Although Lu Zhe had plans to search for a new campsite, it was not possible in the near future!
Although the rain had stopped, it would take a few more days for the rainwater absorbed by the mountain and on the ground surface to recede.
During this time, the slippery mountain terrain and muddy mountain roads made it extremely dangerous to walk through the jungle after the rain. It was simply impossible to climb up rock cracks and reach the highest point.
But without climbing to the highest point, how could they observe where a more suitable campsite was?
Therefore, while surface fresh water was still abundant, building a reservoir to store fresh water would be prudent preparation.
However, building a reservoir was easier said than done.
The biggest problem was waterproofing.
The permeability of the surface soil was extremely high. A reservoir built with this kind of material would neither hold water well nor be sturdy enough.
They had to choose better materials.
But what?
Lu Zhe decided to take a walk around the jungle to see if he could find suitable materials.
He carried a bamboo basket and a shovel, trudging through the mud towards the edge of the mountain ridge and jungle.
"Hey, where are you going!" Shen Bing felt uneasy and hurried to catch up with him.
"It's nothing. I'm just taking a look around."
"Let me go with you. It's better to have someone watching your back."
"Alright, bring a bamboo basket too."
The post-rain jungle was more dangerous than usual.
The loosened terrain, landslides, and shifting rainwater posed constant threats. It was easy to slip down and get impaled on thorns or broken trees, receiving an instant game over.
The dormant poisonous insects, snakes, and ants had also emerged seeking food. Shen Bing felt somewhat concerned.
"Hey, what are you looking for?"
"Ant nests."
"What do you need those for?" Shen Bing looked around. "Wouldn't they have been washed away by such heavy rain?"
"I'm looking precisely for the kind that did not get washed away."
"You can't be wanting to catch the ant queens to eat!"
"I heard they're quite tasty. We could try catching one to find out."
"Do you know how dangerous tropical ant nests are?"
Lu Zhe seemed unconvinced. "Are they that dangerous?"
Shen Bing pondered, "I remember during World War II, a German troop entered the tropical jungle, but they encountered army ants and the entire 1,800 men troop was eaten by them, leaving only 1,800 skeletons behind."
Lu Zhe nodded. "I've heard that story at campfire gatherings."
"You don't believe it?"
Lu Zhe shook his head. "Army ants are aggressive and some are venomous, but they are small in size and move slowly. When humans start running, they simply cannot catch up. Even if all the hundreds of millions of ants in a large nest worked together, they would only amount to 20-30 pounds in total. There's no need to worry about that kind of situation."
"So they're not as dangerous as you say?"
"They are dangerous, but not because they eat humans. Rather, it is because they can sneak into your clothes without you noticing and bite your skin, causing infections. Since effective treatments are hard to find, the skin swells and ulcerates, becoming life-threatening!"
Shen Bing shuddered involuntarily.
"But don't worry. The army ants on this island are not as aggressive, and they even have the benevolent heart to save lives! To suture your leg wound, they selflessly sacrificed their own lives."
"Yes, Guo'er did tell me about that..."
Just then, Lu Zhe discovered what he was looking for.
"There it is!"
Shen Bing squatted down and saw a tall earthen mound about 20 meters ahead, nestled among the bushes.
It was around 1 meter tall with a diameter of 2 meters.
"A grave?? No... This really is an ant nest??"
Shen Bing still felt some trepidation towards these things.
"Surprised? After such heavy rains, it remains perfectly intact. It's simply a miracle of life!"
"I am surprised, but not because it survived undamaged. I'm shocked that it's so close to our camp!"
"That's normal!"
"What's normal about it? It could crawl into our camp!" The thought of these things sneaking into her clothes gave Shen Bing chills.
"Don't worry, these aren't army ants, they are termites!"
"Termites? Don't they eat furniture?"
"Rest assured. With abundant food here, they generally won't go out of their way to chew up wood in homes."
"What are you going to do?"
Lu Zhe walked over to the ant nest and admired,
"With their own saliva and mud, these engineer ants built such a sturdy and beautiful nest that withstands even seven days of storm and torrential rain. It's truly a miracle of insect architecture worthy of respect!"
Saying so, he raised the iron shovel and shoveled away the ant nest.
The termites left homeless were washed away by the flowing water, about to embark on a new termite journey.
Lu Zhe shook off the nest fragments and threw them into the bamboo basket.
"What are you collecting those for?"
"These ant nests are excellent building materials with superb water resistance. I plan to use them to build a small reservoir when we get back!"
"I see!"
Shen Bing finally understood why Lu Zhe was looking for ant nests, and the importance of a reservoir for them.
But the termites probably wouldn't be too happy about it!
Who cares!
She also started gathering the nest fragments.
On their third trip, Lu Zhe finally discovered the queen!
The upper half looked like an ordinary ant, but the lower half was a 10 cm big worm-like body.
The pale, plump, fleshy body rippled in waves.
"This is the queen ant."
"It looks so gross. Are we really going to eat it..."
"Of course! It's rich in protein and can be eaten raw. Grilled over charcoal with salt and chili powder, it's simply a delicacy!"
And so, he took away their mother.
Outside the cave, Lu Zhe cleared a dry area and made a circle with rocks. He piled wood and dry grass underneath and laid the ant nest fragments on top.
Lighting a fire!
The remaining termites in the nest unfortunately experienced cremation.
Next, Lu Zhe ground the nest fragments into powder and mixed them with ashes from the burned grass and wood, adding water to make cement.
Lu Zhe measured out the amount of cement needed. 8 meters to the right of the cave entrance, he outlined a circular pit and started digging.
The pit had a diameter of 1.2 meters and was about 1.5 meters deep.
Then, he plastered the cement mix on the surrounding walls of the pit.
Plastering the sides was easy, but the bottom required some effort. He needed a thick stick propped over the pit with a rope tied in the middle to lower himself down.
As Lu Zhe wondered where to find such a thick stick, Tang Xiaoguo came running over. "Lu Zhe, we're building a barbecue grill. Come join us... Oh? What's this?"
"Guess what it is?"
Tang Xiaoguo thought for a bit and nodded. "Not only did you build us a shower and soap, you even built such a pretty bathtub for us! It seems you went through a lot of trouble just to watch us bathe!"
Lu Zhe smiled wryly, "If the tub is this deep, wouldn't that be unfriendly to you?"
"How so?"
"You'd have to jump up just to breathe, right?"
Seeing Tang Xiaoguo's annoyed expression, a simple idea came to Lu Zhe. "Xiaoguo, come help me plaster the bottom!"
"I won't help... Hey!"
"Be good!" Lu Zhe had already lifted her up by the ankles and held her upside down. Her skirt dropped down.
"What are you doing?"
Shen Bing laughed behind her palm. "Let me bring you the cement!"
Tang Xiaoguo yelled, "I'm a fairy. How can a fairy do menial labor like plastering? And you're seeing my underwear!"
While she said so, she secretly berated herself. She should not have worn granny panties. Compared to the class leader, she was clearly far less cunning.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
