"Store-store-store manager! What is this situation?" Gokou Ruri was startled.
A group of individuals of unknown origin had rushed in through the door with a whoosh, filling up all the seats. They were scanning their surroundings with hungry looks; no matter how one looked at it, it was frightening.
"I want to know what this situation is, too," Mo Bai sighed.
Customers had arrived, but he was in no mood for joy.
How could entertaining guests be as enjoyable as teaching a loli to cook?
"I am Matsushita Lizi, leader of the Gourmet Hunter Group. Our Gourmet Hunter Group aims to bring convenience to the vast number of foodies by specifically searching for delicious small shops hidden in streets and alleys," introduced the cute-type girl with a brown mushroom cut who was leading them. "By a stroke of luck, we accidentally overheard a conversation between shop owners in this shopping street, and thus learned that Chef Mo Bai's shop was right here."
"Gourmet Hunter Group?"
"Yes, we are all food streamers, and we're somewhat famous on Weibo and Facebook." The room full of handsome men and beautiful women had eyes sparkling bling-bling.
"So you all watched yesterday's live TV broadcast?"
"Mhm." Lizi nodded, her permed hair bouncing with elasticity.
"Then you should know that I was participating in a competition in Akihabara yesterday, right?"
"Mhm." The crowd nodded in unison.
"Then do you think half a morning is enough time for me to complete the cleaning, stocking, and opening preparations?" Mo Bai wasn't making excuses; other than flour, even the leftover ingredients from last night's dinner had just been used up by him.
"What do you mean?" Lizi looked adorkably confused.
"It means we can't eat The Shining Magician's glowing cuisine today," her partner said feebly.
"Eh? No way!"
Mo Bai's face twitched; he had no energy to roast Lizi's slow reflexes.
"Chef Mo Bai, can we really not eat your cooking today?" Lizi's eyes filled with tears, her expression like a pitiful kitten begging for food by the roadside.
Lizi activated the skill Act Cute. It was super effective.
"Unless you can find Kombu, wakame, crystal algae, sea grapes, sea lettuce, large white chrysanthemums, and miso paste without dashi." Aside from the miso paste without dashi, Mo Bai really didn't know where to buy the other algae ingredients; he had previously relied entirely on the Auspicious Fish Shop for stock.
"We're on it!" The room full of people looked at each other, then immediately stood up and sprinted out the door.
Their clean and efficient posture really did live up to their group's name.
===
After more than two hours, just in time for lunch, the streamers of the Gourmet Hunter Group returned fully loaded.
"Oho, not bad." The table was packed full of the ingredients Mo Bai had requested. To his surprise, these food streamers really knew their stuff. The ingredients they selected all had a score of over 70.
"Please wait a moment." Mo Bai put on his apron and rolled up his sleeves.
"Store Manager, can we live stream?"
"Feel free."
Hearing Mo Bai's answer, the streamers took out their phones one by one and logged into their streaming platforms.
"Hello everyone, it's your little cutie streamer Lizi." As soon as Lizi went online, the number of viewers in the stream began to rise crazily.
"We are still in Higashi-Amanuma Town, Chiba City. After finishing a perfect breakfast, lunch follows immediately."
"Guess who the Gourmet Hunter Group found?"
"Ta-da-da-da~" Lizi aimed the camera at Mo Bai, and soon the screen was filled with comments about The Shining Magician. "That's right, this little brother is none other than the champion of yesterday's Akihabara Summit Battle, Chef Mo Bai, known online as The Shining Magician."
"Next, let's watch Chef Mo Bai's performance."
Reviewing the first recipe again, even though only four days had passed, Mo Bai felt as if a lifetime had gone by.
"Let's begin." Possessing Intuition, Mo Bai no longer had the apprehension and stiffness in his cooking from four days ago; his gestures now carried a free and easy artistic style.
Kombu, wakame, and crystal algae went into the pot according to the ratio, followed by the miso.
While the sea lettuce was chopped and boiled in the pot, he cut the sea grapes. After cooling, the two were mixed and put into the refrigerator to set into a jelly.
Large white chrysanthemum petals were plucked and soaked in ice water to increase their crisp texture.
Immediately after, he took out the dough that had been resting while the streamers were out searching for ingredients, and began to hand-pull the noodles.
Between the pulling, buckling, stretching, and slamming, the white noodles flew up and down, creating a curtain of snow.
Once enough noodles for everyone were pulled, Mo Bai turned to boil them.
...
"Thanks for waiting."
"So fast!" the streamers exclaimed.
"Because algae stock doesn't need to be boiled for long. Please, enjoy."
