Hai Yao’s demand for Ling Shuying to “feed her” was made with absolute confidence, but her eyes betrayed a hint of imperceptible nervousness, much like a stray cat afraid of being rejected.
Ling Shuying didn’t answer immediately.
Algae-green data streams flowed silently through the depths of her eyes as she analyzed the cost-effectiveness of becoming a “long-term meal ticket.” Wilderness survival experience, familiarity with the local ecology, robust physical labor, and an intuition capable of seeing through the seawater’s anomalies—these were all urgently needed additions for her solitary island research.
As for food?
Ingredients were the one thing the island didn’t lack; it would just take a bit more effort to prepare.
“Deal,” Ling Shuying nodded, her voice calm.
“However, you have to stay close to me.
It’ll save me from having to trek through the woods every time I need to find you, which only delays my research.”
Hai Yao’s eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed.
“Done!
I’ll go move my stuff over right now!
I’ve already checked out the area next to your wooden cabin.
There’s an empty clearing that’s just perfect!”
She was astonishingly quick to act.
Before her voice even faded, she had already darted off, disappearing into the depths of the forest in a few bounds like a leopard that had caught the scent of its prey.
Ling Shuying watched the direction she vanished in, a very faint smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
“Qing Ling, it seems we’re going to have a neighbor,” she murmured to the symbiotic partner within her body.
Turning around, she walked toward the Sea Erosion Cave.
The observation records for the algae seedlings weren’t finished yet.
At dusk, when Ling Shuying returned to the vicinity of the cabin carrying freshly picked Costus roots and a few thick, fleshy mushrooms, the sight before her gave her a slight pause.
Hai Yao’s efficiency was terrifyingly high.
Just a dozen meters behind and to the side of the cabin, a previously weed-choked clearing had been completely cleared out.
Several tree trunks, as thick as bowls, had been driven deep into the ground to serve as pillars.
Hai Yao’s upper half was bare save for a type of tough, wide seaweed wrapped tightly around her chest.
Sweating profusely, she was swinging a flat stone with sharp edges, splitting arm-length palm leaves.
She then deftly wove them together in alternating layers using highly resilient vines, securing them to the wooden frame.
A rudimentary single-pitch wooden shed, sufficient to shelter against the wind and rain, had already begun to take shape.
Her “belongings” were pitifully few: a giant, polished coconut shell serving as a rice bowl, a small bundle of dried, tough seaweed rope, and that sharp Fishbone Dagger she never let out of her sight.
“Yo, you’re back!” Hai Yao wiped the sweat from her face, her wheat-colored skin gleaming in the setting sun.
She grinned, flashing her white teeth.
“Look, the foundation is laid!
I can close up the walls tomorrow!
I promise I won’t disturb you while you mess with your little green spots!”
Ling Shuying didn’t say anything.
She walked over and shoved the largest, plumpest coconut she carried into the girl’s hands.
“Rehydrate.” She then pointed to a few relatively flat coral stones piled in the corner of the cabin.
“Pad them under your shed to keep the damp out.”
Hai Yao took the coconut, cracked it open with practiced ease, tilted her head back, and took several large gulps—GLUG, GLUG, GLUG—before letting out a satisfied breath. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping dot com.
“Thanks!
These stones are great!” She carried the coral stones over without standing on ceremony.
And just like that, their neighborly relationship was established in a simple, crude manner.
With a strong helper like Hai Yao around, the manual labor items on Ling Shuying’s to-do list were immediately bumped up in priority.
The very first among them was the rust-mottled water storage tower with the failed filtration layer.
“Can this thing still be used?” Hai Yao circled the several-meter-tall cylindrical water tower twice, tapping the tower’s body with her Bone Knife to produce a dull THUD, THUD.
“It sounds pretty thick, but this rust…
and the water flowing out from the bottom is as yellow as mud soup.”
“The structure is intact, and the inner tank isn’t broken.
It’s just that the filtration system has completely failed.
There’s severe scale buildup inside and microbial contamination.” Ling Shuying was concise.
Qing Ling’s data streams sketched a cross-sectional view of the water tower’s interior before her eyes, making the locations of dirt deposits and areas of microbial activity clearly visible.
“We need to thoroughly clean the inner tank, replace all the filtration layers, and repair the rainwater collection device on top.”
Hai Yao scratched her messy hair.
