Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 414: Chapter 256: The Final Battle Begins (Part 2)

That wasn’t just his wife’s life-saving money; it was also about his daughter’s future.

Though he didn’t know the intricate details of how it all worked, the end result was undoubtedly an extremely cruel, dog-eat-dog society.

No wonder the world’s former hegemon, America, had fallen to such a state. It wasn’t that their progress was too slow, but that the entire country couldn’t care less about cultivating talent at the grassroots level.

If they had truly cared, they wouldn’t have let their citizens be exploited by layer after layer of the system, turning into vagrants overnight.

Among them could have been future businessmen, politicians, scientists, inventors, professors, or famous chefs, yet they were all abandoned by their country for one reason or another.

This was also the source of Great Xia’s confidence, allowing it to surpass so many established powers in such a short time and claim its spot at the top of the world.

The people are the foundation of everything.

After sighing for a while, with nothing else to do, he grabbed a thick bundle of bamboo leaves from his shelter, brought out two bamboo stalks, and skillfully split them into thin strips. He then neatly bundled the leaves together by length, shaping them into a blanket.

Although tropical nights weren’t very cold, the wind still felt a bit chilly.

He was a grown man and wasn’t bothered, but it might be a little cold for Erica.

You wouldn’t notice it in a cave that completely blocked the wind, but if she was going to crash at his place, drafts were unavoidable.

He muttered under his breath as he wove the bamboo-leaf blanket.

’This girl has some nerve, hanging around here every day and not leaving. If rumors start to spread, are her parents going to come after me?’

Any normal parents, regardless of their country, wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing if they saw their daughter getting cozy with another man, let alone getting snatched away.

And in a family with a close parent-child relationship, a daughter is often daddy’s little girl. If she were suddenly "worn" by someone else, her father might get angry enough to press a gun to his forehead.

Thinking about Erica’s father’s identity as a forest ranger for the Forestry Bureau, he probably kept a shotgun on him most of the time. Even her marksmanship was incredible, so her dad was definitely an expert with guns too.

Then there was her powerhouse mother, whom she never saw year-round. Although she wasn’t around, the fact that she gave Erica an exorbitant allowance showed that she also doted on her precious daughter; she just couldn’t balance work and family.

’Hiss... I think I might be in a little danger.’

He couldn’t help but suck in a few sharp breaths at the thought of Erica’s parents charging at him with murderous intent.

Parents in Great Xia were relatively restrained and wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.

But foreign parents... he wasn’t just making this up. He’d scrolled through a lot of videos about it before—things like a daughter suddenly bringing a boyfriend home or getting caught kissing in a car out front. The look on the dad’s face was always like his world was ending, and the next second he’d be running inside to find a gun.

Given that Erica was raised by her father alone, she must be the apple of his eye, right?

’No, no, I can’t have any more close physical contact with her before the show ends. At least, I can’t let the cameras catch it. Otherwise, my life is on the line!’

He glanced at the date. It was the 35th day of the competition.

In other words, there were only ten days left on the countdown.

The opening of the indigenous hunting permit was also only three days away—two and a half, to be precise.

In these next two and a half days, he had to plan out the schedule for each of the following seven days. He needed to avoid any accidents that could affect his plan while also acquiring as many prey and resources as possible without being wasteful.

’I definitely can’t go after the American Crocodile as soon as hunting is allowed. Once I bag it, it’ll mean I have no food shortage, and any further hunting would be against the rules.’

’But I can’t wait until the last day or two either. If I fail to capture it, there’ll be no time to recover. The best time should be somewhere in the middle. Hmm... let’s set it for the early morning at the end of the third-to-last day.’

’This arrangement leads to two outcomes: a successful capture, or a failure.’

’My goal is to avoid failure as much as possible, so I have to restrict the American Crocodile’s movement. I must set traps. It’s best to set up a pitfall and a snare trap at the same time.’

’Assuming the capture is successful, I won’t be able to hunt for the last two days. I’ll only be able to catch seafood from the ocean. But two days shouldn’t create too big of a gap in points. Whatever, I’ll stick with this plan.’

At this thought, he turned his head again to look at his two-story shelter, the winding irrigation channel, and his farmland.

After a few days, many young sprouts had quietly peeked out of the soil. The plants with shorter harvest periods, especially the coyote cilantro and basil leaves, were showing the most gratifying growth, followed by the chili seedlings. In contrast, the wild ginger, lemongrass, and potatoes hadn’t shown much activity yet.

His goal was just to plant them and do his best to ensure they could sprout safely.

He couldn’t manage much beyond that. He could only let them fend for themselves in the wild. That was the law of nature.

Everything he had built had to be destroyed at the end of the competition, returned to being a part of nature, and not left in its current form.

This meant the irrigation channel would be torn down, and its upstream water source would be cut off.

Without a stable water source, it was uncertain whether these crops could continue to thrive.

’Anyway, the only thing I can do in these last few days is go fishing in the sea. Making furniture is too time-consuming, and there’s nothing else I really need to make. Maybe I should just dig a proper ditch?’

A ditch dug into the ground wouldn’t have to be filled in. That way, a continuous flow of water could be maintained for the fields.

As for Andre, he didn’t plan on asking him about his situation right now.

Even if he did ask, he didn’t think Andre would tell him right away.

Sharing his life’s predicament would only increase his own sympathy. If it affected his competitive drive and made him go easy on him, Andre would definitely not approve.

’I’ll just wait until after the competition is over.’

When Erica returned with a few fish, Lin Chen was digging a trench, extending it bit by bit from the irrigation channel.

He pointed to the bamboo-leaf mat-blanket sunning itself. "This is for you. You can use it as a mat or a blanket, whatever you want. Just don’t think you can keep freeloading here."

"Wow, what a heartless man! You’re trying to kick me out after you’re done using me!"

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean, ’done using’?"

"You know."

"I don’t know."

"Well, can’t be helped then~"

Erica threw her hands up, wiped a non-existent tear from the corner of her eye, set down the bamboo basket of fish, and picked up the sun-warmed bamboo-leaf blanket before slowly heading back toward her own place.

The bamboo leaves were still quite green, so they weren’t too hard to the touch and wouldn’t easily fall apart. It wouldn’t be too uncomfortable whether she used it as a blanket or a mat.

For the next two days, Lin Chen basically did nothing. He spent his days at home eating and drinking, occasionally sunbathing and taking naps.

After dusk, he would go to the outskirts of the Mangrove Forest to observe the American Crocodile’s habits and various movement paths. Around midnight, he would go to the sea to fish and catch Lobster and crabs, essentially adjusting his biological clock to a nocturnal state.

Finally.

The time reached midnight on the seventh-to-last day.

All the contestants’ wristwatches suddenly lit up, and a message appeared.

[Indigenous Hunting Permit now active. Please remember, hunting is based solely on the principle of subsistence. The mass killing of wild animals is prohibited. Violators will bear the legal consequences.]

Lin Chen was sitting by the fire. After seeing the words that appeared on his watch, the heavy weight hanging in his heart inexplicably settled.

"It’s finally starting."

CRACK.

The sound of a branch snapping came from the forest not far away.

Andre’s figure, a sight unseen for a long time, appeared in his field of view, waving at him from a distance.

"The final showdown has begun! Are you ready, Lin!"