Chapter 138 Preparing Ingredients

As soon as Sun Licheng entered the woods, he casually plucked a handful of leaves and began to chew them thoroughly.

"These leaves aren't poisonous, though they are terribly astringent."

Sun Licheng muttered to himself, spat out the leaves, and then grabbed a dark berry and tossed it into his mouth.

Caroline stared in disbelief. It was only now that she realized Sun Licheng was a complete madman. Although ogres were renowned for their iron stomachs, even they wouldn't dare to gorge themselves like this. In this forest, most plants were toxic, and many were deadly; a single bite could mean death—a fact proven by thousands of years of tribal survival experience.

"Does he possess some kind of special ability?"

Watching Sun Licheng pop a highly toxic mushroom into his mouth, only to spit it out shortly after, Caroline was filled with deep suspicion.

Chipman watched Sun Licheng’s reckless eating with shock, yet felt a growing urge to join in. He hadn't eaten anything for days and was famished. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Chipman stealthily plucked a red berry, ready to toss it into his mouth. But just as the berry reached his lips, a large foot kicked him away, sending the tools in his basket scattering everywhere.

"You silly rabbit, are you tired of living? That fruit is poisonous!" Henry growled angrily.

Although the life of this rabbit-man meant nothing to him, if the creature died, he would be forced to take over the manual labor. That was the only reason Henry had intervened.

"Sun Licheng! What are you doing? Didn't you say you were looking for food? Why are you just playing around?" Caroline roared at him.

Sun Licheng spat out the leaf residue, looked at Caroline with disdain, and sneered, "I am obviously looking for food. I am a chef; who could possibly understand ingredients better than I do? If you don't understand, be quiet and watch closely."

"You brat, you dare to play us for fools! Do you want a beating?"

Caroline remained still, but Henry, standing nearby, grew agitated.

"What’s the matter? Not satisfied?" Sun Licheng didn't stand on ceremony with this defeated rival, wearing a provocative smirk.

Caroline stopped the enraged Henry and whispered, "Don't be hasty. Let's see what tricks he has up his sleeve."

Seeing that Henry wasn't coming over, Sun Licheng ignored them and continued searching for the materials he needed. Whenever he identified a usable plant, he would pluck some and toss them into Chipman’s basket. Before long, the basket was more than half full.

Feeling he had gathered enough, Sun Licheng walked straight to a thicket. He examined the leaves carefully, nodded with a smile, and whispered to himself, "This is the one."

Sun Licheng was actually looking for what he called "cassava"—a name he had coined himself in the God-Forsaken Land. Having lived in this world for a long time, he realized that in the highlands, only the yield of this cassava could satisfy the bottomless appetites of the ogres. To his delight, he had found it so quickly, and in such abundance.

Confirming the location, Sun Licheng took the shovel from Chipman. The tool was actually a broken iron blade with a wide edge, quite suitable for digging.

Ogres had no concept of labor; their lifestyle revolved around becoming mercenaries. As for manual work, they typically resorted to raiding settlements to capture people, forcing them to work, and then eating them once the task was done. It was, admittedly, a very efficient method. Consequently, Sun Licheng had searched the entire tribe and found no proper shovel, so he had to make do with the iron blade.

Under the trio’s astonished gazes, the shovel—or rather, the iron blade—flew up and down, and before long, a large pit had been excavated.

"Catch!" Sun Licheng shouted from the pit, and one after another, woody tubers were tossed out.

"What is this?" Caroline picked up a tuber and tapped it. Finding it solid, she asked Sun Licheng with suspicion.

"This is food," Sun Licheng replied as he continued to work.

"You’re lying! How can something this hard be edible?" Caroline grew furious and bellowed at him.

"Shut up!" Sun Licheng snapped back. "I know perfectly well this is edible. If you continue to interfere, I’ll stop looking."

His threat worked; Caroline could only stand to the side, fuming.

"Shall I beat him?" Henry whispered in her ear.

Caroline shot him a glare, speechless at the man who had nothing but muscle in his head. If they struck Sun Licheng, the tribe’s last remaining hope would be extinguished. For now, everything had to be left to him.

*Hmph, if what he finds isn't edible, I’ll see how I can skin you alive,* Caroline thought, gritting her teeth.

Sun Licheng’s efficiency was high. In a short time, he had unearthed a small mountain of cassava. Satisfied, he led the three of them forward.

Stopping before a hillside, Sun Licheng looked at the dense network of snow-rat burrows and couldn't help but smile.

"Do you eat snow-rats?" he asked Caroline, pointing at the holes.

"Of course we eat them, but these big rats are hard to catch. We rarely manage to trap them," Caroline replied.

Sun Licheng nodded and walked toward the burrows. While the ogres couldn't catch them, he had plenty of experience; rats had once been his primary source of meat.

Sun Licheng’s talent for elemental guidance could not only detect minerals but also perceive the underground conditions of an entire area. While many mages could sense the earth, none of them had the leisure to use such high-level magic just to catch rats.

Sun Licheng placed his left hand on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. Soon, he stood up with a broad smile. He began to dig with the broken blade, quickly excavating five deep pits and connecting them in a circle.

"They say a cunning rabbit has three burrows, but these snow-rats have five tunnels. No wonder they’re hard to catch," he remarked.

With the pits dug, he began setting his traps—a design inspired by a program he had once seen on television. He brought over five large stones and carefully propped them up at the burrow entrances with thin twigs. Once a snow-rat rushed out, it would knock over the twig in its haste, and the stone would instantly pin it down. It was simple, but effective.

After setting the traps, he began digging at the rats' nest. The startled snow-rats scrambled to escape, triggering the traps one by one, and were soon crushed half-dead by the falling stones. The falling rocks also sealed the burrows.

After a flurry of activity, Sun Licheng had caught seven adult snow-rats and ten pups. These creatures were large; the adults weighed around a hundred pounds, and the pups were forty to fifty pounds each.

"Not bad," Caroline said, satisfied with his performance. However, she immediately raised her concern: "These rats are too few. It’s not enough to feed everyone."

Sun Licheng laughed heartily and said mysteriously, "You'll see when we get back to the tribe."