Chapter 43: Most Creative Award

Tom received an unexpected hint from Sykes.
He couldn’t help but turn his head abruptly and looked at the few young players below with a completely new perspective—

‘Such a young age, such clumsy movements, could they really be the ones who can create such miracles?’

At this time, the competition was nearing its end.
The works of the ten contestants were almost ready.
More agile contestants like Ge Feifei and the foodie had even begun the plating process.

The players had more or less discovered the mystery of the system’s scoring—the more vibrant and better-looking the food, the higher the score.
Although they didn’t know the lord’s scoring criteria, since it was official data, it shouldn’t be too far off, right?

Besides, making the dishes look better wasn’t a difficult task.
Who doesn’t like to see food that looks delicious?

One must know that the standard for judging gourmet food is a combination of color, aroma, and taste, with none being dispensable.
Ahem, although in Sea Realm, it seems that food with attributes doesn’t need to care about taste or anything?

So far, the dishes had taken shape.
The audience in the stream room could already recognize what most of the dishes were—fried fish fillets, takoyaki, fish-fragrant shredded pork (?), and so on.
Wait, what was the next one doing??

When everyone’s progress was fast, the slightly slower one would become particularly prominent and conspicuous.
And many viewers also recognized that slow-moving fellow.
It was the holographic game streamer who had repeatedly made it to the top of the cloud live stream platform—Flower World Dazzling Eyes.

He was still mixing a lump of filling of unknown origin.
The minced meat and vegetable scraps were mixed together, fully demonstrating the weakness of its owner, who had clearly never cooked before.

[I knew it, Huahua’s clumsy persona stands firm. I was even startled during the preliminaries.]

[What was the preliminary round again? I think it was boiling a pot of soup? You just need to stir it, which is indeed very simple.]

[What is he doing now? Those who are good at home-style cooking, can you see?]

[I can’t see either +1. Could it be meatballs or meat patties? It feels like it clashes with the previous ones.]

[It’s not scary to have the same dish. Whoever’s is uglier is the awkward one. This streamer must have been lucky to make it to the finals.]

Whether they were fans, passersby, or some haters pretending to be passersby, at this moment, they were not very optimistic about Hua Yibing.
There was no other reason than that the mush under his hands was too tragic.
It was neither sticky nor loose.
Even the vegetable buns eaten when recalling past bitterness and present sweetness were not so terrible.

Another thing was that fifty minutes had already passed, which meant that Hua Yibing only had ten minutes left to improve or remake a dish.

He himself was also aware of this problem and lowered his head in frustration.

Originally, he had planned to make the second secret recipe provided by his grandmother with familial affection—pan-fried meat patties.
Grandma’s pan-fried meat patties were a specialty among the neighbors.
The meat patties were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with rich layers.
With one bite, you could even feel the meat burst with juice under the pressure of your teeth.
It was no exaggeration to say that when grandma stood in the kitchen flipping the meat patties, the aroma was guaranteed to spread throughout the entire neighborhood, making the children on the roadside drool so much they couldn’t walk.

When Hua Yibing went to see her, this dish would inevitably appear on her dinner table that night.
When the other children could only get a small piece each, Hua Yibing could have one in his mouth and one in his hand, walking with his head held high, bathed in the envious gazes of the children, and without any sense of guilt.

Parentheses, all the above actions were frenzied acts he could still do after he became an adult.

Getting off track.
In short, after he had asked his grandmother for the simplest recipe, which was the radish soup, he had boldly opened his mouth and asked for the recipe for pan-fried meat patties, planning to win the championship and amaze everyone in the finals!

But…

Clumsiness is the greatest obstacle to human progress.

Hua Yibing had clearly chosen the vegetables with the taste closest to reality with the help of his roommate, and had even specially used the hermit crab he had caught and put in his backpack during his previous exploration of the sea.
He had ruthlessly dismembered it and turned it into a pile of white, fresh-smelling crab meat.
There was nothing wrong with the ingredients, but how did it end up like this in the end?

