Chapter Seventy: The Final Chapter [Grand Finale]

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Zhou Xiong and the others could never have imagined that, just a day after the celebration banquet, the influence brought by Xu Ke would vanish as abruptly as a dam burst in a flood. This caught them completely off guard.

Upon investigation, they discovered that overnight, Old Street had sprouted a host of remarkable new dishes like bamboo shoots after rain. These dishes appeared in many small restaurants, not only delectable but also affordable, and were immediately met with unanimous praise from customers. Some even claimed that any one of these dishes surpassed Xu Ke’s culinary skills by a significant margin.

Thus, under this comprehensive onslaught, Old Street seized upon the rumor of “defeating the Imperial Court’s chef” to rise again. At the same time, the Imperial Court’s once-unassailable prestige began to waver for the first time in memory.

With this turn of events, Neighbourhood Kitchen became the undisputed vanguard of Old Street, and Li Can its spiritual leader. Everyone believed that as long as he was there, Old Street would rocket skyward.

Two days later, for the first time ever, every restaurant on Old Street was packed to capacity. Food bloggers, livestreamers, and culinary influencers flocked in, digging deep to uncover the secret gems for the city’s food lovers.

During this period, Li Can and Su Rui not only officially moved Neighbourhood Kitchen into the old Boiling Kitchen location, but also knocked through the two adjacent storefronts, making it the largest “hole-in-the-wall” eatery on Old Street.

On opening day, Li Can launched new dishes—“Invisible Meat” and “Demonic Ox Bone Soup”—each priced close to five hundred yuan. In just one day, every ingredient was exhausted!

To ensure supplies for the next day, Li Can snuck into Monster School to hunt for ingredients, engaging in a fierce battle with a Level Three monster. After a grueling fight, he killed it and escaped.

Notably, on his way down the mountain, he ran into a familiar face—Zhou Chang! It turned out the man hadn’t died but had cleverly escaped before the monsters struck. In conversation, Li Can learned that ever since Zhou Chang discovered his wife and daughter’s tragic deaths, he had never left Sakura District, but had concealed himself near Monster School, waiting for Li Can to appear. He knew that only by finding Li Can could he hope for revenge.

Moved by Zhou Chang’s plight, Li Can revealed the world’s true nature to him and made him his designated driver for future ingredient transport.

Back at the restaurant, Zhou Chang immediately helped Li Can process the ingredients. During this, they discovered that Strong Cat had accidentally ingested dark energy and become ferocious.

Thus, Li Can’s two future right-hand helpers had both appeared.

Days later, after learning that Xu Ke’s failure had ruined the Imperial Court’s reputation, Zhang Cheng decided to act personally before upper management found out. Not only did he fail to restore the Imperial Court’s prestige, but his defeat was even more humiliating than his apprentice’s, causing its reputation to plummet.

Old Street, having bested two Imperial Court chefs, rose to fame and attracted the food world’s attention. Upon hearing the news, the Imperial Court’s leadership flew into a rage and promptly expelled Zhang Cheng and Xu Ke on the grounds of impersonating Imperial Court chefs, thereby salvaging the establishment’s reputation.

Even so, the upper echelon remained uneasy and visited Old Street in person, hoping to lure Neighbourhood Kitchen’s head chef away with an astronomical salary. To their astonishment, the so-called head chef turned out to be none other than Li Can, the former executive chef who had once propelled the Imperial Court to the pinnacle of its glory.

Realizing that monetary gain could not bring Li Can back, the Imperial Court’s management sought to pressure him by force, demanding that he not expand further, or else the entire Old Street would be reduced to its former state. Naturally, Li Can refused.

Thus, the confrontation between Old Street and the Imperial Court began in earnest.

Meanwhile, since Li Can’s departure from the Imperial Court, his apprentice Miaomiao had suffered countless grievances. Just as she was about to give up in despair, her long-lost master finally contacted her, summoning her back to Old Street to help. Miaomiao, sensitive and shrewd, persuaded a large group of Li Can’s former followers to join her before leaving. Their arrival boosted Old Street’s strength by leaps and bounds.

Li Can’s true identity was thus exposed, sending shockwaves through the culinary world and drawing countless food lovers to his doorstep. At last, Su Rui, Boss Ma, and others realized why this young man in his early twenties possessed such astonishing skills.

