Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 265: Chapter 188: Intel on the Chili Field

"Last night? Too tired??"

Andre’s mouth fell open, his face filled with shock.

But he quickly realized Lin Chen must have been exhausted from building the shelter. ’I’m overthinking this.’

’This is a twenty-four-hour livestreamed show. Even if it’s pitch-black inside the cave, the audio still gets recorded. How could they possibly... Ahem.’

Andre’s exclamation woke Lin. He groggily sat up. Just as he was about to open his eyes, he was dazzled by the bright sunlight. He subconsciously raised a hand to block it and bumped into a soft body.

"Ow! What’d you hit me for?"

Erica cried out, clutching her arm. She held it out in the sunlight and saw it was already red.

"...?"

Lin Chen opened his eyes, dazed, and looked toward the source of the voice.

As his eyes gradually adjusted to the light, he saw Erica sitting just a few inches in front of him, her back half-exposed. He could reach out and touch her.

Looking outside the cave, he saw Andre’s familiar, wrinkled face staring at him with a strange expression.

He blinked a few times, finally waking up completely. As if realizing something, he reached out and felt the moss beside him.

It was warm.

"Holy crap, Erica, you didn’t actually sleep here last night, did you?"

"Of course!"

Erica had a matter-of-fact look on her face. "Where else would I sleep? This is going to be my home from now on!"

Lin Chen, speechless, waved a hand dismissively and pushed her firmly on the back, shoving her outside.

’This girl is nothing but trouble!’

He could already imagine the viewers in all three of their live streams gossiping right now.

Although it was still early, and lazy foreigners might not be up yet, that didn’t mean their only viewers were in North America.

Different regions had different time zones. It could be noon or afternoon somewhere else, so there were definitely viewers watching the stream.

He glanced at his watch, hesitated for a moment, but didn’t dare to check it.

"Look at him. He’s definitely shy, right?"

Caught completely off guard, Erica was shoved out of the cave. Fortunately, her reflexes were quick; she immediately used the momentum to stand up and steady herself, then started complaining to Andre.

"You must be Andre, right? I remember you, too. Hello, hello! I’m Erica, that’s right. It’s great to meet you!"

"Uh... hello."

Andre still hadn’t figured out what was going on, but he subconsciously reached out and shook her hand.

"So, here’s the deal, I’m a fan of Lin’s..."

Erica then gave him a rough explanation of the situation.

Andre’s eyes lit up with understanding. "So you came to learn his skills, and this cave is going to be your shelter from now on?"

"Exactly!"

"But it’s not yours right now, is it? You slept here... did Lin agree?"

"He didn’t disagree~"

"Huh?"

Andre turned his head in confusion. Lin Chen, who had just crawled out of the cave, said irritably, "Didn’t I say no when you asked me last night? I said you could only squeeze in if it rained, and it didn’t rain!"

"How can you be so sure it didn’t rain? What if it rained for a few minutes while we were sleeping?"

"..."

Lin Chen rolled his eyes, instantly giving up the idea of reasoning with this woman. He turned to Andre instead.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Oh, right, right. I almost forgot my reason for coming."

Andre extended a hand toward him. "My shelter is finished. As a neighbor, friend, and rival, I’m here to specially invite you to celebrate with me. Oh, and now there’s Erica, too. Why don’t you both come?"

"Awesome!"

"Not interested."

"Hey?! You’re such a wet blanket. As your new neighbor, it’s perfectly normal for me to want to celebrate moving in, right?"

"Yeah, Lin," on this matter, Andre surprisingly sided with Erica, "we’re both fans of your cooking. There are a ton of viewers in front of their screens hoping to see you show off your skills. You’re not going to let us down, are you?"

’After all that talk, these two just want to freeload a meal!’

Lin Chen had an "I knew it" expression on his face. He threw up his hands. "It’s not that I don’t want to cook, it’s that I don’t have the ingredients. All I have on hand is allspice. I used up the lemongrass yesterday, and the coyote coriander and wild garlic are gone too. I only have one pineapple and a few coconuts left."

"To make a decent meal, I need new main ingredients and seasonings. For the past few days, because I’ve been rushing to finish the wooden cabin, all I’ve been making is coconut shellfish soup. I haven’t had any time to hunt or look for spices."

"I have some."

A confident smile spread across Andre’s face. "I figured you might say that, so I gathered some seasonings you might be able to use ahead of time."

"Such as?"

"The coyote coriander you just mentioned—I found a small handful on my way over. I also found oregano leaves, an annatto tree, and a bay laurel tree a couple of days ago, plus I have a few pieces of wild ginger."

"Doesn’t make much of a difference," Lin Chen was completely unmoved. "I found a bay laurel tree, too. The flavor of fresh oregano isn’t as strong as coyote coriander, so it would just get overpowered. And annatto seeds are mainly for coloring; they don’t have much of a special flavor themselves."

’The wild ginger, on the other hand, is a little useful.’

"What about chili peppers?"

"Chili peppers are also... wait, what? Chili peppers?"

Lin Chen was about to refuse out of habit, but he quickly caught himself and whipped his head around to look at Erica, who had suddenly interjected.

"You know where chili peppers are growing?"

"Yeah, I saw a patch of them on the way here. Green ones and red ones. I didn’t pick any because I was in a hurry to get here."

"Where?"

He swallowed, his firm stance slowly beginning to waver.

’All else aside, if he could get his hands on some chili peppers, making a feast wouldn’t be out of the question.’