Not yet finished, will edit before dawn.
The powerful and fierce Wild Baizhi Ox left, and after waiting for a moment for it to be completely gone, Bi Fang rushed forward without caring about the heat, pressing the still smoking charcoal ash onto the wound.
Plant ash is indeed a product of combustion and has been sterilized by high temperatures, so there is no need to worry about infection. Using clean water to rinse might pose a certain risk.
The black charcoal ash fell on the swollen wound, and Bi Fang only felt as if he had plunged into cold water after running a 10,000-meter race, the soreness immediately dissipated.
The once unbearable pain of the wound became tolerable, akin to the feeling of a regular burn injury.
Being bitten by a large centipede usually causes hours of severe pain, and the pain tends to spread slowly to the surrounding area, torso, or chest.
Luckily, Bi Fang had acted promptly, decisively cutting open the wound and squeezing out most of the venom before it could spread.
Another person surely couldn’t have been so decisive.
As he rubbed the black charcoal ash into the wound, Bi Fang explained, “The venom of many poisonous insects is acidic, like certain ants, centipedes, spiders, bees, with only a few being alkaline, like hornets, which are weakly alkaline. Hence, in most cases, plant ash is used, at least it can relieve your pain.”
“If we weren’t in the wilderness but at home, we could use soapy water, alcohol to wash the wound, and then some herbs that clear heat and detoxify to clean the wound.”[Wait, centipede venom is acidic, and hornet is weakly alkaline, do I have a bold idea?]
[Using poison to fight poison, isn’t that how it goes? Dog’s head.jpg]
[Kennedy made a sports car, what a flight of fancy!]
“That won’t do, using poison to fight poison is just fiction.” With much of the pain gone, Bi Fang was also in the mood to joke, but the pain in the wound still made him twitch the corner of his eye.
“What a misadventure this has been, not only did my lunch fly away, but I also got injured for no reason.” Bi Fang shook off his hand after applying the plant ash on his wound, a tone of complaint in his voice, but not too downhearted.
What was once snake meat was now completely devoured by the Wild Baizhi Ox, leaving nothing behind, not even the twig used to skewer the snake meat.
“Since the cooked duck has flown away, we’ll have to find something else.” Bi Fang wrapped the corpse of the centipede in leaves and approached the fire.
The body of the centipede was still twitching, a trait common to all arthropods.
“The nervous system of a centipede is similar to that of an earthworm, being a chain-like nervous system, so even if it’s chopped into two pieces, it can still struggle incessantly. I just crushed its head, and as you can see, there are many little centipedes in its belly.”
Following Bi Fang’s pointing finger, the densely packed white larvae startled Leonardo, who was previously too far away and in dim light to see them as clearly as the viewers thousands of miles away.
Even though the large centipede was dead, these newly born little centipedes hadn’t yet realized what had happened; they hadn’t had the chance to escape or, being too young, couldn’t manage to.
“Having lost the snake meat, we’ll have to eat this.” Bi Fang sneered, picked up some charcoal, rekindled the fire, and shook all the little centipedes onto the leaves.
Even with his left hand in pain, enduring it was manageable to do some work.
But when Bi Fang suggested eating the centipedes, Leonardo stuttered, saying hesitantly, “Wait, wait a minute, can, can this be eaten?”
If snake meat was something Leonardo could understand, eating centipedes was beyond his acceptance.
Can people eat this?
Isn’t that just disgusting?
[Hahaha, we still have grilled centipedes in our night market here]
[With so many insect dishes, Little Leo is going to lose his mind]
Bi Fang smiled and used a branch to flip the centipede over, “Centipedes are a great tonic and can be used in medicine. In many countries, centipede snacks are very famous. Didn’t we go to the night market the other day? Didn’t you see?”
Reminded by Bi Fang, Leonardo also remembered.
It seemed there had been something like that, but night markets were clearly a nighttime thing. He hadn’t looked closely and thought they were some slender meat skewers. Now that he thought about it, did they look like centipedes?
Could there be some misunderstanding in treating these as food? Was there nothing else to eat?
“Not at all, it’s not that there’s nothing else to eat, but rather because centipedes are delicious that people eat them, they are crispy and refreshing, and also rich in protein. Raw chewing of centipedes is very dangerous, as the venom might enter the bloodstream in the upper digestive tract, and the quantity would be much more than a quick sting.
Frying in oil is best; if they’re roasted, there might be a burnt taste, but we don’t have the means to fry them.”
