Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Although Wang Ziqin and Chu Yueyue both have Hunter’s Licenses, they are usually busy with work and have to travel around, so they have no time for such leisurely activities as hunting.

Outsiders might think hunting is just about pulling the trigger for those few seconds, but in reality, hunters often have to wait patiently for several hours or even days for those few seconds.

Today’s situation is relatively favorable, as the prey’s range of activity has been completely sealed off, and nighttime is their feeding time. It may take at least an hour or two, or even several hours for them to realize that their escape routes are blocked.

At that time, trying to dig a hole as a last resort will waste dozens of minutes, essentially leaving them in a dead end.

"The only thing we need to be cautious of now is that after we fire, the prey might be startled and run around wildly, and upon finding their escape routes blocked, they may enter a frenzy and start crashing into the fences recklessly."

As Alex spread open the gun case, he explained, "For the sake of the survival of the group, an adult individual may very well sacrifice its life to pave a path for other individuals, and the power unleashed in such situations is unparalleled."

"Not to mention farm wire fences, even metal poles cannot withstand the impact of several hundred pounds."

"So the precision of the first round of shooting is extremely crucial. As many adult individuals as possible need to be eliminated, especially the wild boars."

While he was whispering the explanation, Joshua was using a thermal imaging binocular to continuously scan the fan-shaped area of the farm ahead, and the others began assembling the firearms and looking for suitable shooting positions.

At this long distance, only sniper rifles can be used for shooting, and the recoil of a sniper rifle is quite large, so it must be mounted in a fixed position to mitigate the impact on the body.

Lin Chen scanned the grassland but didn’t find a suitable position, so he simply lay down directly on the ground and inserted the stand under the gun barrel into the soil for stabilization.

At this moment, Joshua raised his left hand, made a series of gestures, and Alex nodded silently, then translated quietly for everyone.

"Groups of wild boars have been spotted at the two and three o’clock positions. They appear to be segments of the same group feeding. Each side has two adult wild boars leading; don’t worry about the piglets for now. Lock in the positions."

"Wang and you two handle the two o’clock direction, Lin and John deal with the three o’clock direction. Signal once the target is locked."

With tasks distributed, Alex himself lifted the binoculars and looked towards those two directions, quickly glimpsed other areas, and soon spotted deer.

In the thermal imaging binocular’s field of view, there are no obstructions; the red heat source stands out like fireflies at night, allowing for quick identification of the target’s silhouette and species through outlines.

No verbal communication was needed; Alex raised two fingers, and Joshua caught on, then each picked up their gun and started aiming.

"By the way, a quick reminder."

"The weakness of wild boars lies in the head and heart. Their thick skin and flesh mean shooting the body won’t kill them instantly; instead, it may trigger their wild side to start running wild, causing further crop damage."

"The heart is located near the front leg’s armpit. With a sniper rifle’s power, a hit in the approximate area can take it down with one shot, instantly incapacitating it."

"The only challenge is that from this distance, it’s easy to miss, so try aiming towards the front leg’s base, slightly higher."

Everyone nodded in agreement, adjusted their aim, and raised their hands consecutively.

Alex glanced at Lin Chen, seeing him fully focused and not at all nervous, even a bit excited.

Remembering the scenes from the afternoon when training shooting accuracy with him, he licked his slightly dry lips, inexplicably hopeful.

After all, in the afternoon, it was close-range shooting at stationary targets, which is much easier.

But now, the targets may move at any time, and with several hundred meters of distance, he wanted to see just how high this Great Xia chef’s shooting talent really was.

"3!"

He steadied his rifle and called out softly.

"2!"

"1!"

"Bang bang——"

Two urgent bursts of gunfire mixed with blinding flashes exploded in the darkness, with six people almost simultaneously finishing their shots, the timing causing the sounds to echo.

"Five down!"

Joshua, not at all concerned with his own shooting results, lifted the binoculars again towards the wild boar groups immediately after the gunshots, and exclaimed.

"Two o’clock direc..."

"Bang!"

Before finishing his sentence, another explosive sound rang in his ears.

In the lens, the wild boar, knocked to the ground tumbling and then struggling to its feet, had barely run two steps before being hit again, instantly silencing it.

"Great shot!"

Alex, also watching through the binoculars, spoke out, "Who made that shot?"

Looking towards the sound of the shot, he saw John blinking innocently, while Lin Chen remained prone, aiming at another target area.

"???"

