Food Wars, my food not only glows!

　Thinking about the fish-killing woman's attitude towards him earlier, Jesse turned his gaze to her. In his opinion, anyone with a sound mind would choose him.

　After all, the best destiny for a fish is to become a top-notch delicacy and appear on the table of a wealthy gentleman.

　"this..."

　Upon hearing Jesse's words, the fish-killing woman's face showed a conflicted expression. She first looked at him, then at Alice Nakiri, and remained silent for a long time.

　If it were an ordinary customer, she would try to find a compromise, but in the current situation, the two sides are locked in a fierce battle and will definitely not accept a compromise.

　The key issue is that she can't afford to offend either of them!

　Needless to say, 'Nakiri International' is a well-known large corporation; taking down a small fish shop like her would be incredibly easy for them.

　The other is the owner of Denmark's number one "fish cuisine" restaurant, who is also a master chef with extremely extensive resources.

　If someone holds a grudge because of this incident and makes negative comments about their fish shop, it could very well cause their business to plummet.

　"What happened? Why are you all gathered here?"

　Suddenly, a deep voice came from not far away. The man stretched out his large hand and patted the woman killing fish on the shoulder, looking at the crowd and speaking.

　"Brother-in-law, you are finally back."

　"Darling, it's like this..."

　Seeing her husband return, the woman who was killing fish instantly felt like she had found her pillar of support, and she started talking non-stop, her voice revealing her grievances.

　She could certainly lash out at difficult customers, but she was powerless against chefs and young ladies of high status.

　This feeling of walking on thin ice is truly terrifying!

　"I see. Since you all feel that the other is not worthy of cooking sea bream, why don't you have a competition here? Our restaurant will sponsor a sea bream for you to use in the competition."

　Upon hearing his wife's explanation, the man's face lit up with understanding. He then thought of a solution and smiled as he addressed both sides.

　Since the other party has shifted the blame onto them, the only way to resolve this issue is to shift the blame back onto them.

　The way to turn the conflict back is naturally to have them compete in cooking, and decide who gets the sea bream in the shop through a decisive battle.

　Of course, there was a reason for offering sea bream for free: to boost the reputation of his restaurant through a showdown between the two chefs.

　Trading a sea bream for two top chefs to advertise is a sure-fire way to make money!

　"You want our head chef to compete against this third-rate chef? Our head chef is a master chef, what kind of person is he?!"

　However, before Jancis could speak upon hearing the fish shop owner's suggestion, Tulburn, standing beside him, spoke first, his face revealing deep anger. To have their head chef compete against this unknown kid?! This was an insult to the head chef!

　Because five years had passed and Bai Yuan had changed so much that he had no connection with the previous child, Turben did not recognize him and thought he was just some ignorant fool.

　My master would never...

　"What kind of third-rate chef are you! Even if both of you came at me together, you couldn't beat my master. He's the best chef in the world."

　"Needless to say, Alice, these two are only interested in escaping. They are all show and no substance, but in reality, they are complete idiots."

　Seeing that Alice Nakiri was about to fall into a self-justification trap, Bai Yuan grabbed her arm, telling her not to continue explaining.

　Then he looked at Jesse, who hadn't said a word since the beginning, only watching Thurben's performance with a playful expression.

　Her expression changed slightly only after hearing what he said.

　This perfectly illustrates the saying, "A barking dog doesn't bite."

　"The main ingredient is sea bream, and the cooking time is 30 minutes. Whoever makes the dish that tastes better wins the competition, how about it?"

　With a simple sentence, the matter was settled. After thinking for a moment, Jesse nodded: "I didn't want to argue with you, but who would have thought you were so fearless? Since that's the case, let's add a wager. Whoever loses can never cook again for the rest of their life."

　After saying this, a sinister glint flashed in Jancis's eyes. Although he didn't know who this guy was, no one dared to mock him yet!

　Since this guy is so confident in his cooking skills, then let him experience what despair is! And while he's at it, let's strip him of this skill.

　"I do not accept this condition."

　Upon hearing Jesse's terms, Bai Yuan frowned.

　"What? It's too late to beg for mercy now, unless you kneel down..."

　"You were shouting so loudly just now, but now you can't even handle the thought of never being able to cook again. It seems you never thought you could win from the start. You really wanted to fight a master chef? What a useless guy!"

　Seeing Bai Yuan 'cowardly' in front of him, Jessie laughed loudly, and Tulben beside her couldn't help but complain as well, his smile undiminished.

