Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 499 - 498: Food Justice and Food Dominator (Part 1)

Chapter 499: Chapter 498: Food Justice and Food Dominator (Part 1)

Snowy Mountain.

Chuyun Shrine.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

The knocking interrupted Xia Yu’s thoughts.

"The door isn’t locked."

He stood in front of the kitchen counter, speaking without turning around.

Bang.

Jintan Shun entered the room, this sloppy uncle had come back from hunting yesterday and had shaved off his sharp brother-like hair and beard, now he was a bald man.

He even changed into a new outfit, free from any strange stench.

"How is it, can this kitchen still be used?" Jintan Shun asked casually. Last night, Xia Yu had asked to borrow the kitchen. Although it was deep in the mountains, Jintan Shun had clearly turned the unmanned Chuyun Shrine into his base, not to mention an armory, but also two professional kitchens that left nothing to criticize.

Moreover, there was a food ingredient cold storage hidden in a nearby cave. In short, Jintan Shun must have maintained close contact with the outside world and had a vast network of relations. Xia Yu, who merely came for hunting ingredients and relaxing, did not ask much about Jintan Shun.

Hmm?

His gaze swept across the countertop filled with ingredients, and Jintan Shun’s expression changed drastically.

Thump, thump, thump...

A series of hurried footsteps, Jintan Shun almost lunged forward, hands propped on the counter, staring at the giant bird egg missing a corner on the counter, incredulously saying, "You, you you you..."

He was tongue-tied, unable to utter a complete sentence.

"What ’you’ you!"

Xia Yu glanced at the steaming plate of fried rice in front of him, frowning in thought and was annoyed at being interrupted.

Jintan Shun pointed at him, trembling with anger.

"You, you wastrel!"

"Uh?"

"This is the ’Five-headed Bird Egg’, a Forbidden Ingredient recognized by IGO, priceless to any Lin Chef!" Jintan Shun gritted his teeth, his eyes quickly reddening with blood, a sign of extreme excitement.

"I know it’s a Forbidden Ingredient," Xia Yu nodded lightly.

Agony!

A severe pain shot through his heart, making Jintan Shun so angry that he was nearly going insane, his face turning from red to green, then from green to white. He tightly clutched his chest, while staring at the young chef’s calm face, it took him a while before he said hatefully,

"Rather than spoiling a Forbidden Ingredient, you should have sold those two eggs to me at the start!"

"Ah!"

Then clutching his head, a deep regret surfaced on Jintan Shun’s face.

"It’s all my fault, I forgot to tell you, I am a Gourmet Hunter, and also a Lin Chef... In short, if you were planning to sell the Taboo Bird Egg yesterday, I definitely could have bought it! The price would have satisfied you!"

Upon hearing this.

Xia Yu looked at the bald mercenary uncle in surprise, disbelieving, "You are a Lin Chef?"

"Guaranteed genuine!"

Jintan Shun grunted.

"Well then, help me taste this dish, see exactly what went wrong—" Xia Yu pointed at the plate of fried rice that had just been served on the counter.

Upon seeing this, Jintan Shun was even more stunned, as if struck by lightning, his hands trembling, his lips quivering.

"Fried rice?"

"You made fried rice with a Forbidden Ingredient!"

"My heavens! Ahhh!"

Jintan Shun’s eyes turned red again, he buried his head, taking a while to control his raging emotions.

"If I could hit you, I would definitely have beaten you up! Wastrel!" Jintan Shun growled in fury, his fists crackling, but remembering the images from yesterday’s massive battle with the Five-headed Bird, he reluctantly realized that without the assistance of firearms, he was the one likely to be beaten up.

So.

Xia Yu could only hold the sulking feeling in his chest. Jintan Shun rubbed his chest, truly afraid he would have a heart attack if he did not catch his breath.

"What’s wrong with the fried rice?"

Xia Yu slightly frowned. Honestly, whether it was Eriina incessantly calling it common people’s food or the current disdain and contempt Lin Chef showed for fried rice from the bottom of his heart, it really irritated him.

What’s wrong with a popular recipe!

"Just try it!"

