Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

Hunter Rem walked ahead, bow in hand, glancing back every now and then to see if anyone was following.

"Behave yourselves. Lord Tieyan sent me to keep an eye on you. You'd better not try anything funny!"

Behind him were Vittorio and two guards.

The two guards, one on each side, carried two shovels, but they were not in a fighting stance.

Vittorio followed behind the two guards, holding a walking stick, tapping here and there.

They are now in the woods west of River Bend, not too far from the castle, where people from the castle sometimes come to hunt.

Vittorio claimed he could find food, but was unfamiliar with the terrain and would need a local guide to accompany him.

Edmund then assigned him the hunter Rem.

It was he who first discovered Vittorio's whereabouts.

Rem glanced at Vittorio furtively, then turned away disdainfully, muttering to herself.

"Young master, do you think you're on a picnic? Boasting about finding food, I doubt he can even tell the difference between wild vegetables and wheat ears."

"It's only because Lord Tieyan is so honest that he believed his nonsense; if it were me, I wouldn't have agreed at all!"

Vittorio seemed oblivious to Rem's disdainful expression, continuing to tap here and there, occasionally pausing to ponder.

After walking for a while, the four of them came to a woodland with faint miasma. The trees here were dense, blocking out the sunlight, and the ground was overgrown with weeds.

There were gaps between some trees, but they were all covered with a plant with dark green roots and leaves, and twisted branches and leaves, which did not look like it was edible.

Rem stopped and reminded Vittorio.

"If you go any further, you'll reach a lightly polluted area. There's nothing worth noting, so don't bother looking."

Unexpectedly, Vittorio suddenly stopped and pointed to the clearing overgrown with unknown weeds.

"You two, go dig."

The two guards, not understanding what was going on, wet a cloth with water and covered their faces as masks, preparing to dig, but were stopped by Rem.

"Are you crazy?"

"That's ghost finger grass! It's not edible!"

"Ghost finger grass?"

Vittorio acted as if he were hearing the name for the first time.

Rem sighed and began to explain.

"This thing is called 'ghost finger grass' here. It only grows in lightly polluted areas. Although it grows very vigorously, it's absolutely not edible!"

"When you cut the stem of this thing, black sap oozes out. Eating it can cause anything from diarrhea to death!"

"Yeah?"

Vittorio remained noncommittal and continued to direct his two guards to dig.

Although the two guards were very suspicious, after spending the past ten days or so together, they had gained a basic understanding of Vittorio.

Although he loves to joke, he would never do anything meaningless.

If he tells us to dig, then we dig.

The two men picked up shovels and began digging, carefully digging out the stems and leaves, following Vittorio's instructions, trying to dig out the roots completely.

Rem was so anxious she was about to jump up, but there was nothing she could do. She could only watch with a livid face, muttering to herself, "I really don't understand why Lord Iron Rock would give a madman a chance."

Before long, a large bunch of "ghost finger grass" was dug up.

This thing not only has bluish-black stems and leaves, resembling bruised skin, but its tubers are also the size of a fist, covered with tumor-like protrusions, and coated with mud, making it even more nauseating.

"Look! Look!" Rem exclaimed, pointing at the Ghostfinger Grass as if she had found evidence, her voice rising, "This thing is edible?"

Vittorio ignored him, simply walked forward, took out the knife he carried with him, found a relatively flat stone, and placed one of the larger ghost finger grasses on it.

Vittorio then skillfully cut off the entire stem and leaves, and peeled off the outer skin of the rhizome.

In an instant, a large amount of thick, black liquid gushed out, faintly emitting a foul odor.

"Stop! It's poisonous!"

Rem almost rushed forward to knock his knife away.

Vittorio remained calm and focused, simply cutting away.

"Poison? That's just its armor."

With a steady wrist, he peeled away the black outer skin layer by layer, removing a total width of about half a finger.

As the black outer layer was peeled away, a pile of black skin gradually accumulated on the ground, while in Vittorio's hand, a pale yellow-white core appeared that was noticeably smaller.

Rem was surprised at first, but quickly became unmoved.

"If you mean this is edible, I'm sorry, you're thinking too much."

