Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 422: Chapter 260: I Like Them Feisty (Part 2)

The immense force cinched the bamboo-strip snare tightly around the American Crocodile’s lower jaw, jerking its massive body upward. An instant later, countless sharp blades from both sides pierced its body.

The sudden attack and searing pain startled it, and it immediately began to struggle and twist violently, its two hind legs pushing hard against the ground.

Lin Chen’s eyes narrowed. He lowered the bow, aimed for a hind leg, and let an arrow fly.

SWOOSH—

The eight-meter distance vanished in an instant. The sharp bamboo arrow struck the thick left hind leg with precision, but the dense scutes only allowed it to penetrate a short way.

’It doesn’t matter. As long as it broke the armor, that’s good enough.’

Without hesitation, Lin Chen drew another bamboo arrow and aimed for the same spot.

SWOOSH—

SWOOSH—

Two more arrows struck the left hind leg, but they landed some distance apart.

He shook his head regretfully. "My aim isn’t as good as a professional’s, but a hit is a hit."

"So cool!!!"

Erica, who had been holding back for a while, cheered and jumped for joy when she saw all three arrows hit their mark.

In that instant, she seemed to understand why the bow and arrow was an irreplaceable weapon for Hunters.

The sense of accomplishment from hitting a target was something a gun could never replace.

With a gun, you just aim and pull the trigger, and the prey usually goes down.

Archery, however, required you to account for many factors: the wind, the bow, the string, the arrow, the draw weight, the angle of release, the point of aim, and so on.

Even though she wasn’t the one drawing the bow, just hiding off to the side, she could still feel that same profound sense of accomplishment.

Hit by three arrows, the American Crocodile’s hind leg clearly couldn’t bear weight anymore. It held the leg slightly aloft, supporting its entire body with just its last leg.

Just as Lin Chen drew another arrow and nocked it on the bowstring...

CRACK!

The highly bent bamboo pole finally gave way under the immense weight, and its slender tip snapped in two.

With the hoisting force gone, the American Crocodile, along with the massive Beast Trap, crashed heavily to the ground.

Its weight of several hundred kilograms became the last straw. The various spikes that hadn’t penetrated too deeply now sank all the way into its body.

’It worked out like this?’

Lin Chen stood stunned for a moment, then silently slid the bamboo arrow back into his quiver.

He felt like he’d considered everything when devising his plan, but he never expected to have overlooked such an obvious detail.

Thankfully, it seemed even fate was on his side. This turn of events would actually save him a lot of trouble.

He handed the bow to Erica and picked up a heavy anchor from the ground. Its deliberately sharpened edge glinted with a deadly light.

Far from being scared, Erica followed excitedly behind him, hurrying toward the trap.

Once they got closer, Lin Chen could finally get a clear look at the big guy’s injuries.

Just as he had planned, the sharp knives and forks had all pierced the sides of its abdomen. The glass shards and other things had also cut through the skin’s surface and embedded themselves, but due to their large surface area and the resistance of the scutes, they couldn’t penetrate too deeply.

’That’s fine, though. The knives and forks are about twenty centimeters long, which is deep enough to have damaged its internal organs.’

The bamboo-strip snare that had been tightly bound around its snout had been loosened without the pull from the pole, and crimson trickles of blood flowed out from between its two rows of sharp, serrated teeth.

Seeing its painful state, a flicker of sympathy flashed in Lin Chen’s eyes. He raised the anchor and took a couple of practice swings, aiming for the gap in the middle of the Beast Trap.

"Don’t be scared. It’s normal to feel dizzy. The pain will be gone in a second. Just bear with it."

"?"

Erica tilted her head in confusion. "What are you mumbling about? No encrypted language!"

"Want to know?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Let’s speak Chinese~"

"?"

"I said, you should learn some Chinese when you get back. You’re definitely going to have a lot of clients from Great Xia seeking you out."

"You got all that from just those few words?"

"It’s called an extended explanation, get it?"