He pointed, cutting short any idle talk.

"Hey, after all, it’s fried rice made with a Taboo Bird Egg, can’t go to waste! Eat, eat, eat!"

Turning sadness into the desire to eat, Jintan Shun picked up the chopsticks, filled a small ceramic bowl full of hot fried rice, and began to eat.

Strange!

His chopsticks picked up a clump of rice.

What surprised Jintan Shun was that not only were the grains of rice separated, but each grain was a bright golden color, tightly wrapped in an egg coating. His surprise lay in this, and he couldn’t help but stare intently at the plate.

A whole plate of rice, which now in his eyes looked like sparkling gold.

"Golden... fried rice?"

Murmuring, he brought the chopsticks to his mouth, sniffed the aromatic scent, and opened his mouth!

Eat!

What did the Taboo Bird Egg taste like?

As the grains of rice touched his tongue, a layer of soft egg coating melted in his mouth. Jintan Shun shuddered, his pores opening up; it was more refreshing than drinking a cold beer on a scorching summer day!

But the forbidden ingredients brought more than just the peak of refreshing taste; as he chewed, his tongue went numb and soon his mouth was paralyzed... Jintan Shun put down his chopsticks after a long moment of dripping cold sweat, looking at the remaining fried rice in his bowl without a trace of appetite.

"You... You didn’t control it!"

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Jintan Shun said with lingering fear, "That was close!"

"Yes, didn’t control it!"

Xia Yu couldn’t help but look at Jintan Shun with admiration.

He had naturally tried the fried rice too and tasted every experimental dish; if not for strong willpower, he would probably have already succumbed to the forbidden allure of the Five-headed Bird Egg.

"A taste of... nothingness!" Xia Yu sighed.

"Yes, ’nothingness’!"

Jintan Shun said, "Top-tier forbidden ingredients have a flavor of ’nothingness’; one bite and your mouth goes numb, your mind empties, it’s almost like taking drugs... it’s exactly for this reason that IGO lists ingredients with similar ’nothingness’ flavors as forbidden."

"Of course, the allure of forbidden ingredients for all top-level chefs isn’t just for their ’nothingness’ flavor."

Pausing, Jintan Shun’s face revealed an enigmatic and eerie smile.

"You know what? Most of the gourmet cells controlled by the ’Gourmet Association’ are discovered and extracted from forbidden ingredients. From a biological standpoint, forbidden ingredients contain an abundance of highly active cells that can promote life evolution!"

After finishing, he fixed his gaze on Xia Yu’s expression, but noticed that this young chef showed little surprise, as if he already knew the greatest secret of the forbidden ingredients.

Jintan Shun was shocked.

"You knew?"

"Of course!"

Xia Yu couldn’t say that he had spent half the night switching between "Super Vision" and "Resolving Eye" studying the Taboo Bird Egg.

He wasn’t reckless, on the contrary, it pained him to use an egg only for research and trials, but it was a necessary expenditure, an indelible cost. Otherwise, how could he improve the "Golden Fried Rice" recipe?

That’s right.

Xia Yu intended to incorporate the Taboo Bird Egg into the "Golden Fried Rice" recipe, but looking at the situation, it seemed quite difficult because it was a blue-recipe yet needed to integrate a golden-grade forbidden ingredient...

Simply controlling the forbidden ingredient was headache-inducing enough for Xia Yu.

Seeing Xia Yu’s furrowed brow, Jintan Shun found a chair, sat down leisurely, and cleared his throat saying:

"Speaking of methods to control, you actually have two choices!"

Holding up two fingers, Jintan Shun winked and said, "The first, the standard path of a virtuous, bright chef, using your culinary heart to control the forbidden ingredients... Uh, I like to call this method the ’Spiritual Food Ethics Method’."

"The second, hey, do you know how the ’Gourmet Association’ discovered and extracted gourmet cells? Forbidden ingredients are the primary focus of the ’Gourmet Association’; their method of control is simpler and more brutal... using a type of gourmet cell to conquer and dominate, fighting poison with poison, firmly suppressing the ’nothingness’ of the forbidden ingredients!"