Little Poliwag Takes Charge

The rain had stopped and the sky cleared, allowing the long-awaited sun to shine down. The warm sensation made Yu Hai feel alive again, realizing nothing was more important than simply living.

The storm had finally passed, and both he and Poliwag felt much better, but the work of digging in the sand couldn't stop.

As the temperature gradually rose, he unfastened the rainproof plastic from his body, exposing his damp, tattered clothes to the sun to dry. Otherwise, they would soon start growing mold.

His body bathed in sunlight, dispelling the chill within him. He tore off more rainproof plastic and rags, enjoying the precious morning sun that had been absent for two days.

Feeling less cold, Yu Hai resumed digging in the sand. To find the lighter, he had already broken several branches he'd snapped off.

Even Poliwag, who was transporting the sand, was so tired it was panting and had to stop to rest.

Poliwag could stop, but he couldn't. If he couldn't pile the sand to the left, he'd pile it to the right. The lighter was his only hope for survival.

Without a lighter, his chances of surviving a cold or fever were less than fifty percent.

With a lighter, his chances of surviving a cold or fever would exceed sixty percent.

In reality, the human body wasn't that weak. As long as the immune system had time to react, most minor illnesses could heal on their own.

Of course, this healing was contingent on not resorting to foolish treatments, like eating or taking random medications, or bloodletting.

Those actions would only weaken him further and lead to a faster death.

He continued digging until noon, and after excavating a large hole under the tree trunk, he finally touched what he had buried: the Plastic Basin.

He was overjoyed, but couldn't help but cough, "Cough, cough, cough..."

He had to hurry. He felt not only his forehead but also his body and arms were burning hot. He knew his immune system was in overdrive, and he needed to cool his body down. It wouldn't be pleasant if his brain got fried.

If viewed from the perspective of his immune cells, the situation was: "Either the host lives, or the virus does..."

He took out the Plastic Basin. It was intact. He then dug out a Stew Pot, a Frying Pan, an Iron Cup, a Hammock, an Hourglass, and the rainproof plastic wrapping the lighter from the sand pit.

Once he had the lighter, he didn't care about the other items. Grabbing the lighter, the Stew Pot, and the Iron Cup, he immediately called out to Poliwag, who was playing in the sand, "Poliwag, follow me, cough, cough, cough..."

"Yoyo?" Poliwag saw Yu Hai walking unsteadily, needing to lean on the tree trunk to stay upright. It didn't know what was wrong with Yu Hai, but it still followed behind him, curious to see what he was planning to do.

Yu Hai only called out to Poliwag once, unsure if it was following. He couldn't afford to worry about it anymore. His vision was blurring, and he couldn't afford any more delays.

Emerging from the branches of the giant tree, Yu Hai held some white trash in his hand – Foam Board, which had been blown over by the wind the previous night and caught by the giant tree.

After putting down the Foam Board, he picked up some old Bamboo nearby. These items dried relatively quickly and would be suitable for firewood after being exposed to the sun.

Then, he gathered some broken Wooden Boards, which could also burn after being dried.

After collecting the dry Bamboo and broken Wooden Boards, he moved everything to a relatively spacious, shaded grassy area at the edge of the jungle. Yu Hai could no longer hold on.

His tasks weren't finished yet, and he couldn't stop. He used the lighter to ignite the plastic, then used the plastic to light the Bamboo strips, and finally used the Bamboo strips to dry the broken Wooden Boards.

Lastly, he used the Stew Pot to collect a pot of Water from a nearby puddle and placed it by the fire to boil.

Before boiling, he tasted it, confirming it was fresh water.

Then, he used the tattered cloth he had taken off earlier, folded it, and placed it in the puddle to soak up Lukewarm Water.

After finding a comfortable spot to lie down, using the Lifebuoy as a pillow and placing the wet cloth on his forehead, he had finally completed all his tasks. Now, all that was left was to recover.

"Poliwag, come here, cough, cough, cough," Before completely losing consciousness, Yu Hai opened the cap of the Lukewarm Water bottle. Having been in the sun for so long, the water inside was still slightly warm.

To prevent dehydration if his fever got too high later, he drank some of the Lukewarm Water.

After drinking the Lukewarm Water, he still had instructions for Poliwag, "I'm going to sleep for a while, don't worry. Don't touch the water in this pot. You'll need to find your own food next, cough, cough, cough..."

"And this, cough, cough, cough," Yu Hai removed the wet cloth from his forehead and then pulled Poliwag's tail, placing the cloth on it to explain, "..."

"I need you to help me wet this cloth with cool water and put it back on my forehead, cough, cough, cough, like this..."

Yu Hai only demonstrated it once for Poliwag. If Poliwag didn't understand or couldn't do it, he couldn't help it and could only leave it to fate.

"Poliwag, and these broken Wooden Boards. If you see the fire getting smaller, put the Wooden Boards into the fire. If, cough, cough, cough, if there are no more broken Wooden Boards, you go and pick some up..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yu Hai lost the strength to guide Poliwag. His consciousness began to blur, and he couldn't utter another word. His heavy eyelids slowly closed. He couldn't hold on any longer and simply lay down in the spot he had chosen, drifting off into a daze.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag had been listening intently, but Yu Hai stopped talking mid-sentence. No matter how much it called out, Yu Hai didn't respond.

It started to get anxious. It went close to Yu Hai's cheek and licked him with its small pink tongue, calling out, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

But Yu Hai had fallen into a deep sleep and couldn't hear Poliwag's calls. Even if he could, his muddled consciousness at the moment wouldn't allow him to respond to Poliwag's anxious cries.

"Yoyo, yoyo..."

"Yoyoyoyo, yoyoyoyo..."

Unable to wake Yu Hai, Poliwag finally gave up. It stayed by his side for a while and saw the flames of the campfire dimming. It suddenly remembered Yu Hai's instructions.

It went to the campfire and pushed all the broken Wooden Boards Yu Hai had placed beside it into the flames.

As the flames grew larger, it returned to Yu Hai's side and squatted, not going anywhere. Even though its stomach rumbled with hunger, it only glanced at the sea before its large black eyes returned to worryingly watching Yu Hai.

Suddenly, it noticed the wet cloth on Yu Hai's forehead. It gently lifted the cloth with its feather-like tail. It immediately felt how hot Yu Hai's forehead was, so hot that it quickly retracted its tail and knocked the cloth off.

Looking at the cloth on the grass, Poliwag then looked at Yu Hai's forehead. After a few back-and-forth glances, it remembered Yu Hai's earlier instructions.

It immediately picked up the cloth from the grass with its mouth, went to the puddle, soaked the cloth in cool water, then lifted the cloth with its tail and went to Yu Hai's side, gently placing the cloth on Yu Hai's forehead.

After doing all this, Poliwag saw that the campfire flames were dimming again and rushed to add broken Wooden Boards to the fire. However, there were no more broken Wooden Boards by the fire. Poliwag could only look towards the beach, where there were still many broken Wooden Boards.

Just as it was about to go and pick some up, it looked back at Yu Hai with concern.

On one side was the nearly extinguished campfire, and on the other was Yu Hai, whom it couldn't wake.

Poliwag was conflicted. Should it go and get the broken Wooden Boards...

Thank you all for your votes, so many recommendation tickets, thank you.