Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 501 - 500: Formal Declaration of War

Chapter 501: Chapter 500: Formal Declaration of War

The competition was in progress, but suddenly, the live broadcast screen switched frames, giving extended coverage to a young chef who had arrived late. The audience caught on and a murmur of whispers filled the air.

Even the chefs in the heat of competition were affected by the strange atmosphere, glancing up at the broadcasting screen overhead.

Xia Yu was supposed to appear on October 1st. However, the quarterfinals match on October 16th— a full half month later—still retained hot discussions about him. After all, following his stunning debut, this exceptionally young talent’s records and cooking duel videos registered with IGO’s Neon Department were immediately dug up by various international culinary media outlets and discussed extensively.

Thanks to a successful first show, the Fame Points Xia Yu gained in that half a month had slowly surpassed the total amount he acquired over the previous six months, adding up to a terrifying accumulation.

Bang.

Xia Yu took a seat in the Far Moon Team’s guest area, and the camera moved away after lingering for a dozen seconds or so.

Interestingly, when the camera cut back to the stage, the Far Moon crowd turned again to look at the sudden appearance of the young instructor. Roland Chapele nodded slightly, Tiqie Zongwei and his wife Leonora smiled and glanced over, while Zhu Qing, Dojima Yin, and Saito Chiyokuro exchanged looks, eventually Zhu Qing teased with a smile:

"Weren’t you supposed to come back on the 20th, the day of our competition?"

"Uh..."

Xia Yu scratched his head, saying, "I made some gains, so I came back early."

"Gains?"

Hearing that, Zhu Qing, Dojima Yin, and Saito Chiyokuro all fluttered their eyelids, but considering that they were at the competition venue, it wasn’t appropriate to inquire further. They simply looked deeply at the youth pretending to be modest.

"I’ll deal with you when we get back!" Zhu Qing huffed, "I let you go hunting, and the old man has been international calling to curse me out for days. It’s the first time for your little aunt Zhu Qing to take the blame for someone. Really unpleasant."

Xia Yu smiled wryly.

However, he noticed a detail—while mentioning Mr. Xia and in her words, little aunt Zhu Qing held a mix of fear and respect for Mr. Xia.

As everyone turned their heads back to focus on the match, the girl beside him, who had been sitting stiffly with her long legs crossed and possessing the "Divine Tongue" talent, now slightly bowed her head to let her legs down, her fair hand resting on her thigh to smooth down her plaid skirt in a motion that was strangely tense.

"Eriina..." Seeing this, Xia Yu thought it was the presence of Ghost Father that scared the girl. Unable to help himself, he reached out to gently pat her shoulder, chuckling lightly, "Soon, you’ll be free from the nightmares... I’ll take him down!"

Eriina’s delicate body trembled slightly, and the warmth of the hand on her shoulder brought a strange sense of warmth to her heart.

The girl remained silent, not answering, and Xia Yu did not mind, withdrawing his hand to fold his arms and concentrate on the competition.

Hm?

His brow furrowed.

"That snake meat..."

Tiqie Ji was processing a bloody piece of raw meat.

Scaling, skinning.

The scales and skin were dark and exuded a malevolent aura, but the meat that was finally prepared was incredibly tender, making the audience salivate as the camera panned over. Everyone shared a similar thought:

Such beautiful meat, it must be delicious when cooked, right?

Knowing the true nature of a "Food Dominator," which is the essence of a Dark Qilin Chef, from Jintan Shun, Xia Yu, however, had a different thought at that moment.

"Could this fantasy ingredient resonate with Tiqie Ji... is it the tool for his conquest?"

Xia Yu murmured.

A Dark Qilin Chef’s ’tools’ are ingredients, but such ingredients must meet one condition:

They must resonate with the culinary cells within the chef!

What is resonance?

A week earlier, at the Shrine Kitchen, where Xia Yu bought 100 grams of "Gem Meat," he had experienced ’resonance.’

’Resonance’ is actually a shortcut, for you see, a regular Lin Chef, whether dark or light, can’t skip the ’taming of ingredients’ step. But with resonant ingredients in the hands of a chef with culinary cells, there’s no need for ’taming’; they’re ready to serve my purposes!

Thus, in Tiqie Ji’s hands, a resonant ingredient is undoubtedly the core of his recipes.

