The student soldiers stared in disbelief as their commander dismembered a boar weighing over 200 pounds into pieces.

Zhang Fan's dagger moved through the gaps in the pig's bones, and with a flick of his wrist like magic, a pig's hind leg weighing several dozen kilograms was completely removed.

Zhang Fan found this quite normal; back on Mars, he had dissected countless mutated insects. In a sense, he had studied under the top surgical expert on Earth at the time and had a thorough understanding of anatomy.

Moreover, the gaps between the bones of this boar are many times wider than the tight shells of insects, making it naturally much easier for it to maneuver.

The student soldiers around them stared in disbelief, then began to feel a chill run down their spines, followed by a cold sensation on the back of their necks.

In their world, livestock are all concentrated in automated meat processing plants, where they are slaughtered in a fully enclosed, unmanned manner by machines. Every type of meat presented to them is already cut and sorted into pieces.

Private slaughter is considered unsafe and unsanitary, violating the health and safety and disease prevention laws of the Duchy of Ryan, and is a real illegal act.

So this was the first time in their lives they had witnessed a whole pig being transformed into pieces of meat. The scene before them was no less impactful than the experience of a medical student on Earth witnessing a cadaver's first autopsy.

vomit--

One male soldier couldn't help but vomit, and then, as if it were contagious, more and more people started vomiting.

Is it really that exaggerated?

Zhang Fan was speechless for a moment, then secretly glanced at Brandon again.

Brandon's expression wasn't good either, but he gritted his teeth and pursed his lips, watching Zhang Fan's actions intently.

Zhang Fan nodded approvingly, "This young man is teachable."

"Actually, pigs' internal organs are quite similar to humans'." Zhang Fan continued his lecture, excitedly picking out a bloody pig's heart and holding it up to Brandon's eyes. "Look, a human heart looks pretty much like this."

vomit--

This time, even Brandon broke down.

Remembering what Bear Grylls had done, Zhang Fan cut the pig's heart into slices and demanded that all the male soldiers present eat a slice.

The soldiers' faces turned deathly pale as they stared at the blood-stained slices of raw pig's heart.

"This is an order!" Zhang Fan coldly looked at the male soldiers. "You must eat it, and you can't vomit it! If you can't even get past this, do you think you can break through the Fas Khan army's defenses and return to Ryan? Dream on!"

Zhang Fan was doing this for their own good. The road ahead would be very difficult, and if they didn't even have this much courage, they wouldn't be able to get out of here alive.

Moreover, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, pig heart is rich in protein, iron, vitamins and other nutrients, and has the functions of nourishing the heart and calming the mind, stopping bleeding and relieving palpitations, which is exactly what they need now.

"Sir, please give me one!" Brandon walked straight up to Zhang Fan, his eyes resolute.

“Okay!” Zhang Fan used the tip of his knife to pick up a piece of bloody raw pig’s heart and presented it to Brandon.

Brandon pinched the raw pig's heart between two fingers, tilted his head back, threw it into his mouth, chewed it vigorously a few times, and then swallowed it with a "gulp." He then opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to show it to the world.

"Sir, please give me one too!"

"Sir, I want one too!"

With Brandon taking the lead, the male soldiers behind him also stepped forward one after another, voluntarily claiming their own piece of bloody pig heart.

Cluck cluck—

A rattling sound of tough raw meat being ground by teeth echoed from the stream, and a bloody smell began to spread among the group.

Zhang Fan was very satisfied with this and led the male soldiers to carry the chopped pork back to the cave.

The female soldiers inside the cave looked at the group of male soldiers who had re-entered with some surprise, because the male soldiers began to carry a strong smell of blood and a natural sense of oppression.

Inside the cave, several female soldiers had already lit several fires, and Zhang Fan's large pot had been set up on the fires.

Starting from the recruit camp of the Ryan National Army, Zhang Fan obtained the position of cook thanks to this big pot, which allowed him to legitimately stay behind the front line without being identified as abnormal by the battlefield recorder.

This big pot has been with Zhang Fan for several months, and he couldn't bear to throw it away even when he was skydiving.

