Old Mo chuckled, "If you say that, you're looking down on me. Aren't the fate of humanity and all that precisely what we should pursue and maintain?"
"However, to reward diligent workers like us, the organization will distribute good things from the Gourmet World as wages. Speaking of which, our salaries are an endless supply of delicious food."
"And they are all cooked by high-level chefs from the Gourmet World, whose skill… is all in you!"
All above me?
Old Mo never spoke empty words. Such a confident assertion proved that there was still a vast gap between Zhang Weiyu and the top chefs.
"Then, will these so-called top chefs in the Gourmet World also participate in this competition?"
Old Mo nodded.
Everything was understood without words.
The deadline for the competition soon arrived. As Zhang Wei was a participant, he could not preside over the assembly, so he let Xifeng take his place.
The day of reporting the results was grand. Every chef who could participate was no ordinary person, with a large entourage of assistants.
Coupled with the additional spectators and the diners of the Gourmet City, it was a sea of people as far as the eye could see.
Xifeng stood at the highest point, announcing that the top ten finishers would qualify for the preliminary selection.
It didn't matter if they didn't qualify; they could still go to other preliminary venues for the rematch, although none of them were easy.
After a series of tedious preliminary remarks, Xifeng announced, "Tenth place, Sister Zhi'en of Wenqing Restaurant, with a score of 570,000."
"Ninth place, the mountain-top cook, Shanqiu. Score 610,000."
"Eighth place, Chef Huo Ge, the master of marine delicacies from Haiyang Zhenguan, a score of 630,000!"
"Seventh place, Mr. Luo, an outdoor cooking expert walking the path of hunger, a score of 1.9 million!"
A gasp went through the crowd.
The gap between seventh and eighth place was unexpectedly huge. Who exactly was this Mr. Luo?
Satisfying a disaster victim once earned one point. A disaster victim could be scored repeatedly, but if they were not in a state of hunger, they would not receive points.
The interval between each satisfaction was about two days.
Based on the time, Mr. Luo alone had supported over a hundred thousand disaster victims.
Following this, the recording of the Happiness Flower was released. Sister Zhi'en, Huo Ge, and Shanqiu were all extremely strong, far surpassing Tang Zhihun and Shao An even if placed in the Gourmet Academy.
All three were renowned nine-star chefs with their own signature techniques.
They were quite surprised by their rankings.
Sister Zhi'en was exceptionally beautiful, exuding the allure of a mature woman.
Upon hearing the results, she frowned slightly, "Strange… I know all the famous restaurant chefs among this year's contestants, so how are there so many above me…"
She had originally planned to conceal her strength, but with so many famous restaurant contestants, she had to go all out!
Yet, even so, she had almost been eliminated…
Turning around, she saw many famous restaurant contestants with expressions of bewilderment. They clearly knew their scores and understood that they had failed to qualify.
These famous restaurant contestants knew each other. After a brief chat, Shanqiu came to Sister Zhi'en and said, "I've asked around, and everyone's scores are hovering between 200,000 and 300,000. 1.9 million… I think you understand how difficult that number is to achieve."
Moreover, Mr. Luo, with 1.9 million points, was only seventh place. Who knew how many monsters were above him.
Sister Zhi'en understood the implication and tentatively asked, "Are you suspecting… foul play by the organizers?"
"We can't rule out that possibility. After all, the organizers are also from well-known culinary academies. It involves their own interests. I heard that the owner of the organizing committee also participated in his own competition."
Sister Zhi'en frowned, "Making judgments and then answering them himself… Utterly shameless. They can't even be bothered to avoid suspicion, which shows how arrogant they are."
"People like that wouldn't have any psychological barriers to cheating!"
Following this.
Sister Zhi'en and Shanqiu found Chef Huo Ge, who was also a famous restaurant chef and ranked eighth, and explained their thoughts.
Huo Ge pondered for a long time and said, "Indeed… I'll be frank, before coming, I investigated all of you. Shanqiu and Zhi'en were my imagined rivals!"
"But I never expected that although I defeated both of you, I only got eighth place… and you two almost didn't qualify, being eliminated in the preliminary round!"
There's something wrong with this!
The three of them were already top-tier among nine-star chefs, yet they only managed scores of around 500,000 to 600,000.
Mr. Luo, in seventh place, an unknown figure, managed to achieve a score of 1.9 million?
This was impossible!
Shanqiu approached Mr. Luo with a simple smile, trying to appear as harmless as possible.
"Hello, Mr. Luo, is that right?"
Mr. Luo smiled, "I know you are Shanqiu, right? You are a very good cook."
"You flatter me. May I ask which restaurant Mr. Luo is the head chef of, to possess such skill!"
Mr. Luo said sheepishly, "What skill? My ranking is only seventh. Besides, I am a wilderness survival chef, and this kind of assessment is not my forte."
Wilderness survival chefs and restaurant chefs were two different types.
Restaurant chefs had complete facilities, with all sorts of seasonings and ingredients prepared in advance. Perfect logistics could maximize a chef's abilities.
But wilderness survival chefs were different. They had to make all the food they could find more delicious under limited conditions.
For wilderness chefs, finding ingredients and improvising was a required course. You had to be able to guarantee your teammates' logistical needs without any obstacles. If you wanted to be a strong and reliable link in the team, you had to do these things.
Typically, wilderness survival chefs had inferior memories compared to restaurant chefs, as their working environment did not allow them many opportunities to fully utilize their skills.
Being out of practice for a long time naturally led to a significant decline.
And mass production was naturally a weak point for wilderness survival chefs.
"Meaning, Mr. Luo only used a fraction of his strength to achieve this level."
Mr. Luo scratched his head, "There are quite a few strong contenders among this year's participants. Even if I went all out, I might not be their match. Besides, I already went all out."
Shanqiu was stunned.
Was this modesty or showing off?
Along with the announcement of the scores, the Happiness Flower images of the participating contestants were also released.
The images for the tenth, ninth, and eighth place were impeccable and commendable.
But Mr. Luo's was different.
In the image.
Mr. Luo dumped mountains of ingredients into a large pot. After a period of simmering and stirring, he managed to serve complete rice ball dishes from it.
How could he possibly cook steamed buns or stir-fry dishes using a soup pot?
This was completely illogical.
Cheating!
Was this pot a large spatial equipment? Did it hide a complete culinary team, or did it contain pre-prepared food?