New Gods of North America

As the saying goes, "Before troops and horses move, provisions go first."

While the "troops and horses" haven't returned, Wayne is setting his sights on the "provisions."

Well,

he's not really busy with anything high-end; he's simply tinkering with "ready-made meals."

Thanks to the Age of Exploration and the opening up of the New World, people's tolerance and development of various shelf-stable foods have greatly improved.

For example, the "hardtack" commonly found in the West is actually a recipe left over from the Age of Exploration—

Dough mixed with water, then repeatedly baked hard in the oven.

It's that simple.

No fermentation, no seasoning, it must be softened before eating, otherwise it's a tooth-grinding stone, but it can be stored for a long time.

Metal cans have already been invented at this time, but due to the welding level, there are always inevitable solder slags or odors inside.

Moreover, the price of canned goods at this time is actually not cheap—although the second-hand cans tinkered out by the military sailors are not expensive—the average person neither likes them nor can easily buy them.

With the detective agency's current income level and working environment, there is no need to consider pre-made foods with too long a shelf life.

Therefore, Wayne mainly considers the issue of "deliciousness" when "researching".

This should have been the specialty of Chef Parker,

but anyway, he's idle...

Based on feeling, melt butter and several relatively cheap cheeses into milk in different proportions, add some salt or sugar, then add gelatin, which has now been included in the recipe, filter and mash into a paste.

Then, add some natural food coloring with a long history of use depending on your mood, then spread it flat on a baking sheet and bake it slightly, slice it into small squares.

Emma, who was waiting to taste the delicious food,

blinked her big eyes at this time, seemingly shocked by the finished product Wayne made:

"So you made cheese... into cheese again?"

"This is different."

Wayne put some of the baked, reprocessed cheese slices with different ingredients and ratios into a plate, "Come, try to see which one is the most delicious."

After Chef Parker "went on strike", the detective agency still tried to continue making burgers,

but things like sauce and patties are too demanding on skill, and the taste and texture of different cheeses are also very different. The burgers made now always feel different from what Wayne remembers.

As someone who has seen the modern food industry, Wayne's natural idea is to "standardize" the recipe.

The advantage of reprocessed cheese in this regard is that the taste and texture are uniform, and it is actually more cost-effective—many traditional cheeses are not cheap, and the edges and corners are easily wasted. Reprocessed cheese can put the scraps into secondary seasoning, or even pick scraps to make it.

Anyway, it's cooked, it won't kill people.

As long as the basic seasoning is not a problem, then bread with cheese and vegetable leaves will basically not go wrong.

If you can't make delicious grilled patties, then fried eggs or fried bacon will always work, right?

Although Wayne himself doesn't like it very much, cheese is considered a so-called "good thing" in this era, and the unit price is more expensive than meat.

Emma tasted several experimental products like a little white mouse, and chose one she liked the most, and even wanted to eat more.

Wayne took some more from the baking sheet for her, and then continued to look for "white mice" in the detective agency with the plate.

In the end, Wayne accounted for 5 points, Ineisha accounted for 4 points, and the others added up to 1 point. After a reasonable comprehensive evaluation, the most popular finished product was selected.

Wayne picked out the recipe and waited for Chef Parker to continue to improve it, and by the way, let him study the standard sauce.

After getting the food sorted out, the next step is drinks.

The United States already has so-called "non-alcoholic carbonated beverages" at this time, but this thing is still very dependent on the place of origin. Basically, it is made by mixing natural mineral water containing baking soda or carbonic acid.

If you don't mind, you can directly buy baking soda to make a primary carbonated drink.

In terms of scientific research, equipment that can produce "saturated carbonated water" has been invented, but normal people at this time have not thought of using this thing to make beverages.

The saturated carbonated water made from chemical reagents is not cheap and has a peculiar smell, and the saturated carbonated water made by industrial methods is neither drinkable nor requires some heavy industry factories as upstream and downstream "supporting equipment".

Wayne estimated the cost and safety, and felt that it would be more cost-effective to save money first, and then consider where to buy a piece of land with suitable springs.

At that time, it will be packed in wooden barrels or glass bottles. Although the gas is not very sufficient, the meaning is barely in place.

After finishing these messy things, it was already late at night.

Doug's owl was causing trouble outside the falcon's birdcage at this time, retaliating for the bullying it suffered during the day.

These two carnivores don't get along very well. Tit-for-tat is their daily mode of getting along after they are full.

Wayne belongs to the type who chases away whoever causes trouble, so he just drove away the silly bird a little.

That is, the big spider Peter is not at home, otherwise how could they be the kings and hegemons.

Add firewood to the water-boiling device in the yard to boil water,

and then wait to take a bath.

With a high water tank, the detective agency's daily water use is still quite convenient.

Except that someone needs to regularly pump water from the river next to the small courtyard into the water tank, at other times, except that the water pressure is slightly lower, there is no difference from tap water.

The detective agency's water-boiling device has a similar structure to Wayne's home. The water pipes can also directly divert hot water to different small wooden houses.

There is no need to think about showers. The water flow is not strong, and the temperature control system is too troublesome to make. At least twice as many pipelines must be installed.

But taking a bath is no problem.

"Bang—"

Wayne didn't know whether he heard the gunshot first or was hit by the bullet first. He just felt like something pushed his shoulder suddenly,

followed by severe pain in his shoulder, and the "blue bar" began to drop reflexively.

Damn it?!

He was actually shot at home?!

I hope someone can "come to my door", but I don't hope you "hit" like this.

The owl in the small courtyard was startled by the gunshot first, then landed nearby, tilting its head and looking at Wayne.

Wayne quickly hid according to the assessed shooting direction to avoid being shot again, and pointed his finger at that side, "What are you looking at me for?! Go chase people!"

The others in the detective agency heard the movement and rushed out at this time.

Conner, who was on night duty, had already chased after him as soon as possible. Doug's movements were slower, but the owl could understand what he meant, and soon fluttered away.

Ineisha didn't chase after him. After looking at Wayne and feeling that the injury was not serious, she carried a large gun and stepped on the ladder that had been set up there, and soon reached the roof of the big warehouse,

still in a pajama-style battle style—it's a pity that the normal pajamas of ladies in this era are more tightly wrapped than some evening dresses.

After Wayne took his bolt-action rifle, he quickly followed in the direction, and the bullet was previously stuck in the wound by a bone. After it was "pushed out", it looked like a pointed rifle bullet.

Judging from the gunpowder power and kinetic energy loss of this era, the attacker's shooting distance was not too close.

Ladders are routinely placed next to several courtyard walls in the small courtyard. They are usually "close to the inside". When something happens, they can be flipped over to climb over the wall.

Wayne stepped on the ladder that had been set up and darted out, and the simple lines of sight opened up, and it was all "non-stop".

In the small woods hundreds of yards away,

Doug's owl hovered in the night sky, and the bolt-action rifle with the barrel still hot to the touch was discarded at the foot of a big tree.

Wayne picked it up and took a look. It was more inclined to the Windsor Kingdom model.

Conner, carrying a lantern, had slowed down, seemingly searching for the other party's trail in the distance.

Doug also gave his preliminary judgment, "The owl should not have found anyone... If the other party has not already escaped, then they should still be nearby."

Is that so?

Pulling the bolt and loading the bullet, Wayne slowly walked in the small woods while looking around,

Although the land nearby is not his...

but at least the high points within a 600-yard radius in the future must be managed.

I'll cut down this tree tomorrow to boil water.