After a simple rinse, the rabbit, stripped of anything but lean meat, was ready to handle.
Since these scenes were somewhat gory, Lin Yang opted to cartoonify them before getting started, so the viewers in the live stream didn’t have much of an extreme reaction.
However, once he had finished processing the rabbit and opened up its fur, everyone got a little restless.
"Wow, you skinned the whole thing? It looks so intact!"
"Perfect hand-peeled rabbit skin +1, proficiency +100."
"Haha, the guy above must play too many games."
Lin Yang said, "The rabbit is ready, the innards all discarded. I’ll prepare dinner back at camp, but before heading back, there’s one more thing I need... Come on, I’ll take you to gather some."
Taking a slight detour with the rabbit, he arrived at a patch near the lake, where a mass of low, yellow-green plants blanketed the ground, looking unassuming and paper-thin.
"What’s that? What’s the host planning to do now?"
"Is that some kind of vegetable? It looks so ugly, can you eat it?"
"Seems like you can, I remember seeing a video online about it, saying that it’s edible for humans."
Lin Yang nodded, "This is a type of lichen common in high-latitude polar regions; scientifically speaking, it’s a symbiosis between algae and fungi.
It’s edible, providing certain freshwater compounds and rough plant fiber protein; many herbivores like elk and rabbits feed on it.
I plan to gather some to take back, to wrap around the wild rabbit before covering it with mud. It’ll keep the meat cleaner and taste better..."
After giving a simple lesson, Lin Yang crouched down and began patiently collecting the lichen.
This area hadn’t been over-harvested or destroyed, so the lichen was growing thickly. With minimal effort, he could peel off a layer just like skinning the rabbit. Lin Yang measured up the rabbit, took enough lichen for the task, and then ceased gathering.
"That’s enough, back to camp."
With a quick word, Lin Yang returned to camp with the rabbit and lichen.
What came next was something viewers would find quite fun.
He drained some water from the pot to mix with mud, then wrapped the lichen around the rabbit and plastered it with the muddy mix. After a bit of effort, the rabbit had turned into a round, muddy ball.
"Prep work done, now it’s time to start a fire. I only have salt on me and in limited supply, so I need to use it sparingly. As usual, grilled fish plus a fish head soup. As for this rabbit, we’ll roast it next to the fire pit and once the other food is ready, we’ll bury it in the ashes."
Having previously demonstrated his grilled fish prowess, Lin Yang got busy once more. He skewered the fish meat, chopped up the heads, hung the portable pot on a triangular wooden frame, and lit the fire. Soon, the camp was once again filled with the aroma of grilled fish.
All the ingredients for dinner, aside from a tiny bit of salt, were completely unadorned, yet since Lin Yang had only eaten one meal since arriving that morning and had spent the day moving and working, he was famished.
The pure, untouched natural flavor of the food was all the more apparent; Lin Yang took a deep breath over the cooked fish and the fragrant fish head soup, and couldn’t help but salivate.
"Look, the fish soup and grilled fish are almost done. The clay-baked rabbit needs to roast a bit longer. I’ll try these first."
After giving a heads-up, Lin Yang began to eat unrestrainedly.
The wild fish meat was of the highest quality, rich in proteins and fats. Cooling just a bit after removing it from the fire, he took a gulp from the pot of field-brewed soup. The taste was simply perfect.
"Doesn’t the host have it too good? Fire, a camp, tools, and the food is so lavish, it’s almost luxurious."
"I just checked out another stream where the American who landed almost got chased by a bear. That guy, numbered one, shot a squirrel with a bow and arrow and made a makeshift tent out of a plastic sheet. He’s pitifully roasting the squirrel right now, which isn’t even two ounces of meat, nothing like our host here, who is chomping down on grilled fish so satisfyingly."
"That’s still one of the luckier ones. Contestant number six, that foreign lady, a supposedly plant biologist, has been foraging for food since landing, but only found lichen and a type of berry the size of a soybean. Despite being busy for so long, she’s only gathered a tiny amount; I doubt she’ll last a week."
"The performance of number three, that white guy, is also pretty lackluster. He landed around the same time as our host and probably reached the lake by noon. He only brought hooks and fishing line, no rod. He tried for a long time without catching any fish, and had to keep busy until late afternoon, building a shelter on an empty stomach. Watching these Americans’ live streams, I feel like I could do this challenge too."
"Food lover, food soul, we all eat from basins, our host is now the supreme leader of the gluttonous bunch, the boss!"
Lin Yang was also getting basic updates on the other participants through the live stream comments, eating and browsing for a while, and felt like his advantage was quite significant.