Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"Good evening, Lin."

After spending nearly an hour, Lin Chen finally met Alex and Joshua on a grassy hill. Maurice was also accompanying them, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Wang Ziqin and Chu Yueyue jumped off the back seat, carrying a case shaped like a large cello. Anyone with a sharp eye knew exactly what was inside.

Lin Chen opened the passenger door and jumped down, waving to the others as a greeting.

"Should we move the cookware down now, or leave it in the car until we get the game and bring it back to cook?"

"Leave it in the car."

Alex waved his hand: "The prey are very alert at night. We must whisper and minimize talking, even from a hundred meters away they can hear us."

"Once we hit the target, we shouldn’t drag it immediately unless we plan on hunting just one animal tonight."

"But clearly, that’s not possible. Tonight, our task is to root out these troublemakers as best as we can."

"Don’t feel pressured, and don’t have unnecessary compassion. In other countries, they might be protected animals, but here, they’re pests that harm farms, sometimes even causing injuries. Killing one wild boar can protect the innocent homeowners from harm, and killing a deer can feed several families well."

Lin Chen sighed helplessly: "Thanks for the explanation, but you might have misunderstood Great Xia chefs a bit."

"Oh? How so?"

"In the West, most restaurant chefs only handle ingredients; slaughtering is done by machines or butchers. But in Great Xia, chefs are butchers—though not as skilled, most small animals are slaughtered by us personally."

"Speaking of compassion..." He turned to look at Chu Yueyue, who was first stunned and then rolled her eyes dramatically, "Why, why look down on me? I have a Hunter’s License too!"

"You’ve never seen the deer and rabbits in the wild here—they’re not cute at all. Especially rabbits, big ones can rival border collies, while small ones are about as big as a teddy, quite terrifying!"

"That big?" Lin Chen hadn’t seen the wild rabbits here before, instinctively licked his lips, "There must be lots of meat on the head? I brought hot pot seasoning; spicy rabbit head should be great."

"Sure, sure, I’m reserving two, and two gun rabbit legs too!"

Eating rabbit heads?!

Alex and Joshua’s expressions changed; they suddenly realized things seemed to be a bit outside their understanding.

These Great Xia People sounded scarier than them, even wanting to eat animal heads!

During their moment of realization, Wang Ziqin laughed and wrapped his arms around their shoulders: "As the President and Vice President of the Hunter Association, you’re not afraid to eat rabbit heads, are you? They’re really tasty."

"Who said we’re afraid? Hunters eat anything!"

"Absolutely, we even eat raw meat, what’s a head!"

Joshua tightened the gun bag on his back and waved his hand: "Let’s go, find a vantage point first to check the situation."

This area is Maurice’s farm, and he knows the terrain best, so he immediately led everyone into the darkness, only bringing a weak flashlight to explore the path.

"Eighty percent of my farm’s area is flat, only twenty percent is small hills, but no fruit trees planted, the tallest are corn stalks, so the view is good. Using heat imaging, we can clearly see the bad guys."

While leading the way ahead, Maurice explained to everyone in a low voice: "But next to the farm, there are many small hills distributed around. We can find a place with a good view to check the situation first."

"The entrance of the barbed wire fence that the wild boar group dug out has been sealed this afternoon. They’re definitely still in the cornfield."

"Without an entrance, the deer can’t get out either because the barbed wire is one and a half meters high. If they want to get out, they’ll get caught. There was a silly deer caught there before, found with its leg torn off, bleeding everywhere."

Chu Yueyue, who had been quietly listening, suddenly asked: "Are roasted deer legs tastier or roasted wild boar legs?"

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Everyone turned around to stare at her, seemingly wanting to say something, but forced it back, only able to raise their thumbs to express their inner awe.

"Honey, are you hungry?"

Wang Ziqin laughed, holding her hand: "Don’t worry, later Old Lin will roast kidneys for us—rabbit kidneys, boar kidneys, deer kidneys, one after another. Fresh ones are absolutely tasty!"

"Aren’t wild boars quite stinky? Can the kidneys be eaten?"

"I’ve never tried them either, but with Old Lin here, what’s there to be afraid of? He can clean it even if it’s smelly."

"True, ah... I’m so hungry, all because you said we’d have game meat tonight, making me skip dinner and starve now."

"Shh!"

While walking, Lin Chen’s ears twitched, and he put a finger to his lips.

This action made the two veteran hunters ahead freeze on the spot, instinctively observing the surroundings, holding their breath, and listening intently for a few seconds before simultaneously looking in a certain direction.

Alex raised hand, signaling everyone to remain still. Joshua had already light-footedly placed his gun bag on the ground, propping it up with his toes to avoid noise, while holding up a thermal imaging telescope scanning that direction.

"It’s a rabbit."

His voice was pressed to an extreme low, almost hoarse.

After watching for a few seconds, he put away the telescope and shook his head: "Let’s go, shoot the big ones first. These little ones are too cunning; we can release dogs or ferrets to chase them later, or catch them during the day."

Everyone instantly understood his intent. Though shooting now could get a rabbit, it would also alarm the wild boars and deer lurking in the farm.

If they were startled and ran wildly across the fields, the destroyed crops couldn’t be compensated by a few rabbits.

Adult wild boars and deer often weigh over two hundred pounds, large ones four or five hundred pounds easily, especially in an environment without predators.

After moving in the dark for another ten minutes, they finally reached a small hill.

Joshua looked up at the crescent hanging in the night sky, nodding: "Good luck, there’s no moon today."

As if to clarify for Lin Chen, he intentionally elaborated.

"Nocturnal animals are very sensitive to light. Even moonlight can lower their activity frequency, making it harder to spot them."

"But today’s area is confined in the farm, so it doesn’t affect much. The only challenge is shooting moving targets in the dark."

"This first shot is for you all, aim at different targets and fire simultaneously—shoot as many as you can, then assess the situation for further action."