"Sorry," he said, shaking his head with pity. "After tasting my, uh... my pigeon curry, you won't be able to taste anything else."
That had been his purpose in serving his dish before his competitor!
The debilitating toxins extracted from Blood of Green Crown Dragon, when mixed with Apocalypse, were designed to doubly paralyze the judges' sense of taste and perception. This would send both their bodies and Souls into a brief period of sensory dullness after the intense stimulation. During this time, everything they ate would taste bland and flavorless.
The moment Huai Shi presented his dish before hers, her defeat was sealed.
"It was you! It was you!"
The woman screamed madly, reaching out to scratch him, but she couldn't make it. The attendant quickened their pace. It almost seemed as though they had deliberately waited for Huai Shi to finish his explanation before tossing her out through the door that materialized before them.
The door closed, and the woman vanished from sight.
Huai Shi looked up to see the judges smiling enigmatically. They didn't seem angry about being tricked. Instead, their glances towards Huai Shi were filled with praise and encouragement. Perhaps it was because he had successfully upheld the Chef Demon competition's spirit: prioritize dramatic conflict over actual results.
The life-and-death struggles between contestants were the perfect entertainment to accompany a meal, weren't they?
At that very moment, Luo Xian stepped forward with her pot, heading for the judges' table.
Huai Shi stood there, stunned. His earlier warning was not only for the defeated woman but also a reminder to Luo Xian to delay presenting her dish. But he hadn't expected her to be so confident. She served her dish directly!
Even the judges seemed surprised.
"Commendable courage," Hippo nodded in admiration, then frowned at the sauerkraut fish before him. He poked at it with his chopsticks, his frown deepening. Something seems off, he thought. There's no golden light, no soaring aura of resentment, no exotic fragrance spreading... This plate... it just looks like ordinary sauerkraut fish! He skeptically took a bite.
Then he froze, his expression warping as if he had seen a ghost, or as if a ghost that had popped out of nowhere had seen him. In any case, he looked utterly haunted, staring blankly at Luo Xian, his fingers twitching.
"You... you..." Hippo struggled to speak as he suddenly raised his hand to cover his mouth. Amidst the audience's screams of horror, he bent over and vomited. Vomited!
After withstanding countless trials, a judge was brought down by this dish of sauerkraut fish.
Not just Hippo; the emaciated man also foamed at the mouth, forcibly covering it to prevent himself from vomiting. Fortunately, his mouth was small enough for him to cover it. But the she-demon was already covering her face, screaming loudly.
Could it really taste that bad?!
Even the shadowy figure, after being stunned for a long moment, expressed disbelief: "The younger generation is to be feared! The younger generation is to be feared! This young one will undoubtedly be a dragon among men..."
That potent?
Huai Shi watched the judges with his mouth agape. He took out a magnifying glass to closely examine the remaining fish in the pot, but no matter how he looked, it still seemed like ordinary sauerkraut fish. There was nothing unusual in its scent or appearance. It even made him a bit hungry.
"Want some?" Luo Xian offered, picking up a piece of fish with chopsticks, placing it on a plate, and passing it to him with a helpless smile. "To be honest, I think it's just so-so."
Huai Shi gazed down at the plate in front of him, swallowing hard.
Truth be told, I know I might be courting disaster, but I can't help wanting to know... just what does this dish taste like? I watched the entire cooking process, after all. No poison was added, nor were there any unusual cooking techniques. It's just ordinary fish. How bad can it possibly taste...?
With such thoughts, Huai Shi made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life—he picked up the chopsticks.
He took a bite.
Three seconds later, he knelt on the ground, retching up noxious bile, tears streaming down his face.
"How can it be..." he shouted in anguish, "How can it taste so bad!"