Chapter Forty-Eight
The rain kept falling all day. Almost all the contestants on the deserted island stayed in their shelters. A few braved the rain to reinforce their leaky shelters, but they were a minority. Most shelters that had leaked had been abandoned by dawn. The remaining shelters were relatively sturdy, and even if there were leaks, they were minor and had mostly stopped leaking after the day's reinforcements. Contestants with food supplies were able to have three meals a day. Those without food supplies went hungry. Those who couldn't bear it any longer collected rainwater, boiled some leaves, and made do. Since they had been lying in their shelters, their energy expenditure was low, and they managed to endure until nightfall.
As for Wang Lun and his companion, their meals still consisted of fish and wild vegetables, with a small amount of seafood. Now, even wild vegetables were scarce. When Wang Lun cooked breakfast, he preferred to take two fish rather than a few wild vegetables. He had no choice; after several days, even the most abundant wild vegetables were almost gone. Previously, they had endured the bitterness of the wild vegetables, but tonight, they fought over them, and by the end, the fish and meat weren't finished before the vegetables were gone. Before, although they were tired of fish, it was still more popular than wild vegetables. But when Wang Lun cooked dinner, he found only a small handful of wild vegetables left, making them the "hot commodity," hence the scene of the two fighting over them.
After dinner, Wang Lun and Li Ling prepared to rest. Although they hadn't done any heavy physical labor today, they had still worked all day. In the morning, Wang Lun made two straw hats. After testing them, they worked quite well; they were rainproof and leaked very little, even completely waterproof unless exposed to prolonged rain. In the afternoon, Wang Lun and Li Ling twisted ropes together, and Li Ling spent the entire day twisting ropes. Their progress was quite noticeable. Although Wang Lun felt that they only had enough rope for about a third of the house construction, it was still quite good, considering they hadn't stopped working. They had even removed most of the hay from their bed. So, they were afraid they wouldn't get a good night's sleep tonight.
Back at the treehouse, the Liu sisters had just finished dinner—their second meal of the day. They'd gotten up late this morning because of the rain, and didn't eat until almost noon. With nothing much to do, they kept looking for things to do to pass the time. They'd been playing chess, but after Liu Ruoling lost more than ten times without a single win, she stopped and tried something else. However, it was about the same, so she got angry and went back to the treehouse to sleep. Liu Ruoxi, on the other hand, continued drawing on the ground below the treehouse with a stick—it looked like writing, or maybe drawing. She just drew whatever came to mind. It wasn't until dark that Liu Ruoling woke up and started cooking.
Back at the cave, Wu Jing took advantage of a slight drizzle to take off her shirt and dig a large pit outside the campsite to store water for later use in building a wall. After digging the pit, she dug a simple drainage channel directly connecting it to the water storage pit. Then she returned to the cave, first wiping herself down with the dry grass Zhang Shengnan had prepared, then drying herself with her own shirt. She wrapped her lower body in her coat, took her pants and shorts to the cave entrance, washed them clean with rainwater, and then dried them by the fire pit. After doing all this, she and Zhang Shengnan drank the meat soup they had prepared beforehand. After that, there was basically nothing for the two of them to do. Most of the things they needed to do were outside the cave, and since it was raining outside, they just rested.
The next day, Wang Lun woke up very early, almost as soon as there was light. He pushed open the door of the shelter and saw that it was still raining outside, but the rain had lessened considerably and would probably stop soon. Thinking this, Wang Lun turned back, grabbed his pot and straw hat, and went to the pool to wash and fetch water, preparing to make breakfast. He planned to go out for a walk after the rain stopped to see if he could find any prey. If not, he could at least gather some wild vegetables. The point was, he couldn't go out empty-handed. Prey would be best, but wild vegetables would do. If even wild vegetables were unavailable, firewood was acceptable. And if there was no firewood at all, he would pick up a stone while crossing the stream—that was his last resort.
Wang Lun first boiled a pot of water, and after it cooled down a bit, poured it into a bamboo tube, preparing for drinking and any possible outings today. Then he went to the pond and fetched another pot of water, this time preparing to cook breakfast. Today's breakfast was again wild vegetable stewed with fish; fish was still the staple food, and the wild vegetables were as scarce as last night. There really weren't many left. When Wang Lun gathered the wild vegetables this morning, he estimated that there would only be enough for three meals, even with this frugal approach. If he continued eating like before, this morning would probably be his last meal. Sigh, once the wild vegetables were gone, he'd only be able to eat the dried seafood, which he had originally planned to save for later. He really hoped the rain would stop today, so he could go out and dig for more wild vegetables, and maybe, with luck, find some prey, like a rabbit that had run into a tree. Wang Lun declared he wasn't picky.
As Wang Lun was thinking, the water in the pot boiled. He put the wild vegetables in and then called Li Ling to get up. Li Ling reluctantly sat up in bed and asked, "Is it still raining outside?" Wang Lun said, "The rain has lessened a bit. When it gets even lighter or stops, we'll go out for a walk and dig up some wild vegetables." Hearing that she could go out, Li Ling immediately perked up, quickly got up, went to the door, and sure enough, the rain had lessened considerably. She turned around, put on her straw hat, and went to the pond to wash up.
After Li Ling finished washing up, Wang Lun had already prepared breakfast. Just like yesterday, the two of them first devoured the wild vegetables, then ate the fish. They quickly finished breakfast. Li Ling went to wash the pots and pans, while Wang Lun prepared their belongings for the upcoming trip in the shelter: a water bottle, knife, spear, basket, and so on. Once they were all ready, they sat together by the fire pit, twisting rope and waiting for the rain to stop or lessen. It would be best if the rain stopped, as that would allow them to travel further and potentially reap more rewards.
Finally, their perseverance paid off. After waiting for over two hours, the rain finally stopped. Seeing this, Wang Lun quickly put down the rope he was twisting, went outside the shelter, and looked up. The sky was blue, and the air smelled fresh. Wang Lun guessed that the rain had stopped. So, he called to Li Ling, and the two of them, carrying baskets on their backs, holding wooden spears, and wearing straw hats, went out. After closing the camp gate, Wang Lun led Li Ling into the woods.
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