Chapter 643: Gifts of Nature (Part 2) (Patreon)

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It was unclear whether it was Arthur's lineage from Atlantis that made him exceptionally strong or if he was naturally robust, but surviving in the primeval forest posed no significant challenge for him. Chopping wood and carrying it was just the beginning.

Arthur's task was simple: he laid the chopped wood flat on the ground, placed the entire refrigerator horizontally on a cylindrical wooden base made from befooled wood, and then loaded the other supplies on top.

When pushing the refrigerator, the wood served as wheels, making the task more effortless and quicker. Although Hal and Schiller could have carried it directly, it was agreed not to cheat and use methods accessible to ordinary people.

This was a square refrigerator with double doors, likely customized for the unique space constraints of an aircraft cabin. After disconnecting the power supply, it no longer functioned as a cooler, but it could still be used as a storage container. Furthermore, the insulation of the refrigerator slowed down the rate at which food would melt, preserving it until they returned to the cooler temperatures of their mountain cave.

Since the rolling logs themselves were heavy, some herbaceous plants were flattened in the process, but they didn't obstruct their path. When the refrigerator reached the frontmost log, they had to move the wood from the rear to the front, and at this point, it was essentially a rotation between the three of them.

Hal and Schiller's special abilities meant that they barely felt fatigued. Surprisingly, Arthur also kept up without falling behind.

From here to the cave they had stayed in before, there was quite a distance to cover. However, even by the end, Arthur showed no signs of exhaustion. When they were moving the refrigerator into the cave, he even had time for conversation. He said, "Honestly, this reminds me of when I followed a fleet out to sea back in the day."

"You might not know, but deep-sea fishing is incredibly exhausting. I went out with my uncle when I was 17 to catch tuna. We didn't sleep for four whole days..."

Schiller, carrying the front half of the refrigerator, turned and asked, "Were you in charge of the fish finder?"

"No, of course not. I couldn't handle that kind of work. I was just an ordinary sailor, responsible for hauling in the fish," Arthur shook his head. "Back then, we didn't catch any tunas, but it wasn't a big deal. Bluefin and yellowfin tunas were rare to begin with."

"But during that time, we happened to encounter a school of bonitos, which were also valuable and traveled in large numbers. Those days, we were just casting and pulling in the nets, eating burgers when hungry, drinking energy drinks when tired, or lighting up a cigarette..."

"However, hard work pays off. We sold the catch for a substantial amount of money because there was a shortage of bonitos at the time. This also improved my uncle's business. When he got older, he stopped deep-sea fishing and started dealing in various types of fishing boats."

"Oh," Schiller suddenly recalled. "Is he the uncle who lent you the fishing boat? He does seem like a seasoned captain."

"He's the best captain," Arthur said with pride. But soon, he sighed sadly and added, "Actually, my father was also a legendary captain in his youth. The name Captain Curry echoed throughout the East Coast..."

"At one point, he brought back a bluefin tuna that shattered the East Coast fishing record. I can't describe how big that fish was, but everyone was astonished. He was a lucky captain in his prime."

"But for some reason, he stopped going to sea and settled in Brooklyn, becoming a lighthouse keeper. Many sailors felt it was a pity for him. My uncle even tried to persuade him, but no matter what, he refused to go back to sea."

Arthur looked ahead, and through the dense rainforest, he could still see the azure sea. He continued, "There are legends among the old sailors who sailed with him. They say he encountered a sea nymph at sea and went through a series of perilous adventures before finally returning to shore."

"They say he angered the sea nymph, and she cursed him. Since then, he couldn't touch the sea anymore. I don't know if it's true, but I know he often gazed out at the sea with longing..."

The three men placed the refrigerator on the ground and took a break. During the rest, Hal curiously asked, "I don't mean to intrude, but what about your mother..."

