Making Distilled Water

Lin Qianqian knitted her little brows. "Lu Zhe, why are you still holding on to that thing? It's filthy!"

"You have no idea how important this thing is!"

Lin Qianqian looked puzzled. "What's so important about it?"

"I need to check whether it leaks first!" Lu Zhe roughly scooped out the filth inside, then filled it with seawater. Not a single drop leaked from the tin can!

"Perfect!"

Lu Zhe was delighted. "We can use this can as a soup pot. Once we find some fresh water, we can make soup!"

On a cold night, on a barren desert island, being able to enjoy a can of delicious seafood soup to ward off the chill would be absolute bliss!

Ning Shu also came over for a curious look.

But when she saw the filthy surface of the tin can and the unidentifiable paste inside, she couldn't help looking disgusted!

"But this can is so dirty. Won't using it to make food give us an upset stomach?"

"Yeah, it's filthy. It'd be more suitable as an ashtray!"

"So what if it's dirty? It's not like we don't have hands. What's so scary about cleaning it?"

Lin Qianqian said, "That's true, but what can we use to clean it?"

Ning Shu said, "We'd need at least a bucket of dish soap to get this thing clean, wouldn't we?"

After checking the Survival Manual, Lu Zhe had a solution.

"It might look filthy, but it's all surface grime. It's much easier to clean than grease. Bark, stones, and sea sand can all be used to scrub it. Keep your eyes wide open and watch!"

He grabbed a handful of wet sand, smeared it over the can's surface, then scrubbed it with bark. Soon, the barnacles and moss came off, revealing the can's original metallic color!

Next, he put sand inside the can, stirred it vigorously with a twig, then added water, held down the lid, and shook it hard!

After several rounds of vigorous shaking, he rinsed it clean with seawater. The inside looked as good as new too.

Ning Shu patted Lu Zhe on the shoulder. "As expected of Yaoyao's partner. In my capacity as class monitor, I hereby declare you the boy with the best cleaning skills in our class!"

Lu Zhe said without meaning it, "Well, thank you!"

Lin Qianqian said happily, "So we really did almost miss out on something good! It's just a shame we don't have fresh water, or we could cook something to eat!"

Ning Shu said, "Couldn't we boil coconut water?"

Lu Zhe said, "We could, if our class monitor doesn't mind a very strange taste! But apparently, it's really good for cooking chicken!"

But right now, there was probably a more important use for it.

He closed his eyes, and a specific distillation method took shape in his mind!

Simply put, it involved winding some cloth into a bundle and tying it to a cord!

Then he would use the "pot" to boil seawater. Once it boiled, the seawater would turn into rising steam!

Then he would hang the cloth bundle directly above the pot, letting the water vapor collect on the cloth and soak into it!

Because cloth absorbed water well, it would hold a large amount of water vapor over time!

At that point, he could wring it out, and the result would be drinkable fresh water!

The entire water-collection process was very scientific, practical, and feasible!

The problem was...

What cloth should he use, then?

The scrap of cloth he had picked up earlier.

That was it!

He scooped up half a can of seawater with the tin can, then set it on the fire!

Next, he took that thing down and bunched it up, bound it into a ball with bark cord, then hung it from a branch and positioned it above the tin can!

"Qianqian, come here a moment!"

"Okay!"

"In a little while, the seawater will boil and produce lots of steam! Just hang the cloth bundle here like I'm doing, and the water vapor will soak into the cloth. Then wring the water out, and it'll be fresh water we can drink!"

"Got it!"

Lin Qianqian took it from him and began distilling fresh water the way Lu Zhe had taught her.