Chapter 47: Cooking Battle: Ultimate
“Yah!”
The voice behind her startled Yi Ning into a jolt.
She turned around to see Lu Zheng walking toward her. In a fluster, she slammed the fridge door shut and blocked it with her entire body.
“What are you doing here?”
Yi Ning gripped the fridge handles tightly behind her, back pressed against the gap between the two doors, as if she were guarding the city gates with her life.
The sight made Lu Zheng chuckle.
“I just came to see if there’s anything I can help with,” he explained.
But Yi Ning wasn’t having it.
Grabbing his sleeve, she dragged him toward the kitchen door.
“Help my ass!”
She pushed him lightly from behind, shoving him out of the kitchen.
There was nothing in the fridge. What could Lu Zheng possibly help with?
Microwaving the prefab dishes?
She definitely didn’t want Lu Zheng to find out her fridge was practically empty.
As a famed evil scientist and would-be conqueror of D-City, forgetting there was no food in the house was too humiliating.
Yi Ning grabbed the door handle, planning to shut him out so she could brainstorm in peace.
Unfortunately, Lu Zheng—thanks to prior experience at the evil base gates—was well-prepared. He casually blocked the door with his foot.
Then he pulled the door open again, standing squarely in front of her.
“Why are you so desperate to kick me out? I might not look it, but I can slice and dice just fine. Things go faster with two people anyway.”
Lu Zheng tried to sell his usefulness.
But Yi Ning, dead set on hiding her predicament, stood at the border like a gate guardian, blocking him from entering.
Her overzealous behavior only made Lu Zheng more suspicious.
Could she be planning to spike his food with something strange?
The thought popped into Lu Zheng’s mind.
But it vanished just as quickly.
They were old acquaintances who’d dealt with each other many times. Lu Zheng had a pretty good grasp of Yi Ning’s personality and habits.
Despite being a villain, she surprisingly had a few admirable traits.
As Yi Ning herself said, “Even villains need style.”
Plus, she was a notorious slacker who never worked off the clock. There was no way she’d go to the trouble of pranking him.
“Well, since you insist…”
Seeing her determined face, Lu Zheng shrugged and went back to the living room, plopping down on the sofa and turning the TV back on.
He normally cooked for himself—might as well enjoy this rare bit of pampering.
Once Lu Zheng left, Yi Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She closed the kitchen door, leaned back against it with her hands behind her.
Now that Lu Zheng was handled, the next problem was the food.
How to get ingredients without Lu Zheng noticing?
Yi Ning rubbed her smooth chin, cracked open the door slightly, and peeked out.
A decorative shoe cabinet blocked Lu Zheng’s line of sight to the front door, and the kitchen was conveniently on the other side. If she could sneak to the front door quietly, she could slip out unnoticed.
Time to show off her real stealth skills!
Yi Ning crept out, crouched low, hugging the wall, inching toward the door.
“What are you doing?”
There was no fooling a professionally trained hero like Lu Zheng.
He turned his head and caught her red-handed.
“Uh…”
Yi Ning’s face was full of awkwardness.
She glanced around quickly and fixed her eyes on a white ceramic pot nearby.
A little invention she’d made back at Evil University.
Feigning nonchalance, she walked over, picked up the pot, and returned to the kitchen.
“I came to get this,” she said.
Lu Zheng scratched his head, puzzled by Yi Ning’s odd behavior, but turned back to the TV.
In the kitchen—
Yi Ning plopped the pot on the stove, kicked the wall in frustration, cheeks puffed out like a pufferfish.
Her carefully planned escape had failed so easily—she couldn’t accept it.
If only there was a way to bypass Lu Zheng…
Wait.
Bypass?
Another lightbulb moment.
She still had her teleportation machine!
Normally she only used it to commute, so she forgot it was a general-purpose teleporter.
Even though it could only teleport between her home and evil lab, that was more than enough.
Yi Ning pulled out her phone, browsed a grocery app, and set the delivery address to her evil base. Then she tapped “Pay.”
“Delivery fee’s robbery,” she muttered.
She usually shopped in person to save money.
But what choice did she have? Her lab was far from the city center.
She opened the fridge and took out some half-prepped chicken fillets and meat skewers.
Might as well prep the sides while waiting.
She was a generous host, after all!
…
“Meat stew’s ready~”
Yi Ning set down an unfamiliar white ceramic pot on the table in front of Lu Zheng.
He remembered her mysteriously fetching that pot earlier—this must be it.
Curious, Lu Zheng peered at it.
What was so special about this pot?
No matter how he examined it, he couldn’t see anything unusual.
Yi Ning walked over with two bowls of rice.
She set one in front of Lu Zheng and, seeing him just staring at the pot, grew impatient.
“What’re you waiting for? Open it already.”
“Alright, alright.”
Lu Zheng stretched his voice dramatically, placed his hand on the towel over the lid, and lifted it.
A blinding golden light burst from the pot, followed by a rich aroma.
The essence of the ingredients, blended with heat, formed a magical fragrance. The mix of vegetables and stewed meat released a thin mist, clinging inside the pot lid before spilling out into the air.
For a second, Lu Zheng thought he could hear the melody of Banri no Chōjō playing faintly in his ears.
He eagerly picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of meat, and took a bite.
After a few chews, his brow furrowed slightly.
It wasn’t that it tasted bad.
The meat was juicy and tender, with great texture—easily worthy of a five-star rating even in a restaurant.
But that was the problem.
All the glowing lights and dramatic background music had set his expectations sky-high.
The actual flavor, while delicious, was what you’d expect from a decent eatery.
The contrast left him a bit disappointed.
On closer inspection, that music was coming from the pot itself…
And it had built-in lights too?
All showy gimmicks.
Lu Zheng sighed quietly.
But seeing Yi Ning watching him with her chin resting on her hands, expectantly staring—
He swallowed his disappointment, picked up more food, nodded, and gave her a thumbs-up.
Despite the gap between expectations and reality, it still tasted better than anything he could make.
“Heh heh~”
Receiving his praise, Yi Ning’s lips curled into a smile. Beneath the table, her feet started swinging with glee.