"Fine, whatever. But why would a lot of clients from Great Xia look for me?"

"Because we Da Xia People love to travel, and we love to follow a trend. As long as a place or a person gets popular, no matter where they are in the world, someone will be willing to go to great lengths just to check in, then post photos to their social media to make their friends who couldn’t go jealous."

"Of course, I’m not saying I’m that popular. It’s mainly because I’m the only contestant from Great Xia in Wild Survival so far, and I’ve won the championship before. If I win again this time, it’ll be a very prestigious victory."

"And you’re my friend, and you’re so beautiful—and beautiful women are always more eye-catching—plus you revealed your profession. So there will probably be a lot of tourists from Great Xia with time on their hands coming to specifically ask for you to experience some wilderness survival."

Hearing him call her beautiful, the corners of Erica’s mouth turned up uncontrollably. She had wanted to say something to tease him back and build a more flirtatious atmosphere, but her eyes fell on the camera on his chest, and she forced the words back down.

’He’s right, I should be more restrained in front of the camera. There are only a few days left, anyway. Once I get rid of this annoying thing, can’t I say and do whatever I want?’

Lin Chen didn’t waste any more time. The priority now was to secure the prey before him.

After finding the right angle, he raised the sharp anchor high, all the muscles in his body tensing in an instant.

THUNK.

Empowered by immense force, the blade-like edge of the anchor easily pierced the scutes on the back of the American Crocodile’s neck, carving out a deep gash.

When the second blow fell, the American Crocodile, its head now nearly severed, finally gave a full-body twitch and slowly fell silent.

Lin Chen didn’t rush to untie it. Instead, he pulled out his military knife, reached under the American Crocodile’s throat, and slit it open to drain the blood as quickly as possible while the body was still warm.

What followed was a series of processing steps: removing the entrails, butchering, and so on.

Erica remained silent the entire time, sitting off to the side with her chin in her hands, quietly watching Lin Chen work.

[Successfully captured an American Crocodile on the coast of Panama without modern weapons. Happiness +5]

As he finished butchering the last piece of meat, a deep sense of confidence washed over him, immediately followed by the system prompt.

He checked his inventory. He had accumulated 14 points.

’I’ll just save them,’ he thought. ’I don’t need them right now. I’ll hold on to them until I really need them later.’

There were several hundred kilograms of meat, far too much to carry in one trip. Even if Erica helped him, it would likely take several trips back and forth to move it all.

So he came up with a plan. He dismantled the trigger mechanism of the Beast Trap, pulled out all the knives, forks, and glass shards from its surface and put them in his bamboo basket, then tied the bamboo-strip snare to it so it could be dragged.

He didn’t ask if Erica was willing to help carry it; he just handed her the rope.

One in front and one behind, they began to slowly haul the heavy prize back, like boat trackers pulling a barge.

Even after removing the extra weight of the skeleton and entrails, the remaining meat still weighed over two hundred kilograms. Despite both of them pulling with all their might, their progress was incredibly slow.

The journey, which would normally take five minutes, took them a full fifteen to get back to the vicinity of Andre’s trap.

The mysterious man had finally appeared and was placing bait near the trap he had set.

Hearing the noise, he glanced over instinctively.

"?!"

He was visibly surprised to see the two of them struggling to drag what was clearly a prize.

"Lin, what did you do? How did you manage to hunt something so quickly?"

"Same as you. Set a trap."

"But shouldn’t traps be set near game trails? Based on my observations, these American Crocodiles rarely come ashore. Most of the trails are around here. There should be almost no sign of any trails in your direction."

"That’s where brains come in. We have an old saying in Great Xia: there are always more solutions than problems."

Lin Chen gave a mysterious smile, showing no intention of asking about Andre’s situation. After a short rest, they started moving again.

By the time they reached Erica’s cave, a full hour and a half had passed.

Both of them were soaked in sweat from head to toe, as if they had just been pulled out of the water. They tossed the rope aside, collapsed onto the ground with no regard for their appearance, and gasped for air.