Delicious Lunch and Pre-Race Preparations

At the recommendation of the three others, Zhang Jun ordered two set meals.

One was a pork cutlet rice set, which included a bowl of rice, a pork cutlet cut into five or six pieces and sprinkled with seasoning, a fried egg, a small plate of three kinds of vegetables, and a bowl of soup or an alcoholic beverage.

The other was tonkotsu ramen, with a dark brown broth, white noodles, several slices of narutomaki, pork, a marinated egg cut in half, and a bundle of vegetables.

Lin Zhi ordered a giant chicken cutlet set—the kind specially made for big eaters.

Yoshito Yahagi and the other two also ordered their favorite dishes.

A few minutes later, the food was brought to the table.

Looking at the exquisite pork cutlet rice and ramen before him, Zhang Jun followed local custom and pressed his hands together. He said, "Let's eat," then snapped apart his chopsticks.

Although he had been an atheist before, now that something as miraculous as the system existed, he might as well believe.

After hesitating between the ramen and pork cutlet set, Zhang Jun chose to try the ramen first, since it would lose its flavor more easily. He picked up a slice of narutomaki and put it in his mouth.

After one bite, Zhang Jun raised his brows.

Delicious!

It was springy and pleasantly chewy, tender, with a faint natural sweetness of seafood.

He then tried the marinated egg, pork slices, vegetables, noodles, and broth. Everything tasted excellent.

Zhang Jun put down his chopsticks, stuffed a clove of garlic into his mouth—the one he had asked Yoshito Yahagi to get from the owner to cleanse his palate—then picked up his chopsticks again and reached for the pork cutlet set.

He tasted the pork cutlet first. The cutlet itself