Within the dazzling, illusory maze of mirages, two tall figures were currently walking.
Although the Mirage Maze made it almost impossible to distinguish reality from illusion with the naked eye, as long as one possessed sensory abilities, the maze was merely a slightly difficult path to navigate.
"How is it? Zebra, have you found Komatsu?"
After Toriko defeated the attacking desert beasts, he asked Zebra anxiously. Just moments ago, the two of them had been separated from Komatsu.
When the three entered the Red Desert, whether by bad luck or good, quicksand suddenly appeared, swallowing Komatsu and the two camels.
Accompanying the quicksand were various beasts that attacked the two of them without hesitation the moment they were spotted.
Thus, Toriko had to defeat the incoming beasts while Zebra used his Sonar Map to search for Komatsu, who had been swept away by the quicksand.
Zebra could use sound wave echoes to locate things like a bat, constructing a 3D map in his mind. This ability not only allowed him to see through the Mirage Maze completely but also made it easy to find objects.
Currently, his map's maximum range was around seventy thousand meters, during which he could not use any other sound wave abilities.
As the Sonar Map expanded, everything within seventy thousand meters surfaced in Zebra's mind. After distinguishing all life forms, he spoke intermittently.
"Found him. The quicksand took him quite a distance away. Besides that, I've discovered the traces of two other people. They've only just entered the Mirage Maze now; they're really getting ahead of themselves."
"In the quicksand? Is Komatsu still alive?" Toriko asked immediately.
"He's still alive for now."
Upon hearing that Komatsu was still alive, Toriko finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he react to Zebra's subsequent words.
"Two other people... the ones you heard in the Valley of Dust? Didn't they enter the Desert Garden long ago? Where are they now?"
"The sound frequency is identical; it's them. They've only just entered the Mirage Maze, and their goal seems to be the Gourmet Pyramid as well," Zebra said in his raspy voice, then looked seriously at Toriko.
"Now it's up to you to decide, Toriko. Shall we head for the Gourmet Pyramid a step ahead of them? Or go find that brat?"
Regarding this question that seemingly offered two choices, Toriko grinned and said without the slightest hesitation.
"Is there even a choice? Of course we're going to find Komatsu."
Receiving this expected answer, Zebra grinned ferociously. "Then follow me quickly. If we don't hurry, that brat will get further and further away from us."
With that, Zebra turned and walked deeper into the Mirage Maze, and Toriko followed in a hurry... On the other side, at the entrance of the maze.
"Oh? We've been discovered. Those sound waves are really something," Zombie Xia Yu said, shaking his body with some discomfort.
He had just activated his Divine Sense, which was why he felt uncomfortable. Once Divine Sense was active, not only could he clearly perceive everything around him, but his physical sensations would also be infinitely magnified. The almost imperceptible sound wave bounce felt like an electric current sweeping over him.
"It should be Zebra." A projection lit up on Gourmet Xia Yu's wristwatch. "His ability is sound waves, and he has a Sonar Map that's practically cheating, with a diameter range of seventy thousand meters."
"That really is impressive, even though our Divine Sense exceeded that range long ago," Zombie Xia Yu said as he retracted his Divine Sense.
The moment the sound waves swept over him, he had expanded his Divine Sense range and discovered Toriko, Zebra, and Komatsu, who was trapped in the underground quicksand.
One had to admit, Komatsu's Food Luck was truly heaven-defying. After being sucked underground by the quicksand, not only was he unharmed, but his entire body was sliding toward the Gourmet Pyramid.
He completely avoided the scorching sun on the surface and the attacks of beasts. Without even having to expend energy walking, he was already nearing the Gourmet Pyramid.
Knowing the plot, Xia Yu even knew that Komatsu would inevitably enter the interior of the Gourmet Pyramid and then, with extreme luck, obtain the Ancient Recipe Cookbook.
True protagonist treatment—it was as if the world's consciousness was forcibly stuffing all the benefits obtainable at this stage into his hands, and they were the kind he couldn't even throw away.
Even though Komatsu died twice in total across the early and late stages, he could be resurrected for various reasons.
"What is unattainable is always in a state of unrest; those who are favored have nothing to fear," Zombie Xia Yu suddenly sighed.
Though Komatsu had no idea he was being favored, perhaps it was precisely because of his sincere heart for cooking that the world favored him so much. After all, this was a gourmet world.
"The red of the rose, a dream easily hurt~ Held in the hand but slipping through the fingers~ Failing again~~"
"..."
Zombie Xia Yu turned his head to look at Gourmet Xia Yu, who had suddenly started singing. He was speechless. It was one thing to sing, but why did it sound so terrible?
"Why are you looking at me like that? Didn't you start it?" Gourmet Xia Yu scratched his head, somewhat puzzled. He was just continuing from the other's lyrics; was that not allowed?
