Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 378 - 377: The Monster That Comes Knocking

Chapter 378: Chapter 377: The Monster That Comes Knocking

The cooking competition was suspended, the system task left incomplete.

Sitting back down in the Zen House, Xia Yu couldn’t help but let out a sigh of disappointment.

The duck that was ready to be plucked had flown away!

But then Xia Yu became puzzled. Normally, an incomplete task—equivalent to a failure—should automatically disappear from the task bar. Yet, the actual situation was that the task—"The First Step in Conquering the Yuchuan Family"—still lingered there.

The condition remained the same: to defeat Yuchuan Meisha in a private contest.

"So, an opponent’s surrender doesn’t count as victory?" Xia Yu was quite speechless, recalling Yuchuan Meisha’s cutesy-like concession, he sighed again. The system was still sharp as ever, not easily fooled.

As it turned out, those 10 Talent Points really weren’t easy to get.

So.

Just having sat down, Xia Yu said to Yuchuan Meisha, "Sister Meisha, can we have another contest tomorrow? Just the two of us, no judges, trying each other’s dishes..."

"Ah?"

Yuchuan Meisha’s eyes widened in surprise. "Another contest?"

She was troubled.

"Yu, I don’t really like contests, let alone cooking competitions. My culinary research is to better serve the Yuchuan Temple," she immediately straightened up and apologized to Xia Yu, "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry..."

"No!"

Xia Yu scratched his face, meeting a non-competitive soft nail, he didn’t know what to do.

He could only heave a silent sigh and let it be.

There was still a month to go, slowly but surely.

Before leaving, Yuchuan Meisha hesitated for a long time, then still whispered, "Yu, I felt that the fish sashimi dish you just made in the cooking competition was a bit perfunctory... no, not enough heart put into it. Could it be a lack of focus? I’m very sorry, those guys were too naughty, might have scared you."

"It was perfunctory."

Xia Yu said with a chuckle, "Actually, even by my own standards, the dish would only barely pass."

"And if we talk about culinary skills, without considering the spiritual aspects like the ’chef’s heart’ and the ’essence of gourmet food,’ the fish sashimi I presented before was an outright failure."

Upon hearing this.

Yuchuan Meisha was stunned.

"Actually, the diners at Yuchuan Temple are pretty easy to satisfy," Xia Yu explained no further, simply adding with a light chuckle.

At the same time, he inwardly smirked to himself.

Those goblins probably spent too much time in the countryside, away from the dust of the world, and their impression of cuisine seemed a bit outdated.

Gourmet professionals in the outside world were demanding about every detail of a dish’s ingredients, techniques, etc.

Whereas the country goblins didn’t care much about ingredients.

To Xia Yu, that was just about the easiest bunch of customers to please; with ordinary ingredients, he could create a grand culinary world to satisfy the rustic goblins.

...

The next day.

Xia Yu started early, practicing in the kitchen.

He continued to familiarize himself with "Fierce Ice Fresh Carving Mountain," striving for perfection.

The improvement task for "Great Magic Panda Tofu" remained stalled, as he could not find appropriate Fantasy Ingredients.

And Main General Liangzi’s recipe "Sukiyaki" was also in the process of practice.

Knock knock!

Busy as he was, there came a knock at the kitchen door.

"Come in, the door’s unlocked!" Xia Yu called out without turning around.

But the knocking continued.

Hua Mao had run off to play somewhere, and at this time of day, Xia Yu was bold enough, yet the persistent knocking made him irritable. He turned and flung the door open with a swoosh.

A shadow flashed.

"Running away?"

Xia Yu quickened his pace, chasing along the corridor, soon cornering the creature.

"Heh, heh heh heh..."

An old raccoon that resembled an elderly human crouched in the corner of the stairwell, covering his head with his hands. Seeing that Xia Yu, with hands on hips, had no intention of hitting hard, he lifted his head and let out an awkward laugh.

Still in the same attire.

His conical hat hung behind him, and a flask of alcohol was tied to his waist.

That was undoubtedly the same cheeky old man from last night’s first round of judging, completely reeking of booze.

