Gourmet of Another World

With a loud rumble, a mass of blinding white light shot into the sky like a meteor and vanished. The people on the top of the Luo Family’s skyscraper looked at each other. For a moment, they were silent.

Bu Fang had left, and no one knew how long he would be gone.

Inside the restaurant, Lord Dog, lying under the Path-Understanding Tree, slowly opened his eyes. There seemed to be chaos swirling in his pupils. After unleashing his power in the last battle, some of his fat seemed to have evaporated.

He stood up, yawned, then walked out of the restaurant with his elegant cat-like steps.

“Eh? Where are you going, Lord Dog?” Er Ha, sitting in a corner, was slightly taken aback.

Lord Dog gave him a sideways glance, then twitched the corner of his mouth and said, “I’m going to a place where I should go. It’s time to take back something.”

After that, he turned into a dark shadow and rushed into the clouds, causing a vortex to appear in the sky. Soon, he seemed to have plunged into the chaos and could no longer be contacted.

Er Ha was somewhat struck dumb. Bu Fang was gone, and now even Lord Dog had left. He felt quite lonely to be left behind by them…

…

Bu Fang widened his eyes as he looked at the blue planet before him. A familiar feeling greeted him, making his heart beat faster and faster. It was a strange feeling.

‘A blue planet… Could it be…’

It was getting closer and closer. In Bu Fang’s eyes, the blue planet grew larger and larger, and soon, he began to plunge through a thick layer of clouds. When he emerged from the clouds, he saw a vast expanse of land and great oceans…

…

In a country on Earth called Hua…

When Bu Fang opened his eyes, he saw a whitewashed ceiling. ‘Ugh?’ He pushed himself up. The bed frame under him creaked loudly as if it was about to break apart. ‘Where is this?’ Bu Fang looked up and glanced around.

It was a simple, shabby-looking room with not many things in it. The air was filled with a rotting smell, which made Bu Fang, accustomed to smelling top-grade ingredients, wince. He knew that was the stench of rotting ingredients.

He looked over and saw a messy pile of withered leaves on the floor and vegetables that had been cut to bits. Judging from the cut sides of the vegetable, the person who cut them did not have a good knife technique.

Bu Fang did not move. Instead, he frowned and fell into deep thought. During the teleportation, he saw a blue planet, which should be his destination. ‘I should be on that planet now. But this familiar feeling… Could it be that the blue planet is actually… Earth?’

His pupils constricted—he found it somewhat hard to believe. ‘How could Earth be related to the God of Cooking Sets?’

However, when he gave it a second thought, he found that it was not impossible. He narrowed his eyes. It was the System who brought him to the Hidden Dragon Continent, and since the System was so close with the God of Cooking Sets…

‘There are definitely some secrets on Earth. Could it be that… Earth is the birthplace of the God of Cooking?’

Bu Fang did not think too much. What he needed to do now was to get a good idea of where he was, so he unleashed his divine sense. In the next instant, however, his face froze as he found that it could only go as far as ten meters from him.

‘How’s this possible?’ As a God Emperor, Bu Fang’s divine sense could cover the whole Xiayi Divine Dynasty once it was fully unleashed. He could not believe that it was suppressed to such an extent!

Yes, he was being suppressed. Bu Fang’s cultivation base did not vanish but was suppressed by a supreme force. It was as if a great mountain were pressing down on him, which prevented him from moving. The divine power in him seemed to have frozen as well. Although it could still flow, he could not exert too much power from it.

With a buzzing sound, Bu Fang’s eyes lit up. He activated the God of Cooking’s Eye, and when he looked up at the sky, he saw a huge vortex hanging over his head.

‘Oh? Earth’s Will of the Great Path? Interesting… But if this is a Will of the Great Path, it cannot suppress me. So who could it be?’

Bu Fang stopped using the God of Cooking’s Eye. Now that his cultivation base was suppressed, it would put a strain on his divine sense if he kept using it.

‘Well, since I’m already here, I’ll just take things as they come. The System had already told me that the sleeping place of the Artifact Spirits is very dangerous, so I must be very careful.’

Bu Fang left the bed. On the floor was a pair of flip-flops. If he was right, he was now back in the small rundown house where he lived before he traveled to another world. Back then, he was an apprentice chef in a restaurant.

Expressionless, he put on the flip-flops. He tried to summon the Vermilion Robe, but it did not appear. All the God of Cooking Sets were hovering quietly in his spirit sea.

‘What happened? Are all the God of Cooking Sets being suppressed as well? In this case, my plan to sense the Artifact Spirits with them cannot work anymore…’

Bu Fang frowned. Suddenly, he jerked his head up and glanced around. ‘Where is Nethery, Shrimpy, and Foxy?! Where are they? They should have arrived on Earth as well, but why are they not with me?!’

Hurriedly, he opened a wardrobe, pulled out a white shirt, and put it on. Then, he pushed open the door and walked out of the room. As soon as he stepped out, he found a golden mantis shrimp curled up beside the door.

Shrimpy looked up at him, then turned into a golden ray and landed on his shoulder.

Bu Fang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shrimpy. Patting the latter on the head, he asked, “Where are Nethery and Foxy?”

Shrimpy rolled its round eyes and shook its head to show it did not know.

