The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 415 Qin Lang's Challenge
"…ha?"

Everyone looked on in astonishment.

Can the number of food critics in a city be uncertain?

“This is my discovery.” Fatima nodded slightly. “The number of food recommenders in a city is generally fixed.”

"Because the selection principle for food recommenders is to cover the range of food types that can be assessed while taking into account the local characteristics of the city."

"So theoretically, after the position of food recommender was created, the number of food recommenders in a city will not change much."

“In a record in the museum, I saw that it mentioned eight food recommenders, which means that there were eight food recommenders in Rancho at that time. Theoretically, there should be eight food recommenders now as well.”

"You mean, there might be a Food Recommender who's been hidden away for some reason?" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but ask. "Such a mysterious Food Recommender, doesn't he have to be in charge of assessing the Spirit Chefs?"

"This kind of thing should be easy to verify, right?" Qin Lang picked up his phone and logged into the official website of the Spirit Chef Association. "The official website of the Spirit Chef Association in each region will have personnel information disclosure."

As he spoke, Qin Lang turned his phone towards everyone, displaying the official website's list of food recommenders, which clearly showed only seven people.

“No.” Fatima pushed up her glasses. “As far as I know, the official website of the Spirit Chef Association can hide some people for privacy purposes, but it doesn’t do so in most cases.”

"So, this doesn't prove anything."

"I've come up with a better way to prove it."

As she spoke, Fatima took out her phone and started tapping away quickly. A moment later, she turned the phone screen towards the other people.

"Look."

"This..." Qin Lang looked at the document on the screen with some surprise, "The Approval Document from the Mingjing Prefecture Spirit Chef Association to the Lanqiu City Spirit Chef Association regarding its personnel structure?"

“That’s right.” Fatima nodded. “The Spirit Chef Association is above the city-level associations, and there is also a state-level headquarters. Any adjustments to the personnel structure or changes in the number of positions in the city-level associations must be approved by the headquarters.”

"This document is 54 years old, but it is the most recent approval document. The personnel structure of the Lanqiu City Royal Chef Association on the document is the current personnel structure of Lanqiu City."

"Public disclosures can be concealed, but personnel structure cannot."

As she spoke, Fatima turned to the file page about the Food Recommender settings.

The words “Level 1 Food Recommenders: 8” caused everyone in the room to fall silent.

"There's such a method?" Qin Lang clicked his tongue in amazement, his gaze towards Fatima instantly changing. "This kind of document must be quite obscure, right?"

“It is indeed a very niche field.” Fatima nodded slightly. “In recent years, this type of document has become an internal document, and outsiders cannot access it, but the requirements in this regard were not so strict decades ago.”

"Most people wouldn't pay attention to such documents."

“If the food recommenders select eight people, but only seven are publicly announced, then even locals may make a mistake.”

“No wonder even I didn’t know about this.” Di You, standing beside him, also looked enlightened. “However…”

"What does this have to do with the truth of the legend?"

“I don’t know.” Fatima shook her head. “I’m just stating my findings; as for whether there’s any connection, I’m not sure.”

Hearing this, everyone was left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“If such a food recommender really exists, then their food recommender badge might never have been obtained by any spirit chef before,” Cao Dongdong said cheerfully. “Qin Lang, do you want to give it a try?”

"This is an extremely rare Food Recommender badge!" "I'm very interested, but I don't even know where the person is." Qin Lang shook his head, both amused and exasperated. "Now that you've finished telling us your findings, let's talk about ours."

As he spoke, his expression became slightly more serious.

"The legendary power of nightmares may have reappeared."

"What?!" Di You sat bolt upright, his expression turning serious. "What on earth happened?"

"Don't get so excited." Qin Lang patted Di You on the shoulder and recounted his discoveries at the Dream Hotel that day, bit by bit.

"It's just a few signs right now, but Captain Zhong of the Public Security Management Team has already launched an investigation, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"If they encounter a problem that even the association can't solve, they will ask a powerful spirit chef to step in and solve it." As Qin Lang spoke, he couldn't help but think of Zhong Lingyun, the regional champion.

After they parted ways on the "Leaping Fish" cruise ship, he never saw him again, but Zhong Lingyun should still be in Mingjingzhou at the moment.

The opponent is capable of going toe-to-toe with Xiao Cai in her berserk state.

If that still doesn't work, Xiao Cai certainly won't sit idly by.

At this point, Qin Lang looked at Xiao Cai, who was blowing bubbles in the fish tank next to him, and couldn't help but smile. "In short, things will work themselves out."

"Alright." Di You's expression softened slightly.

Hearing that the legendary nightmare might return, he was indeed too nervous. Thinking about it carefully, this is not the era before.

"Let's talk about something happier," Zhao Qian said, changing the subject. "Tomorrow is the last day of the Magnolia Food Festival."

"The culinary competition tomorrow!" Di You's attention was instantly diverted. "Du Ziyan will be participating too, right?"

"When the time comes, I will definitely challenge them again and avenge my previous defeat!"

"I will probably participate." Qin Lang nodded.

Although he hadn't seen Du Ziyan for the past two days since yesterday, based on his understanding of the guy, he knew that the other would definitely come tomorrow in order to have another match with him.
-
The following day, the culinary competition took place.

"There are a full twelve arenas!"

Qin Lang looked at the huge venue that had been cleared out in advance with some surprise. Although time was short, the Yu Ling Chef Association had organized the food competition event with remarkable efficiency.

The pre-event promotion over the past two days has drawn almost all the visitors to the main venue, making it incredibly lively.

"I see the dessert category's arena!" Cao Dongdong's eyes were filled with excitement. "Watch closely, I'm going to take this title!"

"I'm planning to try my luck in the seafood category," Di You said, equally eager to try. "Qin Lang, what about you?"

"Me?" Qin Lang looked at each of the twelve arenas one by one, and finally his gaze fell on the last one.

Unlike other arenas, that one had no markings.

That was the only free ring in the entire arena.

As the name suggests, it's a place where you can exchange ideas and skills without any restrictions on the subject matter.

"In that case, I'll go to the free arena," Qin Lang said with a smile. "I wonder if my cooking skills are good enough to defend my title until the end."

(End of this chapter)