dmims Chapter 5 What do you think I'm doing?
Chapter 5 What do you think I'm doing?
Qin Chuan handed the remaining coconuts to Fan Yubing for safekeeping, instructing her, "Take care of her first. I'll go find materials to build a shelter. It needs to be finished before dark, otherwise it'll be quite cold outdoors at night."
Fan Yubing nodded: "Okay, I'll keep an eye on her."
Qin Chuan turned and walked behind the bushes, beginning to search for usable materials along the area near the spring.
There was a lot of driftwood; driftwood washed ashore by the waves was scattered all over the beach, some thick and some thin.
Qin Chuan selected several thick branches to use as main beams, and broke off more than a dozen thick branches for support. There were still some leaves left on the banana tree, so he tiptoed and plucked a few.
Not having a rope was a problem. Qin Chuan searched through the bushes for a long time and found a very tough vine. He bit it off with his teeth and cut it into sections about a meter long, which he used as a makeshift rope.
We chose a relatively flat spot next to the spring as our campsite.
Here, the area is close to a water source, the bushes block the sea breeze, and the sand on the ground is held in place by the roots of the vegetation, so you won't get a face full of sand from the wind in the middle of the night.
Qin Chuan spread the two thickest pieces of driftwood apart and propped them up on the ground, then wrapped the tops with vines to form a triangular support.
Then place long wooden sticks on top as crossbeams, with short branches slanted across the sides, and finally layer banana leaves and large leaves on top.
A simple triangular tent can squeeze three people in and is barely enough to keep out the wind and rain.
After building the shack, Qin Chuan began to solve the second problem: fire.
He found a relatively dry piece of hardwood in the bushes, carved a small groove in it with a stone, and whittled a straight stick to use as a drill rod. He laid a small clump of dried coconut fiber and shredded leaves underneath as kindling.
Then he rubbed the wooden stick between his hands, spinning it rapidly, and drilled into the groove.
This job was much more tiring than he had imagined. Qin Chuan rubbed his hands for five minutes, and his palms were burning hot. A little smoke was rising from the grooves, but it was far from catching fire.
He changed his posture, clamping the baseboard between his feet to secure it, and swayed his upper body back and forth while increasing the frequency of rubbing the wooden stick with his hands.
Fan Yubing and Lin Shishi, supporting each other, moved slowly, and saw Qin Chuan with his back to them, half-squatting on the ground, holding a stick in both hands, his upper body rhythmically moving back and forth, accompanied by heavy breathing.
Fan Yubing stopped in her tracks.
That posture, that movement, and that panting...
Fan Yubing's face flushed red instantly.
"Qin Chuan! You filthy scoundrel! What are you doing?!"
Qin Chuan was startled by the shout, his hand trembled, and the wooden stick almost flew out of his hand. He turned around, his face full of question marks.
"I'm trying to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, why are you shouting so loudly?"
Fan Yubing's expression froze after she saw the baseboard, wooden stick, and small pile of dry grass in front of him.
"I...I thought you were masturbating..." She shut her mouth, her ears burning.
Although Lin Shishi was weak, she could tell that Fan Yubing had misunderstood something.
Qin Chuan was so angry he almost threw the wooden stick: "Fan Yubing, what's in your head? Please, what time is it? Do you think I'm in the mood for that kind of thing?"
After being told this, Fan Yubing stammered for a long time before finally managing to say, "I'm sorry... I misread it."
"Look at you, you slapped me once in one day, called me a pervert three times, and misunderstood me twice. Do you have a problem with me?"
Fan Yubing stopped talking and turned her face away.
Qin Chuan turned around and continued crawling.
This time, he was holding his breath and increased the pressure in his hands considerably. The friction between the wooden stick and the groove became more and more intense, and the smoke grew thicker and thicker. Finally, after eight minutes of rubbing, a red dot appeared on the coconut fiber underneath.
Qin Chuan quickly moved closer and gently blew on it with his mouth.
The red dot expanded, and flames shot up with a "whoosh".
He quickly piled up the prepared dry leaves and twigs, and the fire burned brighter and brighter.
"Got it!" Qin Chuan stood up and rubbed his reddened palms.
Fan Yubing and Lin Shishi both breathed a sigh of relief.
The presence of fire provides a sense of security.
Qin Chuan cleaned the mantis shrimp, scallops, and conch he had picked up, then skewered them on a sharp wooden stick and roasted them over a fire.
The seafood sizzled on the fire, releasing a savory aroma. The two women's stomachs growled almost simultaneously.
The mantis shrimp were the first to cook, their shells turning orange-red. Qin Chuan peeled one and took a bite; the meat was firm and much fresher than the mantis shrimp from Blue Star.
"bite!"
