Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 594 - Universe

In the final third round, the chef with the lowest score was Fan Yixin, who made a coconut beef tart.

Fan Yixin clearly reached her limit as her hands trembled while cutting vegetables and, because she forgot midway, she added black pepper twice, causing the final product's black pepper taste to overpower the coconut topping.

She scored only 3 points.

When she learned she was eliminated, Fan Yixin's disappointment was mixed with a sigh of relief, feeling as though a burden had been lifted.

The audience gave her a round of warm applause.

Fan Yixin was relieved, but the remaining four contestants had to continue the battle.

After the start of the fourth round, the first thing Luo Junkang did was not to cook but to open the faucet and wash his face.

He tried to cool down his overloaded brain and quickly calculated what dish to prepare next.

Frankly, after making three coconut-themed dishes, he had no desire to touch anything related to coconuts anymore.

But with no choice and having not been eliminated, Luo Junkang figured he would end up with coconut PTSD by the end of the competition.

Despite thinking this, his hands became busy again.

However, he didn't have much time left.

His cooking speed was not slow, but he was not good at timed creative challenges, and he took many detours in the previous rounds.

Now, he had only 33 minutes left, which was slightly more than Ma Lu, and unlike Sun Mei and Ma Lu, he hadn't been preparing ahead from the beginning.

He had a feeling he might be sent home this round as he had almost been in the last.

Out of respect for the competition's format, Luo Junkang still planned to struggle a bit.

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But at this point, following the normal process to cook a dish was clearly already too late.

Luo Junkang had to improvise, and he shifted his gaze to a pile of scraps from earlier.

Before he could start, he saw Ma Lu across from him already hitting the timer.

So fast?

Luo Junkang gasped in astonishment, it had been less than 2 minutes since the round began, and Ma Lu had already finished cooking; how was that even human?

And Sun Mei was quick to follow, hitting her timer just six minutes later.

10 minutes later, Luo Junkang also finished his cooking, followed by Chuan Ye Zhengming, who took a total of 19 minutes, only one minute slower than Luo Junkang, which was actually the longest time.

The audience could feel that everyone generally started to pick up the pace this round, but being fast wasn't enough; they also needed to ensure they didn't end up last.

For once, Ma Lu took a rare first place; the staff carried his dish to the judges' table, and this time he even covered the plate with a cloche.

This made the judges even more curious about what was inside.

Gaggan Anand couldn't wait to lift the lid, only to find an egg inside.

Huh? What happened to the presentation?

Since Yoshikazu Yoda realized Ma Lu intended to use dual themes and incorporate the elements of color, scent, taste, shape, meaning, and nourishment of Chinese cuisine into the creation, the judges had been secretly guessing what kind of shape this next dish would take.

Would it show off his knife skills with a coconut carved into a Chinese dragon? Or transform the painting previously on the plate into a 3D scene? Or perhaps some other creatively shaped design.

With the experience from previous rounds, the judges were ready to be impressed again.

But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment; when they found out it was just an ordinary egg, everyone felt like they had been scammed.

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No one spoke for a full half minute.

Half a minute later, Rocky Chen cleared his throat softly.

"This … from an objective standpoint, there really wasn't much time. It's unrealistic to expect Chef Ma Lu to invest too much effort in the appearance. Let's try the taste first."

Olette Yupper also interjected to mediate, "The dual theme concept was originally proposed by Chef Yoshikazu Yoda. Chef Ma Lu never confirmed it, so we shouldn't put too much pressure on him."

Though that was said, disappointment was still inevitably felt when expectations weren't met.

Just as Rocky Chen was about to reach for the egg, he heard Ma Lu suddenly say, "Hold on."

"Do you have something else to say, Chef Ma Lu?"

"Just wait a bit longer." Ma Lu looked at the time on the Traveler's Bracelet. "This dish has a time limit because the plate was brought by the staff. I intentionally left a bit of leeway.

"Just wait another 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds. Okay, please enjoy."

As Ma Lu's last word dropped, the ordinary white egg on everyone's plate began to change and cracked open.

The crack grew larger until it split in half.

The contents of the egg were revealed.

Each egg contained something different.

Inside the egg of Indian Chef Gaggan Anand was a muscular monkey with six arms, screaming towards the sky.

Olette Yupper's plate revealed a devil's hand yam with many faces.

Rocky Chen's featured a miniature ginseng.

Yoshikazu Yoda's was an apple tree that looked like a block of lead.

The four were stunned, as the items in the plates were too lifelike, almost making them believe for a moment that they had hatched from the eggs.

However, they quickly realized that this was just food.

"Ice cream?"

Gaggan Anand leaned closer, feeling the coolness emanating from the six-armed monkey.

"Interesting, no, actually it's breathtaking! Does this dish have a name, or do you plan to keep calling it 'coconut'?"

"No, this dish is called 'Universe,'" Ma Lu said.

"Ah, right, I remember your restaurant is named Universe Infinite Canteen," Olette Yupper chimed in.

"It looks like you're quite an astronomy enthusiast, Chef Ma Lu, but I still don't see how this dish relates to the universe."

Yoshikazu Yoda, however, was concerned about something else.

"How did the eggshell crack open by itself?"

Ma Lu responded with something seemingly unrelated, "We're in Sanya now, aren't we?"

"That's obvious, wait," Yoshikazu Yoda pondered for a moment, "are you talking about temperature?"

"Yes, the eggshell was already cracked. Otherwise, I couldn't have placed the dish inside. Later, I adjusted a sauce the same color as the eggshell and applied it to the crack. It froze due to the cold, sealing the crack so it wasn't easily noticeable that the egg had been opened."

Ma Lu shrugged, "As for why the eggshell cracked open again, it's because we are in Sanya. The temperature in Sanya is naturally high, and the eggshell was exposed on the outside.

"After being taken out of the fridge and warming up first, just waiting a little while will cause the ice at the joint to melt. Then under the force of gravity, the eggshell naturally cracks open."

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