Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi-Chapter 164: Return to Camp to Do Some Small Business (1)

Ye Nai didn’t go to watch the injured soldiers; after giving the deer some grass, she ran to the kitchen to whip up a few dishes.

"The injured need to eat something high in protein. I have some spider legs from a female spider before it lays eggs. How about steaming a couple?"

Ye Nai, holding two thick spider legs, said to the cooks peeling potatoes at the kitchen entrance.

They glanced at the legs and quickly called for their squad leader.

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The cooking squad leader, apron fluttering, came over quickly, wiping his hands.

"Such strong energy, these really are spider legs from before it laid eggs!"

The female spider needs to conserve energy for laying eggs, so if it’s killed before this, that vast energy remains in the meat. Even without the special mutant beast meat testing Energy Detection Needle, an Awakener can sense it themselves.

Of course, to know the exact amount of energy value, one would still need the Energy Detection Needle to set standards and grade the meat before selling it.

If it’s for personal consumption, it’s not that troublesome.

"A leg like this isn’t cheap outside, are we really going to eat it?"

"Yeah, why not? I was keeping this for myself to eat anyway. I’ve got those Camel-hump Deers, so I won’t be at a loss this trip. Steam it for the injured to help their recovery."

"You don’t need two for that, just chop off a piece will do."

"No need, let’s eat together, no special treatment."

"Alright then, thanks."

"I’ve also got some fresh vegetables, let’s cook them too. I’ll clear my inventory, it won’t affect yours."

Ye Nai knew that the dangerous area sent people to the frontline camp for missions and would definitely bring a batch of supplies. With so many people, they’d need at least two meals, and the newly replenished supplies would again decrease. Guarding the frontline camp was tough, but since she had supplies on hand, she might as well help save others some.

"These vegetables are incredible, so fresh."

"Picked from the garden?"

"No, no, picked up from the roadside."

"Alright, alright, we’ll change the menu, let’s eat these today."

The squad leader took the two large legs into the kitchen to prepare them while the warriors gathered up the vegetables on the ground. Ye Nai, hands in pockets, roamed around, accidentally bumping into a young buck trying to escape the courtyard.

The psychologically traumatised young bucks, upon seeing the most terrifying biped, slipped on their hooves and fled back to the trailer.

They felt the place with abundant food was safest, not realizing that it was actually the most dangerous, where a moment’s inattention could result in another biped grabbing them by the neck or legs to throw them onto a vehicle.

Ye Nai strolled back and forth with her hands in her pockets, found a shady spot, and was about to sit and play a few games when Captain Xiao Ni, carrying a bag, found her.

"Xiao Yezi, come here, let’s talk."

"What’s up?"

Ye Nai put away the hand-held console she had just taken out and bounced over, brimming with youthful energy.

Captain Xiao Ni opened the bag to show her.

Inside were woody branches with flowers and leaves.

"Branches of Nine-ribbed Vine and branches from a ridge tree? For me? You sure that’s not a mistake?" Ye Nai whispered hesitantly.

"It’s not registered yet, no mistake. The most valuable thing we have on hand is this. You’ve seen it too; clearly, we’re all from the same dangerous area. Just say it straight. You just took two spider legs and a bunch of vegetables, right? Trade you some more mutant beast meat."

"Okay, but there’s no birds, only mammals and fish."

"That’s fine, as long as it’s different from the local species, something new. Go on, take it, this way."

Captain Xiao Ni stuffed the bag into Ye Nai’s hands and led her back to the kitchen entrance.

Aside from the busy warriors, there were now three middle-aged men, introduced by Captain Xiao Ni as the company commander, deputy company commander, and the quartermaster of this camp.

Ye Nai politely shook hands with the three of them, exchanged a few pleasantries, and understood their specific needs.

At the frontline camp, people could hunt freely and there was no lack of meat, but nearby mutant beast meat had been largely consumed. Particularly the ubiquitous wild rabbits and mice, which they were tired of eating, were still unavoidable prey as wild rabbits liked to burrow and wild mice would eat anything. If not controlled, the camp would suffer.

Both wild rabbits and mice were lean meat with scant fat; they wanted something fattier.

"Do you have big basins? Get two big ones, and I’ll pick out a few types of meat to see?"

Immediately, a warrior brought over two stainless steel wash basins, one meter in diameter each, and placed them on the ground.

Ye Nai arranged a variety of meat cuts, all nicely marbled with fat, around the bottom of the first basin.

The second basin contained seafood, also arranged in a circle around the bottom, while the middle of the basin was filled with fresh fish roe.

"Wow, you actually have fish roe? Is it edible?" Captain Xiao Ni was amazed, Ye Nai really had good stuff.

"These are edible, want to try?"

Ye Nai then pulled out her folding table with a clang and set up dishes of grilled seafood and braised fish roe.

To save time, she always cooked a large batch, promptly stored it hot into her space, and scooped it out with a clean spoon when ready to eat.

The mess sergeant immediately went to the kitchen to fetch serving spoons and small bowls and spoons for everyone.

The fish roe was the first thing everyone tasted.

That first bite released strands of energy that burst in the mouth, flowing smoothly down the throat and belly like a gentle stream of water.

"Wow!"

"This is really edible fish roe!"

"So delicious, and the energy is strong."

"It’s so rare to encounter edible fish roe."

"Try the shrimp and fish meat next," Ye Nai smiled and invited.

Although she didn’t reach the wetlands on this trip, she had encountered other rivers along the way, which enabled her to refill her water drums.

Where there were rivers, there were fish, shrimp, and crabs, albeit oddly shaped. But once stored in her space, the fungus would leave the edible meat for her.

This fish roe was what remained from piles of fish.

Just two large basins.

Ye Nai suspected she had entered the Secret Realm at the wrong time of year. The weather was warming up and fewer fish were spawning; entering earlier next year might yield more roe.

"Okay, okay, shrimp are just shrimp, it has the most normal flesh to meat ratio."

"The fish meat is okay too, this is a fish chunk, it has no bones other than the main one, and this is fish fillet, look, this entire piece almost comprises the complete flesh from head to tail."

"Hmm, it seems seafood still has a better flesh yield, similar to native seafood from Blue Star."

"And it doesn’t have the distinct smell of mutant beast meat; it’s very clean, just the fresh taste of seafood."

"Yes, aside from the meat flavor and energy, there are smells of fishiness, stench, bitterness, all kinds of odd flavors."

"Haha, it’s definitely wild tasting."

Ye Nai listened to them complimenting and scratched her head uncomfortably.

The mutant beast meat in her hands didn’t have those strange odors; in fact, such odors could be artificially removed, though it was time-consuming and laborious.

The odd smells actually came from the muscles, which compared to surrounding muscles, were darker or greyer in color. These pieces needed to be trimmed along the muscle grain manually, which would then leave the meat clean.

If not meticulously removed and cooked with, even a small residue would affect the outcome, and no amount of seasoning could eliminate the off-flavor.