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Neon, Tokyo, Taidong District.
The tangerine sunset cast its light on the bustling shopping street. In the busy city, a teenage boy in a junior high school uniform deftly rode his bicycle, weaving through the crowd.
"I'm back!"
In a remote residential alley, the boy casually tossed his bicycle at the entrance of a half-open half-closed restaurant. If you paid attention, you would notice the sign at the entrance with the words "Chinese Cuisine" written in traditional characters.
The narrow shop was empty. No one responded to him. Xia Yu had already gotten used to it.
About two years ago, Xia Yu, who had made a grand wish before sleeping to eat until he was sick, mysteriously woke up as a first-year student at White Seagull Junior High School in Neon Tokyo.
From initial panic and unease to later adaptation, Xia Yu took only one semester.
If you asked him about insights, since he had been forced into this, what else could he do but enjoy it? Spending all day sighing like a resentful woman, seeking death, was not an option. Xia Yu directly laughed and sent himself four golden words:
"Get optimistic!"
Fortunately, in this life, Xia Yu was still called Xia Yu, and the blood of the Yanhuang flowed within him. However, unlike coming with nothing to worry about, this life brought him a grandfather who was both revered and feared.
Passing through the store to the backyard, sure enough, there was an old man with gray hair sitting on a futon in the corridor. Hearing footsteps behind him, the old man opened his eyes slowly and pointed at the teapot by his side, "You're back? Hot water, brew tea."
This was spoken in perfectly pronounced Chinese.
"Oh."
Xia Yu responded, picked up the teapot, and instead of going to the faucet, he went to the kitchen, drew water from an old cistern, and put the kettle on the gas stove.
Gurgle gurgle.
In a moment, the kettle emitted rolling steam. Xia Yu stared at the kettle, his eyes momentarily lost.
Having been in this world for two years, Tokyo seemed to still be the Tokyo he knew. However, some undeniable details in life kept reminding Xia Yu that this world was not as simple as it seemed.
For instance...
Xia Yu glanced at the old cistern in the kitchen.
The shop was already small, and the kitchen was even more cramped. The old antique cistern took up too much space, and it seemed illogical in every way.
As the sky gradually darkened, Xia Yu didn't hurry to turn on the lights. Instead, he stood quietly for a while. When the sunset in the kitchen dissipated and the narrow space plunged into darkness, the old cistern suddenly sparkled with pristine glimmers, floating away from the water and into the air.
This was not a problem with the water. Xia Yu was well aware of that. He casually turned off the gas stove, didn't rush to brew tea for the old man, glanced at the outside courtyard, and quickly dipped his hand in the cistern. In the darkness, like a treasure shining brightly like a luminous pearl.
In his hand was a smooth, egg-sized stone.
Sighing, Xia Yu stroked the stone and threw it back into the cistern, then picked up the kettle from the gas stove and left without looking back.
He had asked the old man about the stone more than once, using every method, hinted, but the old man remained tight-lipped, driving him, the reincarnator, to despair.
Damn it, this is not how a reincarnator's treatment should be. Is there something wrong with the way it was unlocked? The past two years had been tough on Xia Yu, being worked like a horse by the old man day in and day out, suffering from severe sleep deprivation year-round, and having to make up for it at school during the day. This led to his title of "Sleep Tyrant" accompanying him through three years of White Seagull Junior High School. Today, Xia Yu had just taken the internal entrance exam for White Seagull High School, hoping that come April, when school started, he could shed the sleep-related title.
Despite his lively inner thoughts, Xia Yu was now obediently kneeling on the futon beside the low table, pouring tea for the old man.
The tea leaves came from the shopping street, the shopkeeper was also an old man. Every time Xia Yu ran errands to get them, the tea shop owner would always come out cheerfully with a small mysterious bag for him.
Oh, speaking of the shopping street, this is Ueno Station's Ameyoko. During the day, there were all sorts of fresh and cheap seafood, and at night it turned into a mixed night market where almost anything could be bought. However, newly arrived Xia Yu lost interest in the shopping street after a few rounds, finding it no different from China's night markets, except for the higher cost-performance of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Other things, like clothes, reeked of knock-offs and were utterly tacky, though admittedly cheap.
The aroma of tea wafted gently.
After brewing the tea, Xia Yu poured a cup for the old man and one for himself. When the tea flowed down his throat, a mysterious surge filled his long-exhausted and hollowed-out body. This instant, Xia Yu felt like an indomitable cockroach, shedding tears uncontrollably.
"All right, go do your work." The old man waved his hand dismissively with closed eyes.
"Oh."
Xia Yu silently wiped away his tears, had no choice but to stand up, glanced at the ingredients piled outside the kitchen, then climbed the narrow stairs to his room on the second floor, ready to change and get to work.
As usual, he pulled open the wardrobe.
Hiss! Xia Yu recoiled his hand as if electrocuted, looking at his right palm that had just touched the wardrobe door. A mark resembling a small knife cut almost ran through his palm. It seemed to be a deep wound, but strangely, no blood flowed out.
"Damn, is the door unhinged?" Xia Yu grasped his injured hand, gritting his teeth and displaying anger, directly dismantling the entire wardrobe door.
Yet, the door panel turned upside down on the floor was smooth. Where was the sharp nail or other mysterious protrusion?
This wasn't scientific!
Xia Yu felt a bit disoriented, thinking he was hallucinating. He glanced at his right palm; the obvious scar remained, but no blood appeared.
"Beep, system detection in progress, binding program initiated, completed."
What the hell?!
Xia Yu, who was holding his injured hand and turning around to find a medical kit, froze in place and couldn't help but exclaim, "System?"
"Host, I'm here."
The synthesized electronic voice in his head emerged again. This time Xia Yu focused intensely, confirming it wasn't an illusion. He was dumbfounded but calmed down enough to gather breath and hide the bewilderment in his eyes.
Having experienced both transmigration and reincarnation firsthand, what else was impossible? Xia Yu thought to himself, immediately becoming calm. So-called barefoot not fearing those wearing shoes. With things as they were, he might as well open his heart and ask, "Where are you in my body?"
"The system chip has been implanted in your brain."
Xia Yu's mouth twitched. He glanced at his injured right palm, then touched the back of his head. Could the chip have traveled from his arm to his brain? Just thinking about it made his body cold.
"Introduce yourself." Xia Yu asked, calming himself down.
"This system is for nurturing a Cooking God..."
Beep.
As the synthetic electronic voice replied, a character attribute frame popped up on Xia Yu's retina:
"Host: Xia Yu.
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Overall Physical Quality: lv9 (Strength, Agility, Burst, Neural Reflexes, etc.)
Comprehensive Culinary Skills: lv1 [Novice Start]
Reputation: 0 (This item relates to the host's fame, exposure, and achievements, with which you can purchase items in the system store.)
(Level limit is lv100. So, you're just a small novice in the culinary world, only mastering the basics of material handling, yet you haven't independently cooked any dish. You're merely an apprentice at best.)
..."
"What is this!"
Seeing the evaluation at the bottom of the profile, Xia Yu's face burned.
He was a foodie who loved to eat, which made him recklessly make a grand wish to transmigrate here. But who said a foodie had to be a chef?
The above was only Xia Yu's tsundere inner thought. Most foodies certainly hoped for good culinary skills, and the God of Cooking System was indeed a ray of light in Xia Yu's muddled life. He saw the dawn!
The dramatic turning point in his life had finally arrived!
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(PS: A new book by a new author, seeking recommendations and collections!)
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