Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 364: Chapter 231: Unexpected Psychological Barrier (Part 2)

Unlike a bamboo tube, a bamboo basket wasn’t hollow, so its buoyancy was limited. After weighing it down and adding his own pulling force, getting to the bottom of the sea shouldn’t be too difficult.

Although it wasn’t his first time in the sea, it was his first time diving. Even with the system-granted Basic Diving Mastery, he still felt a little apprehensive.

SPLASH!

He took a powerful dive into the sea, kicking up a huge spray of water.

The next second after he plunged beneath the surface, his tightly shut eyes fluttered. He wanted to open them, but a strange fear gripped his heart, seemingly preventing him from doing so.

His limbs paddled instinctively to maintain his position, and the water’s buoyancy naturally carried him back to the surface.

PFWAH!

He wiped his face, only then daring to open his eyes.

Grabbing the bamboo basket, which was floating with only its top visible, he felt for the camera on his head. After confirming it was still there, he gave a wry smile.

"I never expected it would be so hard to open my eyes underwater. I just tried, but I couldn’t do it at all. It seems to take a tremendous amount of courage."

He hadn’t expected his first attempt, even with Basic Diving Mastery, to meet such an unforeseen obstacle.

It was a psychological barrier, completely unrelated to skill.

’Once I overcome this, the rest should be easy.’

He floated on the surface for a while, composing himself. Then, he took a deep breath and plunged back into the sea.

If the camera could have captured his full body, it would have shown him bending at the waist in a very professional posture, sweeping both hands upward as his abs and legs moved in a coordinated rhythm.

There was none of the awkward struggle of a beginner who can’t seem to get underwater. In just a second, he smoothly dived headfirst into the sea.

However, when he tried to open his eyes again, that strange fear reappeared.

’Open your damn eyes!’ he roared in his mind.

’I dared to go abroad and fend for myself at eighteen. I’ve been scammed and cheated. I even survived a grueling career as a chef. How could something as simple as opening my eyes underwater possibly defeat me?’

In that instant, countless past hardships flashed through his mind.

He steeled himself and forced his eyes open.

The cool water washed over his pupils, feeling like a gentle breeze.

There was a moment of slight discomfort, a faint stinging sensation like getting water in your eyes while showering.

But he soon found that aside from that, there was nothing else unbearable about it.

He breathed a sigh of relief, a wave of confidence washing over him.

’Just opening my eyes in the water, how hard could it be?’

’That’s it?’

[Overcame psychological barrier and successfully opened eyes in the Caribbean Sea. Happiness +2]

’Huh?’

’Wait, this counts too?’

He blinked, and a realization dawned on him.

’It seems that besides challenging myself with manual tasks, I can also gain happiness by challenging myself behaviorally.’

’After this show is over, if I want to gain more happiness to exchange for other abilities I haven’t gotten yet, it seems like it’ll be hard to do that by staying in the city.’

’City life is too comfortable. There’s no sense of crisis, and there aren’t many opportunities to challenge myself, unless I take up something like parkour, skiing, or skydiving.’

’But I’d bet most of those sports can also be redeemed through the system.’

’Maybe... I could start a livestream and travel around, going on adventures based on viewers’ suggestions?’

’Livestreaming is one of the fastest ways to make money, after all.’

’Hmm, it’s worth considering.’

’But I’ll think about the specifics after the show is over. For now, I need to deal with the critters down here.’

Once his eyes were open, the underwater scene instantly became clear.

Vast fields of coral covered the entire seabed—red, pink, yellow, blue, white, orange. The view was almost identical to a scene from *Finding Nemo*.

Countless small fish of all shapes and sizes darted among the coral. The most conspicuous were the schools of orange-and-white striped Nemos—clownfish.

The seabed beneath the coral was covered in fine, silvery-yellow sand, where many crabs were strolling leisurely.

