Chapter 23: Roested Bear Paw

Shaking his head, Xu Xin stopped considering this. This wasn't something he needed to think about at this stage. For now, he just needed to focus on staying alive.

As Xu Xin was picking berries, the little creature on his shoulder kept giving him a resentful look, as if saying, "You have so many, yet you only give me one per day. Stingy!"

The entire bush yielded 32 red berries in total. The little one had just eaten two, so this time Xu Xin harvested a full 30 large red berries. He put all these red berries in his backpack, occupying one slot.

After finishing up, Xu Xin decided it was time to head back. It was probably around 4 or 5 AM now, with the first light of dawn already appearing on the horizon. Daybreak was imminent, but the activity mentioned earlier this morning wouldn't start until 9 AM. Although Xu Xin's mind was completely alert thanks to the orange he had eaten, he could clearly feel the fatigue in his body.

It was time to go back and rest for a bit.

He quickly returned to the base of the treehouse. Under the curious gaze of his little companion, Xu Xin tied vines around his waist and climbed back into the treehouse.

Once inside Xu Xin's treehouse, the little creature jumped down from his shoulder and began running around, looking everywhere. It was full of curiosity about the entire treehouse, chirping "ying ying ying".

It usually slept in tree hollows too, but it had never seen one this big before.

"Don't touch anything!" Xu Xin warned it while packing all the blue-grade food items into his backpack to prevent the little one from sneaking bites when he wasn't looking.

After a busy night, he was hungry. Xu Xin rubbed his flat stomach, remembering the bear meat he had hunted and that blue-grade bear paw. He swallowed hard. It had been three days since Xu Xin had eaten any meat. Such a vegetarian diet made him feel like he was losing himself.

He used the boning knife to cut off two kilograms of meat from the bear, then picked up the blue-grade bear paw and set up a grill in front of the fireplace.

Although the best way to cook bear paw involves multiple long periods of stewing, grilling it also has its own unique flavor.

Cao Zhi's "Ode to the Capital" mentioned: "Sliced carp and shrimp roe soup, braised turtle and roasted bear paw." As a foodie, this was the only line Xu Xin remembered from the entire poem.

He had been craving bear paw for a long time, but bears were protected animals in his country, so this long-standing culinary tradition had disappeared.

As a seasoned foodie, he had even made plans to go to Russia in the north to legally taste it. He never expected to fulfill this wish in this world, which was a fortunate thing for him.

Xu Xin didn't have a pot now. He searched through the crafting list but couldn't find methods to make iron pots or stoves. Logically, he should have all the raw materials for these two items, but they just couldn't be crafted.

The grill could be made, but not pots and stoves. Could it be that blueprints for more advanced kitchen utensils needed to be unlocked?

Xu Xin made a few cuts in the meat chunks and bear paw with the boning knife, then placed both ingredients on the grill to cook.

Unfortunately, there were no seasonings, so he could only eat them in their original flavor for now.

He definitely needed to keep an eye out for these things in the next few days. Without salt, food just wasn't as tasty. Moreover, long-term lack of salt in the human body could cause problems. Although animal blood contains salt, he couldn't exactly eat raw meat and drink blood like a wild beast.

The little creature, tired from running around, returned to the third floor and curled up into a ball on Xu Xin's leg. It didn't seem interested in the grilling bear meat. Xu Xin stuffed an apple into its arms, and it immediately started munching on it.

"I should give you a name," Xu Xin said to himself, looking at the little one happily munching on the apple in his lap.

The little creature heard Xu Xin's words, raised its head, and tilted it to look at him.

"Hmm, you're so fluffy, how about I call you Fluffy?"

The little one immediately shook its head upon hearing this, taking a big bite of the apple to express its disapproval.

"Then with your brown fur, how about Coffee? Chocolate? Cocoa?"

The little creature tilted its head, not understanding what these three words meant.

Seeing no objection from the little one, Xu Xin decided, "Let's call you Cocoa then!"

"Ying!" The little one was dissatisfied with Xu Xin's autocratic decision, but it didn't oppose the name either. It continued munching on the apple, seemingly accepting the name.

Soon, the bear meat on the grill started to release oil, and the sizzling sound made Xu Xin's mouth water. After three days of vegetarian diet, he could finally eat some meat.

This meal was delicious. Although there were no seasonings and the wild bear meat had a strange taste, Xu Xin still enjoyed it immensely. Especially the blue-grade bear paw – enhanced by its grade, the meat was firm, the fat was rich, and it was full of collagen. It was truly a rare delicacy, and Xu Xin ate with great relish, his mouth covered in oil.

After the meal, Xu Xin felt his greasy hands and mouth, shook his head with a wry smile, and carefully went down to the lakeside to wash up. Fortunately, according to the map sensor, the red dots in the lake were concentrated in the deep water at the center, so he managed to clean himself without incident.

To avoid such trouble in the future, he crafted a large wooden tub, filled it with water, and brought it back to the treehouse.

"Phew~" Xu Xin lay down on the bed. Unlike the mushrooms he had eaten before, he could clearly feel the strength boost from the bear paw this time.

While eating, he could feel a warm current flowing from his abdomen to all parts of his body. Just now, when carrying water, a large tub of water that would have been very heavy for him before didn't feel that heavy at all. He deliberately didn't put the water-filled tub into his backpack, and after carrying it back, he wasn't even breathing heavily.

After the enhancements from the dining table and grill, the benefits of the bear paw were maximized.

"My strength has increased. Combined with the backpack's effect, I can carry even more things now." Xu Xin was very satisfied with the effects of the bear paw.

Lying on the bed, Xu Xin gradually fell asleep.

Xu Xin was awakened by birdsong. He looked at the time on the screen – 8:30, half an hour until 9 o'clock. Cocoa was still curled up on his bed, its big tail wrapped around its body, not yet awake.

After washing up a bit, Xu Xin came to the screen. The regional channel was already bustling with activity.

"Only twenty minutes until it starts!"

"What was it called again? Jungle Exploration Activity?"

"Sounds exciting! There should be some treasures, right?"

"Don't get too excited, have you forgotten about last night's nightmare?"

"By the way, is everyone close to each other? Can we form teams to explore? It's too dangerous to explore alone."

He also saw Li Wenxi's reply to him: "?? How do you have a backpack? I went down and searched for a long time after the beast tide last night but didn't find a single animal carcass. Could it be that you killed it? And how come this backpack is white-grade? Isn't it green in the list?"

The message was sent at 7 AM. This pretty girl went to bed quite late last night but still got up pretty early. Probably knowing that Xu Xin might not be awake, this girl who likes to make calls and send videos only left a short message.

Wow, she's quite brave. Xu Xin only dared to go down because he had a map that could indicate the location of beasts. If he didn't have this ability, he wouldn't dare to go down right after the beast tide had receded.

"I was lucky enough to kill one that was feeding. This backpack is made from the torn skin of the animal it was eating. Want to trade? How about some blue-grade stones and iron ore?"