CHAPTER 391: CHAPTER 391: BEAST GOD FOREST 14

The theme for the King of Chefs competition has not yet been announced, so everyone can only start by washing vegetables and doing some preparation work.

Or cut some dishes that do not require intricate knife skills first.

Xuan Jiu was selecting her own ingredients.

Caicai held her spatula confidently, preparing nothing at all.

Xiao Jinsheng simply found a seat to observe the strange judges’ panel.

There were a total of ten seats on the judges’ panel.

But aside from Huaiqing, who had just arrived and taken a seat, the remaining nine positions were empty.

Only White Jade stones engraved with simple animal sketches were placed on the table.

Xiao Jinsheng’s gaze scanned over one by one.

Aside from Huaiqing sitting at the far left, counting to the right, those animal sketches were really simplistic.

Through the sketches, Xiao Jinsheng could only vaguely recognize some of the animals.

Since Huaiqing was sitting in the first position, she skipped that one.

There were a number two snake, a number three leopard, a number four bird, a number five cat, a number six that couldn’t be identified, a number seven fish, an eight dragon.

Number nine resembled a cloud of mist.

Number ten was simple, it was a Matchman.

[Welcome everyone to the Beast God Cliff, where this year’s King of Chefs competition will be held]

An ancient yet somewhat mechanical-sounding voice suddenly echoed from above, catching Xiao Jinsheng’s attention.

[Now announcing the competition rules for the King of Chefs, a point-based elimination system]

[The highest score is 10, 6 as passing, and judges can give as low as minus 10 points]

[In the first round, each team can only make one dish and select three judges for scoring. If the combined total of positive and negative scores from the three judges is less than 6 points, they will be eliminated in the first round, equal to or greater than 6 points will advance to the next round]

[Judges selected in succession cannot be picked for two consecutive rounds]

[In this King of Chefs competition, there are ten judges. Aside from Master Prophet from the Beast God Forest, the remaining nine are mysterious judges]

[Thus the scoring between Master Prophet and the mysterious judges differs]

[Participants who choose to have their dishes scored by Master Prophet will have their dishes automatically scored based on flavor similarity. Master Prophet has prepared one hundred dishes in advance, all with different flavors]

[As long as your dish reaches a flavor similarity of 10% with one of Master Prophet’s one hundred dishes, you can score 6 points. If the similarity is 90%, you can directly enter the finals]

[If you choose Master Prophet as your dish’s judge, you may sample samples. Each team may sample three different dishes in one round, and each dish may only be sampled with a small spoon]

[The mysterious judges have also prepared taste estimations to assist participants in targeted cooking]

[Now broadcasting the taste estimations for the mysterious judges, this will be broadcasted only once, please prepare to take notes]

[Judge number two, Heibai, taste estimation: very picky, will scold if it’s not tasty]

[Judge number three, Baili, taste estimation: delicious is delicious, awful is awful, very fair]

[Judge number four, Que Liyi, taste estimation: will praise even bad food, but will give low marks, or even negative]

[Judge number five, Yunxiao, taste estimation: picky, but offers feedback on every dish tried?]

[Judge number six, Li Leba, taste estimation: only eats expensive things, will score low if it’s not expensive]

[Judge number seven, Cun Yu, taste estimation: will poison participants if it’s not tasty]

[Judge number eight, Yu Qi, taste estimation: not picky, but will write a 30,000-word critique if the dish is unqualified]

[Judge number nine, Yun Jing, taste estimation: eats everything, hence scores low, but if a contestant makes something Yun Jing won’t eat, that contestant will receive ten times the electric shock penalty and be eliminated immediately]

[Judge number ten, Ao Tian, taste estimation: fragile, don’t feed him just anything]

[Please all participants, think ahead about which three judges you will choose, and then cook your dishes]

[The King of Chefs competition begins officially, the first round countdown is 1 hour]

"This..." Xiao Jinsheng looked at the nine mysterious judge seats which were still vacant in the kitchen and fell into silence.

If these sketches were hard for her to distinguish...

If one or two names were mere coincidences...

But among the nine mysterious judges, eight of their names were familiar to her.

Even the last one, Ao Tian, she had heard of.

"It can’t be what I’m thinking, can it?" Though Xiao Jinsheng’s words were puzzled, her heart already had the answer.

Thinking about it, she quickly contacted Mo Jiao and Que Zelian via the Star System Map.

Asking them if they had signed up to be judges behind her back.

The message was successfully sent.

But she waited a long time without any reply.

Xiao Jinsheng sighed, while Caicai became even more confident: "Then shouldn’t we just pick randomly?"

If the mysterious judges were indeed Shi Xie and the others, Caicai figured they would surely recognize her dish and give it high marks.

"If they’re not here, it’s hard to know which dish is ours, or they might not know we’re participating at all," Xiao Jinsheng replied, "Unless they taste familiar food."

"Familiar food..." muttered Xuan Jiu quietly.

Receiving Xiao Jinsheng’s earnest gaze, she patted his shoulder gently: "The dishes you make, they’re all familiar to them."

Even imprinting unforgettable memories.

Although Huaiqing’s cuisine was more familiar to Yu Yunxiao and the others...

But since Huaiqing was now a judge, he couldn’t participate in the contest.

"I originally wanted to perform exceptionally," Xuan Jiu clenched his fist, "But since they’re the judges, it looks like I’ll have to remain consistent."

He was worried that if he made it too delicious, those people might not recognize it as made by an acquaintance, and give him a bad review.

With a winning goal in mind, Xuan Jiu immediately turned to recall his recipe.

He made up his mind.

In the first round, he’d make roast chicken!

"What about me?" Caicai was stumped.

Her spatula could deliver deliciousness.

But Mo Jiao and the others had never tasted a dish personally made by the supreme Caicai.

"You select Huaiqing, Que Zelian, Su Ye, Ying, Chen Yunji," offered Xiao Jinsheng.

With Caicai’s spatula being off the charts in skill, the food was definitely going to be gourmet quality.

Picking those five, not to mention any backstage advantage, at least the scoring should be fair.

However, the others were a different matter for Xiao Jinsheng.

Yu Yunxiao might seem promising with the taste estimation, but there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t cause scoring issues.

Mo Jiao might pick up Caicai’s aroma in the dish and get angry, leading to a bad review.

As for Shi Xie, he seemed easygoing, but was in fact demanding, and might even poison the dish in retaliation.

And Li? He’s too picky, who knows what his standard for "expensive" is.

Lou Yan Zhi could be a regular judge, but considering that Lou Yan Zhi and Caicai had untangled their ties, Lou Yan Zhi had left empty-handed, and Caicai still owed Lou Yan Zhi a debt to be paid.

Regarding her Beast Husband and friends, Xiao Jinsheng had seen through it all.

In fact, when the first round cooking time ended...

A brave contestant went ahead and chose Mo Jiao as the judge.

The dish was just served, a bowl of tofu pudding adorned with fresh flowers.

Xiao Jinsheng immediately noticed a small scoop missing from the tofu pudding in the bowl.

And at the corresponding Mo Jiao judge’s position, a one-word review floated up.

Heibai: Crap

Heibai: 0 points

There was more than one bold contestant.

Soon enough, a plate of spicy stir-fried meat made its way to Mo Jiao’s table.

Mo Jiao’s score was quick to follow.

Heibai: Worse than crap

Heibai: Minus 6 points