Chapter Summaries

Xu Yue served a donburi that matched Mito Ikumi’s A5 Wagyu dish, then added a prepared spice blend that transformed its aroma and flavor, stunning the judges. The judges tasted his dish and found its cheap beef rivaled the Wagyu, leaving Mito’s expected victory in doubt as Xu Yue offered her another portion.

• Mito Ikumi presented her A5 Wagyu donburi, and the judges praised it and ate far more than they intended.
• Xu Yue served a donburi nearly identical to Mito’s, prompting the audience and judges to suspect he had copied her cooking.
• Xu Yue sprinkled a spice blend over his finished dish, releasing an overwhelming aroma that surprised the judges, Mito, and Erina Nakiri.
• The judges tasted Xu Yue’s donburi and found its flavor rivaled the A5 Wagyu despite the cheaper beef.
• Xu Yue offered Mito another portion and told her she would be one of his from then on.

Xu Yue defeated Mito Ikumi 3–0 despite using far cheaper beef, then learned that the Mission Space had made her a potential collectible in a new achievement mission. His victory impressed Erina Nakiri and renewed Yukihira Soma’s determination to improve, while Xu Yue began planning how to pursue the mission without being trapped by it.

• Mito Ikumi tasted Xu Yue’s beef and realized that his dish had surpassed her A5 Wagyu, leaving her certain she had lost.
• Xu Yue’s Donburi Research Society won the Food Wars by a 3–0 score, and the announcer declared that he would have full ownership of Mito Ikumi for the rest of their time at the academy.
• Xu Yue learned that the Mission Space had assigned him the Gourmet Collector achievement mission, though Mito Ikumi had not yet met its required potential threshold.
• Erina Nakiri recognized how decisively Xu Yue had overcome the ingredient gap and decided to investigate his abilities.
• Koichi Konishi and Tadokoro Megumi celebrated the win, while Yukihira Soma resolved to keep improving so he could delay the day Xu Yue surpassed him.
• Xu Yue planned to pursue the achievement mission cautiously while staying on his original path and avoiding the Mission Space’s traps.

Xu Yue recruited Mito Ikumi into Polar Star Dormitory and planned to learn his roommates’ cooking techniques while preparing them for Hell Camp. After copying Yoshino Yuki’s dish perfectly, he asked her to cook everything she knew so he could study and critique it.

• Xu Yue declined Koichi Konishi’s offer to become captain of the Donburi Research Society and redirected him toward Yukihira Soma.
• Xu Yue brought Mito Ikumi to Polar Star Dormitory and considered how to recruit Tadokoro Megumi, Yoshino Yuki, and Sakaki Ryoko into his collection.
• After seeing the Hell Camp notice, Xu Yue gathered the three dorm residents and Mito Ikumi for special training, leaving Yukihira Soma behind.
• Xu Yue reproduced Yoshino Yuki’s dish after watching her make it once and asked her to cook all her known dishes for him to study.

Totsuki Academy's first-year students began the six-day Hell Camp at Totsuki Resort, where the graduates enforced the harsh rules by expelling a student before the first assessment. Xu Yue was assigned to work with two familiar students under Inui Hinako, and their group was set to begin the first day's task.

• Nearly a thousand first-year students arrived at Totsuki Resort for Hell Camp.
• Roland Shaper explained that students who failed a daily assignment would be sent back to the academy and expelled.
• Shinomiya Kojiro expelled a student over the citrus scent of his hair gel, and Xu Yue carried the fainted Tadokoro Megumi.
• Dojima Gin warned the students that they would be treated as employees and expelled if they failed to satisfy their instructors.
• Inui Hinako assigned Xu Yue and two familiar students to work together in a group of three.

Xu Yue partnered with Blondie and Glasses for Inui Hinako’s assessment and arranged a chance to challenge her to Food Wars! if she liked his dish. After the pair returned from the back mountain with an abundance of ingredients, Xu Yue prepared to begin cooking.

• Xu Yue accepted Blondie and Glasses as teammates after the Space offered him a mission tied to their spending.
• Takumi Aldini provoked Yukihira Soma, while Inui Hinako explained that students had to gather ingredients and make a Japanese-style dish.
• Xu Yue stayed in the kitchen, shared Inui Hinako’s tea and snacks, and asked for a Food Wars! match if his dish satisfied her.
• Blondie and Glasses returned with chickens, ducks, fish, and geese, and Xu Yue invited them to start cooking.

Xu Yue manipulated Blondie and Glasses into spending their Reincarnation Points on increasingly elaborate dishes, but Inui Hinako rejected every one. Takumi earned her approval, while the two Reincarnators were left desperate after even copying his dish failed.

