Phainon cautiously peeked into the contestants' rest room and saw two familiar figures.
Cipher was resting her head on Acheron's lap while Acheron gently stroked Cipher's head.
At that moment, Cipher was as docile as a sleeping kitten.
"Hiss…" Phainon sucked in a breath. "What are you two doing here? What's the situation right now?"
"Meow?" Cipher lifted her head, looked at Phainon, and gave a cold laugh. "All because of those few eggs of yours."
"Eggs?" Phainon pointed to the side, where more than a dozen people were stacked like a human pyramid, all tossed into the corner.
"Then what's going on with this?"
"These are the bad guys who bullied Cipher," Acheron said calmly.
"But how did they end up like this? It looks like someone beat them up." At this point, Phainon couldn't help swallowing hard. He stiffly turned his head toward Acheron's world-weary expression.
"Acheron-jie… it wasn't you who did this, right?"
"Of course it was! Mei-neesan did it!" Cipher said with reverence. "You have no idea—Mei-neesan can take out a grown man with one punch. She dealt with each one in less than a second. In just over ten seconds, she threw them all into the corner."
Acheron shook her head. "Thirteen people. To be precise, it took 13.48 seconds. It wasn't exactly one second per person."
Is the issue really whether it was one second per person? You're basically not human anymore… Phainon recalled Kiana's wild boasts about Acheron and realized everything she said was actually true!
"Alright, alright. I came for the ingredients. The match is starting soon." With that, Phainon hurriedly grabbed the eggs, green onions, and half a box of shiitake mushrooms before leaving the rest room.
Nearby, the black-clad boss witnessed the scene and nearly spat blood.
The most precious ingredients… were just this?
He couldn't catch his breath and clearly fainted from sheer rage.
Cipher rubbed her head against Acheron's arm. "Mei-neesan, can we go to the competition venue now, meow?"
"Mm." Acheron gave a slight nod.
——
Not long after.
The audience seats below the stage grew more and more crowded.
Su Chen and Aglaea sandwiched Caenis between them, while Hyacine, Kiana, Acheron, Cipher, Mydei, and Castorice sat in the outer circle.
At this moment, Caenis's heart began to panic. She couldn't figure out what was going on at all.
Why were more and more people showing up?
Where exactly had her plan gone wrong?
Why did she feel so hollow and completely unconfident!
By now, basically all her plans had been thrown into chaos. The only two things she could still rely on were the previous God of Cooking, Tang Niu, and the organizers whom her company had taken care of.
Thinking like this, she should still hold the winning hand!
After figuring everything out, Caenis once again put on a confident smile.
"Ms. Caenis, from your expression, you seem quite confident?" Su Chen raised an eyebrow and asked teasingly.
"Of course I'm confident. I still acknowledge Tang Niu's strength!"
"Confidence is good, but overconfidence will get your face slapped."
"The head chef from the Golden Grand Hotel has been standing on stage like a wooden post since he got up there—no action at all. Is he scared?"
Su Chen spread his hands. "How would I know? But I do know he'll start moving soon."
——
On stage, host Owlbert kindly reminded everyone, "There are 10 minutes left until the end of the competition. Please, contestants, make your final preparations."
Phainon seemed completely unconcerned, still staring blankly at the neatly arranged ingredients in front of him.
He hadn't moved a muscle since the competition began.
In contrast, Tang Niu was using every trick in the book—like a circus performer—turning cooking into something with special effects.
"Oi~" Su Chen shouted toward Phainon. "Deliverer Chef, what are you doing? Are you really planning to clutch it at the last second with fried rice? You only play when you're low HP?"
Phainon glanced back at Su Chen. Some words reached his lips, but he really couldn't say them out loud.
The pressure was truly overwhelming. He didn't know if he could bear the consequences of failure.
Su Chen shrugged, pulled out his phone, and sent a text: "He needs your support right now. It's your turn to appear."
"Got it♪"
Seeing the reply, Su Chen couldn't help but smile.
At that moment,
a girl slowly walked in from outside the main doors.
At once, it was as if an invisible spotlight shone down on her.
Everyone present was drawn to her.
Kiana rubbed her eyes. "I—I'm not seeing things, right? Why is Elysia here? Wait, why does she look smaller? Huh? Have I said that before?"
Beside her, Acheron also furrowed her brows slightly. "Is it possible for someone to look this similar?"
The girl walked slowly up behind Phainon. "Phainon, are you ready?♪"
Hearing that familiar voice, Phainon's body jolted as if electrified. He slowly turned around.
When he saw who it was, his mouth fell open involuntarily. "Cyrene? How—how are you here?"
Cyrene gave a gentle smile. "That's not the important part. What matters is… did you miss me?♪"
Phainon didn't reply, but his body nodded on its own.
"Then do your best. Whether you succeed or fail, my trust in you never changes. Work hard to become the person you want to be♪
Remember: behind every story, there's always someone waiting for you right where you left them♪"
At those words, Phainon clenched his fists tightly. It was as if he had been injected with chicken blood—bursting with powerful energy.
Seeing this, Caenis panicked. "I object to the judges! This is unfair. It's clearly during the competition—why is an unrelated person appearing on site and talking to a contestant?"
"I see no issue. After all, cooking isn't done with the mouth, nor with the hands—it's done with the heart." Owlbert raised the microphone and walked over to Caenis.
"Aren't you the host? What does this have to do with you?"
Owlbert said helplessly, "Before the competition started, yes, I was only the host. But just a moment ago, I received notification from the organizers. Now I am the sole judge and referee of this match. Therefore, I rule that Phainon has not violated any rules. The competition continues."
"You're the judge? Then what about the judges I arranged?" The next moment, Caenis realized she had said too much and immediately covered her mouth.
"Sigh, I thought you were smart. I didn't expect you still haven't figured it out even now." Su Chen kept sighing and shaking his head from the side.
"What do you mean? Did the organizers already change sides?"
"Of course not—that wouldn't make business sense. I simply bought out the organizing company." Su Chen replied lightly. "If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person causing the problem."
Caenis had just begun to understand everything—now she was dumbfounded again.
He said he bought it out?
But wasn't the organizer a subsidiary of her own company?
What nonsense was he spouting?
The argument below the stage heated up, while on stage, Phainon finally began to move.
——