"Ahhh, there's food! This time it's real food!"
"Yes, yes, finally we don't have to wait so long!"
Although the cap is only the size of a fingernail, it is well known that mushrooms grow extremely fast. Once they sprout, under suitable conditions, they can mature in just a few hours or a day and a night.
However, the question remains: "Are these mushrooms edible?"
The old man's question was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads.
The girls looked at each other, then turned to look at Bi Qiaoan.
Bi Qiaoan didn't know what kind of mushroom she took out, but she was certain that it wasn't poisonous.
So he nodded: "Its surface is smooth and its color isn't too bright, so it should be edible. Besides, we don't have any other options right now."
After struggling for a long time, the girls finally said, "Okay, we'll eat it. At worst, we'll die. What's so scary about that?"
Bi Qiaoan: "There's no need to be so pessimistic. Trust me, these mushrooms will be fine."
The plants she grows in her space are all specially purchased from cultivation bases, how could they possibly be poisonous?
However, there were too many kinds of mushrooms, and she had only grabbed soil containing mycelium from her space in a hurry, so she couldn't identify the species for a while.
"Okay, we believe you, sister!"
Bi Qiaoan nodded: "Then let's go back. There's no point in staying here. We can come back to collect more tomorrow."
One of the girls shook her head frantically: "No, no, we finally found some food, how can we just leave them alone! You guys go back, I'll stay here and watch over them."
Another girl hesitated, "Should I go with her?"
Upon seeing this, Bi Qiaoan said, "Why don't we just move our headquarters here? It doesn't matter where we live anyway."
The girls were delighted to hear this, and after cheering for a while, they ran off to move their "luggage." The so-called luggage was nothing more than a pot, a few broken bowls, and a bundle of firewood.
No, there are two more bottles of water, but those two bottles were brought over.
Bi Qiaoan and An'an squatted in place without moving, staring blankly at the little mushroom that had just emerged from the mud.
"Could it be that the spiritual spring water has such a powerful effect on promoting the division of fungi?"
Seeing that the elderly couple had gone to check elsewhere, Bi Qiaoan poured some spiritual spring water at the base of the small mushroom. As a result, the mushroom cap swelled at a visible speed, growing to a diameter of five centimeters in no time.
This is clearly at the point where it can be picked.
Bi Qiaoan was startled and instinctively picked the mushroom. Seeing that no one was paying attention, she quickly stored it in her spatial storage. Then she patted her chest, relieved that she had almost given herself away.
What she didn't know was that the spring water, diluted by the moisture in the silt, was supplied to plants in all directions. The mycelia, in particular, benefited, multiplying several times over in no time.
So when the girls returned and saw the mushroom, which had clearly grown much bigger, they were too excited to speak.
"Wow, this is fast! We'll be able to have mushroom soup by tonight, right?"
"Yes, yes, hurry up and prepare some fresh water, we'll have soup tonight!"
Several girls shouted excitedly and called out to the old man, "Uncle Fang, could you please get us some water?"
Upon hearing this, the old man in the distance smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll go get it for you!"
Because the seawater has receded, you have to cross the silt and go hundreds of meters away to get water.
Along the way, besides mud and pebbles, there were also broken glass, rotten fish and shrimp.
The girls were all very clean and unwilling to lower themselves. Only the old man didn't care and waded through the mud to fetch water.
Bi Qiaoan didn't stop it when she saw it; if someone was willing to make the sacrifice, then so be it.
However, it would be helpful to the old man privately.
Not long after, the old man returned carrying a pot of slightly murky seawater. Upon his return, he said with a serious expression, "Hurry up and distill it; I'll go and distill two more pots for us in a bit."
"What's wrong, sir?" a girl asked.
The old man glanced into the distance before saying, "The seawater is receding very quickly, but the silt left behind won't dry out anytime soon. I was walking over there just now and almost got stuck in the silt. You can see for yourselves, the deepest part is up to my chest."
Bi Qiaoan frowned: "In that case, let's not risk our lives anymore. Don't even think about mushroom soup tonight. Save the fresh water and drink it sparingly. We don't know when we'll be able to get out of this 'isolated island'."
Upon hearing this, the girls' mouths twitched. But they dared not refute it.
The old man couldn't bear it, so he came out and laughed it off, "It's alright, it's alright, I'll go get another pot of seawater later, we'll still drink it tonight. But not tomorrow."
As soon as the old man finished speaking, the old woman pinched his waist hard.
I know my husband is helpful, but this is just too much. Knowing full well that fetching water is dangerous, he still insists on doing it.
The older woman glared at the young girls, thinking to herself that the young people really had no sense of propriety. However, when she looked at Bi Qiaoan, her gaze softened considerably.
I thought to myself that this girl was more pleasing to the eye, because she knew how to put herself in others' shoes.
The older woman's objections couldn't stop the older man; the girls' eager gazes made him too embarrassed to go back on his word. He learned his lesson, though, and realized he shouldn't make promises lightly in the future.
Seeing this, the older woman could only sigh. Watching the girls frantically distilling fresh water, she hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to help.
Bi Qiaoan sat still, watching everyone busy at work, lost in thought.
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Li Sikai's hair has been thinning these past two days because Yuan Ruoxi's fever hasn't gone down, and her hemorrhage hasn't stopped either.
An ordinary person would have died from this amount of blood loss, but Yuan Ruoxi remained strong, even in a daze, she was still alive.
Lu Nanfang was anxious inside, but she didn't show it on her face. Once, while out relieving herself, she heard someone say that fish in the water shouldn't be eaten, and a wicked thought came to her mind.
She casually walked to the beach and found that the tide had receded far away.
Lu Nanfang glanced at the mud under her feet with disdain, then her eyes darted around before she squatted down and placed her handkerchief on the mud, waiting for it to slowly get wet.
Seeing that the handkerchief was soaked through, Lu Nanfang carefully folded it, placed it in her palm, and then pondered her escape route.
She looked up and saw many people wading barefoot through the mud to fetch water, while on the other side of the sea, land could be faintly seen.
Lu Nanfang had an idea.
She returned to the thatched hut and, when no one was looking, squeezed the dirty water from her handkerchief onto Yuan Ruoxi's lips.
Although Yuan Ruoxi was delirious with fever, she instinctively swallowed water upon feeling it. In this way, she swallowed a considerable amount of dirty water.
Logically speaking, this sewage was only a few dozen drops, which shouldn't be life-threatening.
Unfortunately, Yuan Ruoxi was ill, and her body was on the verge of collapse. A few drops of dirty water acted as a trigger, directly overwhelming her immune system. In less than two hours, she developed a rash all over her body.
Li Sikai was shocked when he saw it and questioned Tong Xianbao and Lu Nanfang: "What did you feed her? How could she have contracted the disease?"
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