Everyone got to work

Lin Qianqian nodded and cautioned him, "Lu Zhe, be careful!"

"Everyone else, be careful too. Class monitor, you're wearing Guo'er's watch. Let's meet here at noon!"

Ning Shu said, "All right. Noon sharp, and every one of you had better come back safe and sound!"

"OK!"

Everyone split up!

Lu Zhe searched around but found no medicinal herbs, so he shouldered the stone axe and went over to the abaca tree!

More precisely, it was a clump of trees!

Each long leaf could yield over a hundred fibers, twisted into dozens of thin cords. Once the tissue was removed, they were dried and twisted together into hemp rope comparable to nylon rope!

Lu Zhe cut down the clump of abaca without much effort!

Then he pulled out a few fibers and bound the clump in three places: top, middle, and bottom!

He shouldered it and carried it back to camp!

Jiang Yao tenderly wiped Lu Zhe's sweat away. "Thanks for the hard work, Xiao Zhe!"

Lu Zhe nodded. "No problem! When separating the cords, you'd better wrap your hands in rags so they don't get hurt and sting!"

"Got it!" Jiang Yao wrapped both hands in rags and diligently began pulling out the cords!

Seeing everyone working together, with all four girls playing indispensable roles in the team, Lu Zhe felt very gratified!

He was brimming with energy, too!

He put all his remaining 7 Potential Points into strength, bringing it to 35!

Then he headed into the woods and switched into tree-chopping mode!

Once in the jungle, he needed to find tree trunks as thick as a girl's calf, chop them down with the stone axe, then cut off the branches to turn them into logs!

It was dull, grueling work!

There was no way to have the girls do it. They might not even be able to swing the stone axe. Even his former self would have been dead tired after chopping down three or five trees!

Now, however, he had 3.5 times his original strength. Lifting the axe was much easier, making the work far easier too!

Over the course of the morning, he cut thirteen five-meter-long logs!

Then he carried them back to camp one by one!

Jiang Yao and Tang Xiaoguo were dumbstruck!

"Wow, deskmate, what did you grow up eating? You're so strong!"

Tang Xiaoguo nodded. "You must've been born in the year of the elephant, haha!"

Lu Zhe dropped the last log onto the ground and wiped away his sweat. "No, I was born in the year of Tang Xiaoguo!"

"I was complimenting you, and you're making fun of me!"

"Whether I'm making fun of you can wait. Could you stop spreading your legs while you work?"

"Why?"

"Girl, you're wearing my shorts. Don't you know you're flashing everyone?!"

Tang Xiaoguo looked down. "Ah! You're awful!"

She hurriedly shifted into a ladylike pose!

Jiang Yao let out a long sigh. "Ah, I reminded her several times already. Who knows whether it's intentional or not!"

With that, she shook her head and continued pulling out cords.

Tang Xiaoguo muttered, "You've got some nerve talking about me, Jiang Yao!"

Lu Zhe had no time for their little thoughts. "By the way, have the class monitor and Qianqian come back?"

Jiang Yao said, "They came back three times this morning, bringing quite a lot each time. Now... they should be back soon!"

Lu Zhe checked the time. It was exactly noon. Just as he was worrying that something might have happened, he saw the two girls coming back, dragging a large tarpaulin!

It turned out they had picked up a large tarpaulin somewhere and were using it as a stretcher, loaded with over a dozen coconuts and mineral-water bottles, along with some household trash that had washed onto the island!

Lu Zhe nodded. "Not bad! Whose idea was that?"

"I found the tarp, and Qianqian came up with the idea!"

Lin Qianqian said, "It's so hot. Without figuring something out, we'd collapse from exhaustion."

Ning Shu urged, "Oh, enough talking. Hurry up and open a coconut!"

The two girls were exhausted. They sat down in the shade and kept fanning their necks!

Their faces were flushed, they were drenched in sweat, and their hair clung to their foreheads as they panted nonstop!

A different sort of sight!

Lu Zhe chopped open several coconuts with the axe, then inserted long grass stalks as straws and handed one to each person!

"Let's report our progress! I cut down one abaca tree and thirteen logs!"

Jiang Yao waved the rope in her hand. "Forty-five hemp ropes!"

Tang Xiaoguo said, "Two bottles of sock water, plus half a bottle of solar-distilled water! I'm cooking seafood soup now!"

Lin Qianqian blushed. "Guo'er, could you not mention the socks?"

Guo'er nodded. "Understood!"

Ning Shu said, "For supplies, we picked up thirty-five mineral-water bottles, two pieces of torn clothing, three slippers, and a torn tarp the size of a bedsheet!"

Lin Qianqian added, "For food, we have twenty-one coconuts, thirty-seven mussels, one sea snail, and two sea urchins! Plus some kelp!"

"That's pretty good, everyone!"

Lu Zhe nodded, then looked up at the blazing sun. "The afternoon sun is too strong. Gathering supplies will cost us more water than it's worth! After lunch, let's rest a bit and do some simple work around camp. We'll leave the heavy work until the sun isn't so hot!"

Ning Shu wholeheartedly agreed. "Yeah, I didn't feel that tired on the first trip back, but on the last one, I felt like the sun was going to roast me to death!"

Without thinking, she scratched her bottom again.

Lin Qianqian also said, "I feel like I've never exercised this much before... Can I have another coconut?"

Lu Zhe split open several more coconuts with the stone axe and gave everyone another one.

After lunch, they all sheltered from the heat beneath the shelter and chatted!

The allergic irritation down below still hadn't subsided for Ning Shu, and she kept going into the woods to relieve the itch. Tang Xiaoguo was puzzled and muttered, "Does the class monitor have frequent urination or something?"

Jiang Yao said knowingly, "And you call yourself a girl. The class monitor must be on her period!"

"Oh!" Tang Xiaoguo nodded. "That makes sense!"

After resting for a while, Lu Zhe felt he had recovered quite a bit of stamina!

He might as well find something else to do!

They still didn't have enough wood. A raft built from thirteen logs would only have enough buoyancy to support one person!

To make the raft sturdy and stable, and able to safely carry the weight of five people, they needed more wood!

But he had already cut down nearly all the suitable small trees near camp!

So he considered going deeper into the woods to look for more trees or a bamboo grove!

"Everyone, stay at camp. I'm going to look around the jungle!"

"You're going off alone again?"

Lu Zhe looked around. "There aren't any suitable logs nearby. If we want to build a bamboo raft, we'll have to find another patch of woods!"

"No, going into the jungle alone is too dangerous. If you insist on going, I'll come with you!"

Ning Shu stood up as she spoke, but immediately, that maddening itch returned!

"You... wait a moment..." She took another tissue and ran into the little grove to relieve the itch!

Tang Xiaoguo sounded worried. "At this rate, won't we run out of tissues soon?"

Lin Qianqian said, "Lu Zhe, the class monitor doesn't seem up to it. Let me go with you!"

Lu Zhe waved a hand. "No need. I'll be fine on my own!"

"No! You can't go deep into the woods alone!" Ning Shu's voice came from behind the large tree!

Lin Qianqian picked up her notebook. "Lu Zhe, don't worry. I won't hold you back! Besides, I want to learn some survival skills from you and do more for our companions!"