Chapter 2458: What Is He Doing?

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Mag deliberately kept a distance with Angelina. He couldn’t quite get what this woman was thinking.

The show had advanced to the semifinal now, and she was currently in first place with her strong and steady potential, and online popularity.

This phase didn’t need the contestants to use all kinds of means to fight for popularity. She didn’t have to approach him at this time and endanger her persona.

Mag even suspected if this woman had any ulterior motives towards him. Otherwise, her behavior was simply too weird, it didn’t match the ability that she had shown before.

The elevator was here and Mag was the first one to walk in. He stood in the innermost corner.

Mag thought Angelina would back off. He didn’t expect her to step into the elevator before Iman and Padas and stand next to him.

Mag suddenly understood why those idols hate the so-called “sasaeng fan¹“. Even though she was a pretty maiden, it was annoying when she obstructed him in completing his mission.

As though she had seen the coldness in Mag’s eyes, Angelina took a step back and lowered her eyes. She looked at Mag with worry and befuddlement. She moved her lips, but she didn’t try to interact with Mag again.

Mag heaved a breath of relief. Fortunately, that woman could still sense his displeasure.

The elevator traveled steadily from level 300 plus to basement one. Iman took the initiative to chat with Angelina in a gentlemanly manner, but the latter wasn’t interested. Her gaze was lingering on Mag.

“That guy looks like a dog.”

“Feeling sorry for Iman for three seconds. However, this sudden relationship plot… is really quite confusing.”

“We always lust after what we can’t get. Those who are loved, have no fears.”

Iman’s involvement added more effects to the show. The bullet chat also became increasingly boisterous.

Padas looked at the three of them meaningfully. In the end, he chose to keep quiet smilingly.

Their relationships were too complicated. He didn’t know how to join them.

It took only 30 seconds for the elevator to reach the basement one level. The group of them exited the elevator and received the sum of money from the staff members.

100,000 copper coins. This was the sum of money that the contestants received for this competition.

100,000 to buy the ingredients for one dish was extremely extravagant.

However, to the contestants of the Top Chef Competition, this cut in the funds was hard to accept.

Perplexed expressions appeared on Iman and Padas’ faces simultaneously.

One had to know that since the 16th round, the ingredients provided by the programming division had easily cost hundreds of thousands of copper coins each. Together with the side ingredients, it was normal for the cost for all the ingredients to exceed 1,000,000.

However, in the semifinal, the funding didn’t increase. Instead, it dropped to 100,000.

“Are they so generous?” Mag was surprised. After all, it was making one dish. He felt that 100,000 copper coins was more than enough.

Take the charcoal-grilled mutton ribs he made yesterday for example. One Haley Goat only cost 20,000 copper coins. He only took 12 ribs, so its total cost wouldn’t have been more than 5,000.

As for the dish he wanted to make today, he had already decided in the elevator. He just had to go find the ingredients straight away later.

After accepting the shopping card, Mag swiped on a shopping cart that followed him into the supermarket automatically.

Angelina looked calm as well. After accepting the shopping cart, she cast a glance at Mag’s back before striding into the supermarket quickly.

Mag quickly located the fresh food section with the index on the shopping cart. He then found the beef section.

Mocha Supermarket was a high-end mega supermarket that targeted the petty bourgeoisie. There were all kinds of high-end ingredients and just for beef alone, there were hundreds of different types based on the different parts and places that they came from.

The beef here was displayed after the cattle was slaughtered and dismembered. The cutting was perfect and it could be cooked right away after the customer bought it.

However, after walking one round and feeling the temperature of a few types of beef, Mag shook his head disappointedly. He turned around and clicked on the consulting key on the shopping cart as he asked, “Where can I get fresh warm beef?”

“The cart doesn’t understand what you mean. Can you please repeat it?” the shopping cart replied with a gentle female voice.

“Is this artificial unintelligence?” Mag pursed his lips.

The artificial intelligence was switched off and a real person’s voice answered, “Hello, how may I help you?”

Mag straightforwardly asked, “I want to buy beef that was slaughtered within the last hour and is unchilled. Can you provide it here?”

