Culinary God in Wilderness

He gulped down the sweet Holy Spring, its cool, refreshing fragrance flowing all the way into his stomach. An immense sense of relief instantly spread through his entire body.

While mango juice was also hydrating, it wasn’t the same as drinking water. It could only provide temporary relief, and after a while, his mouth and throat would still feel parched.

The coconut water completely solved his problem. Having gone over fifty hours without a real drink of water, he practically chugged the entire contents of the coconut in one go.

"GLUG... GLUG... Ahhh~!"

[Enjoying sweet coconut water on a beach in Panama. Happiness +2]

He shook the coconut to make sure it was completely empty before reluctantly tossing it into his shelter.

The water was gone, but there was still coconut meat inside. Not only would it provide plant-based protein, but it was also rich in coconut oil—definitely good stuff.

’Should I open another one?’

He hesitated for a moment, glanced at the time, and ultimately decided to focus on getting a fire started first. That would put his mind at ease.

The seafood was still fresh and alive, but it would die quickly out of the water. In this heat, it would probably start to go bad overnight. It was better to get it into his stomach as soon as possible.

He had plenty of dry branches now, piled on the floor of his shelter. While they weren’t as bone-dry as deadwood, they would have to do.

He had hung the moss he’d collected outside to dry in the wind this morning, and it was nearly ready to be used as tinder.

To start a fire now, he needed to collect more firewood. He also needed to find a tough vine and, if possible, strip some more bark from a Mulberry Tree.

Mulberry Trees were actually all over the forest, but most were only as tall as weeds. It wasn’t common to find one that had grown to be one or two meters high.

He would likely only find taller Mulberry Trees if he climbed to the other side of the mountain, essentially backtracking the way he came.

After some thought, he decided against climbing the mountain. Instead, he would explore the adjacent river valley to see if he could find anything new.

If he couldn’t find any suitable materials there, he would just have to try with the Mulberry Tree bark he already had. If it broke, he could always go gather more later.

「As Lin Chen set off for the new location.」

「Meanwhile, at the program team’s temporary base camp.」

The staff stared dumbfounded at a screenshot of Lin Chen holding a monstrously large coconut crab. They exchanged glances, their expressions a mixture of shock and bewilderment.

Robert’s expression was particularly stiff as he slammed his hand on the table in frustration.

"Damn it, how are there coconut crabs there?!"

"Calm down, old friend," Daniel said, patting his shoulder. "Didn’t we say this during our preliminary survey? The San Blas Islands are covered in coconut trees, and there’s a Mangrove Forest not far from here. Both are prime habitats for coconut crabs. This is the tropics, so it’s perfectly normal for them to be here, right?"

"Even so, what about all those strange shells he dug up from the sand!" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Robert covered his forehead, exasperated. "He’s gotten so much food at once, and he can even climb trees for coconuts. It looks like he plans to set up camp here for the long haul!"

"If he doesn’t return to this area to hunt, are the viewers going to complain?"

"So what if they do?"

Daniel shrugged nonchalantly. "You’re worrying too much. This is Wild Survival, not a scripted survival show. The contestants make their own choices. We can’t interfere, or that’s when the viewers will *really* have something to complain about."

"Besides, think about it. In all the seasons we’ve filmed, have we ever had one based on survival on a tropical beach like this? No, right?"

"Well... no, we haven’t."

"Exactly. Everything here is new for the viewers. They’ll be excited to see what food Lin catches next, how he’ll cook it, how he’ll get salt, and so on. It’s all great television."

"You know, when you put it like that, it does make sense."

"Right? And even if we’re talking about hunting, the Mangrove Forest is a paradise for Green Iguanas. He could easily hunt there. There’s no need for him to run back here to hunt some grouse; that’s not a big enough draw for him."

"So you’re saying... if there’s prey that’s attractive enough, he might come back temporarily?"

"Er... that’s not exactly what I meant, but I guess that interpretation works too."

Robert turned to the others. "What do you all think?"

Ariana pretended not to hear, turned her head, and walked away.

Hei raised his hand. "I want to try some of Lin’s seafood soup."

"That’s not what I was asking!!!!"

...

"Hah... finally made it."

Leaning one hand against a tree trunk, Andre panted heavily and wiped the sweat from his brow. His gaze fell upon the river valley at the foot of the distant mountain.

"Just as I sur... as I thought. There’s a river valley between the foot of the mountain and the sea. That means it has both a Mangrove Forest and a beach, and with the forest and the coral reef, that’s four distinct biomes. The biodiversity here must be several times greater than in the forest."

"Let’s go, no time to rest. First, I need to get to the beach for some coconuts to rehydrate. My throat feels like it’s on fire."

He had only slept for four hours last night, spending the rest of the time traveling. His eyes were completely bloodshot, a clear sign of extreme exhaustion.

Fortunately, he was smart enough to know that Mia and his daughter would be watching the show, so he always kept the camera mounted on his chest. He only took it off at night when he slept, so they wouldn’t worry about his condition.