From Now On, You're the Shelter's Cook!

That new guy called "Mosquito" really had solid woodworking skills. The planks that Fleeting White Horse and Fang Chang hadn't managed to saw out after measuring with rebar for ages—Mosquito whipped up a whole pile of them in no time with just a saw in hand. On top of that, these planks even had interlocking joints, slotting together effortlessly into square, hollow brick molds. Before long, quite a few brick molds were ready. "Your lumber wasn't treated properly. Look at this... it's about damn ready to sprout mushrooms." Mosquito wiped his sweat, propped the saw to the side, and looked at Fang Chang and Fleeting White Horse. "Are these enough?" "Enough, plenty! Thanks a ton, brother, that's a huge help!" Fleeting White Horse beamed from ear to ear, clapping Mosquito on the shoulder. Mosquito looked bashful and gave a dry laugh. "You're welcome! Just let me know if you need anything." Fleeting White Horse chuckled and patted his shoulder again. "Great! I'll remember that. I definitely won't hold back next time!" Mosquito: "..." With the molds, making mud bricks became much easier. Fleeting White Horse and Fang Chang mixed the yellow clay gathered from the riverbank with a little water, kneading it into a thick slurry before pouring it into the molds. They laid out square shapes across the ground, stuffed some charcoal into the gaps between them, and smeared ash across the brick surfaces. This was also a method Fleeting White Horse had learned from wilderness survival videos. Once the first tier of bricks was mostly sun-dried, they alternated the orientation and stacked the second tier, piling them tier upon tier until the stack stood taller than their heads. With the work finished, Fleeting White Horse carefully lit the charcoal inside the stack, letting the fire catch in the center and gradually envelop the entire kiln-like pile. "Will this thing actually work?" Looking at the smoking mud stack, Fang Chang wiped the sweat from his forehead with a mud-caked arm, looking for all the world like someone who had just crawled out of a cesspool. Fleeting White Horse didn't look much better either—in fact, his face had an extra coating of soot, as if he had just climbed out of a coal mine. "Ghost knows. We can only wait and see." This was his first time firing them too; as a kid, he had only seen adults do it, so who knew whether this method would work? Everything would have to wait until tomorrow. "Let's go. We'll leave it to burn for now." "Let's check out the cement kiln. I feel like we're really close to a finished batch. Let's pump the blower harder this time and try to get a bucket out before logging off!" On the other side, with the help of [WC Really Has Mosquitoes], Gale Force 8 and Ye Shi had finally completed the Nth-generation upgrade of their fish trap. They replaced the original cylinder structure with a cage-like design and swapped out the flimsy wooden strips for sturdy rebar, reinforcing the trap's main frame. No matter what fish swam in, it wouldn't be getting out! The three of them headed to the lake together, intending to try again. They looked like they were having a blast. As for Chu Guang, he was still racking his brains over meat-smoking techniques. Though there still hadn't been much progress... "Respected Administrator, may I ask what you are... doing?" Hearing a voice from beside him, Chu Guang stood up from the smoking rack, patted the soot from his hands, and glanced over. He saw [Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes] staring curiously at the meat-smoking rack he had built. If memory served, wasn't this guy a chef who graduated from New Oriental? At that thought, Chu Guang's eyes lit up immediately. "I'm studying how to make smoked meat... You came at just the right time. From now on, you're the cook of No. 404 Outpost!" Without giving the player a chance to speak, Chu Guang looked at him with a solemn face and pressed on. "We face a dire situation. In addition to building surface outpost facilities, we must stockpile enough food before winter sets in for the hundred compatriots who will arrive on the surface later." "I need your help!" Scrambled Eggs was utterly bewildered. A cook, huh... In real life, he was indeed a cook; right before logging on, he had whipped up two dishes before handing his ladle off to a colleague. He never imagined he'd be stuck doing his day job in the game too. Was this the equivalent of switching classes into a life player? Only after quite a while did he open his mouth. "But... what can I do for you?" "Good question." Chu Guang looked toward the smoking rack beside them. "I attempted to smoke meat, but the results were far from ideal. I need you to solve the issue of food preservation... I've reviewed your file. The organization stated you have experience in handling food, correct?" Scrambled Eggs blinked in surprise. "I know a bit, but a game is still a game after all—I mean, I'm not sure if my experience will work here." Remembering this was a game world, Scrambled Eggs hastily amended his phrasing. Still, the NPC didn't seem to mind; it was probably programmed to automatically ignore real-life elements unrelated to the game. "No matter. I need a professional's opinion," Chu Guang said, looking toward the smoking rack. "Take a look for me and see what exactly went wrong with this smoking rack I made." Looking at the wooden rack in front of him, Scrambled Eggs fell silent. Rather than what went wrong... ...it was more like everything about it was wrong. "Well... first off, smoking meat needs an enclosed environment. The way you're roasting it, even if you char the outside, it won't help. Also, on this meat... are those spices sprinkled on it?" "A special kind of tobacco leaf." "Tobacco leaves?!" "Yes." Seeing Scrambled Eggs' stunned expression, Chu Guang nodded. "This is an inland region, so salt is very expensive. The local survivors use these tobacco leaves, rich in aromatic compounds and tar, as a substitute for salt. They crush them and rub them over the food's surface, using heat to blend the preservative substances with the surface fats to achieve preservation." You can do that?! Scrambled Eggs was completely flabbergasted. Some aromatic compounds could indeed serve as food preservatives, but this was the first time he'd heard of eating something like that. Maybe it wasn't fatal as long as you didn't overdo it? Yet his gut told him that this smoking technique was practically fighting poison with poison... "Actually, you can smoke meat without salt... the flavor just won't be great. I'm not familiar with the method you mentioned, but from a health perspective, food smoked like that probably isn't very suitable either." Scrambled Eggs phrased it tactfully, having heard that NPCs had favorability ratings and high favorability was needed to trigger hidden quests. In real life, he would have rolled his eyes right then and there. "You don't need salt?!" Chu Guang was taken aback. "Yeah... Microorganisms need moisture to survive. Smoking meat is essentially drying out the moisture to achieve dehydration. Salt helps make it more effective, lasts longer, and tastes better. But without it, as long as it's done properly, it'll still work." "Of course, if the fat content is high, dehydration gets trickier... It really depends on the specific meat." At that point, Scrambled Eggs paused, glanced awkwardly at the nearby smoking rack, and said in a low voice: "But in either case, you haven't enclosed it at all... That definitely won't do." If they could preserve food without burning through those strange tobacco leaves, it would undoubtedly be a huge boon for the outpost. Yet Chu Guang was still somewhat puzzled. No matter how ignorant the survivors of Bet Street were, having survived on this wasteland to this day, they surely wouldn't bungle a basic survival skill like this, would they? Where exactly was the issue? However, Chu Guang had no intention of dwelling on such troublesome matters for now. For one, he wasn't that idle. And for another, if the NPC solved everything, what were the players for? "Very good. I leave this glorious and arduous task to you!" He clapped the newbie firmly on the shoulder. With great solemnity, Chu Guang entrusted the meat-smoking job to [Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes], gave him a rundown of safety precautions, and then walked off in high spirits. Not bad. Another problem solved. Come to think of it, now that the food problem was seeing some light, should he try recruiting more players to boost productivity? With just these few pairs of hands, they might not even manage to build the perimeter wall around the sanatorium by the end of the month. Just as Chu Guang was musing over this, an excited, triumphant cheer rang out not far away. "Hell yeah!!!" "Damn it, it finally worked!"