Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

The moment the three judges saw the Stargazy Pie placed before them, their expressions changed in almost perfect unison.

Chinese cuisine had always placed great emphasis on refinement and presentation. Even when an entire fish was served whole, it was usually shaped and arranged carefully so the finished dish looked elegant rather than harsh or crude.

A pie with more than a dozen fish heads sticking straight out of the crust was therefore more than a little unconventional.

Even these three men, who had tasted countless rare delicacies throughout their lives, had never seen anything quite so outrageous.

Still, however intimidating the presentation might be, the aroma hanging in the air was undeniably rich and enticing.

Lord Xu stared at the dish in silence for a long while before finally managing to offer a comment.

"Well... this is certainly a dish no one could forget after seeing it once."

Lord Zhao gave a faintly amused smile, making no attempt to hide the teasing in his eyes.

"At least the name fits. Those fish really are staring up at the sky."

"Appearance is only one part of cooking. Flavor is what truly matters."

Lord Ma composed himself and was the first to pick up the knife and fork Haruto had provided.

"I’ll try it."

His knife came down.

Crunch.

The golden pastry shattered cleanly beneath the blade.

Lord Ma speared a piece containing both flaky crust and sardine flesh and put it into his mouth without hesitation.

The other two judges followed suit.

Xiang En remained where she stood, watching the three of them with quiet anticipation.

When she had finished her Jade Sea, Jeweled Blossom Seafood Banquet, she had secretly mixed finely powdered wild ginger into the final seasoning.

The medicinal herb had a warm, pungent nature and produced an extremely faint numbing sensation. In such a tiny amount and mixed among the other seasonings, there was no unusual flavor anyone could detect.

Yet its mild toxicity could quietly numb the taste buds, leaving a person’s sense of taste dulled or temporarily impaired.

After eating Xiang En’s dish, the judges should have found anything Haruto served afterward bland and flavorless, unable to detect even the slightest trace of seafood freshness.

Instead, their reactions caused the expression on Xiang En’s face to freeze.

The color slowly drained from her cheeks.

Lord Ma’s eyes flew wide open after his first bite.

Then an almost intoxicated expression of happiness spread across his face, and even the hand holding his fork began trembling faintly.

The hesitation and amusement that had lingered on Lord Xu and Lord Zhao’s faces vanished as well, replaced entirely by the shock and satisfaction of being struck by exceptional flavor.

"Extraordinary..."

Lord Ma was the first to recover enough to speak.

"The pastry is unbelievably crisp. It crumbles the moment it enters the mouth, while the rich fragrance of the fat is perfectly balanced without becoming greasy."

"The filling is moist and overflowing with seafood flavor. The crab roe is creamy, almost like flowing sand, yet there’s just enough fine texture left to give it substance. Rich, savory, and deeply satisfying."

"But the most impressive part is the sardine."

"The flesh is so tender it almost feels like soft custard, and there isn’t the slightest trace of fishiness!"

"With one bite, I can almost see an endless ocean beneath a sky full of stars, schools of fish leaping from the waves and swimming upward along the starlight!"

Lord Xu immediately nodded in agreement.

"You truly can’t judge a person—or a dish—by appearances."

He cut off another large piece and stuffed it into his mouth, his expression relaxing with obvious enjoyment.

Lord Zhao stared at the pie in amazement.

"Who would have imagined something this strange-looking could taste this good?"

"To take ordinary sardines and draw out a freshness that rivals the finest seafood—that is what it truly means to turn the commonplace into something extraordinary."

Xiang En stood motionless.

Her entire body felt cold, as though she had been thrown into the middle of a winter storm.

Impossible.

This was absolutely impossible.

Her contingency should already have taken effect.

Yet not only did the judges show no sign of losing their sense of taste, they were able to identify every layer of texture and every subtle flavor in Haruto’s dish with perfect clarity.

Where had things gone wrong?

Haruto walked over to Xiang En with the faintest hint of amusement in his expression.

"Wild ginger. Warm in nature, pungent in flavor. Even a small amount can temporarily numb the sense of taste."

"You mixed it into your dish, didn’t you?"

The moment Haruto exposed her trick directly, Xiang En’s face went deathly pale.

Her pupils contracted, and she instinctively took half a step backward as her breathing faltered.

She had processed the herb beforehand and blended it into the other seasonings so thoroughly that even she could not taste anything unusual.

How had Haruto known?

Seeing the shock on her face, Haruto raised an eyebrow.

"Wondering why your little setup didn’t work?"

Xiang En clenched her jaw.

