Zhou Tian's expression was gloomy. He took a deep breath and snorted coldly, "It's just stir-fried Niu He, what's there to be proud of!"

At this moment, the competition results were announced. Seeing the rankings on the screen, Zhou Tian's face grew even darker.

First place went to Lin Chen, second was not Anna but a dark horse named Kimura. Anna was third, while Zhou Tian had been pushed to fourth.

The entire venue erupted in surprise; the outcome was completely unexpected by everyone. Anna, who had been thought highly of, had only managed to secure third place, and the equally impressive Zhou Tian had only gotten fourth place.

Zhou Tian's face was extremely ugly; he hadn't even made it into the top three, and who on earth was this Kimura?

Long Tianci's gaze settled on a young man with glasses in the crowd, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Anna, don't be unsatisfied. Your stir-fried Niu He indeed wasn't as good as that Kimura's. Your opponents this time were not only Lin Chen!" Long Tianci said in a deep voice.

"Kimura? Where did this mysterious guy come from?" Anna frowned.

Lin Chen was also taken aback, his gaze fixed on the mysteriously appearing young man.

For some reason, he felt a special aura about this young man that made him inexplicably nervous.

As if sensing Lin Chen's gaze, the mysterious young man slightly raised his hand to adjust his glasses, and a pair of sinister eyes, filled with a touch of coldness, fixed on Lin Chen as well.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Zhou Tian gritted his teeth. He had never taken these minor competitions seriously, and had he not been doing it for Anna, he would not have deigned to participate. He hadn't anticipated the emergence of Lin Chen, and now a mysterious Kimura, which had severely battered his confidence.

"Get me the information on this Kimura," Long Tianci frowned and said to a young man beside him.

The young man quickly handed over his iPad. Long Tianci swiped through the screen with his finger and his eyebrows suddenly furrowed, "He's actually from the Island Nation!"

Long Tianci was known as the God of Food, but he also had another mysterious identity, chief consultant of China's Dragon Group, which was why the Zhou family was so audacious, and why Zhou Tian still acted respectfully in front of Long Tianci.

The Dragon Group was responsible for China's security, and for some reason, relying on instinct, Long Tianci always felt that there was something not quite right about this young man, yet he couldn't pinpoint the reason.

Realizing he was being stared at by Long Tianci, the young man looked up at him in the VIP seats, his eyes defiant and wild.

At this moment, a reporter came over with a microphone, wanting to conduct a brief interview with the top three contestants.

"Mr. Lin Chen, I've heard that you are an amateur contestant. Did you really teach yourself?" asked the reporter with a smile.

Lin Chen answered with a beaming smile, "Yes, I have a passion for cooking, so I've put more effort into this area."

"Well, I hope you can keep this championship in DY," the reporter nodded and then interviewed the second-place Kimura.

"Mr. Kimura, I heard you come from the Island Nation. What are your thoughts on this competition?" the reporter asked.

"I entered this competition to defeat your Chinese culinary masters and prove that you Chinese people are no good. The championship this time is mine," Kimura said arrogantly.

Upon hearing Kimura's words, there was a stir among the crowd.

"That's too arrogant. This is a blatant provocation."

"You bastard, I will defeat you and show you that Chinese cuisine is the best," Zhou Tian said with a righteous indignation.

Kimura looked at Zhou Tian with disdain, "You are far from my league. My opponent is him."

To everyone's surprise, Kimura ignored Anna and pointed his finger at Lin Chen instead.

Lin Chen scoffed and said, "With the five thousand years of Huaxia's civilization, your foundations are far too shallow compared to ours. This championship will definitely stay in Huaxia; it won't be taken away by you."

"Well said! Good!" Applause erupted from the crowd.

"Hmph, overestimating yourself. I look forward to our duel," Kimura said with a cold smile, turning to leave.

"He's too arrogant. Anna, we must join forces to ensure that guy doesn't win the championship," Zhou Tian said gravely.

Anna, lost in thought, watched Kimura's retreating figure but said nothing.

Always the darling of the skies, today she had lost not only to Lin Chen but also to this mysterious Kimura, and to make matters worse, she had been outright ignored by the man. All at once, she felt a sense of defeat.

During the first round of the competition, a third of the participants had been directly eliminated; as the competition progressed, the second round officially began.

The second round was a test of knife skills, with each person presented with a pumpkin and tasked with carving an artwork within half an hour.

This challenge seemed simple but was incredibly difficult—knife skills involve the technique of processing various ingredients into certain shapes according to the needs of cooking and eating, making them the basic forms required for the composition of dishes.

It would have been manageable if it were ordinary vegetables, but turning a pumpkin into a piece of art significantly increased the difficulty.

Lin Chen looked around; most of the chefs seemed troubled by the task.

At one end of the square, Kimura looked at the pumpkin in front of him, a mocking smile on his face, "Are such trifling tricks supposed to trouble me?"

As he spoke, his knife began to dance, starting the carving of the pumpkin.

Because everyone only had one pumpkin, it meant they only had one chance. If they failed, they would be eliminated.

Lin Chen held a small knife in his hand, and an idea flashed through his mind. His gaze intently fixed on the pumpkin, the small knife in his hand whirled rapidly.

As everyone began carving, the venue fell into sudden silence, all eyes on the chefs' knives and the pumpkins.

Long Tianci watched the young man with skillful knife work, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Such proficiency and expertise did not seem to belong to a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. Most importantly, Long Tianci felt a trace of killing intent within the gleam of Kimura's swinging knife.

"This guy seems to be more than just a chef," Long Tianci said with a focused look, turning to speak to someone beside him, "Have you gotten any other information about this young man?"

"No luck, Mr. Long, we've found nothing about this guy—it's like he's a blank slate," came the reply.

"A blank slate!" Long Tianci pondered for a moment; a blank slate didn't mean the young man had no issues—rather, it suggested that the issues were quite serious.

But after all, the young man was here to compete; they couldn't just detain and interrogate someone without reason.

"I hope Lin Chen and Anna can defeat this arrogant fellow," Long Tian sighed and murmured softly.

As time passed, many contestants had completed their pumpkin carvings.

Zhou Tian carved a beautiful character for "longevity." The elegant strokes were pleasing to the eye, and he clapped his hands in satisfaction with his own masterpiece, confident in his knife skills.

Glancing at Anna beside him, she had carved an Eight Immortals Painting, the likeness so vivid it showcased her extraordinary skill with the knife.

"Miss Anna's knife skills are truly enchanting. It seems I will have to settle for second place this time," Zhou Tian said with a sheepish smile.

However, Anna's face bore no hint of joy. Looking at Kimura, her expression revealed shock, "My God, how did he manage that?"