Chapter 58: World Four [4]

Li Jianwei agreed to Shu Heng’s friend request the instant she heard the system prompt. She also recalled the requirements for unlocking the friend system—survivors and another survivor needed to successfully co-op twice and meet a certain duration.

Messages in the friend channel had fewer restrictions than the world channel, limited to one hundred characters instead of thirty.

Charging points after ten uses didn’t seem like an issue to Li Jianwei, since any materials could be exchanged for points. As long as the wooden raft kept drifting, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Using the sand and clay provided by Shu Heng, Li Jianwei molded twelve wet bricks in one go, planning to expand the furnace from one to three to speed up smelting.

Smelting metal ore took two hours and required constantly adding wooden planks as fuel, which suited the wooden raft’s movement.

She hesitated for a second between landing on an island or continuing to drift, then dove headfirst into the sea.

With the shark gone and another pufferfish eliminated, she might get lucky and find some silver seaweed.

Good news: after diving, Li Jianwei fished up two giant clams, along with some fragments and clay.

Bad news: she didn’t find any silver seaweed and depleted her oxygen tank.

Back on the wooden raft to resume drifting, Li Jianwei saw the message Shu Heng had sent.

【Shu Heng: Pufferfish drop sticky explosives, which can be smelted into explosive powder. Researching it unlocks animal capture blueprints. Animals on the big island that don’t attack on sight can probably be captured. From other survivors’ posts on the world channel, there are alpacas, bouncy sheep, and wild chickens right now. Feed is unknown for the time being.】

【Li Jianwei: Researching cave soil unlocked a bunch of stuff, including fruit trees and turf. Turf should be the animal feed. Next time we hit a big island, keep an eye out and bring a shovel to collect soil ahead of time.】

Shu Heng didn’t reply further, but Li Jianwei knew she got the point and was working toward developing animal husbandry.

After drinking the water from her bottle, Li Jianwei used the telescope she’d made to scan the surroundings for islands with unusual shapes.

Islands in the Endless Sea Domain fell into two types. One had almost no traces of human activity, like the previous small and big islands.

The other bore signs of human presence, randomly spawning human civilization—sometimes shipwrecks, sometimes slums, or even high-tech mini-islands.

The latter were more dangerous, infested with infected monsters and aggressive tech gadgets. Entering without armor was risky, but the rewards were richer, with many rare blueprints only found on man-made islands.

The heat wave’s biggest challenge for survivors was the massive thirst it caused. Without unlocking the furnace to smelt glass for an advanced water purifier, survivors were stuck on their wooden rafts, babysitting at least two basic water purifiers to keep up hydration.

Li Jianwei skimmed the world chat channel to gauge other survivors’ progress and decide what reasonable info to share with Shu Heng.

【Lexar: Island caves, mountaintops, and underwater have a chance for treasure chests with supplies.】

【555: Anyone know how to use recipes? I stuffed all the ingredients in my backpack and nothing happened.】

【bh77: You need a cooking pot, aka simple kitchen. Mine came from a treasure chest.】

Caw caw—

The seagull’s cry pulled Li Jianwei’s attention from the world chat channel. She turned to look.

Hm? When did the seagull land! And it was eating her watermelon seeds! The nerve!

Li Jianwei nocked an arrow and fired. The stone bow and arrow hit the seagull’s head, taking its life and leaving its corpse behind.

After confirming the watermelon seedlings in the clay pot were intact, Li Jianwei picked up the seagull corpse, gaining three feathers and two bird legs.

Feathers were materials for metal bow and arrows. Li Jianwei tossed the bird legs straight into the roaster, turning them into fragrant roasted bird legs.

After eating one, she remembered she hadn’t made the bird nests yet. She pulled out the giant clams and placed two bird nests near the edge of the wooden raft.

Seagulls circling overhead usually came in pairs. They respawned at six a.m. daily after being killed. With patience, bird nests could attract them for a steady food source.

【Li Jianwei: Watch for seagulls if planting outdoors. Bird nests from giant clams lure them down—one arrow does the trick. The roasted bird legs taste great. I saved one for you. Hope we meet soon.】

【Shu Heng: I hope we meet soon too. I’m currently under southeast winds—medium raft speed.】

【Li Jianwei: A bit north of east. I can’t spot any wooden rafts on the sea from here. Co-op zones are only around treasure chests. But my gut says more meetings might bring other gains.】

【Shu Heng: Here’s hoping. Next island I see, I’ll land.】

The day was almost over, so Li Jianwei and Shu Heng didn’t hold back. They quickly burned through their messages until one remained.

