Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Brother Wolf had nothing to say to Li Du. Although Li Du quickly lost his passion for searching wild edibles, he was still very serious about teaching.
“What I did just now is actually wrong. That’s not the way to act if you want to live to a ripe old age. Please don’t do what I did just now and just stuff whatever you can see inside your mouth. You should observe first. If there are locusts or worms on the branches and leaves, do not eat those directly. You have to wash them clean before eating. If there are worms on it, it shows that that plant is harmless. However, the worms might release some poisons…”
“Next, you should smell it. Cut a small part of the plant and place in under your nose to smell. If you can smell something like bitter almond or peach tree bark, it means there’s poison, you can’t eat those…”
“Also, you can test the reaction to the plant. Squeeze a little juice from the plant and rub it on a sensitive area of your body. For example, the inside of your elbow or the front of your upper arms near the armpits. If you feel uncomfortable, or if your skin starts to swell or have rashes, steer clear of the plant.”
“Finally, you should taste it. Just taste a little at first. Then, keep the rest of the plant. If after all the checks there are no issues, it means you can eat that plant.”
“Actually, not even a botanist can recognize the millions of plants in every corner of the world. What a sensible person can do is select plants and test which ones can be eaten. They cannot identify the exact species of the plant.”
It was rare to see Brother Wolf talk so much. He continued to give a concise lecture based on his knowledge of surviving in the wild. At the same time, he demonstrated what he said by picking up different plants.
For the entire afternoon, they did not manage to find any meteorites. When they returned, Li Du was carrying a basket and dragging a bag full of all sorts of wild edibles.
Young Ford did not trust those and when he looked at the green wild vegetables, he shook his head. “I’m not eating that. If you guys want to poison yourselves, you can use another pot.”
Li Du trusted Brother Wolf completely. Although he did not have much understanding of the plants they had found, he figured that if Brother Wolf felt those were safe, it was good enough for him. Brother Wolf was very reliable.
Brother Wolf picked a few tubers and after cutting them, he dumped them into the pot to cook them with the meat. Some small-leafed wild herbs were crushed with stone and mortar and sprinkled with salt and seasonings to make into a sauce, and large leaves of wild vegetables were cleaned.
Big Quinn was in charge of the meat. Brother Wolf got him to grill the meat and also get some more slices of fatty beef.
After the cooking was done, Brother Wolf served the fatty meat that had been sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then, he used a large leaf to wrap the meat and passed it to Li Du. He said, “Eat it like this and you won’t feel that the meat is too greasy.”
Li Du stuffed the leaf-wrapped meat into his mouth. The aroma of the meat and the taste of the refreshing leaf combined made it much more delicious than just meat on its own.
The wild vegetable sauce was great for dipping bread or adding to broth. The seasoning made the broth much more tasty and refreshing.
Dinner was much more diverse than lunch. Li Du finally understood how useful wilderness survival skills could be.
For the next two days, Li Du and his team brought back quite a lot of wild plants. The meteorite hunters and the villagers had joined in. Only young Ford remained skeptical and steered clear of any wild edibles. He did not want to risk his life.
There were indeed meteorites in Severnaya Zemlya. On the afternoon of the fourth day, when the little bug flew past a small bump on the ground, it spotted a rock as big as a fist.
The rock was oval-shaped. It was slightly grey in color with some parts that were silvery-white. There were droplet-looking marks on the surface. It was a piece of a meteorite!
Li Du walked briskly over to pick up the rock for a closer look. He had been right. He had finally found a piece of meteorite.
At that moment, Steve and his people had just arrived. Their meteorite hunting team had grown bigger. After Li Du picked up the meteorite, he went to look for Steve. He spotted Steve from some distance away and threw the rock in his direction.
Steve was dragging the manul along with him as he was searching. Fat Kuafu was like a dog on a leash. It struggled and strained as it was being dragged along.
Red-haired Vika was holding onto a stick of grapes. That was the motivation for Kuafu to inch forward. Its black eyes were on the grapes. After Kuafu made a few steps forward, he was rewarded with a grape
Li Du throwing the meteorite scared Kuafu, who was concentrating on the grapes. It suddenly jerked and when it lowered itself to the ground, it glared at Li Du fiercely.
Then, it saw Ah Meow, Ah Meng, Ah Ow and the rest by Li Du’s side.
Kuafu very quickly looked away and its tail instantly dipped down. It acted as if nothing had happened.
Li Du laughed loudly, “Steve, seems like your Kuafu isn’t as courageous as it used to be. I think it doesn’t even dare to chase a dog anymore, let alone the sun.”
Steve looked helpless. “Who cares? Who wants to be like you and bring up a bunch of monsters? Hey, sh*t, that’s a meteorite!”
He had noticed the characteristic appearance of the rock. He immediately dropped the leash from his hand and picked up the meteorite.
The leash hit the manul on the head. The manul shook its head and realized it was now free. It immediately started to run.
After running a short distance, he turned and looked at the grapes in Vika’s hands. In a sudden bout of courage from, it ran back to snatch the grapes and wanted to dart away with them.
It barely made a few steps before his leash was held tight again.
Surprised, the manul turned around. Vika stood there, smiling to herself and holding down the leash with the sole of her shoe.
“That stupid idiot,” Li Du laughed loudly,
Steve laughed too. “We found another piece of a meteorite! I knew it was a good idea to bring you to Severnaya Zemlya! Your eyes can spot anything of value even in a dumpster. You’re a prime meteorite hunter!”
Their goal in coming to Severnaya Zemlya was to find at least two pieces of meteorite. In the end, in just a couple of days, they had found five pieces. That was far beyond what they had hoped for.
It was unclear whether Li Du was in luck that day or if the Blodwens had yet to search that area previously. However, it was now proven that there were indeed meteorites in the eastern region of the island.
On the afternoon of the next day when they were about to stop their work, Li Du found yet another piece. Besides, it was a much larger piece which weighed at least ten kilograms.
Li Du handed over his find to Steve. The discovery of that piece of meteorite meant that Steve and his people owed him a big favor. Such big pieces of meteorite rock were very precious and could easily fetch a few million dollars.
The meteorite hunters were green with envy. They would have given anything to be the ones who had found the meteorites.
According to the agreement, if they found a meteorite, Steve was willing to purchase it at 80 percent of the market price. The hunters would then make a few hundred thousand dollars and would not have to worry about working for the rest of their lives.
After that, they found two more pieces. Altogether, they had found six pieces of meteorite. At night, Li Du held onto his bento box and asked, “How many meteorites are you guys planning to collect here?”
Steve said, “As many as possible.”
Li Du was speechless. He asked, “Then when can we leave this place?”
Steve smiled. “If you wish to go, feel free. You have already given us a lot of help, more than we could have expected. However, I feel that you should stay a few more days in the Arctic Circle since you’re here in this season. Phoenix would be too hot for you now!”