Bu Fang frowned again and exhaled deeply. A worried look flashed in his eyes. He was not anxious about the safety of Nethery and Foxy. Even though Nethery’s cultivation base was suppressed, he did not think anyone on Earth, where cultivation was impossible, could hurt her.

Nethery was, after all, the Cursed Goddess, and she had a Heavengod-level body. Even if someone threw a nuclear bomb at her, she would be fine.

Even when suppressed, the strength of their bodies still existed. Although they could not use their mighty cultivation base, they still had some basic fighting prowess. And, what Bu Fang saw as basic fighting prowess was already the level of a peerless expert on Earth.

What worried Bu Fang was the risk on Earth that the System had mentioned. It would be bad if Nethery and Foxy were accidentally involved in it.

He left the room and walked out of the old building. Across the street was the restaurant where he used to work as an apprentice chef. At its door, a young man wearing a dirty chef’s robe saw him, and his eyes lit up instantly.

“Boy, come over here! Do you know what time it is? Why didn’t you answer my calls? Are you planning to get fired?” The young man, holding a cigarette between his lips, snapped as soon as he saw Bu Fang.

The young man’s name was Liu Mu. He joined the restaurant as an apprentice chef earlier than Bu Fang, so he always claimed himself to be the senior brother, and he loved to order Bu Fang around.

Bu Fang glanced expressionlessly at Liu Mu, reached a hand into his pocket, and pulled out a cellphone. It was an old Nokia cellphone, considered an antique in the age when everyone was using a smartphone.

“See for yourself how many times I’ve called you… So, you think you’re already good enough to loaf on the job, aren’t you?” Liu Mu sneered, held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers, and blew out a smoke ring.

Holding the cellphone, Bu Fang pressed a button.

Crack!

He did not even put any force in his finger, but the cellphone was crushed instantly.

Liu Mu was stupefied.

The corner of Bu Fang’s mouth twitched. “I’ve just come back and still jet-lagged,” he said lightly. Then, he casually tossed the broken phone aside.

“I was away for some business,” he added. After that, he turned and walked away.

Liu Mu’s cigarette had dropped to the ground. When he woke up from the shock, he was somewhat angry from embarrassment. ‘When did this boy learn to scare others? Does he think he can bluff me by crushing a lousy cellphone?’

“Hey, stop right there! Did I say you can go now?!”

Liu Mu caught up with a few strides, reached out a hand, and grabbed Bu Fang on the shoulder, trying to turn him around. He believed that Bu Fang was just bluffing him. How could he not know this boy’s nature when he used to bully him almost every day?

“Get over here!” Liu Mu growled and jerked Bu Fang around. However, he felt as though he was trying to move a boulder, which did not budge even a bit under his hand.

Bu Fang stopped and gave Liu Mu a sideways glance.

Liu Mu was about to threaten Bu Fang, but when he saw the look in the latter’s eyes, all his words became stuck in his throat. Bu Fang’s eyes were like two bottomless pits, and they made his scalp go numb.

‘Dammit! Is this a f*cking different person? The look in his eyes is… so terrifying!’

Liu Mu felt the strength leave his legs, and he involuntarily dropped to his knees before Bu Fang.

Bu Fang twitched the corner of his mouth. “Oops. I’m sorry to frighten you. I’m still jet-lagged…” The aura that he unintentionally leaked just now seemed to have frightened Liu Mu.

“Zi zi zi…”

At this moment, Shrimpy, who was perched on Bu Fang’s shoulder, blinked and screamed at Liu Mu.

Liu Mu’s lips shivered, and his body trembled as he slumped to the ground. “That… Is that a f*cking… mantis shrimp?!”

Was there a… golden mantis shrimp in the world?

“Take a leave of absence for me.” Bu Fang was too lazy to talk to Liu Mu anymore, so he patted the guy on the hand.

Crack…

Liu Mu’s eyes went wide, then he opened his mouth and howled miserably. Bu Fang had only lightly patted his hand, but he felt as though it had been caught and pinched between the doors. Shaking all over, he watched in horror as Bu Fang walked away in a white shirt and a pair of flip-flops.

This Bu Fang… was not the Bu Fang he knew. “This fellow is a… ghost, isn’t he? Lately, the TV news has been reporting a rise in the number of people with a strange power, saying that haunted events keep happening… Could they all be true? Could it be that Bu Fang… is possessed by a ghost?!”

Liu Mu trembled in horror.

Bu Fang left the place. He decided to look around for Nethery and Foxy. He had returned to Earth, but he did not have time to feel nostalgic. Looking for the God of Cooking Sets’ sleeping Artifact Spirits was his number one priority, and right now, the most urgent thing was to find Nethery.

He was not worried that someone would hurt her. Instead, he worried that she would cause trouble and shake the whole world…

However, he could not search a large area because his divine sense was being suppressed. After looking around for half a day, he found nothing.

As he walked down the street, the rain suddenly fell from the sky. People were running for shelter, and soon, Bu Fang was all alone. Shrimpy jumped happily on his shoulder, crawling back and forth on its many legs as if the rain had brought it joy.

Bu Fang held out a hand, and a raindrop fell onto it. Looking at the rainwater, he slightly arched his brows. He could sense spiritual energy in it. This was a rain of spiritual energy.

That gave him pause. ‘A rain of spiritual energy? Is this still the Earth I know?’