“Please hold on. I need to check first,” the voice replied.

On the other side, in the Mocha Supermarket’s control center, the customer service supervisor looked at the supermarket’s general manager inquiringly.

The supervisor in charge of the abattoirs stood up and said, “We have our own abattoir at basement 38. We have just received a batch of superior silver horn bison yesterday. If he wants, we can send it to him within 10 minutes.”

“Alright, then promise him that we can get him whatever he wants as long as it is within the main city area.” The general manager ordered.

The customer service supervisor nodded. He reconnected the call and said, “Dear customer, according to your request, we will provide a custom-made service for you. May I confirm that you need a piece of beef that was slaughtered within the hour and is still warm? Do you have any other requests for the parts, weight and species of the cattle?”

“I need a 1.5kg rump steak from a 1,500kg silver horn bison,” Mag said. He had just got the system to check the supermarket’s purchase list. This was a ready ingredient with the right price. It matched his requirements perfectly.

“Alright, please give us some time. The ingredients you need will be delivered to you within 10 minutes!

“May I ask if you need anything else?”

“There’s nothing else. Thank you.” Mag switched off the voice enquiry and went to the seafood section based on the index.

Within 10 minutes, Mag bought 1kg of ordinary white water prawns, two pieces of pork rind that were in the discount area and some common spices and side ingredients. Together with that warm fresh beef that was sent punctually, his total spending was less than 3,000 copper coins.

“This is the so-called warm fresh beef. The color is bright red and the texture is bouncy. The body temperature of the beef is still maintained. Of course, you guys can use any other beef parts to replace it. However, the best choice is the bouncy rump steak.” Mag showed the beef that he had just received to the camera and smilingly said, “Now that I have finished buying the ingredients, I am going back to cook them.”

“Wow, isn’t he saving too much money for the programming division? He only spent 2,800 out of the 100,000 coins.”

“I feel that Hades shops just like us. He buys whatever is cheap. The ingredient’s 2,800 price tag seems rather acceptable.”

“Do you rich people shop like that? That’s the cost of my monthly grocery bills, including fuel!”

“The others are still bothered about their lack of funds while Hades has already finished shopping. I think that he clearly knew what he wanted to buy from the moment he stepped into the supermarket.”

The bullet chat refreshed rapidly. It was mostly praises for Mag.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Iman was looking at the two fishes in the fish tank with a troubled expression at the seafood section on the other side.

“Which one should I choose?” Iman scratched his head with a hesitant expression.

Padas, in the meat section, had a similar expression. There were a lot of ingredients in his shopping cart right now, but he had a problem choosing the main ingredient. He couldn’t make up his mind for a long time.

Meanwhile, Angelina’s efficiency at choosing the ingredients was high, but she seemed to need to buy a lot of ingredients. Her shopping cart was already half full, but she was still looking for something.

David looked at Mag, who was the first to enter the elevator and return, with surprise and commented, “I didn’t expect the contestant that is the most efficient at buying the ingredients today to be Hades, the slowest contestant yesterday.”

Julian shook his head and said, “The lack of a horizon and a vision’s restriction on a chef was obvious. Even receiving 100,000 coins, he didn’t choose the best ingredients under that price.”

“However, I think that he knew what ingredients he needed from the moment he stepped into the supermarket. Being expensive doesn’t mean that it’s the best, and neither does it mean that it is the best ingredient for the dish.” Old Hunter immediately refuted him. “The price of the white water prawns isn’t especially outstanding because they are easy to catch in great numbers. It’s not because they taste worse than other prawns. I think it can be ranked in the top three positions among seafood. Moreover, it’s a fairly-priced seafood that ordinary people can often eat.

“On the contrary, there are some contestants that are completely blindsided by the new rules. They couldn’t even decide what ingredients they needed. They also wavered on the selection of the main ingredient. It’s really worrying.”

Julian blushed. He naturally understood that Old Hunter was referring to Iman. As his master, he was naturally unhappy about that. He coldly said, “Prawns and beef are two contradicting ingredients. I want to see what he can do with them.”