Huahua looked at the lump of nondescript meat filling under his hands with a complicated expression, finding it hard to imagine what it would taste like when fried.

‘If I cast a [Blinding Spell] on the judges, can I muddle through?’ He even began to consider this question.
But after thinking about who the final judges were, Hua Yibing rationally dismissed this idea.

Forget it, all or nothing! Go for broke!

Hua Yibing had one advantage, which was that he could always make himself optimistic no matter what.
It was the same now.
He decided to gamble again.
Whether he lived or died depended on this move!

He patted the meat filling into one meat patty after another, then fiercely opened his backpack, took out a small bottle, and sprinkled something on the meat patties.

This was Yan Shuangwen at the end of the experiment, putting a powder made from pressing a special crop in the end, it could enhance the fresh taste of food, a bit similar to the MSG in reality… would it become delicious?

But why was this powder red?
Huahua somewhat doubted his memory.

Old Li was originally sitting with Yan Shuangwen who was eliminated and watched Hua Yibing’s situation together.
Seeing the other in a predicament, he was also very anxious under the stage.
…the bottle, he suddenly had a bad premonition—wait, isn’t that bottle!!

He turned his head abruptly and asked Yan Shuangwen next to him, “The bottle you gave Huahua… the cabinet on your left!?”

Yan Shuangwen was alarmed.
“Yes, I was experimenting with a new dish at that time and told him to get it himself.”

Old Li’s face changed drastically.
He swallowed hard.
“The crimson fruit I crushed before, the one that explodes, I also put it on the left-hand cabinet. Hua Yibing seems to have taken the wrong one…”

Of course, Yan Shuangwen remembered that crimson fruit.
The abstract painting on the wall in the living room was still there, and his impression of the previous explosion was also very deep.
After research, that fruit seemed to explode easily when it reacted with any ingredient.

Hua Yibing seemed to have sprinkled a lot on the meat patties just now…?

Not only Yan and Li’s side, but Hua Yibing and even the audience in the stream room had discovered that something was wrong with the meat patties.

The things that, although ugly, could still be called meat patties, swelled up out of thin air as soon as they were sprinkled with the powder, swelling into round meat balls, and there was even a trend of infinite expansion.

What’s going on!

Hua Yibing’s heart trembled.
He had no time to judge what was happening now, but his intuition told him that he couldn’t let the meat patties continue like this, otherwise this competition would be completely ruined!

He thought and thought, and with a surge of magic power in his hand, a golden light flashed and he slapped himself on the head with a ‘smack’.

[Mind Domain · Strong Luck]!

A brief moment of good luck flashed by.
The meat patties seemed to have reached their limit and soon stopped expanding, but they were still rolling in the pot like a few round meat balls.

Seeing that the meat patties were almost cooked, and knowing what kind of bad luck would come after his Strong Luck buff, Hua Yibing frantically raised his hand and gestured—”I want to hand in my paper early!!”

“Ah no, I want to hand in my dish early!”
His body retreated frantically, wanting to get away from that dish, not wanting the bad luck to rub off on the dish.
Then he retreated a bit too, and his whole person directly hit the partition board behind him.
His front half of his body shook back, and he actually fell over headfirst, leaving only a faintly golden fishtail pointing straight up.

The audience: “…”

The contestant next door: “…”

Ella, who was preparing to come and take the dish: “…”

Ella flapped her small fiery red wings a few times, and with a strength that didn’t match her appearance, she managed to carry a plate of Hua-style meat balls and flew to the judges’ table.
She hesitated between her master and Tom for a moment, and decisively placed this very strange-looking dish in front of Tom.

Tom’s mouth twitched.
Before he could say anything, the clock above everyone’s heads let out a shrill and frightening roar—did the alarm change again this time?

The other contestants’ dishes were also placed in front of them.
Ella transported them one trip after another, and finally, all ten dishes were placed in front of Sykes and Tom.