Sixteen portions of Great Sea Soul Repose Noodles were arranged in unison on the table. It was as if spotlights had been turned on inside the room; bright rays of light erupted from the bowls and projected onto the ceiling.
"As expected of The Shining Magician, it really glowed!"
With gourmet food before them, the streamers cast their audience to the back of their minds, impatiently picking up their own portions and starting to use their chopsticks.
After a bout of slightly erotic moans, everyone kept their eyes tightly closed with faint smiles on their faces—they had attained Nirvana.
===
"Chef Mo Bai's glowing ramen was truly delicious." On the way back to the hotel, everyone was still thinking about Mo Bai's cooking.
"Yes, that was the most comforting dish I've ever eaten."
"Kukuku, since that's the case, let's launch a promotion campaign. The rule of our Gourmet Hunter Group has always been to share good food with everyone." Leader Lizi gave a thumbs up.
Soon, the Weibo and Facebook accounts of the sixteen food streamers released full videos of Mo Bai making the glowing cuisine.
By chance, Sagisawa Fumika, who had finished her training, saw the buzzing videos and silently retweeted and commented. Sagisawa Fumika's comment and retweet immediately stirred up an intense reaction. Netizens who couldn't win arguments against the skeptics quickly remembered Takagaki Kaede, who had been a judge and had personally tasted Mo Bai's cooking.
With the long-famous idol Takagaki Kaede joining the battle, the scene became uncontrollable.
Early the next morning, Mo Bai woke up in a noisy environment. Yawning, he habitually pulled open the curtains...
However, the crowd that nearly packed the entire shopping street gave him the illusion that he was still dreaming.
His phone rang.
A text message from Sagisawa Fumika: QAQ, I'm sorry.
"Chef Mo Bai is up! Everyone, line up in an orderly fashion!" The handsome men and beautiful women maintaining order in the crowd were particularly conspicuous.
Gokou Ruri slipped into the small shop first.
"Store Manager, this is bad!" Gokou Ruri's voice revealed panic. "So many people have come! Did you stock up yesterday?"
"..." Inside the bedroom, the two stared at each other.
"Store Manager, I suddenly remembered I didn't turn off the gas at home..." Gokou Ruri's lovely willow-leaf eyebrows trembled, and her legs shook as she tried to slip away.
"Why didn't I just poison them all yesterday!" Mo Bai gritted his teeth.
Just as Mo Bai didn't know how to handle the situation, the sound of a small truck's horn came from outside the shopping street.
"Brother Mo! We just caught a fresh batch, but there are too many people to get in." The three Wang brothers came to the rescue in the nick of time.
...
That night, Mo Bai's Qilin Arm twitched crazily.
By the evening of the second day, Mo Bai looked haggard.
By the evening of the third day, Mo Bai looked as if his marrow had been sucked dry, leaving only a skeleton; Gokou Ruri and the Gourmet Hunter Group personnel were also in a state where they looked about to ascend to the afterlife.
On the morning of the fourth day, a notice was pasted on the roller shutter door; the building was empty.
[Notice: In preparation for the Five-Star Chef assessment in two months, I am heading elsewhere to train effective immediately. Do not miss me.]
It was also on the afternoon of this day that the shopping street received a distinguished guest Mo Bai had not expected.
"Miss Erina, this is the shop that has been very popular recently at night for selling glowing cuisine." A pretty female high school student with short sakura-colored hair respectfully opened the car door.
With brilliant blonde hair draped over her shoulders, Nakiri Erina looked noble and gorgeous, like a medieval princess who had walked out of a fairy tale.
She surveyed the surrounding environment and frowned slightly. "Heh, so the guy who could make Mr. Colson say he 'far surpassed his peers' is right here?"
"Hisako, lead the way."
"Yes."
A gust of wind blew past; what the two faced was a tightly closed shop door, and a familiar sheet of printed paper on the shop.
"Mistress, I apologize. It is my fault for not clarifying the other party's schedule." Hisako bowed repeatedly in apology.
"It has nothing to do with you, Hisako." Flames flickered in Nakiri Erina's purple pupils, and she ground her silver teeth audibly.
As the possessor of the God's Tongue, she was a VIP of the highest order wherever she went.
Who would have thought that an ordinary small shop would completely ignore the letter she had sent in advance, and as if to demonstrate against her, had used the back of the paper from inside the letter to write a leave of absence note and paste it on the door.
"Mo Bai? This young lady will remember you!"
"Hmph! Hisako! Let's go!" Nakiri Erina said hatefully.
________________________________________
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