Sensing their increased hostility, Nancy chuckled and said, “This is the first time we see a Top Chef Competition’s semifinalist using ingredients that cost less than 3,000 coins. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of dish he can make.”

Julian flicked a glance at Nancy and kept quiet. His expression became graver.

Judging from Miss Nancy’s attitude towards Hades in these two days, she seemed to be very interested in this newbie. This wasn’t great conditions for Iman to enter the final under.

This was the first time he let his disciple take part in the Top Chef Competition. One of the reasons was he had got a name list of the contestants in advance. He had made sure that there were no experts or very strong contenders in this year’s competition. That was why he got Iman into the competition.

The Top Chef Competition was the top competition in the F&B industry. Moreover, the champion would have a chance to become the McCarthy Manor’s special chef.

Just as he expected, Iman, who had gained all his knowledge, got into the quarterfinal successfully.

According to their original plan, his only opponent was Angelina. As long as he could defeat her in terms of plating, he had a chance to be the champion.

However, Hades suddenly appeared out of nowhere and managed to take the third place despite the fact that his online score was far below theirs. He was only one point away from Iman.

Julian didn’t know what dish Mag would make today either. However, judging from the current situation, Mag’s competitiveness seemed to have decreased greatly after he chose a normal piece of beef and 1kg of the common white water prawns.

Mag returned to the stage. There were only four workbenches left now. The top four contestants’ numbers and names were written on them.

Mag greeted the judges first before returning to the work bench.

“Contestant Hades, we see that you have quickly returned after choosing the ingredients. We are all very curious about one thing. What dish are you going to cook today? You are using the silver horn bison’s beef and white water prawns, two ingredients that don’t seem to match each other. Furthermore, why are you choosing these two ingredients?” David asked Mag curiously.

This was perhaps one question that both the judges and the audience were curious about.

“The silver horn bison comes from the Great Xihua Grassland. Its meat texture is great, but its price is relatively lower than the other premium beef. It’s a cost effective beef that has a great quality. Meanwhile, the rump steak that I have chosen has relatively fewer tendons and fat, and it’s fresh warm beef that was slaughtered around 30 minutes ago.

“The white water prawns taste great with a smooth texture. It’s the best prawn. That fact won’t change because of its friendly price. Meanwhile, the white water prawns that I have chosen came from the southern region of the White Water. The water quality there is even better, and so the quality of the white water prawns is even better too.

“As for the dish I’m going to make today, I’m going to keep it a secret first. You guys will naturally find out after it’s done,” Mag replied with a smile as he took out his tools one by one and placed them on the workbench.

A solid block of wood, two big iron rods that resembled weapons and two transparent glass pots.

The judges nodded after listening to Mag. From Mag’s answers, they knew that he had a great understanding about the ingredients that he had chosen. He didn’t choose them because they were cheap, but because they were cost effective.

After experiencing the extreme example of him making the common Haley Goat’s ribs into an extremely scrumptious dish, the judges became more careful in their comments.

Although, as judges, they had to take it in stride when they were proven wrong, being proven wrong publicly wasn’t something very enjoyable.

Mag looked at the teaching video that someone summarized yesterday. He felt sorry for the great editor while he praised his efforts.

Hence, he still decided against explaining on the spot.

As an idol, being suave was very important.

The pork rind that was simply processed, was boiled in the waters. He needed to cook a pot of pork skin aspic¹.

He wasn’t in a hurry to process the live white water prawns. He washed the beef that was still warm and removed the tendons and fat before hitting it on the block of wood with the two metal rods.

Bam, bam, bam!

The metal rods made a soothing sound when it landed on the beef, as though Mag was hitting on an excellent drum.

The extremely fresh beef trembled slightly on the block of wood, as though it was undergoing a massage that it couldn’t resist.

It looked a little like a murder scene.

However, when one looked closely, there was no blood and flesh flying about, despite the beef being hit by the two iron rods that were tens of kilograms heavy. The fresh beef became mushy in the hitting as it stuck together. It began to change its shape visibly.

“What is he doing?”

The judges and the audience all looked befuddled.