• Inui Hinako rejected Xu Yue’s dish, and he persuaded Blondie and Glasses to prepare dishes themselves while implying they might face expulsion.
• Xu Yue used his God Tongue to guide Blondie and Glasses, who spent C-Rank and B-Rank Plot Points on dishes that Inui Hinako continued to reject.
• Takumi earned Inui Hinako’s praise and qualification with a duck dish combining Italian and Japanese techniques.
• Blondie and Glasses spent more Plot Points to learn Takumi’s dish and cooked a nearly identical grilled duck.
• Inui Hinako rejected Blondie and Glasses’ copied dish, leaving them devastated despite their investment.

Xu Yue faced Inui Hinako’s classroom assessment with only minutes left and prepared a seared salmon dish after the other students’ efforts fell short. The chapter ended as he presented his fragrant Ultra-Fresh Seared Salmon for her judgment.

• Inui Hinako rejected Xu Yue’s group’s dish as insufficient for challenging her, while Yukihira Soma passed with his fried salmon.
• Blondie and Glasses despaired as time ran out, and Inui Hinako teased Yukihira Soma and Takumi while judging their dishes.
• With two minutes and thirty-two seconds remaining, Xu Yue began preparing freshwater salmon sashimi.
• Xu Yue seared the salmon with a culinary blowtorch, filling the classroom with its aroma, and presented the dish to Inui Hinako.

Xu Yue passed Inui Hinako’s evaluation by making an intensely fragrant and fresh freshwater salmon sashimi, though he recognized that his cooking still lacked a chef’s soul and heart. Inui Hinako abruptly left before resolving the other evaluations or her promised Food Wars!, while Blondie and Glasses thanked Xu Yue for saving their mission prospects.

• Inui Hinako tasted Xu Yue’s freshwater salmon sashimi and praised its fused fragrance and freshness, declaring that he passed.
• The chefs, including Yukihira Soma and Takumi, were stunned by Xu Yue’s dish, and Xu Yue reflected that its flavor relied on technique rather than a chef’s heart and soul.
• Inui Hinako left the room without deciding Yukihira Soma and Takumi’s contest or holding her promised Food Wars! with Xu Yue.
• Blondie and Glasses embraced Xu Yue and thanked him for turning their Punishment mission around in its final minutes.
• Xu Yue encouraged Blondie and Glasses to keep going.

After completing Hell Camp’s first day, Xu Yue finished the students’ demanding dinner assignment in minutes and went to the hot spring, where he met Dojima Gin. Xu Yue used his connection to Yukihira Seiichiro and a warning about Nakiri Azami’s investment overtures to draw Dojima Gin into his plans.

• The Polar Star Dormitory students celebrated passing the day’s assessment before Sekimori Hei ordered them to prepare fifty steak meals each within an hour or face expulsion.
• Xu Yue controlled five cooking stations and completed his fifty athlete-appropriate steak meals in under ten minutes, then left for the bathhouse.
• Xu Yue met Dojima Gin in the hot spring, and Dojima Gin praised Xu Yue as the fastest student he had seen clear the stage.
• Xu Yue told Dojima Gin that Yukihira Seiichiro was his mentor, prompting Dojima Gin to recognize the connection and express his respect for Seiichiro.
• Xu Yue told Dojima Gin that his family had been approached for investment by Nakiri Azami, beginning to use his connections to influence events at Totsuki.

Xu Yue encountered Erina Nakiri after finishing his bath, then joined the Polar Star Dormitory students for dinner. The next day, Shinomiya Kojiro set an individual cooking assessment, leaving Xu Yue and the other students to compete over ingredients and prepare his Nine Vegetable French Jelly.

• Xu Yue teased Erina Nakiri and asked her to teach him techniques for using the God Tongue, but she refused.
• Erina Nakiri realized Xu Yue had already finished bathing before she had completed her task, and wondered how he had managed it.
• Xu Yue joined the Polar Star Dormitory students in Marui's room, where they discussed the day's lessons, cooked, and ate together.
• Shinomiya Kojiro assigned the students to make his Nine Vegetable French Jelly and announced that each student would be judged individually.
• Xu Yue received C-Rank Plot Points from the two reincarnators who had hoped he could help them pass as a group.
• Shinomiya Kojiro forbade students from exchanging information or giving guidance, then sent them to choose from a limited supply of ingredients.

Xu Yue challenged Shinomiya Kojiro’s expulsion of Tadokoro Megumi, exposing his talent for identifying flaws in a dish without tasting it. Yukihira Soma proposed a Food Wars! match to reverse the expulsion, and Xu Yue offered his company’s 5.25% stake in SHINO'S as the wager.

