Chapter 350 - 224: The Missing Can (2)

Chapter 350: Chapter 224: The Missing Can (2)

’As long as they’re in their right minds, the other contestants shouldn’t be coming this way.’

He pushed thoughts of the other contestants aside, his mind quickly focusing on how to chop down the bamboo efficiently.

But no matter how he racked his brain, there didn’t seem to be a better cutting method without a saw.

With stones, he could at best fashion a stone axe or a stone knife, but making something like a stone saw was impossible.

He could, theoretically, make one from bamboo, but after thinking through the crafting process, he immediately abandoned the idea.

To make a saw from bamboo, the first step was to sharpen it into a bamboo knife, then cut triangular teeth into the blade’s edge.

This step was no different from cutting bamboo sections, and he’d have to repeat it over a dozen times. How long the resulting bamboo saw would even last was a mystery. With all that effort, he might as well just chop the bamboo into sections directly—it was far more practical.

If he wanted to make a saw, he’d need metal.

’Where am I going to get metal...?’

The moment that thought surfaced, he stopped dead in his tracks. His lips twitched, and he smacked himself hard on the head.

"Damn it!"

"Did that fever really fry my brain? I can’t believe I remembered and then forgot all over again!"

’That can!’

At this thought, he completely forgot about the bamboo. After quickly getting his bearings, he turned and headed in the direction of the chili pepper field.

The bamboo forest was located on the mountainside directly above Erica’s shelter. The path she had led him and Andre on last time went in the opposite direction, which meant the chili pepper field should be uphill from his own shelter, further in the direction of Bartel’s camp.

’That guy... he couldn’t have chosen to settle over there just because he found the chili pepper field, could he?’

’Probably not, right?’

’Didn’t he say he was going to wander down to the beach to catch Lobsters that night? He shouldn’t have gone up the mountain.’

’He’s most likely spent the last few days building his shelter, not wandering around everywhere.’

As he hurried along, his heart was filled with anxiety. He was terrified that the "treasure" he had buried had been found by someone else. Every time the thought crossed his mind, his pace quickened involuntarily.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he’d replenished his carbs and gotten enough rest, but climbing the mountain felt exceptionally easy today.

Before long, after about ten or fifteen minutes, he spotted Bartel in the distance through a gap in the bushes and trees, building his shelter on the mountainside below.

Bartel was building a half-bamboo, half-wood treehouse, using the surrounding natural tree trunks for its main frame. He was a bit too far away to make out the finer details.

But from what Lin Chen could see, the treehouse didn’t have a large footprint; it was shaped like a temporary A-frame shelter.

This type of shelter doesn’t require rope; it can be built as long as you have Y-shaped tree branches.

Bartel was currently trying to convert the simple A-frame shelter into a more substantial, cabin-like structure.

’He’s using bamboo too? It’s unlikely he hauled it all the way from our patch. A round trip would take at least an hour and a half, wouldn’t it?’

’Could there be another bamboo grove nearby?’

He slowly backed away, hiding himself behind the bushes again to avoid Bartel spotting him and thinking he was there to collect a debt.

As he followed the route to the chili field from memory, his eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, afraid he might miss any sign of a bamboo grove.

Although bamboo grows in groves, these clusters vary in size. If it were just a dozen or so stalks growing somewhere in the middle of the forest, they could easily be hidden by thick trees and dense shrubbery.

Aside from searching for bamboo and the chili field, he spent the rest of his time focused on the ground.

Purslane typically grows low to the ground, and in a tropical forest, the thick layer of weeds and moss on the forest floor can easily act as a natural umbrella, hiding it from view.

His bamboo knife poked back and forth through clumps of grass as his hawk-like gaze swept over the ground.

"There!"

When a flash of red caught his eye, his face lit up. He immediately bent down, gathered a dense clump of wild grass, and with a simple slice of his bamboo knife at the root, easily harvested the entire plant.

"This right here is Purslane. See how similar it looks to the sea purslane we found by the beach?"

"Sea purslane usually grows as a single plant and has longer leaves, whereas this Purslane spreads out in all directions. Its leaves are small and round, vaguely tongue-shaped, and its stem is a very distinct brownish-red."

"Purslane is a very common wild plant. It isn’t particularly rich in nutrients, but it has medicinal properties. It can help with things like canker sores, edema, and even preventing heart disease."

"Of course, that’s not its most important use for us. It’s for replenishing salt!"

"It’s rich in potassium salts, making it a natural and safe source of salt. It also provides lots of fiber and chlorophyll. In a survival situation, this stuff is an absolute lifesaver."

He followed his usual routine, introducing each new ingredient he found by talking to himself, focusing on its identifying features and uses.

"By the way, thanks to my fellow countryman for the reminder this morning, but I’m still going to explain this stuff. Even though some viewers might pass this useful information on to other contestants and indirectly lower the difficulty for them, this is just a competition. It’s not a fight to the death."

"And since it’s a competition, safety undoubtedly comes first."

[Well said!]

[That’s one of the Da Xia People for you, a natural pacifist. Even in a competition, he’s still worried about other people’s safety.]

[Just for saying that, I’m sold. Plus, I get to learn some survival and cooking skills.]

[Now I get why Erica is a fan. With an attitude like that, what’s not to love?]

[Andre is a respectable contestant too. Last season, he could have vied for the championship, but he chose to withdraw to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. It’s the same this season. He knows all the resource spots around here, but he’s barely tried to take Lin’s resources, choosing instead to develop his own new spots.]

[He sounds awesome. I’m gonna go check out his stream.]

[I heard Andre is competing to earn money for his wife’s medical treatment. To be that desperate and still maintain a moral compass... that kind of man deserves respect.]

[A rival Andre acknowledges can’t be simple. I’m really excited to see which of these two will win the championship in the end.]

[Luckily the top five this season all get prize money. With Andre’s skill, as long as he doesn’t have any accidents, winning some prize money is a sure thing. It’s just a question of how much.]

At that moment, Lin Chen was completely focused on gathering Purslane, oblivious to the fact that his casual remark had caused a sudden burst of activity in his stream’s chat.

It was now the fifteenth day. Most of the people still watching his stream were either longtime fans or newly hooked ones. They all had a decent understanding of his personality by now; if they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t have stuck around this long.

In just half an hour, he had gathered nearly half a basket full of Purslane.

"This should be enough to pickle for a few meals. All right, let’s go find those chili peppers!"

By the time he finally found the chili pepper field, the sun was already high in the sky.

He got his bearings and quickly arrived near the spot where he had buried the can.

But...

He stared blankly at the chili peppers and leaves scattered all over the ground, momentarily frozen and at a complete loss.

The freak storm had dealt a devastating blow to the chili field. Nearly all the heavy peppers had been blown to the ground. Many of the taller plants had been snapped in half, their stems and leaves scattered everywhere.

Only some small, undeveloped peppers and the shorter plants had survived.

The problem was, with the scene so devastated, how was he supposed to find the exact spot where he had buried the can?

It wasn’t just the fierce winds; there was also the torrential rain. That much water would have completely changed the topography of the soil.

All he could do now was try to find the general area by vaguely recalling where the three of them had been standing. Pinpointing the exact location was basically impossible.

He sighed. ’So unlucky.’

Sighing, he quickly adjusted his attitude and bent down to start picking through the peppers scattered on the ground.

After being soaked by the rain and sitting for several days, some of the peppers had begun to rot, but most of them still looked relatively fresh.

’It would be a waste to just leave them here. I might as well take them all back and pickle them!’