"Then, let's begin!"
The moment Mo Bai waved his hand.
The students from both exchange groups immediately brought out their unique skills: jumping out of windows, kicking down doors, sliding through legs, and leaping over crowds. These versatile entry and exit skills truly opened Mo Bai's eyes.
"So, what exactly happened?" The ordinary students looked on with bewildered faces as these elites, faces pale, fled the cooking classroom as if some man-eating monster were chasing them.
"Cough, cough. Alright, everyone do your best too. Time waits for no one," reminded Mo Bai, completely unaware that he had already been demonized.
An ordinary student walking out of the cooking classroom ran headlong into the exchange group students rushing back with ingredients.
"Bro, what's wrong with you guys?" A quick-witted fellow hurriedly grabbed an elite student who obviously knew the inside scoop.
"Don't ask too many questions. If you have to ask, just give it your all!"
"Otherwise, you'll die!!!" The exchange group elite, whose arm had been grabbed, spoke with a grief-stricken expression before shaking off the grip and striding into the cooking classroom with a gait of no return.
"???"
"Are you f*cking kidding me?"
The ordinary students either felt a sense of 'I don't get it but it seems intense' regarding the elites' neuroticism, or dismissed it entirely, thinking the latter had gone stupid from cooking. That is, until they returned to the cooking room after retrieving their ingredients from the pantry.
In the huge cooking classroom, only the sound of knives cutting against cutting boards could be heard. No one was talking.
It was as if invisible walls separated every cooking station. The deathly silence and the bizarre state of the crowd, accompanied by the only sound in the room, struck directly at people's hearts.
They felt their scalps go numb instantly, a chill licking at their spines.
"What is with this atmosphere?" Many people swallowed hard and undid their collar buttons, the incredibly oppressive atmosphere in the room giving them a sense of suffocation. "And the look in those people's eyes... they're serious!"
The sharp, icy gazes of the exchange group elites clearly categorized this group of ordinary students as hostiles.
But, why?
In their view, the elites of both exchange groups, relying on their superior culinary skills, shouldn't have any reason to be hostile towards them.
As more and more students returned, the atmosphere didn't improve; on the contrary, it became even more oppressive.
The warm spring breeze blowing in from the window felt like the biting cold wind of winter from months ago, making people shiver.
"Head Chef Mo Bai, I'm finished!"
Ten minutes into the session, someone announced the completion of their dish.
"It's Oki Yoichi! His family is a fishery tycoon running the Oki Fishery," a student exclaimed. "I heard he originally had the skills to enter the exchange group, but couldn't get in due to the quota limit."
"So much for exchange group elites, a bunch of cowards." Disdain showed in Oki Yoichi's eyes; presumably, he still held a grudge about not making it into the exchange group.
While he despised the exchange group elites, he failed to notice the thick sympathy in the latter's eyes.
"Head Chef Mo Bai, this is a Three-Shellfish Sashimi Platter." With a business-like smile on his face, Oki Yoichi placed the completed dish on the lectern.
"Hmm, Arctic surf clams, whelk, and geoduck?"
The colors of the three were very distinct. The Arctic surf clam slices carried a fiery red, the geoduck was slightly yellow, and the whelk was white and tender with scattered spots.
In the plate with a cyan mesh pattern, the three types of shellfish were arranged in the shape of windmill blades. In the center sat a small dish of brown sauce, accentuated by clean white shredded scallions around it.
"Not bad," Mo Bai praised. The arrangement of the vessel and ingredients in the plating was itself a hidden bonus point. Just like this shellfish sashimi—it seemingly looked monotonous, but the colors of the ingredients matched with the porcelain plate's cyan mesh pattern made up for the visual gap.
"Do you want to eat together?" Mo Bai asked Luo Ziyan, who had switched to her little secretary identity. Luo Ziyan gently shook her head.
Mo Bai picked up a slice of fiery-red Arctic surf clam, dipped it in the sauce, and sent it into his mouth.
A crisp and resilient texture was conveyed between his teeth. The slightly sour yet salty-sweet sauce, rich in compound spices, upon contacting the Arctic surf clam's heart string juice, acted like a key, completely unlocking the hidden umami within the clam.
"Very good," Mo Bai showed appreciation.
Receiving the two positive evaluations of "Not bad" and "Very good," Oki Yoichi secretly clenched his fist.
What exchange group elites? Aren't they still ranked behind him?
After going back this time, he would definitely have to properly mock those so-called elites of the exchange group.
Just as he started to get excited, he saw Mo Bai put down his chopsticks in the next moment.
"Well then, I'm going to give the score."
"Mo... Head Chef Mo Bai, there are... there are still two other parts?" Oki Yoichi interrupted Mo Bai. However, for some reason, when he met Mo Bai's gaze, he suddenly felt his confidence lacking, and his voice unconsciously took on a tremble.
"Ah, there's no need for that, is there?"
"N-N-N... No need!?" Oki Yoichi fell into a daze.
Hearing this outcome, the exchange group elites wore expressions that said, 'as expected'.
That is a genuine Demon King! What 'no authority to change the system'? That's all bullshit! They didn't believe a single word.
The status of a Branch Hall Head Chef is only below the General Head Chef, Head Chefs, and General Managers. And he doesn't have authority?
If he didn't have authority, how did he go on stage to explain as the host? Where were Mentor Chapelle and Professor Auxis from the team?!
Under these circumstances, facing such a fierce person, the first one to serve a dish would only be treated as the chicken killed to scare the monkeys.
Mo Bai indeed thought so too. At his age, he really needed to suppress the room so it wouldn't become chaotic.
"For this Three-Shellfish Platter, I give 60 points."
The score Mo Bai gave only solidified their theory of the "Mo Bai Demon King".
"60!!!" Oki Yoichi's mental state exploded! "No, no, no, Head Chef, please taste it again. I guarantee that if you eat the other two parts, you'll have a different feeling!"
"There is really no need."
"After all, the core of this platter is the sauce, isn't it?"
Oki Yoichi, whose emotions were somewhat intense, once again met Mo Bai's emotionless eyes. Suddenly, he felt the hairs all over his body stand up, as if he were being stared at by some deadly beast.
The surging emotions receded rapidly like the tide, leaving only a body with weak and limp limbs.
Oki Yoichi's legs went soft, and he collapsed onto the ground.
Seeing that the threat from the guarded object was lifted, the competent little bodyguard Luo Ziyan retracted the aura she had shrouded over the former.
Of course, no one present would think that it was the little carrot head less than 1.5 meters tall beside Mo Bai who scared Oki Yoichi.
Killing with a look! The Demon King actually possesses such a brutal ability!
The elites were all trembling with fear.
"The slightly sour taste does not come from tangerine, lemon, pomelo, or other ingredients with strong fruity aromas that would steal the show, but rather from a diluted sumac powder solution."
"Fennel seeds, a spice commonly used with seafood; coriander seeds hiding under the fennel seeds to complement them; cinnamon to remove fishiness while adding a sweetness different from cassia; bay leaves, the all-purpose meat spice; and cardamom with its pleasant aroma."
Oki Yoichi's pupils dilated. Everything Mo Bai said was the spice formula for that secret sauce.
His secret shellfish sashimi sauce was completely seen through by Mo Bai! And the time the latter took was only the instant it entered his mouth!
"If you still think that's not precise enough, I can also recite the production process."
Seeing Oki Yoichi's unbearable state, everyone already knew the accuracy of Mo Bai calling out the spices.
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