Chapter 23

That new guy, "Mosquito," indeed had excellent woodworking skills.

Lao Bai and Fang Chang had been struggling to saw the wooden boards with a steel bar for a long time, but Mosquito, with just a saw, quickly produced a pile of them.

Not only that, but these boards also had interlocking edges, making it easy to fit them together into a square, hollow brick mold.

Before long, he had made quite a few molds.

"You guys aren't handling the wood well. Look at this... it's practically growing mushrooms." Mosquito wiped his sweat, leaned the saw against the wall, and asked Fang Chang and Lao Bai, "Is this enough?"

"More than enough! Thanks, brother, you've been a great help!" Lao Bai's face lit up with joy as he patted Mosquito's shoulder.

Mosquito blushed and chuckled.

"No problem! Just let me know if you need anything."

Lao Bai laughed and patted his shoulder again.

"Great! I'll remember that, and next time I won't hesitate!"

Mosquito: "..."

With the molds, making mud bricks became much easier.

Lao Bai and Fang Chang mixed the yellow clay they had collected from the river with a little water, kneaded it into a thick paste, and poured it into the molds. They arranged the bricks in a square shape on the ground, stuffed some charcoal into the gaps, and then applied a layer of ash on the surface.

This method was something Lao Bai had learned from survival videos.

When the first layer of bricks was almost dry, they changed the direction and continued stacking the second layer, and so on, until the brick pile was taller than their heads.

Once the work was done, Lao Bai carefully lit the charcoal inside the brick pile, starting the fire from the center and gradually letting it spread throughout the entire pile.

"Will this work?"

Looking at the smoking "mud pile," Fang Chang wiped the sweat from his forehead with his muddy arm, looking like he had just crawled out of a manure pit.

Lao Bai didn't look much better, with his face covered in soot, as if he had just come out of a coal mine.

"Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see."

It was his first time burning bricks, and he had only seen adults do it when he was a child. He had no idea if this method would work.

They could only wait until the next day to see the results.

"Let's go, let it burn for now."

"Let's check out the cement kiln. I feel like we're getting close to the finished product. This time, we'll use more force to fan the fire and try to make a barrel before we log off!"

On the other side, with the help of "WC Really Has Mosquito," Kuangfeng and Yeshi finally completed the Nth generation of their fish trap.

They replaced the cylindrical structure with a cage-like one and used sturdy steel bars instead of weak wooden strips, reinforcing the main structure of the trap.

No fish would be able to escape once it entered!

The three of them went to the lake to try it out again.

They looked quite cheerful.

As for Chuguang, he was still racking his brain over the technique of making smoked meat.

Although there was still no significant progress...

"Respected Administrator, what are you doing?"

Hearing the voice, Chuguang stood up from the smoking rack, patted the soot off his hands, and looked over to see "Tomato and Egg" staring curiously at the smoking rack he had built.

If he remembered correctly, this guy was a chef who graduated from New Oriental?

Thinking of this, Chuguang's eyes lit up.

"I'm researching how to make smoked meat... you came at the right time. From now on, you are the chef of Outpost 404!"

Without giving the player a chance to speak, Chuguang continued with a serious look.

"We are facing a serious situation. Besides the construction of the surface outpost, we need to stockpile enough food for the 100 compatriots who will arrive on the surface before winter."

"I need your help!"

Egg looked bewildered.

Being a chef was fine...

In real life, he was a chef. Before logging in, he had even cooked two dishes and handed the spatula to a colleague. He never thought he would have to do his old job in the game.

Was this like a career change to a life player?

After a long pause, he finally opened his mouth.

"But... what can I do for you?"

"Good question."

Chuguang looked at the smoking rack.

"I've tried smoking meat, but the results weren't ideal. I need you to solve the problem of food storage... I've seen your profile, and the organization said you have experience in food handling, right?"

Egg was stunned.

"I know a bit, but this is a game—what I mean is, I'm not sure if my experience will be useful here."

Thinking it was a game world, Egg quickly changed his words. However, it seemed the NPC didn't mind, probably because the game's programming automatically ignored real-world elements unrelated to the game.

"No problem, I need an expert's opinion," Chuguang said, looking at the smoking rack. "Take a look and tell me what's wrong with my smoking rack."

Looking at the wooden rack, Egg fell silent.

It wasn't that there was one problem...

It was that there were problems everywhere.

"First, smoking meat needs to be done in a sealed environment. Your method will just char the outside. And the spices on the meat?"

"A special type of tobacco leaf."

"Tobacco leaf?!"

"Yep," Chuguang nodded, seeing Egg's surprised face. "This is an inland area, and salt is expensive. The local survivors use these tobacco leaves, which are rich in aromatic compounds and tar, to replace salt. They crush the leaves and rub them on the food, and the heat helps the preservatives mix with the fat on the surface of the food, achieving a preservative effect."

Is that even possible?!

Egg was completely shocked.

Some aromatic compounds can indeed be used as food preservatives, but he had never heard of using tobacco leaves for food.

Maybe it wouldn't be lethal if not used in excess?

But his intuition told him that this smoking method was like using poison to fight poison...

"Actually, you can smoke meat without salt... it just won't taste as good. I'm not familiar with your method, but from a health perspective, it's not very suitable."

Egg's words were quite tactful, as he had heard that NPCs have a goodwill system, and higher goodwill can unlock hidden quests.

In real life, he would have rolled his eyes.

"You can smoke meat without salt?!" Chuguang was stunned.

"Yep... microorganisms need moisture to survive, and the essence of smoking meat is to dry out the moisture in the meat. Salt helps, making it last longer and taste better, but it's still possible without it, as long as the process is done correctly."

"Of course, if the meat has a high fat content, it will be more difficult to dry... it depends on the specific type of meat."

At this point, Egg paused, a bit awkwardly looking at the smoking rack, and said softly.

"But in any case, you haven't sealed it... it definitely won't work."

If they could preserve food without using this strange tobacco leaf, it would be a great thing for the outpost.

However, Chuguang was still puzzled.

Even if the survivors in Bet Street were ignorant, they wouldn't have survived this long on the wasteland if they had gotten such a survival skill wrong.

What was the problem?

However, Chuguang didn't want to think about such complicated things for now.

First, he didn't have the time.

Second, if everything was solved by NPCs, what would be the point of players?

"Great, this glorious and challenging task is yours!"

He patted the new player's shoulder.

Chuguang solemnly handed the task of smoking meat to "Tomato and Egg," reminded him about safety, and then left with a happy heart.

Not bad.

Another problem solved.

Now that the food issue was almost resolved, should he try to recruit more players to increase productivity?

Relying on just a few hands, they might not even finish building the fence around the nursing home by the end of the month.

Just as Chuguang was thinking this, a joyful cheer suddenly came from not far away.

"Awesome!!!"

"Damn, it finally worked!"