Wandering America: My kill threshold is far ahead

Chapter 260 North American Jerusalem artichokes and collecting honey

"Psychological counseling?"

Ma Jie turned his gaze to the doctor she mentioned: "Madam, isn't there some misunderstanding here? The one who really needs psychological counseling is that bear, not me. I wasn't scared at all; on the contrary, I gained valuable experience in driving away bears. Next time I encounter a bear, I'll talk to them with a bow and arrow."

These words made all the staff laugh.

They originally thought that the athlete would definitely have psychological problems after encountering a bear at close range and being attacked by it, but they did not expect that Ma Jieke would describe the incident so casually.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time contestants have been scared off by bears. Before encountering one, they can boast about it all they want, but once they actually do, very few of them won't flinch.

This is why, in the previous nine seasons and 90 contestants, none of them had ever hunted a bear. They were so scared that they would die, let alone have the courage to risk their lives.

Why should I compete with a bear when we're both hunting? There are plenty of prey that yield more meat and are less dangerous.

"Well, I guess I made a wasted trip, but the scenery here is really nice. I'm going to take some pictures to show my wife."

Dr. Jin helplessly shrugged, instantly transforming from a staff member into a tourist. As a seasoned psychological expert, he could tell from Ma Jieke's expression that he did not have any psychological problems.

Just as he said, the one that really needs a doctor is probably that bear.

You can imagine the psychological trauma of being attacked by a mysterious two-legged creature with magic from ten meters away. The next time you encounter a human, you'll definitely be so frightened that you'll have a stress response.

The other two staff members were carrying a camera bag and a medical kit, respectively.

The former removed the camera from his chest, checked its operation along with other equipment, and recycled and replaced all the old batteries and memory cards.

The latter opened the medical kit, took out some small instruments, measured his various physical indicators, and recorded them on the iPad.

"Jack, you've only lost 1.5 pounds."

After he stepped off the scale, Grace smiled again: "Looks like you're doing well. But according to procedure, I still need to check on your situation. Tell me directly: are you getting enough water and food? Are you sick or injured?"

"Do you even need to ask about water? There are streams and lakes near my shelter, so there's no way I'll run out of water."

"The food is alright, I'm rarely hungry anyway."

"He is neither sick nor injured."

By the time Ma Jie finished reporting the situation, the staff had almost finished their work. Apart from routine tasks, there was almost no other activity throughout the entire process.

What kind of communication?

"Alright, Jack, I have to go." Grace said, taking a brand-new bottle of bear spray from her bag. "Keep this safe, remember to carry it with you. Oh, by the way, I'll let you in on a little secret: Mr. Lehman also watched your live stream clips, and he suggested to the production team that they could edit out the bear-repelling part and put it on the official website as an instructional video. Do you have any objections to that?"

"I couldn't ask for more." Ma Jie smiled knowingly.

In his understanding, this was equivalent to attracting traffic to himself, and only a fool would not want such an immense fortune.

To reiterate, if we actually win the championship, 100 million is nothing compared to the immeasurable hidden wealth that will follow.

As the helicopter roared into the sky and disappeared on the horizon, the briefly disturbed forest returned to its usual tranquility.

"Alright everyone, the production crew has flown far away."

Facing the camera, Ma Jieke's expression was neither good nor bad: "I originally wanted to treat them to a meal, but unfortunately there's nothing at home. Let's not waste any more time. Follow in my footsteps and explore some areas I haven't been to before."

After reorganizing my equipment, I headed straight for the newly discovered resource point. However, I couldn't just rush along without looking up, because that would look fake, as if I was deliberately going to a certain place.

The correct approach is to keep the overall direction unchanged and carefully observe the surrounding environment, since there are many wild resources to collect in addition to fixed resource points.

With his maxed-out identification skill, any unknown plant will automatically display detailed information in his eyes, including whether it is edible, which is equivalent to having a built-in plant identification app.

Not long after we started walking, a patch of peculiar yellow wildflowers came into view. They were peculiar because they were quite tall, each plant over 2 meters high. On their slender stems were small yellow flowers that resembled miniature sunflowers, giving the impression of a malnourished, tall, thin girl with dry, yellow hair.

At the same time, a text message popped up at the edge of the plant, which was no different from the item description in the game.

