Culinary God in Wilderness

"But don’t you two worry. It just sounds like a lot of people, but there aren’t actually that many strong competitors."

Robert clearly saw the worry in their eyes and explained with a smile, "According to our initial screening, only about two contestants have a background similar to Andre’s, and another five or so have participated in and placed in numerous smaller wilderness survival competitions."

"Besides those seven and you two, most of the remaining people probably won’t last a week."

"After all, the difficulty this season is much higher than before. The contestants didn’t know that when they signed up; they thought the location would be similar to previous competitions."

"Phew... You had me scared for a second."

Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

’If that’s the case, then the other forty people are basically just also-rans, meant to add more drama and tension to the show. After all, eliminating twenty or thirty people in a few days sounds much harder than eliminating just two or three.’

"Now that we’ve covered the contestants, let’s talk about the broadcast."

"Just like last time, we’re going with a live-streaming format. We also received funding from sponsors and upgraded our equipment, so this time, you’ll be able to see the audience’s bullet comments while you’re surviving."

He shook the smartwatch on his wrist and tapped the screen a few times, demonstrating how to operate it for them.

"This watch connects to the camera in real time. As long as you don’t go more than ten meters apart, the connection should hold. It’s also waterproof, has a long standby time, and can even absorb and store solar energy to recharge itself."

He mentioned standby, which just means it consumes very little power when not in use—practically a given.

As for the solar charging efficiency, that remained to be seen. Fortunately, this was the tropics, where there was plenty of sunlight, so they didn’t have to worry too much for now.

"What if survival tips appear in the audience’s comments?"

"With your level of knowledge, do you really need the audience to give you pointers?"

Robert’s rhetorical question caught the two of them off guard.

"The watch can only display text from the audience, and the audience can only type. They can’t send pictures or videos. Even if you encounter an unfamiliar plant or animal and someone looks it up on Wikipedia, would you really dare to eat it?"

"Definitely not."

’Come to think of it, he has a point.’

The most important rule for surviving in the wild is to never eat anything you’re not sure about.

They could identify the things they were certain about. For anything they weren’t, even if someone in the audience posted an explanation, they wouldn’t dare risk their lives.

This was a tropical rainforest, where toxins could be everywhere. Even a non-toxic plant might have had poisonous insects crawl over it. That was information you couldn’t possibly confirm just by looking it up online.

"Lastly, let’s talk about the exchange system."

At the mention of this, the two of them perked up instantly.

"Based on the feedback we received after the last season aired, the audience had mixed reviews about the exchange feature."

"Those who didn’t like it felt that some items, like flour, disrupted the balance. Those who did like it thought there was no problem exchanging raw materials for processed ones. In fact, they were more excited to see what kind of new and interesting dishes could be made."

"After discussions between our production team and the planning department, we decided on a compromise."

"You still only get one exchange opportunity per week, but you can only exchange for up to three types of seasonings each time. You must trade raw materials for them, and the weight of the seasoning you receive will be exactly equal to the weight of the material you provide."

"For example, many spices grow in the Panama Forest. If you, Lin, find a cayenne pepper plant, you can exchange it with us for Cayenne Pepper Powder. This saves you a lot of processing time but doesn’t fundamentally affect your survival."

"Is it limited to powdered spices?"

"For now, yes. We looked into soy sauce, a favorite in East Asia. Its main ingredient is fermented soybeans, but wild soybeans don’t exist in the Panama Forest, so you don’t need to consider that possibility."

"Fair enough."

Lin Chen shrugged indifferently. He was just an ordinary contestant, after all. It wasn’t his place to question the rules the production team set; he just had to follow them.

"And this privilege isn’t just for you; it’s the same for all contestants. So, if you want to make delicious dishes during the competition, finding spices first is extremely important."

"You hear that?"

Lin Chen nudged Andre with his elbow. "If you come begging for food later, you’d better not only bring your own ingredients, but your own seasonings too. Don’t expect me to use my precious spices to cook for you."

"Dammit, why is this so complicated!"

Andre cursed and grumbled, leaning back in his chair with a pained expression.

This new format wasn’t just a competition of speed, but also of knowledge, luck, and skill.

"Before all that, Lin, you should probably think about what you’re going to use to make cookware. I don’t want to be drinking hot soup that tastes like rotten wood."

Lin Chen just pursed his lips disdainfully at that.

’He’d already figured out what he would use for cooking instead of a pot. He just wouldn’t know if it was actually feasible until he was in the forest.’

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

A knock suddenly sounded on the corner of the plastic table.

Ariana, who had changed into a bikini at some point, appeared with sunglasses perched on her nose. Trailing behind her was Hei, who was wearing only a pair of large swim trunks, showing off his muscular physique and thick chest hair. His presence only made her pale skin seem all the more dazzlingly white.