"You think we haven't tried it? When we're starving, we'll eat anything, and this is no exception."

"A few years ago, when Old Moore's grandson was starving, he peeled, boiled, mashed, and ate this thing. He rinsed it several times with water. He was full, but he was also poisoned to death."

"We never even considered getting our hands on that thing again after that."

Rem's expression quickly turned cold, as if to say that you're overthinking it.

Vittorio didn't explain, but simply had two guards fill a basket and told them to carry it back.

Rem shook her head helplessly.

"A stubborn guy."

Vittorio simply smiled and instructed the two men to carry the Ghost Finger Grass back to the temporary camp not far away.

Back at the camp, all the guards came out to look at the basket of grass with its huge roots.

Even Eileen and Isolde came to watch.

"Is this edible?" Eileen asked, puzzled.

Vittorio explained, "Of course you can't eat it directly; it needs to be processed first."

He said he cut the peeled root into thick slices, then instructed the guards to find a grooved stone and put the slices in to crush them.

This step requires thoroughly mashing the thick slices into a paste.

Then fill a pot with water, and pour the beaten paste into the water completely, in a ratio of approximately 10:1, and finally stir.

After stirring, the originally clear water became murky. He then took out his handkerchief, which had a very fine mesh and could be used as a filter.

Then it's just filtering again and again.

Separate the turbid water from the crushed plant fiber residue.

Rem watched this scene with curiosity.

"Does this mean the toxins can be filtered out?"

However, to his surprise, Vittorio's next move was to leave the water behind and dump the scum... dump it...

"If you pour it all out like that, won't there be nothing left? Oh, there's still a basin of water. Can water fill our stomachs?"

Rem said skeptically.

Vittorio didn't explain; he simply placed the basin of water in a sunny spot and let it sit.

"Let the arrow fly a little longer."

About ten minutes later, the group went to check the basin of murky water again.

A miraculous thing happened: the originally murky water had split into two parts, one above the other.

The upper part is clear water, and the lower part is some milky white sediment.

"What...what is this? An impurity?"

When Rem saw the basin of water, she felt like her brain wasn't working properly.

"This is edible, but the water isn't clean yet, so rinse it a few more times."

Vittorio then carefully poured out the top layer of water and added fresh water.

Then mix the sediment at the bottom with water, and finally let it settle.

This process was repeated two or three times, and finally a white paste with almost no impurities settled at the bottom of the container was obtained.

Rem casually reached in and pinched it.

The contents were like a paste, but it couldn't be squeezed. Instead, when you didn't touch it, it slipped through your hand like water.

"The final step!"

Vittorio poured out all the clear water from the top, leaving only the sediment at the bottom, and then placed it in a sunny, well-ventilated place.

Half a day later, the damp sediment dried completely, turning into powder that crumbled easily when pinched.

Vittorio casually pinched the screen to check the status before nodding.

"Great, mission accomplished!"

Meanwhile, Rem had been waiting all day. In the morning, he led people to dig up the roots of the Ghost Finger Grass, and in the afternoon, he watched Vittorio fiddling with the thing.

That evening, Rem finally heard Vittorio say that the mission was accomplished.

Rem stared at the dried, pasty substance at the bottom of the pot, feeling that it was beyond her comprehension.

"This...this is the food you were talking about? What is this?" Rem asked.

"This is starch!"

"starch?"

Rem felt like she was starting to get a brain.

Rem turned her head and looked around. She found that the others were also deep in thought and only half-understood. Only then did she feel relieved.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one who doesn't understand.

I felt like a greenhorn in his presence.

Vittorio began to explain.

"What's so hard to understand? Just wash the potatoes before eating them. If you don't drain the water, won't there be a white layer left at the bottom?"

Everyone was confused.

"Potatoes are..."

Oh, I forgot this isn't Earth anymore.

Although the forms of civilization are very similar, equivalent to medieval Europe except for the supernatural aspects, there are some subtle differences.

For example, there are no potatoes here.

"Anyway, all you need to know is that this is edible and is a good source of carbohydrates."

Carbohydrates...combination?

Rem felt her head itch again.

Forget it, don't dwell on things you can't understand; just let them go with the wind.

