Chapter Sixteen: Gourmet Cells

He drank the blood of the pufferfish!

Yes, he really drank it!

That was a wild pufferfish—a single drop of its blood could kill, an acute poison of terrifying potency.

Yet Feng Xue downed it in one gulp without a moment’s hesitation.

In the next instant, he felt a wave of weakness spreading through him. In truth, even the most acute pufferfish toxin has an incubation period of at least ten minutes, but Feng Xue’s body, strengthened by the Body Tempering Technique, was sensitive enough to detect the subtlest changes.

As time passed, symptoms like abdominal pain and nausea began to emerge. He understood that the pufferfish toxin was now truly taking effect.

But then another sensation slowly rose within him—a chilling, invigorating coolness that flowed from his lower jaw, coursed through his blood and heart, and traveled to his digestive tract, then reached his brain, gradually suppressing the onset of paralysis. Accompanying it was a faint burning sensation...

This was Feng Xue’s confidence in drinking the pufferfish’s poisonous blood—the Gourmet Cells.

These miraculous, universal cells, upon encountering a new ingredient (and yes, toxins and aromas count as aspects of an ingredient, just as the famed Laibbeialla could form a membrane in the digestive tract isolating toxins when consuming poisonous foods, yet still allow the taste to be enjoyed), would initiate an analysis and adaptation sequence. If the target substance was toxic, the cells would swiftly generate new antibodies within the body, even new adaptive organs...

Undoubtedly, what was now occurring inside Feng Xue was this life-saving transformation. If he could endure until the antibodies or new organs were formed, then he would henceforth be able to eat pufferfish as if it were any ordinary fish—no preparation required.

For neurotoxic, non-protein poisons like pufferfish toxin, the simplest antibody is an alkaline solution capable of breaking down its glucoside compounds. Yet alkaline solutions are corrosive to the human body, so evolving glands that secrete neutralizing alkaline fluids also requires simultaneously increasing resistance to those fluids.

However, Feng Xue’s Gourmet Cells were still at a low level, severely lacking in activity. If not for the limited activation from the pufferfish he had previously consumed, he wouldn’t have dared attempt this.

But the outcome was positive—paralysis was being suppressed, a sign the pufferfish toxin was being neutralized. Meanwhile, the burning sensation spread within him, unmistakably caused by the alkaline solution entering systemic circulation.

Yet alkaline burns are not as acutely lethal as pufferfish toxin; with time, the body would eventually develop resistance.

However, Feng Xue discovered an awkward problem—

His body was out of energy.

Gourmet Cells are not perpetual motion machines; they require energy to function. Although Feng Xue had prepared high-energy foods in his spatial pouch, they were useless at this moment. Gourmet Cells recognize only deliciousness, not nutrition; if something tastes good, even a stone could serve as a fuel source and boost strength, but no matter how nutritious, if it tastes bad, the cells remain hungry. Feng Xue certainly didn’t believe those high-energy foods, which tasted like soap, could activate his Gourmet Cells.

On the other hand, as long as there is suitable delicacy, even if the head and body are separated, they could survive for a while; if the head is reattached within that time and fed a good bite, regrowing the head is not out of reach!

So, Feng Xue deftly took out an induction cooker and pan-fried the pufferfish liver he had previously set aside.

Pufferfish liver contains ninety percent fat, making it a natural fatty liver. Its texture is far smoother than artificially fattened goose liver pâté. When pan-fried, the rich umami flavor and delicate, silky texture create an illusion that it melts in the mouth without chewing. The numbness and stimulation from the pufferfish toxin imbue its deliciousness with a deadly allure.

Sadly, the liver was only the size of a ping-pong ball; before he could savor it, it slipped down his throat. Soon after, a faint burning sensation seeped from his lower jaw, but as the delicacy was absorbed by the Gourmet Cells, the burning pain diminished. Ten minutes later, within Feng Xue’s body, the alkaline solution, pufferfish toxin, and bodily resistance reached equilibrium—a sign that the protective adaptation was fully evolved.

“It’s done!” Feng Xue stretched lazily, feeling an indescribable lightness in his body. The deliciousness brought by the pufferfish liver surpassed that of the entire fish, boosting his physique more than twice over. If not counting combat experience, Feng Xue’s body alone could now rival a martial artist of the Dark Energy level!

And in the depths of his consciousness, a vague silhouette began to take shape. Though only a faint outline, it radiated a terrifying presence—the aura of a predator, a temperament set apart as the apex of the food chain.

“My Food Spirit is starting to coalesce? But it seems something’s still missing...” Feng Xue scratched his head.

He didn’t know what was lacking, but he was certain it was not some flavor. An unknown will whispered this to him—perhaps from the Gourmet Cells, perhaps his intuition, or perhaps from that inherently deceptive origin of his.

Shaking his head to dismiss this distant problem, Feng Xue turned his attention back to his original purpose.

He was thrilled to discover his guess was correct—the toxin in pufferfish indeed contained an irresistible, terrifying deliciousness!

