CHAPTER 696: CHAPTER 695: AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

A car slowly stopped in the central district.

The crowd had dispersed somewhat, but still many people lingered, whispering secretly.

Click!

Xia Yu opened the door and got into the car, where an elderly man on the back seat, with his eyes closed, asked, "What about Lei Zhe?"

"He was exiled."

"Exiled?"

Tiqie Xianzuowen’s expression was indifferent. Before rushing over, he had received the relevant report, or else he wouldn’t have arrived so promptly.

Opening his eyes, the Far Moon Commander stared at Xia Yu.

"What did he say before he left?"

Seeing the gravity in the eyes of the Far Moon Commander, Xia Yu replied in astonishment, "He didn’t really say anything. I just asked a few security personnel and one Special Hunter to escort him away..."

Speaking of which, he paused.

"That’s right!"

An inexplicable unease.

Food Duel!

Lei Zhe’s sneering face seemed to be etched in his brain. Xia Yu couldn’t help asking, "General, Is there really another set of Food Duel rules distinct from those of the specials and below the specials beyond the Lin level?"

Tiqie Xianzuowen nodded.

"Yes!"

He said in a deep voice, "One set is the conventional Food Duel rules that have been carried on in their original form, with specific regulations being decided by both parties. The other set applies to the Lin and Dragon levels, known as compulsory Food Duel rules!"

Compulsory Food Duel?

Damn!

Xia Yu’s breathing nearly stopped.

"Don’t worry!"

"Unless you advance to the Lin level, these compulsory Food Duel rules will not be activated."

The old man reassured him, "As long as you keep the composure you had today, don’t let his provocations get to you, and don’t rashly agree to any dark culinary battles, Lei Zhe can be tactless in his actions, but he won’t be able to drag you into a culinary showdown."

"But aside from culinary skills, Lei Zhe has too many other disgusting tricks, like today," Xia Yu shrugged. "’Jade Generation’s’ stones do need polishing, no doubt, but being humiliated in public by a culinary Mount Tai, that really tests one’s self-esteem."

Hearing this, Tiqie Xianzuowen showed a hint of a smile.

"That will depend on their own psychological adjustments!"

"Mm!"

Xia Yu earnestly stroked his chin, "Maybe, for the students, this could instead be a form of tempering."

"After all, when they open their own restaurants in the future, facing all kinds of customers, especially when serving culinary predecessors superior to themselves, their hearts must be strong enough!"

He looked through the car window.

Koga Shoji stood on the steps, looking dazed.

Xingping Chuangzhen, on the other hand, scratched his head as he looked at his nearly destroyed cart stall.

The contrast was too striking.

He couldn’t help but commend the mental resilience of the Food Duel protagonist, and yet members of the Elite Ten, whether it be the first seat Si Yingshi or the eighth seat Koga Shoji, all showed signs of a shattered self-esteem, in need of adjustment.

Xia Yu sighed inwardly.

Compared to the repeatedly defeated and resilient Xingping Chuangzhen, these members of the Elite Ten, including Tiqie Helinai, had weaknesses that were all too apparent.

But he understood.

A media smear campaign might be outright ignored by the Ten, but receiving negative criticism from a Lin Chef whom they regarded as monumental in their hearts? That heavy toll on their psyche, tsch, was like a fragile glass heart shattering.

"Back to the Tiqie Mansion," Tiqie Xianzuowen told the old steward in the driver’s seat.

He planned to discuss with Xia Yu how to cope with the offensive from the culinary association.

Perhaps this was the preamble to a culinary war.

...

Inside the vast Tiqie Mansion.

This was a massive complex of buildings, layers within and layers without, no telling how many entries and exits there were.

"Where can you hide?"

On the winding corridor, Dojima Yin moved briskly, striding along.

His face bore a composed smile, but his body was a bit worse for wear.

His checkered shirt was full of holes, nearly reduced to strips, and his exposed skin showed faint traces of blood, which seemed to have been caused by small weapons like shurikens, superficial enough not to be considered flesh wounds.

Whoosh!

The pond beside the corridor burst open.

Water splashed everywhere, a lotus exploded, and a female ninja, hiding underwater, lashed out like lightning, aiming her dagger at Dojima Yin’s heart.