Half a month later, the Imperial Court struck back in force, leveraging its vast capital to launch a barrage of discounts near Old Street, determined to wage a war of attrition and drive every restaurant owner to ruin. The pressure on Old Street became enormous; everyone felt suffocated.

To turn the tide, Li Can took a bold gamble and publicly challenged the Imperial Court’s current executive chef, Lei Tianming, aiming to reclaim his former glory. If he could defeat Lei Tianming, he would once again become the undisputed number one in the food world, using his own reputation to counter the Imperial Court.

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But the Imperial Court’s leadership saw through his intentions. Citing Lei Tianming’s absence from Canglan City, they avoided the duel at every turn, depriving people of any pretext for confrontation. Their goal was simply to wear Old Street down.

While everyone on Old Street was at their wits’ end, an elderly man with a fondness for drink happened to sip Li Can’s “Deadly Plum Wine” at Neighbourhood Kitchen. Though the taste was unremarkable, it miraculously cured his cancer. Upon learning of Li Can’s predicament, he immediately rallied his old friends to invest jointly in Old Street’s survival.

It turned out these elders were hidden tycoons of Sakura District, whose combined assets exceeded ten billion. In return, Li Can gifted the Deadly Plum Wine to the old man and his friends, who, aware of its magical properties, treasured it as a family heirloom to safeguard their descendants.

Unable to destroy Old Street, the Imperial Court was forced to retreat, its reputation in tatters and its dominance as culinary overlord dealt an unprecedented blow.

Having weathered the crisis, Old Street rose to become a culinary district equal to the Imperial Court, with all its merchants’ fortunes skyrocketing dozens or even hundreds of times, turning them into veritable nouveau riche.

After gaining the recognition of her family and achieving career success, Su Rui quietly transferred all her shares to Li Can, retaining only ten percent for herself. She said that all her accomplishments were thanks to Li Can, and she dared not hope for more. Yet over time, she developed feelings for him, though she never dared hope for fulfillment because of Weilan, and so would carry that regret for life.

With the storm passed, everything returned to normal. Li Can took advantage of this period to hunt for ingredients with Zhou Chang and Strong Cat, launching more monster-based delicacies.

But the reprieve was short-lived. A month later, while Li Can was experimenting with new dishes, danger struck. The Monster Academy, using online photos, deduced that the “God’s Agent” who had been hunting monsters was none other than Chef Li Can. That night, a horde of monsters besieged him.

Fortunately, through constant hunts for ingredients, Li Can’s strength had grown formidable. After a fierce struggle, he managed to slay all his attackers, only to be ambushed by a terrifying monster lurking in the shadows.

At this crucial moment, the deaf-mute old man appeared—revealing himself to be one of the divine race. Many years ago, he’d been besieged by monsters, leaving him both deaf and mute, and had since lived in seclusion, indifferent to the world.

The mute elder and the monstrous foe fought an epic battle. Seizing the opportunity, Li Can struck a fatal blow to the monster. After the crisis passed, Li Can discovered a strange text message on the monster’s phone, suggesting a mastermind behind the scenes. He also learned from the old man that the monsters had been preparing a bizarre ritual in recent years.

With the old man’s presence, Old Street’s safety was greatly enhanced, and after absorbing vast amounts of dark energy, Li Can’s power surpassed even that of the elder.

Days later, Wei Zhong invited Li Can to a private dinner. At the table, he expressed his approval of Li Can’s newfound status and finally decided to betroth his daughter, Weilan, to him. Overjoyed, Li Can had a few drinks—only to discover the wine was poisoned.

Wei Zhong revealed his true identity: he was the mastermind behind everything, including orchestrating the ambush that killed Li Can’s parents, all in pursuit of the Sun Necklace. He sought to use the necklace’s power over time to resurrect a super demon.

At that moment, Weilan rushed home, alerted by the housekeeper, and witnessed her father’s true form. Li Can, deeply poisoned and unable to resist, stabbed himself in the chest rather than let Weilan suffer.

The Sun Necklace activated, turning back time.

