Liu Changyi’s thoughts drifted further and further away until the arena broadcast announced that contestant number nine had finished. He jolted back to his senses, immediately hearing the other judges whispering among themselves.
"She made two dishes in just over half an hour," Judge 36 said. "Regardless of how they turn out, her efficiency alone is commendable."
"I looked at number nine’s profile," Judge 98 added. "She’s a freshman in Mingzong’s culinary department, from a poverty star, and a small-time streamer. She probably has some skills."
"What kind of skill is that?" Judge 1 scoffed. "Anyone who knows a little bit about cooking can become a streamer like that. She’s just tricking ignorant commoners."
"Alright, alright," Judge 78 interjected. "The fact that she made two dishes in just over half an hour makes it worth a try. I’ll go test it first."
Judge 1, who had just voiced his mockery, didn’t move. He watched the others eagerly log in to taste number nine’s dishes with a look of disdain. He decided to wait until all the contestants had finished before tasting and scoring them one by one. But the thought of having to sample so many dishes later made his face scrunch up in distaste.
Aside from Liu Changyi, who had quickly logged onto the Star Network to taste Gan Lan’s creations, the others who had seen her issue a challenge to Ge Feng were intrigued. Wanting to see what she was capable of, they followed suit and logged in as well.
A dozen or so judges remained unmoving in their seats. Judge 57 turned to the middle-aged man with the scrunched-up face and asked, "Ma Wenzhou, why aren’t you at arena 66? It’s really rare for a chief judge like you to appear in the lowest-ranked arena."
Hearing this, Ma Wenzhou’s face wrinkled even more. "I’m just here to hold the fort and take a look at our old man’s great-granddaughter while I’m at it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered coming."
"What, your old man wants you to pull some strings?" Judge 89 chimed in. "Then his plans are going to fall through."
The other judges began to join the conversation.
Judge 14 agreed. "Our judge voting rights only count for ten votes each anyway. We can’t really make a splash in the preliminaries. We’d only be somewhat useful if this was the top thousand advancing to the top hundred. But if you just post an ad on your account and get your fans to vote, getting into the top hundred would be a breeze."
"This little girl has no talent to speak of. I don’t know why she’s so obsessed with culinary arts," Ma Wenzhou said, shaking his head in exasperation.
Ten minutes remained until the end of the competition.
"Say, why haven’t they come out since they went in?" Judge 13 asked, glancing around in confusion. None of the people who had gone to taste number nine’s dishes had returned yet.
This sparked everyone’s curiosity. Usually, they were highly efficient during tastings, finishing in just half a minute. Why had it been ten minutes without a single person logging out today?
Of course, they didn’t taste every single dish. Sometimes they would just take a quick sniff and score it immediately. This kept efficiency high and the margin of error low. Most importantly, if one person really tried to taste ten thousand different foods, they might not get full—since it was a virtual tasting—but they would definitely feel nauseous.
In any case, minor judges like them were somewhat dispensable in a competition like this. Aside from the culinary authorities, they were mostly just there for show. The results mainly relied on the votes of the Federation’s citizens, which made the process relatively fair.
Still, a competition without any judges wouldn’t make sense.
After a while, someone finally emerged, a lingering look of enjoyment plastered on their face.
Judge 66 sighed in admiration the moment he logged out. "This number nine is really quite capable! Both recipes use simple ingredients, and I could pretty much guess how they were made just by looking at them. But I still fell deeply in love with the taste. I just kept eating and eating—I almost couldn’t tear myself away!"
"Are you serious?" Ma Wenzhou asked, somewhat skeptical of the glowing review.
"Go in and try it yourself. It’s absolutely incredible!" Judge 66 was displeased to see his taste questioned. So what if Ma Wenzhou was an authoritative judge? They were still assigned to the same arena, weren’t they?
"I gave number nine a perfect score. That’s the first time I’ve ever given anyone a perfect score!" Judge 20 praised enthusiastically as judges logged out one after another.
"Tsk, tsk. You guys didn’t see number nine’s tasting stream. The live comments have completely exploded!" Judge 3 marveled.
