Lin Qianqian frowned slightly: "Lu Zhe, why are you still holding that filthy thing? It's so dirty!"
"You don't know the significance of this thing!"
Lin Qianqian was puzzled: "What's so significant about it?"
"I have to check first to see if it leaks!" Lu Zhe rummaged roughly inside the dirty stuff, then filled it up with seawater. Not a single drop leaked out from the iron can!
"Perfect!"
Lu Zhe was overjoyed: "This can could be used as a pot to cook soup. If we can find some fresh water, we can cook soup!"
On a cold night, on a barren island, enjoying a hot, delicious seafood soup would be an extremely delightful thing!
Ning Shu also curiously came over to take a look. But when she saw the dirty surface of the iron can, and the unidentifiable mushy stuff inside, she couldn't help showing a disgusted expression!
"But the can is so filthy. Eating food cooked in it would make us sick!"
"Yes, it's too dirty. It would be better to use it as an ashtray!"
"What's wrong with it being dirty? We have hands, we can clean it up!"
Lin Qianqian said, "That may be so, but what can we use to clean it?"
Ning Shu said, "To wash this thing clean, we would at least need a bucket of detergent."
After checking the survival manual, Lu Zhe had a solution.
"Although it looks very dirty, it's just surface stains which are much easier to clean than oil stains. Tree bark, rocks and beach sand can all be used to scrub it clean. Watch closely!"
He grabbed a handful of wet sand and smeared it on the surface of the can, then used tree bark to scrub it. Very quickly, the barnacles were scrubbed off, revealing the original metallic color of the can!
Then, he put sand into the can, stirred it vigorously with a stick, poured in some water, clamped the lid shut and shook it violently!
After several rounds of intense shaking, he rinsed it clean with seawater. The inside had also become as good as new.
Ning Shu patted Lu Zhe on the shoulder: "Worthy of being Xiao Xiao's partner, as class monitor I'm willing to recognize you as the boy in our class with the strongest cleaning skills!"
Lu Zhe politely replied: "Thank you!"
Lin Qianqian happily said: "It turns out we almost missed out on something good! Too bad there's no fresh water, otherwise we could cook and eat!"
Ning Shu said: "Can't we use coconut water?"
Lu Zhe said: "If class monitor doesn't mind the strange taste, we can cook with it! I heard it goes well with chicken."
But now, it has an even more important use.
Closing his eyes, he visualized the specific distillation process!
In simple terms, it involves wrapping fabric into a ball and tying it with rope!
Then use the "pot" to boil seawater. Once the water has boiled, it turns into steam!
Then hang the fabric ball directly above the pot to let the steam condense on the fabric, soaking through it!
Since fabric has good absorbency, after some time it will absorb a lot of the steam!
Then, squeeze it out - what comes out is drinkable fresh water!
The whole water extraction process is very scientific, practical and feasible!
The problem is...
What fabric to use?
That scrap of cloth found earlier.
It will have to do!
He dipped half a bucket of seawater with the iron can, then placed it over the fire!
Next, he took that scrap of fabric, scrunched it into a ball, wrapped it tightly with some tree bark rope into a sphere, and hung it over the can using a stick!
"Qianqian, come over for a bit!"
"Ok!"
"In a while, when the seawater boils, it will produce a lot of steam! Just hang the fabric ball here like I showed you, and let the steam condense into the fabric. Then squeeze out the water - it will be drinkable fresh water!"
"Got it!"
Lin Qianqian took over and started distilling fresh water from the steam like Lu Zhe taught her.