The camera in the stream room also followed and moved to the judges’ table.
With Tom’s lord-level strength, he quickly noticed this strange feeling of being spied on, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

“Are these the domain citizens who got you a ticket to the competition?” he asked.

Sykes shook his head.
“No, this is the consciousness of a domain citizen who has not yet been born.”

[Although I don’t know what they are talking about, it feels so amazing.]

[Whatever the beauty says is right, prprprpr.]

[It’s clearly a cooking competition, but I can’t even give a single glance to the food. Damn it!]

[You are not alone.]

[I’ve already covered the upper half of the screen. Now I’m concentrating on the dishes. Brothers, am I doing it right?]

[Good idea. This time it feels like a mix of dark cuisine and gourmet food, especially…]

[Steel old man looking at his phone.jpg, say no more, I understand. That meat ball, right?]

[Beauty fish, please don’t really eat it! Stop, quick!]

Although the bullet comments were quite intense, don’t forget that the meat ball was placed on Tom’s table.
If anyone was to eat it, he should be the first.

But Tom clearly didn’t want to be the first to taste the poison.
His antennae poked Sykes’s shoulder.
When he didn’t get a response, he poked again.

Sykes picked up a piece of fish fillet, then expressionlessly poured the rest of the plate into the snail’s mouth.

And so, he successfully obtained feeding ×1.

The snail’s two eyes were already happily narrowed into slits.
Only then did Sykes put the fish fillet into his mouth and chewed it slowly.

He had to admit that the dish made with the burning fruit had a strange aroma.
When he bit down, he felt an enchanting freshness burst in his mouth, a completely different feeling from the fresh fruits and vegetables he had eaten in the past.

He slowly swallowed it, and he seemed to be able to understand the feeling of those humans he had seen through the screen, waiting in front of a fried chicken shop.

Is this the potential of a player?

In short, although the players’ cooking techniques were still a bit clumsy, and a lot of energy was lost in the cooking process, after all, they were newbies and had not undergone formal magic energy training, so this could be understood.

To be honest, the merman himself quite liked this dish.
He slightly regretted his action of pouring it all into Tom’s mouth just now.

Looking at Tom again, his eyes were already open.
At this moment, he was looking at the remaining dishes on the table with shining eyes.
“My heavens, what a wonderful taste. I bet I’ve never eaten anything so delicious even when I passed through the seahorse clan’s territory back then! This is a completely different aroma!!”

He seemed to want to say something more, but thought of that feeling of being spied on and swallowed his words, continuing to praise this delicious fried fish fillet.

Sykes called Ella over and said a few words.
Then Ella nodded.
A giant screen appeared out of thin air in front of the previously empty platform.
On it was an enlarged photo of the fish fillet, and below it was its page introduction—

[Name: Fried Fish Fillet]

[Creator: Contemporary Foodie]

[Description: An irresistible fried food. Consumers can increase their understanding of the fire attribute for a short period of time. The tenacious life of the rock monster has given the dish a new characteristic: health +50, satiety +80 after consumption.]

[Rating: 9.5]

It was actually a food that could directly increase health!

The players’ eyes lit up.
One must know that when exploring the outer lands, health was deducted over time.
Insufficient health had always been one of the most troubling problems for players.
Now, with something that could replenish health, it would undoubtedly be a considerable improvement in the distance and time of exploration!

Next was Ge Feifei’s takoyaki.
In terms of taste, this food was not at all inferior to the previous fried fish fillet, and could even surpass it!

Tom stuffed another one into his mouth and lamented in a strange aria, “Oh~~ my old friend, is this really an octopus? Can an octopus really be so delicious? I remember seeing an octopus’s territory on my way here…”

“And this magical crispy and numbing texture. This feeling is so wonderful. I think I’ve fallen in love with delicious food, and of course, these cubs of yours.”
As he spoke, his two antennae drooped lazily, looking as if he was enjoying it very much.

“It’s the poison inherent to the one-eyed octopus,” Sykes said with certainty.
“This poison doesn’t have much of an effect on us, so it just has a crispy and numbing feeling.”

