Hearthome Television, Studio.
The Round of 16 to Top 8 competition was being held in the television studio and was scheduled to start promptly at 8 PM.
Before that designated time, staff members pushed open the waiting room door, interrupting the contestants' casual chatter.
"The competition is about to begin. Please get ready and prepare yourselves. After entering the stage, proceed to the cooking station with your nameplate."
No antagonistic villains had appeared in this particular competition.
All the contestants maintained very harmonious relationships with each other.
At least, they appeared harmonious on the surface to outside observers.
This competition round was being broadcast live, and the footage would also be edited into a polished variety show for later broadcast.
Since two people from their group chat were actively participating, Red, Blue, and several others who had nothing particularly pressing to do started watching the live broadcast stream.
"The commercial break is over. The contestants should be entering the stage now, right?"
Blue thought for a moment, then responded, "Almost. The timing was exactly the same last year."
Brock confirmed, "Exactly right."
Lt. Surge asked with obvious confusion, "Didn't you swear dramatically you wouldn't watch anymore after Suzie was eliminated?"
In the previous Round of 32 to 16, Suzie had regrettably been eliminated and stopped there.
Brock declared righteously, "There's still Miss Lalami to support and watch!"
Miss Lalami was also exactly the type of elegant older woman that Brock particularly admired.
Meanwhile, at the Jubilife Breeding Center, although it was supposed to be rest time in the evening, Wayne's family members and staff had still gathered in the cafeteria.
Cheering for Wayne's performance... was just a convenient bonus excuse.
They would never openly admit that there would be delicious supper to eat that night.
Watching Brother Alan tinker with the equipment setup for so long, Claire couldn't help but ask skeptically, "Do you even know what you're doing with all that?"
Brother Alan confidently patted his chest.
"Don't worry about it. I've got this covered."
Brother Alan wasn't simply bragging. He genuinely found a working live stream source, and the contestants began entering the screen one after another.
Shion excitedly pointed at the screen. "Look, look! It's Brother Wayne!"
There were no individual introductions for contestants at this stage.
After all, they were just the Top 16 competitors. Even though they were the Top 16 selected from various regions across the country, they weren't considered important enough to warrant special individual introductions.
However, there was a substantial live audience present in the studio.
Wayne immediately spotted a large enthusiastic group of spectators holding colorful support signs for him, their collective cheers sounding like a roaring tsunami.
Many contestants in this year's competition were already somewhat famous in their fields, but absolutely none could compare to Wayne's popularity level.
The Youth Breeder Competition featured a special "Popularity Champion" title, determined entirely by online voting. The first-place winner would receive a valuable endorsement deal.
Specifically, an endorsement for Pokémon food products produced by Mr. Harrod's company, Snowpeak Ranch.
This year's endorsement fee had set a new historical record high.
Five million per year, for a three-year contract term.
Currently, Wayne was leading by an enormous margin with 400,000 votes, already setting a completely new record far surpassing all previous Popularity Champion vote counts.
Listening to the loud, enthusiastic cheers coming clearly through the television speakers, Cynthia couldn't help but smile warmly. "He's become quite popular, hasn't he?"
Cynthia had just finished her extensive exploration of the Oreburgh Coal Mine.
After thoroughly discussing with Lance, Steven, and a group of League high-ranking officials about how best to protect the Cave located in the Oreburgh Coal Mine, Cynthia had returned to her private villa and turned on the television.
She happened to catch this exact exciting scene.
Cynthia usually didn't watch the Breeder Competition broadcasts. After all, they featured only Youth Breeders, and watching wouldn't particularly help her own training or research.
However, since Wayne was participating this year, and Cynthia had free time available, she naturally felt obligated to watch and support him.
In the group chat, Lance's voice message carried a distinct hint of fatigue:
"Has the competition started yet?"
Blue quickly replied, "It just started moments ago. Why does your voice sound so tired like that?"
Steven laughed in his response. "We just emerged from the Oreburgh Coal Mine and went through quite a lot of intense battles."
Yellow asked with obvious confusion, "Is Lance the one who was battling? Otherwise, why are your two energy states so completely different?"
Lance firmly debunked that rumor, while also complaining good-naturedly, "No, Steven's just abnormally happy because he successfully dug up a rare stone."
Red sensed something concerning in the conversation.
"Battle? What exactly happened in the Oreburgh Coal Mine?"
