But those bugs looked vicious, their pale, segmented bodies twisting with a frantic energy that made the captain's stomach turn. Wouldn't they bite through his intestines? Just thinking about them crawling into his mouth, sliding down his parched throat, and wriggling through his guts made him shiver.
Wang Dan stared in pure astonishment, his jaw hanging open as he leaned in closer to the bowl. "Holy shit, Jing Shu, you are incredible! Where did you even find that many bugs? We have been digging through the mud for days trying to find something edible, and we didn't even see a single earthworm!"
Li Dayou gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw bulging beneath his sallow skin. He was already on the brink of death. Dying one way or another didn't matter now. "Might as well try anything." Turning to his worried teammates, he rasped, "No matter what happens—whether I live or die—you are not allowed to blame Miss Jing Shu. She is doing this to help me."
"Captain, just eat it," Wang Dan urged, his eyes darting between the bugs and his leader's face. "I don't think Jing Shu would joke about something like this. I trust her."
Li Dayou accepted the bowl of writhing bugs, his hands trembling so much the container rattled. Oddly enough, even though the bowl was full to the brim, not a single one tried to crawl over the edge. They just squirmed tightly together in a seething mass, as if an invisible force held them in place. The sight alone made the captain's scalp tingle with a primal revulsion. He had never seen bugs like these before. Their mandibles were sharp, flat, and silver-toned, clearly made for precision cutting.
"I just... drink it straight?" Li Dayou asked again, his voice trembling with a raw, cold fear.
Jing Shu nodded, her expression unreadable. "Open your mouth and let them crawl in. Don't bite, no matter what happens."
Li Dayou swallowed hard, lifted the bowl to his cracked lips, and poured.
The bugs surged forward in a glistening wave, crawling over his tongue and wriggling down his throat in a thick, living stream.
"It itches! It itches so bad!" he gasped, his eyes watering and turning bloodshot, but he didn't dare move. The sensation was unbearable. It felt as if a thousand tiny legs were scratching every inch of his internal tissue. He endured the violation until the last bug disappeared into the darkness of his gullet. Then he gasped for air and clutched his throat, feeling the unbearable itch spreading rapidly toward his chest.
It really felt like countless insects were scuttling inside him, their movements rhythmic and focused.
The bugs began their work deep within the captain's body. Everything that blocked or rotted in his stomach and intestines—the impacted soil, the thick sludge, the undigested seeds—they devoured it all with their specialized mandibles. They swarmed downward in an orderly column, squeezing one by one through the tight, painful passages of his gut. Soon, Li Dayou was clutching his belly as it began to quake violently. His body was rejecting the foreign invaders even as they saved him.
Cold sweat poured down his face in rivets as he groaned, pounding the wooden deck of the boat in agony. The onlookers who had quietly thought about trying the remedy themselves instantly gave up that idea, their faces turning pale.
He was curled up like a woman in labor, gasping through waves of sharp, cramping pain that seemed to radiate from his spine.
In truth, Li Dayou could have waited until the rescue team arrived to see a doctor for a stomach pumping, but who knew when that would be? It could be days or even weeks. He couldn't have lasted that long; his stomach was so swollen that he could no longer consume even a drop of water. Every moment was a unique form of torture.
Jing Shu's method was rough, but it worked fast. Compared to the slow death of starvation and impaction, this pain was nothing. She figured he was just experiencing the same suffering every woman faced during childbirth; it was unpleasant, but survivable.
Once the quaking of his abdomen seemed to settle into a steady rhythm, Jing Shu waved her hand lightly. "Half an hour or so. You will pass them out after that. I'm going to make dinner."
And just like that, she walked off toward the ship's galley, her heavy boots thudding softly on the wood.
Everyone stared after her with pure awe. Wang Dan especially looked at her as if he was gazing up at a divine being. His admiration had already gone beyond the simple phrase of "like a river flowing endlessly"; it was now a boundless, deep ocean.
