Chapter 110: Extra Story #3
Chu Jiu turned his head to look, and sure enough, it was the black cat.
He paused, then asked in return, “How did you get here?”
He knew now that when Little Can “transformed” into Lu Qingyan, it was actually Lu Qingyan projecting his spiritual power.
This kind of projection actually consumed the main body’s spiritual power quickly, which was a considerable burden for Lu Qingyan.
Black Cat: “…Little Can said you were worried, and that you were planning to pick up stones and jump into the sea.”
Chu Jiu: …
He scratched his head: “Ah, because I can’t freedive… I was just planning to sink to the bottom of the sea to collect fresh water…”
He thought for a moment, then added, “Actually, even if I really encounter any danger here, the worst outcome is that I’ll be ejected from Tara with everyone, and the repair will fail…
It won’t be like back in WT0906, where there was a real possibility of losing my life directly.”
The black cat stepped on the reef and walked to his side. It didn’t say anything, just raised its paw and patted his head.
Chu Jiu lowered his eyes, swallowing all the words like “so you don’t need to come over” back into his stomach.
After a moment, the black cat finally said, “No need to jump into the sea. Get into the water here, and I’ll take you down when we get to the place.”
Compared to “walking to the top of the cliff, loading up with stones, and jumping into the sea with a splash,” Lu Qingyan’s suggestion was undoubtedly safer.
Chu Jiu only hesitated for a second before nodding: “Then wait for me, I’ll take off my clothes.”
Since Lu Qingyan had already come, he shouldn’t waste his good intentions.
Thinking this, Chu Jiu walked to the side and quickly took off his short boots, unfastened his trousers, and neatly folded his clothes to place them on the reef.
While he was taking off his clothes, the black cat had consciously turned its head to the other side.
Soon, Chu Jiu said to the black cat, “Okay, let’s go.”
The black cat subconsciously turned its head back—
Only to see Chu Jiu wearing just a shirt and a pair of underpants printed with little hamsters, striding towards him.
Those straight, slender legs with their even muscle and bone, shone with a dizzying light under the sun’s rays.
The black cat froze.
Chu Jiu walked in front of the big cat.
He saw the big cat’s dazed expression, similar to Little Can’s, for the first time and couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised.
He looked down at himself, suddenly realizing something, and couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, quickly explaining:
“Oh, these, these underpants—I specially ordered them from the Star Network.”
“They’re a bit childish, aren’t they…?”
He should have changed his underwear beforehand, changed into something… more mature?
The big cat rumbled in its throat, and after a long while, said, “It’s alright.”
“But, why did you keep your shirt on…”
Why did he leave his shirt on alone?
He had to know that although Chu Jiu’s shirt was also custom-made and not particularly loose, shirts were naturally not that tight-fitting, and the hem would always be a little longer.
In this way, the swaying shirt, the long legs beneath the shirt, the fair and tight skin…
Lu Qingyan realized once again: he was not a saint.
Chu Jiu: “Huh?”
“Because of sun protection.”
“Ah, the sun here is too strong. If the skin on my back is exposed to the sun, it might get sunburned very quickly.”
When pioneering on a sea island, sun protection was an absolutely indispensable part!
Black Cat: …
The big cat didn’t say anything more, lowering its body to make it easier for Chu Jiu to straddle its back.
Chu Jiu rode onto the big cat’s back.
He heard the big cat “wulu” once: “Shirts… I have many at my place.”
A whole row of white shirts. They would be too loose for Chu Jiu.
But in a certain sense, they were just right.
Chu Jiu: “Huh?”
Big Cat: “…Nothing.”
*
The black cat quickly carried Chu Jiu halfway around the island and arrived near the cliff that Little Can remembered.
The big cat said, “It’s here.”
“Hold me tight with your arms, I’ll take you down.”
“Your first dive might be a bit nerve-wracking, don’t be afraid, try to slowly exhale, don’t deliberately hold your breath.”
Chu Jiu nodded: “Okay.”
Although he had walked freely on the seabed in WT0906, that was because the Seal Clan had used the [Invitation of the Sea God] on them.
