At the Gourmet Festival venue, most of the chefs competing were completely unaware of what was happening outside, wholly devoted to their passion for cooking.
But a small number of powerful individuals sensed that something was wrong.
Setsuno, for instance, looked toward the outskirts of the venue in confusion. Just now, she had sensed some "malice" directed at the venue. A large number of living beings seemed to be attacking from that direction.
Yet those auras vanished in an instant, as though they had disappeared the moment they reached the edge of the venue.
Setsuno glanced at Jiro, who was drinking at the edge of the stands. Jiro merely nodded lightly, indicating that there was no need for concern.
Seeing her old partner act this way, she understood and returned her attention to cooking.
Unlike Setsuno, some chefs found it strange and worrying that nothing unusual had happened outside.
For example, Cooking King Zeus, who had secretly already pledged allegiance to the mysterious organization NEO—the New Food Utopia. He was the previous Gourmet Festival champion and currently the world's number one chef.
In a similar situation was Apollo, the Cosmic Chef ranked twenty-seventh in the world. Their instructions for today had been to cooperate with other NEO members from within and without once trouble broke out during the cooking competition, capturing a large number of outstanding chefs.
On the surface, today's battle was Gourmet Corp invading the Gourmet Festival venue. In truth, the mantis stalked the cicada while the oriole waited behind. NEO was the real mastermind behind it all.
Lu Li and Aizen knew about this as well. After all, they had read this part of the original story. Though they still did not fully understand NEO's origins, based on the intelligence Aizen had acquired in the Blue Universe,