CHAPTER 666: CHAPTER 665: XIA YU IS VERY BUSY

"Your expertise in professional cuisine is precisely what my team lacks!"

Kubo Ryunosuke, speaking earnestly.

With the status of this manga titan, if he were to publicly recruit, many top-class chefs would undoubtedly contact him.

After all, it was a win-win collaboration; the manga needed professional knowledge to support its content and improve the quality of the work. And for the chefs, having their names co-authored was also great advertising, especially in collaboration with one of Jump’s pillars, a rare opportunity.

"Uh..."

Mashiro Takumi and Takagi Shuutoku were petrified, looking soulless and utterly baffled.

"Sorry..."

But before Xia Yu could even think, he had already declined, "I am not planning to focus my energy on things outside of cooking."

He mentally gave himself a thumbs up, cool!

That was the kind of line you’d expect from a cooking research fanatic, totally fitting.

Thump!

Mashiro Takumi and Takagi Shuutoku, like they were on a rollercoaster, panicked for a moment, their knees going weak and collapsing to the ground.

Shinohara Shigetaro was astounded.

Kubo Ryunosuke and his young assistant were even more shocked.

"Please, please reconsider!" Rejected so cleanly, Kubo Ryunosuke’s pride was hurt. With fans and admirers aside, and Shinohara and the assistant watching, his face and tone stiffened, "This is a win-win collaboration!"

He stressed,

"And the gourmet manga my team and I have conceived will definitely be serialized in Jump magazine. As for the popularity and heat, there’s a huge base of ’Bleach’ fans to rely on. You don’t have to worry at all!"

Xia Yu still shook his head.

"Mr. Kubo, would you have come to seek me out in person if it weren’t for the increasingly popular Sapporo fan-produced book?"

Hearing this, Kubo Ryunosuke shivered.

Shrugging his shoulders, Xia Yu didn’t say much more, nor did he think it necessary.

In his eyes, this manga titan and the pair of unofficial high school manga artists, Mashiro Takumi and Takagi Shuutoku, just wanted to ride the wave of the Sapporo event—it’s a shortcut, indeed, both the titan and the amateur manga artists wanted a quick path.

Taking shortcuts when you can is only wise.

But the problem was, Xia Yu was really annoyed at being "used" to gain popularity—he wouldn’t stand it!

As for Eri Eri, that golden-haired loser, well, she was a friend, and the Sapporo event’s official had given these creators licenses for fan works.

Thus, Kubo Ryunosuke and his assistant, without so much as a drink of tea, left with stiff faces, hastily.

"You’re impressive!"

Minister Shinohara, before leaving, gave him a thumbs-up, "Working with Mr. Kubo is something others beg for, yet you gave no face at all. Once this gets around in the manga circles, who will seek you out for collaborations in the future?"

He had barely left.

Mashiro Takumi and Takagi Shuutoku, avoiding eye contact, also bid farewell to Xia Yu, not daring to bring up their previous request for collaboration.

If a heavenly king was sent packing so cleanly, what chance did they have, mere novices?

"Phew..."

As the two left, they looked back at the small shop separated by wooden fences, their backs soaked with sweat. This sweat was from the excitement of being near their idol and also the cold sweat from witnessing the young shop owner’s shocking rejection.

"No wonder Chef Xia, at such a young age, shines in the international competitions! Focus!" Mashiro Takumi murmured.

"I am not planning to focus my energy on things outside of cooking..."

Takagi Shuutoku slightly lowered his head, pushing his glasses up as he repeated Xia Yu’s words, a gleam of admiration in his eyes, "Yes, focus! We should also learn from Chef Xia, devote ourselves entirely to manga!"

They exchanged looks and could tell they were thinking the same thing.

"Let’s go back to our original concept! Shuutoku!" The blue-haired Mashiro Takumi said.

"Right!"

The buddies walked away shoulder to shoulder.

Elsewhere.

Shinohara Shigetaro, leaving, waved to Kubo Ryunosuke, "Mr. Kubo, I’ve already brought you here myself, and regarding the collaboration, there’s nothing more I can do. Goodbye!"