Xia Yu frowned slightly and took a step back, "What are you knocking for?"

"Right, you guys can come out during the day too?"

The raccoon breathed a sigh of relief and patted its chest.

"Daytime’s nothing!" He lifted his head, took the flask off his waist, shook it with gusto, and boasted proudly, "This jug of alcohol is what I sneaked away with—no, no, no, I should say ’took back’—from a century-old liquor store in Kamakura City first thing this morning!"

Having let slip the truth, the old racoon chuckled awkwardly.

Xia Yu turned and walked away.

"Hey, kid, wait up!"

Seeing this, the old raccoon panicked, "I’m knocking because I have something I need from you!"

"What is it?" Xia Yu asked expressionlessly, striding quickly down the corridor without any intention of stopping.

"I have alcohol, but I also need a snack to go with it!"

The raccoon bounced behind him, saying, "Make me a dish of sashimi quick! No, it’s fish carving—like the one from last night!"

Bang!

This little old guy, acting all high and mighty and commanding, was just what Xia Yu didn’t want. He’d come here to meditate and study "killer" recipes, so he shut the kitchen door without a word.

"Hey!"

The raccoon was still knocking outside, crafty and shameless, "If you don’t satisfy my request, I’ll keep knocking, knocking, and knocking!"

So the raccoon put his words into action.

Meow—

But after several minutes of continuous knocking, a fierce cat’s meow echoed down the corridor. Xia Yu, driven by curiosity, opened the door and peeked out, only to see Hua Mao, the cat he’d taken in on a whim, actually chasing the old guy around.

Hiss-scratch. With a slap of its paw, Hua Mao left deep claw marks on a piece of wood, which made Xia Yu’s eyebrows and eyes twitch in chaotic frustration.

Was this wild cat he’d whimsically raised so fearsome in battle?

"Hello, hello!"

Then, a muffled greeting made Xia Yu turn his head.

There was clearly no one in the corridor. He looked all around and even cast his gaze up to the ceiling, only to find that the voice was coming from a porcelain vase resting against the wall.

"Xia Yu, sir, I’m here, right here!"

A quiet call, as if fearful of being discovered by other entities.

"Oh—"

Xia Yu elongated his call in a sing-song manner, fixated on the celadon vase with interest.

"Can I see your form? Hmm, what you look like," Xia Yu asked curiously, resting his chin on his hand.

"At your command, Xia Yu, sir!"

As the muffled voice came from the vase, crack—a sudden sound startled Xia Yu. He saw the vase’s surface develop cracks, and from it, four thick, black legs, reminiscent of a wild beast’s limbs, stretched out from the north, south, east, and west sides of the porcelain.

With the support of these four legs, the rather heavy vase lifted off the ground and floated in the air.

"Xia Yu, sir!"

A small head, adorned with a yellow Spirit Talisman, popped out from the vase’s opening. It first carefully surveyed the surroundings before kneeling respectfully on top of the vase. Bowing to Xia Yu, the head knocked heavily against the vase, producing a heavy thud.

"Please, Xia Yu, sir, you must save me! I beg you!"

The creature didn’t stop kowtowing and pleading as it cried out loud, nose running and tears flowing, leaving Xia Yu’s mind swirling with a string of garbled code.

I’ve seen frogs, oh wait, I mean toads!

Have you ever seen a frog cry and beg like this? The sight completely turned his view of the world upside down. Luckily, Xia Yu’s own worldview had shattered long ago without being reconstructed, so he managed to suppress his inner chaos and asked while hardly holding back laughter, "So, what should I call you, and what trouble have you gotten into that you need help with?"

"A name?"

The frog perched on the vase looked up, puzzled, its bulging eyes full of confusion.

"I don’t have a name!"

"I’m just someone who was forgotten in a corner..."

With that, the frog burst into loud sobs, "So, I’m about to disappear! Please, Xia Yu, sir, I implore you to help me!"

"Cry, cry, cry your head off!"

Xia Yu rubbed his temples, thoroughly displeased.

"So what is it—what help do you need?! Spit it out, how can I help you—" Xia Yu almost couldn’t suppress his roar.