Twenty minutes earlier, Li Can sat at the same table with Wei Zhong, holding the poisoned wine. Armed with knowledge of Wei Zhong’s identity and plan, he attacked without hesitation. Wei Zhong sensed something was wrong, surmised that the Sun Necklace he had long sought was in Li Can’s possession, and revealed his murderous intent.

Li Can’s power was now incomparable. Just as he was about to kill Wei Zhong, two monsters even more powerful than Wei Zhong emerged from the Wei family’s basement, where they’d lain hidden all along.

At that moment, Weilan arrived, revealing herself as one of the divine race, raised from childhood by Li Can’s father. She never expected that Li Can had unwittingly become the God’s agent.

The truth was laid bare, and the two joined forces, fighting with extraordinary strength. As victory seemed within reach, the three monsters forcibly merged, their power surging.

Realizing they were no match, Li Can and Weilan tried to retreat, but Weilan was distracted by Wei Zhong’s voice and was captured by the monsters.

Desperate to save her, Li Can offered the Sun Necklace in exchange. Yet the monsters, with their strange abilities, wanted to kill Weilan even after obtaining the necklace.

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At the critical moment, Luo Yuan appeared, shielding Weilan from a fatal blow with his life, dying without ever uttering that final word.

Grief-stricken, Li Can and Weilan returned to Old Street and began planning a citywide purge of monsters. But that night, every monster seemed to vanish into thin air.

During this period, Li Can and Weilan split up, cleansing all real-world enterprises tied to the monsters, including the Imperial Court, which was henceforth erased from existence.

While sweeping the city, the two gradually uncovered clues that led them to the monsters’ lair, but they arrived too late: the ancient demon had already been awakened.

Weilan personally killed Wei Zhong, avenging Luo Yuan, while Li Can fought the ancient demon to the death.

The mute elder summoned a cadre of elderly members of the divine race to join the fray, engaging in a chaotic melee with the monsters.

Officer Tao, who had long been secretly investigating Li Can, arrived just in time to witness the epic scene. After calling for backup, a mysterious, heavily armed unit appeared—an elite force founded by members of the divine race, dedicated to hunting monsters.

The war between gods and demons escalated. To defeat the ancient demon, every member of the divine race sacrificed their power to empower Li Can.

Li Can’s divine might manifested as he dragged the demon into the Hall of Contracts, joining forces with the dying God of the Hall to slay the monster.

To prevent the demon’s resurrection, the God of the Hall gave his life to seal the monster away for eternity. Before dying, he bestowed all his divine power upon Li Can. After absorbing both the demon’s dark energy and this divine gift, Li Can became the new supreme true god. He revived Luo Yuan and, through a rift in the Hall of Contracts, entered another world to hunt down the remaining demons.

With the great battle over, everyone believed Li Can had perished and mourned deeply.

Three years later, Old Street, under the leadership of Weilan, Su Rui, Miaomiao, and Luo Yuan, ascended to culinary supremacy, unrivaled by any.

One day, having swept the entire otherworld and absorbed all the dark energy, Li Can returned to the Hall of Contracts.

…

Neighbourhood Kitchen.

“Hey, man, what are you doing? Don’t you know the rules? You have to queue here if you want to eat!”

“Who is this guy? Doesn’t he know that Boss Lady Weilan will rough him up if he cuts in line at Neighbourhood Kitchen? He must be out of his mind.”

“Forget the boss lady—even the cat here is fierce. Anyone who breaks the rules gets scratched for sure.”

Everyone sneered, watching the fair-skinned, calm young man, secretly anticipating some drama. Over the years, they’d seen plenty of queue-jumpers get put in their place.

The young man smiled, and to their astonishment, picked up a piece of chalk and added a line at the bottom of the restaurant’s rules:

“Except for special guests.”

At that moment, a large group emerged from the restaurant: the deaf-mute elder, a host of distinguished silver-haired gentlemen, Chief Inspector Tao, Su Rui, Luo Yuan, Ma Ju, Miaomiao, and many others. Some had grown old, some more mature.

They all smiled and nodded, stepping aside to reveal a stunning woman behind them.

“Li Can, you’re finally home.”

Tears of joy streamed down Weilan’s face. In that instant of tenderness, all the world’s brilliance paled by comparison.

(The End.)