"Are you sure?"
Lin Chen suspiciously glanced at the man a few times.
Having been in Romantic Country for many years, he had never seen a foreigner who could handle spicy food; at best, they only reached the level of mild spiciness from Great Xia's south.
Lin Chen's question instantly ignited Meng Qi's competitive spirit. He furrowed his brows and stared seriously at Lin Chen.
"I'm sure! If your chili can make me sweat, I'll bring at least ten friends tomorrow to buy your food!"
"Alright, alright, you said it yourself!"
Lin Chen became excited too, as a fledgling food stall owner, he lacked returning customers and consistent traffic.
Since Sister Haofang wasn't around today, if he wanted to achieve 200 positive reviews, he had to promote even harder.
He picked up a spoon and stirred the chili oil a few times, mixing the floating red oil with the chili settled at the bottom.
The chili oil was mainly fragrant, not particularly spicy, but the crushed chili settled at the bottom was mixed with chili seeds, which contributed to most of the spiciness.
He mercilessly scooped a full spoon of chili into the bowl, followed by two spoons of red oil, hesitated for a moment, then saw the guy looking smug, and added another spoon of chili.
But that wasn't all; he added five spoons of fresh bird's eye chilies, stabbing vigorously with the spoon a dozen times to fully release the spiciness, then mixed it well with various sauces, forming a bowl of dark red, rich sauce.
Finally, he poured in various vegetables to stir together.
The resulting salad was visually striking, with colors several shades redder than others' bowls, the crushed chilies and bird's eye chilies densely distributed among the vegetable shreds, almost impossible to pick out individually.
Even Lin Chen, who frequently ate extra spicy food, felt a bit overwhelmed looking at this salad.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle it, but he feared the guy might end up in the hospital after eating it.
"Uh... how about I make you another one?"
After saying so, he reached for the takeout box.
"??"
Meng Qi's expression changed, and he pressed down on Lin Chen's hand, "What are you doing, looking down on me?"
Lucas, who had been watching, jumped in with perfect timing, holding up his phone recording.
"This is one of the spiciest dishes from one of the spiciest cities in Great Xia, even the locals might not manage it, are you sure you want to challenge it? What if your stomach hurts?"
"Then it means I'm weak! A man can't say no!"
Meng Qi seemed determined to take on the challenge. He tiptoed and reached out to grab the salad from Lin Chen's hands.
Caught on camera, Lin Chen didn't mind, instinctively glancing at Lucas, who was winking at him.
"Don't bother with him, this foreigner has no self-awareness and needs a lesson, let him eat it, it's not us who'll suffer later."
Hmm, hearing that, it seemed like this kid had learned his lesson in Great Xia quite a few times.
Hearing that this chili salad was one of the spiciest dishes in Great Xia, Meng Qi's competitive spirit flared up instantly.
He rolled up his sleeves and took a deep breath.
"Cough, cough... cough cough..."
He hadn't even eaten yet and was already choked by the scent of the chilies.
His expression changed slightly, suddenly feeling a bit anxious.
"Here we go, this contestant is going to challenge Great Xia's chilies, if he finishes without drinking water, he'll get free meals for life!"
"?!"
"???"
Lin Chen and Meng Qi were both dumbfounded, looking at Lucas who shouted at the top of his lungs.
How come we weren't aware of this??
Hearing about a spicy food challenge, pedestrians stopped to watch.
"Great Xia's chilies? Never tried them, are they spicy?"
"I don't know, but I had spicy rice cakes from that pickled veggies street food cart over there, it was sweet and spicy, two bites and I downed a bottle of cold milk."
Jiang Shuqi's Sichuan and Chongqing friend scoffed dismissively, "Spicy rice cakes are child's play, elementary students in Mountain City eat that as snacks."
"???"
"What's Mountain City, a city in Great Xia? They can eat that spicy??"
"I don't believe it, it's just boasting, right?"
"No way elementary students can eat that spicy, even we adults can't handle it. I bet one euro she's lying."
Seeing things getting lively, Boss Brazil also came down from his food truck to spectate, which Meng Qi noticed.
"Hey bro! You tried it before, was his chili spicy?"
"Me?"
The boss of Brazil looked around, as if checking if someone was addressing him?
"It's manageable, the spiciness is acceptable, spicier than most restaurants though."
Saying this, he glanced at the salad in Meng Qi's hand drowning in chili, twitching slightly at the corner of his mouth.
"But yours..."
"Doesn't seem that spicy then!"
Meng Qi instantly gained confidence, completely ignoring what the boss said after, picking up a cucumber and bean sprout with chopsticks and put them into his mouth.
Cucumber, after all, is crispy and sweet, no matter how much chili it's covered in, how spicy could it really get...
Before he could chew, as soon as his tongue touched the cucumber shreds, he felt like getting stung by a bee, his tongue going numb instantly.
As the chili oil mixed with sauce flowed in his mouth, it was like molten lava, causing tears to stream down his face.
"Hey bro, don't push it, don't fight your body!"
Lucas laughed wickedly, winking at him: "Great Xia people are great with spicy food, you can't compete!"
Within just three or four seconds, sweat covered Meng Qi's forehead, his eyes and lips turned red.
But he gritted his teeth: "Not spicy! Not spicy at all!"
Waving his hand, he forced a few chews before managing to swallow it down.
His expression twisted immediately, feeling as if a flame was burning his esophagus, moving down to his stomach, causing cramps.
"Alright, alright, no need to put up a front anymore, if you take a couple more bites you'll end up in the hospital, go drink some sweet milk, be good!"
Zhang Ya couldn't bear to watch any longer. What pride is there in this? She directly snatched the salad from the man's hand, sniffing curiously.
It didn't seem that spicy, wasn't it just medium spicy from Sichuan and Chongqing?
Her French wasn't great, so she used English, but from her appearance and tone, it was easy to tell she was from Great Xia.
Because this was a Great Xia food cart.
"Is it really that spicy? I don't believe it, can I try a bit?"
A curious onlooker volunteered, Lucas immediately grabbed a handful of disposable chopsticks, rushed over and took the salad from Zhang Ya's hand, handing it over.
"Try it! If anyone can handle this spice level, the bet still holds!"
The man skeptically picked up two cucumber shreds, tasted them, and his face changed instantly, spitting it onto the ground.
"Ugh, this thing is edible? Absolutely impossible!"
Seven or eight more challengers tried, unsurprisingly all failed, unable to even swallow it.
Zhang Ya, unable to contain her curiosity, took a pair of chopsticks to try out how spicy it really was.
Her actions caught everyone's eyes, they were all waiting for a joke.
Those who had tried knew, this was not something humans could handle...
"It's not spicy at all?"
Zhang Ya tilted her head in confusion, took another bite, chewing on it without even turning red in the face, turned to her friend.
"Shuqi, wanna try? It's medium spicy, I think you can handle it too."