Having just arrived in a new place, wanting to do everything at once without a clear train of thought is likely to make a mess of things.
The few girls ate until they were round as a melon, discussing taking a break before continuing to build their nest.
Lu Zhe looked at the time, still early, planning to go to the lakeside to take a look around, as well as bring back the python to use as reserve rations over the next few days.
Shen Bing needed to lead everyone in building the nest, and was worried about Lu Zhe going out alone, so she asked Ning Shu to go with Lu Zhe.
This time the two entered the jungle from another direction, continuing to look for mosquito-repelling herbs and other cash crops along the way.
Midway, they encountered many more good things.
For example, Ning Shu discovered a birch tree!
The bark peeled off the trunk in layers like paper.
Ning Shu happily said: "I've seen Sister Sparrow's videos, she used these branches to drill holes and get fire, using the peeled bark as tinder and the inside as toilet paper, a better choice than bamboo leaves."
Lu Zhe looked it over: "Not bad indeed, though a little hard, what if it scratches your bottom?"
"It shouldn't if you're gentle enough..."
"Feel this!"
As he spoke, Lu Zhe handed Ning Shu a spindle-shaped leaf about 8 cm wide and 15 cm long.
Ning Shu rubbed it and asked: "The leaf is quite soft, what's it for?"
"This is an Indian mallow leaf, the size and shape varies across regions. Its papery leaves are covered with fine hairs, different from other hairs in that they don't fall off easily and are very soft and non-irritating.
Use it to wipe your bottom and it perfectly clears away any residual poop without hurting a girl's tender skin."
Ning Shu blushed: "Your ten thousand whys are a bit too specific!"
Just then, she discovered something new: "Look over there, the whole tree of red and white flowers looks quite nice!"
"Indeed! Let's go take a look!"
As they walked over, they realized the red parts were flowers, while the white clusters bursting out of the fruit husks looked more like cotton.
Lu Zhe put his hand on the tree bark, and a message sounded in his mind!
"Ding! Found important crop: kapok! Potential point +1!"
Information on kapok appeared in his mind!
Also called silk-cotton tree, found mostly in China and Southeast Asia.
The flowers are red, the melon-like fruit contains large amounts of cotton-like fluff that carries seeds and spreads them far away.
Ning Shu marveled: "I've just learned that cotton grows on trees!"
Lu Zhe happily said: "This is kapok. Not the same as regular cotton but can fully replace it. With this we can permanently end the era of sea sponges as sanitary pads! We can even make cotton cloth and quilts in the future. Wait and see, I’ll pick some to take back!"
As he spoke, Lu Zhe climbed up the tree and started plucking the fluff cluster by cluster.
Soon his backpack was stuffed full.
Looking out from the tree trunk, he realized there were six kapok trees in this stretch of jungle.
Even if used extravagantly to fully replace toilet paper, there would be enough.
Lu Zhe jumped down and continued forward!
Along the way, they discovered white snakeroot, wild ginger (snake-dispelling), chili peppers, fishmint, sweet orchid leaves and other plants, as well as a second lemon tree.
Regrettably no cassava, sugarcane, bananas, wild mangoes or other high-value plants were found.
Still not bad.
Walking further, they heard croaking!
Ning Shu excitedly said: "Frogs mean freshwater!"
"Not necessarily, could be marine frogs!"
"There's such a creature?"
"There is, Indonesia nearby is one of their native habitats."
Five minutes later, they arrived at the lakeside!
The shore was covered with deciduous trees and numerous waist-high bushes. Lu Zhe spent over ten minutes hacking an opening to crawl through!
The long anticipated lake was right before their eyes.
Gripping a small tree in one hand, he dipped the other hand in the water. A message immediately sounded in his mind:
"Ding! Gained new freshwater source, potential point +1!"
Only then did Lu Zhe breathe a sigh of relief!
Over the past month, he had obtained various freshwater sources through different channels, but none made him so excited!
A full 5 hectares!
Equivalent to two stadiums in size, it was actually a freshwater lake!
This meant whether in dry or rainy seasons, their freshwater issues on the volcanic island would be completely resolved!
"How is it? Lu Zhe!" Ning Shu asked.
"Freshwater!"
"How can you tell before tasting it?"
Lu Zhe licked it with his tongue: "Really, try it?"
Ning Shu also licked and excitedly hugged Lu Zhe: "Really! That's awesome, we have endless freshwater now!"
Lu Zhe nodded: "Moreover, the value of this lake is far more than that. There are still many usable resources to explore!"
"Too bad our phones are out of battery, or we could take some photos back. When to recharge them?"
"No rush for that. I don't recommend lemons. We'll make batteries from scratch in some days."
Ning Shu nodded: "Good idea!"
Lu Zhe checked his watch: "It's getting late. Let's go find the python to take back to camp!"
"I'll handle everything else, you just get that snake!"
"Got it. Careful, there are marshes over there!"
The two arrived at the marsh where the cow had fallen. Lu Zhe quickly pulled Ning Shu close so she wouldn't move.
Ning Shu didn't dare make a sound, scared stiff.
Was the python alive?
No!
It was dead as a doornail, even its head was gone.
They saw a three-meter crocodile biting the python's body with a section swallowed into its mouth. It suddenly thrashed violently in the marsh, spinning three and a half circles, trying to snap the python's neck.
But it failed!
The python had long lost any life force.
As the crocodile twisted, its body twisted along, completely refusing to snap no matter how much the crocodile spun.
Deep distress showed on Lu Zhe's face.
So much protein, digestion could really become an issue.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
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.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
