CHAPTER 585: CHAPTER 584: THE THIRD DRIVING METHOD

The second round had concluded.

It ended in a tie.

This result was somewhat acceptable for Far Moon and the White Jade Building Team, but the resentful chefs on stage and Dojima Yin, who quickly left the venue, could feel it too.

Thump thump thump...

Backstage, Dojima Yin fiercely pushed open the door, ready to yell at the culprit to express his strong dissatisfaction, but to his surprise, there was no one in the room, only a big-screen TV broadcasting the live competition.

Where is everyone?

With his breath held in his throat, almost causing internal injury, Dojima Yin, could only keep a stern face, close the door, and start looking around.

Eventually, outside the professional kitchen in the backstage rest area, Dojima Yin caught sight of several sneaky figures. Why sneaky? Since the kitchen was semi-open with a lot of glass construction, these figures were either pressing their faces against the glass or standing a bit farther away, holding up their mobile phones to take videos.

Looking closely, Dojima Yin recognized all the familiar faces.

The faces pressed against the glass were none other than Tanaka Hikari and Eriina.

The plain blue-haired girl and the golden-haired angelic girl both had terrified expressions on their pretty faces as if they had witnessed something that shattered their worldviews.

As for Morioka Makoto and Yuchuan Miesha, they were each taking videos with their phones.

The only one who seemed calm was Yuchuan Ayaka.

After all, being the eldest daughter of the Yuchuan Family and having trained at Shi Lin Temple for a long time, she had seen many unimaginable things.

However, upon closer observation, Yuchuan Ayaka’s calm appeared forced, her beautiful eyes fiercely flickering.

What’s going on?

Having just come from the front stage, Dojima Yin immediately became curious.

He walked forwards several steps, then thump!

His stride suddenly halted.

It wasn’t an illusion. In the kitchen on the other side of the glass, Dojima Yin clearly saw a high-flying fuse of fire.

The fire fuse fluttered as though waving in the wind, undulating round and round, lively and elegant.

His pupils slightly constricted.

Dojima Yin involuntarily stopped in his tracks, feeling the ’fire fuse’ being endowed with life and even a soul, at this moment, this strand of fire fuse seemed like a flame sprite’s gorgeous garment extending into a fluttering ribbon.

"Who is inside..."

He caught a glimpse of a vague figure through his sight, Dojima Yin’s mind couldn’t quite keep up. He stepped closer, finally able to clearly see the situation inside the kitchen.

On the cooking station, there was a small barbecue charcoal stove.

A chef, with his back to the glass, was holding chopsticks in his right hand and a small fan in his left, fanning rhythmically, one time, then a stop.

Huff, huff.

The breathing sound came through the window.

Barely hearing the joyous crackling of flames with his ears, Dojima Yin, after realizing who it was, fixated his gaze even more. When he focused and saw the ingredients on the grill, he couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

More tiny strands of fire fuse, one by one, clear in layers and details, stretched out from the vigorous fiery red of the charcoal stove like threads being drawn from cocoons, manipulated mysteriously, rising up, wrapping around the white meat ingredients on the wire grid.

"Plip..."

Sweat dripped.

Although unable to see the chef’s face directly, from the sweat occasionally falling onto the cooking station, one could tell the chef’s current state.

Suddenly, the pace of the fanning faltered due to stiffness in the arm, causing a brief disarray.

Ah!

A gasp came from outside the kitchen.

Even Dojima Yin felt anxious, staring transfixed at the fire that was losing control.

"Roar—"

The tame chirping sound suddenly transformed into a roar of a fierce dragon, strands of fire fuse entirely fell back into the charcoal stove, followed by a booming blaze rising fiercely, the small stove suddenly bursting flames similar to that of an exploding frying pan.

And visibly, Xia Yu was also startled by the fierce fire, hesitating for two seconds before using the chopsticks to pick up a piece of "River Puffer Whale Meat," which by then had already been scorched beyond recognition.

