Culinary God in Wilderness

At his words, the courtyard fell silent.

Robert froze on the spot, his big, round eyes wide with disbelief.

He never imagined that the terms they had agreed upon beforehand would have such a loophole. He wanted to argue, but he couldn’t think of a good reason.

On camera, they represented the production team, so they certainly couldn’t go back on their word or make unreasonable demands.

But if it was charged per head, that would mean they’d be out ten kilograms of meat.

That was a whole ten kilograms! If they were frugal, that was enough to last for more than half a month!

Daniel hadn’t expected this either. He was a man who spent his life in the wild; he was only good at wilderness survival. The rest wasn’t his responsibility.

He spread his hands and shrugged. "I told you not to look at me. You’re the one who didn’t negotiate the details with him beforehand."

"Er..."

Robert wiped nonexistent beads of sweat from his forehead, forcing a smile onto his wrinkled face.

"Lin, how about you just make a single portion, and we’ll share a taste?"

"What about the guy up there?"

Lin Chen pointed upward. "If you eat without him, won’t he just abandon you here and fly off on his own?"

"...Good point."

’After so many routine check-ins, I’ve never seen what the pilot actually looks like. He’s not an important person, but once the curiosity surfaced, it just won’t go away.’

"Let me remind you, the five kilograms is the processing fee. But I can only help you prepare one kilogram of food. After all, cooking is physical labor, and I need to conserve enough energy for the upcoming survival challenges."

"One kilogram of meat will shrink to about seven or eight hundred grams after cooking. Let’s say eight hundred. Each person will only get two hundred grams, which is about the size of a palm-sized fried chicken cutlet, or the amount in two fried chicken legs."

"If you have no objections, then we’ll go with that."

"That’s all??"

Hearing that each person would only get an amount of food equivalent to two fried chicken legs, Robert was clearly unhappy. But he couldn’t just tell his colleagues in front of everyone that they couldn’t eat.

’That’s hundreds of kilograms of meat. If we took it back, it’d be enough to feed the entire production crew for a month.’

’If it can be made delicious, who would want to eat something awful?’

’But I can’t refute what Lin Chen said. Increasing a contestant’s workload just to satisfy the production team’s cravings... if word of that got out, our reputations would be ruined. It could even affect the show’s public image.’

After thinking it over and over, he had no choice but to nod with great difficulty.

But he still held out a sliver of hope and asked one more question.

"Lin, would two kilograms be okay?"

Lin Chen stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. As Robert’s eyes grew brighter and brighter with hope, Lin Chen nodded.

"Sure, but not for free. How about this: you give me an extra packet of salt. Salmon are deep-sea fish, so they already have salt in their bodies. There’s no way a contestant would be eliminated for lack of salt, right?"

"Since salt isn’t a critical supply, as a chef, it’s only normal for me to have a bit more salt to prepare food, isn’t it?"

"Deal! It’s settled!"

Lin Chen picked up the pen, circled the three-piece cookware set, and then circled the wok. Beside it, he noted "15," then crossed it out and replaced it with "10 kg."

That came to forty kilograms right there. He still had eleven items left to choose.

"Chili powder, cumin powder, cumin seeds, garlic, light soy sauce, a mix of green and red chili peppers, white sugar..."

He quickly checked off seven common, essential spices and ingredients, and his remaining slots quickly dwindled to just four.

’This is a foreign country, after all,’ he thought. ’Crushed black pepper is a must.’ He checked it off.

"They actually brought chili bean paste? And it’s from Pishan County! Nice, nice. I’ll take it!"

He couldn’t think of anything else he particularly needed for the last two slots, so he used them both to redeem flour.

One portion of flour was only five hundred grams, so two portions barely made up a kilogram. He found this exchange rate acceptable.

’Flour is a carbohydrate, after all. Giving out too much would easily upset the balance.’

Once the ingredients to be exchanged were confirmed, Robert picked up his walkie-talkie. Soon, a black package with a mini-parachute was thrown down from the clifftop.

He untied the parachute cords and lifted the waterproof covering, revealing various ingredients with familiar Chinese labels inside.

"Yep, this is what I asked for. Looks like that supermarket manager actually cooks at home."

He gave a satisfied thumbs-up to the camera, not holding back his praise in the slightest.

For the shrewd Da Xia People, this was basically product placement, so of course they would arrange for the best possible items.

"Alright, what are your requests for lunch? I’ll do my best to accommodate them. Of course, you’ll have to provide the seasonings."

"Which of these meats do you think is the tastiest?"

Robert turned his head to look at Daniel, who answered without hesitation, "The mutton, of course."

"But that’s just based on the fact that I’m not a good cook. Lin might have his own unique opinion."

"Mutton is indeed the tastiest, that’s true," Lin Chen said, not denying it. "I’ve never had wolf meat, so I can’t offer any suggestions. Bear meat has a bit of a gamey taste. However, according to the stories passed down by the elders in Great Xia, the best part is the paw. Because of animal protection laws, I’ve never eaten that either."

"Of course, I kept the bear paws for myself. If you want to eat them, I can sell them to... AHH!!"

As he was speaking, a cold, metal disc suddenly slipped inside his collar, making him yelp in surprise.

"What are you yelling for? It’s not the first time," Ariana said, her fine brows knitting as she shot him a glare. "Move your hand. How am I supposed to listen if you’re blocking your chest?"

"Couldn’t you have given me a heads-up?"

Lin Chen sullenly lowered his arm, letting the cold object move around on his chest.

"I’ll keep that in mind for next time."

Ariana’s rubber-gloved hand fumbled inside his collar for a moment before she pulled it out, pinching that damn metal disc between her fingers.

"How’s your foot? Take off your shoe, I’ll..."

"No need," Lin Chen quickly reached out to stop her. "It’s just a layer of dead skin. It’ll be mostly healed after a couple days’ rest. The scabs on my hands are already starting to fall off. I really don’t have any health problems."

"Alright then."

Putting away the stethoscope and taking off her gloves, Ariana tidied up the first-aid kit and then stood quietly to the side. She didn’t say a word, just watched him calmly, looking as if she were waiting to see him cook.

Robert used his walkie-talkie to ask Hei something, then discussed for a few moments with Daniel and Ariana.

"How about this, Lin. You just cook whatever you think is best. We don’t have any special requests. Whatever seasonings you need, I’ll have Hei bring them down. But let’s be clear, you can’t eat this portion of the food. You’re limited to tasting it for flavor."

"No need to taste it."

Lin Chen waved his hand.

’Since the diners have no requests, I’ll just do a simple barbecue with a few stir-fried dishes. Let them experience the taste of Great Xia.’