Jerusalem artichoke: A perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family and the Helianthus genus. It is cold-resistant and has tuberous underground stems and fibrous roots. It is safe to eat.

Upon seeing this prompt, Ma Jie squatted down without hesitation and carefully dug out a plant with his hands.

After shaking off the wet soil clinging to the roots, he discovered that they were actually lumps resembling ginger.

A quick check revealed that this Jerusalem artichoke plant has at least 20 tubers, tightly clustered around the base, which explains why it grows so tall.

"Isn't this Jerusalem artichoke?" Ma Jie quickly remembered that he had dug it up before and even eaten it raw. It tasted sweet and crunchy, similar to a walnut.

Jerusalem artichoke, also known as sunchoke, was introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty. Originally from North America, it is an introduced species.

They used terms like "foreigner" and "devil" to indicate their identity, and because they looked like ginger, they got this name.

It seems that Jerusalem artichoke is the scientific name, where "chrysanthemum" represents the Asteraceae family, and "taro" refers to the tuberous rhizomes of all plants, such as potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes.

Whatever you call it, it's a high-quality ingredient, rich in inulin, starch, and vitamins.

If you've been eating too much meat, this is a good way to change things up.

"Family, it seems I've been blessed by Lady Luck again. This many Jerusalem artichokes are enough to last me for more than ten days."

Ma Jieke fixed the camera position and quickly dug out a few more plants. Using a knife, he scraped off most of the soil and stuffed them into his foraging bag. When the bag was less than half full, he stopped collecting and explained to the camera, "Jerusalem artichokes are also known as 'frozen-resistant' because they can safely overwinter even in permafrost at -40 degrees Celsius. So if you're not in a hurry to eat them all, there's no need to dig them all up to avoid waste. Leave them in the ground to continue growing. Once the stems, leaves, and flowers wither, that's when they're truly mature and will only be bigger and tastier than they are now."

After saying this, he glanced at the map, memorized the surrounding environment and terrain, then broke off a tree branch and stuck it in the ground as a reference point so he wouldn't have trouble finding it again when he came back.

This is essentially an emergency food reserve, requiring no effort to preserve; it can be harvested and consumed as needed, focusing on a steady, long-term approach.

Next, Ma Jie walked around quickly and soon arrived at the question mark marker.

But after searching around for a long time, he found that it was just an ordinary forest with nothing special about it. He carefully examined the nearby vegetation with his appraisal skill, but did not find any high-quality ingredients similar to Jerusalem artichoke.

That's strange. Could it be a system bug? No way, this kind of problem has never happened before.

Just as Ma Jieke stood there dumbfounded, a strange buzzing sound suddenly came to his ears.

At the same time, a fluffy, tawny little bee flew past.

He subconsciously followed its flight path and soon discovered other companions. These little bees seemed to be attracted by a mysterious force, all flying in one direction.

A thick and tall spruce tree.

No, to be precise, it's a tree hole hidden high up, difficult to spot, at least 5 meters above the ground.

Near the tree hole, countless tiny bees can be clearly seen flying in and out along fixed routes, busily making their way through the tree.

"My God!" Ma Jie quickly pointed the camera at the tree hole, zoomed in for a close-up, and said with obvious joy, "Look, everyone! These naturally formed tree holes, or those made by woodpeckers or other animals, provide excellent insulation and protection for bees. There must be a beehive inside, there must be! If nothing goes wrong, I'm going to harvest honey!"

Honey, what an enticing word! Just thinking about it feels luxurious.

This is wilderness survival, not everyday life. The difficulty of obtaining honey and its strategic value far exceed those of other resources.

First of all, it's not an ingredient to be processed, but a ready-made food that you can eat right away and quickly replenish your sugar levels.

To help restore physical strength, dilute honey with boiled water and drink a cup daily; it can also relieve sore throat and combat fatigue.

Secondly, honey hardly spoils and can be stored for a long time without any problems, unlike meat and berries, which will rot if not stored properly.

Not to mention the other components of the honeycomb, such as bee pupae, beeswax, and propolis, all of which can be put to good use.

Thinking of this, Ma Jieke did not rush to take action, but instead checked the bee species again.

