Chapter 287 - 287 144

Words : 1405 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

287: 144. Friday 287: 144. Friday “There’s a problem there, I don’t recommend moving to the cabin to live.” The cabin emanated an unsettling aura, amplified by the strange humanoid shadow Lu Li had seen on the wall before leaving, making him prefer to stay under the cliffs on the beach. “What if I want to go?” the woman in black robes, or rather, Friday, said. “You do as you like, I’ll stay here.” It wasn’t wise to split up on an island in the deep sea, but compared to staying in the cabin atop the cliff, Lu Li would rather stay at Windbreak Point waiting for rescue. “I’d rather rest in the cabin than in a pit full of sand.” Friday crawled out of the windbreak, seemingly in a good mood. Lu Li nodded, not uttering a word of persuasion. He split two cans of canned food and half of the matches with her, “This is yours, there’s a path behind the rock wall that leads up.” Lu Li hadn’t taken the oil lamp and bedding from the cabin; those would have to be left for Friday. In the meantime, a fire here would serve just as well. Friday accepted Lu Li’s offerings and waved at him, “If you change your mind, you can come find me.” As he watched Friday walk around to the back of the rock wall, Lu Li withdrew his gaze and ducked back into the windbreak. The terrain of the windbreak was slightly lower than the beach, filled with brown, damp sand that got narrower and shallower toward the back, no deeper than two meters. However, it was spacious enough to lie across while raising a fire, with the trapezoidal overhanging rock preventing smoke from accumulating. It was early morning, and Lu Li had plenty of time to prepare. But he would do best to have everything ready before noon—enough firewood, a fire, raising the floor height at the edge of the windbreak to prevent rainwater ingress, constructing a windbreak and sight barrier outside, leaving visible markers on the beach for passing ships, securing drinkable water, and perhaps some food. After these preparations, he would rest until evening and wake up before nightfall to stay alert throughout the night at the windbreak. Having planned how to organize the windbreak, Lu Li first pushed about five centimeters of the damp sand out of the windbreak to make more space and increase the ground level outside, then he took off his shirt, and about fifty meters away, he found a spot with lighter-colored sand, scooped up some of the drier surface layer into his shirt, and brought it back to evenly spread on the ground within the windbreak. After three trips, a thin layer of light brown sand barely covered the dark sand. It wasn’t enough, so Lu Li spent another fifteen minutes hauling more sand several times to increase the dry sand’s thickness to about one to two centimeters. This was temporarily sufficient. As long as it blocked moisture, the fire raised later would further dry the underlying sand. After dusting off most of the sand from his shirt, Lu Li pursed his dry lips, deciding to postpone gathering firewood and prioritize finding a water source. He had gone the entire night without a drop of water. He checked the two Spirit-Calling Guns; they appeared undamaged, but the silver-plated bullets had been used up, making it impossible to test whether they could still fire properly. The Spirit-Calling Guns would temporarily be used as fire sticks. Leaving the beach, Lu Li entered the forest and headed toward the area on the rock wall where he suspected there was a water source. The thick boots numbed his feel of the ground beneath, the small stones and prickly dry grass, while the snug fit kept him slightly warm in the cool, overcast weather. Lu Li walked and stopped intermittently, glancing around the woods. He frequently bent down to pick up stones, either keeping them or discarding them. The stones he kept were mostly thin with one smooth, flat surface; they could be placed beside the fire to hold a pot or food for boiling water or cooking. From them, Lu Li chose a relatively sharp stone to use as a dagger, holding it in his hand. The small size of the island, half a kilometer, meant that no destination was too far away; a few minutes later, Lu Li neared the suspected water source. A faint smell of rot permeated the surrounding woods. Lu Li slowed his pace, following the direction of the foul smell to a two-meter-wide pool where he saw a humanoid corpse. The hand holding the stone shard tensed, then gradually relaxed. The corpse was oddly shaped, dwarf-like, with brown furry hair covering its body. It was a monkey. The dead monkey lay by the waterhole, its head submerged in the water, its body highly decomposed, and its fur matted together, having been dead for at least half a month. Based on what Lu Li had seen and heard along the way, it might have been the last wild animal on this small island. The waterhole wasn’t deep, barely reaching mid-calf at its deepest, and was nearly dried up. It seemed clear, allowing a view to the mud and fallen leaves at the bottom, but it was stagnant water, contaminated by the corpse. Lu Li needed to find fresh water and boil it before drinking. In this world, getting sick from drinking water was almost incurable. Unless it reached the point where not drinking would lead to dehydration and death, Lu Li had no intention of drinking the polluted water from the waterhole. Raising his head here, he could see a small cabin on the cliff top two hundred meters away; the suspected water source Lu Li had seen from the cliff top was this place. He had to find other water sources. Walking around the island, apart from making his lips dryer, Lu Li couldn’t find any water source, except on the other side of the rock wall, where he had a minor success—he picked up two empty cans. One of them had been crushed and was unusable, but the other was still intact and could be used for boiling water, if it didn’t leak. If he found water, that is. Returning to the beach from the other side of the cliff wall, Lu Li noticed a dark water streak on the rock wall. Perhaps it was dew accumulated from above, or perhaps it was groundwater seeping out of the rocks, a thread-like slender moist streak extended down from the top of the cliff, converging into droplets at the lower end, moistening a small patch of gravel. Lu Li touched some with his hand and tasted it. The flavor was mild; if the taste of sea salt on his fingers was included, this water was freshwater. More importantly, it was flowing water. Lu Li, carrying the found can, walked towards the sea, filled up a can of seawater, and the lead-gray seawater in the can became clear, rippling enticingly, making one want to drink it all in one sip. After ensuring the can didn’t leak, Lu Li used the seawater to wash off the stains inside and outside of the can and returned to the side of the rock wall. Lu Li looked towards the nearby area, which was less than thirty meters from the windbreak point. Going back and forth for water wouldn’t take much time. Turning his gaze away, Lu Li placed the can below the waterline. Tap— Tap— Tap— The sound of dripping water came softly from the bottom of the can. The water dripped slowly; it might take two hours or even longer to fill a can with only a 300-milliliter capacity. And it might not keep dripping continuously. This source could barely prevent Lu Li from running out of water, but he would be better off finding other water sources. If he could find another rock wall that seeped clear water, it would be enough for Lu Li’s daily drinking needs. Other water sources... Lu Li recalled the newspaper he had read the day before departure. The three-day weather forecast in the newspaper was cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, but it had rained a little on the first two days. He remembered that the forecast was never accurate.

Chapter 287 - 287 144

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