The pork was roasted over a fire, while the offal, unsuitable for roasting, was stewed in a pot by Zhang Fan, who then added seasonings such as ginger, scallions, garlic, and pepper that he had gathered along the way.

Soon, the fragrance filled the cave.

The first thing to cook was the stewed pork offal stew.

All around, pairs of eyes were fixed on the bubbling meat broth in the pot, their mouths practically watering.

Zhang Fan had several male soldiers carry in some large bamboo poles, and then processed the bamboo into simple bamboo spoons, chopsticks, and bowls.

Ruthia was in charge of distributing the food. She first filled two bamboo bowls with pork offal soup with a bamboo spoon, then took them to the bunk bed for her two injured companions to drink.

The two injured student soldiers have been taking the herbs picked by Zhang Fan, both internally and externally, and their physical condition has improved.

Inside the cave, men were on the left and women on the right. Two rows of simple bunk beds were built with bamboo and covered with dry grass. They were not as comfortable as the beds in the camp, but at least they could keep their bodies away from the moisture on the ground while sleeping.

Bamboo is practically a lifesaver in the wild.

The student soldiers sat on soft straw beds, with hot meat soup in their hands. The two pigs, each weighing over 200 jin (approximately 100 kg), had over 300 jin (approximately 150 kg) of edible meat left after deducting the inedible parts, enough for each of them to have at least two jin (approximately 1 kg) of meat.

Just the day before, they were still in the prisoner-of-war camp, not only deprived of their freedom but also living in fear, not knowing when they would die, unable to get enough to eat or sleep.

Compared to this, the simple cave now seems like paradise.

All of this was built by Zhang Fan, who taught them how to set it up step by step. No one in this student army doubted Zhang Fan's identity as "Brigade Commander."

If someone like that can't become a brigade commander in the Ryan National Army, they'll think the military must be blind.

"Sir, how do you know these plants are edible?" some student soldiers asked curiously while eating meat. The plants they were referring to were the various kinds of seasonings that Zhang Fan had brought over.

"You'll know once you try it. If you don't die from eating it, then it's edible." Zhang Fan continued to teach them how to make the seasoning.

This spirit of exploration, akin to Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs, deeply moved the student soldiers once again, making them admire their commander even more.

But they seem to have misunderstood.

There are many plants on Milan Star that Zhang Fan doesn't recognize. He can only rely on similar species on Earth to deduce the effects of these plants and whether they are edible.

To verify the hypothesis, Zhang Fan prepared the food and fed it to the recruits. They didn't die after eating it, which proved that it was edible.

Zhang Fan would never do something as foolish as tasting hundreds of herbs. He's not stupid; of course, it would be best if his fellow Daoists died rather than him.

Pork belly naturally has a slightly gamey smell, and pork offal has an even stronger fishy smell. However, after being cooked with Zhang Fan's secret seasoning, the gamey and fishy smells are completely gone, and the aroma of the meat is irresistible, making it incredibly appetizing.

Even the female soldiers couldn't stop eating, and several of them even cried while eating.

Zhang Fan was also a little confused. Could it be really that bad? To eat while crying? Is it really that delicious?

Later, I found out that the female soldiers felt that the way they squatted there tearing into pig intestines was too ugly, but it was so delicious that they couldn't stop eating, so they cried while eating.

this……

Two pigs, each weighing over 200 pounds, were slaughtered by more than 100 men until only bones remained. Some male soldiers even cracked open the pig bones and sucked out the marrow.

There were two rows of bamboo beds on both sides of the cave. After eating and drinking their fill, the student soldiers climbed onto the bamboo beds to sleep and rest.

Zhang Fan sat by the fire, drawing lines on the ground with a twig, planning his route for tomorrow...

Two male soldiers got up from the bamboo bed, picked up their laser rifles, and went outside the cave to relieve the two sentries on guard duty...

Some student soldiers were awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, but after rubbing their eyes and seeing the backs of their officers sitting by the campfire ahead, they lay back down and fell into a deep sleep again...

The straw mattress couldn't compare to their Simmons mattress at home, but tonight was the best night's sleep they'd had in a while.