Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 219: Chapter 172: Sudden Rainstorm

["Forget five or six hours, I’d catch a cold after getting drenched for half an hour. You’d have to take a hot shower to feel better after something like that."]

["Of course building a shelter is the number one priority in wilderness survival. Look at the ones who aren’t getting rained on—they must be the most experienced contestants."]

["That’s not necessarily true. Someone like Andre, a wilderness survival expert with thirty years of experience, is also getting soaked. He just has a slightly more sheltered spot."]

["It can’t be helped. Who could’ve expected a perfectly clear day to turn on a dime like that? Plus, it started raining in the middle of the night, so no one could even see the dark clouds gathering."]

Over at the White Whale Restaurant, a dense crowd stood or sat before the projection screen. In twos and threes, they quietly discussed the current situation.

Since it was projected onto the wall, the image was massive. It currently displayed the same master feed as the production team: fifty small squares, offering a simultaneous view of every contestant.

A quick scan revealed it was raining in almost every feed. More than twenty of the camera lenses were already soaked, and you could clearly see water droplets streaking across them.

As the patrons quietly discussed how the situation might unfold, someone pointed to one of the completely black feeds.

"What’s going on with this one? Is the camera broken?"

"Dude, you new here?"

"Yeah, I just got here about half an hour ago. Why?"

"That explains it. The black one isn’t broken. Take a closer look. Who’s missing from all these feeds?"

The young man glanced at the wall, confused. His eyes scanned the forty-plus feeds one by one. "Who’s missing? I only recognize Andre."

"No, no, no. Think again. Why did you come to the White Whale?"

"Is that even a question? Of course, it’s because they serve the same food from Wild Survival... Huh? Wait a second. Where’s Lin? How come I don’t see him?"

With a little prompting from the other patrons, the young man instantly understood. He pointed at the pitch-black feed in disbelief.

"That’s Lin?"

"That’s right," Max said, walking over with a tray of ten coffees. He smiled and explained, "Lin is a pretty cautious guy. He usually builds his shelter first thing."

"The feed is black because his shelter is built inside a hillside—he basically dug a cave. If you look closely, you can still see a few faint glimmers of light, but they aren’t obvious because we’re not zoomed in."

With that, Max, having finished handing out the coffee, walked over to the laptop. After a few clicks of the mouse, the screen switched to Lin Chen’s stream.

Once magnified, you could indeed see countless tiny, dim beams of light streaming in from the same direction.

Not only that, but faint snores could also be heard coming from the feed.

The young patron blinked, a strange expression on his face.

"Everyone else is out there freezing in the rain, and Lin is just sleeping in his cave?"

He glanced at the time. A little past ten in the morning.

Sleeping at this hour??

"Yep..."

Max shrugged helplessly. "Well, it’s pouring rain. You can’t start a fire, and it’s not a good time to be moving around. Holing up to sleep is the best way to recover energy and conserve calories. It’s without a doubt the best choice."

"Haha, you’re new to this, kid. You’ll get used to it the more you watch."

"Exactly. This is what watching Lin on Wild Survival is like. He’s never like the other contestants."

"He might not be the strongest in terms of skill, but nearly every decision he makes is the right one. He’s got great luck, too."

"The main reason we all gather here is to watch him. We love seeing him live it up while everyone else is miserable. I don’t know why, but it’s just so satisfying. It’s almost like you’re the one out there on Wild Survival."

"See that wall? Lin and Andre were here eating just last month. Most of the people who come here are fans of those two."

"Oh, I see..."

The young man nodded. Intrigued, he found a corner to lean against, cradling a warm cup of butter coffee in his hands.

"Since he’s sleeping, there’s nothing to watch. We should switch back."

He had come all this way after stumbling upon some clips of the Alaska season online. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he’d decided to check it out for himself.

But after hearing their explanation, he found himself, for some reason, really starting to see things from Lin’s perspective.

The thought of others shivering and starving in the downpour while Lin was fast asleep in his warm, dry cave made the corners of his mouth twitch into an irrepressible grin.

He was no longer in a hurry to leave. He wanted to see how long the rain would last and what the contestants would do after it stopped.

...

"Haaaa... Aaaaah..."

Lin Chen gave a huge stretch, opened his eyes, and stared quietly at the pitch-black roof of his dugout.

He raised his wrist to check the time.

’3:30?’

"Whoa, I actually slept until the afternoon. In another three hours, it’ll be dark."

At some point, the sound of the rain outside had stopped.

He sat up carefully, propping himself up with his hands, and peered out through the gap in his wooden door.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move more quickly; the dugout’s low ceiling only gave him enough room to sit up.

’It really stopped?’

The dark clouds hadn’t completely scattered, but the sky was noticeably brighter, revealing familiar patches of blue sky and white clouds.

He quickly dismantled his wooden door, scrambled out, and did a series of stretches.

That long sleep had completely replenished all the mental and physical energy he’d spent over the past three days. He felt brimming with strength.

He felt a slight pang of hunger, but a moderate amount of it could actually sharpen the mind. Plus, fasting for over 16 hours would activate his body’s autophagy—a process of cellular renewal.

’Oh, right! I almost forgot. I have to cook the seafood I gathered last evening, or it’ll spoil. That’s a precious coconut crab in there.’