The rainy season brought new problems. The rock crevices on the sandy beach used to be ideal natural salt deposits, forming saturated brines that would precipitate edible sodium chloride crystals every so often.
But now, the brines in the rocky pits diluted by the rain had freshened back into ordinary seawater, or even fresher than ordinary seawater, unable to precipitate any salt crystals at all.
Lu Zhe tried looking around to see if there were any sheltered places with residual salt crystals left.
If it really came down to it, they'd have to boil seawater, but the purity and taste of the sodium chloride crystals extracted this way were far inferior to those produced naturally from brine.
He searched for hours but didn't find any.
July 16th, the 37th day stranded on the deserted island. Lu Zhe had Ning Shu and Tang Xiaoguo boil seawater while he himself went into the woods to look for food.
After all, the salt-boiling method Tang Xiaoguo had learned from somewhere could tide them over for a period of time.
They would have to wait for an opportunity to settle down and use vats to crystallize salt from brine.
Unexpectedly, Lu Zhe had originally gone into the woods to find food, but ended up finding "salt" there!
Saltwood!
Anacardiaceae, a deciduous tree!
The fruits inside the canopy bore white crystals. Lu Zhe tasted one, it was slightly sour with a prominent saltiness. This "salt" tasted much better than what they boiled out, though unfortunately it was a resin that couldn't provide sodium.
Still good though!
He could bring some back to season their food, and also soak it in water to make vinegar!
"Ding! Obtained medicinal item Maydis Fructus, +1 potential point!"
This thing was formidable, a famous traditional Chinese medicine, capable of stopping diarrhea, staunching bleeding, and reducing inflammation.
But it wasn't the fruit of the saltwood tree. Rather, it was a gall formed from aphid secretions on the saplings, easily reminding one of certain uncomfortable images from the Bug Valley of Yunnan.
He'd take it back for later use.
Returning to camp to try his luck by the seaside again, he found Ning Shu looking very pleased with herself. Turned out she had found a 20-plus kilogram sea turtle on the beach.
Lu Zhe looked at the sea turtle and nodded approvingly: "Not bad, we've got our protein for today."
"Lu Zhe, you're going to eat it?"
"What else?"
"Hey! Turtles are so docile and cute. When I flipped it over, it didn't resist at all, just like a human's best friend. How could you just say you're going to eat it like that?" Ning Shu said indignantly, then added lightly: "At least... give it a trial first!"
Lu Zhe almost spewed out a mouthful of blood.
"And you'd be totally fine with that?"
"Yup!"
"Well I can't think of any charges."
"Then... I know, my hand got cut when I picked it up!"
Lu Zhe nodded: "That's charge enough!"
Tang Xiaoguo had also finished boiling the salt. The white salt crystals looked no different from table salt.
He tasted some. Slightly bitter, still mixed with small amounts of magnesium chloride and potassium chloride. Couldn't eat too much of it, but occasionally supplementing their sodium intake with it shouldn't be an issue.
That night, they used the turtle shell as a pot placed over the campfire. Seasoned it with spicy salt, and enjoyed a delicious turtle feast.
On July 17th at noon, Lu Zhe brought the two girls back to the bear cave, finally reuniting with their companions.
Five days felt like a whole month. Meeting again inevitably aroused some emotional outbursts.
Once everyone had calmed down, Lu Zhe recounted what he saw and learned during the mountain ascent.
Shen Bing asked: "So you've decided to move?"
Lu Zhe nodded: "This move should be our last on Volcano Island. There's fresh water, mountain goats, and arable land there. It's also relatively close to the sea. I think it's the most ideal habitation site on this island."
Jiang Yao sighed: "We have gotten a little sick of it here. We should find a new place."
Lin Qianqian said: "When do we set off then?"
"We can start preparing today. Bring food and necessary tools, and we can head out tomorrow."
ither go to a cultivation world where a single sword strike can defeat ten thousand enemies. Or they travel back to historical dynasties to alter history and wield imperial power. At the very least, they'd go back a few decades to get rich using their future knowledge and build a harem. Who the hell would transmigrate here!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
Heart] Chen Yi traversed the cultivation world for eight hundred years, charging his way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Just as he was outwitting his 81st Heavenly Tribulation to ascend to immortality, he was suddenly pulled into a chat group called the "Multiverse Transmigrators Support Group." To his surprise, the group was filled with nothing but fresh-faced newbies who had just transmigrated. [Help! I transmigrated into a disgraced concubine in the cold palace, and the tyrant emperor is about to execute me!] [I ended up as a cannon-fodder villain, and the protagonist is still chasing me—WTF!] [I woke up as the protagonist’s father, but I’m about to be sacrificed in a ritual! What do I do? Urgent!!!] Chen Yi stared at the chaotic flood of desperate pleas in the group and fell into deep thought. "Seriously? You drag me into a newbie transmigrator chat group… only after I’m one step away from becoming an immortal?"
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