　The two spoke loudly, but they had vented their emotions. This made Alice Nakiri clench her fists, wanting to say something but then looking at Bai Yuan as if she had thought of something.

　"Stop barking so loudly! If you bark again, I'll break your arms and legs and feed you to the crocodiles!"

　"What are you doing... ah!"

　"You bastard! I won't let you get away with this!"

　Hearing the chaotic laughter around him, a fierce glint flashed in Bai Yuan's eyes. He then leaped up and kicked Turben, who was closest to him, to the ground. He then stepped on Turben's head with one foot and his body with the other, making it impossible for him to get up.

　"You're really giving me too much credit! Don't you know anything about respect? Don't you know anything about letting people finish speaking first?!"

　"If I lose, I'll never cook again for the rest of my life; I have no problem with that part of the bet. But the conditions for your loss need to be changed, since whether you cook in the future or not has nothing to do with me."

　One hand grabbed Jessie's hair and pulled his whole body towards him. The sudden force caused him to stumble and fall to the ground. His head was lifted up by the hand, and he saw Bai Yuan's dangerously smiling face as he squatted down.

　Just kidding, if you lose you won't cook anymore, then who will Alice face in her final battle? You can't expect her to defeat him before she graduates...

　"If you lose, you have to kneel in front of your shop and slap yourself hard every time a customer passes by, saying that the food I make is the worst in the world, for a whole day."

　Or I could shave your head completely and brand it with an unpleasant mark! Don't rush, you can take your time choosing, I'll give you plenty of time.

　The world of dark cuisine has never been a place where kind people can survive. Even though Bai Yuan appears gentle when dealing with Nakiri Alice, he is extremely cruel at heart.

　The fact that they weren't crippled shows that he respects the local laws.

　Chapter Twenty-Six: Divided in Two, Street Competition!

　"You...you just wait!"

　Seeing Bai Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, his face full of comfort, Jesse staggered to his feet, then pointed at his nose and finally uttered this sentence after a long while.

　"Of course I'll wait, but I don't know if your cooking is powerful enough to make me admit defeat wholeheartedly."

　Bai Yuan looked at him with a mocking expression, as if he were looking at a clown. He had asked someone to buy, taste, and replicate this guy's dishes from his restaurant.

　He has some skill, but it's not high; anyone in the world of terrible cooking could easily beat him.

　Therefore, Bai Yuan couldn't understand why such a weak chef dared to be so arrogant. He guessed that he had passed the special-level assessment by luck, which was a common occurrence, and his restaurant was only a two-star restaurant.

　“This place is too small. Why don’t we move outside? I happen to have a portable kitchen counter here that you two can use.”

　Bai Yuan's sudden action startled everyone present, especially the fish shop owner, who was now somewhat afraid to meet his gaze.

　"I'm fine with it, and he should be fine with it too, so let's do it this way."

　"There's only one sea bream here. How are we supposed to divide it? If you take all the best parts and leave me only the offal, I won't accept defeat!"

　With a resentful gaze, Jesse clenched his fists and said in a muffled voice, "Given this guy's fighting prowess, he might actually do something like this."

　He's a chef, yet he idolizes violence; he's truly a disgrace to the culinary world!

　"Don't worry, yes"

　"I wouldn't stoop to such tactics with trash like you."

　Bai Yuan glanced at him disdainfully. He had built this physique so that the idiot would talk to him calmly and reason with him.

　Of course, whether or not I want to listen to his reasoning is up to me.

　As for resorting to force or using underhanded tactics? When it comes to cooking, he only ever thinks about fairness, and he's even willing to offer his opponent more favorable conditions to increase the difficulty of the competition.

　There's no other reason than that he only feels a sense of accomplishment when he wins this way! Besides, this way the gap between the two won't be too big, and matches with no suspense are the most boring!

　It is meaningless to win a cooking competition by resorting to underhanded tactics and creating unequal conditions.

　Thinking of this, Bai Yuan looked around the shop and saw the fish-killing knife on the cutting board not far away, so he went over and picked it up.

　"What...what are you trying to do?! This is a society governed by law, don't do anything reckless!"

　Seeing Bai Yuan walking towards him with a knife, Jesse swallowed hard and couldn't help but back away, trying to escape the shop. However, he was tripped by Thurben, who was getting up on the ground.

　"Ouch, what are you doing!"

　Jesse let out a painful howl and then fell to the ground again. Looking at Bai Yuan, who was slowly walking towards him with a fish-killing knife, his face was full of fear, and his body was still retreating uncontrollably, using both his hands and feet.

　"idiot."

