The texture of a dessert he’d never had before, paired with the sweet and sour flavor of the berries, instantly awakened Andre’s taste buds.

In just a few bites, one of the egg-batter mochi went down.

He felt himself getting addicted to this seemingly ordinary little thing. The peculiar soft and chewy texture still lingered in his mouth.

Fearing it would melt faster in his hand and affect the taste, he hurriedly attacked the second one.

By the time he came to his senses, all four mochi had vanished.

"How are they gone already? This isn’t nearly enough..."

He sighed in frustration. This was his first dessert in three weeks. If he wanted more, the earliest he could have them would be in another seven days.

There were only three main ingredients for this thing: eggs, starch, and berries.

Berries were everywhere, so that wasn’t a concern.

As for starch, that pile of potatoes nearby should be a good substitute.

The eggs, on the other hand, were a problem.

King’s Down Ducks generally lived by the sea. Encountering them in a forest near here was pure luck. He figured it was a family that had swum upstream along the Yukon River.

’If I can’t find duck eggs, would other bird eggs work?’

A dozen or so common bird species flashed through his mind, their corresponding breeding seasons surfacing along with them. His expression slowly soured.

’None!’

All the birds’ breeding seasons were generally between March and August. It was already the end of October, practically November. Most creatures were preparing to hibernate for the winter; they wouldn’t have the leisure to find a mate and lay eggs.

’Could it be that these four were the only mochi I’ll get on this trip?’

’If I want more, will I have to wait at least eighty days?’

At this thought, all the strength drained from Andre’s body, and he fell onto the bed with a wail.

’If I’d known, I would’ve eaten them slowly and savored every bite!’

As he lay there, the exhaustion from staying up all night slowly crept in, and his eyelids grew incredibly heavy...

「Meanwhile.」

Back on the other side of the river, Lin Chen washed all the potatoes he had brought back. He left the stems on for now, which made them easier to carry.

While washing the potatoes, he remained on high alert, terrified that a brown bear might suddenly dart out from some corner and attack him.

Fortunately, there were no rocky shoals nearby, so very few salmon got stranded and died here. Most were carried downstream by the river—to the same spot where he had encountered the brown bear before.

He roughly estimated that his current position was less than a kilometer away from where he’d seen the bear, perhaps even closer, if he were to walk along the riverbank.

The mere thought that a brown bear might be lurking nearby killed any desire he had to forage in the area. He hastily grabbed the heavy potatoes and hurried back toward his shelter.

When he finally made it back to the shelter and collapsed onto his sleeping bag, the heavy burden in his heart finally lifted. A sense of security washed over him from all sides, bringing immense comfort.

[Encountered wolves and a brown bear in the wilds of North America, remained calm in the face of crisis, and successfully returned to the upgraded shelter. Happiness +3]

"Huh??"

He froze on the spot.

’That works too?’

The mention of the upgraded shelter made Lin Chen sit bolt upright. He quickly walked out of his tent and began to properly examine this ’home’ that was both familiar and new.

Just as he had requested yesterday, the shelter had been transformed into a two-story structure. It had a trapezoidal shape overall, with the second floor built flush against the rock wall.

The base layer of the roof was a waterproof tarp, with neat layers of spruce branches pressed on top. The dense needles acted as a natural drainage channel, sloping outwards.

The roof used up half of the ten-meter-long tarp.

The other half was placed under the eaves of the first floor, tied tightly to the wooden wall with steel wire fishing line. This would perfectly block any raindrops dripping down from the spruce-branch eaves.

Of course, the surface of the wooden wall was also covered with a thick layer of spruce branches, making the whole shelter look like a cabin in the woods.

On the second floor, simple railings were installed on three sides, supported by a few logs. They were fitted using an inlay technique, so you could lean against them without worrying about them falling.

The floor of the second story, which was also the ceiling of the first, was made of a layer of tightly packed split logs.

The flat sides faced up and the semicircular sides faced down. This design allowed one to move around on the second floor without worrying about their footing, especially when hunting or defending their home, enabling them to move freely with confidence.

For now, the first floor only had four main support beams and one wall; he hadn’t had time to build the front and back walls yet. However, since the courtyard fence blocked the wind, it hadn’t affected his sleep last night.

There were still two grouse in the shelter that Andre had hunted yesterday, which hadn’t been eaten yet. With the potatoes he brought back today, getting by for a couple of days wouldn’t be a problem.

He went out for a stroll and came back with a basket full of wild mushrooms. After simply boiling a potato and burying the grouse under the fire to slow-cook, he began working on the last two walls of the shelter.

The nearby trees had been mostly chopped down. This was a method Andre had taught him.

On one hand, it allowed him to source materials locally and save the energy of hauling them. On the other hand, it opened up his field of view, preventing creatures like wolves from having a chance to sneak up on him unnoticed.

As long as the line of sight was clear enough, it was the perfect battlefield for an archer occupying the high ground.

While he was busy renovating his shelter, back in the production crew’s log cabin, the staff were staring at each other, replaying the footage of Lin Chen making the dessert last night over and over.

On the wooden table right next to them sat a carton of eggs.

As a prime source of protein, the crew members ate several eggs every day. It was also one of the easiest and cheapest supplies to transport.

They didn’t just have eggs; they even had whipped cream in a can. All you had to do was shake it and press the button, and out came ready-to-use cream perfect for piping.

But even so, as they stared at the pan of scrambled eggs that was their fifth failed attempt, disbelief was written all over their faces.

"Can someone tell me why the egg batter, made following Lin’s exact steps, turned into scrambled eggs?"

Robert’s gaze fell on the staff member in charge of cooking. The guy’s culinary skills were average, but he had been in this role for two years and had worked on two seasons of the show.

Logically, he shouldn’t be making this kind of mistake, yet he just couldn’t replicate the smooth, cream-like batter that Lin Chen had made.

"We have a full set of equipment, better ingredients, and we can even use a portable stove to control the heat, yet you can’t make a simple batter??"

The man slammed the frying pan on the table in frustration and yelled, "Come on! I’ve never learned how to make desserts! I don’t even know how to whip cream! All I know is how to boil pasta! How could you suddenly ask me to make a dessert? It’s impossible."