Lance slowly explained, "Since I have nothing else to do right now, I'll tell you the story while watching the competition together."
Since this was a live broadcast event, it was completely impossible to slaughter animals on site for freshness.
Whether contestants needed chickens, ducks, geese, or fish, all animals had been pre-slaughtered professionally.
These prepared ingredients were carefully preserved and remained very fresh.
This competition round specifically focused on making Pokémon food.
The primary requirement was to create food suitable for carnivorous Pokémon.
There were no strict requirements limiting the Pokémon type or attribute.
Since no specific Pokémon species was designated as the target, the most universally edible and appealing foods would naturally be the best strategic choice.
This format greatly tested each Breeder's seasoning skills and flavor balancing abilities.
Wayne deliberately chose not to use Berries this time.
This was because Berries inherently possessed bitter, spicy, sour, sweet, or astringent flavors—one of these five distinct tastes was guaranteed to be present, and there existed a high chance of accidentally hitting a particular Pokémon's taste 'minefield.'
It was similar to how some people absolutely refused to eat green onions or cilantro.
If there was even the slightest trace of green onion or cilantro present, those people wouldn't want to eat that entire dish at all.
For those Breeders who had chosen to incorporate Berries into their recipes, Wayne could only think to himself, 'Good luck to them.'
Blue sounded genuinely surprised in his message.
"Gold actually chose to use Berries?"
Wayne had already begun processing the chicken and duck meat with impressive skill, expertly deboning the cuts and arranging everything in an organized, clear manner.
The entire meticulous process took less than ten minutes total.
Yellow exclaimed with amazement, "He's so incredibly fast!"
Whitney also sounded very surprised. "He's somewhat omnipotent in his abilities."
Lance curiously tagged Blue directly in the chat.
"Could you accomplish that same task?"
Blue sent a very long, detailed voice message in response.
"No, I absolutely can't compare to Wayne in pure cooking skills.
If the processed ingredients were already placed in front of me, and we made Pokémon food together, it wouldn't be a major problem for me.
But someone like Wayne, who confidently arranges and manages the entire complex process himself, is very rare among Breeders.
This is because Mr. Lionel laid an exceptionally solid foundation for him, and Wayne's natural learning ability is remarkably strong."
In Blue's professional opinion, Wayne's learning ability was genuinely very strong and impressive.
This was significant because a person's energy and time were inherently limited.
Even Blue himself found it very mentally and physically strenuous to balance his research responsibilities and breeding Pokémon properly.
Although Blue was a certified Breeder, he also had his own specialties within the field of breeding.
In areas like move training and designing comprehensive training plans, absolutely no one could surpass Blue's expertise.
However, making Pokémon food from scratch was definitely not Blue's particular specialty.
"Learning ability?" someone questioned.
The learning ability that Blue had mentioned immediately piqued the interest of Red, Lance, and Steven.
Blue provided a concrete example to illustrate:
"Two months ago, it took Wayne over seven minutes to properly process duck meat. Now he completes it in less than five minutes."
"Even seven minutes was already a very impressive achievement for someone his age, yet he improved his speed so dramatically and quickly."
Because this was a live broadcast, the production process of all sixteen contestants could be viewed simultaneously by the audience.
To make it easier for viewers to watch everything, a large screen at the venue had been divided into sixteen smaller individual screens.
However, even these smaller screens were twenty-four inches each, allowing the audience a clear, detailed view of each contestant's production process.
Compared to the visibly flustered Joel and the struggling Gold, Wayne appeared remarkably calm and at ease.
This performance further highlighted and confirmed what Blue had said about Wayne's exceptional learning ability.
Watching this impressive scene unfold, Yellow couldn't help but comment, "Compared to Mr. Wayne, Gold looks like a complete novice."
As the discussion among the people in the chat group became increasingly off-topic and wandered, Wayne had already reached the main production and cooking stage.
Wayne had already completely mastered all the food ingredient ratios by heart through diligent practice.
Chicken, duck, salmon, chestnuts, a small piece of quality ham, shiitake mushrooms, and Liechi Berry...
The first three meat ingredients were cooked separately in different pots, and then combined together for the final cooking process.
However, sharp-eyed observers could clearly notice that the "liquid" Wayne was using for cooking appeared different from plain water.
Shion asked with genuine curiosity, "When Brother Wayne was cooking those ingredients, he wasn't using regular water. What was he using instead?"