The red tent was brightly lit.
The scene of over a hundred contestants frantically eating hot dogs simultaneously still appeared quite spectacular.
Numerous spectators flocked to the stages of the various viral eating stars, either taking photos or filming, with hardly anyone paying attention to the other contestants.
The area in front of Lu Li's stage could be described as deserted.
But he didn't pay much attention to this.
Lu Li, like a starving ghost reincarnated, was shoveling not-so-large hot dogs into his mouth with both hands.
"Hungry! I'm starving!"
Not having replenished any food all afternoon, the hunger emanating from his stomach almost transformed him into a glutton.
Lu Li couldn't bother with savoring the taste of the hot dogs, swallowing one down every few bites.
He was immersed in the satisfying pleasure of gulping down food.
However, Xiaoqing, standing motionless, was dumbfounded!
As the host announced the start of the competition, Xiaoqing watched Lu Li pick up a hot dog and swallow it in just a couple of seconds.
And that was not all; Lu Li hadn't entirely swallowed the first hot dog yet.
Xiaoqing saw him stuff another one into his mouth.
No method,
just pure eating.
Unlike the other eating champs who separated the buns and sausages.
But it was precisely this haphazard eating style that, after a brief pause, Xiaoqing observed Lu Li swallowing three to four hot dogs.
She looked up at the timer, bewildered, realizing only twenty seconds had passed since the start.
Three or four hot dogs in twenty seconds?
What are you, a reincarnated starving ghost!
Xiaoqing looked at Lu Li with astonishment.
She never anticipated that the handsome, slender Xiaolu in front of her could eat so fast.
Of course, it's just the early stage of the competition, so eating fast is normal.
The real question is whether he can maintain this speed until the end of the competition.
So while Xiaoqing was amazed at Lu Li's fast eating, she didn't really think he stood a chance against the eating champions for the crown.
Unfortunately, this thought didn't last long.
In the subsequent three minutes, not only did Lu Li's hot dog eating speed not slow down, it seemed to get even faster.
Two!
Five!
Ten!
In just three minutes, Xiaoqing watched as the hot dog plate in front of Lu Li dwindled significantly!
Though she didn't have exact numbers, a conservative estimate would be that Lu Li ate at least eight to nine hot dogs per minute!
Xiaoqing: "..."
She couldn't help but internally remark, "Are you even human?"
Perhaps Lu Li's performance was too dazzling.
The attention of some people nearby was drawn over.
A middle-aged man in a jacket had passed a casual glance over initially.
He had looked past Lu Li's stage and then suddenly focused back on it.
The middle-aged man only saw Lu Li's mouth resembling an abyss, continuously stuffing hot dogs in.
In a blink, a hot dog vanished into Lu Li's mouth.
He thought he was seeing things, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
And then...
During that brief eye-rubbing moment, Lu Li had stuffed another two or three hot dogs into his mouth.
The middle-aged man was dumbfounded, staring at Lu Li without blinking while patting the middle-aged woman beside him, "Honey, look! Look!"
The middle-aged woman was cheering on their son who participated in the competition.
Seeing her husband pat her sleeve, she turned her head with a bit of annoyance, "Look at what... Whoa!"
The middle-aged woman who just turned around saw Lu Li devouring hot dogs with both hands and was instantly shocked.
In just a brief moment, Lu Li had gulped down two hot dogs!
And that wasn't all; every time a hot dog was stuffed into his mouth, with the other hand, another hot dog was ready to be consumed.
The middle-aged woman was seeing stars, internally echoing Xiaoqing's thought.
Is this something a human could do?
Thus, Xiaoqing and the middle-aged couple were all left dumbfounded!
...
On the other side.
"The Big Stomach Immortal can really eat!"
"Pan Er Fen is incredible too, four or five minutes into the match, and he's eaten twenty or thirty hot dogs, right?"
"Amazing, amazing, they live up to the eating champ title!"
A big crowd gathered around the stages of several viral eating champs, with applause and admiration echoing incessantly.
Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, Xiaozhao, and others were also mingling in the crowd filming, occasionally joining the cheers like everyone else.
The few viral eating champs put on such an impressive display that Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, and Xiaozhao momentarily forgot they were originally there to support Lu Li.
"Damn!"
"How can he eat at that speed?"
