Chapter 14: Preparations Before Departure

Li Chenfeng took the stone axe and went into the jungle to start cutting suitable wood for a raft.

The girls were not idle either, and once the tide mostly receded they searched the beach’s rocks for food.

“Jingjing, do you think the receding tide will leave any crabs or fish stranded?”

“Check the rock crevices; I saw on Douyin that tidepool foraging can turn up good finds in the cracks.”

“Okay, I’ll look carefully.”

Sure enough, Ning Jingjing was right, and before long they found two sea fish about half a kilogram each in a rockpool.

“Jingjing, look, there really are some.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it; I want to taste the fun of tidepool foraging too.”

They picked up two sea fish.

The two continued foraging and collected three crabs, ten sea snails, twenty-three clams, and a large clump of seaweed seedlings.

Ning Jingjing made another discovery on a rock and said, “Eh, there’s an oyster here,” before prying it open with a stone and popping it into her mouth.

“Mmm! Fresh ones really are better.”

Unaware that someone had been sneaking bites, Lu Xinyao announced, “Tonight we’ll have seafood soup.”

“Then let’s hurry back to cook dinner; Chenfeng worked all day and should be hungry.”

“Tsk tsk, look at you acting like a model wife and mother, and you said you didn’t want to be Li Chenfeng’s wife.”

Lu Xinyao blushed shyly and said, “Jingjing, you’re getting more and more cheeky, and I never said I didn’t want to be his wife.”

“Hehe.” The two of them linked arms and prepared to head back to camp.

“Hey, Jingjing, look, what is that black thing on the beach?”

When they went closer they discovered it was a watch!

“Xinyao, quickly see if it still works.”

They gently brushed the sand off the watch, and the hands actually still moved.

“Wow, score! Isn’t this that viral waterproof watch?”

“Really? Quick, check what time it is.”

“It’s now 3:25 PM, and look, it even shows the date; today is July 11, so we can know the exact time.”

“Mm! When Li Chenfeng gets back we’ll hurry and tell him the good news!”

“Okay!”

“La la la la la la……”

Riding their streak of finds, the two-girl duo picked up another big treasure and happily skipped back to camp.

With the stone axe’s help, Li Chenfeng had little trouble cutting through trees as thick as soup bowls, and in about an hour he cut roughly ten of them.

But that was far from enough, and Li Chenfeng did not dare relax for a moment and continued to work hard.

Seeing that it was nearly dark, he said, “Phew… forty-five logs; the progress bar is one-third filled. Let’s carry them back for now; that’s enough work for today.”

By the time he carried all the wood back to camp it was completely dark.

When he returned to camp he saw that Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing had already prepared warm water and a pot of seafood stew.

(Li Chenfeng thought: Why does this feel so much like a cozy home with a wife and kids gathered around the warm hearth?)

Having worked up a sweat, he used the two women’s morning bathwater to wash himself as best he could.

After washing he instantly felt much refreshed.

“Li Chenfeng, dinner’s ready.”

Ning Jingjing walked over and naturally looped her arm through Li Chenfeng’s, saying, “After dinner I’ll show you a surprise.”

“Oh? You prepared a surprise for me?”

Lu Xinyao played coy and said, “That’s a secret!”

Eating a bowl of seafood soup apiece, Li Chenfeng wanted more and said, “This is the best meal we’ve had in the past three days; it’s all thanks to our school beauty duo!”

Lu Xinyao took out the waterproof watch and said, “We found a waterproof watch on the beach, so from now on we can know the exact time.”

Li Chenfeng held the watch up to the firelight and examined it carefully, saying, “July 11, 7:30 PM… looks like a real find!”

Lu Xinyao placed the watch on Li Chenfeng’s wrist and said, “It’s more useful on you.”

From that angle and in that setting it somehow felt a bit like he was putting on a ring!

Full from the meal, people easily grow sleepy, and Ning Jingjing yawned, “Aah… I’m sleepy; just shout for me if you need me on night watch later.”

“Jingjing, be careful; if you sleep right after eating you’ll gain weight.”

“Hmph, we’re already Li Chenfeng’s people anyway, so as long as he doesn’t mind it’s fine,” she said, then flopped onto the ground and slept sprawled out.

Li Chenfeng was baffled and said, “When did you become mine? I’d definitely mind if you turned into a fat pig!”

Only her steady breathing answered Li Chenfeng.

Damn! Is sleep really supposed to feel this good!

“Jingjing, your sleep quality is truly enviable!”

“That really is enviable.”

The next morning at first light Li Chenfeng woke up and, looking at the sleeping postures of the two boisterous ones beside him, shook his head helplessly.

He got up quietly on tiptoe because today he planned to make another trip into the jungle to look for the island’s remaining resources.

Carrying the one bag of urea he had found yesterday and the stone axe, he set off on his exploration and said, “I hope I can find what I’m looking for.”

With the system buff active, when Li Chenfeng entered the jungle he could sense what resources were within a circular area centered on his body with a radius of two meters.

After about half an hour he had more or less reached the center of the jungle, and along the way there were many snakes and other pests; some hung from the trees like necklaces, while others lay in coils on the ground flicking their tongues.

Fortunately the girls hadn’t come along, because if they had seen that they probably would have been scared half to death.

『Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold.』: Potatoes and cassava were detected ahead.

“Looks like it’s real; it wasn’t for nothing that I took such a big risk.”

Following the 『Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold.』 prompt, he unearthed a potato plant and, as he dug away the surrounding soil, one beautiful potato after another emerged before his eyes.

“This is great… we’re set; not only do we have carbohydrates, planting them as reserves would be a good choice,” he said, but the downside was that he only found two plants; however, they were in fertile soil and yielded about forty to fifty egg-sized potatoes.

“Cassava… where is it?”

Following the system guidance, he found a straight little sapling and said, “So this is what cassava looks like.”

He learned that cassava is also called the “King of Starch,” as it is easy to grow and cultivate, high-yielding and nutritious, and its stems can also be used for planting.

“With these two things, we’ve laid a solid foundation for our sustainable development plan!”

He checked the watch and it was exactly 8:00 AM.

On the way back he purposely detoured to the place where they’d picked fruit before, picked a batch of ripe fruits, and saved the seeds so they wouldn’t have to worry about vitamins later.

Carrying his spoils in a woven plastic bag, Li Chenfeng happily hurried back to camp and said, “We still have to finish building the raft today; the task remains arduous.”

Back at camp the two women had thoughtfully prepared kelp soup.

Li Chenfeng took out three potatoes and a cassava, buried them in the charcoal to roast, and said, “We found potatoes and cassava today; let’s roast some to replenish our carbs.”

“Wow, we have potatoes to eat today!”

“Seafood soup with potatoes is a perfect match! Under Chenfeng’s leadership, our castaway life finally has some comforts.”

Seeing the two school beauties so happy, Li Chenfeng felt a strong sense of accomplishment once again that day.