Chapter 9: Making a Water Filter

Li Chenfeng casually tore off a twig and gently applied the herb to Ning Jingjing’s wound.

The scraped area stung painfully from the herb’s irritation.

“Oh, it hurts.”

“Ah, bear with it for a moment; it will be fine soon and the itching will stop quickly.”

“Mm.”

“Ow, ow, ow.”

“Auntie (playful self-title), keep your voice down.”

At that moment, Lu Xinyao was already standing behind them and said, “W-what are you doing?”

Li Chenfeng and Ning Jingjing turned their heads awkwardly and saw Lu Xinyao’s jaw nearly drop to the ground.

Back at camp, Lu Xinyao’s expression turned serious as she asked, “When did this happen between you two?”

“What do you mean ‘when did this happen’? It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

“No, Xinyao, he was applying medicine to me.”

“Do you take me for an idiot? Who applies medicine like that? Just because someone isn’t very flashy, do you treat them like fools?”

Lu Xinyao’s blunt words left Li Chenfeng at a loss as he said, “It’s true; I crushed mint leaves and mosquito-repellent herb and used them as a poultice for her.”

“I don’t believe it!”

Ning Jingjing had no choice as she said, “Ah, after I used the toilet I had no tissue so I tore a leaf nearby and ended up getting stung.”

“Now the wound hurts and it itches; Li Chenfeng kindly brought me medicine.”

Lu Xinyao leaned back theatrically and said, “Huh? No wonder I told you to wash in the sea and you didn’t; I misunderstood you, I’m really sorry.”

Ning Jingjing kept her head down and dug a hole in the ground with her toes as she said, “Now you all know; I have no face left.”

Li Chenfeng comforted her, “It’s okay; we’re worse off than beggars now, and staying alive is already hard enough, so don’t worry too much about saving face … everyone will understand.”

“Sorry, Jingjing, it’s all my fault for using up the tissues.”

“Ah, it’s okay.”

“Gurgle~.”

“I can’t, I can’t; I have to go again.”

Li Chenfeng shouted at Ning Jingjing’s departing back, “Don’t use leaves you don’t recognize!”

“Got it!”

This couldn’t continue; diarrhea would cause them to become dehydrated, so we had to replenish fresh water quickly.

『System prompt: Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold: Make a water filter.』

Li Chenfeng looked at the plastic bottles on the ground and said, “Got it.”

He carefully melted a plastic bottle into two halves with a hot stick, then heated a small hole in the cap and inverted it into the other half of the bottle.

He gathered some cotton from the kapok tree to place at the very top of the cap, crushed charcoal for the second layer, then a layer of fine sand, another layer of charcoal, and finally another layer of fine sand.

Lu Xinyao looked excited and said, “I wonder if it will work.”

Li Chenfeng took a bottle of dirty water from his backpack; the water was a muddy yellow and had some sediment settled at the bottom.

“We’ll only know once we try it.”

He poured the dirty water full into the filter, and after a short while clean water began to drip from the bottle’s mouth.

“Wow, really, Chenfeng, look … that dirty water turned clear after filtering; we’ll have fresh water to drink from now on, you’re basically a survival expert.”

『System prompt: Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold: Task complete! Stamina +10! Talent +10!』

“I filled six bottles of water, so we’ll have drinking water for two to three days; you shouldn’t have diarrhea anymore now.”

Lu Xinyao felt a warmth in her heart; it turned out Li Chenfeng had done all that hard work for them.

“It’s my fault for having poor health and causing you trouble; look, you’re fine.”

It wasn’t that her constitution was poor; it was that Li Chenfeng’s constitution was too strong.

“No, it’s nothing; it’s normal for girls to be a bit delicate.”

(Of course that’s normal; would I ever claim that my Constitution is superior to others? If I said that, I’d be treated like an idiot.)

While they talked, half a bottle had already been filtered, and Li Chenfeng poured the filtered water into a pot to boil as he said, “Although it looks clean, there are still bacteria and parasites in it that would be harmful if ingested, so boil it before drinking.”

Lu Xinyao nodded and said, “Mm! You’re right.”

Li Chenfeng then thought of something, picked a large broad leaf, and walked over to the reef by the beach.

It turned out he was collecting the white powder on the reef, which was sea salt … the crystals left on the rocks after seawater evaporated under the sun.

Back at the shelter, he sprinkled a little sea salt into a coconut shell and poured boiling water into it to cool.

When he returned, Ning Jingjing had just come back as well.

“Chenfeng, why did you put salt in the boiled water?”

“Because your diarrhea can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and other problems, a weak saline solution can help protect you well.”

Ning Jingjing said weakly, “I’m nearly exhausted, this is so cruel.”

To quickly replenish their fluids, Li Chenfeng found a coconut shell and poured the boiled water back and forth to cool it, saying, “When I was a child taking medicine, my mother would cool boiled water for me like this.”

Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing watched Li Chenfeng concentrate and both smiled.

Sure enough, in a short while the scalding boiled water cooled to lukewarm, and he handed each of them a coconut shell, saying, “Here, drink quickly.”

The two felt much better after drinking the warm water.

『System prompt: Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold: Task complete! Stamina +10! Talent +10!』

“You two should get some sleep and rest properly; that will help restore your Stamina. I’ll go to the reef area to find some food, so don’t wander off.”

“Mm!” the two nodded, like obedient children listening to their mother.

Li Chenfeng now had the ability to detect nearby creatures, so he figured there might be unexpected finds along the shore.

『System prompt: Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold: Ahead, mussels detected; ahead, sea snails detected; a tide pool ahead detected sea fish…』

“Wow, now we don’t have to worry about going hungry.”

The rock crevices were full of mussels, which he pulled off handful by handful and put into a plastic bag.

“Not bad, not bad; tonight I can have a seafood feast with Senior and Ning Jingjing.”

In just half an hour, he had gathered a bag of mussels and sea snails of all sizes, and even caught two stranded fish in the rock pools.

He returned to the shelter full of joy with a “Ta-da!” flourish, and Li Chenfeng placed a bag of seafood in front of them to show off.

Ning Jingjing asked curiously, “What tasty thing did you find to make you so happy?”

“Sea snails, mussels, and two fish.”

“Then today we can have a seafood buffet.”

“Yeah, I had diarrhea all day and my intestines are already empty. Now seeing food makes me so hungry.”

To eat a feast as soon as possible, the three set to work; Ning Jingjing and Lu Xinyao washed the sea snails and mussels and then took them back to the shelter to cook.

Li Chenfeng removed the fish scales and entrails with a sharp stone and then took charge of grilling the fish.

While tending the fire, Lu Xinyao said, “I want to find a large iron pot; look, these eight-treasure porridge cans are full after cooking just three mussels.”

“Right, you said the ship was so big with many people and supplies on board; why did only a few of us survive? And there are no wreckage remains on this shore.”