Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Inside the stainless steel vat, the milky pork bone soup bubbled vigorously, wafting the enticing aroma that had drawn Bi Fang over. @@novelbin@@

Ever since he acquired the Wolves King’s Sense of Smell, Bi Fang had found that discovering delicious food in the streets and alleys was actually a very simple and interesting task.

Just take a whiff and you’ll know.

The small shop was not big, resembling a modified container. The window splayed open doubled as an awning, with thin red curtains dangling, and a row of wooden stools placed under it, lining up in front of a long counter where customers sat densely packed.

The customers sat on the wooden stools eating noodles, while the ramen chef operated inside the vehicle.

The place was small but had everything one needed: the soup pot and ingredients were neatly arranged. As the customers sat down, the canvas covers could shield the entire shop along with the patrons, creating a private atmosphere.

The cool sea breeze blew in, dispelling some of the heat.

The ramen chef was dressed in a unique white linen uniform, with a white towel tied around his forehead that looked like it had seen better days. His movements were skilled and swift as he quickly laid the base in the bottom of the bowls.

Then he lifted the boiled buckwheat noodles from the boiling water, ladled a bowl of thick white pork bone soup over them, pouring it along the rim of the bowl into the noodles, mixing it with soy sauce and other seasonings to release a rich, aromatic scent.

Steam wafted and filled the whole shop.

A soft-boiled egg was evenly cut into two halves, its yellow yolk not fully set and oozing over the white, served with thick slices of pork belly atop the noodle soup, garnished with nori along the edges, sprinkled with sesame seeds, chopped green onions, and cilantro, completing a large bowl of noodles placed in front of Bi Fang.

Accompanying the noodles was a stack of iron-plate fried dumplings, the hot oil crackling on the scorching plate with a tempting sizzle.

The ramen chef wiped his hands, placed the white towel aside, and with a smile, slid the dish toward the tourist sitting in front of him, "Give it a try, our shop’s signature noodles and fried dumplings."

Bi Fang couldn’t wait to grab his chopsticks, "Well then, I won’t stand on ceremony."

Everything lived up to Bi Fang’s expectations—the noodles were chewy and smooth, the pork belly was fatty but not greasy, and the soup had a strong, rich bone aroma.

Although it was hot, there was nothing more satisfying than a steaming bowl of pork belly noodles after a hard day’s work.

Especially at that moment when the carbs hit his stomach, it was all worth it.

This was Bi Fang’s first time eating human food on a wilderness live stream, and he found it quite novel.

Even the other customers turned their attention this way, and when Bi Fang expressed his admiration, they all started to cheer, affirming the local cuisine, much like recommending a favorite movie to a friend and finding the next day that friend had become a fan too.

The joy of a successful endorsement.

With that joy, Bi Fang easily mingled with the customers. Observing the patrons closely, he noticed that out of the ten or so customers, seven or eight were fishermen who had just returned from the sea, dressed in work clothes, with a strong smell of fish and salt on them.

Two office workers, a young couple with a child, and finally, a high school girl...

Wait, a high school girl?

Her hair was dyed brown, styled in twin tails, accompanied by knee-high white socks.

Bi Fang hesitated for a moment, putting a question mark in his mind. The scent of perfume mixed with cheap alcohol was choking, and it was now half-past nine, or rather, snack time at night.

Do Japanese high school students also have night self-study?

Bi Fang recalled the few campus anime he had watched, and it seemed that there was never such a thing as night self-study. Even looking over, he found her staring back at him. In the moment their eyes met, she blinked at him.

Did she just come from a nightclub!?

Being locals, the crowd quickly engaged in conversation with the worldly and eloquent Bi Fang. He subtly gravitated towards the fishermen, avidly sharing tales of the sea.

"Your accent—it’s not local, is it?"

"Yes, I’m here on vacation to Taiji Town. It’s really beautiful, and the aquarium is especially grand. There are Dolphin Island sculptures everywhere."

