Chapter 8: Stinging Nettle.

Lu Xinyao trudged back to the shelter with her exhausted body and said, “I feel completely drained!”

“Senior, how are you?”

“I think I have diarrhea.”

Li Chenfeng immediately stepped forward and felt her forehead, and the system indicated that her condition was poor and that she had diarrhea from drinking too much coconut water.

Over the past two days the three of them had drunk six or seven coconuts to quench their thirst, which had now caused gastrointestinal upset and diarrhea; Li Chenfeng’s constitution was strong so he was fine for the moment, but Lu Xinyao and Ning Jingjing’s conditions were worrying because continuing diarrhea could lead to dehydration and then electrolyte imbalance, which would become life-threatening.

“The diarrhea is from drinking too much coconut water, so lie down and rest while I figure something out,” he said.

Ning Jingjing hesitated because she had already used the toilet paper and her legs were numb from squatting, and she asked, “What should I do? Use my fingers?”

“No, no, that’s too disgusting,” she was told.

“Not wiping? No, that would be even grosser,” came the reply.

“Then maybe…” Ning Jingjing murmured as her eyes landed on a nearby plant, and she added, “What kind of grass is this; it’s hairy… wiping my butt with it should be fine, right?”

After saying that she stood up with her butt sticking out, ready to deal with it, and said, “I’ve never done anything like this in my life; if anyone finds out I’ll be completely humiliated.”

She closed her eyes and bit down, and Ning Jingjing quickly tore off a leaf and wiped her skin with it.

“Ah!!” a sharp pain shot through her fingers and butt like someone stabbing them with needles.

It turned out Ning Jingjing had actually used stinging nettle to wipe herself, and she was paying the price.

“What bit my butt!” Ning Jingjing cried as she did not dare stay and hurriedly pulled on her skirt and rushed to the shelter, walking in a bizarre manner, while a patch of bumps immediately swelled on the injured spot, making it both painful and itchy.

“I… I’m back,” she said.

Ning Jingjing passed Li Chenfeng and lay down inside the shelter, saying, “Xinyao, Chenfeng, I have diarrhea.”

“Jingjing, I have diarrhea too; it’s because I drank too much coconut water,” came the reply.

『Please light a fire before sunset to ward off the cold.』: Find a suitable water source to relieve your companions’ diarrhea symptoms.

Upon receiving the task, Li Chenfeng prepared to venture into the jungle and said, “You rest up and wait for me to come back.”

After saying this, he slung on his backpack with several clean plastic bottles inside and went into the jungle.

“Xinyao, are there any tissues?” he asked.

Lu Xinyao’s voice was nearly gone as she said, “No, I’m out; I used them all because of the diarrhea.”

“Huh? You’re not clean yet,” someone protested.

Lu Xinyao looked surprised and said, “Why don’t we wash in the sea?”

Wouldn’t that just be rubbing salt into her wound?

“Wait… wait a moment, I don’t have any strength right now,” she pleaded.

“Let’s all rest for a while; Chenfeng is already thinking of a solution,” another urged.

Fearing potential danger, Li Chenfeng upgraded both his Stamina and Talent.

The system voice sounded again: a water source was detected ahead.

It turned out that raising the Talent stat could expand the system’s search radius; currently it was about one meter, and if it were upgraded later then all the resource points across the island might be marked in his mind.

“So the system is this powerful,” he muttered.

Following the system’s guidance, Li Chenfeng found the water source, but it was just stagnant water probably accumulated in a rain-filled pit, with black soil covered in yellow fallen leaves and even tiny worm-like creatures wriggling inside it.

“Yuck, can this really be drunk?” he exclaimed.

Li Chenfeng hesitated internally for a moment but accepted reality and said, “Forget it; I’ll filter it and then boil it, and it should be fine.”

After saying this, Li Chenfeng took out plastic bottles and began filling them, saying, “I’m really relieved; luckily there aren’t any dead rats or anything like that.”

He filled all six bottles and said, “That should be enough; I want to go back and check how they’re doing.”

As he was about to leave he noticed a patch of bright green mint by the puddle.

Mint could be used for wind-heat colds, headaches, and skin rashes like measles, and mint water tasted refreshingly cool.

“This is good; gather some to brew into a drink,” he decided.

Beside the mint there were some mosquito-repellent herbs with a special scent, and taking them back to the shelter to repel insects would also be a good idea.

On his way back the system kept prompting, and Li Chenfeng collected twelve rambutans, two large pomelos, and about ten small limes.

(With the system in hand, the world is mine; I can finally replenish some vitamins, and girls will definitely love fruit.)

At that moment Ning Jingjing was even scratching her sore rear in her sleep; it was really miserable.

When Li Chenfeng returned to the shelter he found the two fast asleep, and seeing the fire dying he went to the beach to look for firewood, since lighting a fire was not easy.

He walked along gathering wood, and when he stepped into a patch of grass the surprise before him made him gag.

It turned out he had discovered Ning Jingjing’s feces.

“Ugh, this is definitely something Ning Jingjing did; she should’ve buried it… ugh,” he muttered.

Ning Jingjing lay on her side with her hands under her head and sniffed hard, saying, “Wh…what’s that smell?”

She opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around, saying, “There’s nothing here, so why does it smell so bad?”

She then looked down at her hands and asked, “Since when did my fingernails get full of dirt?”

Suspecting the worst, Ning Jingjing brought her hand to her nose, sniffed, and immediately recoiled as if struck by lightning, crying, “Ugh, it stinks!”

Without worrying about her stomach she hurried to the seashore to pick the feces out from between her fingers and wash them clean, scrubbing repeatedly several times, and when the bump on her right hand touched the seawater it hurt so much she trembled.

“It’s finally not smelly; I’m so embarrassed; I must never let Li Chenfeng know or I won’t be able to show my face again,” she fretted.

The wound sent waves of painful itching that made her miserable, and she wanted to scratch but was afraid of dirtying her hands.

Finally she ran into the shelter’s grass and scratched and scratched, saying, “That feels better.”

She looked a little like a bear rubbing an itch against a tree.

When Li Chenfeng returned to camp he did not see Ning Jingjing, but he noticed a tree behind the hut moving continuously, and he approached out of curiosity to investigate.

Huh… why was Ning Jingjing rubbing herself against the tree like that; surely she wasn’t doing that in broad daylight, was she?

Li Chenfeng recalled the scene he had just witnessed and noticed what looked like a ‘biting-cat’ plant nearby, which seemed to explain everything.

Turning back to the shelter he said, “Good thing I picked some mint and mosquito-repellent herb earlier.”

He crushed the two plants together in a coconut shell and said, “Both of these plants are good ant-itch remedies, they should help her a bit.”

He came behind the tree and called, “Ning Jingjing.”

“Ah!” Ning Jingjing turned and said, “You scared me to death; what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to bring you some medicine,” he answered.

Ning Jingjing lowered her head and stammered, “Medicine? What medicine?”

“It’s medicine to stop the itching; do you want some?”

“I… I want it, but can you help me apply it? I can’t reach,” she asked.

After she said that she turned around with her butt sticking out, and Li Chenfeng, looking at the raw bleeding wound, said, “You’re too rough; your skin’s broken.”

“The way to stop an itch is through pain; when mosquitoes used to bite me I would press a small cross with my nails on the itchy spot,” she admitted.

“What a coincidence, me too,” he replied.