Food Captive: Join the chat group Chapter 029

Jewel Meat—a special and precious cut of meat from the legal mammoth, also known as an ancient food treasure.

Jewel Meat is a delicacy that combines the finest shoulder meat, tenderloin, offal, sirloin, and other delicious parts.

It is said to emit a dazzling, jewel-like glow at night.

The legal mammoths in the First Biotope Garden are clones, with a capture level of around 48. Natural legal mammoths, however, roam the Gourmet World, boasting higher capture levels and much larger sizes.

Qin Zhou and his companions boarded IGO’s private helicopter, heading to the First Biotope Garden.

“Komatsu, have you ever been to the First Biotope before?” Toriko asked, while making a special hamburger.

“No, it’s really hard to get a reservation,” Komatsu sighed softly, closing his eyes.

By the time a reservation was secured, he might not have the time to go.

“Komatsu, as the head chef of a five-star hotel under IGO, you actually don’t need a reservation to enter some open tourist areas,” Johannes said.

The First Biotope Garden is located on an isolated island, covering an area of 500, 000 square kilometers, primarily used for researching gourmet creatures.

Arriving tourists have limited access, as many areas are off-limits to outsiders. Visitors mainly go to the Gourmet Colosseum to watch beast battles.

“It’s done! I’ll call it the Toriko Burger.”

A hamburger stacked over thirty layers high sat before Toriko, clearly a gargantuan “mini” burger, a secret recipe of Old Eight.

“Toriko, compared to mine, yours is still a bit lacking.”

Qin Zhou had a forty-layer burger in front of him, even taller than Toriko’s.

“That’s a bit too exaggerated, Mr. Toriko, Mr. Qin Zhou!” Komatsu’s eyes nearly popped out.

Where did this inexplicable desire for comparison come from?

“Haha, I didn’t expect you to enjoy eating like this too! It’s incredibly satisfying. But besides the Devil Serpent meat, yours seems to have other wild beast meats. It looks delicious!”

Toriko laughed, surprised that Qin Zhou was a kindred spirit. Small burgers offered no challenge.

“I still have some small cave mammoth meat that I caught at Cave Beach last time. You can take some if you want.”

Qin Zhou conjured a pair of chopsticks with energy, then skewered the burger from top to bottom, like a kebab, and began to eat heartily.

The tender, bouncy, and fragrant roasted meat, the sweet and sour taste of tomatoes, the crispness of vegetables—the flavors were incredibly rich, and most importantly, deeply satisfying.

Toriko didn’t hesitate, adding a few more layers to match Qin Zhou’s burger. But his eating style was different: he cleanly dislocated his jaw, gently compressed the burger, and demonstrated what it meant to swallow it whole.

Komatsu broke into a sweat. What an exaggerated way to eat! What sane person dislocates their jaw just to eat something?

Qin Zhou’s mouth twitched. He could also dislocate his jaw, but he felt there was no need.

He inexplicably thought of Tom Cat.

The private helicopter landed in front of Gate Six.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Toriko.” Two soldiers saluted sternly when they saw Toriko.

Toriko shook his head helplessly. He had told them countless times not to greet him like that, but they just wouldn’t listen.

“The research facility is huge, so don’t get lost,” Toriko called out.

The tourist entrance wasn’t here. Although the garden was open to the public, only a very small portion was accessible.

Only internal personnel could enter the First Biotope Garden through this passage.

Stepping onto the escalator, a magnificent research facility came into view. All sorts of ingredients moved along conveyor belts, like a massive food production factory. Everything imaginable on the market could be found here, and even things not seen elsewhere were present, fully stocked.

“One-third of the world’s circulating ingredients are produced here. We also frequently improve varieties, those are classified researches,” Johannes explained.

Toriko, hearing this, grumbled a bit, “Are they still doing that? Rich people’s hobbies are truly strange.”

Johannes nodded, saying nothing. None of the Four Heavenly Kings were easy to deal with; with their status, they were all problem children.

Except for Zebra, that overly exaggerated guy who could eat so many species into extinction, the other three were alright, and their troublemaking wasn’t too severe.

“Toriko, IGO’s President Ichiryu isn’t doing this for money. That old man genuinely wants to reduce the number of hungry people. It’s normal to find some aspects hard to accept.” Qin Zhou couldn’t help but shake his head.

Ichiryu was incredibly powerful; there was no gourmet food he couldn’t acquire, yet he ate the most humble dishes. Even his full course menu consisted of ingredients meant to combat human famine, unlike Jirou’s high-level ingredients. Perhaps not as delicious, but the meaning was different.

The relative stability of the Gourmet Age was greatly influenced by the IGO established by Ichiryu. Otherwise, there would be wars everywhere, sparked by food.

Ichiryu, having experienced such things, was dedicated to change. He was indeed a very good old man, powerful yet incredibly approachable.

Toriko, as a Gourmet Hunter, primarily focused on finding gourmet food, so he hadn’t had much contact.

“Is that so? It seems I still don’t understand the old man,” Toriko’s expression was a bit awkward. It seemed he had thought of IGO in too dark a light.

After all, he believed that modifying ingredients was disrespectful to them, among other things.

Speaking of which, it had been a long time since he last saw old man Ichiryu.

After the four of them left the garden to venture out, their contact with IGO had also become minimal. They rarely accepted IGO’s requests, unless there were ingredients they were very interested in; otherwise, they would directly refuse them.

“Qin Zhou, do you know the old man well?” Toriko asked curiously.

“Kind of. My master mentioned him a few times. Though he didn’t explicitly say it, I could feel that Master held Ichiryu in great respect,” Qin Zhou said.

Of course, some of it he learned from the manga. After Midora destroyed the Human World with Meteor Spice, famine descended.

Many people faced the torment of hunger. Ichiryu’s full course menu, after being collected by Toriko and his friends, saved many lives.

Toriko nodded. Jirou, the acupressure master, was very familiar with the old man. It seemed he really hadn’t properly understood IGO before.

He needed to find some time to visit Ichiryu. It had been years since their last meeting. Coincidentally, the Rainbow Fruit wine was almost ready; he could bring it as a gift for Ichiryu.