With that, he got into the car.

"Teacher!"

Wearing a white shirt and jeans, the young assistant looked back at the small shop behind him with resentment, "That guy is too overbearing! Online, everyone says how humble and approachable he is, but it’s all lies!"

Kubo Ryunosuke also felt considerable anger.

He hadn’t expected that his personal visit would result in a neat rejection. "Bleach" had concluded, and he needed to create another work to maintain his popularity. So, aiming for the king of gourmet manga, he had thrown an olive branch to the most dazzling star chef in the Sapporo competition, but...

Thinking of how this incident would spread and the mockery he’d receive from colleagues and numerous trolls, Master Kubo’s face turned as black as a pot bottom.

"Hmph, Sapporo is famous for more than just him! We’ll find another chef!"

The two of them drove away.

At that moment, a male tourist-looking figure on the street corner looked down at the photo captured on his camera, his lips curling upwards, "Famous manga artist Kubo Ryunosuke snubbed and leaves in a huff? There’s today’s headline!"

...

After sending off the visitor, the small shop returned to silence.

Xia Yu simply closed the door, with the manga incident not bothering him, and moved casually to the kitchen corner.

"With a splash—"

Rolling up his sleeves, half of his body wet, he reached deep into the tank and pulled out something!

A black stone the size of a chicken egg!

An old, rusty pot!

"System, how’s the purification going?" he inquired with concern.

"Beep!"

"Current progress: 0.56%..."

"Dammit!" Xia Yu’s enthusiasm was instantly extinguished, "At this rate, it’ll take at least six months to a year! That’s too slow!"

As for why the stone in the tank could purify the "Jade Dragon Pot", it was something he had learned from a phone call from the old man, when the pot had been covertly transported from Sapporo to Tokyo two days ago, and Xia Yu had gotten it back.

At that moment, Xia Yu was flustered.

Fine, the truth was out; the old man’s fierce contest over the contaminated "Jade Dragon Pot" was because he already had a purification plan! What a deep secret!

"Retrieve data!"

The data on the black meteorite had been updated after he captured the "Jade Dragon Pot."

"[Extraterrestrial Meteorite](golden): Suspected to be the original material used by the ancient renowned chef Xu Ling 7,000 years ago to make the ’Eight Legendary Kitchen Utensils,’ due to its indestructible properties and eternal mysterious power, the secret technique for melting this meteorite is still unknown."

"Effect 1. Purifies water quality, enhancing the ’freshness’ of the water (confirmed).

Effect 2. Purifies ingredients (confirmed).

Effect 3. Purifies kitchenware (confirmed)

..."

Each attribute effect made one’s heart race!

"Damn it!"

Xia Yu said, "So this stone is the ultimate divine item of Xia’s Restaurant!"

Then his curiosity deepened—

Is there a fourth effect, and if so, what is it?

Standing dumbly for a while, he submerged the stone and pot back at the bottom of the tank, then after clapping his hands he mumbled to himself, "It’s safe here for now."

Lately, he had noticed sneaky eyes around the shopping street.

The warehouse of IGO for external services wasn’t trustworthy.

Handing it over to Far Moon or Old Man Tiqie for safekeeping wasn’t trustworthy either.

If he had sent them back to his country, he’d have lost control over the stone and the pot, but what about the purification task?

After some thought, holding them himself was still preferable, and Zhu Qing had also moved from the apartment next door, converting the old man’s bedroom into her boudoir, appearing to settle down long term. Xia Yu was also relieved to have Zhu Qing around, otherwise, he doubted he could even take a longer bathroom break without someone entering the house.

There was no need to deal with those rats, let them hang for a while.

Beyond the stone and pot, what really weighed on Xia Yu’s mind was the key to improving his culinary skills—Talent Points!

"System, filter the tasks I can accept!"

He gritted his teeth.

He had already accumulated 24 talent points on his person, but at this idle pace, who knew when he’d gather 100 points to upgrade [Heart of Cooking] to a golden frame and officially advance to Lin Chef.

It was time to get busy!