Rem continued to monitor Vittorio's movements.

Vittorio then added a small amount of water to the dried starch, stirred it into a paste, and added some wild vegetables and salt.

Finally, spread the starch paste evenly on the bottom of the iron pot.

Soon, as the coals beneath the iron pot heated it, the starch paste solidified, becoming thin and crispy... and turned into a pancake!

Vittorio casually tore off half of the still-steaming pancake and stuffed it into his stomach.

After a moment, he commented, "Not bad, tastes like potato and taro."

Then he handed the remaining half to Rem.

"Want to try some?"

Rem wanted to refuse, but he couldn't ignore his empty stomach.

Since the beginning of spring, due to the lack of fresh food, the amount of food available has always been very limited.

Although he, as a hunter, could secretly treat himself to extra food, he couldn't always catch prey.

Moreover, he was just an ordinary hunter, unlike Edmund Ironrock who possessed extraordinary strength, and he couldn't catch large prey.

So, all things considered, Rem is still struggling to make ends meet.

Therefore, Rem inexplicably felt a craving for this round, steaming pancake!

Even he himself couldn't believe it, considering that just this morning it was a clump of polluted plants emitting a foul odor!

Rem glanced at Vittorio and saw that he was fine after eating for a long time, so he gritted his teeth and stomped his foot.

He took the pancake and, with a death-defying resolve, put it into his mouth.

With just one bite, Rem trembled violently.

The expected strange taste, numbness, and tingling did not occur.

The initial taste is crispy, with the texture of a regular pancake.

It might have a slightly more gelatinous texture than a regular pancake, but overall, there's almost no significant difference.

Aside from the fact that it's really bland and needs more salt or seasoning... it's actually edible!

Not only can you eat it, but after eating it, a comforting and warm feeling quickly rises in your stomach!

Rem ate one bite and it wasn't enough, so she ate another, then another, and another!

In no time, Rem finished half a pancake.

After eating, he didn't feel full; instead, he felt even hungrier.

His stomach growled at an inopportune moment.

Rem blushed with embarrassment, while the onlookers laughed knowingly.

"Alright, Mr. Rem, now that we've verified the edibility of this stuff, and I haven't had dinner yet anyway."

"I heard you're a hunter. I saw a rabbit hole on my way here. Would you mind demonstrating your skills?"

Rem thought back to how she had vehemently opposed and tried to stop Vittorio's excavation that morning, but now it turned out that Vittorio was the wise man, and she was just a clown jumping around.

Thinking of this, his face instantly burned, so he grabbed his bow and stood up abruptly.

"Leave it to me."

About half an hour later, Rem returned carrying two rabbits, while Vittorio had already instructed the guards to deal with the other roots.

If things go smoothly, this batch of roots and stems can all be made into starch by noon tomorrow.

They started a fire and a pot, and Vittorio even took out a small bag and poured out some white salt grains.

Rem watched this scene with envy.

The Reach does not produce salt; in the past, salt was imported through trade.

Since the arrival of the demonic tide, the salt transport route has been cut off.

Not to mention that ten years after the catastrophe, they have no stable source of salt here.

Generally, after hunting their prey, they would marinate the food with animal blood and water made from burnt wood ash to extract salt.

However, this method cannot completely replace salt.

Food pickled in wood ash water always has a bitter taste; how could it compare to fine salt?

Therefore, when Rem carefully slaughtered and cleaned the rabbit, she put all the edible parts into a pot and stewed them together with something called "starch," resulting in a pot of rabbit and vegetable soup.

Although it wasn't elaborate, just one bite was enough to elicit a satisfied sigh from him.

"It's so delicious!"

The saltiness from the fine salt, the meaty flavor from the rabbit meat, the fresh aroma from the vegetables, and the feeling of fullness from the starch blend together perfectly.

"Eat up, there's plenty more," Vittorio said.

Although there wasn't much meat in the rabbit, he made a lot of starch, enough to fill you up!

Looking at the pot of delicious food in front of her, Rem's voice was bitter.

"What...what is this...?"

Rem wanted to ask him how he knew that.

Vittorio's nonchalant reply

"A little knowledge, and some luck."