What seemed like a tedious process took Lin Chen a mere three or four minutes. Before long, he had prepared four perfectly clean and beautiful boneless fish fillets.
But soon, he was faced with a new problem.
The essential gear provided by the production team included a set of stainless steel cookware, which consisted of a stockpot, a frying pan, and a small pan for eggs.
The egg pan was only palm-sized, and while the frying pan was a normal size, neither could hold much water, so he hadn't brought them with him.
The only one with any real capacity, the stockpot, was already filled with the foraged greens, fish heads, and bones. At most, it could also fit the four fillets.
If he wanted to make soup, he would need other containers to hold water.
Returning to camp to drop off the ingredients before coming back for water would mean three separate treks, wasting an hour and a half.
'Looks like I'll need to make some containers myself. Relying solely on the gear provided by the production team is too limiting.'
'I thought carrying a weapon would keep me out of trouble, but now I've run right into a new problem.'
But he had no idea how to weave a basket from leaves or vines. He'd only ever seen it on TV, and even then, it was in a fast-forwarded montage.
'Now that it's my turn to actually do it, I'm not feeling very confident.'
By the riverbank, he found a patch of unknown grass whose blades were remarkably similar in shape to a sword's edge. He picked a handful and started weaving on the spot.
Recalling the shape of a woven mat, he interlaced four blades—one over, one under—and then kept adding new blades, repeating the process. Soon, he had a flat disc woven from the grass.
'How do I turn this into a basket?'
He stared at the many overhanging ends of the blades. On a whim, he reached out and bent one, creating a sixty- or seventy-degree angle.
'Huh, it's the same principle. I just have to keep adding more blades. The only problem is how to secure the angle.'
After a few attempts, he had a sudden realization: he didn't need to add more blades. All he had to do was turn the existing blades upright and then interlace them diagonally, which naturally formed an angle.
Once he had finished all four corners, the rough outline of a basket woven from grass blades began to take shape.
'I'm a genius! I succeeded on my very first try!'
He excitedly fiddled with the leafy basket. It looked a bit crude, but it was the very first basket he had ever woven with his own hands.
Gazing at the basketball-sized basket, a surge of confidence welled up inside him. He couldn't suppress the smile spreading across his face.
[First successful attempt at weaving in the wilds of North America. Happiness +2]
'Two points all at once?'
Lin Chen froze. He stared thoughtfully at the basket for a few more moments, feeling like he was gradually figuring out the secret to obtaining Happiness Points.
'Besides just enjoying life, challenging myself and succeeding should also earn a large amount of Happiness Points.'
He pulled up the redemption page and made the purchase without a second thought.
[Successfully purchased Wild Mushroom Encyclopedia. Remaining Happiness Points: 1]
As a flood of information surged into his mind, he calmly placed all the ingredients into his new basket, filled the pot to the brim with fresh water, and started the journey back, carrying his heavy spoils.
He hadn't gone far when a patch of yellow, hidden among the dense fallen leaves at the base of a tree, caught his attention.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the vast amount of mushroom knowledge he had just acquired, but he felt that his awareness of fungi on the ground had sharpened considerably.
'Before, I probably would have walked right past this tree without noticing a thing.'
He squatted down and carefully brushed away the surrounding leaves and weeds, revealing a round, chubby yellow cap.
"A Yellow Bolete!"
He cried out involuntarily, recognizing it in a single glance without even needing to see the whole mushroom.
The bolete was unexpectedly large. Its cap was nearly the size of his palm, and its thick, sturdy stalk was as wide as four of his fingers.
This single bolete was enough to fill his stomach!
"Oh my god, what is he doing?!"
In the live stream, the sight of the giant mushroom suddenly appearing on Lin Chen's screen made the chat fall silent for a moment before erupting once more.
"He's not thinking of picking that mushroom, is he?"
"Alaska might have mushrooms everywhere, but any smart person knows you can't just eat random wild mushrooms. Even just touching them can be enough to poison you!"
"Where's the production team?! Someone tell him not to touch that mushroom!!"
"I don't know what you're all panicking about. Come on, the guy's a chef. A chef can't tell which mushrooms are edible and which aren't?"
"I've never seen a mushroom with that color and shape in a supermarket, and I've never heard of any restaurant serving dishes made with it. What makes him so sure it's an edible variety?"
"They say brightly colored mushrooms are always poisonous, but this one looks pretty ordinary. I'm no expert, so I can't make the call."
Seeing Lin Chen reach out and pick the giant mushroom, the production team was also scared half to death.
"Daniel! Daniel!!!"
At the sound of the anxious shouts, a familiar figure burst through the door like a gust of wind.
"What is it now?"
In just one day, the production team had called for him no fewer than five times, but this was the first time they had sounded so frantic. It made his fifty-something-year-old heart leap into his throat, terrified that one of the reckless contestants had gotten into an accident.
"A mushroom!"
A staff member watching the monitors pointed to Lin Chen's feed. "That chef picked a big, unfamiliar yellow mushroom. Quick, see if it's poisonous!"
"If it's poisonous, we have to send the medical team in right away."
"A poisonous mushroom?!"
Hearing this, Daniel tensed up instantly.
It was common sense not to pick wild mushrooms indiscriminately. Never mind the average person; even people with extensive survival knowledge, or even an expert like himself, could hardly guarantee with one-hundred-percent certainty whether a particular mushroom was poisonous.
Most importantly, the range of mushroom toxicity was enormous. A mild dose might not even be felt, while a potent one could be lethal in a matter of minutes.
He scrambled to the monitor in a single bound.
When the giant yellow mushroom appeared on the screen, he froze on the spot. His brow furrowed as he stared intently, trying to identify every detail.
"Did you go mute? Say something!"
Seeing his reaction, the other staff members who had rushed over also grew tense.
Someone had even picked up a walkie-talkie, ready to alert the medical team at a moment's notice.
"I... I can't be sure," Daniel said, shaking his head with difficulty. "There are too many similar-looking species of mushroom—some are poisonous, some aren't. But I can be certain that this type doesn't carry a fatal toxin. As long as it's cooked thoroughly, it should be fine."