Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 360: Chapter 229: The Birth of the Bamboo Raft (Part 2)

She was only a forest guide, not a wilderness survival expert. Just managing to survive was her limit, a far cry from the skill of those two.

The night grew deeper.

As the contestants drifted off to sleep, the forest quietly came alive.

Herds of deer emerged from the bushes and undergrowth, and rabbits, after sleeping in their burrows all day, darted out onto the surface.

The treetops would occasionally sway as several dark figures flitted past—the world’s only nocturnal primate, the Panama Night Monkey.

Adorable raccoons appeared from out of nowhere, rummaging through the forest for anything they could eat.

In the grass near the water, a derpy-looking capybara stared blankly at the surface, lost in thought.

An American Crocodile on the bank slipped silently into the water, only its small eyes visible above the surface.

Among the dense leaves, a Jaguar opened its vertically slit pupils, its piercing gaze scanning the forest below.

As time passed, the bustling forest gradually quieted down.

Four in the morning.

Two hours before sunrise.

Several staff members dressed in black walked out of the wooden cabin, each holding an air gun.

The off-road vehicle kept its low beams on, weaving slowly through the forest.

They stopped at each location. Someone would get out with infrared binoculars, returning a few minutes later with a tagged grouse.

As the first golden rays of dawn touched the horizon, Hei brought the car to a steady stop in front of the cabin.

"All done!"

Hearing the voice, Robert came out and counted the grouse. "Nice work. Let’s split these chickens among ourselves. Any ideas on how to cook them?"

"Aili, what do you think?"

"Shut up and let me sleep. I’m not the cook."

Robert and Daniel exchanged a look and shrugged helplessly.

After some discussion, they unanimously decided the safest bet was to use Lin Chen’s method: wrapping the chickens in banana leaves and burying them in the earth to cook.

They had at least tried that method before, and it tasted great.

Never mind the trouble of trying other methods—with the cooking skills of the people present, it was questionable whether the result would even be edible.

"If only Lin were here, he could cook for us," Hei said, plucking feathers. His thoughts had already drifted to the beach.

"I really miss that fish soup Lin made. Using it to cook instant noodles was divine—absolutely the best noodle dish I’ve ever had!"

"I wonder how instant noodles would taste cooked in chicken broth. I bet it would be incredible, too."

"I think Lin is a master at roasting meat, too. If he could make us some of his fragrant, mouth-watering roast chicken..."

"Will you guys just shut up?" Robert rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Keep talking like that and you’ll only torture yourselves, not me. We agreed before the show started, didn’t we? Unless a contestant initiates a trade, we’re not to have any private contact outside of routine checks."

"This season still has the trade-in feature, but not a single contestant has requested one. Are you really thinking of going to trade with Lin just to satisfy your cravings? What would the audience think? Would we even have a show left to run?"

"Hey, don’t get so worked up, chief."

"Yeah, we know all that. We were just shooting the breeze."

"I think *he’s* the one who’s craving it, and since he can’t have any, he’s taking it out on us."

"Just drop it, or he’s gonna start yelling again."

...

When Lin Chen opened his eyes, it was already ten in the morning.

He was about to sit up on the bamboo bed, but the moment he moved, a sharp pain flared in his abs.

The electric jolt of pain caught him off guard, and he instinctively fell flat to ease the soreness.

"Hsssss..."

Blinking, he sucked in a sharp breath.

’The last time my abs were this sore was... well, the last time they were this sore. Looks like I really overdid it yesterday.’

He carefully rolled onto his side, using his elbow to slowly push himself upright.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use his hands; he could already feel a tight, weak sensation in his forearms.

It was the classic sign of overexertion, just like after a first day back at the gym.

’Good thing there’s no heavy lifting today. I just have to lash the raft together securely. But should I build it here, or down by the shore?’

A single bamboo pole wasn’t heavy, but twenty of them together would be at least a hundred kilograms.

He could lift that much weight, but moving it any real distance would be impossible.

The only way would be to drag it downhill with a rope, using its own weight and momentum.

’Forget it, I’ll just take them to the shore to assemble it. Every bit of energy saved counts.’

After brunch, he didn’t rush off. Instead, he warmed up in the clearing, using a bamboo pole as a makeshift barbell to exercise his back and shoulders.

Once he could feel the pump in his muscles, he began the real work of hauling the bamboo poles.

It was a little trick he’d discovered when he first started working out. No matter how sore his body was, once he started exercising and got a pump going, the weakness and aches would fade, and his muscles would feel strong again.

"Lin! Good morning!"

As he reached the rocky shoals, he happened upon Erica, who was foraging for shellfish on the nearby sandy beach.

Seeing him hauling the bamboo, Erica’s eyes lit up, and she trotted over.

"Are you making a bamboo raft?"

"Yep." Lin Chen wasn’t surprised she’d figured it out. After all, he’d gone to the trouble of making a saw; it was pretty obvious.

’It would be stranger if she *hadn’t* figured it out.’

Erica nodded and circled the bamboo poles twice, her eyes lingering on the clean cuts at the ends.

The cuts weren’t perfectly smooth, but they were a massive improvement over the sections he’d painstakingly hacked off with a small knife before. At least these didn’t feel splintery to the touch.

"Looks like that saw you made was a success. It did a nice job."

Lin Chen smiled and nodded. He set down the bundle of bamboo poles and headed back the way he came.

He had tied the poles into two separate bundles with simple bamboo strips to make them easier to transport.

By the time he had moved all the bamboo to the rocky shoals, Erica was, surprisingly, still waiting nearby. The bamboo basket on her back was noticeably fuller.

Before, Lin Chen might have teased her, asking if she was planning to steal his supplies.

’But with a raft in the works, why would he care about the meager supplies on shore? She could have them.’

He untied the bamboo strips and laid the twenty poles side by side. Then, he placed three shorter poles horizontally across them to serve as crossbeams.

All that was left was to lash it all together.

According to his original plan, lashing the twenty poles together would require nineteen ropes for each of the three crossbeams, for a total of fifty-seven.

But he later realized he’d overlooked something: he hadn’t accounted for the ropes needed to secure the three crossbeams themselves.

So, when he was twisting the bamboo fibers into rope, he had intentionally processed an extra bamboo pole to make ten spare ropes.

The lashing method was simple enough—a standard figure-eight knot would work perfectly.

"Let me help!"

Thinking she might as well make herself useful, Erica excitedly grabbed one of the bamboo ropes. She examined it closely for a moment before crouching down to help tie the poles.

The rope was definitely made from bamboo, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out how he had transformed something so hard into a rope that was soft yet strong.

As much as she wanted to know, she was tactful enough not to ask.

She knew Lin’s personality; he would have explained the process if she asked. But the audience would hear, and if the information got out, it would make survival much easier for the other contestants.

He had probably already revealed the method while making the ropes, but there was no need to repeat the lesson and drill it into the viewers’ heads.

Working together, the two of them finished assembling a simple bamboo raft with a high, upturned bow.

"It looks a little... empty, doesn’t it?"

Lin Chen stared thoughtfully at the raft. He felt like something was missing.