　Bai Yuan glanced at Jesse and thought of himself when he first transmigrated. He cursed her without any politeness and then walked to the sea bream tank.

　Without hesitation, Bai Yuan reached into the fish tank, deftly grabbed the one swimming the most enthusiastically, and forcefully tossed it into the air.

　In an instant, everyone's attention was drawn to him.

　"What are you doing? You can't just treat a sea bream like this..."

　Seeing Bai Yuan's actions and the sea bream about to fall to the ground, the fish shop owner said with great heartache that he provided the sea bream for free to promote the shop's reputation, not for Bai Yuan to waste it!

　However, before he could finish speaking, a silvery-white light flashed, and the lively sea bream in the sky instantly split in two, landing steadily in the stainless steel basins on either side.

　At the same time, the sounds at the scene abruptly stopped. The fish shop owner stared in shock at everything, at the sea bream that had fallen into the basins on both sides and were still 'lively' and unaware of their own death. He rubbed his eyes hard, somewhat unable to believe what he was seeing.

　What amazing knife skills! To be able to cut a live sea bream in half, even perfectly slicing its dorsal fin!

　"Gudu."

　Swallowing hard, the fish shop owner stepped forward to examine the fish. Upon seeing half a sea bream in the stainless steel basin, his shock did not subside; instead, his mouth gaped open.

　In the stainless steel basins on both sides, the sea bream was perfectly divided in two. Not only the dorsal fin, but also its internal organs, the fish bones in the middle, and the head were all divided into two identical parts!

　Especially the fishbone in the middle of the sea bream, he had never seen a fishbone that was still standing upright in the fish's body before, it was truly an eye-opener!

　"You choose first, but don't say I took advantage of you later."

　Looking at Jesse lying on the ground with an incredulous expression, Bai Yuan frowned and urged him, "This guy has been lying on the ground and hasn't gotten up since earlier. Could it be that he wants to surrender because he thinks I'm too strong?"

　"I'll choose first, I'll choose first. I want the sea bream on the left. By the way, cooking isn't just about having great knife skills!"

　Bai Yuan's astonishing knife skills made Jessie swallow hard, and for the first time, she took the boy seriously. She had initially thought he was too young to be bullied, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

　However, even if a kid this age has some skill, how good can he be? He's a renowned master chef!

　"Is it impressive? This is just a trivial basic skill. Anyone can do it if they keep honing their skills day and night."

　As Bai Yuan spoke, he looked at Nakiri Alice, who was equally surprised behind him. The girl lowered her head in shame after hearing his words, until he looked away.

　The reason is simple: she can't do it!

　"Then, bring out the kitchen counter."

　As Bai Yuan spoke, he looked at the fish shop owner, Ang. Although his voice was calm, it still made Ang shudder.

　"Alright, please give us 15 minutes to prepare. I promise you two can start the competition in 15 minutes. Mir, come and help me!"

　"Okay, come right away!"

　Forcing a smile, the fish shop owner called out to his brother-in-law, asking him to help move the kitchen counter to the street.

　As a seafood restaurant owner, he also helps people process seafood and prepare seafood dishes. In terms of chef level, he is a second-class chef.

　Soon, thanks to the efforts of the fish shop owner and his family of three, two cooking stations were moved to the street outside the shop, taking over the area in front of the store.

　Because it was almost lunchtime, there were quite a few people outside the shop. However, the loud argument and conflict caused many potential seafood buyers to hesitate to enter.

　However, they gathered together again at this moment.

　A culinary showdown, especially in such a public format, is undoubtedly a top-tier form of entertainment in a world where food reigns supreme.

　Within just ten minutes, twenty or thirty people had gathered around, including Bai Yuan and Nakiri Ai.

　Alice even had to push her way through the crowd to get in.

　But that's what makes it interesting.

　Standing in the center of the crowd, directly opposite the head chef of the [Nuoyu] restaurant, Bai Yuan suddenly felt a bit of the same old feeling, and his blood was boiling!

　Chapter Twenty-Seven: Bai Yuan's Swordsmanship

　"What's going on? Why is there suddenly a cooking competition here?!"

　"I don't know. I just saw the shop owner bring the cooking station out of the kitchen, making a big fuss. I don't know who the contestants are."

　"Wait, I recognize the person at the kitchen counter on the left. We went to [Nuoyu] once before, and the head chef even came out to greet us."

　If I'm not mistaken, that guy is Jancis, the head chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant [Noyu]! The legendary master chef!

　"A Michelin-starred restaurant!?"