As the sun climbed fully into the sky, Anya, who had been standing next to Zhang Liu watching the sunrise, suddenly turned to him and asked,
"Zhang Liu, what should I do today?"
"Huh?" Zhang Liu was caught off guard, unsure why Anya was asking him.
"Well, Zhang Liu, just tell me what needs to be done," Qin Ruoshuang chimed in. "After I finished cleaning yesterday, I wasn't sure what else to do."
At this point, Anya and Qin Ruoshuang were subtly forming a group with Zhang Liu as their leader.
"Today… how about this?" Zhang Liu thought for a moment. "Anya, let's head to the forest this morning. You can pick jaboticaba for food, and I'll gather materials for starting a fire."
For Zhang Liu, making a fire from scratch in the wild was something he'd only seen in survival videos, summed up by the vague phrase 'rubbing two sticks together.' But he knew fire was crucial in the wilderness, so his goal today was to give it a try.
"Okay!" Anya nodded slightly, popping another jaboticaba into her mouth. The fruit was sweet but had little flesh. Still, it was a welcome change from the bland coconut meat.
"Qin Ruoshuang, how are you feeling today?" Zhang Liu didn't assign her a task right away, instead checking on her condition. The memory of her looking weak and pale had left a deep impression on him.
"I'm fine," Qin Ruoshuang said with a smile, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear. "I usually feel worse the next day, and it's mostly at night when it gets cold. Don't worry about me too much—just give me something to do."
"Alright, then… how about collecting fallen coconuts and bringing them to the cave? You could also use the coconut shells to store fresh water for daily use," Zhang Liu suggested hesitantly. "Would that be too tiring?"
Collecting coconuts sounded simple, but it meant Qin Ruoshuang would need to trek back and forth between the coconut grove and the cave, carrying at least ten kilograms each trip. Zhang Liu put himself in her shoes and felt it would be exhausting even for him. Anya also glanced at Qin Ruoshuang with concern.
"I'll do as much as I can," Qin Ruoshuang said with a nod, showing she understood. Then she turned to Anya, who was standing beside Zhang Liu, and added, "You be more careful this time."
"I told you, it was the snake that attacked me!" Anya, with her strong sense of pride, bristled at being lectured like a child.
"Let's meet back at noon. I'll try making a fire by drilling wood in the cave," Zhang Liu said, waving goodbye as he and Anya parted ways with Qin Ruoshuang in the coconut grove.
Anya turned to wave as well but noticed a teasing smile on Qin Ruoshuang's face, which annoyed and embarrassed her. She stuck out her tongue at Qin Ruoshuang and skipped after Zhang Liu.
So far, they had found only one Nongfu Spring water bottle, now filled with water and carried by Zhang Liu and Anya. According to Anya, there was another bottle not far from where they'd found the first one yesterday, but an unexpected incident had kept them from retrieving it. Finding it was one of Zhang Liu's goals today.
"Zhang Liu, do you actually know how to make a fire by rubbing sticks together?" Anya asked as she followed him.
"Of course not," Zhang Liu admitted, carefully watching the ground to avoid tripping over exposed tree roots. "I've only seen it in survival videos."
"Oh, so we're in the same boat," Anya said, her tone tinged with disappointment.
"No matter what, it's better than just knowing the phrase 'rubbing sticks to make fire,'" Zhang Liu said with a shrug. He plucked a white, beard-like plant from a tree and stuffed it into his pocket. "At least I'm going for the upgraded version now."
He'd repeated this action several times already.
"Zhang Liu, what are those?" Anya asked, curious about the materials he was collecting.
"Hmm… I think it's called Usnea Tillandsia? Or maybe Old Man's Whiskers," Zhang Liu said with a smile, patting his bulging thigh pocket. "According to those videos, it's great for starting fires. This should be enough."
"Oh, by the way, should I use your T-shirt again today?" Anya asked, glancing at the jaboticaba grove ahead. "Is there another way?"
"Nope…" Zhang Liu took off the T-shirt he'd dried with his body heat overnight and handed it to her, saying awkwardly, "It's already pretty stiff…"
Anya took the shirt, glanced at Zhang Liu's bare upper body, and blushed. His words—"It's already pretty stiff"—felt oddly suggestive to her.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Liu asked, noticing she hadn't moved. "Why're you just standing there?"
"Nothing… it's just, you kind of smell," Anya said, looking up at him and making up an excuse.
"Nothing we can do about that," Zhang Liu said, lifting his arm to sniff himself. The strong scent of sweat made him grimace. Bathing in seawater was an option, but it left the body sticky and uncomfortable without fresh water to rinse off.
Anya nodded slightly, took his shirt, and headed off to pick fruit. Though it was still early, they had to walk to their destination, so their actual working time was limited.
While Anya got to work, Zhang Liu wasn't idle either. He pulled two flexible tree roots from the ground and began collecting dry branches of the right size from trees or the forest floor. After some effort, he had a bundle of good wood and a tool he thought would be perfect for testing the fire-drilling method. He sat down under a tree to rest.
Anya, meanwhile, had finished gathering jaboticaba and gone to search for the missing water bottle. To avoid getting lost, she followed Zhang Liu's advice and took a detour along the beach instead of cutting through the forest.
"It's so hot…"
Back in the coconut grove, Qin Ruoshuang was carrying her sixth coconut to the cave. Exhausted, she sat on a stone slab to rest. Though she'd acted capable in front of Zhang Liu, only she knew how weak she felt. Just six coconuts had drained her completely.
After this trip, she'd rest and save some water—maybe enough to clean herself and Anya tonight. They'd need to set aside some for Zhang Liu to wash up too.
Looking at the small pile of coconut shells by the puddle and the several shells filled with fresh water nearby, Qin Ruoshuang smiled.
As a girl who valued cleanliness, especially during her period, she needed to wash daily under normal circumstances. That hadn't been possible before, but now they had the means.
Standing on her tiptoes, she placed two coconut shells filled with fresh water inside the cave, then carefully climbed up.
She removed her jacket and bra, placing them on a clean stone slab, and took a deep breath to steel herself.
What she was about to do would take a lot of determination.