A quick sweep of his headlamp revealed dense clusters of sea urchins of all colors lying on the seabed and among the coral, along with thick sea cucumbers, orange starfish, and schools of sardines...

’Holy cow,’ he thought. ’With resources like these, how could I possibly worry about not having a good haul?’

His target wasn’t these small creatures. Of course, the delicious Purple Sea Urchins were a possibility; they could be used as a natural seasoning.

Even without flippers, his movements were as agile as a merman’s.

With a flick of his body, he easily reached the coral reef. The nearby fish instantly hid in the crevices, cautiously poking out half their heads to peer at him.

He didn’t spare these little guys a glance, his gaze focused on the rocky crevices beneath the coral.

Lobsters loved to hide in rock crevices. The bigger the crevice, the higher the chance of finding a big Lobster.

Finding them was also simple: just look for two antennae sticking out. They looked like TV antennas; anyone who’s eaten a Lobster would know.

If it were an Australian lobster or a similar kind, it would have large, defensive claws. Getting pinched would be quite painful.

But this region of the Caribbean Sea near Panama was rich in spiny Lobsters—the kind he had caught before, and the same kind Bartel had given him.

This type of Lobster had no claws and posed basically no threat. If you saw one, you could just grab it with your bare hands.

Lobsters had two ways of moving: crawling on the seabed with their long legs, or using their thick tails to shoot forward, covering a short distance with a sudden burst of power.

But honestly, given their size, their escape speed was no match for the distance a human could cover with a kick of their legs. You could catch one just by reaching out a hand.

’Not here... not here either... how about here... Got one!’

He checked several rock crevices in a row. Just as he was starting to get anxious, a pair of thick, long antennae came into view.

The antennae of a spiny Lobster weren’t long and thin like those of a common Australian or Boston lobster. They were thick like rebar, relatively short, and brownish-black, making them quite difficult to spot when hidden in a rock crevice.

Excitedly, he paddled over to the rock, steadied himself with his left hand, and slowly reached his right hand toward the crevice.

Perhaps sensing the unusual disturbance in the water, the spiny Lobster’s antennae slowly began to retract.

’Trying to run?’

Lin Chen’s brow furrowed. He had no time to be delicate. His right hand shot out like lightning.

At the same time, the Lobster’s antennae vanished back into the crevice.

The moment his hand was fully inside the crevice, a large cloud of sand billowed out. With a violent struggle, he forcibly dragged out a spiny Lobster longer than his forearm.

’Holy crap, it’s huge!’

He didn’t have any knowledge of crustaceans, so he didn’t actually know how big a spiny Lobster could get.

But compared to the one he caught last time and the one Bartel had given him, this one was a good two sizes larger.

He conservatively estimated that the tail meat alone weighed at least two pounds, and the entire Lobster was probably around four pounds.

A specimen of this weight would be a top-tier catch even at a seafood restaurant, easily fetching several hundred, maybe even a thousand bucks.

This one catch alone made his entire trip a success.

’No wonder that guy Bartel waited until the last day to go hunting for Lobsters,’ he thought. ’If they were this easy to catch, you could just reach out and grab them whenever you wanted.’

He pulled the combat knife from his pocket and plunged the tip into the joint between the spiny Lobster’s carapace and body. The struggling Lobster instantly went limp.

[Bare-handedly captured a large spiny Lobster in the Caribbean Sea. Happiness +1]

Hearing the prompt in his ear, Lin Chen’s lips curved into a slight smile, his confidence soaring.

One wasn’t enough to satisfy him. After stuffing it into the bamboo basket, he immediately started searching the area again.

He searched seven or eight rock crevices without any luck. Just as he surfaced for air and dived back down, preparing to search a new area...

...suddenly, a piece of coral with a peculiar shape among the orange-red coral clusters caught his attention.

The surface of this coral was different from the others; it was covered in countless dense, sharp barbs.

Just as he got closer to take a better look, the piece of coral suddenly moved!