Reborn in Japan as a Chef God-Chapter 63 - Imaginary Ingredients (Part 1)

The money from last night’s midnight business had arrived!

Three glowing dishes, due 300,000 yen, but there was an extra 50,000 yen, presumably because Shinohara Shigetaro enjoyed the ‘Big Blast Fried Pork’ so much and tipped a little extra.

Xia Yu grinned, “As expected of the manager of IGO’s Neon Department, trustworthy, transferring the money early in the morning.”

Last night, after seeing Shinohara Shigetaro off, he continued researching the ‘Big Blast Fried Pork,’ leaving the Chef God Space near dawn, lying in bed for only a short nap before his body clock naturally woke him up.

Not in a hurry to get out of bed, he lay there, opened IGO online, and casually browsed the ingredient street, first ordering the ingredients needed for tonight’s opening, with the delivery time set for noon to afternoon the same day.

Using the money from the IGO account, Xia Yu paid online, closed the order page, and returned to the APP homepage.

Besides the ingredient market, IGO online had two other sections: Food Duel and New Ingredient Application and Recipe Development and Leisure Comprehensive Discussion.

The Food Duel section was filled with hostility, and clicking into it revealed all red-titled highlighted posts, with dedicated staff managing it, sternly against idle chatter.

IGO only acted as the judge and reviewer, in other words, as an intermediary platform.

The two parties could also rent a specialized Food Duel Arena from IGO offline, with each post full of densely packed contract texts.

Once reviewed and approved, the content of the post would shift from online to offline, becoming an official food duel document.

Seeing the sinister posts early in the day, Xia Yu didn’t want his good mood ruined, so he exited this section and switched to ‘New Ingredient Application and Recipe Development.’

The atmosphere changed abruptly.

The Food Duel section was hostile, whereas the research section was full of academic air.

Curious, Xia Yu clicked the first high-reply essential post on the homepage, titled “On the Cultivation, Drying, and Application of Fin Mushroom.”

The post content wasn’t displayed, and a reminder box popped up:

“Dear chef, you are viewing the paid topic ‘On the Cultivation, Drying, and Application of Fin Mushroom,’ which requires an expenditure of 100,000 yen to permanently purchase this topic…”

The phone APP prompted him so.

The content was paid?

Xia Yu was stunned, tapped cancel, returned to the post, and browsed through the public replies in the thread.

“Fin Mushroom?

Discovered by some special-grade chef two years ago?”

“Yeah, this mushroom’s growing conditions are harsh.

That special-grade chef tried to cultivate it but failed.

Unexpectedly, Professor of spices from Far Moon not only successfully cultivated and cultivated the Fin Mushroom but also provided a good spice mix formula…”

“Very rewarding!

Thank you!”

Roughly glancing through, it was full of compliments.

Far Moon’s spice professor?

At this point, Xia Yu turned the post back to the top and noticed the ID of the poster:

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

Xijian Run.

Behind the real-name ID was a string of V-certified titles, the youngest genius professor in the history of Yuan Yue Academy, an authority in the field of spices, a special-grade researcher at the IGO Neon Research Institute.

“No wonder it’s an acquaintance.” Xia Yu smiled, discarded his hesitation, and purchased the topic.

After payment, the APP page automatically refreshed, and the text displayed with optimized typography, the reading background being a paper-like texture, giving a solid feel.

The academic article began with this:

“Fin Mushroom, a peculiar mushroom with the taste and texture of fish fins, is fragrant and crispy when eaten raw, soaked in hot water, and will spread like fish fins, currently priced internally at IGO at 1 piece/50,000 yen…”

As he read on, Xia Yu shifted from his lazy posture on the bed to sitting up, his expression gradually turning serious.

He suddenly remembered where the Fin Mushroom came from.

“Toriko!”

“So, Fin Mushroom isn’t a local ingredient?” Xia Yu frowned, recalling Shinohara Shigetaro’s words, how do chefs obtain new ingredients in a world without Gourmet Hunters?

The water runs too deep!

Things that couldn’t be figured out for the moment, Xia Yu simply didn’t worry about them.

Since ingredients from “Toriko” existed in this world, it might not be a bad thing for chefs.

Fantasy level ingredients, just thinking about it made Xia Yu’s blood boil, seeing the possibility of cooking fantasy cuisine with fantasy ingredients!

Knock, knock.

Just as he planned to read the academic article a second time, someone knocked at the bedroom door.

Xia Yu had to put away his phone and opened the door.

Hozoi Midori had already washed up and changed into clean clothes.

Seeing him open the door, she said peculiarly, “…I just opened the store door, and a customer came in.”

“It’s only eight o’clock, which customer came so early?” Xia Yu was stunned.

“You should go take a look.”

Hozoi Midori forced a smile.

“Let him wait a bit, I’ll wash up.” Xia Yu waved his hand, went into the bathroom, and came out about ten minutes later, finding Hozoi Midori still waiting on the second floor, couldn’t help but frown.

Without asking further, he went downstairs, glanced around the store, and finally understood where Hozoi Midori’s hesitation came from.

The female investigator from last night was back!

Oh, wait, the style seemed different from last night’s female investigator.

Today Reiko Lina was dressed in a spotless white chef’s uniform, her tall and graceful figure well complemented by the fitted chef’s uniform, that full curve, tsk tsk, Xia Yu inwardly praised, giving a thumbs up.

Despite not having the best impression of her, Xia Yu still admitted the woman was pretty.

A kind of mature beauty, and if the frost on her face could be reeled in, she’d definitely be a traditional and beautiful Japanese woman.

“You’re here so early?

Our small shop doesn’t serve breakfast, just tea and pastry sets.” Xia Yu spoke casually.

Last night after Shinohara Shigetaro left, Hozoi Midori dragged him, going to great lengths to describe the female investigator’s identity.

Reiko Lina.

Female.

Age unknown, probably around thirty.

Currently running a traditional Japanese restaurant ‘Zen Residence.’

At the same time, this woman was also a rare female special-grade chef, well-known in the Neon Food World.

The key was, she was most skilled at, what Xia Yu was quite interested in, ‘Kaiseki.’

“I’ve had breakfast.”

Reiko Lina said indifferently, turning around and walking out of the shop, dragging in an oversized cooler.

“What’s this?” Xia Yu asked.

Bang!

Reiko Lina didn’t answer him, dragging the heavy cooler directly outside the kitchen, unlocked it, and opened the lid.

Layer upon layer of strange ingredients appeared before Xia Yu’s eyes.

The intense bean fragrance wafted out.

Xia Yu sniffed the air, visibly surprised, and pointed at the cooler, “Is this the ‘Shuangjiang Tofu’ you mentioned last night?”

Reiko Lina nodded.

“No wonder!”

He circled around the cooler once.

Shuangjiang Tofu looked very much like Shuangjiang beef, with the fat distributed like frost on the surface of the ingredients.

However, the tofu was white, with the fat clearly visible within the tofu blocks, easily discernible to the naked eye.

“System: New ingredient discovered…”