Reborn in Japan as a Chef God-Chapter 58 - The Oddly Styled Diner

Challenging for a two-star restaurant came with a reward of 10 Talent Points, equivalent to a ten-level increase in culinary skills.

Xia Yu hadn’t expected to host such a harmful guest so late, but there was not the slightest retreat in his heart; his eyes were filled with eagerness.

A chef should do his utmost to satisfy various guests’ stomachs and tastebuds; there was no reason to shrink back!

Returning to the kitchen, he donned his chef’s outfit again and started to busy himself.

Just as he had firmly closed the kitchen door, the late-night shop welcomed two unusual guests.

One was a bald, burly man, his shiny forehead faintly bearing the traces of old scars.

The burly man’s attire was also peculiar—a dull-grey monk’s robe that was quite plain, yet the pair of kitchen knives hanging around his neck swung with his steady gait from side to side, shining brightly and quite intimidating.

The handles of the kitchen knives were wrapped in handmade hemp rope, which helped hang the knives around his neck as fierce ornaments.

One could easily notice several fresh blood stains on his monk’s robe upon careful observation.

The other was a mature woman in a black bodysuit, her style reminiscent of a female investigator from some action movie, equally intimidating, her eyes piercing, making it difficult for one to look directly at her.

“Minister, the incident is resolved; we should head back to headquarters,” said the monk-robed burly man, not planning to sit down.

The female investigator, however, was surveying Xia’s shop.

“Wait a moment.

Let’s have a midnight snack before returning,” Shinohara Shigetaro said nonchalantly.

“Huh?”

The monk-robed burly man was baffled, “Minister, are you sure you want to eat here?”

He glanced around.

While Xia’s shop was indeed tidy, its tables and chairs were utterly reminiscent of a common eatery.

The monk-robed burly man knew about Shinohara Shigetaro’s pickiness in taste; there was absolutely no reason to settle, even if starving.

“Sit down first,” Shinohara Shigetaro glanced at the two.

“Okay,” responded the burly man, obedient, which was incongruent with his rugged appearance.

The investigator remained silent, cold as ice, surveying her surroundings as she followed the faint sounds to the kitchen.

At that moment, Hozoi Midori had just taken a bath, dressed in a clean red cheongsam, descending the stairs, her alluring figure partially visible.

Both women noticed each other.

“…Reiko examiner?” Hozoi Midori exclaimed, shocked.

“Who are you?” the woman frowned.

“I am a Far Moon student who participated in the one-star chef assessment the day before yesterday, Hozoi Midori.

You were the chief examiner then,” Hozoi Midori said respectfully.

Xia Yu might not know her, but she surely knew who this woman was.

Liangzi Lina, one of the few elite female chefs in the Neon Department of IGO, most skilled in Japanese cuisine.

At the same time, Reiko was known for being strict and indifferent.

Hozoi Midori still remembered participating in the one-star chef assessment and knowing that Reiko was the examiner, those faces of the candidates were uneasy.

Giving a faint hum in response, Reiko just glanced at Hozoi Midori briefly before stretching her hand to open the kitchen door.

Standing on the stairs, Hozoi Midori was about to speak when she saw Reiko move quickly.

After Reiko entered, she closed the kitchen door behind her, prompting Midori to take a deep breath and move closer to listen to the sounds inside the kitchen.

However, there were only the sounds of cooking, the sizzling of fat, and of course, the crisp sounds of a metal spatula stir-frying.

Xia Yu was cooking three dishes.

The first one was Magical Mapo Tofu, which could be said to be his forte, perfected in all aspects and finished cooking in less than a quarter hour.

He plated the dish and deliberately covered it, turning around to serve it when, unexpectedly, he was startled by a silent figure standing at the door.

Upon closer inspection,

it looked like a strange, familiar mature woman in a tight outfit from a big movie.

Though beautiful, her scrutinizing and ice-cold eyes made Xia Yu quite uncomfortable.

“This is the kitchen, no entry for outsiders,” Xia Yu spoke.

“Please leave now, and order outside.”

Seeing the woman did not respond and stood immobile like a rigid stone, Xia Yu decided to forcefully evict her, for this was his kitchen, his battlefield, and he needed to assert his authority as the head chef!

“Give me the dish,” the woman extended her hand.

“What!”

“You get out first—”

Xia Yu lost his temper, first setting down the tofu dish he was plating, then turning to expel her.

Whoosh.

Unexpectedly, just as he had put down the plate, an arm swiftly stretched out and snatched it.

Xia Yu, with quick reflexes, grabbed her wrist and glared furiously at this impolite stranger, “I’ll say it again, if you want to eat, first go out and order!”

The woman pulled at her hand, and seeing Xia Yu’s grip firm as an eagle’s claw on her wrist, a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes, while her other hand passed like a sphere and raised the plate high.

Xia Yu felt like he was about to explode.

What the hell was this?

Hide and seek!!

The dish that just came out of the pan, ready to be served on the table, was snatched by a stranger who burst into the kitchen without a noise—this was outright robbery, hey!

To Xia Yu, this dish was worth a hundred thousand yen!

The two figures wrestling in the kitchen were indeed not a pleasant sight.

Reiko had lifted the plate high above her head, and Xia Yu, at sixteen and one meter seventy, would not usually be overpowered by height, but the woman was too tall, and her physical strength was surprisingly on par with his.

It was the first time Xia Yu felt frustrated due to a height difference as he tried several times to reclaim his dish without success.

“Reiko, what are you doing?!”

A deep voice came from the entrance of the kitchen, promptly halting this bizarre farce.

Shinohara Shigetaro appeared, and upon hearing the voice, Xia Yu immediately withdrew his hand.

“Mr.

Shinohara, do you know this rude woman?” asked Xia Yu, pointing at Reiko without any politeness.

Shinohara Shigetaro’s face was stern.

Hozoi Midori winked at Xia Yu from the stairwell.

Clearly, she had called in the reinforcements.

There was also a third party outside the kitchen, another unfamiliar diner with an odd style, wearing a hemp monk’s robe and not to mention, with a pair of sharp chef’s knives hanging from a hemp rope around his neck.

What was the meaning of this?

At that moment, the monk-like man was dumbfounded.

This cold, icy, ice-block-like Reiko, a female leading general from the Neon Department’s Defense Bureau, how could she barge into a private kitchen uninvited…

wasn’t this simply too rude, potentially sparking a culinary showdown!

Under the firm gaze of four pairs of eyes, after a long pause, Reiko finally spoke, her lips quivering:

“It’s because of this dish!”

“…Even though the recipe is simple, what results is a dish nearly perfect!”

A kind of inscrutable devotion appeared on her face, as if she was worshiping the dish itself, rather than the cook.