Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 312 - 311: The Sword Takes a Deviant Path

Chapter 312: Chapter 311: The Sword Takes a Deviant Path

Xia’s shop.

After breakfast, Xia Yu didn’t change into his uniform to go to school, instead he took a phone call in the branch’s courtyard.

"Thank you for your trouble, Miss Dubian."

"I have done as you requested."

On the phone, Dubian Yuuki spoke with caution, "The outside world must be in an uproar by now. I suggest you close the shop for a few days, otherwise you will encounter a lot of trouble."

Miss Dubian’s words bore an implication.

The youngest special-class chef ever in Neon.

Of course, Xia Yu wouldn’t admit to being so-called local chef—his nationality was evident.

But this cover title was enough to bring on hatred, more practical than any warrior’s taunting skill.

Soliciting hatred was a matter of helplessness.

Why do sensational headlines thrive? Because they grab attention, triggering clicks and interest. Unlike those unprincipled headline grabbers, Xia Yu was simply stating a fact that had happened, full of integrity.

He was already a special-class chef.

Mars, Dojima Yin, and Reiko Lina all acknowledged it.

Even the inspector, Qiushan Hong, who had not yet left Neon, had come to visit a few days ago and once again marveled at his skill.

In other words, he only lacked the final red booklet and the special badge to be the legitimate special-class chef. Therefore, letting Dubian Yuuki write such a headline didn’t make Xia Yu feel the slightest bit burdened.

Because he truly was the youngest special-class chef in the history of Neon.

Qiushan Hong had even brought this up during his recent visit.

Making the headline more explosive to gain more attention and provoke broader discussions, as more and more people learned about him, and more became his devoted fans and patrons, the more substantial his Fame Points earnings were.

In essence, a risky strategic move—Xia Yu was self-promoting. He always felt that the novelty of "Shuangjiang Magical Mapo Tofu" wasn’t quite enough, so he had to introduce other explosive topics.

There was no choice, the plan to cultivate "Rainbow Fruit" was embedded in his mind, lingering and inescapable, so Xia Yu had to brainstorm and amass as many Fame Points as possible.

Purchasing seeds would cost 50,000 points at once.

Then he would need to buy Golden Kela Fertilizer for continuous cultivation. Let’s budget a bit more, say 50,000.

Therefore, once he had a baseline of 100,000 Fame Points, Xia Yu would have the confidence to take on the golden recipe learning plan.

"Thank you, I’ll be careful!"

After hanging up the phone with Dubian Yuuki, Xia Yu chuckled lightly twice and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

Close the shop for a business break?

He didn’t plan to do that.

The previous week, Xia’s Restaurant had been in the eye of the storm, but he had insisted on staying open. Now, the so-called crisis mentioned by Dubian Yuuki, in Xia Yu’s view, was nothing if it could be solved with cooking or a culinary battle!

He went to the kitchen and skillfully set up the cooking pot.

This week, aside from learning about pastries, Xia Yu was also continuously practicing the "Sukiyaki" recipe taught to him by Reiko Lina.

Reiko Lina had taught him two recipes in one go, with "Sukiyaki" incorporating two Fantasy Ingredients—a ’Special Level Three Stars’ recipe. To express his gratitude, Xia Yu personally taught her the secret of "Shuangjiang Magical Mapo Tofu."

This secret was his experience and understanding. What he had published in Taste Weekly was merely simple recipe information. A proficient chef might be able to approximate the dish using the recipe to the greatest extent, but without the personal instruction of the recipe creator, the essence of the secret was hard to grasp on one’s own—no, it was virtually impossible.

After all, the real secret of the "Shuangjiang Magical Mapo Tofu" recipe involved "Bursting Flame" and the "Spices Inequality" cooking techniques, indicating that Xia Yu had shared some tactical cooking skills with Reiko Lina.

In addition, he had given her the recipe for "Soul-Calming Noodles," which suited her taste, as part of the exchange.

Two recipes for two recipes.

Plus some cooking technique tips.

Xia Yu felt he hadn’t taken advantage of Reiko Lina.

"Sizzle..."

Before long, the pan was hot. He poured in the butter, briefly stir-fried the beef, then poured in the prepared broth, adding an appropriate amount of sugar, soy sauce, and other seasonings.

Once the water reached a boil, he added chrysanthemum greens and shredded burdock as accompaniments.

In reality, there are many ways to prepare Sukiyaki, the most characteristic and distinct of which are from Kansai and Kantou.

The Kansai method involves frying the beef in butter before adding the other ingredients to stew together.

The Kantou method is to mix soy sauce, mirin, and broth to create a unique sauce in which beef is cooked, eliminating the need to fry the beef separately.

After a while, he lifted the lid, and Xia Yu, inhaling the rich aroma, revealed a hint of anticipation, "It should be ready now, shouldn’t it?"

He didn’t rush to pick up the beef.

Instead, he picked up the "Butter Matsutake."

There was no doubt about it; it was that kind of fantasy mushroom, but since the system wasn’t unlocked, Xia Yu could only purchase fantasy ingredients at exorbitant prices through the IGO online store.

That’s right!

Two days ago, Qiushan Hong came by and brought Xia Yu a customized cell phone.

Developed by the IGO organization, the phone came with fingerprint and facial recognition, essentially a specialized device. When Xia Yu had first received the phone, there was only one app installed—

"IGO Online (Special)."

Compared to before, the app icon had changed, and "Special" had been added to the name.

At the same time, an exclusive IGO internal supply shop was added to the ingredients store, which is a market for fantasy ingredients catering only to Special Level chefs.

The supplier was none other than the official IGO organization!

Chewing on the Butter Matsutake, Xia Yu shook his head and replaced the lid.

The heat was not sufficient yet.

While waiting, he took out his custom phone.

The black cell phone was essentially no different from the popular high-end smartphones on the market, but the feel of it in his hand was distinctly different, with a strong metallic feel, giving it a heavy sci-fi aesthetic.

Beep.

He opened IGO Online, and the sections were listed:

Ingredients Street.

Shokugeki Area.

Academic Exchange Area.

And then the two newly added sections—

Fantasy Store, Special Level Discussion.

Putting aside the Fantasy Store, which is akin to a system store only with real money as the currency (with the US Dollar still being the medium of transaction), Xia Yu had to exchange his Japanese yen into enough US Dollars to purchase items like the "Butter Matsutake" and "Beef Pork Poultry Jerky" while in Neon.

"Special Level Discussion" was essentially a space for idle chatter.

The standard version of IGO Online had chat stations divided by region, with Neon chefs chatting in the Neon section, United States chefs in the United States section, but Special Level IGO Online seemingly integrated all the world’s Special Level chefs into one community.

Xia Yu clicked into the discussion area, refreshed the page, and instantly, beep, beep, a flurry of new posts popped up.

Casually clicking on the top right corner for language translation, even though he could read Japanese without difficulty, Xia Yu still preferred the habit of translating the page into entirely Chinese script.

Eh.

He raised an eyebrow, scanning the phone screen; among the new posts, a few mentioned the culinary world of Neon, with one post’s title being "Neon’s Youngest Special Level Chef in History?"

The title had a question mark, and although the post was just over ten minutes old, it had already garnered over a thousand clicks and had plenty of comments, over a hundred.

Considering the number of Special Level chefs worldwide, the post was quite popular.

"I didn’t expect it to stir up the Special Level community as well."

Xia Yu stroked his chin, scrolling through the comments, amused by the discussion about himself from renowned chefs with Special Level titles – their words tinged with skepticism and disbelief.