Culinary God in Wilderness

"Bacon has been popular in North America for five or six hundred years, and Europeans have been eating beef for over a thousand years. With so many Michelin-starred chefs in Europe, why have I never heard of this method for rendering animal fat?"

"I’ve never heard of it either. We bake bacon all the time at my house, and it never occurred to me that the grease in the pan could be collected and reused. We just throw it away with the parchment paper."

"I can explain that. I studied abroad in Great Xia. Historically, cattle were important farm animals. They have less fat than pigs, relatively speaking, so they weren’t slaughtered for food. Before the Industrial Revolution, cattle were valuable to us for plowing fields, too."

"And Great Xia is located further south than North America, so its climate is hotter and more humid. Before refrigerators, food preservation was a challenge. This led to the invention of bacon in Europe and cured meats in East Asia. People also discovered that rendering pork fat into lard allowed it to be stored for much longer. Plus, adding lard to dishes makes them more fragrant, which is the same principle as Western restaurants using butter in their cooking."

While the chat box was buzzing with excitement, Robert, who had been sound asleep on his wooden plank bed, was shaken awake. He groggily pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes.

"Wh-what... What’s going on...? What happened... What time is it?"

Daniel held a tablet out in front of him, pointing at the rapidly scrolling chat box on the screen and the glistening, tempting fried steak.

Robert stared blankly at Daniel. His gaze followed Daniel’s finger to the screen, where someone was picking up a strip of fried steak and chewing it. Then, his eyes shifted to the chat room on the side.

"Wait a minute!"

He held up a hand and shook his head sharply.

"Lin is using a strategic resource like that to fry steak for Andre? Has he gone insane?"

When the production team first saw Lin Chen rendering beef tallow, they had a feeling it would go viral.

Sure enough, when the full twenty-kilogram pot of beef tallow appeared, they were practically ready to write Lin Chen’s name on the winner’s check.

But on second thought, Andre had a Musk Ox too, so the outcome was still up in the air.

The rendered beef tallow was visually impressive, sure, but it wasn’t fundamentally different from eating beef fat directly. It was just consuming oil, plain and simple.

But for Lin to use it to treat Andre was basically giving away his own lifeline. That was the part he just couldn’t wrap his head around.

It wasn’t just him; the other members of the production team were also completely baffled. Only Ariana stared thoughtfully at the screen from a distance, lost in thought.

"I can’t figure it out either. But if you just run the numbers, there’s no way to eat that much tallow. Consuming a hundred grams a day, by day one hundred, he’ll have only used less than four kilograms. Maybe that’s why he thinks it’s no big deal?"

Hei suddenly chimed in, "Hey, do you guys think it’s possible that Lin will become the first contestant in the show’s history to gain a ton of weight in the final stretch?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Highly likely."

After a long silence, Robert’s lip twitched. He rolled his eyes speechlessly and wriggled back into his sleeping bag.

"I’m going back to sleep. Don’t bother me unless it’s important."

...

After eating two large pieces of fried steak and an entire beef tart, Andre let out a long, satisfied sigh and patted his round belly.

"I must be the happiest contestant on the show, right? Those poor saps won’t even get a single bite of delicious food by the end."

Lin Chen simply smiled without a word and began to prepare his own breakfast.

Watching Lin Chen’s busy, focused movements, Andre suddenly asked.

"Lin, do you know what qualities and skills a professional Hunter needs?"

"A strong physique, expert archery skills, and a thorough knowledge of flora, fauna, and geography?"

"Yes, and no."

Andre nodded, then shook his head.

"What you mentioned are the basics—skills that every Hunter must possess. But a true, professional Hunter’s purpose isn’t just about hunting. It’s about protecting."

"Hunters can only survive under nature’s protection, so it’s our duty to protect the forest environment and its wildlife. That’s especially true when it comes to driving out illegal poachers."

"It was great meeting you, Lin. After the show is over, I’ll come to your stall to try some real Great Xia cuisine."

After saying this, Andre stood up and walked straight out the door.

Lin Chen didn’t move. He replied in a low voice.

"I’ll be waiting."

After leaving Lin Chen’s shelter, Andre’s mood inexplicably lightened, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He crossed the familiar forest, walked over the frozen river, and made his way back to his own shelter.

He opened the door to his storage room, then proceeded to dismantle the door itself. He piled all the meat and food he had accumulated over the past days onto it, until it could hold no more.

He knocked down a wooden wall, used the salvaged paracord to tie it to the door slab, and began dragging the heavy load of food toward the river.

He spent the better part of the day hauling all the food and piling it up in the storeroom. Then, without a backward glance, he returned to his own shelter.

Swinging the Engineer Axe with abandon, he brought the sturdy log cabin crashing down under the beautiful night-time glow of the aurora.

He patiently gathered all the modern items from the ruins—the paracord, steel wire fishing line, cookware set, and so on. After wrapping them in a waterproof tarp, he buried them in the dugout fire pit. He did his best to restore the site to its original condition, just as it was before he arrived.

Gazing at the scattered logs and spruce branches, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and plopped down onto a stump, holding the camera in his hands.

"Ever since I was a child, my father taught me that a proper Hunter must not kill wantonly. You can hunt to survive, but you must never harm wildlife for your own benefit."

"I believe my family will support my choice. It’s just... I might have to disappoint the viewers who have been following me."

"I, Andre, withdraw from the competition!"