His mind stirred, Xia Yu tried to activate the "Analysis Eye," focusing his gaze, and indeed received the ingredient information provided by the system:

"[Demon Big Snake Meat], Forbidden Ingredient, gold quality, 91% freshness."

"Demon Big Snake?"

Xia Yu couldn’t help exclaiming aloud, which drew strange looks from Zhu Qing, Dojima Yin, and Saito Chiyokuro. They looked over curiously, "Can you tell what ingredient this is?"

"Demon Big Snake!" he answered, but unexpectedly, the others frowned, causing a sense of trepidation in Xia Yu’s heart.

Crap!

The "Demon Big Snake" wouldn’t be a new species, would it... or could it be that the "Gourmet Society" discovered it but didn’t announce it?

Realizing this, Xia Yu shut her mouth and did not speak further.

An hour later.

Tiqie Ji served up her dish.

In the center of the pristine white plate were saltwater broccoli and a few decorative flowers, while the snake meat, after being blanched, sautéed, and deep-fried, had gone from its initial tender pink to a golden, oily appearance, cut into small slices scattered around the centerpiece.

The five judges tasted the dishes in turn.

Xia Yu recognized two of them, the French star Melissa and Nois, who loved to sing North American folk songs, but the other three special judges were unfamiliar to her.

The result was, after the judges tasted Tiqie Ji’s dish and then the other chef’s dish, their expressions went numb one by one.

"Tiqie Ji is the winner... five to nothing!"

Chiyoda Aichi shouted.

However, the venue fell silent, people gazing at the five judges who stood stiff as if magically turned into puppets, feeling a chill all over.

Thump, thump, thump...

Unexpectedly, amidst all the fearful looks, Tiqie Ji stepped down from the stage after her victory and headed straight for the Far Moon Team.

The cameraman’s eyes gleamed with excitement, and multiple cameras focused on this spot.

"You’ve returned!"

Tiqie Ji said to Saito Chiyokuro, her gaze sweeping past Xia Yu and pausing slightly, but then shifted away. Obviously, for Tiqie Ji, this youthful special chef posed no threat; her real concern was the formidable opponent before her!

"You’ve gotten stronger," Saito Chiyokuro commented blandly, glancing at the judges who were still sitting unmoved, his brow furrowing, anger lacing his words: "I will never acknowledge your manipulation of the judges with your cooking!"

"Heh, Chiyokuro, save these high and mighty words until after you’ve broken through my ’manipulation’ and stand before me as the victor!" Tiqie Ji’s eyes twinkled with mockery.

Saito Chiyokuro took a breath and said earnestly, "I will show you with ingredients tamed by the true spirit of culinary art, what it means to bring enjoyment and joy to our clients through cooking!"

Tiqie Ji ignored him and looked at her daughter who had her head buried deep and her body slightly trembling.

"Eriina, come to me!"

"Do you want to become stronger? I have prepared the right gourmet cells for you. You will soon be able to handle ingredients far beyond your own level and use them... to crush everything!"

Snap.

At that moment, a hand rested on the girl’s shoulder, and Xia Yu slowly stood up.

"It seems we’re going to have a ’culinary showdown’ after all..."

Culinary showdown?

As this phrase was broadcast through the screen, a tsunami of gasps swept through the previously quiet hall.

Xia Yu took two steps forward, Dojima Yin and Saito Chiyokuro stepped back subconsciously, both of them exchanging a shocked look. By the time they realized what was happening, they saw Xia Yu with his back to them, standing face-to-face with Tiqie Ji.

Dojima Yin’s hair stood on end as he finally understood whom Xia Yu sought to challenge in the culinary showdown, his mouth agape, but Saito Chiyokuro beside him quickly gestured for silence.

"Are you serious?" Tiqie Ji asked intently.

"Of course!"

"Why?"

Xia Yu glanced back slightly from the corner of his eye, "I want to rescue a girl from her cage."

Tiqie Ji’s face darkened, "Impossible! She can only follow the path I have laid out! I won’t allow you to lead her astray!"

"It’s you who’s leading her astray!"

"Heh heh heh heh..."

A cold laugh followed and Tiqie Ji said slowly, "Alright, I accept your challenge, but there’s a condition for this culinary showdown: we have to meet in the contest!"

"So, defeat Tang’s Team first, else you can’t even get into the top four of Block A. What showdown can you talk about?"

Tiqie Ji said to Xia Yu’s back as he turned away:

"I will kick you, this detestable fellow, away from my daughter’s side with my own foot!"