With the [Invitation of the Sea God], they could ignore the pressure of the seabed, not care about temperature changes, and breathe as freely as on land. Apart from walking more lightly, there were no unusual sensations.
Now that the BUFF was gone, wasn’t this truly his first time diving?
He leaned forward, his arms tightly around the big cat’s neck.
The big cat carried him, steadily sinking into the deep sea.
The moment his ears and nose went below the surface of the water, Chu Jiu didn’t feel any fear.
In the first two or three meters, the surrounding water was still transparent blue, and the sunlight was right above his head. Chu Jiu still didn’t feel any discomfort.
But when he reached a depth of six or seven meters, he began to feel his body uncontrollably wanting to float upwards.
The gradually dimming light, coupled with the instinct-defying act of “not being able to inhale through his nose,” finally aroused Chu Jiu’s nervousness.
Chu Jiu’s heartbeat quickened, and his lungs felt a bit uncomfortable.
But the only thing Chu Jiu could do was to hug the big cat’s neck even tighter.
When he was almost ten meters down, he felt as if he had turned into a piece of driftwood, the seawater forcefully pushing him upwards, and his body would be carried to the surface no matter what—
Until the big cat opened its mouth and bit his wrist.
At the same time, a warmth flowed continuously from the area where the big cat’s skin touched his skin into his body.
This warmth kept reminding him: it’s okay, I’m here.
Finally, the big cat hovered in the water.
By the faint light, Chu Jiu could see a narrow crack ahead.
He could also feel cool water constantly gushing out from the crack.
This was it!
Chu Jiu quickly began collecting.
Half a minute later, [Potable Fresh Water +99]!
Chu Jiu squeezed the big cat’s waist tightly with his thighs, signaling the other party: Okay! We can go up now!
*
“Splash!”
The sea surface splashed loudly.
Chu Jiu, who had just burst out of the water, was half-lying on the big cat’s back, gasping for breath.
The big cat kept reassuring him in a deep voice: Don’t be afraid, you can breathe now, don’t be afraid.
Soon, the big cat carried him back to the shallows.
Chu Jiu, finally catching his breath, rolled off the big cat’s back, sat on a reef, wiped the water off his face, and grinned foolishly:
“We have fresh water!”
“As long as we don’t waste it, this is enough fresh water for not just seven days, but even thirty!”
The big cat raised its paw and patted Chu Jiu’s head again.
Perhaps because he had been too nervous just now, Chu Jiu was now feeling slightly drained.
So much so that he didn’t immediately stand up to busy himself with other things, but just leaned against the big cat with his eyes slightly closed.
The big cat leaned over and rubbed its face against Chu Jiu’s face a couple of times.
Chu Jiu’s head was swimming, and he opened his mouth to say, “Lu Qingyan—”
Just at that moment, the black cat also said in a deep voice, “Chu Jiu…”
Both the person and the big cat were taken aback, then smiled.
It was like this again, speaking at the same time once more.
The black cat’s voice was gentle: “You go first.”
Chu Jiu: “…Um, it’s nothing. I just wanted to say, thank you for coming to help.”
The black cat seemed a little helpless: “…No need to be so polite.”
The big cat was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I’ll go back first.”
Chu Jiu: “Mmm.”
A moment later, the black cat in front of him the black cat and had already transformed back into Big Can.
Big Can shook the water off its body, “swooshed” back into Little Can, jumped into Chu Jiu’s arms, and meowed anxiously, “Are you okay? Have you collected the fresh water yet?”
Chu Jiu smiled and rubbed the little guy: “Mmm, I collected it, don’t worry.”
He held Little Can, looking at the seawater in front of him, thinking in a bit of a daze:
Actually, what I wanted to say just now wasn’t “thank you.”
I wanted to ask him—
Was he going to tell me earlier that he finally had a vacation?
Now that he thought about it, Lu Qingyan wouldn’t have told him so solemnly about “his body being fine” or “having recovered.”
Why didn’t I realize it then?
He… he heard that I had received this mission, so he just made up an excuse to brush it off.
He… he hoped that I could happily do what I like without any burden, right?
Chu Jiu lowered his eyes, his heart beating a little heavily.
