Chapter 157: The Gluttonous Little Sister

“Gurgle…” A thunderous rumble echoed from the girl’s stomach. Yet, the girl who called herself Xiaobai showed no hint of embarrassment. Instead, she plopped down on the ground carelessly. “Xiaobai is hungry. Make something for Xiaobai! You’re a chef, right?”

“Hey, hey! We’re still in the middle of a fight, okay? Are you really alright just sitting down like that?” Feng Xue sighed in relief. Honestly, facing a girl like this—who seemed to embody the ‘no matter what magic you use, I’ll end it with a single punch’ type—he wasn’t confident he could win. Yet, his instinct to complain kicked in before he could stop himself.

“So, what you’re saying is, you don’t want to cook for Xiaobai?” Feng Xue suddenly sensed an overwhelming aura of danger. At that moment, the girl in front of him no longer seemed like a frail young lady but rather a ferocious beast awakened by hunger, ready to devour everything in sight.

Looking at the girl’s dangerous smile, Feng Xue thought to himself, “Natural fruits always have dark cores.” Nonetheless, he stood firm with no intention of yielding. “I don’t cook for someone who wastes food!”

“Eh?” The girl’s fierce expression instantly froze. “Wa… Wasting? Xiaobai?”

It was as if she had heard something utterly outrageous. She shook her head wildly like a spinning rattle, shouting in a voice that was half exasperated and half deeply embarrassed, “I-It's not wasting! Xiaobai just eats a lot! How can you call a lady wasteful?”

“Huh? A lady? Girl, your character’s totally falling apart,” Feng Xue muttered, almost spitting out his inner complaint.

“So, you’re saying the rations in my camp weren’t the ones you burned?” Feng Xue stared at Xiaobai, trying to read something from her expression.

“Burn? Impossible! Who would dare burn such delicious jerky?” Xiaobai shook her head again, while the growling from her stomach grew louder.

“Then what about my tent?” Suddenly, a hypothesis formed in Feng Xue’s mind, and he asked on.

“Jerky is cold; you have to heat it up!” Xiaobai answered matter-of-factly, showing no remorse for the burned tent.

“…” Feng Xue finally understood where the grease in the tent had come from, and his expression softened a little. “What about the rest of the jerky? Don’t tell me you threw it away! That was my three-day ration!”

“Throw away?” Xiaobai looked at Feng Xue as if he were an idiot. “How could I throw away such tasty food? Of course, Xiaobai ate it all!”

Feng Xue confirmed his suspicions. Given that Xiaobai seemed to have a more developed ‘gourmet gene’ than himself, if she activated her ‘devouring mode,’ she might indeed finish all the jerky in one sitting. But still…

“If you’ve eaten it all, why are you hungry again so soon? And didn’t you also eat the animals along the way? What about your food ethics?”

“Food ethics?” Xiaobai tilted her head, pondering for a moment before suddenly recalling what ‘food ethics’ were supposed to be. Then she replied, “...No, no! Xiaobai uses Food Domination!”

“Food Domination? What’s that? Didn’t you get your gourmet gene from the Gourmet Monastery entrance exam?” Feng Xue had just heard what seemed like a specialized term from the gourmet gene system, but this one was unfamiliar, even compared to the ‘Gourmet Captive’ or other gourmet series. His curiosity piqued.

“Gourmet Monastery? I went to the Gourmet Association!” Xiaobai shook her head. Then another violent rumbling came from her stomach. “Are you going to cook or not? If not, Xiaobai will eat you up!”

As she spoke this ominous line, a slight drool began to trickle from the corner of her mouth. Her gaze shifted from looking at Feng Xue as a chef to eyeing him as food.

“Damn it!” Feng Xue wasn’t sure if he was cursing or answering, but honestly, there was no dealing with a girl who turned dark at hunger!

But still, one rule—only for beauties!

That’s right. If this were a guy, Feng Xue would have long since used the Eight Gates technique to kick him to death! What? Feng Xue doesn’t know the Eight Gates? Didn’t you know it’s essentially an illusion technique?

“Is roasting meat okay? I’ve broken all your pots and pans!” Feng Xue complained as he used spirit blades to cut apart a koala-elephant that had died sometime ago.

“Those pots and pans were so hard to find! How could you break them?” Xiaobai suddenly opened her mouth wide—really wide. Feng Xue had never seen anyone open their mouth larger than their own head, except in comedy anime.

Just as Feng Xue worried she might bite him, Xiaobai suddenly spat out a pile of pots and pans.

“…” Feng Xue was dumbfounded. If Uncle Snake spitting things out was gross, this girl spitting things out was… adorable? Such is the cruel world that judges by appearances.

“What are you staring at? Hurry up and cook!” Xiaobai noticed Feng Xue’s gaze and frowned. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she shyly added, “D-Don’t worry, Xiaobai’s mouth connects to a pocket dimension, so there’s no drool!”

“Who cares if there’s drool or not! If there were, wouldn’t it be even more… No, wait! How natural do you have to be to have the entrance to a pocket dimension inside your mouth?” Feng Xue felt that if he had a sarcasm energy collector installed, it could probably blow up the entire Hunger World.

“That’s not my setting! It’s just the ability of a gourmet demon!” Xiaobai said nonchalantly as she neatly arranged the pots and pans, then gave Feng Xue a pleading look like a baby bird begging for food.

“Alright, alright, I get it! I’ll cook for you!” Feeling chilled under Xiaobai’s gaze, Feng Xue abandoned the koala-elephant and took a slab of ribs to start roasting.

Although they had cooking utensils now, judging by Xiaobai’s condition, if he delayed much longer, she might start eating people. Better to make something quick and let her eat first.

Only then did Feng Xue ponder the ‘Food Domination’ Xiaobai mentioned earlier.

She said her entrance exam wasn’t at the Gourmet Monastery but at the Gourmet Association?

This suggested that the academy might assign gourmet genes from more than just two sources—maybe even from the Demon Gourmet Realm. Thinking of the Gourmet Association’s equivalent of ‘food ethics,’ Feng Xue recalled the original story’s Grey Goo Beast, the Giant Troll, who could wield a similar power.

Suddenly, Feng Xue remembered Mrs. Chiyo, the wife of Zhen Town’s mayor…

Right, when Mrs. Chiyo attacked the Gourmet Monastery, she didn’t use ‘food ethics’ but instead unleashed a formidable aura to force the monastery’s manifestation. Could that have been the so-called Food Domination?

“Hey! Xiaobai’s hungry! Is it ready yet?”