He watched the live chat for a moment, then grabbed the squid. With a swift motion, he used the combat knife in his right hand to slice open its body.

"Peeling a squid is actually pretty simple. First, twist the tentacles a couple of times to remove them. Then, cut off the eyes. Next is the cartilage, this plastic-like thing in the middle."

He used his combat knife to pick out the almost completely transparent cartilage, then tossed it into the fire along with some colorful entrails and the eyes.

Pinning the flattened squid down with his left hand, he scraped the tip of his knife back and forth across its surface.

Slowly, a layer of skin covered in dark brown spots began to curl up.

If you just grab the skin with one hand and hold the squid down with the other, you can pull off the entire sheet of skin with one firm tug.

But this method can easily tear off the delicate tail fins, so for the sake of presentation, it’s best to be a little careful while peeling.

"The calamari rings you all usually eat are just squid that haven’t been sliced open vertically. In our Great Xia, squid sliced open like this are typically used for things like barbecue or teppanyaki. The ones cut horizontally become rings."

As he spoke, he picked up two relatively straight, thin branches from his shelter.

He sharpened one end of each, threaded the squid onto the wooden skewers in a wave-like pattern, and propped it up by the fire to cook in the heat. The sea snails he had gathered were placed underneath to roast at the same time.

While waiting, he opened two coconuts. He drank from one immediately. He poured the water from the second into its shell halves and added seaweed, mussels, clams, and some chopped wild mushrooms he’d brought back earlier.

The Panama Forest was hot, humid, and frequently rainy—the perfect environment for wild mushrooms to grow.

The most common types, like colorful boletes and amanitas, grew in large patches. There were even some small, fluorescent mushrooms that glowed at night to attract insects to help spread their spores.

He hadn’t really made an effort to look for them. If he had, he could have found many more types of edible mushrooms.

Before the seafood soup began to boil, the palm-sized squid was already slowly cooking in the rolling heatwave, its flesh turning from the soft, pinkish color of raw meat to the firm, springy white of a cooked squid.

’If only I had some chili powder and cumin powder.’

Grabbing the skewer of squid and sprinkling some sea salt on it, Lin Chen sighed with a hint of regret.

’Then again, I’ve never actually had fresh squid before. The ones you get at the supermarket are all frozen. The stuff from street food stalls or restaurants back home is basically ancient—God knows how long it’s been soaked in chemicals.’

He blew on it a few times, then took a bite, eating the entire bundle of tentacles.

’Huh?!’

Even without any seasoning, the tentacles had an unusually sweet flavor in his mouth. The texture was also incredibly springy, completely different from any squid he had ever eaten before.

It was so springy, it almost felt like he was eating hand-pounded beef meatballs.

’Oh, no, I should say cuttlefish balls.’

That firm, bouncy texture was completely beyond his expectations, and the flavor was far more delicious than he had imagined.

The thought even crossed his mind that it was delicious enough without any seasoning at all.

He took another bite, this time of the thick flesh of the squid’s body.

Although it was springy, it wasn’t tough at all. There was almost no sense of sinew holding it together. It was crisp and bouncy, and as he chewed, he could clearly feel the savory juices bursting out.

The charcoal-grilled aroma was the best seasoning. He tore off one bite after another, quickly finishing the entire squid. He licked his lips, still wanting more, clearly not having had his fill.

"This thing is way more delicious than I imagined. Looks like I’ll have to check out the rocky beach more often. If there’s one squid here, it means there’s definitely a large population of them nearby."

’If I can’t find any on the shore, I’ll build a Light Wood raft after the shelter is done and take a look around the shallows.’

’Or I could learn how to swim and dive, and maybe make a fishing spear.’

’As for the raft, I’d also have to learn something like Rowing Mastery. It’s not like you can just grab a piece of wood, splash it around a couple of times, and steer wherever you want, especially by the sea.’

"Tsk, there are so many abilities I need to redeem. It’s only now that I realize how useless I am. I spent all my free time before playing games and watching videos. If I’d known, I would’ve taken the time to learn how to swim or something."

After finishing the delicious squid, he drank the seaweed soup and picked out the snail meat, pinching off the tails.

He chewed one mouthful and frowned.

’What kind of snail is this? Why does it taste so bad?’

Based on his experience, he hadn’t roasted these unknown sea snails for too long—only about seven or eight minutes before taking them out to cool. Logically, they shouldn’t have been overcooked.

But the snail meat was as tough to chew as a gummy bear and had a faint bitter taste.

If it weren’t barely tolerable, he would have spat it out immediately.

’I’m not gathering these next time. What is this stuff? It’s not poisonous, is it?’

He waited for a moment, sensing his body’s reaction. Aside from a bitter and astringent taste on his tongue, he didn’t feel any numbness or stinging, and his mental state was normal. Only then did he feel a little relieved.

Even though the sea snails were about the size of his palm, they shrank after being cooked. After removing the internal organs in the tail, less than a tenth of it was actually edible.

After eating, the exhausted Lin Chen returned to his cave early to sleep, conserving his energy for the next day’s construction.

Just as the screen on his end went black, a transport truck covered with a camouflage green tarp slowly drove up the Pan-American Highway. Its glaring yellow headlights tore through the darkness, finally stopping near the program staff’s log cabin.

Robert, Daniel, and the others came out of the house. Looking exhausted, they greeted the three staff members who had driven the truck, then walked to the back, lifted a corner of the green tarp, and shone a flashlight inside.