Finding Freshwater

After testing the humidity of the soil with his hand, Yu Hai took a dry, hard piece of bamboo and used it as a shovel to start digging.

He stopped after digging a pit about as deep as his forearm because there was no water there, just damp soil.

Seeing this large pit, he began to doubt his direction in searching for fresh water.

After resting for a moment, he looked at the pit dug by the bamboo. Only a finger-joint deep of accumulated water seeped from the bottom, barely a mouthful, but better than nothing.

At least it proved his direction was correct, just too inefficient.

He brushed the dirt off his palms, dipped his fingers into the pit, and gently scooped up some of the turbid black muddy water. He placed it on his tongue to feel it, tasted the fresh water, and spat out the mud and sand.

After confirming the bottom of the pit contained fresh water, he picked up the piece of foam board beside him and covered the pit with it. Then he placed a rock on top of the foam board to prevent trash from blowing into the pit.

This could at most serve as a backup supply of fresh water. How much fresh water would seep from the soil was unknown, and the water quality was questionable. He didn't dare drink it and would need to boil it first.

There was no fresh water here, so he needed to find a new source. Getting up from the muddy ground, he continued along the coastline in search of fresh water.

Actually, he hadn't ignored the Berries by the coast, but every fruit tree, or the trees themselves, were guarded by a group of Pokémon.

Kingler, Beedrill, Spearow...

He avoided these Pokémon, not daring to encroach on their territory. Even with three legs, he couldn't defeat this group, nor was he a match for a Kingler's pincers.

To avoid his head getting bashed in or dying from poisoning, honestly searching for fresh water was his only way out right now.

Not far from his shelter, about a seven or eight-minute walk, he found another damp spot.

This time it was a reef. After several days under the scorching sun, a rock far from the sea was still quite moist. He didn't care about his appearance and lay down on the rock, his dry, cracked lips parting, his tongue reaching out to lick the rock, tasting fresh water.

Joy instantly filled him. He thought, This is it. He immediately looked up along the damp rock. There was more damp rock above, so he followed it upwards and saw a rock that was dripping.

The dripping speed wasn't fast, only one or two drops per second, but it was better than nothing and more reliable than the mud pit before.

He took off the plastic bottle he was carrying and placed it under the rock to collect water, waiting for the drops to fall. He then lay down beside the rock, feeling several degrees cooler, perhaps because the area was more humid.

Listening to the drip, drip, drip of water into the plastic bottle, he felt a long-lost sense of peace. Finally, there was fresh water to drink, and fish soup was no longer a distant dream.

After an unknown amount of time, he looked at the plastic bottle, which was now half full of fresh water. He picked it up, brought the opening to his cracked lips, and watched the water in the bottle slowly flow into his mouth and down his throat.

After his throat was moistened by the fresh water, he finally felt alive. But suddenly, a violent coughing fit seized him. He instinctively hunched over, coughing intensely, "Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Perhaps he drank too quickly and choked. The fresh water he had just taken into his mouth, before he could even taste it, was coughed out again. It was truly a shame.

After the violent coughing fit, Yu Hai looked at the fresh water he had just coughed onto the ground and sighed inwardly. However, seeing that there was still water in the bottle, his joy surged, unable to be contained.

This water wasn't exactly pure fresh water; it had a slight salty taste. He wasn't sure if it was due to the container or if the water was naturally like this.

But this water was acceptable. It was a tiny bit better than having nothing at all.

This time, he didn't rush to drink. Instead, he took small sips, slowly drinking the fresh water from the bottle.

Actually, directly drinking raw water from the wild is incorrect. Raw water from the wild should be boiled before drinking, including the dew collected earlier.

But he was extremely thirsty and couldn't wait. He had to quench his thirst first.

Drinking raw water like this, if he was lucky, nothing would happen. If he was unlucky, he might get diarrhea.

Even worse, he could be infected by parasites that would continuously drain his nutrients, eventually leading to death by exhaustion.

He hoped the Pokémon World was truly a beautiful world like in the anime, without parasitic creatures like robbers, otherwise, he would suffer greatly.

He placed the plastic bottle back at the water collection point and secured it with a rock. Then he returned to the shelter, planning to get a larger plastic bucket to collect fresh water.

Drinking raw water before was a last resort. Once he had enough fresh water, he would boil it before drinking.

When he returned to the shelter, Poliwag had finished its scolding. It was exhausted, lying on the sand, panting heavily. It didn't even have the energy to acknowledge his return.

Seeing him grab a plastic bucket and leave in a hurry, Poliwag still got up and followed him to the water collection point.

At this moment, the plastic bottle was already half full of fresh water. Yu Hai took it and asked Poliwag, "Poliwag, want some water?"

As he spoke, Yu Hai made a drinking gesture and brought the bottle opening to Poliwag's mouth.

Poliwag, accustomed to Yu Hai's strange behavior, simply stuck out its tongue, licked the fresh water from the bottle opening, and smacked its lips, calling out to Yu Hai, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

"You want to drink?" Yu Hai pressed down on the bottle opening, guessing Poliwag's intention.

Seeing the fresh water flow out of the bottle, Poliwag quickly used its mouth to catch it, drinking the fresh water Yu Hai was feeding it.

Seeing this, Yu Hai knew he had guessed correctly and let Poliwag drink all the fresh water in the bottle.

After drinking the fresh water, Poliwag smacked its lips, looking unsatisfied. It raised its big, dark eyes and looked at the plastic bucket.

But Yu Hai immediately raised his hand and covered Poliwag's big, dark eyes. This plastic bucket couldn't be damaged by Poliwag; it was the source of life, a life-saving item.

Then, he scooped up Poliwag and returned to the shelter. On the way, he casually picked up several large plastic buckets and kept an eye out for any large pots washed ashore.

With fresh water, he could cook seafood soup and finally have a hot meal.

Based on the dripping speed of the rock, a 500ml plastic bottle could collect half a bottle of fresh water in about ten minutes.

Conservatively, he could collect a bucket of water in the morning, about four to five liters.

Including the night, he could collect four buckets of water in twenty-four hours, which was about twenty liters, or roughly twenty kilograms of fresh water.