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After finishing the Four-Beast meat, Yuuki returned to his residence.
Three days later, he received a call. It was from Teppei, and it was a call for help.
Upon receiving it, Yuuki guessed that he must have discovered something was wrong with his body. In the original story, Teppei had tracked the mastermind all the way to Joie—but had then been "prepared" by him.
When he woke up, he was already in the Land of Healing LIFE, being treated by the Reviver, Pukin.
At that time, he had only thought he was injured and hadn't thought much of it. But soon, he had discovered something was wrong with his body. He would have blackouts.
During these blackouts, he had no idea what he was doing—as if he had lost control of his own body. And many strange thoughts had appeared in his mind.
After failing to figure it out on his own, he could only turn to Yuuki.
The strongest Revivers, Mohyan Shaishai and Yosaku, had disappeared. The Strongest active Reviver now was Yuuki—
As for himself, he was in the next tier down.
So, when he couldn't solve it himself, he had no choice but to ask for help.
Yuuki knew what was wrong with him.
The original story never explained how he had recovered, but it could be guessed that he had broken free on his own. Because there were only two ways to break free from this kind of control. One was to resist with one's own powerful willpower.
The other was through intense suppression.
This suppression had to exceed the tolerance limit of the Gourmet Cells. That way, one's consciousness could be restored. But once you used this method, if it exceeded the tolerance limit—
—your consciousness would be restored, but you might also be dead.
Not everyone had super-strong regenerative abilities. In the original story, Shigematsu had recovered at the last moment of his death, but at that time, he was already on a dead-end path—there was no way for him to recover.
That last blow was Toriko's full-strength attack. Shigematsu had actually died quite unjustly. He was the vice president of the IGO—so he was targeted by Joie and had his Gourmet Cells prepared.
During the Cooking Fest, this guy had attacked Mansam, but he hadn't killed him. He had spared his life.
Later, he had attacked Toriko and the others. The one who had crushed Komatsu's heart was Teppei, because he had discovered that Komatsu's heart was already failing.
So, he had crushed it and had regenerated a new one in the World of Souls. Though the conditions for revival were very harsh—at least Komatsu had a chance to live.
But at that time, he was an undercover agent and couldn't tell Toriko and the others the news. So he could only choose to do it himself. The result was that he had screwed over Shigematsu.
Toriko, in his anger, had attacked without caring who he was.
So, his death in the original story was quite unjust.
....
Soon, Yuuki met a worried-looking Teppei. Seeing him arrive, Teppei was like seeing a savior and immediately told him his situation.
"Don't worry. Let me take a look at your body first."
Yuuki said.
He then observed Teppei's body, focusing on the scar on his face. Because people who had been prepared by Joie had a characteristic: a scar would appear.
If they already had a scar, it would extend.
Teppei was like that. He already had a scar, but now, it had extended a bit.
"I see it. Your Gourmet Cells have been prepared. A scar of the other person's aura has been left on them. Your situation will gradually worsen, until you lose your own consciousness and become their puppet, under their control."
Yuuki said.
He had seen it with his own eyes—the mark on Teppei's Gourmet Cells.
It was left by Joie.
Though Joie had taken Froese's body, his own culinary skills were top-tier. These hundreds of years had not been in vain—so he could perform such a fine operation.
"WHAT?? Preparing Gourmet Cells?? Controlling others?? There's such a thing??"
Even as a Reviver, Teppei was shocked.
"Wait, come to think of it, I did feel as if I were food at that time. So, do you have a way to solve this problem?"
He asked anxiously. He didn't want to become a puppet in someone else's hands.
"Yes, and more than one way. Since the other person has left a mark on your Gourmet Cells—we just need to repair this mark. That way, they won't be able to affect you."
"The other way is to wait until you've completely lost consciousness, and then use a method that breaks through the tolerance limit of your Gourmet Cells to awaken your consciousness. But you should know what the result of that would be, right?"
Yuuki said with a smile.
Hearing this, Teppei knew what he meant. He was a Reviver—he knew that once the Gourmet Cells exceeded their tolerance limit, the result was direct death.
So, for him—it was best not to try this method unless absolutely necessary.
"If I want to repair the mark on my Gourmet Cells, what should I do?"
