Culinary God in Wilderness

He didn’t go out on any adventures for the next two weeks, instead just gathering firewood around the shelter.

When he got bored, he’d tinker with some handicrafts in the yard, occasionally cook something different, and feed the little guy two meals a day.

He measured the amount he fed it perfectly. An arctic fox is about the same size as a Poodle, and he happened to know exactly how much a Poodle eats.

If he fed the little guy too much, it wouldn’t go out to hunt. Its mind would be filled with nothing but getting free meals, and it would slowly lose its hunting instincts.

This would be fatal for a wild animal, and he couldn’t let a passing interest of his lead to the death of a protected species.

For each meal, he only provided enough meat to get it about half-full. This left the little guy wanting more after it finished eating, in a state of being neither full nor hungry.

’Want more? Fine, go find it yourself.’

’Don’t want to? That’s fine too. Then you can go hungry.’

Going half-full for two or three meals in a row is actually very uncomfortable, especially in a snowy environment that demands high-calorie intake. The animal’s survival instinct would push it to go out and forage.

Not only that, but Lin Chen also discovered the little guy had a peculiar habit.

Every time it came for a free meal, it would bring him a freshly caught lemming—either just killed or half-dead and completely immobilized. In any case, it was always warm to the touch.

As long as it brought a lemming, Lin Chen would give it meat.

If it didn’t bring one, he wouldn’t give in, no matter how much it acted cute.

After a few days of this training, the clever little guy developed a habit. It now knew it had to trade a fresh lemming for some delicious beef.

「Day 56.」

The sky had just begun to lighten, but Lin Chen was already up.

"I spent all day yesterday processing tree bark. Today, I want to try weaving a winnowing basket. It can be used to hold things, for drying, and even for simple filtering tasks. It’s a very common tool in Great Xia, usually made of bamboo."

The bark, which had been stripped, pounded, and soaked overnight, had become exceptionally soft. He used his combat knife to cut it all into long strips about the thickness of two chopsticks, and only then did he begin weaving.

"The technique for making a winnowing basket is actually quite simple. First, you have to establish the spacing by laying out the required number of ’spokes’ horizontally. Then, you weave vertically to connect them all."

"For the vertical weaving, you use an over-and-under pattern. For example, if you go under the first ’spoke,’ then you go over the second one, and so on."

"The second vertical strip follows the exact opposite pattern of the first. All the odd-numbered strips will be the same, and all the even-numbered ones will be the same. The rest is just a matter of patience."

Once the bottom disk was woven, he used a few more strips of bark to finish the edge, placing them at a ninety-degree angle to the base’s rim and weaving the excess ends back in using the same technique.

After securing them, the excess parts were either folded and tucked into the gaps or trimmed off.

In no more than half an hour, a huge, circular winnowing basket nearly a meter in diameter was born.

Besides the winnowing basket, he had also woven several bark baskets of various sizes and made two fish traps during this time, earning about 3 Happiness Points in total.

He also successfully repaired the arrow that had broken earlier. However, because the branch he used had a different weight, the arrow was now a light arrow, only suitable for hunting small animals. It could no longer be used for long-distance shots.

After all, it was handmade without proper tools, so he couldn’t get the shaft perfectly straight. It was only usable within a hundred meters, and even then, it would be slightly off. Within fifty meters, however, its accuracy was good enough to hit whatever he aimed at.

"Lin, we’re here."

He had just walked into the yard to light the torch when Hei’s vehicle pulled to a steady stop outside the fence.

Before anyone even got out, a shout came through the fully lowered window.

"After two weeks of vote counting and gathering feedback from the viewers, we have a new rule change regarding the finals!"

"Oh?"

Hearing the word "finals," Lin Chen’s interest was immediately piqued. He walked over and opened the gate for them.

He’d learned his lesson by now. He had Ariana take an alcohol pad from the first-aid kit to wipe his hands, then the stethoscope, which he then held in his palm to warm it up beforehand.

’Asking this ice queen to warm it in her clothes feels a bit inappropriate.’ While it might not be a big deal for foreigners with their open-minded views, for someone from Great Xia with a more conservative mindset, it was best to avoid such ambiguous actions.

While warming it up, he cooperated with Ariana’s routine medical check-up and cast an inquisitive look at Robert.

"Here’s the thing. Because there’s so much game here in Alaska, there’s almost no chance of starvation. At most, it’s just a question of whether you can eat your fill."

"After observing for a long time, we’ve realized that if things continue like this, all ten of you contestants could probably last eighty or ninety days. Thanks to the carpenter, several contestants have had their shelters reinforced and have also received various convenient tools."

"So, to create a greater sense of urgency for the contestants and to determine a champion, we’ve adopted a few suggestions from viewer polls. These are also some of our show’s more common judging methods."

"First, the viewers will vote for what they believe is the most perfect shelter. The evaluation must be comprehensive, taking into account characteristics like safety, concealment, wind resistance, warmth, and durability."

"Second, we’ll compare the quantity and quality of your game."