*
With enough fresh water, Chu Jiu’s next plan was to “catch fish.”
There were two kinds of fish he intended to catch.
The first kind was fish to be used as food.
He called over Kakaba and Glup-Glup: “Babies, do you still remember the fishing trap we made out of bamboo and stones in Black Wheat Village?”
Glup-Glup: “Gulu-gulu! Remember!”
Kakaba: “Dang-dang-dang, remember!”
Chu Jiu pointed to the beach: “We’re going to make a similar trap now!”
“The environment here is even worse than the Wheat River. There’s no bamboo here, not enough trees, only rocks.”
“But—we have seawater that rises and falls with the tide!”
“This is something we can make good use of!”
Glup-Glup and Kakaba: “Oh…”
Although they didn’t understand why, hearing Chu Jiu say this made them feel that the self-evident common sense of “seawater rising and falling with the tide” was actually a remarkable thing!
The spirit beast babies all looked at Chu Jiu with bright eyes.
Chu Jiu: “The tide should be going out now. Let’s take this opportunity to use stones to build a circle of ‘dam’ in this area, making an artificial fish pond.”
“When the tide comes in, the seawater will rise, and maybe some silly fish will swim in with it.”
“When the tide goes out, if the fish don’t swim out in time, they’ll be trapped in the fish pond and become our food!”
Kakaba: “Dang-dang-dang! Hooray!”
Glup-Glup: “Gulu-gulu… So that’s how it is…”
Glup-Glup flew into the air, circled the reef, and waved its little leaf:
“Gulu-gulu! Gulu-gulu found a very suitable place to build this dam!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll build this dam very strong! It will definitely trap lots and lots of fish!”
Chu Jiu gave the two babies a thumbs up: “Good!”
Glup-Glup and Kakaba immediately started moving stones and building the dam.
In Bean Village, these two little ones had already become very skilled at this, so their movements now were particularly practiced and nimble. The stones they piled up fit together very cleverly and wouldn’t be knocked down by small winds and waves.
Chu Jiu also received a prompt from the system: [Spirit Beast No. 3 and Spirit Beast No. 4 accepted the host’s work instructions without facility blueprints]
[Despite the lack of facility blueprints, due to Spirit Beast No. 3’s rich construction experience and skills such as “Construction Quality Improvement” and “Architect’s Insights,” although this work is expected to take a long time, the success rate can reach over 90%]
[Special Reminder: In the absence of facility blueprints, the spirit power consumed by the spirit beasts during work will increase exponentially. Please pay attention to the spirit beasts’ fatigue levels.]
[Estimated completion time: 3 hours]
Being able to build a circle of dam in three hours was already very fast.
Chu Jiu turned his head to look at Little Can, who was standing quietly to the side.
The little guy was frowning, his face full of: Why won’t you let me catch fish? I can catch fish as soon as I go into the water!
Chu Jiu squatted down and rubbed the little guy’s head:
“Don’t worry, your task is also to catch fish.”
Little Can’s eyes lit up: “Meow?”
Chu Jiu nodded: “That’s right.”
“When we looked down from the top of the hill, didn’t we see a shadow swimming around that looked like a big fish?”
Little Can: “Meow!” — “I saw it! I also saw that big fish when I circled the island just now. It was even trying to sneak attack!”
Chu Jiu: “Your task is to slap that fish to death in one go and then drag it ashore intact.”
Little Can meowed and immediately turned around and jumped back into the seawater.
Whoosh!
Clang!
The seawater in the distance churned violently, and a black shark the size of a small truck undulated a few times in the sea.
With a loud bang!
A dark black shark “rose into the air” from the sea, “riding the waves” and flying onto the beach before crashing down heavily, stirring up countless pebbles!
This black flying fish was undoubtedly a dead fish.
Chu Jiu walked to the shark’s side, looked at the system prompt that popped up, and nodded in satisfaction: “Very good.”
“Our ‘house’ is settled.”
That’s right, this shark was the second kind of fish Chu Jiu wanted to catch.
This kind of fish was used to “serve as building material.”
[Nameless Thick-Skinned Shark:
It is unknown what specific species this shark is. It is only known that this fish is bloodthirsty and aggressive, and will specifically target weak prey.