Taking advantage of the time it took to barbecue, Bi Fang also took a stick to the spot where the centipede hadn’t bitten him, walking back and forth, occasionally prodding with the stick in his hand.
“Centipedes are gregarious by nature, easily frightened, and prefer to reside in dark and damp places. We can look for its kindred, try to catch more, because one is certainly not enough for two people to eat.”
“Wait, not two people, just you.” Leonardo quickly shook his head, emphasizing repeatedly that he really didn’t have an appetite for these disgusting creatures.
“You’re not even going to try it?” Bi Fang stood up straight, holding the stick upright, and skewered the newly dug up centipede, which wriggled incessantly on the stick.
Just the thought of swallowing that creature made Leonardo retch.
“Hahaha,” Bi Fang didn’t pay him any mind, taking the two freshly caught centipedes back with him, lest the one that started grilling earlier get burnt.
The newly caught pair looked decently plump as well.
However, many viewers, like Leonardo, simply couldn’t accept it.
[That’s so disgusting.]
[I’ve tried it, and it wasn’t bad, tasteless, just plain crispy!]
[No way I could handle that, just looking at it makes me uncomfortable.]
[Come on, if you were in the rainforest, starving for two days, you wouldn’t just eat centipedes, you could eat three big bowls of cow dung.]
[Uh…]
“In the tropical rainforest, if you have no food to eat, catching insects is also a good method, and we could even dig traps for them. At places where centipedes frequent, choose damp areas in the mountains during early spring to dig a ‘T’-shaped pit.
The pit should be one to two meters in length, about half a meter wide, and deeper than the length of a palm. Inside, place bird droppings and some decaying grass, then cover it with branches, clumps of earth, or tile pieces, luring centipedes to crawl into the crevices. The next morning, check the pit. If there are centipedes, you can capture them.”
Bi Fang placed the two newly caught centipedes into the fire pit and then took the one that had just finished roasting, broke it in two, and popped one half into his mouth to chew.
The crisp chewing sound arose, and a faint bitter taste mingled with the unique fragrance that came after roasting arthropods.
Leonardo took a light sniff and was surprised to find the smell rather pleasant.
“Try it,” Bi Fang licked his lips and handed the other half to Leonardo.
“No thanks.”
Bi Fang persisted, “Try it,”
“You won’t lose a piece of flesh, just give it a try.”
“No…”
Leonardo had intended to refuse again, but the centipede was almost touching his face. After much hesitation, he still reached out and took it.
Looking at the curled half of the centipede in his hand, nearly as long as half of his palm and very thick, he looked up at Bi Fang and saw him holding a leaf, pouring a whole bunch of freshly roasted tiny centipedes directly into his mouth, chewing with relish.
“Hmm, the small centipedes are a bit more fragrant, no salt, but they have a sour taste when eaten, probably because the venom is acidic,” he mused. “It’s somewhat similar to ants, with a bursting texture.”
[How does Old Fang manage to eat these so deliciously…]
[I’ve seen Hong Qigong extract a small knife, chop off the head and tail of the centipede, gently squeeze, and the shell falls off to reveal the meat inside, white and translucent like prawns, very elegant. Yang Guo thought: “With this method, it might indeed be edible.”]
[Holy crap, I’ve seen this part too!]
[Tasty, just lacks flavor]
[Still can’t accept it.]
[What do ants taste like?]
[Anyway, it’s very sour, you can buy it online, a big can, supposedly for health benefits. I think ants taste even sourer than damn lemons, don’t just trust Old Fang’s taste]
[Master Fang says if it’s tasty it might not necessarily be, but if he says it’s not tasty, then it’s definitely inedible.]
[Master Fang really is, emmm, well-informed and experienced]
The viewers in the live stream came from all over the world, and many had tasted centipedes before.
After much hesitation, Leonardo stuffed the half centipede into his mouth, and a faint bitterness began to spread in his mouth immediately.
It was the charred exterior shell. With a gentle press of the tongue, the crispy shell crumbled, revealing the softer flesh inside, which was still dry.
When his teeth bit through, what was exposed was a faintly sour and astringent taste, characteristic of protein, like burnt feathers.
The taste? It definitely wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t too disgusting either.
Was it actually not bad?
Leonardo was somewhat surprised. Apart from its off-putting exterior, everything else was completely different from what he had thought.
“How does it feel?”
“Not bad, I’ve never eaten this before.”
