Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 264: Chapter 187: Why Are You Sleeping in Lin’s House?

She made two of these filtration containers, with the order of the filter layers completely reversed in the second one.

She placed the twice-filtered seawater by the fire to heat it. As the water evaporated, white salt crystals and some yellow particles slowly formed on the walls of the bamboo tube.

She carefully scraped off the yellow parts and threw them away. The white salt crystals were scraped directly into the remaining seawater, which was then boiled down until it reached the consistency of rice porridge.

By the time she had filtered and then evaporated all the seawater from seven or eight bamboo tubes, more than an hour had passed.

She went back to the creek for two more tubes of fresh water, filtered it once, then stirred in the saltwater porridge, letting the salt dissolve as much as possible before heating it again.

After repeating the filtering and evaporation process several times, she finally obtained a small handful of relatively clean, white sea salt crystals.

’Hmph. Who are you to look down on me!’

Erica held the clump of sea salt in her palm, her face filled with pride as she glanced back at the closed cave fence.

’I was just too lazy to do it, not that I couldn’t!’

Treating the salt like a precious treasure, she poured it into a dry bamboo tube for storage. She stomped out the fire, took down the fence, and slipped inside quietly.

Inside the pitch-black cave, Lin Chen’s steady breathing was clearly audible; he was even snoring a little from his exhaustion.

In the faint moonlight, Erica raised her camera and blew a kiss to it.

"Good night, everyone~"

With that, she put the wooden fence back in place.

The cave was plunged into darkness once more.

...

THUD.

THUD.

Andre swung a wooden stake the length of his palm. A branch still attached to it formed a natural hammer shape.

With every swing, the wooden wedge was driven a little deeper, embedding itself further into the gap between the logs.

When the final blow landed, the wedge held firm and didn’t move.

Andre wiped the sweat from his brow and broke into a grin.

"Finally done! My new home!"

Like Lin Chen, he had also chosen a spot at the base of a hill for his shelter. But he had chosen to build a wooden cabin as an extension outside, using the cave as a storeroom.

His cabin wasn’t large, only about two meters long and two meters wide, with another meter of space inside the cave.

It wasn’t much, but it was certainly enough for living and storing food.

If he needed to expand, it would be simple enough to extend it outward or to the sides.

’I wonder how Lin’s progressing. To celebrate my new home, maybe I should invite him over?’

He glanced at the time. Six o’clock sharp.

It would be dawn soon.

He hadn’t seen Lin in a few days and kind of missed him. He immediately slung a bamboo basket over his back, thinking he could gather some ingredients on the way and see if Lin could help him prepare them.

He passed through the river valley forest, and a dense Mangrove Forest appeared before him. A long, shallow bank stretched between the two forests.

During the day, many American Crocodiles would gather here to sunbathe, forming a natural line of defense.

Though, it wasn’t as if this terrain would pose any real danger anyway.

He didn’t rush into the water. Sunrise was one of the most active times for nocturnal animals. Instead, he turned and started climbing the hillside.

From here, he could bypass the Mangrove Forest and reach the Gwada Bamboo Forest. Not far below that was the location of Lin’s shelter.

By the time he reached the bamboo forest, the morning sun had already risen halfway, dyeing the entire sky a captivating gold.

Looking at the obvious signs of chopping within the bamboo forest, he nodded to himself.

’Judging by the amount, Lin’s cabin should be almost finished, too. Perfect, we can celebrate together!’

At this thought, he quickened his pace and soon arrived directly above Lin Chen’s shelter.

He continued forward for a few dozen meters and found a relatively gentle slope to slide down.

A clear path had been worn into this spot. Unsurprisingly, Lin must also use it as a shortcut home often.

From a distance, he could see that the door to Lin Chen’s shelter was still closed.

’Not up yet?’

He checked the time. It was almost six-thirty.

It wasn’t exactly early, but it wasn’t late either.

Every contestant had their own preferred schedule. Besides, the seaside was good for hunting at night, and staying up late could yield a bigger haul. Maybe that’s what Lin did.

With that in mind, he tiptoed to the front of the wooden fence and peered inside through the gaps between the branches.

It was simply too dark inside the cave. Plus, it didn’t face the sunrise, so no light could get in.

Not one to stand on ceremony, he reached out with both hands, grabbed the fence, gave it a light lift, and pulled the whole thing out, setting it aside at an angle.

Perhaps it was the faint noise from removing the fence that startled the person inside, or maybe they were already about to wake up, but a figure slowly sat up in the darkness.

"Hey! Lin, good morning, time to get up~"

Andre stood at the cave entrance, backlit by the sun, completely unable to see inside.

A rustling sound came from within. He took half a step back to make room for the person inside.

The next second...

A small head poked out.

Flaxen hair tumbled loosely over her chest, her snow-white skin seeming to sparkle in the sunlight.

Staring at her delicate face, which was smudged with a bit of dirt, Andre’s smile froze. The girl’s eyes still held a trace of confusion.

"You... you..."

’Why is there a young woman in Lin’s home?’

He had a pretty clear memory that among the fifty contestants, there were only about six or seven women.

Erica, for her part, never expected that someone would suddenly show up and take the door off while she was sleeping. It sounded like they were here for Lin.

She wanted to see what the person looked like, but because it was so dark in the cave and so bright outside, she couldn’t make out their face at all.

The two of them stared blankly at each other for a few seconds before Andre was the first to react.

"You’re Erica?"

Just as Lin Chen found Westerners’ features distinct, European features were also quite conspicuous to a North American. As the only female European contestant in the competition, Andre quickly recognized her.

"Why are you sleeping in Lin’s home? Where is he?"

"Lin?"

Not yet fully awake, Erica subconsciously pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

"Still sleeping. He was exhausted last night."