Culinary God in Wilderness

Looking at the simple trap he had replicated with his own hands, Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief, a trace of pride and joy welling up inside him.

With a finger-long mouse as bait, it would surely attract some slightly larger prey. ’I hope it works,’ he thought.

[Successfully learned and deployed a branch spring-snare in the wilds of North America. Happiness +1]

The expected notification sounded in his mind. He smiled faintly and continued searching the forest for the other traps Andre had left behind.

While observing the traps earlier, he had noticed relatively clear tracks on the ground around them. They were most likely what were known as game trails.

He followed the faint tracks on the ground for a while and, sure enough, found two more traps not far away.

If it weren’t for the traps Andre had left, he probably would have walked right past without noticing a thing, completely missing any signs of animal activity on his own.

If he didn’t need to prioritize exchanging for Archery Mastery to ensure his food supply and safety, he would have just traded for a Wild Animal Encyclopedia. Walking through the forest as clueless as he was felt awful.

It would be one thing if he were ignorant of his ignorance, but knowing made it all the more frustrating.

He set up ten traps in the vicinity in one go and even collected two fat, barely breathing mice from the traps left earlier.

They were normal, grayish-black mice, not the giant monster he had shot earlier.

Seeing these two fat mice tangled tightly in the bark snares, unable to escape, Lin Chen realized his previous thinking had been flawed.

Using a small mouse as bait would only attract carnivores. A trap this small could, at best, catch mice and the like. Anything slightly larger would be wild foxes or wolverines.

With the strength and sharp teeth of those two creatures, escaping a simple trap would be child’s play.

Therefore, he changed his strategy. He used the mice as bait in only three locations, setting up larger-sized traps to see if they would be effective.

For the other seven, he used locally picked berries and plant roots as bait to attract herbivores.

While setting the traps, he also discovered a new plant, one that was a rather well-known species.

Elderberry.

At first glance, he didn’t think much of it, assuming it was some plant commonly grown in residential areas back home, as the clusters of fruit looked very similar.

But after a few minutes, the more he thought about it, the more something felt off. He went back to take a closer look and only then realized it was actually elderberry.

Unfortunately, it was past its peak season. The few black berries remaining on the branches were already starting to rot, emitting a faint, strange odor. They were inedible, useful only as bait.

After setting the last trap, Lin Chen rubbed his slightly sore lower back, straightened up, and gave a big stretch.

"Nnngh..."

On a branch above.

A pair of large, round, black eyes with yellow rims stared down at him, its head cocked curiously.

Its mottled feathers were a mix of white, brown, black, and gray. An inverted triangle on its forehead, combined with two ear-like tufts of feathers, gave it a comical and delightful appearance.

’An owl?’ 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

’Oh, no, it must be a Great Horned Owl.’

The creature’s scientific name was quite conspicuous; he had remembered it after seeing it just once.

Its unique appearance had led to it being featured in an incredibly famous film series that had taken the world by storm: Harry Potter.

The prototype in the movies was the eagle-owl, and the Great Horned Owl is a descendant branch of populations that migrated to the Americas.

They are the kings of the nocturnal hunt. While they are active during the day, their combat prowess is weaker, and they spend most of their time napping, often getting bullied by creatures like pigeons and goshawks.

And so, man and owl stared at each other, their wide eyes locked, neither able to guess what the other was thinking.

A bold thought flashed through Lin Chen’s mind.

’Should I shoot it down?’

’Never mind. I’ve never heard of anyone eating owl meat. There’s plenty of other prey in the forest; no need to take the risk.’

Just as he dismissed the thought, a pair of broad, black wings suddenly appeared in his field of vision, approaching at an incredible speed.

Sensing the commotion approaching from behind, the owl swiveled its neck 180 degrees, only to see a flash of white rapidly growing larger in its pupils.

"SMACK!"

The owl’s flexible neck jerked back, but it still got a solid smack on the head from a pair of yellow talons.

"Hoo... hoo..."

A human-like "I’ve just been smacked" expression appeared on the owl’s face as it opened its beak and let out a series of strange cries.

The blow was incredibly forceful, sending the owl stumbling. It hastily flapped its wings a few times, swung its entire body halfway around the branch, and came to a steady rest hanging upside down.

’Heh, it’s that Yankee again. Not much real skill, but loves to stir up trouble!’

Lin Chen watched as the Bald Eagle soared overhead with incredible grace, weaving through the trees and vanishing from sight again. It was as if the stylish creature soaring away and the one that had just executed the comical hit-and-run were two completely different beings.

Having watched a good show for free, Lin Chen found his mood inexplicably lifted. The sense of urgency and pressure about the future also dissipated quite a bit.

It was still early, and heading straight back to the shelter felt like a waste of time. He hadn’t used much energy today, and his only spoils were three mice—one large and two small.

He thought for a moment. If he were to continue setting branch spring-snares, he had no way of distinguishing which tracks were left by animals, and he didn’t have any suitable bait on him.

The two smaller mice could be used to set traps, but he had searched the area for a long time without finding suitable materials to build a trap for large game.

’If I can’t set spring-snares... maybe I can try a different kind?’

He definitely didn’t know how to make any complex, mechanical ones, but speaking of traps, there was one other type he knew.

A pitfall trap.

He found a spot with relatively soft soil in an area between his ten traps. He plunged the sharp Engineer Shovel into the ground, stomped on it hard with his foot, and with a twist and a pry, a full load of dirt was dug out.

With his stamina and experience, it would normally take him two or three hours to dig a one-meter-deep pit. The Engineer Shovel provided by the production team was quite good, saving him a lot of effort.

But thanks to his experience digging a ’moat’, he discovered a little labor-saving trick: piling the excavated dirt around the edge of the pit, which effectively doubled its depth.

However, this created a new problem. The raised height of the piled-up earth would look out of place in the surrounding environment, like a burial mound.

"Hah..."

He wiped away his sweat and climbed out of the pit, using the walls for leverage.

The sky was already starting to dim. He hadn’t brought his Hat Lamp with him, so he had to return to camp before it got completely dark.

He gathered some dry branches and laid them in a crisscross pattern over the pit, then covered them with a layer of fir needles, using their long, dense needles to obscure the view.

He stood a few meters away to check his work. It was indeed difficult to see what was beneath the pile of needles.

’This should be enough.’

He lifted the surface layer of needles, sharpened some branches, and planted them in the bottom of the pit. After climbing out, he restored the camouflage, then hid the two small mice among the fir needles, slicing open their bellies with his sharp military knife to expose their bloody innards.