"Yes, that’s right," the fishermen replied happily, shouting, "Whales are the pillar of our Taiji Town’s industry!"

"I heard there’s dolphin meat in Taiji Town, right? I’ve only seen dolphins perform at the marine park, never tried their meat."

Bi Fang’s eyes shone with longing, a typical outsider eager to taste whale meat.

A fisherman, tilting his head back, eyes slightly squinted, seemed lost in distant memories, drawn out, "Dolphin meat..."

"What are you pretending for, didn’t you have a bad taste just the other day?" His buddy knocked on his head and turned to Bi Fang, waving his hand, "Kid, dolphin meat isn’t tasty, it’s sour and fishy, all smashed up and used as feed, sold to outsiders like you who don’t know any better, I’m telling you this out of kindness."

Bi Fang nodded in thanks.

"But if it’s not tasty, why is there so much dolphin meat in supermarkets? I saw plenty."

"Ah, that’s from the hunting season, speaking of which, doesn’t the hunting season start today? It’s July 15th, isn’t it?" A fisherman, seemingly drunk, blurted out.

"Hunting season?"

"Yeah, every year they kill a bunch of dolphins, if someone takes a fancy, they sell it at a high price, if not, it’s turned into mince, given to museums, they’ll take as much as you’ve got, though it isn’t much valuable anymore, not as much as selling to trainers."

"If it’s not valuable, then why kill them all? The meat isn’t tasty and not worth much, wouldn’t it be better to let them reproduce in the wild?" Bi Fang was curious.

The fisherman chuckled, looked around, and whispered, "Dolphins, you see, are clever creatures. Sometimes I feel they’re smarter than humans. If we let some go, won’t the others stop coming?"

"Right, so we have to kill them all, they’re the ones that go back and tip off the others!"

"I feel they’re quite dumb, they actually approach humans voluntarily, and when you touch one, it doesn’t flee. It seems all whales are like that, really strange."

"What’s wrong with that, doesn’t it make catching them easier?"

"Ah, yes, haha!"

The fishermen laughed heartily. No one around seemed surprised—everybody, from young couples to children, even to what appeared to be high school girls, were all busily eating their noodles, even the noodle shop owner was saying that this year’s dolphin season would surely bring a good catch.

Bi Fang joined in with the laughter, scoffing, "How can there be such stupid fish willing to approach humans? I heard that dolphins would rescue humans when encountering sharks or a disaster at sea, is that true?"

On hearing this, the fishermen felt a moment of awkwardness, the laughter subsiding, "It’s all made up, how could animals possibly save humans?"

Bi Fang shook his head, changing the subject, "What about the other kinds of whales, do you kill those too? Dolphin meat isn’t tasty, but what about whale meat?"

The mention of whales got the fishermen even more excited.

Hunting the largest animal in the world, that’s a proof of bravery!

They rolled up their sleeves, one after another, each describing their own whale hunting experiences.

"At Midway Island in Hawaii, I saw sperm whales appearing near the horizon, just like the dolphins here. There used to be as many sperm whales as dolphins! But now, you can’t see them anymore, whales and dolphins have become more and more scarce."

"While I was in Chile, I often saw blue whales at the horizon, like a big mass of bamboo, so we called them ’bamboo masses.’ No matter when, the sea was always black, full of blue whales, I chopped until my hand grew tired."

"When I went to Chile in South America, that place was truly a whaler’s paradise!"

"Ye Zhi, you’re exaggerating again, weren’t you just in charge of cutting the meat? The whales were all speared, one shot and you’d haul up even the biggest!"

"Hey, where did that young guy go?"

Before anyone noticed, the enthusiastic ramen chef came to his senses only to find that the young man who had occupied the seat had already vanished, leaving behind a slightly swinging cloth curtain and a stack of bills under the empty bowl.

"Extra, wow, quite the generous customer," said the owner, counting the money and stuffing it into his pocket before continuing to knead the dough.

Who was the young man, did anyone care?