Although they are all bees, there are significant differences between different types of bees.

Bees are relatively small in size and yellowish-brown in color. They have a relatively gentle temperament and will not bother you unless you provoke them.

However, when threatened, the bee colony will defend the hive to the death, launching an extremely tragic suicide attack.

This is not some literary exaggeration, but a miraculous result of biological evolution.

A bee's stinger is not a smooth needle, but rather a harpoon covered in barbs. These tiny barbs can firmly hook onto the elastic skin of mammals, such as humans and bears.

The stinger is not a separate organ; its end is connected to the bee's venom sac and part of its internal organs.

When a bee stings and tries to fly away, the barbs remain firmly embedded in the skin, and the entire stinging apparatus, including the stinger, is trapped.

The venom sac and internal organs are torn out of the bee's body.

After losing vital internal organs, a bee will have a large wound on its abdomen.

This wound is fatal, usually resulting in death within minutes to hours, and even if you watch it fly away, it won't survive for long.

This may seem like an evolutionary process that is extremely detrimental to the individual, but it is of great significance to the entire bee colony.

This suicidal attack leaves the stinger deep in the enemy's skin, continuously releasing pheromones to effectively mark and warn the intruder, allowing other bees to launch more accurate follow-up attacks, thus maximizing the protection of the hive and offspring.

It is important to know that bees are highly social insects, consisting of a queen bee, drones, and worker bees.

Each colony typically has only one queen bee.

The queen bee is the only female bee in the colony that can reproduce normally. At its peak, she can lay 1500 to 2000 eggs per day to maintain the colony's population.

There are several hundred drones, which only appear during the breeding season. They are stout, do not have stingers, and their only task is to mate with the queen bee in turn. They die immediately after successful mating.

When nectar is scarce or autumn arrives, unmated drones are driven out of the hive by worker bees and starve to death outside because they consume large amounts of food.

As for the vast number of worker bees, these are the real laborers, accounting for more than 99% of the bee colony, and they are all female bees whose reproductive organs are not fully developed.

From the moment they are born, they are destined to be cattle and horses, spending their entire lives playing various roles.

Nanny bees: They feed the young larvae and the queen bee with royal jelly secreted by themselves, and feed the older larvae with a mixture of honey and pollen.

Worker bees: collect nectar and pollen, and even water and resin, to make propolis, repair hives, and sterilize.

Chef bees: They receive nectar collected by field bees and convert it into honey by adding enzymes and constantly fanning to evaporate the moisture.

Construction bees: secrete wax scales on their abdomens, which are used to build and repair hexagonal hives.

Storage bees: Store honey and pollen in their cells and seal them with beeswax.

Cleaning bees: Remove debris and dead bees from the hive.

Guard bees: They stand guard at the entrance of the hive, using their antennae to identify whether returning bees are members of the colony, thus defending against all external intruders.

Therefore, sacrificing oneself for the sake of the survival of the species is entirely reasonable from the perspective of genetic evolution.

Besides bees, the most common species are wasps and bumblebees.

Wasps have slender, smooth bodies with distinct yellow and black stripes. They are highly aggressive, with smooth, barbless stingers that allow them to attack repeatedly.

Not to mention bumblebees; their stingers are highly venomous and they are extremely aggressive. Forget about destroying someone's nest; they won't even sting you unless provoked.

You should go burn incense and pray for good luck.

After confirming that the tree hole contained a beehive, Ma Jieke did not climb up and poke it with a stick as he did when he was a child.

As far as I can remember, I received seven or eight bags of help back then, and thinking about it now still brings back childhood trauma.

Collecting honey from bees in the wild without causing injury is not as simple as it seems, especially since the tools he brought were not right. So Ma Jieke decided to turn back and do the preparatory work before collecting honey.

The first step was to take protective measures. He took out all the clothes he could wear, put on three layers, and then tied the cuffs, collar, and trouser legs tightly with paracord.

The production team did provide warm gloves, but they were too thick and inconvenient for delicate tasks like harvesting honey.

However, Ma Jieke had a way of doing things. He simply put the socks on his hands, two layers inside and out, prioritizing flexibility.

After finishing, he covered his head with a blanket he had salvaged from the old camp, making him look like a Japanese soldier invading a village.

>