Road Survival, I Have a Hint System!

Zhang Tuohai got out of the car and noticed a rabbit lying under the wheels.

"Is this some kind of free bonus?" Zhang Tuohai took out a high-grade skinning knife and pierced it into the rabbit.

[Gained 500g of rabbit meat * 4]

[Gained 1 rabbit head]

[Gained 1 complete rabbit skin]

[Gained 1 ordinary soul essence]

"Four pounds of meat? Pretty plump, not bad, enough for a whole day. And a rabbit head? I can make spicy rabbit head. I’ve got hot pot ingredients, so I might as well give it a shot. As for the complete rabbit skin, what am I supposed to do with that?"

Muttering to himself, Zhang Tuohai sorted everything and stored it away.

He crafted a small stewing pot, marinated the rabbit head with some cooking wine to remove any gamey taste, and quickly blanched it in hot water. Then he fried it with a generous amount of oil and some hot pot seasoning.

He lacked many ingredients like green onions, ginger, garlic, and sugar, so Zhang Tuohai had to make do with his basic method.

Fortunately, the flavor turned out pretty good.

At least, the spiciness was on point.

For the main dish, he made a pot of hand-rolled noodles, added some dehydrated vegetables, and poached an egg on top. He grilled a bit of rabbit meat as a topping.

He delivered a portion of the rabbit meat and vegetables to the two sisters.

For himself, Zhang Tuohai made a deluxe version, with extra eggs and meat.

Paired with the spicy rabbit head, he ate to his heart’s content.

After finishing breakfast, Zhang Tuohai wiped his mouth, thinking that he was getting tired of eating noodles these past couple of days. If only he had some rice, he could change things up a bit.

If other players knew about Zhang Tuohai's thoughts, they’d probably want to kill him.

Even though Zhang Tuohai sold some bits of oil dregs every day, and over time players had accumulated a bit of food, most of them were just trying to avoid starvation.

For the vast majority of players, just having something to eat was a challenge.

Being full depended entirely on luck.

Eating well? Don’t even think about it. What they got to eat was entirely based on what they could find that day.

For them, eating meat was a dream, and being able to have three bowls of instant noodles a day would be something to laugh about in their sleep.

And here was Zhang Tuohai, thinking about variety.

Dream on!

After breakfast, Zhang Tuohai checked the time. It was already past 7 a.m., time to get back on the road to search for more supply crates.

"Xiao Ai, let's head out."

"Yes, Commander," Xiao Ai, the AI assistant, started the car and drove forward.

Driving on the road now felt entirely different.

Previously, Zhang Tuohai had to drive while scanning the roadside for supply crates, enduring the blinding sunlight and scorching heat.

But now, things were different. With Xiao Ai assisting with the driving, he had air conditioning in the car, and even an ice maker.

Oh, right, the ice maker!

Zhang Tuohai grabbed some leftover soda.

The carbonation had long gone flat, so he had no interest in drinking it. But now, it could be repurposed.

He poured the soda into the ice maker and made it into a slushie.

Taking a spoonful, a refreshing chill spread from his mouth straight to his chest.

It felt perfect.

"Now this is living."

Zhang Tuohai held the slushie in his hand, looking at the desert landscape passing by the window, feeling like he was on a road trip in the western desert.

"Commander, there’s a supply crate ahead. Would you like to approach it? ヾ(^^)"

"Hmm?" Zhang Tuohai looked into the distance and, sure enough, about 300 meters ahead, he could faintly make out a supply crate on the road.

The distant scenery was blurred by heatwaves, but Xiao Ai had spotted it accurately.

"Looks like I don’t need to worry about missing any supply crates on the road now," Zhang Tuohai thought to himself.

"Drive closer. Let's see what's inside. Hopefully, we get something good today."

Zhang Tuohai rubbed his hands together, eager to check it out.

[Blue supply crate detected ahead: Contents include one hen and a 20 kg bag of rice. The hen is highly active. Please prepare capture tools and a cage for keeping it.]

"A hen and rice? I can make braised chicken with rice!" Zhang Tuohai's first thought.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

If it were a rooster, he would have cooked it immediately. But a hen? It needed to be kept alive. Raising it would mean a steady supply of eggs, and who wouldn’t enjoy a fried egg every day?

However, capturing it was the tricky part.

Zhang Tuohai only had a shotgun, good for hunting, but not for capturing.

"What could I use instead?"

He rummaged through his supplies, searching for something to act as a capture tool.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

He found a large black net.

It was a sunshade net, meant to block sunlight and reduce heat inside the car.

This thing was shaped like a net, and after giving it a tug, Zhang Tuohai found it was quite sturdy. It could work as a makeshift capture net.

"Not bad."

He spread the sunshade net out, covering the entire supply crate. After making sure there were no gaps, he carefully opened the crate.

Bang!

The crate disappeared, and a plump hen burst out, flapping its wings wildly and bolting away.

Although it couldn’t fly, it was fast, covering six or seven meters in the blink of an eye, almost escaping.

"You think you can get away after all my preparation?" Zhang Tuohai smirked, stepping on the edge of the sunshade net.

The hen, which had just jumped out, was instantly pulled back by the net.

Hen: "???"

Before it could react, Zhang Tuohai grabbed it along with the net and tossed it into the car.

He then threw the bag of rice into the car as well.

Looking at the white grains, Zhang Tuohai was overjoyed.

After eating noodles for days, he could finally switch things up.

He scooped two bowls of rice, added water, and placed it over the stove to simmer on low heat.

Cooking rice over a low flame was important to avoid burning the bottom of the pot.

The water also had to be just right. Too little, and the rice would be undercooked. Too much, and it would turn into porridge.

Zhang Tuohai added a few slices of marinated meat and some dehydrated vegetables from his supplies.

Once the rice was done, the meat’s juices would seep into the rice, making it all the more delicious.

While the pot simmered, Zhang Tuohai glanced over at the hen.

The hen stared back at him, its eyes wide, seemingly full of defiance.

"Where should I keep this thing?" Zhang Tuohai looked around the car. There wasn’t any good place to keep a chicken.

Letting it roam free wasn’t an option. Apart from the risk of losing it, dealing with its droppings would be a nightmare.

He was raising the hen for eggs, not to create more work for himself.

His gaze landed on the ceramic barbecue grill.

It was fully enclosed, tall enough, and could probably hold the hen just fine.

Plus, he’d only used the grill once for cooking eagle wings, and since then, it had been collecting dust in the corner.

Might as well repurpose it.

Hen: "Cluck cluck?"

It instinctively sensed that Zhang Tuohai’s gaze wasn’t entirely friendly.