Chapter 158: Partners

Although Feng Xue was slightly distracted, preparing a simple dish like roasted meat was something he could execute flawlessly even in a subconscious state. Moreover, at the moment, he only had salt, honey, and a few local spices on hand, sparing him from having to ponder over elaborate sauces as one would with gourmet barbecue.

Before long, the unique aroma of roasting began to drift through the air. Sensing that the cooking time was just right, Feng Xue turned his head and asked, "How is your tolerance to poison? I have some toxic mushrooms here. Although poisonous, they make a fantastic seasoning."

The young girl did not harbor the slightest suspicion. She simply gave a carefree thumbs-up, flashed a row of white teeth with a grin reminiscent of Might Guy, and declared, "No problem! Forget about poisonous mushrooms, Xiaobai would even eat a blowfish whale's poison sac raw right in front of you!"

Hearing her reply, Feng Xue retrieved a few red mushrooms from his bag, extracted their juices, and brushed them over the roasting meat. The next instant, a psychedelic fragrance wafted outward!

"Quickly, quickly! Xiaobai wants to eat! Xiaobai wants to eat!" Acting almost like a child, the girl banged on the stone slab intended to serve as their dining table while urging him repeatedly. Feng Xue felt a slight pang of worry as to whether the stone slab could withstand her monstrous strength.

"Coming, coming!" Feng Xue picked up the perfectly cooked meat. In his hand, a culinary knife completely constructed from soul particles began to dance up and down. The next moment, an entire cut of rib meat was transformed into beautiful slices, landing neatly on a wooden plate.

"Even though my cooking utensils are here, all the flower dew I collected is gone! Otherwise, we could be sipping flower tea right now!" Feng Xue placed the plate of meat on the stone slab, picked up a slice with his chopsticks, and began to eat.

"So that was flower dew! Xiaobai thought it was just ordinary rainwater!" The foodie girl tapped her head and stuck out her cute tongue, looking utterly adorable.

"Alright, stop acting cute, hurry up and—eat (softly)." Before Feng Xue could finish his sentence, he realized that the girl in front of him was hardly the courteous type; in the blink of an eye, the majority of the meat on the plate had vanished.

"...Forget it, I might as well keep cooking." Feng Xue shook his head, abandoned any thought of competing with the girl for food, and walked back toward the half-dissected koala-elephant with his spirit blade.

Although there was no wok, Feng Xue added a series of delicacies to his menu, including poached sliced meat, steamed elephant eye-meat, pan-seared elephant tenderloin on a stone slab, and large bone broth. Naturally, he did not forget to continually replenish a plate of roasted meat, for the foodie girl's appetite was simply too ferocious!

By this point, Feng Xue realized that this foodie girl was likely of the same type as Toriko—possessing Gourmet Cells with an immensely powerful appetite. However, given that the Gourmet Cells distributed by the academy were primal cells, her talent or concept must undoubtedly be related to appetite; otherwise, she would never have developed such a violent hunger.

Had those missing beasts along the way been swallowed whole, skin and bones included, by the girl? Feng Xue suddenly connected this with the girl's enormous mouth, and the very thought flashed through his mind, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

"What rude things are you thinking about?" Though she usually seemed somewhat airheaded, she was surprisingly sensitive at times like this. Were she the heroine of some visual novel?

Suppressing the urge to retort, Feng Xue served dish after dish onto the table. At last, the girl's appetite began to be satisfied, and Feng Xue was finally able to sit down and enjoy a meal.

"Aren't you going to cook that elephant trunk? Is it inedible?" Although the girl's eating speed had slowed down significantly, she continued to eat incessantly. By this time, aside from the bones, only the elephant trunk remained of the entire koala-elephant.

"That is my full-course menu!" Feng Xue said with a hint of pride.

"Oh oh! So that's how it is! Don't you dare say you won't give any to Xiaobai, or I'll bite you!" The girl's eyes turned cat-like, staring at Feng Xue in a way that sent a chill down his spine.

"Of course not, but that thing is very troublesome to process. We don't have soy sauce, sugar, or strong liquor on hand, and preparing it leaves an unpleasant after-taste. If we use the aging method, it will take at least a week to get it right." Feng Xue explained while using his super-perception to search for a beehive. The beehive he had gathered previously was long gone; after all, beehives in reality were not like those in video games, standing as tall as a person.

"..." The girl pursed her lips and seemed to struggle internally for a good while before finally speaking up, "Xiaobai has made a decision!"

"What have you decided?" A strange premonition suddenly arose in Feng Xue's heart—hard to describe as good or bad, it felt as though some destined event was about to unfold.

"Be Xiaobai's partner chef!" The girl suddenly grabbed Feng Xue's hand and leaned her head right up close to his face as she spoke.

At that moment, the girl's cheeks were only a fist's distance away from Feng Xue, and he could even feel her breath lightly wafting against his face.

*Thump-thump, thump-thump!* Feng Xue felt his heartbeat suddenly accelerate, though not out of romance. Any man approached so closely by a beautiful girl would have some physiological reaction; otherwise, he wouldn't be a man.

"Do you even know what a partner means?" Feng Xue's face twitched slightly. While it was extremely common in the Toriko universe for Gourmet Hunters and chefs to form partnerships, things were rather different when the partners happened to be a man and a woman.

One must remember that because Gourmet Hunters spent long periods away hunting ingredients, they rarely stayed at home, and the time spent with their partners far exceeded that spent with family members. Just think about how Toriko, even after getting married, would still run off with Rin—err, run off to hunt on a whim, leaving his newlywed wife behind at home without his wife apparently finding anything wrong with it!

And if the Gourmet Hunter and the chef happened to be a man and a woman, the situation became even more complicated. Nine times out of ten, such partnerships ultimately turned into marriages (such as Chiyo and Zaus, or Setsuno and Jiro).

Therefore, mentioning a "partner" here carried an implication practically identical to the vassal contracts in Negima!

The girl evidently realized this as well, and her expression grew somewhat bashful. However, after stuffing another slice of meat into her mouth, she seemed to resolve herself once more. (Hey! Just how much do you love to eat?!)

"Xiaobai has decided! Where are you going to find another peer who happens to have enhanced Gourmet Cells and such wonderful culinary skills? As for those veteran-tier upperclassmen, which of them hasn't already found a partner? Even the ones without partners brought one back from a plot world!" The girl nodded forcefully, staring at Feng Xue with absolute determination. Whenever her gaze began to wander and she wanted to look away, she would shove a piece of meat into her mouth, instantly restoring her resolute glare.

"Then why didn't you wait until you reached the veteran tier to bring a chef back from a plot world? And is it really wise to make such an invitation to someone whose name you don't even know?" Feng Xue was completely drained of any energy to argue. He finally understood the nature of the girl before him: she was a foodie! An absolute foodie! The kind of foodie who would sell herself to a cook just for the sake of food!