Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 408: Chapter 253: Readily Available Superweapon (Part 2)

He used to have to aim for ages before striking. Now, as long as a target entered his line of sight, he could attack with a flick of his wrist. His accuracy was practically one hundred percent.

Only the quickest little fish and shrimp could react in the nick of time, escaping the fatal spear.

As before, he spent two hours, but his haul was a full thirty percent larger than last time, most of which were fish.

To earn as many points as possible, he didn’t worry about how bony the fish were. If all else failed, he could just turn them into fish soup.

"You’re getting really good with that spear. You even managed to catch a fish this small."

Erica pulled a sardine, no thicker than a finger, from the bamboo basket. She stared in amazement at the large hole pierced through its body.

A little bit lower, and the spear would have cut it in half right then and there.

"Just dumb luck. The school of sardines was huge, so I just took a random shot. I didn’t actually expect to hit one."

Lin Chen shrugged, acting as if it was all just luck.

’He hadn’t expected to actually spear such a tiny fish himself. When he saw the dense school of sardines, his hands simply got itchy. He wanted to test his limits, never imagining he’d succeed on the first try.’

"Do you want a late-night snack?"

Hearing the words "late-night snack," Erica’s eyes lit up, and she reflexively started to nod.

She was about to agree, but caught herself. "We’d better not. It’s too late. You should get some rest. We only have a few days until the American Crocodile hunt, and you need to be in peak condition."

"Okay, then. I’ve already taught you how. If you get a craving, it’s easy enough to make some fish soup yourself. If getting water is too much trouble, you can come cook over here."

"Don’t worry, I won’t hold back. You definitely have more bamboo in your hut than you can use. It’s a waste to just let it sit there."

She licked her lips, already reminiscing about the fish soup hotpot they had in the middle of the night.

"Let’s get one thing straight," Lin Chen said, paddling while staring warily into her eyes. "You can borrow my firewood, my fire starter, and use my water channel, no problem. But you are not staying the night, and you are especially not sleeping in my bed!"

"If you think traveling back in the middle of the night is a hassle, it would only take you a few minutes to make a bamboo bed for yourself."

"Wow, so stingy. Other men would be thrilled if a beauty like me offered to climb into their bed~"

"They can be them, and I’ll be me. And please, don’t be so suggestive. You left out a key detail. The phrase you’re looking for is ’afraid of the cold.’"

"Are you a germaphobe?"

"No."

"You don’t like women?"

"Bullshit!"

"Well, that’s just baffling."

"Shouldn’t that line be used to describe *you*?"

Just as he’d expected, that shameless Erica followed him right back to his bamboo hut.

While she was outside fussing with the fish soup, he quickly built a second bamboo bed against the opposite wall with some spare slats, just in case.

’Now that there’s a second bed, and I’ve made myself perfectly clear, she should behave, right?’

「The next morning.」

When he groggily realized the left side of his body was almost completely numb, he knew everything he’d done last night had been a waste of time.

’Looks like I can’t afford to be soft-hearted. From now on, no matter how late it is, I have to make her go back to her own place!’

"Are you awake?"

Noticing a distinct change in the rhythm of his breathing, Erica leaned close to his ear and exhaled a soft, warm breath.

"Excuse me, miss, but what exactly are you doing in my bed?"

"I was worried you’d catch a cold in your sleep and it would affect the hunt, so I came over to keep you warm. No need to thank me~"

Lin Chen mentally rolled his eyes.

’You really take the cake for bald-faced lies!’

He cracked an eye open and glanced to the side. The camera, which had been set up nearby, had at some point been turned to face the doorway.

Erica’s camera, meanwhile, was pointed in the completely opposite direction, facing the forest outside the window.

A glance at the time showed it was just past six.

The sky would be getting light any minute now.

It might seem like he’d only gotten less than four hours of sleep after his dive, but in reality, he always slept for five or six hours beforehand. All told, he’d had a full ten hours of sleep.

Even if he wanted to sleep more, he couldn’t.

Just as he was about to get up, Erica suddenly pressed a hand to his chest, pushing him back down.

"?"

"Not so fast. You’ve had your fill of sleep, but I’m still exhausted. Let me rest a little longer."

"Then lie here by yourself. The whole bed is yours; no one’s fighting you for it."

With that, he tried to get up again.

"When I tell you to lie down, you lie down. Cut the crap."

With a sudden burst of strength from God knows where, Erica threw a leg over his body, pinning him completely.

"What are you so afraid of? Why do you keep avoiding me? Or is it that you hate any physical contact with me?"

With the cameras pointed away, the audience had no idea if they were awake yet. It was a rare opportunity to talk privately in plain sight.

"Please, this is Wild Survival. It’s a survival show, not a dating show. Is all this physical contact really necessary? Are you always like this with your guy friends?"

"Of course not. I don’t have any guy friends. Do you think I’m some kind of loose woman?"

"Well, you’ve seemed pretty uninhibited so far, taking your clothes off at the drop of a hat. Social customs in Asia are more conservative; we don’t really have people who act like that. It’s only natural that I’m not used to it."

"That’s because it’s you."

Erica’s crystal-clear eyes stared right at him. Her soft, seemingly boneless hand rested on his chest, feeling the powerful beat of his heart.

Faced with her sudden, intense gaze, Lin Chen froze. The woman’s sincere words echoed in his ears, and for no reason at all, his heart skipped a beat.

’What did she mean by that? Could it be... No, that’s impossible. This is just too ridiculous, isn’t it?’

’It’s the twenty-first century; I’ve seen it all. I know what’s what.’

’But this girl had a long track record of messing with him. For a moment, he couldn’t be sure if he was guessing right.’

"What... do you mean by that?" he gulped, forcing the words out. "Are you saying that because I’m your idol, you don’t mind me seeing you... like that?"

"You could interpret it that way, I suppose."

Erica nodded slightly, then leaned down and whispered in his ear again.

"What I mean is, I’ve set my sights on you. I’m making a play for you."

"?"

Lin Chen’s eyes widened, his face a mask of disbelief.

"At first, I was just messing with you, that’s true. But I was also observing your character and your reactions. I saw a bit of my old man in you. If you were like other guys and couldn’t hide your basic instincts, I probably wouldn’t have been as interested."

"But you held back the entire time, which just bruised my ego. It made me want to see just how long you could resist. I never thought you’d last for almost a month, not even budging when I threw myself at you."

"Everything about you is completely different from what I’m used to. Plus, you’re a great cook, you know how to take care of people, you’re so skilled, and you have good moral character. From every angle, you’re an absolutely outstanding choice for a partner."

"I wasn’t planning on telling you this so soon, but after I heard about your plans, I started to feel a sense of crisis."

"With your current online popularity, just making a few delicious meals in the wild would be enough to bring a failing restaurant back from the brink and make it incredibly popular."

"So if you opened a restaurant yourself, can you imagine how crazy the business would be?"

"When that happens, tons of beautiful women from all over the world will want to get to know you, and my advantage will be completely gone."

"So, while it’s just the two of us here, I want to know what you think."

"If you’re not interested in me, or if you only want an Asian girlfriend, then I promise I will never do anything to make you uncomfortable again."