Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 572 - Day One

Yu Yitong and David followed Ma Lu as he scurried about, chatting and shooting the breeze with the other contestants until almost midnight, yet he remained full of energy.

David, responsible for filming, was already yawning incessantly.

Yu Yitong went to a vending machine and bought two bottles of Nestlé coffee. She had already drunk half a bottle and handed the other to David, even pulling the tab open for him.

"Thanks, boss," David said, sipping and pondering. "Damn, doesn't Boss Ma feel sleepy? Other contestants are all resting up for tomorrow; doesn't he need to prepare for the competition?"

"I don't know," Yu Yitong said. "But I just asked a contestant he was talking to, and it seemed like they were indeed discussing something related to cooking."

"I've got it," David slapped his thigh excitedly. "It's like The Art of War, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be in peril. Boss Ma is sussing out his opponents' strengths and weaknesses."

"Maybe," Yu Yitong stretched lazily.

After Ma Lu came out of the room of Pevila, the Indonesian female chef, he finally couldn't find anyone else willing to chat with him.

At this point, the vast majority of contestants had gone to bed.

Ma Lu decided to head back to his room, and Yu Yitong and David followed suit.

"You're not going to film me sleeping, are you?" Ma Lu said, incredulous.

"We're just filming you entering your room and some activities before sleeping. We might use this footage, or we might not. We'll leave when you get to bed so we don't disturb your rest," Yu Yitong explained.

"But it feels like I'm constantly under surveillance. It's a good thing Old Wang didn't come; otherwise, you would have discovered his alien identity," Ma Lu joked.

"Boss Ma, you're really funny," David chuckled.

Ma Lu rode the elevator up and returned to his room.

The hotel staff had already brought up his luggage.

Ma Lu inserted the room key into the power slot to light up the room, then casually placed the bottle of blueberry sauce given by Qi Shanzhu on the coffee table.

David even gave that bottle of blueberry sauce a close-up shot.

Next, Ma Lu swapped into the hotel slippers, sat on the bed, opened his suitcase, and took out a clean pair of underwear and an electric toothbrush.

Yu Yitong turned her head away.

"Really, it was you who insisted on filming; it's not like you haven't seen it before."

David shuddered at the innuendo, sensing he had filmed something momentous and looked over to Yu Yitong.

She said, "Stop filming, let's call it a day."

"We can edit it out, right?" David muttered under his breath. Still, he didn't dare disobey his boss's order and reluctantly turned off the camera.

"Make sure to cut out what I just said when we get back," Yu Yitong added.

"Understood, boss."

"If there's nothing else, I'm going to take off my clothes and shower," Ma Lu issued a clear hint for them to leave.

"Then we'll come back tomorrow morning. Have a good rest," Yu Yitong said.

After she and David left, Ma Lu could finally let the mini Old Wang out to recharge.

Watching Old Wang plug the circular metal wire into the socket, Ma Lu asked, "So, what about it? Did those dozen or so chefs you chatted with earlier give you any inspiration?"

Old Wang said, "I can feel their passion and dedication to cooking, but to truly know and understand a chef, you still have to through the dishes they create."

"Got it," Ma Lu snapped his fingers, "so we'll finish tomorrow's competition quickly, and then we can go observe the creative process of others."

"Right, we also need to think of a way to make it easier for you to communicate with other chefs. Most of the conversation just now was me talking, but since I'm not a chef, I was somewhat out of my depth, plus the interviews..."

Ma Lu paused, "The first day was just ordinary filming, but there should be more professional interviews later, especially after winning the championship. You'll need to handle that part."

"When I'm not cooking, I can connect to the Traveler's Bracelet," said Old Wang, "This way, you can use the bracelet's projection function to communicate with me. Those projections will only be visible to you."

"Oh, that's a great idea. Let's settle on that," Ma Lu grabbed his electric toothbrush and a change of clothes.

"I'm going to take a shower, just watch whatever TV you want. Just keep the volume down so it doesn't disturb my sleep."

...

The next morning, Ma Lu received a wake-up call in his guest room; he glanced at the time, 7:33 AM.

For the office workers, this time was a bit late, but for the capitalists, it was too early.

Due to the existence of the Desktop Farm, the Universe Infinite Canteen didn't need to buy ingredients early in the morning, so Ma Lu usually slept until 10 AM.

Plus, having visited too many chefs the night before, Ma Lu was still yawning from lack of sleep after stepping out of his room.

Passing by Qi Shanzhu's room, he noticed her door was open; she was inside doing yoga.

Qi Shanzhu waved at him and smiled, "Morning."

"Morning, you're up pretty early."

"I have a habit of exercising in the morning," Qi Shanzhu said.

Ma Lu was going to chat with Qi Shanzhu a bit more about her five-dollar yoga, but then saw Yu Yitong and David, who was carrying a camera, at the other end of the corridor.

He changed the subject, "I'm going to have breakfast, do you want to join me?"

"Sure, just wait a moment for me to touch up my makeup."

Ten minutes later, Ma Lu and Qi Shanzhu arrived at the buffet breakfast on the second floor, where they also ran into Chuan Ye Zhengming and Sun Mei.

Seeing they each had a little film crew following them, Ma Lu suddenly felt more at ease.

People are such creatures that when they see others sharing their misfortune, they feel balanced.

However, according to what Yu Yitong had said before, this also meant that the Meiping Website also had high hopes for the two of them and believed they had the potential to win the championship.

Besides, Ma Lu also saw Master Long Po Sen, the favorite to win this time from Seoul Magician Cui Junxian, and the successor of Huaiyang cuisine Luo Junkang, whom he hadn't met the day before.

Cui Junxian was said to have arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, but as soon as he landed, his exclusive interviews were fully booked, so he had not appeared until now.

Luo Junkang had closed his doors after arriving at the hotel to adjust his state, which was his routine before competitions and when hosting important guests.

Needing to adjust both his body and spirit to the state of Unity of Heaven and Man, he even went to Zhongnan Mountain to learn from the Inner Strength Sect masters to study the methods of self-cultivation.

At 8:10 AM, Ma Lu and the other contestants were led by the staff to the competition venue one after the other.

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It was the hotel's largest banquet hall, over 1,600 square meters, large enough to accommodate a thousand people dining at the same time.

Now, the hall was filled with cooking stations, and there were also seats for the audience and the main judges' table.

Different from typical competitions, the judges' seats for the first round of the God of Cooking contest were positioned with their backs to the cooking stations.

This way, the judges wouldn't know whose dishes they were eating, which would to some extent prevent favoritism or being misled by the contestants' fame.