"...It's nothing. Keep singing."
Zombie Xia Yu turned back, unable to bear looking. He felt like the group was about to gain another idiot. Tsk, why couldn't more steady versions of him show up?
Could it be that the essence of Xia Yu was an idiot? Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Zombie Xia Yu couldn't help but shake his head to toss out this terrifying conjecture. He couldn't think about it, or he felt he would gradually be infected too.
As the two advanced, the Gourmet Pyramid drew closer and closer to them.
Although beasts occasionally attacked from the surroundings, they only made The Xia Yus pause for a moment. Those that could be eaten were collected directly, while those that couldn't were casually knocked unconscious... On the other side, with Toriko and Zebra.
The two followed Komatsu's sliding path, chasing without a moment's rest. Because of Zebra's Sonar Map, there was no risk of losing the trail.
However, the Red Desert, with surface temperatures near 90 degrees, left the two nearly exhausted. Fortunately, special desert creatures occasionally appeared, allowing them to hunt and eat to replenish their energy and continue forward.
"If Komatsu is still safe and sound now, his luck might actually be super good. After all, with his constitution, it would be hard to endure this intense heat," Toriko couldn't help but remark after adapting to the scorching climate.
He was able to adapt to this temperature quickly because of his gourmet cells. Given Komatsu's constitution, he likely would have fainted from heatstroke long ago.
"Heh, that brat might really have some heaven-defying luck," Zebra said, sensing the giant structure ahead. "It's as if that brat was heading there from the very beginning. Could it be he has a talent for being close to ingredients?"
As he spoke, Zebra crested a desert dune and pointed ahead, exclaiming, "In order not to lose that brat, we searched all the way here, and this is where we ended up."
Hearing Zebra say this, Toriko couldn't help but quicken his pace and then leaped over the dune as well.
"Ohhh!!"
Appearing before his eyes was a polyhedron five hundred meters high. Unlike a normal pyramid, this pyramid had a total of eight sides.
"Is this the Gourmet Pyramid!!"
Looking at the massive structure before him, Toriko couldn't help but cry out in surprise, then leaped down to the base of the pyramid.
"This is only a tiny part of the pyramid, just the tip of the iceberg."
Zebra, with his echo map, could easily detect that the pyramid in front of them was definitely not just what was exposed. But as the map in his mind took shape, his expression gradually turned to shock.
What... is this?
A giant castle far exceeding his understanding appeared in his mind. It was a massive castle that could never have been built by human hands.
The so-called Gourmet Pyramid was merely the highest spire of the castle, and this slightly exposed spire already reached over five hundred meters.
"We have to hurry, Toriko. The brat has been washed into the lowest level of the pyramid's interior," Zebra said in a raspy voice as he walked toward a crack entrance at the spire.
"It's incredibly large inside, and there are countless strange, restless shadows."
There was one more thing Zebra didn't say: those two people who had appeared on his Sonar Map had already reached the other side of the pyramid.
Now they not only had to find the Cola before the others but also find Komatsu, who had accidentally entered the pyramid, ahead of time. However, his stamina was nearly at its limit.
He hoped there would be enough prey inside the pyramid for him to replenish his strength... Meanwhile, at the other end of the Gourmet Pyramid.
"What a coincidence. I didn't expect that even without taking the same path as them, we'd arrive at the same time."
Zombie Xia Yu sighed as he looked at the massive pyramid before him. At the same time, under the detection of his Divine Sense, the castle beneath the spire was completely revealed to him.
This was definitely not something built by human hands, especially not a thousand years ago. However, he did know who the builders were: the Nitro.
Traces of creatures like the Nitro had appeared on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, and well-preserved fossils proved their existence.
This species had extremely strong vitality and a very hearty appetite. Even if food was lost or the environment of their habitat deteriorated, they could enter a non-metabolic dormant state called Cryptobiosis, sleeping for thousands of years.
Just like the Trisolarans in a science fiction novel Xia Yu had once read, they could temporarily survive in a dehydrated state and revive once they came into contact with water.
But the Nitro were even more powerful than Trisolarans, and their vitality was even more vigorous.
The Gourmet Pyramid was a ruin of the Nitro's former civilization, and it still contained many Nitro groups surviving in a state of Cryptobiosis.
Unfortunately, The Xia Yus were currently unable to take high-intelligence humanoid creatures away from their original worlds; they could only take some small creatures with low intelligence for now.
Thinking of this, Zombie Xia Yu opened the Chat Group camera and took a commemorative photo. While taking the photo, he couldn't help but sigh. If only they had a'Sign-in to Become a God' system.
He hoped the next Xia Yu to join the group would have a sign-in system; even a slightly inferior 'Check-in' system would do. He wouldn't be picky.