"Very good!" Dojima Yin said with a smile instead of a frown. The dagger thrust was fast and fierce, aiming straight for the vitals without any fancy moves, but as soon as the female ninja got close, her pretty face was filled with shock.

Click, click!

Dojima Yin executed a simpler three-hit combo. His hand chopped down, and with a clang, the poisoned dagger flew away. Quickly shifting his stance, he lunged forward, his elbow bending sharply to slam into a soft mass.

Boom!

The door of the tea house splintered, and the petite and agile female ninja, now like a lifeless fish, rolled far away and lay there without getting up for a long time.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Dojima Yin’s expression turned odd.

Another female ninja approached from behind, her plain hold was strangely enchanting. Previously hidden in water, her bodysuit was dripping wet and clung to her like a thin veil. As she pressed her body close, the slippery warmth of her skin caused Dojima Yin, a bachelor, to stiffen for a split second.

His eyes snapped open.

"Rumble!"

The floor quaked, and splinters scattered.

Dojima Yin tumbled to the ground and took a while to get up. Turning back, he saw a pit where the female ninja, embedded in the hallway, gave him a resentful glare before twisting her head and fainting.

"Hehehehe..."

Stamping his foot, Dojima Yin stood for a few seconds, admiring the view of the female form before he nonchalantly stripped off his tattered shirt and walked forward along the corridor.

At the end of the hallway stood a wooden building, grand as a palace.

The doors were slightly ajar.

Pushing the doors open, Dojima Yin laughed, "You should surrender now!"

This was a treasure hall with many precious antiques untouched. In the depths, the female leader clutched something shaped like a pot, eyeing Dojima Yin warily.

"Ha!"

He stepped forward once, twice, and on the third step, the smile vanished from Dojima Yin’s face.

"You..."

Overcome by a sudden drowsiness, Dojima Yin shook his head but then thudded onto his seat.

Seeing this, a gleam of joy flashed in the leader’s eyes.

"Finally, he’s anesthetized!"

Without hesitation, she grabbed the pot and fled the Tiqie Mansion.

Dojima Yin reached for a scratch on his back, realizing the female ninja who embraced him had prepared a remarkable anesthetic tool. No wonder he couldn’t resist.

...

When Dojima Yin awoke from his anesthetized slumber, he found himself lying on the tatami of the tea house.

Across the tea table sat a young man and an elder, who fell silent and turned to look at him.

"General, you’re awake?"

The young man’s smile was teasing.

"Ha, haha!"

Rubbing his head and sitting up, Dojima Yin saw his bare torso and laughed embarrassedly, "Well, I knocked out two intruders, but their leader got away."

"Not only did she get away, but she also took one of the General’s collections."

"Yes, I really liked that item."

Tiqie Xianzuowen chimed in.

"By the way, General, when did you create such a realistic fake?" Xia Yu said mockingly. The invaders were likely sent by Lei Zhe, who would be in for a rude awakening when he saw the pot, plummeting from cloud nine to the depths of despair.

Surprised or not, what do you think?

...

In Tokyo, a car came to a screeching halt on the suburban highway.

Soon after, another vehicle raced up.

"Where’s the cookware!"

Lei Zhe, who had received the good news as soon as he left Far Moon, hurried out of the car.

The female ninja named Yi uncovered the cloth shrouding the pot.

Holding the metal cookware felt authentic, and Lei Zhe’s eyes widened, "It’s real!"

He inspected the pot’s sides, and the details of the inscriptions and patterns.

As well as the plentiful rust marks.

The exterior matched perfectly with the high-definition photos Lei Zhe pulled out for comparison!

However, when his palm felt the bottom of the pot, Lei Zhe’s expression froze.

At the bottom were carved words.

Crafted by the artisan: "Tiqie made, fake."

"It’s a fake!"

Yi quietly translated the meaning of the characters, and in an instant, veins throbbed on Lei Zhe’s forehead.

Boom!

With a furious throw, the metal pot collided with the road, sparks flying, and then scattered across the ground in pieces.

Lei Zhe’s face flushed and paled by turns.

In his mind, the mocking smiles of the old man and the young man seemed to taunt him:

Surprised or not, what do you think?