Teppei fell silent for a moment and then couldn't help but ask. While he knew his Gourmet Cells had been prepared, the problem was that he couldn't detect it himself, so he was a bit baffled now.
"It's quite easy to handle. I can repair your Gourmet Cells directly."
With that—a stream of Life Energy flowed into Teppei's body. Others couldn't do such a thing, but he could.
Life Energy was a very special kind of energy.
This was an energy that the people of the world of Toriko couldn't control. This world did have a regenerative substance, called Revitalizing Material.
Using it, you could make a Revitalizing Knife.
By consuming the energy inside—you could quickly regenerate a person's body and various ingredients.
For example, an apple. After cutting off half, you could use a Revitalizing Knife to regenerate a complete one. As long as the energy was sufficient, you could regenerate it infinitely.
....
Yuuki's Life Energy was far more domineering than the so-called Revitalizing Material. It directly repaired Teppei's Gourmet Cells. With the scar on them eliminated—he naturally wouldn't be controlled anymore.
However, Yuuki didn't repair the surface scar on his face. He knew Teppei was going to be an undercover agent in NEO later—so it was better to leave the scar. And he also needed to use him as an excuse.
"It's gone! That feeling of being constantly watched and not being in control of my own body is gone!"
Teppei was very pleasantly surprised to feel the change in his body. But soon, he calmed down again.
"What's wrong? You look so worried."
Seeing his expression, Yuuki guessed this guy was probably struggling with how to be an undercover agent.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking... maybe I can use the fact that they don't know I've broken free from their control to do something."
Teppei told Yuuki his idea. To put it bluntly, he was going to be an undercover agent. And now, he only dared to tell him. After all, the fewer people who knew about this, the better.
As for telling Setsuno and Jiro, to be honest, he didn't think they would support him in doing such a dangerous thing. So in the original story, he hadn't told them.
Since he hadn't told them, it was even more impossible for him to tell others. After learning that Joie could control others, with such an unbelievable method, he didn't dare to trust anyone.
But the current Yuuki was different. He had helped him break free from the control, so he could trust him.
And though Teppei had no consciousness while being controlled, he had learned from others what state he had been in—in a daze, like a puppet.
Knowing what state he had been in, he could use this.
"An undercover agent, huh? It's not a big problem. But you need to protect yourself. Also, help me keep an eye on that guy's movements."
Yuuki said.
This was his decision. While he felt it was unnecessary for him to be an undercover agent, this guy was quite stubborn. He also couldn't just say he knew about NEO's affairs.
So, let him be an undercover agent. The Food Luck on this guy wouldn't let him die so easily.
"Movements? You mean this guy will cause trouble in the Human World again?"
Hearing this, Teppei was stunned.
"You don't even have to think about it to know he will. Look, how long has it been since the powerhouses of the Gourmet Corp and the IGO left the Human World, and they've already caused the Four-Beast incident."
"And the Cooking Fest is just around the corner. I really don't believe he won't do something during a festival that only happens once every few years."
Yuuki said.
Although Jiro and Setsuno were still in the Human World, for Joie, the only threat was Jiro.
And though Jiro's whereabouts were hard to determine, anyone who was slightly familiar with him knew that when he was in the Human World, he was almost always looking for wine. He was either drinking or on his way to find a drink.
So, Joie was acting recklessly in the Human World. After all, he had many spies here. These people were either super-rich or leaders of member and non-member nations.
These people were now all members of NEO.
After all, what NEO was doing now was building a spaceship.
According to the Blue Nitro's operation, the Earth would inevitably explode after it matured. So, if you wanted to live, you had to leave on a spaceship.
These people were responsible for providing funds to NEO, in exchange for a ticket to survival.
"The Cooking Fest? I understand. I'll help you keep an eye on his movements."
Teppei nodded.
The two of them then parted ways.
The Cooking Fest was now in full swing. Only an organization like the IGO could prepare an event of this scale.
The venue could accommodate over a hundred million people. They had even built skyscrapers on the spectator stands.
When it came to creating wonders, the IGO was truly professional.
Yuuki didn't need to worry about whether he had a seat. The IGO had already prepared one for him. Since he wasn't participating this time, he would naturally be watching from the stands.
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