Chapter 364: The Full Story

“So, what’s the connection between them?”

Qin Lang pondered for a moment but still couldn’t figure out any relation between setting the scoring competition theme to pasta and the counter action against the Star Hunter.

“Doing this is mainly to facilitate better evacuation.” Zhou Tianhao explained,

“To avoid causing widespread panic, the Association has decided after discussion not to disclose the true nature of the Star Hunter’s notice.

“In this way, if the Star Hunter does show up, a decent reason is needed as a cover.”

“You mean…”

Qin Lang vaguely understood something and exhibited a thoughtful expression. “Yes, just as you have thought.” Zhou Tianhao slowly nodded, “Setting the scoring competition theme as pasta is so that if the Star Hunter appears afterward, the Association will brand them as extremists dissatisfied with the scoring theme.”

“I see.” Qin Lang nodded in understanding.

He could tell that Zhou Tianhao was only mentioning a part of the reason. There must have been other considerations that led to this result.

“But this way, it will be a bit difficult to score high in the scoring competition.” Shen Qian frowned, showing a helpless expression.

“Indeed, this is a problem. But I believe that the senior judges of the

Association, who evaluate the scoring competition, should have the basic professional ethics and will not be overly subjective in their assessment.” Zhou Tianhao comforted.

“We can only hope for the best then.” Shen Qian sighed and then turned to look

at Qin Lang, “Qin Lang, what are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about,” Qin Lang stroked his chin, showing a thoughtful expression, “what kind of food counts as pasta.”

“Huh?” Shen Qian rolled her eyes, “Why would you ask such a basic question?

Pasta is food made from wheat flour.”

“I know that, of course.” Qin Lang nodded, “So I’m wondering, if I use ingredients other than wheat flour to make something that convincingly resembles pasta, would the judges give me points?”

At that moment, he thought of a special dish called Live Knock Fish Noodle.

This delicacy is made by hammering fish meat into the shape of noodles, even the taste is quite similar, but the entire process does not involve a drop of wheat flour, only sweet potato starch is added.

Wheat flour and starch are different: The former refers to flour made from grinding wheat, while the latter is made from potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, etc.

“Huh?” Hearing Qin Lang’s words, Shen Qian’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Right!

Since the residents of Xianyu City are resistant to eating pasta, then, by making other ingredients look like pasta, would that achieve a higher degree of acceptance and thus score higher in the scoring competition?

It sounded like a feasible idea.

“Good thinking, but it won’t work.” Zhou Tianhao spread his hands, pointing to a line in small print on his mobile phone, “For the pasta topic, the organizers have given a strict definition, the dish must be cooked using wheat flour.”

Qin Lang:

Shen Qian: “…”

This means their newly thought-out scheme will not be able to proceed.

“It seems we can only prepare pasta honestly.” Shen Qian sighed, “I’ll make some seafood noodles. The residents of Xianyu City love seafood, so their resistance to pasta might be lessened.”

“As for me…” Qin Lang stroked his chin, “I’ll need to think some more.”

Since Live Knock Fish Noodle and other similar shortcuts are not possible, he has to switch to a different method.

He has some ideas but has not fully decided yet.

Thankfully, there are two more days to prepare.

“Let’s go.” He donned his coat reluctantly, “The three-day relaxation period is over. Now it’s back to the anxious competition preparation time.”

“You get anxious? I find that hard to believe.” Shen Qian pouted. Her speed in putting on her coat was not the least bit slower than Qin Lang s.

There are thirty-nine participants in the Xianyu City cooking competition, including Qin Lang and Shen Qian. They received the selected theme for the scoring competition at the first possible moment.

There was surprise and questioning, but after ensuring that the organizer would not change the selected theme, they all started preparing with determination.

There seems to be an undercurrent stirring in the large Xianyu City. Everyone vaguely sensed that this cooking competition was out of the ordinary, but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.

Two days flew by quickly.

After the two-day preparation, Qin Lang finally decided the dish to be presented for the scoring competition.

Even though the local residents harbored a certain prejudice towards pasta, he believed that this type of pasta would enable them to temporarily put aside their prejudice.

“Wow!”

Standing in the crowded queue, looking at the odd-shaped building resembling both a big fish and a sail in front of her, Shen Qian’s eyes lit up and she couldn’t help exclaiming, “It’s beautiful! Is this the arena of Xianyu City?”

“The architectural style is indeed very unique.” Zhou Tianhao agreed, nodding, then looking at Qin Lang and Shen Qian, “You two should take the player track now.”

“Right.” Qin Lang nodded, “I need to go in early to communicate with the organizers.”

“Me too.” Shen Qian chimed in competitively.

Running the scoring competition in transparent mode happens seldomly in city-level competitions, but Qin Lang and Shen Qian both chose this mode without prior agreement.

This means that the pre-competition performance prepared by the organizers is not needed, of course a final confirmation with the players is necessary to avoid scheduling issues that could affect the watchability of the competition.

“I’ll watch the competition from the stands, good luck!” Zhou Tianhao waved the admission ticket he held, waving at the two.

The seat Zhou Tianhao got is closest to the competition venue in the arena. Such precious seats are not bought at a high price by him, but given to him in advance by the Spirit Chef Association.

Watching the competition is only one of the objectives. The most important reason is to be able to step in anytime when the Star Hunter shows up.

“Brother Zhou, see you in the arena!” Qin Lang and Shen Qian waved at Zhou Tianhao and turned to walk up the player track.

On the other side of the track, a middle-aged man with a staff badge hanging on his chest came up quickly with a smile, “Are the two contestants Qin Lang and Shen Qian?”

“Yes!”x2

“We’re making the final check before the match, so are you two sure you want to initiate the transparent mode for the scoring competition?

“Indeed.” X2

“Understood.” The middle-aged man nodded slightly, “This is how it is, in the provincial-level cooking competition, the rules clearly stipulate a transparent mode has extra scoring weight, but there are no such rules in city-level cooking competitions.”

“Therefore, the two of you turning on transparent mode will not give you much advantage in the competition.” The middle-aged man’s voice paused for a moment, “However, to encourage open cooking, the host will mention this before the competition starts.”

“That would be enough.” Qin Lang smiled.

The host mentioning it before the competition starts would mean that during the whole cooking process, all audience’s eyes would be fixed on him and Shen Qian, right?

This is exactly what he wanted.