Night fell, and the temperature plunged

The campfire became the brightest source of light!

It brought warmth and comfort to everyone's hearts!

They dared not imagine what kind of night they would have faced if they hadn't managed to get a fire going!

The snake meat had also cooked through, giving off an enticing aroma!

"Dinner's ready. Let's eat!"

"I've been looking forward to this!"

"If only it weren't snake meat..."

Lu Zhe lifted the kelp-wrapped snake with a branch and set it on a clean rock!

By then, the kelp had roasted into a crispy shell, and the salt and salty flavor on its surface had soaked into the snake meat!

It smelled incredible!

Lu Zhe peeled off a piece of roasted kelp and chewed it, making crunching sounds!

"It's so good! Looks like I've got a talent for being a chef. Want to try some?"

The four girls exchanged looks, then each picked up a small piece and chewed it!

Then each of them exclaimed in delighted surprise, "Wow, this is... way too delicious!"

"This is just the kelp. You haven't even tried the snake meat yet!"

"But it's a venomous snake..."

"Haven't you heard the saying that the more venomous the snake, the tastier it is? Cobra is a top-tier delicacy among snakes!"

"Oh..." Lin Qianqian hurriedly took out her little notebook and wrote that down.

Lu Zhe pulled apart the kelp. Inside, the tender snake meat was cooked just right, steaming hot, white, and soft!

He pulled off a piece of meat. It burned his fingers!

He blew on it and put it in his mouth!

Then he followed it with a bite of spicy gluten strips and fish mint!

"Mmm... this flavor is unbeatable!"

The girls were initially a little resistant to the snake meat, but they simply couldn't resist Lu Zhe's taste test or the aroma of the meat itself. Each carefully took a little and put it in her mouth!

At that moment, they all squealed with happiness!

One snake, one sheet of kelp, a handful of fish mint, a bag of spicy gluten strips, and 1,500 ml of fresh water became the five castaways' first dinner on the deserted island!

With delicious food and a warm fire, it felt more like a camping trip with good friends, and there was even a hint of happiness!

But Lu Zhe understood that this was only the beginning. If the rescue team didn't come, they would face even harsher survival challenges ahead!

Finishing the snake and kelp left them feeling somewhat full!

Lin Qianqian asked, "Lu Zhe, can we eat hermit crabs?"

Lu Zhe picked up a small hermit crab. Information about hermit crabs appeared in his mind, and he gave them a quick explanation:

"The meat in a hermit crab's rear end is edible, but it has a rank smell, and the ones you caught are too small! They provide less energy than it takes to digest them, so eating them isn't recommended!"

Jiang Yao curiously picked up a hermit crab and sniffed it, then tossed it away in disgust. "It really doesn't smell very good. Like it fell into a toilet!"

Tang Xiaoguo remembered the sight of hermit crabs eating poop, covered her little mouth, and gagged!

Ning Shu was rather curious. "Lu Zhe, how do you know all this strange stuff?"

Of course, Lu Zhe couldn't tell them his system had taught him, so he casually made something up. "I read One Hundred Thousand Whys a lot as a kid, and watched survival shows when I grew up. Naturally, I know a little more!"

Tang Xiaoguo nodded. "Like our class monitor. She's always reading fujoshi fiction, so she even knows about guys' weird tastes!"

Ning Shu said indignantly, "It's purely literary! I'm not some fujoshi! Besides, Qianqian reads novels all the time too! Speaking of which, Qianqian, what kind do you read?"

Lin Qianqian thought for a moment and casually listed a few. "I read heartwarming stories like Deep Slumber, Dreams Have Their Orders, and My Heart Flutters for You!"

Ning Shu froze. "Huh? I think those are all... yuri novels!"

Jiang Yao and Tang Xiaoguo exclaimed together, "Yuri novels?"

A little flustered, Lin Qianqian defended herself quietly. "So the kind of books someone reads doesn't mean the reader is like that!"

Ning Shu nodded. "True. I read them occasionally too!"

Then she asked Lu Zhe, "Lu Zhe, what are you most concerned about right now?"

Lu Zhe thought for a moment and uttered two words. "The temperature!"

As luck would have it, no sooner had he said those two words than Ning Shu sneezed!

Was it the power of suggestion?

No!

The other three girls felt it too. The temperature was starting to turn cold!

Jiang Yao hugged her shoulders. "I didn't notice until you mentioned it. Why did it suddenly get... so cold..."

Lu Zhe shook his head. "The difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures on this island is too great!"

Ning Shu complained, "Aren't we in the tropics? Even if there's a big temperature difference, it shouldn't be this cold!"

Lu Zhe didn't know the reason either, but he came up with a guess. "Maybe cold and warm currents take turns flowing past this island!"

Watching the fire tossed about by the wind, Lin Qianqian added, "Different temperatures meeting can also speed up air circulation, so the wind is stronger at night too!"

Jiang Yao said, "Then what do we do?"

Tang Xiaoguo hugged herself tightly. "We're definitely going to catch colds tomorrow!"

Lu Zhe checked his watch. It was already eight in the evening!

He said gravely, "Normally, at this time, we'd all be lying on the couch playing on our phones or working through practice papers!

"But right now, we have to work together to deal with the cold night!"

"How?" Ning Shu asked. "Build a shelter now?"

"There's no time!"

Lu Zhe shook his head. "Even if we had time, we've already used up a lot of energy finding food and fresh water and making a fire today. We'd hardly have the strength to build a shelter! We can only take basic measures!"

"Tell us what to do, Lu Zhe!"

Lu Zhe wanted to gather some firewood and make the fire bigger to provide more heat!

But at the sight of the jungle's unfathomable depths, he lost his nerve!

Entering the jungle alone in the middle of the night was far too dangerous, and taking a girl along would only hold him back!

He had no choice but to give up!

Just then, the system sent another mission: "New mission: create effective cold-protection facilities to get through the cold night!

He checked the Survival Manual. The method it offered was to boil water and make hot-water bottles.

Suddenly, Lu Zhe's eyes lit up!

"I've got an idea!"

Ning Shu asked, "What is it?"

"The sand on the surface is cold, but the sand beside the fire is hot!"

Jiang Yao said, "But we can't stay really close to the fire all the time, can we?"

Tang Xiaoguo added, "Even beside the fire, we can only warm our hands and feet. Our bodies are still cold!"

"All right, hear me out!"

Lu Zhe continued, "There are three steps in total, and none of them are very difficult to carry out! But I need everyone's unconditional cooperation!"

The girls exchanged looks and all nodded.

"First, we need to dig a pit in the sand. We can sleep inside it and stick broad leaves around it to block the sea breeze!"

Ning Shu nodded. "Digging a pit in the sand isn't too difficult! Sticking broad leaves around it is easy too. What's next?"

"We can put the little pebbles we dig up into the fire to heat them!"

Tang Xiaoguo was puzzled. "Heat the stones? Aren't we the ones who are cold?"

"That's right, but we need to use the stones to keep warm!"

Lin Qianqian nodded. "I get it."

"Is the third step to spread a layer of heated stones inside the sand pit? That way, it'll be warmer inside than outside!"

Lu Zhe shook his head. "No. If we scatter them like that, the heat will dissipate quickly!"

Jiang Yao asked, "Then what do we do?"

"We can fill discarded drink cans with seawater, then put the hot little stones into the cans to heat the seawater!"