「The competition venue.」

「After a short break.」

Geng Lishan announced that the top-five championship battle was about to begin. Very soon, the ingredients on the rack were updated. Lin Xu noticed that whether it was Scallion and Ginger or other ingredients, they were all individually wrapped in bags. Three jugs of cooking oil and ingredients like pork were placed on the top shelf.

"All contestants must choose their desired ingredients and seasonings in order, selecting only one item at a time. The first-place contestant will pick first in the first round, the second-place contestant in the second round, the third-place contestant in the third round, and so forth. A total of five rounds will be held. After these five rounds, you will use your chosen ingredients to create one dish. There are no restrictions on flavor."

Only five ingredients?

Everyone stared intently at the ingredients on the rack, calculating how to pick appropriately.

「After the competition started.」

Lin Xu walked up to the rack and first grabbed a jug of cooking oil. No matter what dish was being cooked, cooking oil was an indispensable ingredient. There were only three jugs of oil on the rack, so grabbing one quickly was vital. Otherwise, he would have to cook without oil or hope to get pork in the next round to render lard from Pork Fat.

Seeing this, Guo Xinghai and Wei Qian also chose cooking oil. The remaining two contestants each grabbed one of the two remaining pieces of pork, clearly having also thought of rendering lard.

「After the first round of picking.」

Guo Xinghai, the second-place contestant overall, started the second round of choices. He had initially wanted to take Pork Ribs, but when he saw only four packs of salt on the rack, he unhesitatingly grabbed one. Seeing this, Wei Qian and the two contestants after him also each picked a pack of salt.

Lin Xu: "..."

How am I supposed to choose now?

「Below the stage.」

Shen Jiayue's heart leaped into her throat. She was about to badmouth the person who set the questions, but then she remembered it was Lele's grandfather. Swallowing her complaints, she turned to Xie Baomin, who was sitting nearby, and asked, "Senior Brother, what should Xu Bao do now? Could he be eliminated?"

Without salt, cooking became mere wishful thinking.

Xie Baomin was also surprised that the top-five competition would feature such a challenge. "In this situation, he can only make desserts. Fortunately, Junior Brother is quite knowledgeable about them. His previous dishes like Shakima and Almond Tofu were all pretty good."

But good as they might be, in a culinary competition, if desserts weren't specifically required, recklessly preparing them wouldn't earn high scores. After all, savory dishes were mainstream, and sweet dishes had far too many limitations.

「In front of the rack.」

Lin Xu also knew savory dishes were out of his reach.

But for dessert...

He saw there was only one pack of White Sugar on the rack, weighing approximately one to one-and-a-half kilograms, and immediately grabbed it.

Right, I'd better secure the sugar quickly, lest even desserts become impossible later.

After he took the White Sugar, a hint of regret flashed across everyone's faces, from the judges' panel to the advisory group. Pitting desserts against savory dishes was undoubtedly like a mantis trying to stop a chariot—futile. Many people even began to grumble softly about the person who had set the challenge. "A culinary competition should just let people cook their dishes. Why bother with all these unnecessary twists?" they muttered.

"Old Master Gao, what should we do now?" Old He from Building One took the initiative to ask.

Old Master Gao smiled wryly. "What can we do? Just keep cooking and take it one step at a time. He's still young; it's normal to face some setbacks. Life can't always be smooth sailing."

But despite saying that, he still hoped his disciple could prove himself with a dessert. Such immense talent! It would be such a pity for him to stop at the top five!

「In the online live broadcast room.」

The fans were no longer in the mood to joke.

"Can Mr. Lin make it through this round with a dessert dish?"

"It's risky. In all culinary competitions, there's never been a precedent for a dessert ultimately beating a savory dish."

"What a shame... He's so talented!"

"Yeah, waking up just after four every morning, working himself to the bone, yet he still remembers to shoot a vlog every other day to teach us how to cook."

"I've posted in the Lin Ji's Food online topic, hoping everyone will cheer for Mr. Lin!"

"Go for it, Demon King! No matter what place you get, you're always our culinary champion!"

"That's right! You'll always be the culinary champion in our hearts!"

"..."

「The competition venue.」

「After the second round of choices.」

Wei Qian, the third-place contestant, began the third round of picking. He selected a piece of loin meat. The next two contestants took beef and chicken wings, respectively. When it was Lin Xu's turn, he glanced at the minced meat among the meat ingredients, then promptly carried away an old pumpkin from the rack. It was the only ingredient there suitable for a dessert.

"This could work… At least he can make candied pumpkin with it, so he won't score zero," Xie Baomin muttered under his breath.

Seeing Guo Weidong looking over again, he irritably raised both middle fingers.

I'm in no mood to be exchanging suggestive glances with you right now!

The picking continued. Guo Xinghai chose the minced meat.

「Then the fourth round of picking officially began.」

Lin Xu got salted duck egg yolks, which gave Shen Jiayue a slight sense of relief.

At least he can make egg yolk baked pumpkin now!

When the fifth round of picking arrived, Lin Xu stood before the rack, pondering for a long time before selecting a pack of glutinous rice flour.

"Why did he choose glutinous rice flour? The dish egg yolk baked pumpkin doesn't even use it," one of the elders in the advisory group remarked. They could usually guess most of the dishes the contestants were planning just by looking at the ingredients.

They were no longer paying much attention to Lin Xu.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.