WGO Headquarters.
Mana Nakiri, dressed in silk pajamas, was sitting elegantly by the window, gazing into the distance with a slightly blank expression, as if lost in her thoughts.
A graceful figure silently entered her room.
"You're back?"
Hearing the light footsteps, Mana Nakiri came to her senses and turned to look at Anne.
"Yes, Lady Mana."
Looking at Mana Nakiri, Anne's face showed deep admiration and excitement.
"What did you gain from visiting various restaurants this time?"
"Well..."
Anne quickly opened the thick book "THE·BOOK" she held and continued, "We visited 1035 potentially outstanding restaurants, and 34 of them were promoted from one star to two stars!"
"34?"
"That's fewer than previous years!"
Upon hearing this, Mana Nakiri frowned deeply, then asked, "How many new three-star restaurants are there?"
"One!"
"Only one new addition?"
Mana felt very disappointed.
Is there really no hope left in today's culinary world?
After thinking, she felt even more mentally and physically exhausted, her bright eyes filled with a sense of loss: "If I still can't find a dish that can conquer the God Tongue, with my current physical condition, I'm afraid I won't make it to next year!"
"It seems we can't wait any longer. This year's THE BLUE Cooking Championship needs to be held earlier."
"Perhaps we even need to further relax the qualification criteria, allowing more talented young chefs to participate."
"If necessary, we may have to support those Midnight Chefs!"
Seeing Mana Nakiri's disappointed expression, Anne could only sigh softly.
Potential chefs had all been scrutinized by their group of executives over the years.
The conclusion drawn was that in this world, there were no chefs or dishes that could break the curse of the God Tongue!
Looking at the current circumstances, the overall decline in the culinary world seemed even more severe than they had anticipated.
With advancements in food processing, refrigeration, preservation, and logistics technology, more and more restaurants and food suppliers were starting to use a standardized process to produce and rapidly expand their products.
A typical example is the emergence of pre-made dishes.
These items often just require pre-cut vegetables, marinated meat, and then are packaged and distributed to various locations.
Then, the staff only needs to open the bag, put the processed ingredients into the steamer, and simply steam it before serving.
Admittedly, pre-made dishes are convenient and standardized.
But under this model, it significantly reduces society's reliance on and expectations of chefs, which is very detrimental to the future of the culinary world.
Although pre-made dishes are often claimed to be similar to homemade food when packaged and sold, in reality, their taste and texture are far inferior to naturally prepared food.
Especially in the processing process, a large amount of preservatives and seasonings are used, which may compromise the taste and freshness of the food.
So, to Anne, even if THE BLUE Cooking Championship was held early, it would likely be futile!
She began to furrow her brow in thought, seemingly pondering what to say.
Zane, the owner of the tavern, undoubtedly should be able to use his cooking to break the God Tongue curse!
However, the biggest problem at the moment was how to persuade Mana Nakiri to set aside her pride and visit the tavern.
"Anne, you've worked hard during this time, go back and rest early!"
Finally, seeing Anne's absent-mindedness, Mana Nakiri, thinking she was tired, gently patted her shoulder to indicate that she should go back and rest.
"Okay... Lady Mana, you should rest early too."
Wanting to share what she saw and heard at the tavern with Mana Nakiri, Anne could only respond respectfully.
Then, she turned and tried to leave the room.
Unexpectedly, at that moment, a sudden dizzy spell hit Mana Nakiri, causing everything to spin before her eyes.
Thud!
After that sound.
She collapsed to the ground in Anne's astonishment.
"Anne, quickly... get me some nutrient fluid, I... I can't hold on..."
Weakly pointing at Anne, Mana Nakiri's eyes, which were about to roll back, started to show a strong "will to survive." Clearly, the loss of her own life made her fear the imminent death!
"Lady Mana."
"You... you... you have to hold on."
As Mana Nakiri's personal secretary, Anne knew exactly how dangerous the current situation was.
So, she ran out in a panic and quickly obtained a vial of nutrient fluid and injected it into Mana Nakiri's body!
"Huff~"
"Fully revived."
"Indeed, the quality of the nutrient fluid from abroad is the best!"
"At this moment, I can feel the glucose, vitamins, and electrolytes from the nutrient fluid rapidly spreading and circulating in my body!"
With the nutrient fluid injected, the previously feeble Mana Nakiri immediately regained color and stood in a hurry.
She shook her hands a few times, feeling a surge of strength in her body, a satisfied and content expression appearing on her face.
"Um, Lady Mana, did you not inject the nutrient fluid on time?"
Looking at Mana Nakiri, whose complexion was slightly returning to normal, Anne may have guessed what was happening. She furrowed her brow and asked with a troubled tone.
"Anne, you see, I had someone find the world's largest and longest-living sturgeon, and extracted caviar from its body..."
"Lady Mana, the doctor has repeatedly instructed you to inject the nutrient fluid on time."
"Please, you must not be so stubborn again. Luckily, I was here this time, or I dare not think how this tragedy would have ended?"
Listening to Mana Nakiri's words, Anne quickly understood what was going on.
Although caviar is a particularly precious ingredient, especially caviar extracted from the largest sturgeon, Anne knew that even heavenly peaches would probably not satisfy the God Tongue.
"Okay."
"I was careless this time."
"Anne, I promise you I won't do this again next time."
Seeing Anne's look of sorrow and helplessness, Mana Nakiri could only softly utter these words.