Culinary God in Wilderness

Andre had to admit, Lin Chen’s proposal was incredibly tempting.

Although they hadn’t known each other long, as a Professional Hunter, he could tell who was worth befriending and who to stay away from.

And Lin Chen was the kind of person you wanted as a friend.

"I’ll admit, your proposal sounds great. If it were possible, I’d love to compete against you again. But Mia needs surgery as soon as possible. I have to raise the money within a month, so there’s no way I can make it to the competition."

For two guys at their level, a competition would take at least two months from the start. Factoring in the one-month prep period, he couldn’t risk letting his wife’s health wait for an entire quarter.

Lin Chen glanced at Mia, then at Andre. Just as he was hesitating, Mia smiled with a look of understanding and said softly, "You’re wondering what’s wrong with me, aren’t you?"

"It’s nothing too serious. It’s mainly long-term malnutrition that’s left my body weak, and I’m a bit anemic. On top of that, I lost a lot of blood during childbirth and didn’t get to the hospital in time. I was in a coma for a while, and my body almost didn’t pull through. I need special nutritional injections to speed up my recovery."

"Then, during a check-up, they found signs of early-stage breast cancer. I need to have surgery as soon as possible. Every day we delay, the tumor cells could spread. If it reaches the intermediate stage, it could get much more complicated."

"Breast cancer?!"

Lin Chen’s expression flickered. He never would have imagined it was that.

It was one of the more common cancers in women. If caught early, it could be removed with surgery, and with regular follow-up checks, she would likely be fine.

But if it reached the intermediate stage, even with surgery, there was a high chance of recurrence. And once it came back, death wasn’t far behind.

That was the deadliest part.

Her body had just come back from the Ghost Gate three months ago. Add to that her existing malnutrition and associated anemia, and surgery was simply too risky in the short term. That’s why they needed medical intervention to speed up her recovery.

He didn’t know the specifics of her treatment plan, of course. All he knew was that Andre desperately needed this money, and fast. Every day they waited added another sliver of risk that this family could fall apart.

Looking at their little daughter, as delicate as a porcelain doll, hiding behind Andre, and the tiny baby sleeping soundly in the crib, he made his decision in an instant.

Without any hesitation about appearances, he reached out and clapped a hand on the big man’s shoulder.

"Andre, do you consider me a friend or not?"

"What are you talking about? Of course you’re my friend, Lin!"

"Since my money is just sitting there anyway, let me lend it to you for Mia’s surgery and recovery. If there’s any left over, you can pay for your daughter’s tuition. That way, you’ll have nothing holding you back, and you can join me for the next season’s competition."

"You don’t even have to get first. If you get second place, you’ll win one million US Dollars. You can pay me back then. What do you say?"

Andre was stunned. He clearly hadn’t expected Lin Chen to make such a proposal to his face.

For a brief moment, he ran through the entire plan in his head. A look of pure joy filled his eyes, and he was about to nod in agreement.

"No!"

Mia cut in sharply. "Andre, have you forgotten your promise to me? That you would never risk your life."

"What kind of place is Panama? Is it dangerous?"

"Er... it’s a tropical rainforest terrain along the Caribbean coast. Kind of like an island or a peninsula." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I asked if it’s dangerous."

Before he could answer, Mia held out her hand. "Forget it. Give me your phone. I’ll look it up myself."

"You don’t have to. There’s nothing to hide. I’ll tell her."

Lin Chen then pulled a list from his pocket and handed it to Mia. It was a summary of all the information he had gathered over the past few days on Panama’s fauna, flora, marine life, topography, seasonal climate, and more.

Three full sheets of A4 paper were covered in tiny, neatly printed words. At first, Mia’s expression was neutral, but as she read, her face began to darken.

"Unstable weather patterns, rain possible at any moment."

"Large predators present, including Jaguars, American Crocodiles, and Glasses Caimans... plus other potential dangers like Black Widows, Brazilian wandering spiders, Mao Toufu, Coral Snakes, scorpions, and Poisonous Frogs?"

"Bull sharks, one of the three most dangerous sharks in the world, not only patrol the coast but can also enter freshwater river systems!?"

With every line she read aloud, Andre’s head sank a little lower.

He hadn’t known the details himself. While Panama is technically part of North America, it’s really a Central American country. It was separated from his current location by Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and a string of other small nations—a distance spanning nearly half of America. How could he have known what it was like there?

But just listening to his wife read off those dangers sent a chill down his spine.

Compared to Panama, Utah seemed positively safe. And his recent trip to Alaska? That was practically a vacation.

"No wonder the grand prize is so high this time—three times more than before. This is no different from a suicide mission!"

Mia quickly finished reading the pages, her expression visibly souring.

"Even if there’s plenty of fruit and wildlife so you won’t starve, the risk of just trying to survive is far too high."

"If you do your research beforehand, it’s not as extreme as it sounds..."