[Consuming Level 1 Ingredient: Otherworldly Mantis Shrimp. First consumption grants +2 Strength. Bonus reward: +1 to all attributes!]
Qin Chuan narrowed his eyes. The extra reward for the first use was really powerful, adding one to all attributes, which meant that strength, speed, health, and defense all increased.
He glanced at the system panel:
Power: 14
Life: 12
Speed: 12
Defense: 12
Note: The initial attribute value is 10.
Qin Chuan silently turned off the control panel and divided the remaining seafood among himself, giving each person a little.
Lin Shishi took the scallops and ate them in small bites, eating very carefully and not wasting a single one.
Fan Yubing held the conch shell, frowning as she examined it for a long time.
"How do you eat this?"
"Use the pointed end to crack it open and pull the meat out."
Fan Yubing tried, but couldn't budge it after two taps; she didn't have enough strength. Qin Chuan sighed, picked it up, and tapped it on a stone. The shell broke, and he picked out the meat and handed it to her.
Fan Yubing looked at the grayish-white snail meat with a conflicted expression.
"It's so ugly...it's kind of disgusting."
"Fine, don't eat then, go hungry."
Fan Yubing hesitated for three seconds, then closed her eyes, stuffed the snail meat into her mouth, chewed it twice, and her expression changed from disgust to surprise.
"It's quite fresh."
Qin Chuan didn't reply. After finishing the remaining ingredients, his attributes increased again.
Qin Chuan got up and walked to the spring, starting to dig a water storage pit. The spring's flow rate was too small to drink directly, so a pit had to be dug to store the water.
Without a shovel, he used the only folding knife he had to dig down little by little.
About 30 centimeters below the sand is a layer of moist clay, and below that, water seeps in.
After digging a pit the size of a washbasin and twenty centimeters deep, water slowly seeped up from the bottom. After about ten minutes, the pit was filled with more than half water.
Lin Shishi, supporting herself, came over and glanced at it, then said softly, "You're amazing, you can even do this."
Qin Chuan patted the mud off his hands: "I've learned basic survival skills; I received training when I took the emergency rescue certification exam."
Lin Shishi looked down at her arm: "You applied that tourniquet very well; you must have received professional training."
Qin Chuan nodded without saying anything more.
Lin Shishi pulled a small plastic bag from the pocket of her nurse's uniform; it was still there. Inside were two pieces of gauze and a small roll of medical tape, probably from her emergency first-aid kit. It had been soaked in seawater but was still usable.
"Let me help Sister Fan re-treat the wound on her leg. I just took a look, and sand is stuck inside. It'll get infected if it's not cleaned."
Fan Yubing was somewhat touched: "Thank you."
Lin Shishi squatted down next to Fan Yubing, using a clean strip of cloth dipped in water from the cistern to carefully pick out the grains of sand from the wound, one by one. Her movements were gentle and meticulous, and she talked to Fan Yubing to distract her while cleaning.
"Sister Fan, what do you do on the cruise ship?"
"Private yoga instructor. What about you?"
"A nurse, helping out in the ship's medical room."
"No wonder your technique is so good; it didn't hurt me much."
As the two women chatted, their relationship grew closer.
Qin Chuan was putting the finishing touches on the shack next to them, listening to their conversation and thinking about what to do next.
Before sunset, the tent was set up. Although it was simple, at least the three of us could squeeze in without getting windy or wet. A thick layer of banana leaves and dry grass was spread on the ground, and it was quite soft to lie on.
As the sun set, the great sun finally disappeared completely below the sea level.
Even after the sun had set, the sky was not completely dark.
When Qin Chuan looked up, he was stunned for several seconds.
The light from the small sun that was originally hanging due north-northeast gradually dimmed, its color changing from orange to pale blue, and finally stabilizing into a disc radiating a deep blue glow.
A blue moon.
Or, to put it another way, it's like a little sun during the day, and a blue moon at night.
The blue moonlight enveloped the entire island, bathing the beaches, bushes, and distant coconut trees in a pale blue hue. Combined with the dark blue sky and countless stars, the scene was eerie yet indescribably beautiful.
Fan Yubing and Lin Shishi also saw it, and both of them tilted their heads back and opened their mouths.
"So beautiful..." Lin Shishi said softly.
Fan Yubing didn't speak, but her eyes reflected a blue light, and her lips were slightly parted.
Qin Chuan added two more pieces of firewood, and the fire crackled a few times. The firelight and the blue moonlight intertwined, casting long shadows of the three people.
"This place really isn't Earth," Fan Yubing finally said, her voice strained.
Qin Chuan sat by the fire, hugging his knees. "No. Two suns, a blue moon, and a square coconut—what other Earth has that setup?"
Lin Shishi's eyes reddened again, but she held back, simply twisting her fingers together.
"Then... can we go back?"
Silence. No one answered the question.