Possessed No More: The True Star Returns to Claim Her Throne-Chapter 102: Bountiful

After petting the monkeys, Riley Perry started bossing them around. It couldn’t be helped; Victoria Koenig hadn’t found any flags. "We need to make dinner, Goldie. You should take your crew and leave."

The leader of the troop had a tuft of golden fur on its forehead, so Riley Perry called it Goldie.

Goldie refused to leave. It shook its head frantically, waved its arms around, and chattered away—SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK. Finally, it hugged Riley Perry’s leg. Its message was clear: it didn’t want to go.

Boosted by Riley Perry’s Spiritual Power, the already-clever monkeys seemed to have their intelligence awakened anew. They now saw Riley Perry, the one who gave them Spiritual Power, as the king of their troop.

Riley Perry sighed helplessly. "Fine, you don’t have to go, but you have to help me find a flag." After she spoke, she used a stone to draw the shape of a flag on the ground.

After studying the drawing, Goldie let out a few more squeaks, then confidently led its crew into the woods.

Only after the monkeys were out of sight did Victoria Koenig’s courage return. "Oh my god, those monkeys are terrifying! If you hadn’t come back, Ria, I would’ve been toast today."

When the troop surrounded him, he really thought it was all over.

"They were just being mischievous at worst. They didn’t want to hurt you. Otherwise, you’d have been scratched to ribbons by now."

Victoria Koenig thought about it and realized that seemed to be true. His fear subsided a little.

"Should we make dinner by the river?"

Riley Perry nodded. "Sure. Let’s exchange for the food first."

"The card we found today has rice on it. Can we steam some rice?"

"Of course. I’ll go dig up some wild vegetables in the woods, and we can stew some fish. You go make the exchange."

Victoria Koenig agreed cheerfully and took the card to exchange it for supplies with the staff. Riley Perry took a small hand pick from her backpack and went back into the woods.

Even in September, the mountains offered plenty of fresh, tender wild vegetables, and myoga ginger was one of them.

Riley Perry spotted a small patch as soon as she entered the woods. She used her hand pick to dig up the myoga ginger, and as she dug, she didn’t forget to explain to the live stream audience, "This is called myoga ginger. Of course, it has many other names, like wild ginger, myoga, or yanghuo.

"It’s also an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. It can help eliminate age spots, prevent skin aging, maintain skin elasticity, and is beneficial for brain development in children and brain health in the middle-aged and elderly.

"It has a noticeable preventative effect against the Japanese encephalitis virus, and it also relieves coughs, reduces phlegm, cools the blood, and detoxifies the body.

"Applied externally, it can stop bleeding and reduce inflammation. For women, eating it frequently can help regulate their menstrual cycle."

[I just got here. Is this a science education show?]

[Hahaha, no! It’s because some chronic insomniacs in this stream find her voice soothing for sleep, so they tip her. The director told her to talk more, so she started doing these educational segments. Occasionally, she’ll recite texts or chant spells or whatever. If you don’t like it, you can check out the other streams.]

[So, is what she’s saying true?]

[Med student here to confirm: so far, she hasn’t said a single wrong thing.]

[Wow, she’s really something else.]

Once she had dug up enough for two people, Riley Perry stopped. She also found some mushrooms and Okinawa spinach in the same patch of woods.

A RUSTLE RUSTLE sound came from the woods. A rabbit was foraging. The little creature had no idea that someone had already claimed this part of the forest and was eyeing it predatorily. It was focused only on nibbling the wild grass on the ground, eating with great relish.

Riley Perry picked up a pebble from the ground and flicked it at the rabbit’s head.

The pebble struck the rabbit’s skull with great force. It collapsed instantly, its limbs twitching a few times before it went still.

Riley Perry picked up the rabbit, tied up the kindling she had gathered, and headed back to the river.

When she got back, Victoria Koenig had already built a stove just like he did at noon. Goldie had returned with a small flag, and its crew carried an armful of fruit—bananas, wild apples, wild grapes, kiwis... The moment they saw Riley Perry, they eagerly presented their offerings to her.

Riley Perry said in pleasant surprise, "Is all this for me?"

Goldie let out a series of squeaks and stuffed the things it was holding into Riley Perry’s arms, making Victoria Koenig burn with jealousy. "We’re both human, so why is the difference so huge? With all that good food, can’t you spare a little for me?"

Goldie turned and bared its teeth at him, scaring Victoria Koenig into quickly lighting the fire. He didn’t dare try to compete for favor again.

Riley Perry: ... ’So pathetic.’

After accepting all the monkeys’ contributions, Riley Perry shooed them away again. This time, Goldie didn’t resist and quickly disappeared into the trees with its crew.

After the monkeys left, Victoria Koenig finally went back to normal. "Ria, you caught another rabbit? How are we going to cook this one?"

"Let’s just stew it. First, get the rice steaming." They didn’t have any oil, so they had to make do with stewing the meat.

"But if we steam rice, we can’t cook the other dishes." They only had one pot.

Riley Perry replied, "Our mess tins are stainless steel. We can just steam the rice directly in them."

They used bottled mineral water to steam the rice. Riley Perry had Victoria Koenig watch the fire while she went to process the wild rabbit. A thin wisp of smoke rose from the riverside in the dense mountain forest. Riley Perry’s dagger flashed as she worked. She sliced the wild garlic she’d gathered into halves and tossed them into the pot. The rabbit, which she had cut into small pieces, went into the pot to be seared. She added the seasonings right before it was ready.

Just as the rice finished cooking, the rabbit was also ready to be served. Riley Perry used chopsticks to divide the rabbit meat into their two mess tins, then cleaned the pot to stew the fish.

Soon, the assorted fish stew in the pot began to BUBBLE BUBBLE. Riley Perry picked up her mess tin. "Conditions are limited, so we’ll have to make do. The rabbit won’t be as good once it gets cold."

"What do you mean, ’make do’? We had chicken for lunch, and now we have rabbit and fish for dinner, plus fragrant steamed rice. This is pure bliss!" After speaking, he picked up a piece of rabbit and popped it into his mouth. "So fragrant! It’s so good I could swallow my own tongue! You should eat too, Ria!"

Riley Perry: ’Did I need you to tell me that?’

She picked up a piece of rabbit and tasted it. It was indeed quite good. ’Thank goodness I came fully prepared.’ She had packed plenty of seasonings in her bag. Otherwise, a dish where she couldn’t even bloom the aromatics wouldn’t have tasted nearly this good.

By the time they were almost done with the rabbit, the fish in the pot was cooked. The two of them finished off most of the assorted fish, concluding their dinner. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

[Watching these two eat is making me so hungry. I just ordered a pot of stewed fish and wolfed down two bowls of rice. Delicious!]

[I ordered takeout too. Braised rabbit. Pretending I’m eating the same thing they are.]

[The way Riley Perry eats is so satisfying to watch. I could watch her all day.]

[I just came back from the other two streams. You guys won’t believe this. The Superstar, Mr. Ford, who everyone thought would dominate this show, is currently gnawing on compressed biscuits. Ethan Shaw is right there with him, washing down biscuits with cold water. Those two are so disappointing. They only found three exchange cards, so they don’t even have a tent to sleep in tonight.]

[Best Actor King’s team is doing a little better. At least the two of them found a card for a pot and picked a bunch of mushrooms. They made a pot of mushroom instant noodle soup, but they didn’t get a single bite of meat.]

[It’s such a blessing for our Vick that Miles Ford didn’t pick him!]