Then he gave the rating.

[Name: Takoyaki]

[Creator: I Want to Fight Ten]

[Description: A very bold and interesting combination of ingredients. The arms of the one-eyed octopus will give people a fresh taste experience. The poison inherent to the octopus is fully utilized. The consumer’s health -99, magic power +99, and poison-related skills will receive a short-term boost after consumption.]

[Rating: 9.4]

Because the status was too extreme, it was a pity that Ge Feifei’s dish did not surpass the foodie’s rating.

The remaining dishes were also tasted by Sykes and Tom one by one and were given objective evaluations.
There were indeed a few dishes with strange tastes, but they were also within the two’s acceptance range.
To be honest, don’t look at how glamorous and noble one fish and one snail are now.
Back then, they were people who had really run away from home and wandered.
It was not strange to have eaten any kind of hardship on the road of wandering.
It was common to just grab a fish and eat it directly when hungry.

Finally, there was only one dish left.

The snail placed its gaze on the round meatball in front of him and hesitantly dragged the plate towards him.

Hua Yibing had been helped up by a kind person and was now in his seat, looking over here nervously.

Just as the snail was cautiously about to try a bite, the meatball made a strange noise.

The next second, only a loud BOOM!! was heard, and then a series of explosions.
An explosion had actually occurred on the high platform!
It was impossible to see the situation of the two people on it.
Only a light red smoke was floating.

The audience: “!!!!!”

Hua Yibing: “!!!!!!!!”

Everyone’s attention was once again focused on the high platform.
What was the situation with the explosion just now?
Is the lord okay?
Is that rather cute big snail okay?

“Cough, cough cough! It’s so choking!” Tom’s voice came from the smoke.
“Cleanse! Where is my disinfectant!”

“Don’t move around,” was Sykes’s cold voice.

Then, with the sound of a powerful disinfectant being sprayed, the high platform became visible again, but the situation on it was completely different from before the explosion—

The tables and chairs that had just been neatly placed had been blasted to the side, and the lord who had been sitting on it had already flashed to a far away place.
And near where the big snail had been… there was an extra golden-haired youth??

“Sykes, your domain citizens are really creative,” the golden-haired youth opened his mouth, and his voice was exactly the same as the big snail’s just now.

[Who is this boy?! I really like this type, awwww.]

[Sykes? This boy knows the lord? Wait, how come his voice is the same as that snail named Tom?]

[You don’t get it, this is the live-action version of “transform for me.”]

[A snail turning into a person!! Let me play! I want to go to Sea Realm to play!!]

[Look, the screen has appeared again. The thing that exploded just now was obviously Huahua’s dish…]

[My mood is rather complicated right now. Is this dish description really describing a dish? Can something that explodes on a timer be called a dish, ORZ.]

Sykes walked to the front and made a ‘calm down’ gesture to the players below.

“My dear subjects,” he began.
In an instant, the previously buzzing players all quieted down.
“Please don’t worry. What just happened was just a special effect of a certain contestant’s dish. Because of the level difference, it won’t cause us any real harm.”

Then, Sykes waved his left hand, and the image on the screen instantly switched to Hua Yibing’s work.

[Name: Pan-fried Meat Patties]

[Creator: Hua Nord]

[Description: A miraculous ingredient has produced a violent reaction in the food, giving the food the characteristic of [Explosion]. The mutual restraint of other ingredients prevents the [Explosion] from taking effect immediately, but delays it for a period of time (there is great room for improvement).]

[Rating: 9.5 points]

All the players present fell silent after seeing these few lines of words.
They looked at Hua Yibing with complicated expressions, and he himself had the same shocked expression as everyone else.

Isn’t this just…

a time bomb!!

At the end of the competition, Ella, as the host, announced the results—the winner of the “Most Delicious Dish Award” was Contemporary Foodie, while the “Most Creative Award” undoubtedly went to Hua Yibing.

After all, he was probably the only divine person who could make a dish that was a time bomb.