After the rain came sunshine. Long-missed sunlight spilled over him, and that warm feeling made Yu Hai once again realize that nothing was more important than being alive.
The storm had finally passed. Both the man and the tadpole felt much better, but the sand-digging could not stop.
As the temperature gradually rose, he untied the rainproof plastic around himself and spread the damp rags and clothes out under the sun. Otherwise, they would practically start growing mushrooms.
With his body bathed in sunlight and the chill driven from his bones, he tore away more of the rainproof plastic and rags, savoring the hard-won morning sun after the past two days.
Once he no longer felt quite so cold, Yu Hai began digging through the sand again. To find the lighter, he broke several branches he had snapped off along the way.
Even Poliwag, who was carrying away the sand, was panting from exhaustion and could only stop to rest.
Poliwag could stop, but he could not. If he could not pile the sand on the left, then he piled it on the right. The lighter was his only hope of survival.
Without a lighter, his chances of surviving a cold and fever were less than fifty percent.
With a lighter, his chances of surviving a cold and fever rose above sixty percent.
The human body was not actually that frail. As long as the immune system was given time to react, most minor illnesses could heal on their own.
Of course, the prerequisite was not to treat it recklessly—such as eating random things, taking random medicine, or using bloodletting therapy.
That would only make him weaker and kill him faster.
He kept digging until noon. Beneath the tree trunk, he dug out a large hole and finally touched something he had buried: the plastic basin.
Joy surged through him, but he could not stop himself from coughing. "Cough, cough, cough cough..."
He had to hurry. Not only did his forehead feel scorching hot, but so did his body and arms. He knew his immune system was fighting with all it had. He needed to cool down. It would not be good if his brain got fried.
From the perspective of immune cells, the situation now was simple: "Only one of the host and the virus can survive..."
After taking out the plastic basin and confirming it was intact, he felt around the sandpit again and pulled out the stew pot, frying pan, iron cup, hammock, hourglass, and the rainproof plastic wrapped around the lighter.
Once he had the lighter, he no longer cared about anything else. Taking the lighter, stew pot, and iron cup, he immediately called to Poliwag, who was playing in the sand. "Poliwag, come with me. Cough, cough, cough..."
"Poli?" Poliwag saw that Yu Hai was staggering as he walked and needed to support himself against the tree trunk to stand steadily. It did not know what was wrong with Yu Hai, but it still followed behind him to see what he intended to do.
Yu Hai only called out to Poliwag once. He did not know whether it had followed, but he could not care about that now. He was seeing double already and could not delay any longer.
After emerging from within the giant tree's branches, Yu Hai held several pieces of white trash in his hands—foam board that had been blown here by the wind last night and blocked by the giant tree.
After setting down the foam board, he collected some old bamboo nearby. It dried relatively quickly, and after being exposed to the sun, it was suitable for firewood.
Then, he picked up some broken Wooden Boards. Once dried over the fire, they could burn as well.
After gathering the bamboo and broken Wooden Boards, he carried everything to the edge of the jungle, onto a relatively spacious patch of shaded grass. Yu Hai could no longer hold on.
His work was not done yet, so he could not 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.
At last, he filled the stew pot with water from one of the puddles scattered everywhere and set it beside the fire to boil.
Before boiling it, he took a taste and confirmed it was freshwater.
Next, he folded one of the rags he had taken off earlier and soaked it in the cool water of the puddle.
Then he found a comfortable place to lie down, used the lifebuoy as a pillow, and placed the rag soaked in cool water over his forehead. Only then was everything done. All that remained was to recover.
"Poliwag, come here. Cough, cough, cough." Before completely drifting off, Yu Hai opened the cap on the bottle of lukewarm water from before. After sitting in the sun for so long, the water inside was still somewhat warm.
To keep himself from becoming dehydrated if his fever worsened, he drank some lukewarm water.
After drinking, he still had some things to explain to Poliwag. "I'm going to sleep for a while, so don't worry. Don't touch the water in this pot. Next, you'll have to find food for yourself. Cough, cough, cough..."
"And this, cough, cough, cough." Yu Hai removed the rag from his forehead, pulled over Poliwag's tail, placed the rag on it, and explained to Poliwag.
"I need you to help me soak this rag in cool water and put it back on my forehead. Cough, cough, cough. Like this..."
Yu Hai demonstrated it for Poliwag only once. If Poliwag could not understand or could not do it, there was nothing he could do. He could only leave it to fate.
"Poliwag, and these broken Wooden Boards. When you see the fire getting smaller, put the boards into the fire. If, cough, cough, cough, if the broken boards run out, go pick up more..."
Before he could finish, Yu Hai no longer had the strength to guide Poliwag. His consciousness began to blur, and he could not say another word. His heavy eyelids slowly closed. He could not endure any longer and could only lie in the spot he had chosen, drifting into a muddled sleep.
"Poli, Poli." Poliwag had been listening carefully, but Yu Hai suddenly stopped talking. No matter how it called, Yu Hai gave no response.
It began to panic. Moving to Yu Hai's cheek, it extended its tiny pink tongue and Licked him while calling out, "Poli, Poli..."
But Yu Hai had already fallen into a deep sleep and could not hear Poliwag calling. Even if he could hear it, his muddled mind would not allow him to respond to Poliwag's anxious cries.
"Poli, Poli..."
"Poli poli poli poli, poli poli poli poli..."
After failing to wake Yu Hai, Poliwag finally gave up. It stayed by Yu Hai's side for a while, and when it saw the flames in the fire grow smaller, it immediately recalled Yu Hai's instructions.
It went to the fire and pushed all the broken Wooden Boards Yu Hai had placed beside it into the flames.
As the fire grew larger, it returned to Yu Hai's side and stayed there without going anywhere. Even when its hungry stomach rumbled, it only glanced at the sea before turning its large black eyes back toward Yu Hai in worry.
Suddenly, it noticed the rag on Yu Hai's forehead. It gently lifted the rag with its feather-like tail and immediately felt how hot Yu Hai's forehead was. The heat made it jerk its tail back at once, knocking the rag off.
Poliwag looked at the rag on the grass, then at Yu Hai's forehead. After going back and forth several times, it remembered what Yu Hai had told it earlier.
It immediately picked up the rag from the grass with its mouth, carried it to the puddle, soaked it in cool water, then lifted it with its tail and returned to Yu Hai's side, gently placing it on his forehead.
After finishing all that, Poliwag saw that the flames had shrunk again and hurried to add broken Wooden Boards. But there were no more boards beside the fire. Poliwag could only look toward the beach, where there were still plenty of broken Wooden Boards.
Just as it was about to go collect them, it looked back at Yu Hai anxiously.
On one side was a fire that was about to go out. On the other was Yu Hai, whom it could not wake.
Poliwag was deeply conflicted. Should it go pick up the broken Wooden Boards or not...
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