Its meat is very coarse and has a strange fishy and foul smell that makes it difficult to swallow.
Its skin is even more coarse and hard, and can even be used to sharpen tools—perhaps this thick and coarse skin can serve other purposes?]
Chu Jiu knew that fish of this size were usually inedible. But correspondingly, their skin and bones could become very good raw materials!
He took out the machete and began to collect.
Before long, [Thick Fish Skin +301], [Sturdy Fish Bones +20].
If he planned to turn the fish skin into leather armor or clothing, it would need to be repeatedly tanned.
But Chu Jiu now wanted it to be as hard as possible, so he only needed to simply wash and rinse it before laying it out in the sun to dry.
After spreading out the fish skin to dry, Chu Jiu looked at the useless “shark meat” on the shore.
Of course, neither humans nor spirit beasts could eat this meat.
But perhaps other fish would be willing to eat it?
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and still made the shark meat into [Inedible Fish Balls], preparing to put them in the dam fish pond as bait.
*
The dam fish pond had been built.
The fish pond was semicircular in shape with a radius of about 8 meters. The dam surrounding it was entirely built from rocks and coral stones, one by one.
Although it was low tide now, under Glup-Glup’s careful design, the bottom of the dam was also submerged in the seawater, forming a shallow pool.
Chu Jiu and the spirit beast babies together threw the [Fish Balls] into the “fish pond.”
“Gulu-gulu… I really hope there will be many, many fish in the fish pond when the tide goes out next time.” Glup-Glup waved its little leaf with a smile.
The little sapling seemed exceptionally happy:
“Gulu-gulu, gulu-gulu built a very sturdy building without blueprints this time! Gulu-gulu thinks it’s so interesting!”
“Chu Jiu, Chu Jiu, do you have anything else that Gulu-gulu can build?”
Yes, of course.
But Chu Jiu glanced at Glup-Glup’s spirit power consumption and said with a smile, “Not today.”
He had Little Can call Rawr Rawr Rabbit over as well and said to everyone:
“You’ve worked hard today!”
“The sun is about to set, you guys play for a while, and then we’ll prepare dinner.”
The spirit beast babies cheered and went off to play, some playing in the mud, others splashing in the water.
Only Little Can silently jumped back onto Chu Jiu’s shoulder: “Meow?” — “Aren’t you going to rest?”
Chu Jiu smiled: “I need to prepare something else.”
Little Can: “Meow?”
Chu Jiu: “Salt.”
Chu Jiu actually carried salt and sugar with him.
But since the system prompted that [only food from this location can be consumed], he could only find a way to make salt himself.
Fortunately, this was by the sea.
It wasn’t too difficult to make edible salt using seawater.
Chu Jiu turned the [Tumbleweed Stems], which had been drying in the sun for most of the day, into [Wood Ash]. He took out the soup pot he had brought, prepared clean water, fuel, seawater, and the [Not-Very-Reliable Seawater Filter] he had made earlier, and activated the [Virtual Production Line].
The crudest way to make salt from seawater was of course to boil the seawater until a layer of white powdery residue was left.
But this residue had too many impurities and tasted too bitter. It couldn’t be directly used as a substitute for “table salt” unless absolutely necessary.
Therefore, he first needed to use the [Filter] to simply filter the seawater, removing impurities like sand. Then, he would heat it at high temperature to obtain “saturated brine,” add wood ash to the brine to further remove impurities, and repeat the process of boiling and using solubility differences to purify it, finally obtaining real “edible salt.”
In short, compared to “making sugar,” “making salt” was much easier.
Chu Jiu didn’t spend much effort and quickly obtained the [Sea Salt Production Recipe], making 50 portions of [Sea Salt] in one go.
This salt was enough for him and the spirit beasts to eat for three months, and there would still be enough to make several jars of pickles.
Having successfully collected sea salt, Chu Jiu let out a long breath, thinking that it was time to prepare dinner.
At this moment, Little Can meowed, pointing proudly at the beach in front:
On the beach, a neat row of arm-thick, silvery fish were laid out.
Little Can raised its chest with immense pride: Dinner! Ours!