Jing Shu carried her large crate and her backpack, with Xiao Dou the fat chicken waddling along behind her, and returned to the kitchen. After locking the door tightly and making sure no one was peering through the small porthole, she finally pulled out some ready-to-eat food she had prepared long ago from her Rubik's Cube Space. She laid out a feast: roasted sirloin with a rich brown glaze, a thick T-bone steak still glistening with fat, grilled sausages wrapped in beef rolls with enoki mushrooms, and delicate vermicelli scallops.
She tore into the food ravenously, the heat and spices blooming on her tongue. The T-bone went to Xiao Dou, and she tossed the chicken a few chunks of tender meat as well. Then she downed a big pot of creamy white mushroom soup loaded with melted cheese, the warmth spreading through her limbs. To finish, she ate a selection of fresh apples, bananas, and oranges. Only after that did she exhale in a long sigh of satisfaction, her energy surging back into her tired muscles.
It had been so long since she had eaten properly. There was no such thing as true privacy here, and everyone in the convoy was too sharp for their own good. She couldn't risk letting anyone see her secret stash of fresh produce and meat.
"Alright, what is next? Something that fills the stomach and tastes good too..." she muttered to herself, wiping her mouth.
Before long, a faint hotpot aroma began drifting out of the kitchen vents. Even the people in Gashan Valley, who had barely filled their stomachs with the watery biscuit gruel earlier, couldn't help but drool. The scent was light but maddeningly tempting, carrying hints of star anise and dried chili.
"No way," they thought, their noses twitching in the cold air. "Hotpot? At a time like this?"
Auntie Wang carried a freshly baked mud patty up to the ship to report to Wang Dan, only to find the convoy members sitting around a crackling bonfire on the deck. The firelight revealed bowls of steaming milk tea in everyone's hands, each one topped with soft, soaked oats. The rich, milky aroma and the warm sweetness of the steam made it impossible to resist.
They sipped the liquid carefully, their eyes closed as they savored the taste, almost afraid it's a dream that would vanish if they blinked. Auntie Wang swallowed hard, her mouth watering. She hadn't had milk, let alone milk tea, in years.
Behind the group, a newly built earthen stove glowed with intense heat. She could see, from her angle, several golden-brown flatbreads stuck along its inner wall, each one sprinkled with fragrant sesame seeds that were beginning to pop and release their oils. The smell was enough to make her dizzy with a sudden, sharp hunger.
Above the bonfire, a large pot was bubbling away. Auntie Wang stared in disbelief as she saw the contents. There were vegetables and even meat! The strong aroma of fat and spices was spreading far beyond the ship, drifting over the dark valley.
It's really just a simple stew, nothing fancy by Jing Shu's standards. She had tossed in some spicy beef jerky, diced spicy rabbit meat, and thick chunks of ham. The resulting broth had turned rich, red, and aromatic. Once she added a mix of dried vegetables, the flavor became irresistible even to her.
Jing Shu stepped forward and handed Li Dayou a bowl of the milk tea. "Your stomach is cleared out now. Drink more milk tea first. When we eat the solid food, start with some flatbread. Eat more vegetables and less meat so your stomach can adjust to the grease."
She was genuinely grateful to the man. Without such a responsible captain, those seeds she had worked so hard to save might have been lost to the waves or eaten by desperate men.
Li Dayou nodded, looking embarrassed by the attention. His stomach growled loudly in the silence, a healthy, empty sound. He was starving.
Jing Shu had already told everyone earlier the rules: since they hadn't eaten oily food in a long time, they needed to start slow. They would have the milk tea, then the flatbread, and finally the stew. When they finally saw the meal she had prepared, everyone agreed it's worth all the suffering they had endured.
"Auntie Wang?" Wang Dan called a few times before the cook snapped out of her daze.
Swallowing hard, she held out the warm patty. "This's the mud patty we made following your proportions. It's baked now. Do you think it's alright? If so, we will keep making them this way."
Wang Dan scratched his head. "I don't know. Let's get Jing Shu to take a look."