“Hey, if you really get lost in the rainforest, centipedes are actually a decent source of food. If you can’t even find centipedes, then you’d have to eat earthworms or other even more disgusting things.”
By this time, the remaining two large centipedes were also roasted, though they were not as big as the first one. Bi Fang finished them in two bites, and there wasn’t much meat on them.
After finishing eating and cleaning up, Bi Fang once again took Leonardo to hike along the river.
“Because it’s survival, not life-saving, I should be looking for a good place to start building a camp, hundreds of meters away from the river is a good choice. But because I just got bitten by a centipede, I now have to look for some herbs that can be applied externally.”
“If bitten by a centipede, you can use Fishy Grass or dandelion crushed and applied externally. Both of these traditional Chinese herbs clear heat and detoxify, usually found where weeds grow.”
“Dandelion?” Leonardo didn’t know what Fishy Grass was, but he was very familiar with dandelions, which appear every spring, summer, and autumn, blowing away in large swathes, “Do dandelions also have this effect?”
“Yes,” Bi Fang nodded. “In fact, dandelions can also be used in medicine and are a very common traditional Chinese medicine, clearing heat and detoxifying, useful for colds and fevers.”
“I know this!” Leonardo was unexpectedly familiar with traditional Chinese medicine.
Bi Fang raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem surprised.
Strangely enough, these days foreigners seem to be more into traditional Chinese medicine than the locals.
I can’t remember where I read the report, but apparently, over 60% of Europeans use traditional medicines, and Europe accounts for 44.5% of the global herbal medicine market share.
Many countries have even incorporated traditional Chinese medicine into their healthcare systems quite early on.
This phenomenon left Bi Fang at a loss for words.
Looking around, Leonardo noticed a strange phenomenon, “I haven’t seen a dandelion since we got here, have I?”
Huh?
The audience was similarly taken aback upon hearing this, scrutinizing the images on their screens, which indeed seemed to lack any dandelions.
That’s not right, isn’t it June? Shouldn’t there be dandelions everywhere?
Bi Fang shook his head, “Although dandelions are widespread and found almost all over the world, they actually do not grow in rainforests.”
“If you look at how dandelions spread their seeds, you’ll understand. They tend to grow in relatively open, windy areas. They are commonly found on slopes, by the water, and other open grasslands.
Moreover, the dandelion is just a delicate herbaceous plant. The vegetation is dense in tropical rainforests, with little wind; tall plants block out much of the sunlight; and rainfall is frequent and irregular. Therefore, dandelions basically do not have a presence in tropical rainforests. That’s why my target isn’t the dandelion, it’s Fishy Grass.”
“Fishy Grass might be familiar to many of you, it has another name called Fish Mint, and while it’s deeply loved by some, others can’t stand its smell and lose their appetite.”
Just by hearing Fish Mint mentioned as part of Chinese medicine, with names like dog fly grass, stinky vegetable, and pig’s nest, you can imagine the smell.
Bi Fang was searching for it both as a medicinal herb for further treatment and also for food collection.
[Let’s not talk about it, I’m getting nauseous just thinking about it.]
[I’m from the Northeast, studied in Guizhou, and after my roommate treated me to it once, I never wanted to eat it again. It’s just a pure fishy smell, like that of a dead fish.]
“That’s right, for some people, this fishy smell not only fills your mouth and nose but stings your eyes, delivering a triple assault on your taste, smell, and sight,” he said.
Bi Fang nodded, “But this is actually an allergic reaction, and the severity varies. It’s mainly an allergy to a substance in Fish Mint called fishy grass element.”
Fishy grass element can make certain people not only find it distasteful but also cause direct allergic reactions.
For those with a mild allergy, they might feel like they are just chewing on medicinal herbs with no other significant sensation.
But for those with a severe allergy, they would have no appetite at all, and the severely discomforted may experience nausea, vomiting, and retching.
“Fishy Grass grows in damp places and spreads over large areas. It’s often found beside lakes, rivers, waterlogged roadsides, fields, or damp areas in mountains.
It’s widely spread in the wild, so if we’re patient, we should have no trouble finding it. It’s best to search downstream, as there’s a higher chance of encountering slower-flowing sections of the stream,” he explained.
Bi Fang had a definite purpose, leading Leonardo along the riverbank in their search. In the rainforest, finding Fishy Grass was much like finding reeds by the riverbank—quite easy.
Thus, perseverance paid off. In less than half an hour, Bi Fang had succeeded.
In a puddle around the corner, spread a green “water grass.”
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