After answering the question, Yao Wei seemed to have lost the urge to keep talking.
Seeing that, Lu Xi'an didn't continue the topic.
He offered up something else valuable: salt he'd gotten earlier in Mo Zhou City.
He still had some salt he'd brought from Wanhu Village in Dongmen County, but that was for everyday use. Whenever he needed some, he only used a tiny bit and could never bring himself to use more. It wasn't from the same batch as this salt.
There was quite a lot of it, packed in a plastic bag. It had belonged to one of the Wolf Gang's members.
The man had carried it with him. When Lu Xi'an had shot him dead with the Submachine Gun, a kitchen knife had fallen from his hand, too. The knife had seen years of use and neglect, and was covered in nicks, but the man still hadn't been willing to throw it away. He was probably the Wolf Gang's cook.
The salt was probably meant to supply the entire Wolf Gang. Now, it all belonged to Lu Xi'an.
Yao Wei was slightly taken aback by Lu Xi'an's generosity.
Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "You should treat yourself better. I'm going to eat, too."
"Thank you."
Yao Wei thanked him in a subdued voice and took the salt.
She began washing the meat, taking great care not to waste a drop of water.
Once she was done, she skewered the meat on the wooden racks and rubbed salt over it.
The salt wasn't hers, and she couldn't bring herself to use much. She wanted to save as much as she could for Lu Xi'an.
After salting the meat, she pulled out a lighter and set fire to the wood Lu Xi'an had already chopped and stacked beneath the roasting racks.
She had a lighter of her own, so Lu Xi'an didn't need to take his out.
Lu Xi'an tried to help, but he found that he was nowhere near as nimble as Yao Wei. He wasn't any help and only disrupted her rhythm, so he sensibly stepped aside.
Seeing how absorbed she was in her work, he went off to take care of other things.
He called the Mechanical Dog over, picked it up by one of its metal hind legs, and examined it closely. Lu Xi'an confirmed there were screws and a gear mechanism at its paws that could be removed with a screwdriver and a wrench. Whether he could attach wheels was something he'd have to test later.
As for why he wasn't testing it now, the main reason was that the dog had other work to do.
Lu Xi'an had set up two rows of meat racks. Yao Wei had filled them with meat, hanging two full rows over the fire.
The woman was incredibly skilled. She had separated the meat from the bones with great precision, and cut the chunks small enough to make sure they cooked through and were properly sterilized.
Lu Xi'an put the dog to work for her again.
As she turned the racks to roast the meat, the dog kept scanning it with its mechanical eyes.
"Keep an eye on the dog's eyes. If it confirms the meat's done, then it's done," Lu Xi'an told Yao Wei. "The dog can scan for parasites, toxins, and other things in the meat, and check if it's safe.
"That way, we can get the timing right and cook the meat through without burning it."
Yao Wei's eyes flickered with envy as she looked at the dog once again.
Having a Mechanical Dog like that would be wonderful!
But she had another question for Lu Xi'an: "How do I watch its eyes?"
The question seemed to have been forced out of her. It wasn't like before, when she'd spoken without thinking.
"Just see if its eyes light up," Lu Xi'an said.
Yao Wei nodded, then kept turning the racks from time to time, waiting for the dog's eyes to light up.
Lu Xi'an went to chop some more wood, in case they ran out.
It was a new skill he'd gradually picked up since coming to this world, and by now he was more proficient at it than he could imagine.
Lu Xi'an felt that with his wood-chopping skills, he'd be a pretty decent martial artist in a world of martial heroes.
But unfortunately, this wasn't a world of martial heroes. Every person he'd seen so far had a gun.
And he had one, too—though he wasn't very accurate with it.
He brought back an armful of chopped wood just in time to see the dog's eyes light up as Yao Wei took the cooked meat off the racks.
When she saw Lu Xi'an return, Yao Wei handed him a piece of roasted pork before taking one for herself.
The meat was tender and cooked through, but it didn't taste very good.
Still, it was good enough. At least it was edible.
At first, the dog had only checked whether the food was poisonous and safe to eat. It hadn't cared if it was cooked. Lu Xi'an had spent a long time training it before finally getting it to work as it did now.
In a world where resources were scarce, this was already pretty good.
At least the meat had a little salt on it and was cooked through.
Back when he was short on firewood and had little fire, Lu Xi'an had eaten cold, roasted game before.
The two of them chewed in silence.
Only after they'd each eaten two pieces did Lu Xi'an suggest, "How about we roast the rest a bit more? It'll taste better if we cook it until it's extra well done."
Yao Wei frowned. "That's wasteful."
It seemed she knew a little about how best to preserve the nutrients in meat.
Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "You should treat yourself a little better. Taking care of your taste buds can help keep your spirits up.
"We've already had enough fat and protein from this meal. We might as well roast the rest a little longer and really enjoy it.
"Besides, we can't store this meat anyway."
The weather here swung between hot and cold from one day to the next, and its extremes weren't conducive to preserving meat for long.
Yao Wei hesitated for a while, but in the end, she didn't insist on her opinion. She roasted the remaining meat properly, until it sizzled with fat and gave off a delicious, charred aroma.
"That should do it," Lu Xi'an reminded her.
Yao Wei stopped roasting the meat.
It tasted and felt completely different this time. The charred aroma mingled with the rendered fat and salt, whetting their appetites. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei quickly polished off every last piece.
After they finished eating, Lu Xi'an couldn't help sighing. "If only we had some cumin."
"What?" Yao Wei asked. She didn't understand the word.
"It's a kind of seasoning. If we ever come across some, I'll let you try it," Lu Xi'an replied.
Yao Wei said nothing, pretending she hadn't heard him.
To her, Lu Xi'an's words were no different from an empty promise.
There was plenty of meat on the wild boar. The two of them were full, and half of it was still left.
Yao Wei and Lu Xi'an cleaned up together, loading the meat and the other tools onto the vehicle.
As long as it didn't get too hot, the meat could keep for a little while. They could eat it that evening or the next day without any problem.
Lu Xi'an remarked casually, "If only it would suddenly get cold. Then the meat would keep longer."
He'd only said it in passing. If the weather really turned cold, that would only be good for preserving the pork; everything else would be bad.
But as soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew in out of nowhere, sweeping down a number of leaves.
It stung their faces as it blew past.
Lu Xi'an hurriedly took some thick clothes out of his backpack and put them on. "Am I really that good at making things happen? In that case, when's the sky going to drop some supplies for me? I don't ask for much. Just give me lots of Canned Food."
It was just a wish, of course, and it had no effect.
Yao Wei took the leather jacket she'd tied around her waist the day before out of the vehicle and put it on. She couldn't help muttering, "Jinx..."
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