"My father said she died in a maritime accident, but I was very young at the time, and I have no memory of her," Arthur shook his head, seeming unwilling to discuss it further. Schiller, who knew the truth, had no intention of reminding him. After all, it was a personal matter.

Of course, although they didn't know how the Atlantis in this space viewed humans, one thing had to be acknowledged: as long as Gotham remained a coastal city, Atlantis couldn't make much of a splash.

While ordinary industrial pollution couldn't threaten the deep-sea Atlantis, Gotham's industrial pollution certainly could. Let's say, for example, if a fish happened to take a bite out of the Joker and then returned to the ocean, soon enough, Atlantis would become a gift of nature.

When the three of them moved the refrigerator and other supplies back to the cave, Oliver widened his eyes in surprise and asked, "What about the passengers?"

Arthur placed the refrigerator on the ground and explained, "It wasn't a passenger plane that crashed; it was the means of transport I used to get to California. Pilot Hal here intended to fly this plane to find me, but unfortunately, it crashed."

"Don't worry about that. Let's take a look at Gifts of Nature," Schiller walked over to the refrigerator and, after opening it, found that most of the items in the freezer had already melted, but the items in the fresh food compartment were still in good condition.

The frozen foods consisted mostly of meat and seafood, which couldn't last long in this temperature. Schiller knew this, so he decided to take out all the thawing meat and deal with it in one go.

Many people knew that to prolong the shelf life of meat, you needed a seasoning: salt. However, the salt they obtained from the plane's food storage was a small bottle, the kind commonly found in Western seasoning bottles. It was suitable for sprinkling on grilled meat but insufficient for preserving meat.

Fortunately, the island had both seawater and fresh water, meaning they had the basic conditions for salt production using seawater. With the method of sun-drying salt, they could produce the salt they needed for meat preservation.

Currently, these meats, stored in a relatively cool cave, could last for a while. During that time, they should be able to extract enough salt from the seawater to process their meat.

Schiller had a theoretical understanding of the process of making salt from seawater, but he had never put it into practice. When he proposed the idea, the group exchanged uncertain glances. After all, in modern society, salt was readily available as a seasoning, even for Arthur and Oliver, who lived near the coast. They had never personally produced salt from seawater.

Schiller planned to cook a meal using these relatively fresh ingredients and then allocate tasks for their true survival journey.

Among the four, only Schiller and Hal knew how to cook. The food made by Arthur and Oliver was edible but lacked flavor. Therefore, Schiller and Hal took on the responsibility of cooking.

The conditions in the cave were extremely limited. There was no stove, only a stone pot and the stone slab they had previously created, with no grill or support for the stone pot.

Arthur sawed the piece of wood he had brought earlier into a wooden stick and constructed a simple rack to suspend the cooking pot over the fire. This would serve as their cooking setup.

Subsequently, Arthur attempted to make charcoal, but due to the unique properties of palm wood, it was challenging to maintain a consistent burn and heat. So, he set up another rack to support a stone slab instead.

While they could have used the creek water outside, they were too hungry to wait for it to settle since it might contain impurities. Therefore, Hal climbed a coconut tree and picked a few coconuts to use as a source of cooking water.

These coconuts weren't specifically for consumption, so their leaves were small, and the coconut water had little flavor, but it was sufficient for cooking.

Schiller first cut an opening in the coconuts using the metal saw they had, poured the coconut water into a pot, and then added some dried mushrooms from the refrigerator. When the coconut water reached a temperature of around fifty to sixty degrees, he tossed in the mushrooms and covered the pot with a stone slab.

After boiling for about a minute and the water began to boil, Schiller removed the pot, drained the water, added the chicken pieces that Arthur had cut from the stone, and then poured in the coconut water for a quick blanching. After draining the water, he added more coconut water to cover the ingredients and began simmering.

Hal handled the other meats, but he didn't start by directly grilling them on the stone slab. Instead, he took out the already thawed oysters and shrimp from the refrigerator.

