Culinary God in Wilderness

’Traps?’

The moment he heard the word, several methods for making basic outdoor traps immediately came to his mind.

’That’s right, there’s no rain today. I can definitely set a few traps.’

Although the Complete Collection of Outdoor Tools he had redeemed earlier contained some basic trap-making instructions, it lacked more detailed information.

It didn’t explain things like where to place certain traps, how to use the environment to lure prey, or which animals the different traps were meant for. There was nothing like that—only instructions on how to build them.

’To get more information, I’d probably have to redeem that Basic Trap Mastery skill.’

"Alright, go ahead then."

The words had barely left his mouth when he suddenly froze. The line of tracks he had discovered that morning flashed through his mind.

"By the way, have you seen any signs of a moose?"

"A moose?"

Andre froze, his expression complicated as he nodded. "I ran into one a couple of days ago, but that thing is just massive. Even from thirty meters away, the pressure it gave off was intense."

"It felt like I was facing a truck. I can’t imagine if it charged me... I don’t know if I’d make it out alive."

"A male or a female?"

"A male. Moose have rather peculiar habits. Outside of the mating season, adult males are solitary. It’s only the females that live with their young."

Having gotten the information he wanted, Lin Chen nodded and reached out to take the two grouse, which weren’t quite dead yet.

"Anyway, since you’ve got nothing better to do, keep looking around the area."

"No problem!"

Collaboration with the same professional player was only allowed once every seven days. It wasn’t often he got to eat well, and Andre had no intention of wasting the opportunity.

Even if Lin Chen hadn’t said anything, he had already planned on getting as much game as possible to bring back. Even if they couldn’t eat it all, he could take the rest with him.

Although he didn’t know much about Da Xia People, with two live-streaming cameras on them, he didn’t think the other man would do anything to tarnish his own country’s reputation.

The moment Andre left, Lin Chen began to ponder.

’A guy that well-built is still too scared to take on a moose head-on. Looks like I’ll have to outsmart it. Poison? Or maybe a trap?’

’Forget it. I should at least wait until I redeem Archery Mastery before thinking about that. It’s too early for that now.’

’What I need to think about now is what to cook for him. I also need to get him to chop down some more trees and bring them back. If possible, it’d be great if he could help me improve the shelter.’

The best way to get someone to willingly put in more effort is through their stomach.

As long as he could make a strong impression, maybe the guy would come looking for him on his own in seven days.

The corners of Lin Chen’s mouth twisted into a strange smile as he imagined the look on Andre’s face when he went back to his own barely edible food after eating a meal cooked by him.

’Boletes, amanitas, oyster mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, field mushrooms...’

After strolling through the woods by the river for a while, his makeshift basket was already piled high with various wild mushrooms.

As he walked on, a patch of scorched forest suddenly appeared ahead. In the center lay several charred, dead trees, fallen askew.

When he lifted a fallen, rotted log and exposed the space hidden beneath, a dense patch of peculiar mushrooms caught his eye.

"Morels?!"

He couldn’t quite believe his eyes and pinched his thigh, hard.

The sharp pain made him hiss, and he excitedly took off his GoPro, moving in for a close-up shot of the fresh morels.

"Oh my god, look what I’ve found! A huge patch of morels!"

"These aren’t just a delicacy in Western cuisine; they’re a genuine rarity in Chinese food too. Especially when they’re completely wild—they can sell for an extremely high price."

"Looking at their size and appearance, they’ve probably been growing for a while. They’re of medium to high quality."

"For morels of this quality, while I’m not too clear on the market price in North America, if you were to sell them in Great Xia, they’d go for at least six or seven hundred a jin, which is about one hundred US Dollars."

That price might not sound incredibly expensive, but for a restaurant where a meal typically costs ten to twenty US Dollars, a raw ingredient that’s over a hundred US Dollars a pound is several times more expensive than even steak.

Even in a Michelin-starred restaurant, these are a renowned, top-tier ingredient.

Of course, that’s only if they’re purely wild-harvested.

"Are you all curious why wild morels are so expensive?"

Lin Chen explained to the camera, carefully harvesting the morels one by one.

"Morels aren’t too demanding about their growing environment, but if you want good quality and a large quantity, a few conditions must be met."

"First, the ideal location is a broadleaf or mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest."

"Second, it needs to be near a water source or in an area that stays consistently damp."

"The third condition, and the hardest to meet, is that they have a high probability of appearing in areas that have been burned by fire."

"In the wild, for an area to get burned, it usually means there has to be a thunderstorm, and lightning has to strike in just the right place. It’s these difficult conditions that are responsible for its high price."

"They do grow in unburned areas, but like I said before, the quality isn’t nearly as good, so naturally, the price is lower."

Each of the morels was quite large, about the size of a king oyster mushroom from the supermarket, and felt heavy in his hand.

He searched the area carefully and found many more, filling his basket to the brim by the end.

By a rough estimate, there were at least thirty of them, if not more.

’With these, today’s lunch is going to be top-notch. There’s no way it won’t be delicious.’

’I have the main course and the side dish, but what about some spices to add flavor...’ 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He didn’t know if finding the wild morels had used up all his luck, but after wandering around the area for a good while, he still hadn’t found any useful seasonings.

There were plenty of edible plants, but according to the knowledge base in his head, their leaves had poor texture. They were either bitter or contained trace amounts of toxins—things you’d only eat to survive when you had no other choice.

When he returned to the riverbank with his heavy basket, Andre was already waiting, sitting on a rock by the small pond. A bundle of green plants was floating on the water’s surface.

"Hey, Lin, you’re back! I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Cilantro?!"

Lin Chen stared in surprise at the familiar-looking bundle of plants floating on the water. "This is your good news?"

"No, no, no, how could this be the good news?"

Andre gave him a mysterious smile and reached into his pocket, fumbling around for something.

"Guess what I found in the forest over on your side?"