Alex gaped, filled with disbelief, and Joshua was equally stunned, but before they could recover from their shock, realizing something, they both simultaneously raised their sniper rifles, swiftly reloaded, and looked towards where Lin Chen was aiming.

In the scope, beside the two fallen deer, the rest of the herd, startled, began to scatter in all directions.

"Bang—"

Another shot rang out.

The two men, relying on their hunter instincts and years of accumulated experience, instantly found the shooting position, also in the middle of a cornfield, only thirty meters away from the wild boar’s corpse.

A sika deer with double horns on its forehead fell to the ground in response, its hooves twitching and kicking a few times before gradually falling silent.

"......"

The two lowered their guns, refraining from shooting further, and looked at Lin Chen with a peculiar gaze.

Sniper rifles are only suitable for shooting stationary targets or slow-moving objects when taking opponents by surprise. They are completely ineffective against fast-running creatures that constantly change direction.

They did not expect that after the gunshot, a deer would run away and hide motionless in the cornfield just tens of meters away, only to be caught by Lin Chen.

In the thermal imaging display, it was clearly visible, but from the naked eye’s perspective, the cornfield was undoubtedly an optimal hiding place at night.

Under the dense vegetation towering over one to two meters, the cornfield presented a deep abyss-like darkness, standing even just a meter away from the target, one would likely not notice its presence.

"Alright, unload the bullets and let’s change positions."

Joshua gave Lin Chen a deep look, silently pulled out his magazine, emptied the bullets, and pocketed them.

"There won’t be any shooting opportunity for at least ten minutes, but the good news is that all the adult wild boars are dead, leaving only a bunch of piglets. The next target will focus mainly on the deer herd."

"Let’s wait and see how many idiots will get themselves caught on the barbed wire."

Beside them, Maurice excitedly rubbed his hands together: "My barbed wire has spikes; once trapped, they can’t break free. Last year, four foolish deer died on it, blood all over the place."

"I’m already looking forward to tonight’s feast! Lin, can you reveal the menu?"

"Spicy rabbit heads."

"......That’s not funny at all."

Lin Chen smiled mysteriously and did not continue, slinging the sniper rifle over his back and following the two hunters down the hill.

In his memory, wild boar had a strong stink, especially the internal organs, which were terribly smelly. He just didn’t know what the situation was with wild boars abroad.

In the afternoon, he specifically checked online how hunters here dealt with wild boar; generally, it involved roasting, which suggested the boar meat here might not be as pungent as the ones he had tasted back home.

Foreigners are quite particular; food they accept surely don’t have strong peculiar smells.

But not absolutely. Thinking of blue cheese and lutefisk, he suddenly felt a tickle in his throat and a turmoil in his stomach.

It’s two in the morning.

When everyone lowered their guns again, no beast was seen moving on the thermal imaging binoculars, scattered spots of red spots were all over.

"That’s about it. The piglets probably hid in rabbit holes or buried themselves; rabbits are tricky now, we need to wait until daylight."

"Let’s go, get some stuff to eat; starving here."

"My suggestion is to eat a deer fawn first; though not fully grown, it weighs dozens of pounds, the adults are hard to transport, and the meat isn’t as tender as a fawn."

"That’s indeed true," Lin Chen finally arrived at his stage, walking straight towards the pre-chosen direction, "Maurice, do you have chili peppers on your farm?"

"Yes, but they’re bell peppers, the non-spicy type. Is that okay?"

"...It’s okay, just not as tasty."

"I got them!"

John volunteered, raising his hand: "I can drive to get them, it’s nearby, and it takes time to haul the game and deal with the fur and intestines. We won’t eat anything in under an hour, right?"

"Almost, the two hunters should handle the game, right?" Lin Chen glanced at Alex and Joshua, who nodded immediately: "Piece of cake."

"Alright then. John, you go get some small hot chili peppers, green chili peppers, garlic, pineapples..."

Listing out a dozen ingredients, John quickly noted them in his phone’s memo, turned around, and ran to where the cars were parked.

"What’s the pineapple for?"

As veteran hunters, Alex and Joshua had some unique insights into outdoor cooking. They knew chili and garlic could mask the stench of game meat.

But pineapple, a fruit... they couldn’t imagine what it was for. They were outdoors; it couldn’t possibly be for making sauce, right?

"Barbecue."

Before Lin Chen could answer, Wang Ziqin answered first: "You mean you haven’t tried pineapple grilled meat before? Really?"