Ch. 12 - The Island and Tree Harvesting

Bang!Bang Bang. The gunshots continued, each sounding slightly different. Yang Yi was practising his shooting skills. Since the flintlock rifle was unreliable, he needed to improve his accuracy to make up for its shortcomings. A piece of wood was hanging from the stern of the ship, and Yang Yi stood at the bow, taking shots at it. There was a minute between each shot, and even if the gun misfired, it didn’t matter — it was just practice. Beside him, a fishing rod was set up, and he occasionally glanced at the sea to check if he’d caught anything. By the end of the morning, he had only hit the target a dozen times. He was still far from being a sharpshooter! Yang Yi ate a long-legged sardine. By now, he had gotten used to it and found the sardine’s taste to be quite good, especially its four long legs, which were crispy and tasted like chicken! One more day, and the storm the system warned about would arrive. Yang Yi had stored ten eyeball fish, one loaf of black bread, 6 litres of fresh water, and a dozen long-legged sardines. During this time, he had even caught a big fish, half a metre long! 【Name: Red-lipped Eel】 【Type: Food】 【Description: A top-quality fiery red lip, but unfortunately, it's on a fish! Want to have a passionate kiss with it? Abyssal species, edible, non-toxic, with tender fish lips.】 When this fish first appeared, it gave him quite a scare. Eating this fish raw would mean biting into those fiery red lips — something Yang Yi found a bit hard to stomach, unless he was really starving. Looking at the fish’s stark cherry-coloured lips, Yang Yi remembered the nightmare he had the previous night. The memory was still freshly ingrained in his mind. In the dream, a red-eyed woman pointed a gun at his head. Those vibrant eyes filled him with dread... 【You feel a chill in your heart. Sanity decreases by 8.】 The gun in the woman’s hand was one Yang Yi recognised — it was his own flintlock rifle, though how it ended up in her hands, he didn’t know... Just thinking about it gave him chills. Because of this, Yang Yi hadn’t slept well again, and now he was sporting thick, dark circles under his eyes. Fortunately, the corpse poison in his body had been cured, his wounds were nearly healed, and his health was at 76. However, his energy recovery was too slow. After a night’s sleep, he only recovered about 30 energy points, which severely limited his daytime activities. This couldn't go on. He needed to find a way to quickly recover his energy to offset this drawback. Holy water, for example, could restore energy, but it was too expensive and not that effective... As he pondered, he suddenly received an anonymous message. “Look to the upper right; there’s an island there!” “Who are you?” Yang Yi replied, but there was no further response. In this world, to contact someone privately, you at least need to know their ship’s name. If it wasn’t a special ship, you’d also need to know the person’s name. But Yang Yi had never revealed his information. How did this person know? Could it be a cheat? After thinking for a while, he came to two conclusions: The other person might have a special skill that allowed them to see him, learn his ship’s name, and they were not far away!This was a special mission given by the system. He didn’t see any suspicious ships. To the upper right, there was indeed an island. It wasn’t large, with some green patches that likely indicated trees. These trees could probably be cut down for wood, and the island might have other resources. If he had discovered the island on his own, he would probably have landed to check it out. But now that someone had tipped him off, he was more uncertain. In the end, Yang Yi decided to sail around it to observe. If there were no signs of other ships or players, he would find a suitable spot to land. The weapon in his hand gave him confidence. At this stage, almost no players had guns, at least none had mentioned it in the chat. As the ship approached, Yang Yi got a clear view. It was a tropical island, about three kilometres in diametre, not very large. The edge was a golden beach, with some crabs and shells scattered around — good old protein sources in Yang Yi’s eyes! But what attracted him the most were the coconut trees. The tallest tree had a bronze chest hanging from it. Moreover, there were no signs that any players had landed. The coconuts were untouched! After some hesitation, Yang Yi decided to go ashore. He chose a suitable spot to anchor the ship and then disembarked. The moment his feet touched the ground, Yang Yi felt as if he had been away from the land for ages, even though he had only been a few days at sea. He gathered some food from the beach, such as green crabs, clams, and scallops. 【Name: Green Crab】 【Type: Food】 【Description: A common crab, pure and natural, with tender meat.】 【Name: Clam】 【Type: Ingredient】 【Description: A common shellfish, edible, and can be made into delicious clam soup.】 【Name: Scallop】 【Type: Food】 【Description: If you had garlic and vermicelli, roasting a few would be unforgettable!】 Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NøᴠᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality. Yang Yi collected a bunch and tossed them into the ship's hold, planning to eat them later. Then, for the main event — a bunch of lush, green coconut trees. These trees were generally seven or eight metres tall, with the tallest one being over ten metres, bearing heavy coconuts. They were a vital source of freshwater, easy to store, and the coconut meat provided dietary fibre. They tasted good, and were treasures he couldn't pass up! But Yang Yi wasn’t skilled at climbing trees. There was the danger of slipping and breaking a leg or even his spine. Without a way to heal, it was too risky. Using a gun to shoot down the coconuts was convenient but too noisy. If there were any monsters on the island, that would be bad. As he walked around the trees, some stones of varying sizes caught his attention. 【Name: Stone】 【Type: Resource】 【Description: Can be collected as stone material for crafting. If it's a large stone, you’d better prepare a pickaxe.】 Yang Yi picked up a bunch of medium-sized stones and placed them on the shore. Then, he returned to the Nightmare, adjusted its position, and used the grappling hook to pull the stones onto the ship. After two trips, he had collected 25 units of stone. Crafting a simple stone axe required 5 units of stone and 5 units of wood. It was one of the basic crafting functions in the log, which could be used to make basic tools like fishing rods, spears, shovels, arrows, etc. The quality was probably poor, as the items didn’t even display attributes, making them inferior to ordinary equipment. He took a stone axe ashore and headed towards the tallest coconut tree. It had more than ten large coconuts and a bronze chest hanging from it. It was the first tree he planned to tackle.