Chapter 17: Another Shipwrecked Companion.

They paddled for another two hours, and the outline of Sun Island grew clearer.

Ning Jingjing wiped the sweat from her brow and said, “I’m exhausted; I can finally see a glimmer of hope.”

“Keep going, Jingjing; I’m tired too,” someone said.

After two hours of continuous exertion the three of them were already complaining, and one of them said, “You two take a break; I’ll do the paddling.”

“No way! I’m a woman tied to Li Chenfeng, and I will never give up,” Jingjing declared.

“Then let’s make a push and paddle across first,” someone suggested.

As they neared Sun Island the seawater became as clear as a glass bottle, and for the final stretch Li Chenfeng jumped into the water and pushed the raft forward, which was much faster than paddling.

It was 3:26 p.m., which was not far off from their expected time.

The three of them dragged the raft up onto the shore and began unloading their supplies.

“Chenfeng, this island looks several times larger than Storm Island,” one of them remarked.

“That’s right; we saw a lot of fish and plenty of kelp and coral algae when we came, so Sun Island seems to have better resources than Storm Island,” another agreed.

Ning Jingjing carried down the last bag of supplies and said, “Phew, we finally reached Sun Island safely; what should we do next?”

“First we should search the nearby area for any signs of survivors,” someone replied.

“Okay,” they answered.

The three of them walked along the coastline, and before long a suitcase caught their attention.

An old floral-patterned suitcase stood out on the sand, and when they opened it they found an exquisite dress, a set of silk pajamas, and a makeup bag, and nothing else.

“There must be a castaway on the island,” one of them concluded.

“Hello… anyone there? Can anyone hear us?” they called.

“We are survivors too; is anyone on the island?” they shouted.

Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing walked and shouted as they went, but they could only hear the waves slapping against the rocks.

“How could that be? We’ve been shouting for ages and haven’t heard any response,” one of them said.

Further inland a few coconut shells lay scattered… some opened, some unopened… and there were two mineral water bottles; further in they found a pile of campfire that had not fully caught, and when Li Chenfeng hurried over and checked it he found it still had a little warmth, so he guessed their attempt to light it had almost succeeded.

“There’s still warmth, which means someone must be alive,” someone said.

Lu Xinyao stooped to pick up a pretty datura flower from the ground and said, “Chenfeng, Jingjing, look, what is this?”

“Although only half of it remains, judging by the bright color this is not an edible plant,” another observed.

“Then what should we do? Nobody’s going to mistake this for a pumpkin blossom, right?” someone asked.

“Then we must hurry and find her,” they replied.

They continued on and found a woman collapsed beside the mangroves, and nearby a crocodile was watching her hungrily.

Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing were so frightened that they hid behind Li Chenfeng and cried, “Oh my God… it’s my first time seeing a wild crocodile; it’s so… so scary.”

“Jingjing, stop trembling… when you tremble I tremble too,” one of them said.

“You two stay back a bit; if anything goes wrong, run immediately,” Li Chenfeng ordered.

“Okay…” they whispered.

Li Chenfeng took up a stone axe and slowly approached the woman; it looked like an American crocodile, and since crocodiles generally did not live in the sea this suggested the island must have swamps.

The crocodile kept its eyes fixed on Li Chenfeng, and he broke out in goosebumps; they had just encountered a giant whale, and now here was a huge crocodile… what luck.

Li Chenfeng picked up a forked branch, quickly sharpened its tip, and aimed it at the crocodile’s eye to intimidate it, and when he was about three meters from the woman the crocodile suddenly charged at him.

“Ah… Chenfeng, be careful!” someone shouted.

Li Chenfeng was quick-eyed and stabbed the branch viciously into the crocodile’s eye, and luckily he hit; had he only jabbed its skin it would have been no more than a tickle.

The crocodile thrashed its tail in pain and, humiliated and enraged, opened its huge jaws to bite Li Chenfeng; he then jabbed the fork into its mouth again, and the crocodile realized it had picked a fight it shouldn’t have and hurried back into the mangroves.

Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing were so frightened they went limp on the ground, and they could hardly believe the mild, handsome Li Chenfeng they knew could be so fierce and still come out on top against such a beast.

They stared at the wooden fork in his hand, flattened at the tip and dripping blood.

“Xinyao, why do I feel like he’s scarier than the crocodile?” one of them whispered.

“Y-yes… a little,” Xinyao stammered.

Li Chenfeng quickly scooped up the woman and ran back, shouting, “Move!”

“Oh!” someone cried.

They hurried back to the landing and found a shady spot where they laid the woman down.

System prompt: 『Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold.: A companion ate a small amount of datura; find a way to induce vomiting in the companion.』

“We need to induce vomiting; Senior, bring a bottle of water and dissolve some salt in it,” one of them instructed.

“Okay!” came the reply.

“What should I do?” another asked.

“Help me hold her,” Li Chenfeng instructed.

“Oh!” they replied.

They first forced a large amount of saltwater into the woman’s mouth, and then Li Chenfeng put his index and middle fingers into her throat, pressed the root of her tongue while lightly touching her tonsils repeatedly, and finally the woman gagged and vomited everything in her stomach.

After quickly wiping some of the grime from her body with leaves, they set her down to rest on the ground.

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

“She should be okay for now; let’s wait for her to wake up,” someone said.

“What should we do next?” they asked.

“I can handle this… first make a fire, then build a shelter,” one of them said.

“Bingo!” someone exclaimed.

“So how should we do it?” they asked.

“You two go collect some dry wood nearby, but stay within my line of sight!” Li Chenfeng ordered.

Li Chenfeng took out the glass bottle he had found and the kapok fluff he had brought from Storm Island, found a spot on the beach in direct sunlight, and pointed the bottom of the bottle at the sun so that the glass would refract the light into a focused point on the kapok fluff.

“I’ve seen De Ye do this too; if we follow his method it should work,” someone said.

Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing gathered a lot of wood on the beach and quickly piled it into a small mountain near the camp.

The two of them copied the stove Li Chenfeng had made on Storm Island and constructed a replica.

“Hehe, I didn’t expect the two of us to be so handy,” one of them said.

“Yeah, it really feels satisfying to see it like this,” the other agreed.

After a long 40-minute wait the kapok fluff began to emit thin wisps of smoke; they quickly placed dry leaves and small twigs on it and before long it caught fire.

De Ye is the GOAT!

They transferred the embers to the camp, and one of them said, “Looks like following me wasn’t for nothing; this stove turned out pretty decent.”

“Of course; you’re so outstanding, and as your companion and future wife I should be someone worthy of you,” one of them replied.

Lu Xinyao nodded and said, “Exactly, we should also work to improve ourselves.”

Li Chenfeng looked at their earnest, cute faces and couldn’t help but pinch both of their cheeks at once, thinking that girls were all so adorable.

A sudden thought crossed his mind: (with such lovely companions by my side, surviving here might not be so bad.)