Culinary God in Wilderness

"In comparison, a human’s knife is much sharper. The moment the blade slices through, they won’t feel any pain. At most, they’ll feel a chill on their neck and a bit of dizziness, and that’s it."

"If you ask me how I know this... you’re better off asking a butcher. It’s not a chef’s business."

Tossing the ice-cold spruce grouse into his back basket, he returned to the riverbank to wash the bloodstains from his arrow and glanced at the gillnet at the bottom of the river.

In just a few short minutes, two unlucky souls had already thrown themselves into the net.

Fish don’t have brains as sophisticated as mammals. This is especially true for salmon during their migration, whose bodies are completely controlled by instinct, thinking only of moving forward, forward, and forward.

When blocked by the gillnet, they just think they’ve hit an obstacle. As they struggle, their scales get snagged on the net’s lines, or they get stuck on the spot while trying to push through.

He used to watch shows and wonder how you could catch fish just by putting a net in the water. Only now did he fully understand the principle behind it.

Unlike Red Salmon, Alaska King Salmon are deep-sea fish, which means they can be eaten raw. The safety factor is much, much higher than for Red Salmon, which aren’t deep-sea fish.

He hauled the two King Salmon ashore, plunged his knife into their brains, and deftly gutted them, tossing all the entrails back into the river.

"When King Salmon migrate, their bodies don’t change color, but they do secrete cortisol. This stuff can’t be metabolized by their internal organs, which leads to rot. That’s why you can’t eat the entrails of migrating King Salmon, and it’s also why they die after spawning."

After washing it clean, he selected the fattiest part of the belly, cut off a slice, and pulled it away from the skin.

The fat lines in the winter King Salmon were incredibly distinct. Thick white stripes were interspersed regularly between the orange-red flesh. Just looking at it was enough to make him gulp.

The instant the cool fish touched the tip of his tongue, a rich layer of oil spread out. The unique, fatty aroma of the salmon made him close his eyes in blissful enjoyment.

With a gentle press of his tongue, the fatty flesh melted on the spot like butter.

This texture, like eating slow-braised pork belly that had melted down, was simply beyond description.

It didn’t have the gamy, fishy taste of bear fat, nor the muttony flavor of lamb fat. It was just pure, fragrant goodness!

If he had to name a downside, it would be the lack of wasabi and soy sauce.

The taste of fresh wasabi isn’t as pungent as the green-tubed stuff people are familiar with. That stuff is actually horseradish, a completely different thing.

Fresh wasabi only has about a third of the pungency of horseradish, and its overall flavor profile is sweeter. When paired with a sashimi soy sauce simmered with kombu and bonito flakes, it can bring out the ultimate freshness of the raw fish while also cutting through the richness of the fat.

As he was savoring this ultimate winter delicacy, the long-awaited sound of a helicopter engine finally reached his ears.

He looked up.

A black dot grew larger as it approached, flying past overhead and heading straight for the location of Andre’s shelter.

He understood. Robert was telling him it was time to head back to the shelter. He was next.

’That guy’s actually pretty considerate. He knows how to arrange the order of the physicals based on the contestants’ schedules.’

The production crew definitely knew about his arrangement with Andre. By going to Andre first and then him, they could save time for both of them.

"That’s about it. The main goal for today was to retrieve the gillnet anyway. With these two King Salmon, lunch can be a little more varied."

He couldn’t be bothered whether Andre wanted to eat it or not; he was definitely going to eat it himself.

’What should I redeem later...’

He casually tossed the two King Salmon into his back basket, then detached the gillnet from the wood, rolled it up, and put it in the basket as well.

Just as he stood up, he had a strange feeling, as if something was watching him.

’Could it be a Yukon Wolf?!’

Startled, he instinctively gripped the handle of his Engineer Shovel and scanned his surroundings warily.

Not far away, on the opposite bank of the river, a huge deer with brownish-tan fur and long, branching antlers like tree branches was watching him cautiously.

Seeing that he had been spotted, the creature let out a strange, long call. It kept its eyes on him as it slowly lowered its head and began to lap at the river’s edge.

’Those antlers...’

Lin Chen’s attention was fixed on the pair of antlers.

’They’re not palm-shaped, so it’s not a moose. Reindeer don’t seem to get this big, and they live within the Arctic Circle. This place is a little too far south for them, though they probably start to wander around looking for food after it snows.’

’The underside of its tail doesn’t have white fluff, so it’s not a white-tailed deer either. Andre said white-tailed deer are smaller and more agile.’

After ruling out the options one by one, only one name remained in his mind.

’Alaska elk.’

’Yes, that’s it. It has the build of a horse, sharp, branching antlers like tree branches, and a broad, black nose. It looks a bit dopey. It’s an elk, no doubt.’

’Looks like the other side is home to quite a few deer habitats. Moose, elk, brown bears, and Musk Ox... why do I only have small animals over here?’

He tilted his head and thought for a moment. It was probably because his side was the territory of the Yukon Wolf Pack. The large herbivores didn’t dare to come over, leaving only these smaller creatures.

Although brown bears also eat meat, in winter, they prefer to prey on salmon. Once they’ve eaten their fill, they go back to hibernate and pose almost no threat to other species.

Their truly dangerous period is in mid-to-late spring, the season when everything comes back to life. Brown bears’ weight plummets after they wake from hibernation. What’s more, some females even wake up mid-hibernation to give birth, then go right back to sleep.

This behavior means they need to replenish a massive amount of nutrients after hibernation ends. Combined with having cubs to protect, that’s when they are at their most ferocious.

’I wonder what happened with that Musk Ox Andre proposed we hunt. Seeing as he came to me for help, he probably can’t handle it alone... I also wonder if I could take one on by myself at my current level.’

After taking a few long looks at the big creature across the river, he didn’t linger. He shouldered his heavy pack and turned to head back the way he came.

He had only been lingering by the river for about half an hour, but the tracks he’d left earlier were already more than one-fifth covered by new snow.

At a rough estimate, the tracks would disappear in about two hours.

’Looks like if I want to go out in the future, it’s best to get everything done in one trip. Either that, or don’t let more than an hour pass between trips, otherwise it’ll be easy to lose my way.’

Getting lost in a snowstorm is a serious matter. Prolonged exposure to low temperatures—it doesn’t take long, just a few hours—and a person’s consciousness will slowly fade, and their body will go numb.

Just as he got back near his shelter, the familiar engine sound rapidly approached from a distance, finally descending slowly at its usual spot on the clifftop.

As the helicopter descended, huge clouds of snow-mist were blown away, scattering everywhere like flour.

Tsk.

Lin Chen furrowed his brow, a flicker of dissatisfaction in his eyes.

’These guys, they’re blowing dirt and sand into my yard! Aren’t they deliberately contaminating my water source!’