Cave Refuge-Chapter 297 - 284: Humanity’s Exceptional Adaptive Capacity

Gunnar actually didn’t have any special cooking skills—just that as a child, he had caught scorpions and cooked them himself numerous times, leading to some insights on how to cook them to his taste.

The methods Gunnar used to cook scorpions in his childhood were few, with grilling being the most common. As for why he didn’t use the common method of deep-frying,

the reason was actually quite simple. Setting aside the fact that cooking oil was extremely precious at the time, even before the catastrophe, who would let an eight- or nine-year-old child fry food with oil.

Moreover, Gunnar was afraid of the bamboo cane at home, so he usually just ate the scorpions on the spot with his friends after catching them in the wild, never taking them home.

And in the wilderness, the simplest way to cook was undoubtedly by fire roasting.

Gunnar found some combustible waste to use as firewood and casually made a campfire. Without peeling new bug legs, he took the one the medic had bitten into and began cooking it in a very casual manner.

The originally translucent bug leg, under the high temperature of the flames, gradually turned white, the flesh changing color to a snowy white like that of cooked chicken.

Since Gunnar had always grilled whole scorpions directly and never peeled the shells to grill the bug meat alone, he didn’t know if the current situation was the same as before.

But grilling, despite testing the chef’s mastery of heat, typically just results in overcooked meat, altering the taste of the ingredients, but it generally doesn’t prevent normal consumption.

Once the exterior of the bug leg meat had turned white, Gunnar disinfected his dagger by heating it in the campfire for a moment, then had his teammates find a clean plate and scraped off slices of the roasted surface meat directly.

This method didn’t require much time to fully cook the entire bug leg and allowed for slices of meat of various levels of doneness to be made according to personal preference.

At this time, volunteers had already been selected. Without a doubt, these volunteers were of older age and were also direct relatives of some of the special forces members present.

One of the volunteers was familiar to Gunnar; not only had his son shared a life-and-death relationship with Gunnar in the same squad, but he was also the matchmaker who introduced Gunnar to his wife.

When he saw the old man approaching, Gunnar just prepared to dissuade him, but unexpectedly the old man spoke first, "Sonny, they’ve already made everything clear to us before coming here, and they’ve particularly stressed the dangers involved.

But think about it; I’ve also lived through famine years. Not to mention eating tree bark, I’ve even tried filling my stomach with clay. Back then, finding a sprouting potato was considered a blessing from the heavens.

At my age, during these extraordinary times, I’m still alive thanks to the kindness of the Officials. If it were the famine years of old, someone my age would have long been discarded in some neglected corner, left to fend for myself.

Being able to make a contribution for you all at this time actually brings me a lot of joy. After all, having eaten without working, we feel somewhat uneasy at heart."

Hearing the old man say this, Gunnar knew there was no way to persuade him anymore. However, since he had just eaten a raw bug leg without any adverse effects,

he felt that the bug legs were not poisonous and could be consumed normally. After all, in nature, most poisonous creatures typically have non-toxic flesh, and it is the venom sacs and venomous vessels that are toxic.

Most cases of poisoning from eating meat occur because the venom sac or venomous lines are punctured during slaughter, contaminating the nearby flesh with toxin.

Indeed, the best and safest method would be to cook with high heat, such as boiling. If there were time, the bug meat could be thrown into a pressure cooker and, through a process of boiling and replacing the water three times,

although much of the nutrients would be lost and the taste would be greatly reduced, the possibility of it being poisonous would also be significantly lowered.

However, they didn’t have such conditions at that moment, and deep down, they still hoped that after consuming the Giant Scorpion, they would gain special effects similar to those of the Pengcheng Bugs Clan. Thus, the cooking method of repeated boiling was definitely not an option.

Because of the presence of an acquaintance, Gunnar, wanting to avoid causing psychological pressure on others, volunteered to share his experience of having munched on a raw bug leg earlier and still bouncing around lively.

Not only that, Gunnar, in front of them, ate slices of the bug leg meat cooked to different degrees of doneness.

Seeing Gunnar’s actions, those who were to test the poison secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Truth be told, while they had volunteered, they actually did not want to die either. After all, had they not received proper care given their age, they would have long perished in one of the previous natural disasters.

After eating the bug leg meat, the test poisoners were taken away by the medic for observation.

With Gunnar’s guidance, everyone soon dismembered the remaining Giant Scorpions.

The innards were sorted and stored frozen, the shells were cleaned, and the ample remaining Bug Meat, whether poisonous or not, was made into dried meat by Gunnar and his special forces team, to be temporarily stored.

Dong Tianyu, having watched the entire process, walked away pondering whether the Bug Meat might indeed be edible. If so, it would likely reduce the food crisis significantly.