Chu Jiu patted its head: Mmm! Our dinner!
In fact, Chu Jiu knew from the beginning that even without arranging for Glup-Glup and Kakaba to build the dam, relying solely on Little Can’s “hunting skills” would be enough to catch enough fish.
But he still wanted to build a dam.
He believed that building a dam, compared to simple hunting, would be more helpful in repairing “Tara.”
*
There were no stone caves or forests on the deserted island.
Chu Jiu’s planned [Fish Skin House] naturally couldn’t be built today due to Glup-Glup’s rapid spirit power consumption.
So Chu Jiu found a slightly flatter area in the center of the island and barely made it into a campsite.
He used the dried coconut tree trunks and tumbleweed stems as fuel to start a roaring bonfire.
A pot was set up over the bonfire.
There was nothing in the pot except a pot of clear water.
After the water boiled, Chu Jiu first put in a precious piece of [Coconut Tree Core].
After a moment, the pot of water had a hint of sweetness like coconut juice.
Chu Jiu scooped out a cup of water and handed it to Glup-Glup.
Glup-Glup dipped its little tentacles into the water, gurgling as it sucked the sweet water, its little eyes curving into crescents.
It nodded its little head: “Delicious!”
Chu Jiu scooped out most of the remaining water and left it for Glup-Glup, then added more water and boiled it again.
This time, Chu Jiu put in a spoonful of salt and then blanched the tumbleweed shoots.
Half a minute later, Chu Jiu took out the shoots, put them in his mouth, and tasted them:
Not bad, not bad.
The simple blanching removed the original bitterness of the shoots, making them exceptionally tender and adding a special slippery texture.
These blanched tumbleweed shoots reminded Chu Jiu of a kind of “water shield” vegetable from the Jiangnan region of China. Slippery and tender, with a fresh fragrance, it was a very palatable and spring-like vegetable.
And the bit of sea salt and coconut fragrance in the water immediately enriched the taste of this originally bland plant.
Chu Jiu scooped the blanched tumbleweed into a plate and handed it to Kakaba.
Kakaba held the plate, first sniffed it with its little nose, a look of immense surprise appearing on its little face, and then slurped it down in big mouthfuls.
While eating, it said in a muffled voice, “Dang-dang-dang, we can even find such delicious vegetables on this deserted island!”
Chu Jiu smiled and didn’t change the water in the pot. Instead, he put the washed and chopped silverfish into it to continue stewing.
In this way, the pot of water had the sweetness of coconut, the taste of sea salt, and the fresh fragrance of vegetables—it was already a good soup base.
Before long, the translucent silverfish chunks were cooked into opaque snow-white pieces. A gentle poke with chopsticks showed that the fish meat was soft but not falling apart, and the aroma floated upwards, tempting the taste buds.
Chu Jiu scooped out the fish and handed it to Little Can and Rawr Rawr Rabbit.
He himself also picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
Whoa!
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.
What good fish!
This fish was fatty enough, the fatty parts were exceptionally tender and smooth, very palatable but not at all greasy, and it naturally carried the unique fresh flavor of sea fish.
And the flavorful soup base perfectly complemented the fresh and fatty deliciousness of the fish meat—this fish meat coated in the soup, when put into the mouth, really made one want to squint their eyes and immerse themselves in the deliciousness.
Chu Jiu ate a whole piece of fish and drank some soup, contentedly looking up at the stars that had just appeared in the sky, sighing in his heart: who would have thought that we were on a deserted island that couldn’t be more deserted?
Just at this moment.
Kakaba put down its bowl.
Little Can, on the other hand, stood up straight, its ice-blue round eyes vigilantly staring at the beach not far away.
Chu Jiu: …?
Little Can: “There’s something on the beach.”
Chu Jiu: …?
Little Can swooshed and darted straight towards the beach.
A few seconds later, Chu Jiu heard a pitiful cry coming from the beach:
“Puni! Puni puni!”
Chu Jiu: …?
Puni?
Could the puni sound come from the spirit beast of Tara?
Oh no wait, the planet itself is the spirit of Tara..? I’m a bit confused regarding the logistics lol