Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 371: Chapter 235: The Disappearing Audience

The first section of the aqueduct was quickly set up. He tried dipping one end into the water, and a stream immediately flowed along the curve inside the bamboo pipe, SPLASHING onto the ground on the other side.

He hurriedly pulled the bamboo pipe from the water’s surface and began building the second section of the aqueduct.

But he soon discovered that he had run into a problem he had overlooked.

Curves.

The bamboo stalks were all straight. To maintain the elevation while having the aqueduct follow the slope toward his bamboo house, he would have to lay out a winding, twisting path.

The straight bamboo pipes could only change direction at a slight angle. Anything over thirty degrees would likely cause water to splash out and would also affect the flow rate.

’Looks like I’ll have to bring some embers over here and heat-bend the bamboo on-site.’

When he returned to the bamboo house, he happened to run into Robert and his group, who were there for a routine inspection.

The team got to work—changing batteries, recharging equipment, and conducting his medical check-up.

Robert strolled around the room with his hands behind his back, taking in the mountain of firewood and the line of bamboo pipes outside that stretched into the distance.

"Tsk, tsk. Leave it to you, Lin. Not only did you make a saw and a bamboo raft, but you even successfully scavenged some supplies. And now you’ve come up with the idea of building an aqueduct from bamboo. Going by your current progress and gains, if no one can catch up, the championship will probably be yours again."

"We’re just getting started," Lin Chen said, curling his lip dismissively as he pointed to an empty plot of land in front of the house.

"See this? I plan on turning this area into farmland. I’ll plant some chili peppers, cilantro, basil leaves, stuff like that. I can also plant potatoes and taro. I’ve never grown mushrooms, but I could give it a try."

"What?! You’re going to start a farm????"

Robert’s expression changed. "Isn’t that a bit much? As of today, exactly three weeks have passed. The number of contestants has plummeted from the initial fifty to just twenty-four. And based on our observations, another eight are very likely to drop out within the next few days."

"You’re a contender for one of the top spots, so it’s fine to let you in on a few things."

"In our view, there are really only eight contestants capable of making a run for the top five—and by that, I mean those relying solely on their own abilities. That list doesn’t include Erica for the time being, since she’s said several times that she’s not competing for the championship."

"She only said she’s not competing for the championship. She never said she wasn’t going for the top five, did she?"

"Hm?"

Robert paused. After a moment’s thought, he realized that was actually true.

"Ah, who cares. It’s not important. She’s barely made any tools or infrastructure this entire time anyway. Every day, she just goes back and forth between the beach and the cave, not doing anything else. If she keeps this up, her points definitely won’t be high enough to rank."

’Is that woman really just slacking off?’

Lin Chen had thought she would be making some moves on the sly. He never expected that she meant what she said—she looked completely uninterested in her ranking and was purely there on vacation.

’Damn it. Another day of envying the rich.’

’Sleeping in every day, drinking coconut water, nibbling on some seafood, soaking up the sun, taking a walk... When the mood strikes, go sunbathe on the beach or take a dip in the ocean.’

’If that’s not a vacation, what is?’

’We’re all human, so why is my life so exhausting every single day?’

For a split second, he even entertained the thought of finding a rich sugar mama to support him.

"Your physical is clear. Go on back to work, we won’t bother you anymore. Let’s go, on to Erica’s."

Ariana nodded at him and was the first to head out toward the stream.

After checking the equipment and leaving the spare batteries, Hei gave him a wink and a mischievous grin, then followed the others out.

The moment they were gone, Lin Chen shouldered a fresh bamboo stalk and left the shelter. In his other hand, he carried a bamboo tube containing smoldering coals.

This time, he was carrying a whole, unprocessed bamboo stalk; he would use the branches and leaves he sawed off as fuel.

He built the fire a few dozen meters from the aqueduct’s starting point. This way, he wouldn’t have to run back and forth during the construction, saving a lot of time.

There was another small detail to building the aqueduct: the bamboo pipes didn’t need to overlap with the end of the previous one. Because of inertia, the water would shoot forward some distance on its own.

He just had to place the next pipe near the spot where the stream of water would land.

After a few tests, he found this distance was typically between 1.5 and 2 decimeters—on average, about the width of a cell phone.

It might not seem like a long distance, but when multiplied over dozens of sections, it would save several meters’ worth of bamboo.

Cutting and hauling bamboo was no easy task, after all. Every stalk he could save was a win.

After a full day of hard work, he finally finished constructing the entire aqueduct by dusk.

He stood in the setting sun, its golden-red light bathing him in a glow that made his complexion look particularly rosy.

He let out a long breath...

Taking a deep breath, his heart pounding with excitement, he picked up the first bamboo pipe from the ground. He gently placed it on its support, adjusted the distance, then slid it forward, dipping the front end into the stream.

The very instant the pipe entered the water, a cool stream flowed down the channel inside it. In the blink of an eye, it gushed out, landing precisely in the second pipe.

This was just a test run to see if there were any problems with the construction. After waiting patiently for a minute, he pulled the first pipe out of the stream and began inspecting the aqueduct, walking its entire length.

As long as the ground around a section was dry and its interior showed traces of water, it meant that part of the construction was sound.