"Jeez, it's truly terrifying!"
Just then, a few exclamations of surprise came from not far away.
What's all the commotion about?
Could someone actually eat better than these competitive eaters?
Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, Xiaozhao, and other unrelated audience members all instinctively looked towards the source of the exclamations, unsure of what was happening.
Perhaps it was because they were just too curious.
Brother Cheng blinked and said, "What's going on over there?"
Women tend to be more gossip-oriented, and Xiaomei's curiosity was piqued.
She volunteered, "Why don't we go have a look?"
"Let's go, take a look."
"I really don't believe anyone can out-eat Big Stomach Immortal, Pan Er Fen, and the others."
A group of people marched towards the direction where the cries of surprise kept coming.
Soon, Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, Xiaozhao, and a dozen of Lu Li's colleagues came to the scene.
There were quite a few people there, packed in layers, making it hard for them to squeeze in.
Fortunately, Xiaozhao was taller and managed to see what was going on inside by standing on tiptoe.
It was better that he didn't look.
When he did, Xiaozhao's entire face turned to astonishment visibly.
His finger trembled as he pointed at the stage inside the red tent, and in a horrified tone said, "Xiaolu! It's Xiaolu he..."
Xiaolu?
What's wrong with Xiaolu?
Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, and the others felt a pang in their hearts.
They thought Lu Li had eaten too much and fainted!
This group of colleagues was worried and tried to squeeze inside to help Lu Li immediately.
As soon as they squeezed in, they were met with a terrifying scene!
They saw that the plate of hotdogs in front of Lu Li on the stage was already empty.
The staff placed another full plate of hotdogs in front of him!
Brother Cheng: "..."
Xiaomei: "..."
The others: "..."
They were all scared witless.
Everyone wasn't just there to watch the competition; they obviously knew how many hotdogs a plate roughly held.
It was piled like a small mountain.
Maybe not a hundred or eighty.
But at least dozens.
And now, only seven or eight minutes into the contest, Xiaolu had finished one large plate of hotdogs?
What the heck!
Are you really human?
Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, and Xiaozhao were completely dumbfounded!
It wasn't just Lu Li's colleagues.
Other spectators were also looking in shock at Lu Li, who was still devouring hotdogs eagerly.
Some of them had arrived earlier than Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, and the others and had seen even more.
These one or two hundred spectators watched Lu Li gobble down a whole plate of hotdogs in such a short time!
Although the exact numbers would be calculated after the competition, nobody knew how many Lu Li had eaten, but most contestants couldn't finish a plate of hotdogs!
What does this represent?
It means that Lu Li's speed in eating hotdogs is far ahead!
Sure enough, many gathered here and didn't care much about the status of the other contestants, but Lu Li's act of finishing a plate of hotdogs in about eight or nine minutes left many speechless.
If they hadn't watched the whole time, many would doubt whether Lu Li was cheating.
Like those tricks some competitive eating influencers use—eating half, spitting half.
But since the underside of the stage table was empty, cheating was impossible!
This meant this skinny-looking young guy really had a monstrous appetite!
In the stunned eyes of one or two hundred people, in the following one or two minutes, the stack of hotdogs on the plate in front of Lu Li once again lowered significantly.
Some people were initially startled and shocked, but now they couldn't utter a single word!
Finally, the host checked the time and loudly announced, "Time's up, everyone please stop!"
All the contestants stopped.
Some sat there continuously rubbing their stomachs, seeming overstuffed.
Others, as soon as the contest ended, quickly reached for their throats and "blegh," spat out the hotdogs they had just eaten.
Even those competitive eating influencers did almost the same.
Everyone understood the contestants' actions.
After all, how could you feel comfortable after eating so much in ten minutes?
Yet, as contestants were seeking ways to provoke vomiting and rubbing their bellies, while the audience was sympathetic—
A soft voice rang out, "Um, host, I'm not full yet. Can I have a few more hotdogs?"
On hearing this, everyone immediately turned to look at the source of the voice.
The person speaking was none other than Lu Li, the one who had eaten just over a large plate of hotdogs in the past ten minutes!
What the heck!
You just ate at least dozens of hotdogs and still say you're not full?
Brother Cheng, Xiaoqing, Xiaomei, and everyone else almost fainted.