Hearing every single returning judge shower contestant number nine with praise, Ma Wenzhou’s curiosity was instantly piqued. He wondered if this small-time streamer actually possessed genuine skill.
When Ma Wenzhou entered number nine’s tasting stream, he was shocked by the densely packed comments flooding the screen. It was packed tight! Immediately after, he smelled two unfamiliar, distinct aromas permeating the virtual tasting room.
His gaze was quickly drawn to the two delicacies on the table. First, he was captivated by the visual appeal of the golden rice. He lowered his head and took a sniff, catching the umami of shrimp, the richness of eggs, and the faint, clean fragrance of rice. Fortunately, he had a keen sense of smell; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to detect it without paying close attention.
It certainly looked quite good. Ma Wenzhou picked up a spoon, scooped up some rice, and placed it in his mouth to savor it carefully. Every single grain of rice was evenly coated in egg wash, perfectly distinct and separate. The fresh umami of the shrimp and the sweetness of the carrots danced alongside the egg-coated rice on his tongue, blending into a beautiful gastronomic symphony.
After swallowing the first bite, Ma Wenzhou couldn’t help but take a second, then a third, and a fourth... until he had eaten the entire plate of golden fried rice clean. He let out a helpless sigh and pressed the refresh button. Instantly, another plate of golden rice appeared before his eyes.
This was the first time in his entire career as a competition judge that he had polished off a dish so thoroughly. Even though the rice was made with ordinary ingredients, he found himself irresistibly drawn to it, devouring it completely.
He shook his head in amusement. Who would have thought that rice could actually be stir-fried? What a brilliant idea. He had only ever eaten boiled or steamed rice; this was his first time eating it fried.
Unable to resist, he ate another full plate. Yet, since it was only virtual, it couldn’t physically fill his stomach. When he finished, he felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
Glancing at the lonely plate of scrambled eggs on the side, Ma Wenzhou picked up a small piece of egg with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, his previously indifferent expression instantly lit up with delight.
The egg had soaked up the tomato juices, creating an unexpected burst of flavor when he bit into it. Tart yet sweet, it was incredibly appetizing—this dish would pair perfectly with a bowl of plain rice! And just from that one bite, he could tell that the ingredients for these scrambled eggs were extremely simple, perfectly aligning with the competition’s theme. In fact, it fit the theme even better than the fried rice did.
He had originally intended to just take a tiny bite, but he ended up clearing this plate as well.
Really...
Ma Wenzhou couldn’t help but chuckle. Having been assigned to hold the fort at arena 99 instead of arena 66, he had initially been quite displeased, which naturally bled into his tone when he spoke earlier. He had assumed this small-time streamer lacked any real skill and had looked down on her from the start. In the end, it was he—a man who had lived more than half a lifetime—who was being narrow-minded.
Ma Wenzhou directly gave number nine a perfect score in the judge’s voting panel. Barring any accidents, number nine would undoubtedly take first place in arena 99.
He only sampled the dishes of about a dozen other contestants before logging off the Star Network altogether. He simply couldn’t stomach testing any more. After tasting the absolute best, returning to mediocre fare made everything else feel hard to swallow.
"Well? I didn’t lie to you, did I?" Judge 66 asked with a hint of smugness when he saw Ma Wenzhou log out.
"It was truly stunning," Ma Wenzhou nodded in agreement.
Then, he directly summoned a service robot and ordered it to secure a physical portion of number nine’s dish for him. He wanted to taste the real thing in person. This was a privilege reserved for Judge 1. Thinking of this, Ma Wenzhou actually felt somewhat fortunate.
The others, who had been in the midst of a heated discussion about who would take first place this time, immediately fell silent upon hearing Ma Wenzhou’s command.
Judge 66 was the first to break the silence. "Judge Ma, um, I wonder if we might be fortunate enough to have a tiny little bite too?" As he spoke, he pinched his fingers together to indicate a minuscule amount.
Ma Wenzhou fell silent.
The other judges also fell silent. They wanted to eat it too, but none of them were as thick-skinned as Judge 66.