No need for explanation—both knew leaving one on purpose was to test if it carried over.

Sadly, friend communication slots didn’t accumulate. It was ten per day, resetting at six a.m.

Like Shu Heng, over the next few days Li Jianwei charged at every island she spotted, weapons in hand. She scoured both land and sea twice over before leaving.

Unfortunately, the intense island-hopping didn’t reunite them. Despite burning through heaps of food and water, they amassed impressive resources.

Shu Heng got enough explosive powder from pufferfish kills to craft the capture gear and began initial animal husbandry trials.

Following Shu Heng’s advice from her past life, Li Jianwei reshaped her wooden raft like a cruise ship. After laying the first deck’s foundation, she stockpiled wooden planks and nails for the second floor.

Li Jianwei had no interest in raising animals. Once her gear was done, she stowed it all in crates to hand over when allied with Shu Heng.

【Name: Li Jianwei】

【Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (35/100), Thirst (25/100)】

【Survival Days: 17】

【You noticed the outdoor temperature was lower than usual. Without a sturdy enough body, avoid prolonged contact with the icy seawater.】

The heat wave was over. Next up: cold weather.

Li Jianwei patted her newbie clothes—short sleeves and shorts clearly weren’t cold-resistant. Until she crafted armor or got special gear, no more daily shark-killing stress relief.

Alas! Li Jianwei sighed inwardly and kept scanning for big islands with the telescope.

【Shu Heng: Found an unusual island with what looks like a shipwreck. Seen anything like it? It’s southeast of me.】

Li Jianwei glanced at the popup, then looked southeast.

She vaguely made out an island silhouette, but it was too far to tell ordinary from special.

【Li Jianwei: Spot an island outline southeast of me too, but winds aren’t favorable. Need about an hour to paddle over manually. I’ll message once I confirm the type.】

She closed the chat and started rowing with exaggerated arm strokes, using the tattered plastic oar to propel her over-one-hundred-square-meter wooden raft single-handedly.

After gnawing a small threadfin, the island sharpened into view through the telescope.

【Li Jianwei: It’s a special island. I see the shipwreck too. Heading to the wreck. Can’t see each other from rafts. We’ll link up after landing.】

【Shu Heng: Got it. Waiting near the bow and doing a prelim scout.】

After two more tilapia, Li Jianwei reached the shipwreck. She dropped the throwable anchor to secure the wooden raft and disembarked loaded with supplies.

“Li Jianwei!” Before she took a few steps, Shu Heng’s voice rang out from afar.

Li Jianwei waved toward the sound, then jogged over. “Shu Heng, it’s really been a while this time.”

Shu Heng nodded seriously. “It has. But lucky this time—I spotted you right as you landed.”

“Seems like a special island. Co-op range might be bigger than ordinary islands.” Li Jianwei traded Shu Heng a roasted bird leg via the friend trade system.

“Promised you this. Saved it all along.”

“Thanks.” Shu Heng stowed the bird leg. Though she’d made bird nests days ago and stocked raw ones from seagulls, this one felt extra precious.

“Explore the island or the shipwreck first?” Li Jianwei asked. “System reminded us today to cut water time.”

“Shipwreck first then—higher margin for error.” Shu Heng initiated a trade, giving Li Jianwei red berries and silver seaweed that restored health when eaten raw.

“Got lucky past few days, collected plenty.” Shu Heng explained. “Red berries restore 15 health, silver seaweed 25.”

Li Jianwei nodded. “Got it. I’ll scout ahead—you’ve got rear.”

“No problem.” Shu Heng agreed readily. She’d seen Li Jianwei’s combat skills last time—way better than hers.

With roles set, Li Jianwei gripped her metal spear and headed for the shipwreck.

The wreck split into two parts. The bow section was fully exposed, easy to climb via ladder to the deck.

The stern was submerged. Experienced, Li Jianwei brought two oxygen tanks and flippers for quicker exploration.

Li Jianwei didn’t refuse Shu Heng’s supplies, nor did Shu Heng reject the traded oxygen tanks and flippers.

Splash—Li Jianwei dove first. Shu Heng scanned for threats, then followed.

Knowing special island matching, Li Jianwei just gestured to Shu Heng at the chest, opened it, and moved on.

Besides common supplies, she got a bowl of vegetable soup and a machete blueprint.

