The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 557 Unexpected Delay

"Congratulations to all participants for advancing in the Food Marathon and qualifying for the third round of the Food Battle."

The staff member immediately congratulated everyone present on advancing, then, with a hint of apology on their face, said softly, "However..."

"Because the food marathon ended much earlier than we expected, and the recent ban on sailing in the sea area has led to a shortage of some ingredients, we need to bring them from Wuhe Prefecture next door. Therefore, preparations for the third round of the event are not yet complete."

"According to the original plan, we should have started the Food Battle event three days after the Food Marathon ended, but now..."

The staff member paused, a hint of helplessness on their face, "It might take another two weeks before the food battle can officially begin."

Upon hearing the staff member's words, everyone in the room fell silent for a moment.

Then, a girl with a ponytail raised her hand.

"Will the rules of the food battle be adjusted?"

"No, that won't happen." The staff member shook his head. "The rules of the food battle will not be changed, and everyone can prepare in advance during this period."

"We will announce the detailed start time of subsequent activities on the official website as soon as it is confirmed. Please pay attention to the information on the official website."

After speaking, the staff member smiled apologetically at everyone and then hurriedly ran backstage, clearly indicating that he had a lot of things to do next.

"It's going to be delayed by half a month..." Du Ziyan raised an eyebrow, then looked at Dai Lan, who had sounded very confident before, "Your information isn't accurate either."

“It’s really surprising.” Dylan couldn’t help but frown. “I originally thought it was just that the food marathon ended prematurely, but now it seems there’s also a problem with the ingredients.”

"Two factors combined have resulted in a longer delay than I anticipated."

"Half a month is indeed a long time." Qin Lang couldn't help but shake his head. "If a normal event is delayed for half a month, its popularity will probably be lost by more than half."

“There’s no need to worry about that.” Dylan smiled. “The Food Battle is arguably the most anticipated and exciting part of the Guanling City Food Festival.”

"Compared to this, the previous two activities were just a warm-up."

"So even if there is a two-week interval, many people will still be looking forward to the start of the event."

"What you said makes sense." Qin Lang nodded slightly.

The third part of the Guanling City Food Festival: Food Battle.

In this stage, the 100 participants who advanced from the previous food marathon will face even more rigorous challenges.

They are about to wage a series of culinary battles using food!
That wasn't a battle of extraordinary abilities between food spirits, but a culinary contest unique to chefs.

During the Food Battle, dozens of exclusive food venues will be set up in various locations throughout Guanling City for the challengers to use.

Each participant receives 5 challenge initiation cards and 2 challenge rejection cards per day. They can search for other participants in the streets and alleys, choose their opponents, and initiate food challenges. The challenged can use rejection cards to refuse.

Once the challenge is accepted, the two contestants will head to the nearest food venue for a culinary battle.

In each culinary battle, the two contestants will draw lots to obtain a random theme. After completing the cooking of the corresponding theme, the person in charge of voting is not anyone else, but 99 lucky citizens randomly selected from Guanling City by drawing lots.

With a total of 99 judges, the food battle is not only a competition of cooking skills for the contestants, but also a challenge of physical strength.

The side receiving the most votes wins and gains 10 points, while the losing side loses 5 points. After seven days of culinary competition, the eight contestants with the highest scores will advance to the final showdown to compete for rankings.

The intense and exciting battles are naturally very attractive, and with the high level of participation, the annual food battle segment always draws countless eyes.

So Dai Lan is right. Even if it's delayed by a full half month, the Food Battle shouldn't suffer the loss of popularity that Qin Lang envisioned.

"In short, we can finally breathe a little easier for the next two weeks." Dylan paused slightly, "Speaking of which..."

"In this food battle, to increase our chances of advancing to the next round, it would be best if the three of us didn't challenge each other, right?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Lang and Du Ziyan nodded in deep agreement.

None of the three of them are confident that they can completely defeat the other two. The outcome of their challenge to each other is likely to be 50/50. If all three of them fall behind in points and are eliminated in the third round because of this, it would be ridiculous.

Qin Lang turned to look at the other contestants who had advanced and found that they were also sizing each other up, as if they were thinking about their goals for the challenge in half a month.

Having two weeks to gather information from each other, the contestants had more options for choosing their challenges. As a result, Qin Lang was even more excited about the food battle that would take place in two weeks.

As Qin Lang walked out of the meeting place, he soon saw Zhao Qian and Cao Dongdong waiting at the door. The latter had a long face and was obviously still upset about being eliminated.

"So close!" He couldn't help but complain when he saw Qin Lang. "I was eliminated less than five minutes ago, and the food marathon is already over!"

"So miserable?"

Qin Lang's gaze towards Cao Dongdong suddenly held a hint of sympathy.

"I should have held on a little longer," Cao Dongdong sighed. "If I had slowed down the cooking speed a little, I might have advanced."

"I'm already dreaming of dominating the next round of the food battle!"

"You? Dominating the field?" Zhao Qian, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but roll her eyes when she heard this. "At the food marathon, you can also use signs to limit the subject matter."

"There are no warning signs in the food battle."

"If others find out that all you can do is make desserts, you can expect to be challenged eight hundred times a day!"

"Not that many," Qin Lang said with a smile. "Each contestant can only challenge the same contestant once, so eight hundred rounds is impossible."

"But it's still quite possible to be challenged ninety times a day."

Cao Dongdong's heart, which had just begun to feel somewhat comforted, was instantly struck by a second blow.

"By the way, speaking of the food competition," Zhao Qian asked curiously, "did the organizers suddenly ask the advancing contestants to gather because of a problem with the rules?"

Have the rules of the food battle changed?

"No, not at all." Qin Lang shook his head. "It was just postponed by half a month."

"Postponed for half a month?!"

(End of this chapter)