Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 269: Chapter 189: The Joy of a Bountiful Harvest, Another Battle in the Mangrove Forest

The peppers left on the bushes were only as thick as a pinky finger; Erica had already picked all the bigger ones.

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes, casting a wary glance in the direction Erica had gone. He squatted down, disappearing completely into the pepper patch.

’Five years of wind and rain... it’s unlikely I’ll find any traces. Even if there was any trash left behind, it would have been buried under the soil long ago.’

Clinging to a sliver of hope, he searched the surface of the area, but as expected, found nothing.

Unwilling to give up, he used his combat knife to randomly turn over the soil. He dug here and there without any real purpose, occasionally picking a pepper just for show. In truth, he didn’t hold out much hope.

After searching continuously for four or five meters, just as he was on the verge of giving up, his combat knife scraped against something hard as he was turning the soil.

He froze for a moment, thinking he’d hit a rock. He gently prodded the spot with the tip of his knife.

CLINK.

Upon contact, he could clearly feel the knife’s tip sink in slightly. The object was definitely not as hard as the blade.

’Could it be!?’

His eyes lit up. He took a deep breath and carefully brushed away the top layer of soil.

Slowly, an object with a distinctly metallic texture was revealed beneath the soil.

「Two minutes later.」

A metal can filled with dirt was dug out. Its surface was covered in rust spots, and a label for ’Black Bean Paste’ was still stuck to it.

’A rusty can, of all things. This is a double-edged sword.’

’If it wasn’t rusty, it would be a great find. But since it is, it’s pretty much useless for anything food-related.’

’Unless I can find acidic fruit, like unripe citrus. I could soak the can in its juice, then heat it to a high temperature and scour it with sand. That’s the only way to ensure it’s as safe as possible.’

’But besides being a container, this thing could also be made into a small blade, though its hardness probably isn’t sufficient.’

The main component of food-grade metal cans is tinplate, which is tin-plated steel. The main component of steel is iron.

If the tin plating on the can’s surface were intact, it would effectively prevent the iron inside from coming into contact with oxygen and rusting.

But for a clearly used can that has been exposed to the elements for so many years, it’s absolutely impossible for the plating to have remained intact.

This alloy has a certain flexibility, making it easy to shape, so it isn’t very hard. It can be easily cut with scissors or a small knife, so naturally, it can’t be used to make tools like axes or saws.

’However, these drawbacks don’t mean it’s useless.’

’If I can clean off the rust, I could probably use it as a makeshift pot. High heat would kill any potential *Clostridium botulinum* and other anaerobic bacteria, and that’s the only reliable method.’

’Additionally, by shaping it with rocks, I could make it into a fish spear or a lance, preparing for future hunts in the sea.’

’But before that, I’d still need to get rid of the rust. It’s a necessary step that can’t be avoided.’

After some thought, he reburied the can, but in a different spot far from the center of the pepper patch. He planned to make a special trip to retrieve it when he was alone.

The metal can, almost the size of his head, was too conspicuous and there was nowhere to hide it. He also couldn’t be sure that Erica, with her complete lack of boundaries, wouldn’t go rummaging through his back basket.

’To be safe, I’ll hide it for now.’

He lingered in the pepper patch for a while longer, picking more peppers and pretending like nothing had happened.

"Lin, hurry up and come here!"

Andre’s voice echoed from the forest in the distance.

Before he could even move, he saw Erica shoot past like a gust of wind.

"What is it, what is it? What did you find?"

’Tsk. This woman has so much energy. A classic extrovert.’

"Oh my god, are these all potatoes?"

’Potatoes?!’

His spirits lifted, and he immediately hurried over.

Not far from the pepper patch, about a few dozen meters away, patches of low-lying, knee-high green vegetation came into view.

The plants weren’t even half the height of the old pepper bushes. Their leaves were a tender green with hints of a deeper shade, and their surfaces were wrinkled, like a crumpled piece of paper that had been smoothed out again.

Small white flowers bloomed in the middle of the plants, with yellow, bud-like pistils standing in the center, somewhat similar in shape to cucumber blossoms.

Seeing these two characteristic features, Lin Chen’s eyes lit up.

’They really are potatoes.’

"There’s nothing to discuss. Dig!"

This great discovery excited all three of them. This stuff was far more important than peppers.

At best, peppers could only supplement vitamins and make food more delicious, but they couldn’t save your life.

Potatoes were solid carbs—a life-saving food source in the wild.

The three of them excitedly rolled up their sleeves. Not caring about getting dirty, they dug into the soil beneath each potato plant with their bare hands.

Potatoes are essentially the roots of the plant, which swell and grow into tubers.

Who knew how long these wild potatoes had been growing out here. They were generally very large; the biggest was almost the size of two fists.

Of course, there were small ones too, but they only dug up potatoes that were larger than the average small potato you’d find at a market. Any baby potatoes smaller than that were left in the ground.

"Small potatoes" usually refers to ones about the size of a winter jujube. In Western restaurants, they’re typically used to make roasted potatoes—just cut them in half, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with some seasoning, and roast.