Sunlight warmed her face.
The forest was shrouded in a hazy mist, and accompanied by the chirping of birds, Ling Shuying woke up.
After sunset last night, the sky had been full of stars.
The Milky Way seemed to fall onto the sea, rippling layer by layer.
Ling Shuying had gazed at it in a trance until she gradually grew sleepy.
Upon returning to the house, she found the bedroom still unusable, and the study was filled with a musty smell.
She simply found a low banana tree, snapped off a few large leaves, and spread them out in a sheltered corner of the living room to serve as a bed.
The floor was hard, and a bed made of banana leaves was naturally quite crude, but Ling Shuying had never slept so soundly.
There was no noisy engine roar in the dead of night like in the City State, no shouts from others, and no torment of monitoring experiments into the early hours of the morning.
Opening her eyes, the world seemed bright and crystal clear, completely devoid of her usual grogginess.
She had rested very well.
It was a true rest.
“Qing Ling, this place is really nice, right?” Ling Shuying smiled faintly, talking aloud to Qing Ling again.
She pushed open the half-closed door and stepped outside.
The salty sea breeze wafted through the slightly cool air, and the crisp chirping of birds echoed endlessly.
The forest stood tall.
Nature captured Ling Shuying’s five senses with its beauty.
Ling Shuying lazily stretched her body.
She was about to wash up when she realized she hadn’t found a water source yet.
She figured she couldn’t exactly wash her face with coconut water, and glanced at the coconut shells in the corner.
It was better to save it for drinking; using it to wash her face would be a waste.
On an island, fresh water resources were extremely important.
Washing up was only secondary; cooking, cleaning, and drinking were necessities.
She absolutely had to establish a stable water source.
Since there was a house and a kitchen, there should also be…
Ling Shuying looked around.
The vision and computing power bestowed upon her by Qing Ling kicked into action once again.
A data stream pointed to a dark silhouette not far from the house, covered by vegetation.
Ling Shuying approached and pulled aside the weeds, her eyes lighting up.
She found it!
It was a water storage tower concealed by weeds and leaves.
It was even a model with a built-in filtration system.
Staring at the tower that stood several meters tall, Ling Shuying’s breathing quickened with excitement.
She hoped it was still functional.
Looking at its slightly rusted exterior, she crossed her fingers.
Ling Shuying quickly scrambled up a nearby tree and carefully inched along a branch.
Then—THUD—she leaped onto the top of the water tower.
SPLASH.
The jump made the tower sway slightly, but it remained firmly rooted in place.
The sound of water echoed from inside.
Was there still water left?
Ling Shuying inspected the top.
According to her analysis, it was a rainwater collection device, and below it lay a water filtration layer.
The filter layer was already very dilapidated, and the filtering materials had turned black with age.
Fortunately, the water tower itself was completely intact, and its exterior looked quite sturdy.
Ling Shuying knocked on the top.
It produced an Echo.
It was empty.
She gently jumped down, landing as nimbly as a cat.
She tapped along the side.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
The impact sounded dull and muffled at the bottom, but became hollow a third of the way up. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
There was still a third of a tank of water inside.
She didn’t know how long it had been there or if it was still usable.
Ling Shuying grabbed the coconut shell bowl she had made last night and gently turned the faucet at the base of the tower.
SPLASH—
The water flowed out unnaturally, sputtering and intermittent, as if the pipe was blocked by something.
It was a murky yellow.
Her analytical model displayed the result: *Safety level: 42%.*
It seemed the inside had become a breeding ground for microorganisms.
Ling Shuying sighed softly.
Still, it was better than nothing.
If she repaired this large water tower, it could still be used.
Moreover…
Ling Shuying looked at the water in her bowl and thought, “I am a scholar, after all.”
There were many ways to deal with dirt and bacteria in water.
In the City State, water resources were scarce.
Mountain spring water was a privilege reserved for a tiny fraction of the nobility, while ordinary people could only drink limited amounts of tap water.
Although the tap water underwent preliminary Purification at the water plant, it still wasn’t considered sanitary.
The simplest way to treat it was to boil it.
Although she could start a fire, the water before Ling Shuying clearly couldn’t be treated just by boiling.
At the very least, she needed to filter it first.
Ling Shuying pondered for a moment before setting off to find materials.
She needed gauze, a coarse filter layer, a fine filter layer, and activated carbon…
She could use coral stone for the coarse filter and crushed seashells for the fine filter.
Some of the firewood she burned last night should have carbonized by now, and she could add some pine needles at the very bottom.
But what about the gauze?