“Clean the inside?
The opening is so small; a person can’t squeeze in.” She pointed at the maintenance hatch at the top of the water tower, which could barely accommodate a single person.
“No one needs to go in.” Ling Shuying walked over to her small material collection shed and dug out a large pile of coral stones and crushed shells left over from when she made glass.
“Physical scouring combined with chemical purification.”
Algae green spread across her eyes.
The scouring angles, water flow impact, and required detergent concentration formed a perfect model in Ling Shuying’s mind.
Analysis complete.
Ling Shuying commanded, “Hai Yao, go cut more thin, resilient vines.
The longer, the better.
Twist them into a thick rope.
Then find some large, rough-surfaced coral stones and tie them to one end.”
Although Hai Yao didn’t understand exactly what they were doing, she held a simple trust in the technician and immediately complied.
Her immense strength made her astonishingly efficient at processing the vines and stones.
Meanwhile, Ling Shuying busied herself with the chemical purification part.
She fetched a large amount of dried seaweed, burned it to ash, boiled it in water, and filtered it repeatedly to obtain a thick lye rich in potassium carbonate and trace elements.
She also went to the beach to collect numerous fresh oyster shells that had been shattered by the waves, grinding them into a fine powder.
This was a natural source of calcium and a weakly alkaline buffering agent.
With the preparations complete, Ling Shuying climbed to the top of the water tower and carefully lowered the thick vine rope tied with rough coral stones—handed up by Hai Yao—through the maintenance hatch until she felt the stones hit the bottom.
“Alright, Hai Yao, grab the lower end of the rope and listen to my command.
“On it!” Hai Yao firmly planted herself in a horse stance.
Her arm muscles bulged, and she let out heavy grunts of effort as she began to yank the rope.
The sound of SPLASHING water immediately echoed from inside the tower.
The stale water at the bottom third of the tank, which had accumulated for who knew how many years, was violently churned up.
Up top, Ling Shuying controlled the angle of the rope, ensuring the stones scraped against as much of the inner wall area as possible.
At the same time, she slowly poured the prepared mixture of thick lye and oyster shell powder into the maintenance hatch.
The lye would break down organic dirt and kill off some of the microbes, while the oyster shell powder would neutralize acidic substances and provide calcium ions to inhibit certain bacteria.
“Put more muscle into it!
Three circles to the left, three circles to the right!” Ling Shuying directed.
Hai Yao was panting, but her movements didn’t slow down in the slightest.
The rope seemed to come alive in her hands, driving the makeshift cleaning ball at the bottom of the tower to scrape and spin like crazy.
They toiled for the better part of the morning.
Ling Shuying only called for a stop when the color of the wastewater flowing from the tap at the bottom of the tower went from deep yellow to murky, and then gradually lightened to clear.
Both of them were exhausted, especially Hai Yao, whose sweat had completely soaked through her seaweed top.
Next came replacing the filtration layers.
Ling Shuying dismantled the rudimentary series-connected coconut shell filter and redesigned it.
She laid a thick layer of washed fine sand at the bottom.
In the middle went an activated carbon layer made by smashing thoroughly burned hardwood charcoal.
The top layer consisted of a dense mixture of crushed shells and coral stones.
She carefully separated each layer using freshly harvested, larger pieces of Algae Cleaning Membrane.
Finally, at the water inlet, Ling Shuying installed an extra layer of coarse mesh woven from tough seaweed to prevent large impurities from entering.
“Let’s test it.” Ling Shuying turned on the tap.
The water flowing out was still a bit cloudy at first, but it quickly turned crystal clear, carrying a hint of the unique coolness characteristic of algae purification.
Ling Shuying caught a coconut shell full of water.
The Qing Ling model indicated a safety level of ninety-five percent.
“It worked!”
Hai Yao cheered, snatched the coconut shell, and took several massive gulps.
Ice-cold clear water trickled down the corners of her mouth as she wiped her face in pure satisfaction.
“It’s sweet!
Even more thirst-quenching than coconut water!
Chef Ling—no, Technician Ling, you’re amazing!”
Ling Shuying looked at Hai Yao drinking her fill, then at the revitalized water tower, a genuine smile appearing on her exhausted face.
A stable freshwater supply was the cornerstone of building their base.
Within her body, Qing Ling also seemed to send out a subtle ripple of joy.