As someone who had spent much of his previous life browsing the internet, he knew well that pufferfish toxin was not merely a poison, but also an immensely valuable drug—worth ten thousand times its weight in gold!

Its function? Simple: anesthesia.

Yes, anesthesia—just a few micrograms are enough to achieve a numbing effect, sixteen hundred times stronger than cocaine, and it can also be used as a detoxifying agent for addiction.

Most importantly, as an anesthetic, it lacks the common trait of others—addictiveness!

Anesthetics, in fact, are much like narcotics; stories of doctors stealing anesthetics to sell abound—selling them to addicts, of course!

In the culinary world, any kind of anesthetic used as seasoning will grant food a terrifyingly lethal allure. The most notorious examples are those illegal restaurants that add poppy shells to their broths and hotpot bases.

But pufferfish toxin is non-addictive—or rather, its toxicity is so great that anyone reaching addictive doses would die, so addiction is not a risk.

At this point, it’s clear: Feng Xue wants to use pufferfish toxin to create a new seasoning!

It’s not impossible—the lethal dose is 0.48 milligrams, while the anesthetic dose is only 3 micrograms. In other words, as long as Feng Xue can control the amount to the microgram level, and find complementary spices, he could craft a seasoning worthy of being called a trump card.

But all this remains premature for Feng Xue, as he possesses no knowledge of seasonings.

He can’t even recognize all the types, so how could he dare talk about developing new ones?

Thus, for now, Feng Xue’s only task is—attend class!

Study hard, improve daily—Feng Xue once again experienced the power of these eight words...

——————————My name is Divider——————————

The courses at Totsuki Academy were filled with the clash of blades and fire. Compared to Soma Yukihira, who was everywhere challenging others to food duels and charming girls, Feng Xue, one of only two transfer students, was quite low-key. He often achieved A grades in class, but since everyone’s attention—or rather, their animosity—was focused on Soma, Feng Xue went largely unnoticed.

Feng Xue himself had no interest in flirting. Though he paid some attention to Megumi Tadokoro, it was only that—attention. He harbored no other intentions.

While forming romantic feelings with story characters was not one of the eight strict taboos, it was listed as the fifth item in the “Newcomer’s Guide.”

As long as the object is not from another race (incidentally, even if the target is black, bringing them to the real world could add a new race to humanity, and mixed-race children as well; whereas English, French, Russian and other white people would automatically be classified as Western, and East Asians as Eastern), there’s no prohibition on relationships with half-plane characters. In fact, most mythic-level powerhouses have two-dimensional followers, some even offspring with them. However, for reality-level travelers, this is something to avoid at all costs, because it creates obstacles in breaking through the “Heart Barrier.”

It’s not that falling in love creates inner demons, but before reaching the Fantasy level, travelers cannot bring story characters out, nor acquire half-plane timeline coordinates, nor freeze the half-plane. Once feelings are established, departure from the half-plane is inevitable, and the time ratio between worlds is despairingly vast: 1:86,400—one second in reality is a full day in the story world. An hour could see a decade pass. So even if one revisits a previously traveled plane, the character will never again be the familiar person.

Such disparity is enough to sow inner demons and cloud the Heart Barrier.

It’s one thing to treat story characters as playthings, but if one’s heart is moved, it becomes a disaster.

The most vivid example is Pang Jie, hailed as humanity’s strongest demigod. He entered the “Condor Trilogy” plane at the Transcendent level and fell in love with Li Mochou, but couldn’t bring her out. His Heart Barrier became clouded, and after breaking through the three barriers to become a demigod, he stalled, focusing solely on the Dao of causality, hoping to restore the conquered half-plane and find the lover he once had. But for a demigod to comprehend the supreme law of causality is a Herculean task. Even after thousands of years (breaking the Body Barrier grants physical immortality; breaking the Soul Barrier grants true spiritual indestructibility—at this stage, as long as obsession remains, one cannot die), Pang Jie remains stuck at the final step of the Heart Barrier, unable to advance. It’s not that he lacks the resolve to cut the bonds of affection, but he cannot take that step; though the bonds are severed, the regret lingers.

With such precedents before him, Feng Xue would never touch that taboo. He wasn’t the sort of person who could treat story characters as playthings—he was not heartless enough.

His sole purpose in this world was learning.

The world of “Food Wars” is merely a mid-level ordinary plane; its strongest are equivalent to special forces, with no means of growing stronger, no strange technologies, and even its culinary core lacks the miraculous effects seen in other gourmet stories. Yet it possesses something most gourmet worlds lack—systematic knowledge.

From basic knife skills, stir-frying, and mastery of heat, to ingredient identification, culinary theory, nutrition, management, public health, and other subjects, each research society has its own specialty, from classical recipes to molecular gastronomy, all with impressive standards. Its systematic teaching is unmatched by any other gourmet series.

If not for his age, Feng Xue would have loved to start from junior high.