"Ai!"

He sighed, yet also relieved.

Xia Yu casually found a towel to wipe the sweat continually streaming down his face, then scrutinized the meat on the chopsticks with a focused gaze.

The peculiar thick fragrance wafted through the room.

Although the white meat had several yellowish-brown scorches, it hadn’t turned into charcoal.

With eyes full of curiosity, Xia Yu popped it into his mouth, his eyes widening as he forgot the meat had just come out of the oven and was still very hot. Now, he could only continuously exhale to dispel the dry heat that seemed to ignite his mouth, feeling as if he had transformed into a Flame Dragon exhaling breath.

Crack!

With one bite, the texture of the meat was still decent, crispy on the outside and tender inside.

As he chewed, Xia Yu’s expression gradually turned strange, "I’m starting to feel something..."

Thud!

Suddenly, the effects of consuming unfamiliar Forbidden Ingredients surged through his body, a strong palpitation. Xia Yu leaned on the counter, and after a while, he wiped his sweat and gasped, "Still haven’t figured out the knack of ’taming’ it!"

Just a small bite caused his blood to feel like it was flowing backward.

Luckily, the "River Puffer Whale meat" had been detoxified; otherwise, Xia Yu felt he might have ended up dead in this corner.

Attempting to cook and consume Forbidden Ingredients without mastering them, the side effect was total failure.

Of course, as a Food Tyrant Chef with awakened gourmet cells, he naturally had an advantage in "toxicity testing", as gourmet cells weren’t just for show; unless overwhelmed by cellular toxins, they could usually recover on their own.

"Let’s try again!"

After wiping his sweat with a towel, Xia Yu prepared to open the box and cut some more "River Puffer Whale meat."

This attempt wasn’t a complete failure; he had vaguely glimpsed the trick to taming the "River Puffer Whale meat!"

No need for gourmet cells to strike or food ethics to suppress.

Merely culinary skills could complete the handling of Forbidden Ingredients!

So... This was a path of taming that deeply intrigued Xia Yu. If successful in practice, he could foresee himself fully diving into experimenting with other Forbidden Ingredients soon and developing many new dishes!

Just thinking about it, the passion in his body dissipated his fatigue.

Thud, thud!

Someone was knocking on the window behind him.

Xia Yu looked back in shock and immediately jumped, as there were several figures outside, including a clearly visible Dojima Yin among the women.

"President, what is the status of the third event?" Opening the kitchen door, Xia Yu hadn’t forgotten the ongoing Sapporo competition.

"It’s in progress—"

Dojima Yin crossed his arms and looked at him, curiosity flashing in his eyes, "What were you just doing?"

"I had some ideas, so I was trying them out..."

"Trying out?"

With a strange expression, Dojima Yin moved his lips, "Then, what was that flame just now..."

"Ah?"

Xia Yu played dumb.

At that moment, Morioka Makoto shook her cellphone, which was playing a video, "I just recorded it."

"Just a way to control the fire," Xia Yu shrugged off.

"It’s not that simple, is it?"

Everyone looked at him with strange expressions, as the scene of the flames rising and roasting the River Puffer Whale meat had surpassed their understanding.

Dojima Yin and Yuchuan Ayaka appeared contemplative.

Interrupted by friends and family, Xia Yu had to pause his experiment and joined everyone in the hall to watch the competition.

The third round of the contest.

As he sat down, Xia Yu stared blankly at the television screen.

The camera was at Li Quan’s cooking station.

It was a crucial final stage, the screen dominated by raging flames. As a bearer of the middle generation of the Li Family, Li Quan’s mastery of "Bursting Flame" and two other Flame Cooking Skills was evidently a level above Li Han.

The theme... Crust and Filling!

And the cooking method, marked with ’fire’ as a prefix!

Listening to Eriina and Morioka Makoto quietly discussing, Xia Yu’s mouth twitched.

"That thing, the so-called fate object, really not reliable! Use with caution!"