Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 259: Chapter 186: You’re the One with the Big Butt

As he was cutting the forearm-length bamboo shoot into thin strips and crescent-shaped slices, the water in the pot of Green Mussels began to boil.

The fresh scent of lemongrass rose with the steam. Plump Green Mussels bobbed up and down in the boiling water, gradually turning the broth a pale white.

As it simmered, a few droplets of oil floated to the surface.

He wasn’t sure if the oil was rendered from the coconut meat or the Green Mussels—another one of his recent discoveries.

Either way, it was a source of fat. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

He waited patiently for three or four minutes as the fragrance grew stronger.

Lin Chen stared longingly at the shellfish in the coconut shell. Unable to contain his ravenous hunger any longer, he used his branch chopsticks to pick out the plumpest morsel and blow on it to cool it down.

He had barely eaten anything since morning. How could he be expected to resist the delicious Green Mussels right in front of him?

’They can be eaten raw anyway. Besides, from a food safety perspective, most meat is safe to eat as long as its internal temperature is over 80 degrees Celsius for 15 seconds.’

The Green Mussels, stewed in coconut water, had a rich, sweet flavor, complemented by the distinct citrusy aroma of lemongrass. The taste was excellent.

Although it couldn’t compare to a dish made with all sorts of seasonings, its freshness alone made it far more delicious than anything you could buy in most restaurants or supermarkets.

Seafood is all about freshness. As long as it’s fresh enough, it’s delicious even without any seasoning.

He devoured all the Green Mussels, leaving about half the broth behind in the bowl.

He blinked. Drinking the broth straight seemed a bit boring; after all, he’d had it the same way for the past two days.

’Oh, right. I could try adding a Stone Clam. But how do you prepare these things? Do I just boil it whole?’

He picked up a Stone Clam and flipped it over, turning the pink flesh to face him.

’Forget it. To be safe, I probably shouldn’t toss something unprepared directly into the broth. It would suck if it ruined the whole thing.’

According to the practices of Great Xia chefs, shellfish are usually blanched, especially if they need to be shucked.

Blanching them and then rinsing them in cold water makes the tough shells fall off easily, saving a lot of time.

The Stone Clam’s shell had a very strange shape, like an abalone shell with several slits down the middle. It was somewhat reminiscent of an arthropod and didn’t look easy to prepare.

Coincidentally, the nearby Goose-necked Barnacles had been boiling for about five minutes. He moved the coconut shell away from the fire, plucked one out, and waved it in the air to cool it down faster.

The cooked Goose-necked Barnacle still had its bizarre shape, though its skin now looked a bit wrinkled and shrunken.

He pinched the glove-like skin with his fingernail and gave it a gentle tug. It tore away as easily as a thin membrane, revealing the soft, tender flesh within.

A whole coconut bowl full of Goose-necked Barnacles yielded only a palmful of meat after being peeled. The nail-like shells at their base remained, proof of their true identity.

"Lin! I’m baaack~!"

He had just finished his task when Erica’s clear voice called out from the direction of the mango trees.

She was carrying her camouflage jacket, which seemed to be wrapped around something. Her upper body was clad only in a sleeveless, form-fitting crop top, leaving her graceful curves on full display.

He’d noticed she had a great figure when they first met, but seeing her show it off so openly made him realize that European girls were truly blessed.

Her fair skin glowed in the sunlight, reflecting a dazzling, jade-like luster.

He raised a hand in greeting and glanced at the time.

A flicker of surprise crossed his face.

’Not even half an hour?’

’Good lord.’

’Just the round trip at a fast pace would take almost half an hour, and that’s not even counting climbing the tree... This girl must be an amazing climber and extremely familiar with the forest terrain. There’s no other way she could be this fast.’

’Could it be because her limbs are so long and slender, and she weighs less than me?’

He thought about it. That seemed very likely.

’Monkeys are the perfect example. Their limbs are long and slender, they’re incredibly light, and they can leap between branches in the canopy, scrambling from the ground into a treetop in the blink of an eye.’

’So, the reason I’m so slow at climbing trees is... I’m too heavy?’

He glanced down at his own slight paunch, the corner of his mouth twitching. He silently tried to console himself.

’It’s fine. I’ll start losing weight in a few days. I’ll get thinner.’

He was getting a daily intake of salt, so even without enough fat and carbohydrates, his weight wouldn’t drop too drastically.

The body only burns a dozen or so grams of fat per day on its own. Even with two or three hours of exercise, that number doesn’t even reach fifty grams—an amount easily surpassed by a single dessert. That’s why it’s so hard to lose weight in the city.

Only in an environment like the wilderness, where fat is extremely hard to come by, do the body’s fat reserves slowly but surely deplete.

And the process is extremely slow. It often takes two or three weeks to see even subtle changes in one’s physique, and a month for any significant difference.

While he was mulling over the reasons for his slow climbing, Erica breezed past him.

She gave her camouflage jacket a shake, and five coconuts thudded onto the ground.

"The vine broke when the coconuts fell, so they were hard to carry. I had to wrap them in my jacket," she explained. "Luckily, it’s not cold by the sea during the day. It’s actually quite pleasant."