Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 645 - 644: Ready

Chapter 645: Chapter 644: Ready

A wave of unexpected sabotage had hit before the competition, leaving Xia Yu anxious.

He had never experienced such unanimously favorable treatment before; before obtaining the special grade or along the journey of culinary duels, he was usually on the under-estimated and disfavored side, accustomed yet indifferent.

But now, as the situation suddenly flipped before the game, and the whole network sang his praises, it seemed as if a mysterious force had struck...

Xia Yu always felt something was off.

If he messed this up and fell from the clouds, his aura dissipating, wouldn’t it be terribly disastrous?

The higher you are held before the game, the more careful you had to be about falling.

He could feel in the darkness, pairs of cold, mocking eyes just waiting for him to make a fool of himself, that moment would be the cue for public opinion to flip.

"Relax, it’s steady!"

Xia Yu clenched his fist, and also gave himself a dose of sabotage, the dose was huge, so he might as well just go with the crash.

No matter for the mission,

Or for the legendary culinary trophy—"Jade Dragon Pot".

This was the time to declare war on the sabotage and absolutely not cower.

...

A night passed.

"Thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-thump!"

Knocking sounds.

Xia Yu poked his head out from under the covers, rubbing his eyes, "Who is it?!"

Quite annoyed.

It was just the break of dawn, probably just after six o’clock, and the nights after winter began were long, the room still shrouded in darkness.

"Open up!"

Zhu Qing’s voice came through, "Official logistics team of the event has arrived, they handle the ingredients for inspection and storage!"

This was a routine part of the competition preparation.

"Okay!"

Finally awake, Xia Yu tossed aside the covers, got out of bed, opened the door, and poked his head out to Zhu Qing outside: "Just hand the ingredients directly to them. Also, remind them to store it in the original boxes, don’t mess around."

Zhu Qing nodded and left.

At the mansion’s professional ingredient storage, a truck painted with the IGO official logo, stopped at the doorway.

"Transport and store in the original boxes?"

The leader dressed in monk’s cloth robes, a bald head glanced at Zhu Qing with a surprised look, it was Aoki Motota, as the chef’s knives around his neck gleamed brightly.

"Yes."

Zhu Qing handed a strange box to the staff beside Aoki.

The box was quite heavy, weighing about twenty to thirty pounds, peculiar because, from the outside, it seemed entirely wooden like a miniaturized version of a refrigerator, with a door and a lock, and intricate relief carvings on all sides.

"Is this all?"

Aoki asked.

Zhu Qing’s eyes flickered, handing over a list, "Here, our team’s equipment list is on it."

"A casserole, eight pieces, corresponding to eight stoves, requiring a spacious cooking countertop."

Taking the list and skimming through it, Aoki Motota was gripped by the next line of text.

"What’s this?"

His forehead nearly displaying a question mark, "Bamboo... fresh bamboo?"

"If IGO could coordinate with us to find some craftsmen to weave the design on the drawings simultaneously, that would be perfect."

A voice approached from the side.

Xia Yu, dressed in loose workout clothes, came over and handed a blueprint to the monk.

Lowering his head to look at the model on the paper, Aoki Motota’s mouth slightly opened:

"A bamboo boat?"

Aoki was curious, wanting to inquire but repressed the impulse; today he was just a position-less staff member responsible for overseeing the ingredients, while Shinohara and the female protagonist also rushed to the other two competing teams’ accommodations, IGO’s Neon Department with three top members made sure the logistics were smoothly managed.

Soon, the engine started, and Aoki got into the car and said to Xia Yu, "Good luck, young man!"

An hour later, a bit past seven in the morning, almost eight o’clock.

Three ingredient trucks gathered at the warehouse of Hokkaido Shrine Pavilion.

Aoki Motota jumped out of the car and, from a distance, gave Shinohara Shigetaro and Liangzi Lina an OK sign.

The three approached.

"Liangzi, are you in charge of monitoring the ingredients for the White Jade Tower team? How are their ingredients coming along?" Aoki rubbed his hands, intending to ask, but suddenly heard a high-pitched quack emanating from the underground ingredient storage, turning around in astonishment, and then he was petrified.

"Ducks? Ducks?"

A staff member was getting off the bus holding a live duck with its feet tied.

"As you can see!" the female lead answered.

"What about the others..."

Aoki started to ask but then shut his mouth again.

The second staff member unloaded sealed jars of wine.

"Ducks and wine?"

His gaze shifted towards the trucks returning from Tang’s Team; this side was more straightforward, bringing back a large freezer. Observing two staff members sweating profusely, the load was not light, and it was unknown what was inside.

Aoki Motota faintly smelled a fishy odor.

"Did Tang’s team also prepare fish ingredients?"

Aoki was immediately dumbfounded.

"What, is there an overlap in ingredients?" Shinohara and the female lead, drawn by Aoki’s soft exclamation, clearly understood that the Far Moon team might have prepared something similar.

This was getting interesting.

Aoki Motota shrugged, "It’s just similar ingredients, the chance of recipe overlap is practically zero!"

Shinohara looked at his watch.

"In another two hours, the venue will start to get lively!"

He looked up, already unable to resist imagining how explosive the atmosphere would be beneath the classical dome of the venue.

...

Before the competition.

The official live stream’s warm-up, as usual, began.

All three competing teams had members invited to participate in the official live interview: from Far Moon, it was Dojima Yin, from Tang’s, it was the young Tang Jingtiao, and from White Jade Tower, it was Li Quan.

Everyone sat in a living-room-like studio.

At the start, the host threw out a topic ripe with tension:

"All three of you must be aware that the Far Moon General arrived in Sapporo yesterday morning and confirmed his attendance at the upcoming debate finals... Do any of you have comments about the statements the Far Moon General made during yesterday’s interview?"

The question asked, the interview briefly went cold.

After a while, Li Quan spoke, "Tiqie Xianzuowen is a respected Dragon Chef, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment here."

The young and energetic Tang Jingtiao then declared with his head held high, "We will not lose!"

Dojima Yin coughed and remained silent.

...

Ookura Mountain Villa.

In the room, calmly, Xia Yu folded a set of chef uniforms he would change into for the competition, placing it neatly inside a box, and then took out a knife.

The "Seven-star Saber·Breaking Army" was essential to bring, not to mention, using this knife for seafood preparation could enhance the freshness of the ingredients by 50%. The ’unrivaled freshness’ required by the golden recipes was so high that even carefully selected and stored ingredients from Nijo Fish Market barely met the standard, but with the bonus from the culinary gear, the level was at least passable.

Next, the rolling pin had to be brought, and he must not forget the golden culinary gear "Endless Flour Jar."

Bang!

He closed the lid of the box, Xia Yu turned back to watch the TV live interview.

Lose? Impossible.

The weighty kitchen gear in the suitcase told Xia Yu just how luxurious his "equipment" was— players who heavily invest had nothing to fear!

"Beep beep!"

The pleasant ringtone of the phone tossed on the bed rang out; Xia Yu answered it.

"Are you ready?"

The old man asked in a deep voice.

"Hey, of course!" Xia Yu grinned.

"Aqing, Tang Shan, and Lan Chuhai are almost on par; the key to this competition rests on the performance of you three youngsters. Whoever can help their Lin Chef partner to further perfect the dish will come out on top..."

"Mmm..."

Xia Yu responded, sniffed his nose, and the irrational ailment disappeared silently overnight. At that moment, his whole being was revitalized, clear-headed and spirited.