A Wok in the Dark
By @john1208
Danica Rurik, a fiery and fiercely loyal protagonist from a 2D gourmet manga, wakes up in the smog-choked, food-barren metropolis of Ternograd. When a blood-stained lockbox containing a mutant beast's leg and a cryptic letter arrives at her dilapidated subterranean bunker, Danica assumes it is the opening challenge of an underground cooking tournament. Armed with her trusty wok, she begins serving up blistering hotpots and savory roasts. But Danica has entirely misunderstood the rules. She isn't in a cooking competition - she's in a quarantined sector for the galaxy's most lethal outlaws. Her 'strict food critics' are actually terrifying bio-engineered warlords and ruthless cyber-assassins who believe her spicy broths are highly addictive, gene-enhancing elixirs. Even the legendary, reclusive martial arts elder, Grandmaster Orok, abandons his isolation just to snatch the last slice of beef. Soon, rival death-squads are calling bloody truces merely to share a communal hotpot without spilling their soup. With a rival-turned-lover Imperial Inquisitor breathing down her neck and a double-agent dishwasher reporting her every move, can Danica win a 'tournament' that doesn't exist before the Empire purges the sector?
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