Ling Shuying scratched her head.
Her clothes?
No, they had all been soaked in seawater, and she still needed to wear them.
She decided to keep an eye out as she walked; there might be something useful in the forest.
Walking through the woods, Ling Shuying found a pine tree with plenty of pine needles scattered on the ground.
She figured she should gather more, as they would be useful for other things.
She scooped up a large handful from the earth, placed them on a banana leaf, and wrapped them up.
On her way back, she casually picked a few mushrooms and knocked down a couple of coconuts.
Suddenly, Ling Shuying seemed to catch sight of a data stream.
Could it be…?
Holding her arms full of goods, she walked over.
It was a tiny stream.
The water flow was very weak, and jagged rocks lay across it.
Between the stones, a pale green membrane could faintly be seen covering the surface.
A water source?
She caught the water downstream, slowly cupping a pool of it in her palms.
*Safety level: 90%.*
It was usable.
With a SPLASH, she vigorously washed her face and wiped it dry with her clothes.
Then she slowly approached that stone.
Purifying Algae?!
Purifying Algae was a mutated algae that appeared after the “Great Descent.” Shaped like a thin membrane, it grew in harsh environments and possessed strong filtration capabilities.
In the wilderness, people often used it to filter sewage.
Ling Shuying was overjoyed, grateful for nature’s gift.
She trotted all the way back to drop off the pine needles and mushrooms, then returned to the stream holding her coconut shell bowl.
Carefully, she sliced through the Purifying Algae with a sharp shard of coconut shell.
She only needed a little, leaving the rest to continue growing.
Her “gauze” was sorted.
Returning to the beach behind her home, she gathered a pile of coral stone and seashells, along with a piece of carbonized wood.
Her materials were complete.
The coconut shells were piled up in the corner.
Ling Shuying scooped them up in her arms and walked over to the water tower.
She had already opened a hole at the top of the shells.
She turned one upside down and, just like opening a coconut, inserted three fingers into it as if holding a bowling ball.
The coconut shell still retained some moisture, so it wasn’t too brittle and didn’t break.
Ling Shuying was delighted, quite satisfied with her own strength.
Following the same method, she prepared four of them.
Then, she inserted the filter materials.
In the first coconut, from bottom to top, she placed pine needles and activated carbon.
She filled the second with crushed seashells, the third with fine, soft sand, and the last with chunks of coral stone.
She also laid a layer of Purifying Algae at the top and bottom of each set of filter materials.
Using scattered vines, she strung them together in sequence.
From top to bottom, the order was: coral stone, sand, crushed seashells, activated carbon, and pine needles.
A simple filter was complete.
She hung it from the water tower’s faucet and turned it on.
The water gushed out, falling squarely into the first coconut to enter the first stage of preliminary filtration.
Then it trickled into the second, the third, the fourth…
By the time the water flowed out of the final coconut, its color had become incredibly translucent.
It still held a faint yellow tint, but it was much cleaner than before.
Ling Shuying picked up the coconut shell filled with water and sniffed it.
*Safety level: 83%.*
She only needed to boil it, and it would be ready to drink.
The sky gradually darkened, and the stars climbed up once more.
Ling Shuying sat by the fire as usual, but this time, a large coconut shell was suspended over the campfire.
It was a coconut pot.
Inside, the boiling water bubbled, letting out a GURGLE GURGLE.
The water had come to a boil.
Ling Shuying pulled a small coconut out of her pocket.
It was about the size of a cup.
This was a Borneo coconut she had found a little further down the beach.
She scooped out half a cup from the pot.
*Safety level: 97%.*
She blew on it gently and took a small sip.
Coconut bowls, coconut pots, coconut cups, coconut water, and coconut meat.
Coconuts truly were the treasures of the island.
The water bubbled as it boiled.
Ling Shuying took out the mushrooms she had picked during the day and tossed them into the pot.
After ten minutes or so, the data indicated they were safe, so she stirred in a little salt and served it into her bowl.
The waves continued to crash in rhythmic swells.
Draped in her jacket, Ling Shuying enjoyed the salty, damp sea breeze.
She drank the piping hot mushroom soup; it was sweet, clear, and tender.
She quietly gazed out at the coastline.
“Qing Ling, being able to drink hot soup on a deserted island…
life really isn’t too bad, is it?
“Qing Ling, I still want to eat rice, vegetables, and meat.”
The CRACKLE of the campfire responded to her.
After she finished her soup, the sea breeze gradually picked up.
Ling Shuying extinguished the fire and slowly walked back toward the wooden cabin.
It was time to rest.