Monster Dismantling Company

"This was deduced by working backwards—after a period of evolution, even wild boars that have become mutated due to miasma would have reproductive systems that reject mutations. This evolution is very rapid because wild boars with mutated reproductive systems simply cannot reproduce, and soon only individuals with unchanged reproductive systems will remain in the wild boar population. Therefore, the Demon Orb is the most primitive part of these mutated wild boars. Later, I caught some and smoked it a few times, and it really tasted quite good."

"That makes sense..." Li Lin nodded, "But is the smell strong? I haven't tried it before."

The novel taste and experience satisfied his thirst for knowledge and lifted his spirits considerably.

"Of course wild boar has a smell, but it's nothing compared to the smell of miasma. It's the long-lost natural smell of wild boar. Then our vanguard team leader immediately put half a magic pill into his bowl—that is, your father."

"He actually did something like that..."

As they spoke, the meat began to change color. Thinly sliced ​​meat cooks very quickly, and the colonel's knife skills were quite good. After all, he had indeed made a living with his knife skills in many ways over the years, only occasionally having to cut himself.

"Can we eat now?"

"I can. But my personal habit is to wait until it's slightly charred before eating." Clearly, the time when the beast plague struck left a deep shadow on him; he insisted on cooking his food thoroughly before eating. Li Lin also noticed that the water he drank was boiled and then cooled; he would never drink tap water.

"Yes, either way is fine."

As the surface of the meat gradually turns brown, a distinct aroma emerges, different from that of fat: dry, charred, and a sweet fragrance that is more subtle and lingering than that of fat. Although fainter, it is clearly discernible amidst the rich aroma of fat, clearly distinguishing its layers.

"Is it ready to eat now?"

"It's edible, but if you're interested in our field cooking method, I have a few more 'vibrant' recipes here. Would you like to try them?"

"Okay, go ahead." This perfectly suited Li Lin's current needs; it was the novel flavor he wanted, a completely new experience.

"Wait a moment, I'll be right back." He turned around and walked to his seat in the headquarters, taking out a glass jar and a stainless steel sealed oil can from the drawer he was holding.

Inside the glass jar was some greenish, tofu-like stuff. The tofu inside had been fermenting for a long time and had developed a strong, foul odor that could be smelled through the glass.

"This is the first one—wild boars that have turned into miasma smell terrible, but if you cover it up with another kind of stench, then..."

Li Lin immediately shook his head: "Forget it, this is the only one I refuse. To be honest, I don't like the smell of corruption."

He could barely tolerate "aging" for cooking purposes. But he absolutely could not stand the stench. Especially since his senses were now too acute, exposure to stench could easily overload him.

"Hmm...you should like this."

He poured the oil from the oil bottle along the edge of the wok—a bright and spicy aroma wafted out, reminiscent of a mixture of Sichuan peppercorns, citrus, and herbs, along with a cool floral scent, which lifted up the previously subdued fragrance of the meat.

"What is this?" Li Lin's eyes lit up; it was a fragrance he had never smelled before.

While not enough to quell his current frenzied senses, it was enough to alleviate them somewhat.

"This is litsea cubeba oil, a commonly used spice in the southwest. As I mentioned before, our group came from all over the country; people from all over the world were represented. This litsea cubeba oil was brought by someone from various states in the southwest at that time."

In other words, this ingredient comes from deep inland, two thousand kilometers away from Ningzhou. It's a place Li Lin has never been before. The situation there is vastly different from Ningzhou; the monsters they face mainly come from the mountains, not the sea. Other places they face monsters from the Thunder Marsh and Cloud Dream Marsh.

"This world is truly vast..."

"The world isn't that big now; it's much smaller than it was when I was a child. Back then, the sea level wasn't as high as it is now, the land wasn't covered in miasma and wasteland, and human nations hadn't collapsed into city-states."

In the first wave of monster invasions decades ago, most of the Earth's land was already polluted into miasma wasteland by the monsters' corpses. Human cities, like isolated islands (or, more optimistically, "a sky full of stars"), were submerged in the boundless miasma of the sky, land, and sea.

However, humanity's mobilization capabilities haven't truly regressed to those of ancient times. Human civilization's mobilization capacity hasn't disappeared. Like Yu the Great controlling the floods, the [United Government] is continuously reclaiming lost territory globally, undertaking massive projects to move mountains and fill seas. Within the United Government's cooperative framework, global defense forces are also focusing on eliminating highly dangerous monsters; everything is at least moving in a positive direction.

"So you mean I still have many places to go?"

"You can go out and see more, just think of it as foraging for food. Although the old world is gone, this is not the first time in human history that the sky has fallen and the earth has collapsed. Every time, we have been able to overcome difficulties, rebuild our old world, and stand up again."

"I heard the Grand Canal is going to be dredged again?" Li Lin asked casually. He had heard the news, but because Ningzhou was by the sea and surrounded by huge miasma swamps, it had not established a direct connection with the core area of ​​the United Government. But if the Grand Canal was to be dredged, at least a stable transportation route could be established, making it much easier to travel north.

"The Grand Canal only goes as far as Hangzhou. Ningzhou is even further south than Hangzhou, so it's not connected to the canal. However, it's not difficult to get to Hangzhou from here. You can try it once it's officially open. But we'll have to wait a while. The Grand Canal has recently been obstructed in the area around Leize because activities in Leize have become increasingly frequent lately."

Raize is a completely new landform that appeared after the cataclysmic disaster, a vast wasteland of miasma that erupted after the death of the super beast [Thor]. Its interior is perpetually covered by lightning storms, making it one of the most dangerous miasma zones globally. Even the Grand Canal, which passes through the outer perimeter of Raize, is obstructed by its presence.

Monsters don't find peace even in death. And some monsters, especially the powerful ones, seem particularly restless.

"In short, once Raize is pacified, you should be able to travel to other places more easily."

"Then you'll probably never live to see it."

Why?

"Because there's a traitor among you. There's a mole." As soon as the aroma of roasted meat wafted out, Li Lin had already guessed most of it.