one hand, he hoped Xia Yu would make a mistake, producing an inferior dish, allowing Professor Smith to pinpoint flaws.

On the other hand, Lancelot also wanted to taste the perfect fish fin sausage. Otherwise, under such a perfect exterior, if the taste was flawed, wouldn’t it be regrettable?

"Crack"

Professor Smith was the first to taste.

The moment his teeth bit down, his body shook violently, as if he had been in a major car accident, blood rushing to his head, his eyes widening, and his jaws clenching as if something was trying to burst out of his mouth.

After a long while, his heavy breathing slightly eased.

Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the food. Smith stared down at the half-eaten piece of Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausage on his chopsticks and muttered, "This kind of violence, rendered through flames... it’s too direct!"

His tone was somber, and it was unclear whether it was praise or criticism.

He took a deep breath, glanced back at the busy young man in the kitchen, and with a resigned expression, slowly opened his mouth to eat the other half of the sausage.

"Boom"

At that moment, molten rock burst forth like a fountain right before Smith’s eyes!

The small shop transformed into a red ocean of molten lava, and Smith’s pupils constricted as he watched Cao Chun and Lancelot being mercilessly engulfed by the molten wave, turning into wisps of bluish smoke that disappeared without a trace.

"Kee Kee Kee Kee Kee..."

A sinister chuckle echoed, and from the small shop’s ceiling, a Flame Spirit’s head peeked down, its eyes hollow, burning with twin flames of white.

Smith heard its cold whisper:

"Burn, burn in this all-consuming flame, become part of this world!"

"Get lost—"

Smith roared coldly, smashing his fist into the Flame Spirit that lunged at him, but more sinister laughter emerged, and the ceiling turned into a dense honeycomb, each white spiral drawing forth a Flame Spirit chanting the slogan of burning.

He struggled in vain.

A top chef’s will is not so easily broken!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Punch after punch, Smith was like a madman.

"Come on—"

Sweat soaked his entire body, his neat suit now loose. Smith ripped off his tie and took off his jacket, unbuttoning most of his shirt, like a boxer, moving agilely side to side with fierce eyes.

Suddenly, the sinister laughter echoing in the small shop turned into a soft, mocking chuckle.

Snap!

A faint sound of breaking was heard, and ripples like water waves flickered across his vision.

The shop was still the same shop.

At dusk, the fiery clouds on the horizon were brilliant but paled in comparison to the red clouds of the Flame World.

Smith was stunned.

Beside him was Lancelot, gasping for breath, sitting on the ground with a face full of shock.

"Are, are we saved?!" Lancelot exclaimed.

As for Cao Chun, he was just curiously recalling the magnificent scenery of the Flame World, having not encountered any Flame Spirits or Molten Rock Demons, so when he regained his senses and saw the disheveled Smith and Lancelot, he was quite surprised.

"Huh—"

In a corner of the shop, Ren Xue and Shuigu Jun, who had hidden there, looked at each other and exhaled in relief.

Those two had suddenly gone mad, performing a martial arts scene in the cramped shop. If it weren’t for Eriina stopping them, they definitely would have taken out their phones to call the police.

"Hey, wake up!"

He gently kicked Lancelot, who was on the ground.

The blond young man looked up blankly, meeting the ’Divine Tongue’s’ queen-like downward gaze, his dull face quickly turning flushed, and his eyes sparkling back to life.

He clumsily flipped over and got up.

Lancelot then looked at the steaming Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausage in the steamer, his fearful gaze as if looking at venomous serpents.

"What happened?"

Cao Chun asked, puzzled.

"Let’s go—"

Smith didn’t explain, hurriedly picked up his jacket from the ground, and rushed out of Xia’s shop almost fleeing.

Lancelot followed close behind.

Once outside, fresh air hit their faces.

The two of them hastened about twenty to thirty meters away, Lancelot bending over to gasp for breath, while Smith leaned against a streetlight, his expression fluctuating.

"You, did you lose to that kind of dish?" Smith asked in a low voice.

"No, it’s not the same dish as last time!"

Lancelot shook his head abruptly, "The dish he brought out this time, it seemed like... it had evolved!"