But she was still someone raised within the Dark Cooking Society. She quickly forced down her surprise and nodded without hesitation.

"Yes."

"I really would like to know how you countered it."

Even if she had lost today, Xiang En wanted to understand exactly why.

As long as she knew the reason, she could avoid making the same mistake next time.

"The reason wild ginger interferes with taste is simple. Its mild toxicity temporarily damages the sensory nerves on the tongue and makes them less responsive."

Haruto spread his hands casually.

"So if you repair that damage and remove the toxin, your trick stops working."

He had no intention of explaining exactly how he had done that.

In reality, while carrying the Stargazy Pie toward the judges’ table, Haruto had quietly opened an almost imperceptible slit between reality and the Gourmet Restaurant.

Ralts had already been waiting on the other side.

The moment the opening appeared, it used Heal Pulse through the tiny gap to treat all three judges.

That was why their sense of taste had recovered in time for them to properly experience Haruto’s dish.

After hearing Haruto’s explanation, the expressions of all three judges darkened.

They were among the most influential men in Guangzhou, yet Xiang En had casually put a medicinal substance capable of impairing their sense of taste into her food without their consent.

This had gone far beyond simple cheating.

It was an insult directed at them personally.

Lord Xu slammed his knife and fork onto the table, his face turning livid as he glared at Xiang En.

Lord Zhao’s smile disappeared completely.

Lord Ma outright rose from his seat with a hard expression.

Until this point, the three of them had still been somewhat torn between the two dishes.

Xiang En’s Jade Sea, Jeweled Blossom Seafood Banquet was undeniably a top-class creation without any obvious weakness.

Haruto’s Stargazy Pie tasted somewhat better, but visually, it fell far behind Xiang En’s elegant presentation.

Her attempt to tamper with their taste, however, made the decision easy.

Lord Ma stepped forward.

"I hereby declare the winner of the third match—Haruto!"

Xiang En swayed slightly.

She did not seem surprised by the verdict.

Instead, she exchanged a subtle glance with Luo Ke and Shao An.

The two men gave almost imperceptible nods.

They were members of the Dark Cooking Society.

They had never placed much faith in fair contests or honorable rules.

They had lost?

Then they would simply take what they wanted by force.

As long as they subdued Haruto, the Jewel Meat would still become theirs.

Luo Ke and Shao An shifted their footing and slowly began moving toward him.

Before either could make a move, however—

An overwhelmingly terrifying pressure erupted from Haruto.

It crashed across the courtyard like a wave.

Xiang En, Luo Ke, and Shao An froze instantly.

Their blood seemed to turn to ice.

Cold sweat poured down their foreheads like rain, soaking the backs of their clothes in seconds.

For that brief moment, each of them felt as though some incomprehensibly powerful predator had fixed its gaze upon them.

One wrong movement—

And they would be torn apart, bones and flesh alike, before being swallowed whole.

The three stared at Haruto in horror.

Only now did they finally understand why he had willingly followed them into an isolated estate controlled by the Dark Cooking Society.

It had never been recklessness.

He simply possessed the strength to fear nothing they could do.

Whatever thoughts they had of stealing the Jewel Meat by force died immediately.

Haruto withdrew the oppressive pressure.

The faint smile returned to his face as though that suffocating presence had never come from him at all.

He walked over to the judges’ table, picked up the four scrolls containing the Dark Cooking Society’s secret techniques, flipped through them briefly, then stored them inside the Gourmet Restaurant.

Afterward, Haruto gave the three judges a polite nod.

"The matches are over, so I’ll be taking my leave."

He turned and headed toward the courtyard gate.

"Wait!"

Xiang En suddenly called after him.

There was a faint tremor in her voice.

She knew better than anyone how cruelly the Dark Cooking Society treated failure.

This time, she had brought Luo Ke and Shao An with her, wagering four valuable secret techniques in exchange for the chance to obtain Haruto’s Jewel Meat.

Now the techniques were gone.

If they returned without the Jewel Meat as well, the three of them would face a miserable fate.

She could not simply let Haruto walk away.

Fortunately, Xiang En still had one final card left to play.

Haruto stopped and looked back at her.

His brows drew together slightly, and this time he made no effort to hide his impatience.

The pressure he had released earlier had served as both a warning and an act of mercy.

He had chosen to let all three of them off.

Haruto considered Xiang En intelligent enough to understand that trying to rob him by force was no longer an option.

If she was still stopping him now, then she clearly had not given up on obtaining the Jewel Meat.

That made Haruto mildly curious.

So despite his irritation, he decided to give her one chance to speak.

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