He extracted the meat from the oysters and peeled the shrimp. After grilling them and collecting the juices, he chopped both types of seafood, added some chopped tomatoes, and continued grilling.

Next, he took out the shrimp heads, placed them on the hot stone slab, and sizzled out shrimp oil. He mixed the shrimp oil with the previously prepared sauce, creating a vibrant orange seafood sauce.

"In Coastal City, every restaurant uses this seafood sauce for seasoning, but we usually use smaller clams and those small shrimps that can't be sold. Although they are smaller than these ingredients, they have a richer flavor."

Arthur and Oliver were practically driven crazy by the aroma emanating from these two chefs. Not to mention that chicken stewed with mushrooms was already a delightful combination, the meaty and fragrant aroma permeated the entire cave through the stone slab's lid.

Hal's seafood sauce was even more aromatic. Because the stone slab had no cover, the scent of the cooked food wafted out, tempting the appetites of everyone in the cave who had been starving.

"I can't wait any longer. Hurry up; I want to eat now. My stomach is protesting loudly..." Arthur crouched by the stone slab, eagerly awaiting the first serving.

Though Oliver remained silent, it was only because of his aristocratic restraint. He didn't want to appear as if he had never seen the world, but after starving for so many days, he was clearly the one most eager to eat.

However, Schiller and Hal, both of whom had never cooked in such an environment, were inspired by the challenging conditions and enthusiastic about their culinary creations.

Schiller took out a few slices of bread, placed them on the stone slab's lid, and ignited a vigorous fire with a tree branch. The flames engulfed the entire stone pot, making the stone slab on top very hot. Schiller toasted the bread slightly harder before breaking it into small pieces.

Once the bread was thoroughly crumbled, he mixed it with a small amount of coconut water to form a thick paste. Then he spread it out into thin pancakes and fried them until crispy. He then took the beef, seared it to medium-rare, chopped onions and chili peppers finely, spread them on the beef, and rolled everything up with cheese inside the thin pancake.

Because the pancakes were relatively small, they looked more like dumplings than tacos. However, due to the bread-based pastry, they couldn't be pinched shut like dumplings and were more like mini-folded pizzas.

Seeing this, Hal knew he had to step up his game. He brought out a piece of pork tenderloin and a piece of pork belly, first frying the pork belly to extract the oil and then cutting the pork tenderloin into small pieces. He lightly sautéed the pork tenderloin in the oil and mixed it with the seafood sauce they had prepared earlier.

Hal picked up a larger coconut, knocked it open, saved the coconut water inside, and then placed dry Italian noodles inside, heating them over the fire below the stone slab.

The Italian noodles softened quickly, and before the coconut shell could be ignited, the noodles were nearly cooked. After stirring the cooked Italian noodles with the seafood meat sauce, Hal used the four coconut shells they had used before. He heated them slightly over the fire, added a small piece of butter to the bottom, divided the Italian noodles into four portions, placed them inside the shells, sprinkled them with grated cheese, and their seafood meat sauce cheese coconut Italian noodles were ready.

Seeing this, Schiller knew he had to show his true skills. When he began to roll up his sleeves, Arthur, who was already dizzy from hunger, rushed forward to stop him, saying, "Professor, that's enough. This isn't a Michelin competition. Let's start eating..."

Schiller glanced at the triumphant Hal and said, "No, you must show respect for my culinary skills. Step aside. I remember there's still a whole duck in the refrigerator. It should have thawed by now. I'll make a mud oven and show you what a real roasted duck is..."

Oliver, lying on the ground, nearly lost consciousness, and Arthur lay down as well. Besides being helpless, he was genuinely too weak from hunger.

Half an hour later, following the scent of cigarette smoke, Bruce, who had found the cave, stood at the entrance, looking at two people on the verge of starving and a table full of sumptuous food, all filled with puzzled expressions.

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 644: Gifts of Nature (Part Two)