She traded the vegetable soup to Shu Heng. Visibility dropped lower the deeper they went; they surfaced for air with heads nearly scraping the ceiling.

Li Jianwei topped off hunger, then dashed to the deepest kitchen.

It brimmed with supplies—but so did the glowing blue weird fish inside.

Shu Heng’s pupils shrank. Unable to warn in the water, she drew her bow and attacked from range, pulling aggro.

Li Jianwei didn’t dawdle, pocketing the kitchen blueprints before drawing her own bow to snipe the monster.

Its aggro was simple: chase whoever hit it. Under their seamless teamwork, it flailed like a headless fly and perished without a bite.

【Congratulations, survivor! Killed mutated fish monster. Obtained Numbered Paper Strip x1. Intuition tells you this is very important—keep it safe.】

No other loot from the mutated fish monster. With oxygen bars critical, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng swam for the exit.

Before Li Jianwei surfaced, another system alert popped.

【Prolonged immersion in icy seawater has made your body unusually heavy. Exit the water before it worsens.】

Noticing slowed movement and bleeding health, Li Jianwei didn’t linger or check nooks, swimming up desperately.

Shu Heng fared better. Seeing her slow, she grabbed her hand and pulled her up together.

“Huff—thanks.” Feet on solid ground, Li Jianwei gasped and popped a red berry.

“How’s the debuff situation? Are you still losing health?” Shu Heng asked with a worried expression.

Li Jianwei shook her head. “It stopped dropping after I left the water surface. My health is now stable above eighty.”

“By the way, I got a circuit board blueprint from the kitchen earlier. There’s only one, and the machete blueprint was the one we found before. How do you think we should distribute them?” Li Jianwei asked.

“Not enough storage spaces left?” Shu Heng asked.

Li Jianwei nodded. Blueprints were different from recipes that needed to be used on the simple kitchen. Survivors could use them directly to unlock the crafting methods for the corresponding items and then free up storage space.

“Your position is more dangerous during exploration, so you pick first. Just give me the remaining one,” Shu Heng decided quickly.

Li Jianwei hesitated for only a second before handing the circuit board blueprint to Shu Heng and using the machete blueprint herself.

The machete had strong damage output. Its only drawback was that it required close combat with monsters, increasing the risk of injury.

But Li Jianwei did not see this as a problem. She could handle early- and mid-stage monsters proficiently. Even with a machete, she could take them down without injury.

“Let’s go. We still have half the place left unsearched. We might find more useful things,” Shu Heng said. She also used the circuit board blueprint.

“By the way, I got a numbered paper strip when I killed the monster. Did you get a notification?” Li Jianwei asked.

“Yes, it had a string of numbers: 7640,” Shu Heng said. “It might be a password for somewhere.”

Li Jianwei nodded. “The strip I got also said 7640, but the back seems to have some incomplete pattern. I think it’s worth stocking up. Maybe once we collect enough strips, we can piece together a map.”

Shu Heng was stunned for a moment, as if she had not expected the strips to be used that way. “Okay, I’ll keep it safe. If there’s any new discoveries later, I’ll share them with you right away.”

“Me too,” Li Jianwei said with a smile. She enjoyed spending time with Shu Heng. It had been that way in her previous life, and it was the same in this one.

“The supplies here aren’t particularly abundant. Do you think someone came before us?”

“It’s possible. We managed to team up, so other survivors could too.”

The unfamiliar conversation reached Li Jianwei and Shu Heng’s ears, prompting them to instinctively hide their bodies in the darkness. Their movements were so synchronized that they ended up almost face-to-face, their breaths mingling.

“Further down is the part of the hull submerged in the sea,” said a survivor with a high ponytail. “The system warned us to avoid falling into the water. Should we keep investigating?”

“We don’t have oxygen tanks or flippers. Exploring rashly carries too much risk,” the short-haired survivor said. “Besides, I only have one storage space left in my backpack. I feel like we can fill it up by wandering around the island some more.”

The high-ponytail survivor said, “Then let’s head back and rest first. I wonder if we’ll run into each other next time.”

“I think we will. We’ve already added each other as friends. Are you worried we won’t meet again?” The short-haired survivor was very optimistic and laughed lightly. “If we don’t meet, we’ll just try a few more times. Fate comes from effort too.”

The voices of their conversation gradually faded. It seemed they had no intention of going into the water and chose to turn back instead.

