Desert Island Survival Arc (4)

The sun rose over the horizon, bringing another new day.

Zhang Heng opened his eyes in the cave and found Ed already sitting up. "Morning, Zhang."

"Morning," Zhang Heng said.

"God, I wish I had a hot cup of coffee right now, fried eggs, sausages, and toast." The former Army captain sighed. "But given our current situation, we can't ask for too much, can we? Unfortunately, coconuts give us far too few calories. A young coconut probably only provides around 200 calories, while even without exercising, we burn 2,000 calories a day. We also need to expand our diet and find more varied sources of nutrition. Hmm, since we're by the sea, I think we can make use of that."

"What should I do?" Zhang Heng asked.

"Don't rush. Living in the city has made your stomach pretty fragile. Even if I tell you how to get food from the ocean, without a way to heat it, a single crab could give you diarrhea bad enough to dehydrate you. So we need fire. And the water source you found earlier needs to be heated before drinking too. Boil it for three minutes and you can kill most bacteria. So first, I'll teach you how to make a fire."

Ed paused, then began explaining patiently. "The most important thing in fire-making is choosing the right wood. Fast-growing softwoods are best. The drill spindle and fireboard can come from the same tree. Scrape off the bark and dry them somewhere sunny..."

Zhang Heng listened carefully, but when he actually tried it himself, he discovered it was nowhere near as simple as he had imagined.

He spent the entire morning trying to make a fire.

Yet he failed again and again. His palms were badly rubbed raw from spinning the drill spindle, making him wince in pain. Since he had no time to go looking for food, he and Ed finished the few coconuts they had stored and could only go hungry.

But what was even more frustrating was putting in so much effort and getting nothing in return.

"Zhang, you can't turn from a rookie into an expert in just one day," Ed comforted him. "The beginning is always the hardest part of anything."

"I know that, but failure still feels awful." Zhang Heng tossed aside the broken drill spindle in his hand helplessly.

"Failure is also valuable experience. Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors evolved through constant failure." Ed was as considerate as ever. "You're a smart student, Zhang. Don't rush. You still have time to learn and grow. Now tell me, what did you learn from this failure?"

"The wood still isn't right. I practically rubbed the skin off my hands, but I still couldn't make a spark. I need to try other kinds of wood," Zhang Heng said.

But the weather was unpredictable. At dusk, the island grew windy, and dark clouds soon filled the sky. Before Zhang Heng could gather up the stripped wood he had left drying against the rock wall, a heavy rain soaked it through.

That meant his entire day's work had been for nothing.

Zhang Heng lay sprawled in the cave, staring blankly at the ceiling. "Ed, I don't think your motivational speeches are going to work right now."

"Then give up," Ed said calmly.

"Huh?"

"But only until the rain stops. You need to vent your negative emotions before you can throw yourself back into work properly."

"Are you always this positive and optimistic, Ed?"

"Maybe it's because I've been through worse than this while hiking across the Amazon. When I think about the hardships I survived back then, there's even less reason to give up now," Ed said.

"Do our experiences make us who we are today?" Zhang Heng murmured. He thought again of what the Bartender Lady had said before, and felt as though he had vaguely grasped something.

"This rain doesn't look like it'll stop before dark. Get some sleep early. We still have a lot to do tomorrow." After saying that, Ed lay down first.

The two of them spent their second night hungry.

Before dawn the next morning, Zhang Heng climbed up, mainly because hunger had woken him. He first ran to the coconut trees and picked a few coconuts to fill his stomach. He had nearly picked all the coconuts growing low enough to reach nearby. The rest were much higher up and difficult to knock down with stones. Zhang Heng knew he did not have much time left. He had to get a fire going quickly, or none of the later work could proceed.

So this time, he decided to take a small risk. After bringing breakfast back for Ed, he ventured a little deeper into the virgin forest beyond the beach.

The results were encouraging. Not only did he find a kind of tree suitable for making fire, he also spotted animals that looked like wild chickens. Unfortunately, the little things were nimble. Before Zhang Heng could get close, they flapped their wings and vanished. At least for now, he had no way to deal with them.

He snapped off a branch and brought it back to the shore, following yesterday's method. By afternoon, he finally drilled out some smoking wood dust. Following Ed's instructions, Zhang Heng placed the dust on tinder made from Candlefruit Tree leaves and carefully blew on it, making the dust glow and igniting the tinder beneath.

A moment later, the island's two inhabitants finally had the long-awaited flames.

"Nice work! Now we can avoid the risk of infection!" Ed said happily.

Zhang Heng had never imagined that seeing fire could make him this excited. Just as he was about to say something, a third voice sounded beside his ear.

Successfully made fire. Obtained new skill—Wilderness Survival Level 0. Game points +3. Personal character panel activated. Personal status can now be viewed...

The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Zhang Heng thought carefully and realized it was the same voice he had heard while unconscious before.

Zhang Heng asked Ed, "Ed, did you hear anything just now?"

Ed looked confused. "Was I supposed to hear something?" Then his expression turned serious as he asked with concern, "Zhang, are you hallucinating because of dehydration?"

"..."

Zhang Heng also suspected that the sun had fried his brain, because something resembling a character sheet had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Name: Zhang Heng

Gender: Male

Age: 19

Player ID: 07958

Games completed: 0

Current game points: 3

Skills mastered: Piano Level 1, Language Mastery Level 1 (two languages at everyday conversational proficiency)

Evaluation: This player is utterly ordinary, with nothing worth praising and no particular talents. Estimated to be unable to survive the first three rounds of the game.

Zhang Heng was speechless. Leaving aside that harsh evaluation for the moment, why did he only have two skills?

Fine, he spotted a line of small text beneath the skill section—Level 0 skills are not displayed.

Despite having an amateur Level 9 piano performance standard, he had only gotten a pathetic Level 1? This game's definition of skills was far too strict. Not even one person in a hundred might be able to start a fire barehanded in the wilderness, yet it had only barely reached the threshold of Level 0.

This game seemed more difficult than he had imagined.

Second update. Starting this week, there will be two updates a day. Also, please vote and bookmark. Let's set a small goal first—getting onto the sci-fi new releases ranking.