Culinary God in Wilderness

Lin Chen stared at his pocket, his mind racing with questions.

’What could possibly fit in a pocket that small?’ 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Seeing his completely blank look, Andre’s smirk grew wider. He pulled his fist out of his pocket, held it level in front of Lin Chen, and slowly opened it.

In his palm, an olive-colored duck egg nearly as long as his hand was wide lay quietly.

With just a glance, Lin Chen could tell it was a duck egg, not a chicken, goose, or some other kind of bird egg.

Chicken eggs couldn’t be this big, and goose eggs have thick shells. Only a duck egg would have this shape, and an unusual color at that.

"A duck egg?!"

"Yep," Andre said, nodding. "It’s a unique species from the Arctic Circle. A King’s Down Duck egg. They’re the biggest, fattest ducks in the world!"

Speaking of fat, Andre was already swallowing uncontrollably.

"It’s autumn now. It’ll start snowing in Alaska soon. This is the season when the King’s Down Ducks winter over."

"Normally, their breeding and mating season should be over by now. They usually lay eggs in late summer or early autumn, around September."

"But with global warming, temperatures are rising not just in Alaska but even in the Arctic, so it’s possible their breeding season was delayed."

"Duck eggs take three to four weeks to hatch. By that count, they could just barely make it to the end of October."

Shoving the duck egg into Lin Chen’s hand, Andre turned his head to look in a certain direction.

"King’s Down Ducks usually build their nests and lay eggs near coastal islands. There are bound to be seagulls nearby. Since we’ve seen them here, it means this area isn’t actually that far from the coast."

"Of course, the Yukon River flows all the way to the sea, so it’s possible they just followed the river upstream. None of that matters. What’s important is that a female King’s Down Duck almost never leaves her eggs."

At this point, Lin Chen pretty much understood what he meant.

"So you found a way to snatch an egg from under a female duck’s butt, hoping she’d call her mate back to defend the nest, allowing you to catch two King’s Down Ducks at once, plus a whole nest of eggs?"

"It’s so refreshing to talk to a smart person!"

Satisfied, Andre clapped him heavily on the shoulder a few times. The solid, heavy force made the corner of his mouth twitch in pain.

"It’s a bit cruel, but survival of the fittest is the unchanging law of nature. Most of the time, the methods we humans use are pretty mild from the wild animals’ perspective."

"That’s true," Lin Chen said, completely agreeing on this point.

Having loved watching animal documentaries since he was a child, he’d lost count of how many times he’d seen predators, after a successful hunt, tear chunks of flesh and viscera from their still-living prey and chew with abandon.

Compared to that kind of suffering, being killed by a human with a single arrow was definitely one of the most comfortable ways to die.

"Seagulls usually like to nest on cliffs. If there’s a cliff nearby, we might get an unexpected bonus."

After saying that, Andre set off toward the forest, presumably to go wreak havoc on the unfortunate King’s Down Duck family.

’Cliffs... huh.’

Lin Chen muttered the word to himself, looking thoughtfully in the direction of his shelter.

But it was a half-hour walk away, and his view was blocked by the forest, so he couldn’t see even a hint of a cliff.

Besides, he couldn’t guarantee there weren’t other cliffs nearby.

’Whatever. Why think so much about it? I’ll know when I get back and check.’

Now that he had a duck egg and the potential to get two of the world’s biggest, fattest, pre-winter ducks, he had to start thinking about how to prepare this incredibly sumptuous meal.

It seemed this Wild Animal Encyclopedia was pretty necessary after all. Otherwise, with his current skills, he could walk right under a prey’s nose and not even notice it.

’With this, I probably won’t have to worry about going hungry this winter.’

’A duck with a high fat content... I’ve got to make roast duck, no question about it.’

He had just made a bootleg version of a roast chicken, so he had some experience. Plus, he could collect the duck fat that dripped off during roasting to use for cooking.

’Let’s see... The meat I have on hand is porcupine, crab, Red Salmon that I can catch anytime, and the ducks I’ll most likely get.’

’For spices, there’s cilantro... wait, the cilantro has already flowered and gone to seed. Coriander seeds are a proper spice. Plus, there are chives and mountain leeks around the shelter.’

’For fruits, there are various berries and wild apples. They can serve as a substitute for sugar in a pinch.’

’And I don’t even need to count the wild mushrooms; they’re everywhere.’

After taking stock of all the supplies he had on hand, he began to mentally plan how to combine these ingredients into a delicious feast.

’If I get two ducks, I can roast both of them. The scraps and carcass can be used for a stew, and the duck fat for stir-frying.’

While he was brainstorming, his gaze unconsciously swept back and forth over the various ingredients at hand.

Suddenly, not far from the stone enclosure for the crabs, his peripheral vision caught a brownish-green patch.

A similarly colored lichen had been his first meal after arriving in the wilderness. He immediately got up and walked over to see if that’s what it was.

That stuff could be used like MSG. Paired with wild mushrooms, it made for an incredibly savory stew.

’That’s right! I could totally collect and dry some lichen and wild mushrooms. Then I could add them to soups when I need them, or crush them to use as a seasoning.’

When he reached the spot and squatted down to look, he couldn’t help but frown.

He saw a strangely shaped, claw-like alga pinned down by a rock. Nearby, a few Red Salmon were floating belly-up.

’Seaweed? Isn’t this an inland river? Even if it’s not far from the coast, that’s only in terms of helicopter speed. How could there be seaweed here?’

He stared at the dead Red Salmon for a few extra moments, and a bold idea sprouted in his mind.

’Could it be that during the salmon run, the sheer number of fish accidentally scraped seaweed off the coastal rocks and carried it here?’

He picked up the claw-shaped seaweed, wandered around the area, and soon collected a thick handful.

’Strange, why isn’t there any information about this in the Plant Encyclopedia? Are marine plants a separate category?’

Unable to find any corresponding information in his mind, Lin Chen didn’t let it bother him too much.

Things like seaweed and kelp are almost always edible, so there was nothing to worry about, provided the water wasn’t polluted.

The Alaska region is one of the most pristine, undeveloped areas on Earth; there was no need to worry about environmental pollution at all.

"QUACK!!"

"QUACK!!!"

Just as he straightened up, a few loud quacks came from the forest near the water, in the direction Andre had gone.

Lin Chen sighed.

"Rest in peace, little ducks. I’ll make you delicious."