“They seem to have gone far,” Li Jianwei spoke first.

“Mm.” Shu Heng responded, her tone sounding a bit unnatural. “They explored other areas.”

“But their storage spaces are limited, so they probably couldn’t take everything,” Li Jianwei said as she stepped back, emerging from the darkness.

There was no need for further discussion on the next actions. Li Jianwei and Shu Heng swept through the part of the ship exposed to the air together.

Although they did not obtain any blueprints, they collected plenty of fragments and food along the way, which somewhat made up for their inability to dive.

Li Jianwei also found a captain’s hat in the cockpit. Wearing it on the head provided some protection and warmth.

Shu Heng insisted that Li Jianwei keep it under the first-come-first-served rule and refused her offer to trade supplies for it.

After descending from the sunken ship, the two survivors they had encountered earlier were nowhere to be seen. However, they faced the same issue: insufficient storage space.

After a brief silence, Shu Heng spoke first. “It’s getting dark soon. Let’s each return to our wooden rafts for now and see if we can reconnect after dawn?”

Li Jianwei felt a bit reluctant, but she knew better how dangerous the man-made island was at night. “Okay. I’ll see if I can craft an extra machete to trade you one later.”

Shu Heng nodded. “Good. Next time, I’ll bring a few more circuit boards up too.”

Without holding hands, their bodies began to turn transparent as they approached the seaside. In no time, they vanished completely.

The wooden raft appeared not far away, but Li Jianwei did not rush onto it. Instead, after a moment, she walked toward the sunken ship again.

A familiar figure reappeared. When she entered Shu Heng’s view, Li Jianwei clearly saw the surprise in her eyes, followed by understanding.

“See you in a bit,” Shu Heng said with a relaxed smile.

Li Jianwei smiled too. “Mm, see you in a bit.”

Li Jianwei turned away decisively. Once the wooden raft reappeared, she hopped onto it, took out the raw materials, and began crafting.

The main material for the machete was metal ingots. Li Jianwei took stock of her inventory and ended up crafting two.

It was inconvenient to dive for resources in the cold weather, so she needed to conserve metal ingots. First, they would each arm themselves with one.

Li Jianwei worked quickly. In less than half an hour, she organized her items and stepped back onto Sunken Ship Island, waiting for Shu Heng at their usual spot.

“Limited materials. I only made four circuit boards,” Shu Heng said upon appearing and traded them directly. “We can’t research circuit boards directly. After I crafted them, the system hinted that I need to keep searching.”

“Is there some part of the sunken ship we haven’t searched?” Li Jianwei pondered, but that did not stop her from trading a machete to Shu Heng.

Shu Heng said, “I think we should search around the perimeter of the sunken ship tomorrow. There might be an entrance we missed before.”

“Good. We’ll use the remaining time today to explore the island. Tomorrow at six-thirty, meet at the old spot by the sea,” Li Jianwei said as she pulled out a metal spear. “Did you bring the animal capture equipment?”

Shu Heng nodded. “I did. Last time I caught a wild chicken and a bouncy sheep. I hope we can catch an alpaca this time.”

“I brought some too. You can use mine if the durability runs out,” Li Jianwei said, taking the lead as always.

The island’s resources were abundant. There were no vultures, but wild boars were particularly plentiful.

If not for Shu Heng drawing the attention of one wild boar, Li Jianwei—who was charging at the front—would have had to deal with two at once.

Fighting two at a time was not impossible, but the margin for error was too low, and it was hard to find good attack opportunities.

After smoothly harvesting four pieces of leather and six pieces of meat, the two continued deeper into the island. Although they did not find pineapples or watermelons, they spotted an alpaca grazing on grass.

After a silent eye contact, Li Jianwei crouched low and circled behind to drive the alpaca toward Shu Heng, making it easier for her to aim and launch the capture net canister.

As she watched Li Jianwei gradually move farther away, a somewhat strange thought flashed through Shu Heng’s mind.

Some words she had not voiced aloud seemed to have been guessed by Li Jianwei, who then acted on them. Did this count as a tacit understanding between them?

Before Shu Heng could voice the thought, she saw the alpaca bouncing toward her, getting closer and closer.

She cleared her mind and pulled out the launcher, focusing on aiming. Capture net canisters were very limited in number—only obtainable from pufferfish drops—and extremely precious.

A bit closer, even closer. Now!

With a bang—, the capture net shot out from the canister and precisely covered the alpaca.

Yes! Big success!