• Shinomiya Kojiro expelled Tadokoro Megumi after tasting her dish, and Xu Yue objected to his evaluation.
• Xu Yue explained how Tadokoro Megumi had used red wine vinegar to improve the color and balance of her cauliflower dish, impressing Shinomiya Kojiro and the watching students.
• Shinomiya Kojiro admitted he expelled Tadokoro Megumi for changing his recipe without permission and warned Xu Yue not to challenge him again.
• Tadokoro Megumi hugged Xu Yue and begged him to stop defending her, while Yukihira Soma asked whether a Food Wars! victory could overturn her expulsion.
• Shinomiya Kojiro rejected Yukihira Soma’s challenge until Xu Yue offered his company’s 5.25% stake in SHINO'S as the wager.

Xu Yue challenged Shinomiya Kojiro in a Food Wars! match, with Tadokoro Megumi’s expulsion at stake and Xu Yue’s claim to 5.25% of Shinomiya’s restaurant shares also on the line. Dojima Gin made Megumi head chef for one round, and the chapter ended as Shinomiya and Xu Yue began preparing their dishes in perfect synchrony.

• Shinomiya Kojiro accepted Xu Yue’s challenge and left the classroom after Dojima Gin and Inui Hinako arrived.
• Polar Star Dormitory students learned that Xu Yue would face Shinomiya, a former first seat of the Elite Ten, over Megumi’s possible expulsion.
• Dojima Gin arranged an unofficial Food Wars! match judged by Mizuhara Fuyumi, Sekimori Hei, and Donato Goutouda, and named Megumi head chef for one round.
• Xu Yue objected to Dojima’s arrangement and secured a separate contest by putting up 5.25% of Shinomiya’s restaurant shares.
• Dojima required the dishes to use the leftover vegetables, and Shinomiya began selecting ingredients while Xu Yue moved in perfect sync with him.

Xu Yue mirrored Shinomiya Kojiro’s cooking movements and prepared a dish with the same ingredients, while Tadokoro Megumi and Yukihira Soma made a Rainbow Terrine. Shinomiya’s dish won Megumi’s match 3–0, and the chapter ended as Xu Yue uncovered his own dish, releasing a powerful sweet aroma.

• Xu Yue selected the same ingredients as Shinomiya Kojiro and copied his cooking rhythm so closely that Mizuhara Fuyumi and the others were shocked.
• Inui Hinako described Xu Yue’s cooking as technically impressive but lacking a chef’s heart, which heightened Dojima Gin’s interest in the contest.
• Tadokoro Megumi and Yukihira Soma prepared a seven-vegetable Rainbow Terrine that earned praise from the judges.
• Shinomiya Kojiro served his Magical Cabbage, and the judges praised its perfectly balanced flavors.
• The judges voted 3–0 for Shinomiya Kojiro over Tadokoro Megumi.
• Xu Yue uncovered his dish, filling the kitchen with a sweet, fragrant aroma as the judges prepared to assess it.

Xu Yue defeated Shinomiya Kojiro with a dish that copied and surpassed Shinomiya’s cooking, though the judges discovered the imitation lacked a chef’s passion. Dojima Gin challenged Shinomiya to face the flaw in his cooking, and Xu Yue urged Shinomiya to try Tadokoro Megumi’s dish.

• Xu Yue’s dish matched Shinomiya Kojiro’s techniques and presentation while impressing the judges with its fragrance and freshness.
• Shinomiya Kojiro lost the vote 3–0 and accepted that Xu Yue’s dish had surpassed his own.
• Dojima Gin urged Shinomiya Kojiro to taste Xu Yue’s dish again, revealing its mechanical lack of passion beneath its sensory intensity.
• Dojima Gin told Shinomiya Kojiro that a flaw in his heart had stalled his cooking, and Shinomiya connected it to the struggles of running his own business.
• Xu Yue said that he also had serious flaws, then tasted Tadokoro Megumi’s Rainbow Terrine and suggested Shinomiya try it.

Shinomiya Kojiro recognized the care in Tadokoro Megumi’s French Jelly and encouraged her to keep working, while Xu Yue revealed his extraordinary cooking talents to the graduates. The chapter ended as Xu Yue and Inui Hinako prepared to begin their Food Wars!.

• Shinomiya Kojiro approved Tadokoro Megumi’s French Jelly and urged her to work hard in her own way.
• Shinomiya Kojiro asked Xu Yue when he had learned to imitate his dish, and Xu Yue said he had studied cooking for only a little over three years.
• Yukihira Soma revealed that Xu Yue had started learning cooking just ten days before enrollment, shocking the graduates.
• Xu Yue explained that he could imitate techniques and assess ingredients and dishes at a glance, with exceptional taste and smell.
• Xu Yue asked Inui Hinako to begin their Food Wars!, and Inui Hinako agreed, confident she could show him the gap between them.

