Clear Soup vs. Clear Soup

Lin Qi was stunned for a moment. Meeting the crowd's eyes, he could not help but lower his head and look at the kitchen utensils on the table.

'Oh no.'

He had to use the system to cook. There was no way he could do so without revealing himself in front of everyone.

Before he could think about it, the audience below the stage began to clap enthusiastically. Following their gazes, he found that his opponent, Jin Lingling, had already begun cooking.

However, at that moment, Lin Qi had not moved at all. There was a time limit for the competition. If he did not complete the dish within that timeframe, it would be considered his loss.

Although Lin Qi did not care about the outcome of the competition, he had to deceive the audience.

Lin Qi took a deep breath. He decided not to stress out over it. He randomly picked up some ingredients on the table. The ingredients were haphazardly cut into pieces with his messy knife skills and that made people lose their appetite just by witnessing it.

On the contrary, the cooking on Jin Lingling's side was all smooth-sailing. What was more shocking was that Jin Lingling was actually a mage, but her magic was only at the lowest level.

She used magic to increase the intensity of the fire on the stove to speed up the cooking of the ingredients. That surprised many people.

"She… Is she actually a fire mage?"

"Well, no wonder she controlled the fire so accurately. She's using magic!"

"What a pity. Such good fire magic, but she's only a chef!"

The audience below the stage started to discuss. On the other hand, Lin Qi's side was messy and littered with random ingredients. It did not look like he was cooking at all. All of a sudden, the dish was complete and had already been plated in front of Lin Qi.

In actuality, Lin Qi did it on purpose. He used that mess to confuse the audience so that he could take out the cooked dishes from the system.

In the meantime, the system consumed the ingredients and completed the dish.

[ Dish Name: Night Light's Billow, Level 2 Dish, Rare Level, Magic Effect: Can directly increase the user's magic level by one (no effect during repeated use) ]

[ Material Consumption: Night Light Grass (x5) Fish Meat (x2) Mushroom (x5) Clear Spring Water (x1) Sweetgrass (x2) ]

[ Cooking... Cooking completed! ]

[ Ding! You have obtained: Night Light's Billow ]

While everyone was distracted by his flamboyant actions, Lin Qi took the opportunity to immediately take out a bowl of magic soup from the system.

On the other side, Jin Lingling slowly put out the fire and then skillfully poured a bowl of clear cabbage soup into a porcelain bowl. She then used a sieve to separate the unwanted ingredients and poured the soup into the porcelain bowl once again.

"Success!"

As Jin Lingling smiled confidently, everyone in the audience was impressed by her magic and cooking skills. They all applauded enthusiastically.

Of course, part of the reason the audience was so responsive was that Jin Lingling was very popular. Wherever she went, there would be countless applause.

As for Lin Qi, although his Night Light's Billow dish was ready, in the eyes of the audience, it was just ordinary soup.

"Okay, the time has run out!"

As soon as the manager finished her words, the match was over. Jin Lingling put a bowl of clear cabbage soup on the table, while Lin Qi placed Night Light's Billow next to it.

From the looks of it, the two bowls of soup were basically the same. One bowl was just clear cabbage soup, while the other was a clear soup without anything added to it.

It was such a simple dish, yet it gave off an alluring smell.

The judge was naturally the hotel manager. That was because she was famous for being the most meticulous person. Any delicacies could not be considered such without her approval.

The people who supported Jin Lingling cheered below, but Lin Qi was not shown any support. It seemed that no one had any expectations of him.

The participants of New Moon City were all stunned. They looked at Lin Qi as if they knew what would happen next.

"Yu Meng, does Lin Qi want to be a chef?" Lewis suddenly asked.

However, Yu Meng snorted coldly and shook her head. "How would I know?"

Truthfully, Yu Meng could not understand Lin Qi. Even though his current actions were ridiculous, she was aware of his potential.

"Lin Qi's actions have completely disgraced New Moon City!"

"Right? I thought that as long as he doesn't cause trouble, we can forget about it after the trial. Who would have thought that he would still be embarrassing himself, causing New Moon City's people to get dragged along with him!"

"That's right. Moreover, being a chef is so embarrassing. It's simply an insult to nobles!"

Even the participants of New Moon City were mocking Lin Qi. No one had ever rooted for him.

However, Lin Qi had no need for any of that. What he needed now was for the manager to evaluate the efficacy of his Night Light's Billow.

"Huh?"

The manager looked at Jin Lingling and asked, "Lingling, why is it so light? Are you going to make cabbage soup today?"

Jin Lingling smiled and looked straight at Lin Qi as she said, "Some people say that the best chef is the one who makes the best dishes using the simplest ingredients!"

That was what Lin Qi said, but he had just said it on a whim. He had not expected that she would be so diligent to have only used cabbage against him.

The manager looked at the bowl of clear cabbage soup and seemed to have noticed Jin Lingling's method. She picked up her chopsticks and tried to stand the cabbage on the soup. Then, she gently pulled out a piece in the middle, and the cabbage bloomed like a lotus in the soup.

"Whoa, this is a test of knife skills!"

Everyone was shocked by the scene in front of them. They had not expected that a piece of cabbage could bloom due to Jin Lingling's culinary skills. It was simply amazing.

Clap, Clap, Clap!

Applause sounded again.

Jin Lingling scratched her head in embarrassment. Meanwhile, the manager started to taste the soup from her bowl.

The manager's meticulousness toward vegetables was extremely high. She delicately raised the spoonful of soup to her red lips and gently took a sip.

"Huh?"

In an instant, the manager tasted a clear and sweet flavor. Cabbage dishes were usually light, but it was mixed with minced meat and chicken gravy, which made the soup even sweeter.

"Mmm, amazing. She can make clear soup to such a standard. She is indeed worthy of being our hotel's head chef!"

After getting the manager's approval, Jin Lingling also gave Lin Qi a confident look.

Lin Qi could not care less, but he shook his head helplessly. "This girl is really competitive."