The Bait Was Stolen

The fourth day of surviving on the deserted island, Yu Hai has initially achieved freedom in terms of fresh water. Congratulations!

There's more than enough fresh water to drink; it can be stored for showers.

Of course, this is a conservative estimate of the water volume. If the temperature gets too high during the day, halving the water or even causing a dry spell, he'll be in trouble.

For now, he doesn't have to worry about fresh water. The next thing to consider is food.

The four elements of survival: water, fire, food, and shelter. Here, there's an additional element: safety...

He's sorted out fresh water. With a lighter, he doesn't need to worry about fire either. Before the lighter's gas runs out, he won't have to worry about starting a fire at all.

As for shelter, the makeshift shack he put up yesterday is passable. The weather has been good these past few days, and he can see the stars at night, so there shouldn't be any heavy rain.

Even if it does rain heavily, it'll be a good thing for him. He's in dire need of fresh water, and rain is perfect for collecting it in plastic buckets, and he can even take a shower.

In the three days since he transmigrated, he's been focused on finding food and fresh water.

Combined with three days of scorching sun, as a modern person, he can't stand the smell of himself; it's too pungent.

For shelter from the rain, he can just hide under a tree. The rain won't last forever anyway. It's best if it doesn't get windy; he's completely defenseless against strong winds and can't withstand them at all.

To collect as much rainwater as possible when it rains, he's prepared many containers, which will be spread across the entire sandy area.

He didn't arrange the rainproof plastic sheeting over the rags, but instead dug a pit and laid it out, just waiting for the rain.

Shelter isn't the most crucial thing; food is the most pressing need right now, even safety has to take a backseat.

Starving to death versus being eaten, he feels starving to death will come first.

Without food, Poliwag cannot grow, let alone train its physique and learn moves.

Being in a constant state of hunger will only erode Poliwag's already low potential. Poliwag's potential is inherently low, and he doesn't want to see it diminish further.

Sufficient food must be put on the agenda; this is an urgent matter.

They also need to change their diet. Fish is hard to come by. Fishing is too unpredictable; he only spends his mornings fishing, and whether he catches fish is entirely up to luck.

There are no baiting lures, no fishing bait. It's not suitable for the hot weather, and his only tool is a hand rod, with no spare.

Timing, location, and people – none of it is on his side. It's easy to see how difficult it is for a fisherman to get fish.

Catching the first two fish was pure luck; otherwise, he'd only be able to drink the northwest wind.

As an experienced fisherman, once a fish bites, he can guarantee at least an eighty percent chance of reeling it in.

But the real problem for a fisherman is when no fish bite.

Besides fish, they can also eat grass. While searching for fresh water, he saw a lot of seaweed by the sea, or rather, kelp.

There's plenty of this stuff. It's everywhere in the rocky shallows by the sea. He even saw Kingler eating it; after all, it's an omnivorous Pokémon that also scavenges...

"Holy crap, scavenges?" Yu Hai thought, immediately realizing something was wrong. The fish guts he buried were likely eaten by that damned group of crabs again.

He was so angry that he forgot about Poliwag, put it down, and sprinted back to the shelter. When he reached the sandy area where he buried the fish guts yesterday, the burial spot had already been dug up, and the fish guts were gone, leaving only some messy Kingler footprints.

Staring at the dug-up pit before him, Yu Hai slumped onto the sand, dumbfounded. His bait was gone again. He hated it...

"Kingler..." Yu Hai gnashed his teeth in hatred. He had never hated a Pokémon like Kingler so much; it was almost a psychological trauma.

Because of "Zhi Ye" (likely referring to Ash Ketchum from Pokémon), he used to quite like the cute and simple Kingler, but now, all he felt was anger.

His impression of this group of street ruffians had plummeted.

He swore that if someone gave him a Kingler, he wouldn't even want it; it was just too damn despicable.

He was already in such a miserable state, and they still stole his meat bait.

With no meat bait, he returned to using vegetarian bait. At the same fishing spot as yesterday, he cut leaves into the shape of lures and cast them into the sea.

At this moment, Poliwag also came up to him. Seeing his dispirited state, it let out a couple of calls, "Yoyo? Yoyo?"

"It's nothing," Yu Hai heard Poliwag's calls and instantly adjusted his facial expression, putting on a smile. He reached out and stroked Poliwag's round, blue head.

He didn't want to pass on his anger and frustration about the stolen meat bait to Poliwag. Poliwag didn't need to know about such things; he would handle it.

Since Poliwag chose to follow him, he wouldn't let the little tadpole go hungry. If he couldn't catch fish, they could just eat grass; it wasn't an unbearable situation.

Eating grass was just standard practice for a fisherman; no need to make a fuss.

Moreover, Poliwag also eats grass, being an omnivore just like him.

Sigh...

This sigh carried too much helplessness...

And so, Yu Hai spent the entire morning by the fishing rod. Today wasn't as lucky as yesterday, where he managed to lure a Sharp-toothed Fish. Today, there was nothing.

Yu Hai had already prepared himself for this. Fishermen fear not getting any bites the most, as it means an empty catch, but there's nothing they can do about it.

After turning the fishing rod into a fixed trap, he headed towards the water collection point under the scorching sun, replaced an empty plastic bucket, and carried the half-filled bucket of fresh water back to the shelter to start a fire and boil the water for drinking.

After all, it was only out of necessity before. Now that he could boil water, there was no need to drink raw water.

The container he used to boil water was an iron cup, just large enough to fit an adult's fist. He hadn't found any larger containers.

For just boiling water, this iron cup was sufficient.

He washed the iron cup once with water, filled it with water, and then placed the iron cup on the fire to boil water, waiting for the fresh water in the cup to boil before he could drink it.

At this time, the Poliwag was already extremely hot and was sleeping under the shade of a tree. He didn't disturb the Poliwag, but with the fire still burning in front of him, he felt even hotter.

Eventually, he got so hot that he even took off his shirt, but it was unavoidable if he wanted to safely drink the fresh water.

After the water in the iron cup boiled, he took the blackened iron cup out of the fire and placed it beside him, waiting for the boiling water to cool down.

To drink this cup of safe fresh water, he had been busy for half an hour. Finally, after the boiling water cooled down, he drank a cup of refreshing and clean cool boiled water.

"Ah, so comfortable," Yu Hai sighed deeply after finishing the cool boiled water in the iron cup. He savored the slightly salty cool boiled water he had just drunk, and his mood became much more cheerful.

After having access to fresh water, he had never felt so relaxed. He no longer had to worry about dying of thirst. Being able to drink whenever he wanted was truly amazing. He felt completely relaxed, a feeling of refreshment from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.