After losing a cooking match to Inui Hinako, Xu Yue reflected on his culinary weaknesses and his incomplete sense of self, then continued through Hell Camp. At the final checkpoint, the students faced an overnight egg-dish challenge while Xu Yue left to sleep.

• Yoshino Yuki scolded Xu Yue and the others for recklessly challenging former Elite Ten members, and Xu Yue recalled losing 0–5 to Inui Hinako despite copying her technique and enhancing his dish.
• Dojima Gin and Shinomiya Kojiro told Xu Yue that copying alone could not replace a chef’s own culinary path, and Xu Yue recognized his dish lacked the powerful bonus of Inui Hinako’s signature cooking.
• Xu Yue realized his soul and sense of self still felt incomplete, then began using daily mental suggestions to cultivate a love of cooking despite his resistance to Illusion Techniques.
• After Shinomiya Kojiro’s trial, the students progressed through Hell Camp’s demanding lessons, and the camp reached its final checkpoint at Totsuki Palace.
• Dojima Gin announced that students had to create a buffet-style breakfast dish featuring eggs and sell two hundred servings by six the next morning or be expelled.
• While the exhausted students prepared for the overnight challenge, Xu Yue yawned and returned to Marui’s room to sleep.

Xu Yue prepared tea eggs for the breakfast buffet and wagered against Erina Nakiri that he would outsell her. After Alice Nakiri arrived and showed interest in him, Xu Yue challenged her to a sales competition as well.

• Xu Yue greeted Mito Ikumi and reminded her to sell three hundred servings or face a punishment game.
• Xu Yue warned Yukihira Soma that cold soufflé might not suit a breakfast buffet, then bet Erina Nakiri that he would outsell her.
• Xu Yue set up several charcoal stoves and prepared tea eggs, startling Erina, Mito, and the judges.
• Shinomiya Kojiro and Dojima Gin supported letting Xu Yue remain in the assessment despite the plain-looking dish.
• Alice Nakiri recognized Xu Yue, and he challenged her to a sales competition, offering to make her his follower if he won.

Xu Yue used a burst of spice aroma and perfectly soft-boiled Tea Eggs to draw a crowd at the Totsuki Resort breakfast contest. As Alice Nakiri celebrated her own sudden success, Xu Yue’s sales began to take off, leaving the contest’s outcome undecided.

• Alice Nakiri returned to her booth after arguing with Xu Yue and confidently predicted her hidden egg dishes would outsell the other students’ food.
• The breakfast contest began, and Alice’s first curious customer spread the word about her dishes, bringing a large crowd to her booth.
• Xu Yue added mixed tea leaves and spices to his Tea Eggs, releasing an aroma that drew diners away from nearby booths.
• Erina Nakiri noticed her customers leaving for Xu Yue’s booth, while Hayama Akira recognized the spices as products from his research lab.
• A customer bit into Xu Yue’s soft-boiled Tea Egg, loved its rich flavor, and returned for another serving.

Xu Yue dominated the final training-camp assessment, collected Alice Nakiri’s promised attendant, and tested dishes at the celebratory banquet. After the camp ended, he waited for Erina Nakiri and caught her trying to leave with a framed picture.

• Xu Yue sold 500 servings of tea eggs, beating Erina Nakiri, Alice Nakiri, and the other students in the assessment.
• Alice Nakiri handed Kurokiba Ryo over to Xu Yue to honor her wager, and Xu Yue sent him to apply for Polar Star Dormitory.
• Dojima Gin announced another assessment, but it turned out to be a celebratory banquet marking the end of the training camp.
• Xu Yue sampled dishes from nearly every table while Glasses and Blondie thanked him and offered him their food.
• The visiting chefs offered promising students opportunities, but none approached Xu Yue, who declined the offers he received.
• Xu Yue waited by Totsuki Palace and caught Erina Nakiri sneaking out with a framed picture, then asked her for a ride.

Xu Yue arranged special training with Erina and revealed his connection to Seichiro and Yukihira Soma, then returned to Totsuki to prepare for the Autumn Election. After Etsuya Eizan threatened Soma over rejecting his recruitment offer, Xu Yue confronted Eizan and reminded him not to target Soma yet.

• Xu Yue persuaded Erina to honor her promise of special training and told her that Seichiro had taught him cooking before leaving him with Seichiro’s son, Yukihira Soma.
• All the Polar Star Dormitory students passed, and Xu Yue and Soma used their break to handle personal matters before returning to the academy.
• Xu Yue trained several students for the Autumn Election, helping Tadokoro Megumi earn seven consecutive A ratings, while Satoshi Isshiki announced that dormitory members had been nominated for remaining competition slots.
• Etsuya Eizan threatened to ruin Soma’s ambitions after Soma rejected his offer to join him.
• Xu Yue emerged from Eizan’s inner office and warned him not to make things difficult for Soma yet.