In the end, Nan Liujing didn’t work the full 10 hours as Lawrence had expected. By the sixth hour, he had precisely maintained his stamina at 30—just one point shy of the threshold for exhaustion—and then, a few minutes before the seventh hour began, he went to see Lawrence to collect his pay.

Over those six hours, he’d spent 160 stamina points—120 of his own, plus 40 from the employee meal (two pieces of bread). After handing over the 240 units of chestnuts Lawrence had requested, he still had 80 units left for himself.

Lawrence was amazed by his efficiency and repeatedly urged him to join the Lawrence Brothers: “Come work for me from now on!” Nan Liujing politely declined, asking instead if he could come back the next day.

“Sure, we’ll be here until the harvest in this chestnut grove is finished,” Lawrence said. “We’re always happy to have such efficient workers!” 

“I’ll be here tomorrow, too,” Nan Liujing said with a smile as he accepted the 3,000 sol check Lawrence handed him, then went to say goodbye to Pete.

Pete was still hard at work in the chestnut grove: “Oh, leaving already? Are you coming back tomorrow?” His face clearly said, “I want to keep chatting and working with you tomorrow…” 

Nan Liujing patted him on the shoulder: “Sure, I’ll be back before noon.”

“Yay!”

Pete was over the moon and even mentioned wanting to exchange addresses with Nan Liujing, so that even if they weren’t working together anymore, they could still keep in touch through letters. They could call each other, of course, but neither Nan Liujing nor Pete had a landline at home.

For a country boy who had to rely on odd jobs to make ends meet, a landline was simply too expensive.

Nan Liujing didn’t know the coordinates of his island either, so he could only give it the name “Unknown Island.” 

Pete said confidently, “No problem—the newspaper delivery bird will find it!”

When he returned to the small wooden boat, Nan Liujing’s silhouette once again took on the shape of tiny cat ears. He waved to Lawrence, who was sitting in the security booth, and deftly untied the hemp rope.

The small wooden boat was gently pushed away from the dock by the waves. Nan Liujing smiled toward Chestnut Island, his lips moving slightly: “Jinks, let’s sail home.” 

“Quack.” The alchemical parrot, which had been standing on the mast like an ornament, muttered, hooked its claws onto the sail, and let go.

Hei Tang leapt out of Nan Liujing’s shadow, stretched lazily, then sat back down and scratched her neck with her hind legs. Finally, she let out a big yawn.

It had long since caught more than enough prey to feed its master, and after playing outside until it was exhausted, it had run back to Nan Liujing’s shadow for a nap.

Lawrence’s shadow finally faded from view; the security booth shrank to a tiny black speck in the distance. Nan Liujing sat at the bow, leaning forward to scratch the kitten’s chin: “You worked hard today.”

Hei Tang tilted its head up to let him scratch it, purring contentedly.

By the time they returned to Unknown Island, it was nearly evening. The drifting clouds were tinged with the golden-red hues of the setting sun, which in turn spread across the sea, filling the view with a dazzling blend of golden and orange-red.

Nian Gao came running toward them against the backdrop of the fiery sunset; its long, silvery-white fur was also tinged with the colors, and as it ran, the light danced across its coat.

“Woo-ing!”

Nian Gao lunged into Nan Liujing’s arms, just as Hei Tang—who was nonchalantly jumping off the boat and jogging toward the shore—brushed past him. Nan Liujing hugged the little fox, who was clinging tightly to him and acting all cute, and stroked it from head to toe with increasingly practiced movements.

Nian Gao wagged its tail happily and, catching Nan Liujing off guard, slobbered all over his face.

“……” Nan Liujing, with a drool mark on his cheek, was both annoyed and amused. He tapped Nian Gao’s guilty forehead and threatened, “No blueberries for you today!”

Nian Gao pretended not to understand and stole a glance at him with the whites of its eyes.

Jinks silently lowered the sail, then grabbed the hemp rope with its mouth and flew over to the pier’s bollard, trying to tie it there. 

Nan Liujing took the rope and quickly tied a sailor’s knot, then picked up Nian Gao and strode ashore. Jinks stood on the pier post, staring blankly at the sailor’s knot.

It possessed all the memories a pirate captain should have, so it did recognize a sailor’s knot. But it couldn’t figure out how its master had learned it—wasn’t this something only sailors were supposed to know?

Its master didn’t even sail a ship.

The alchemical brain—which wasn’t exactly the sharpest to begin with—was on the verge of a complete meltdown.

One could only say that the pirate captain of the Impermanent Sea had never experienced the information explosion on Earth, nor the boredom of staying home in quarantine. Nan Liujing even possessed extensive theoretical knowledge on postpartum care for sows.

The parrot quietly crashed, and no one noticed. Nan Liujing went to the slime ranch and bred his sixth earth-yellow slime, then fed more soil into the machine.

As he added the soil, he pondered a new recipe.

He decided to stop creating the land subspecies of slimes after making the 10th one. Although this type of slime is indeed very useful, creating it consumes a large amount of soil.

After all, the island was small to begin with, and the soil on it was limited; the land subspecies of slimes from Nanliu were, at best, a mixed blessing.

Moreover, elevation is crucial for an island. If he dug so much that the elevation dropped—even by just one centimeter—it could have significant consequences in the future.

After all, Unknown Island’s elevation is already low; if a typhoon or tsunami were to strike one day, it could spell disaster.

In any case, the guide to the Slime Ranch mentioned that the slimes living on the surface reproduce on their own every so often, so even if he left them alone, their numbers should continue to grow.

As for improvements, he didn’t expect them to happen overnight.

That evening, Nan Liujing cooked dinner. His stamina was running dangerously low, so he had to replenish it that night. Besides, it wasn’t exactly light work—even after eating two pieces of bread, Nan Liujing was still very hungry.

He was both tired and hungry.

He didn’t feel like cooking. There were stat-boosting dishes in the warehouse that he’d traded for, but they were all stone cold, and he wanted something hot. Finally, Nan Liujing boiled another pot of water.

As it turned out, this action allowed Nan Liujing to successfully unlock the recipe for baked potatoes, meaning he could now quickly mass-produce this convenient staple food.

【Baked Potato】

【Category: Cooking · Snacks】

【Ingredients: Potato x1.】

【Optional Ingredients: Salt, ?, ?.】

【Recommended Price: 98 Sol.】

【Freshness: Fresh】

【Effect: Restores 15 Stamina.】

【Roast raw potatoes over charcoal until they’re done—just sprinkle a little salt on them, and they’re a heavenly treat.】 

Nan Liujing’s dinner consisted of two roasted potatoes, a plate of cold, fishy, and nearly spoiled sashimi, and a large cup of steaming green tea. He shared half a piece of the roasted potatoes with Nian Gao while Hei Tang only took a few bites.

The little fox cub, who was an omnivore to begin with, ate happily, while the carnivorous Hei Tang showed little interest. It had hunted and eaten its fill on Chestnut Island, so it barely touched its dinner—all of which Nian Gao had secretly taken credit for.

So full that it lay on its back in front of the fireplace after dinner, grumbling, it still stood up and wagged its tail when it saw Nan Liujing pull out a plastic water bottle filled with blueberries.

Nan Liujing tossed the bottle to him, telling him to carry it off to a corner to gnaw on it.

He wasn’t worried about Nian Gao eating too much—with its little brain and tiny teeth, it couldn’t unscrew the cap yet. It wouldn’t be able to eat a single blueberry from the bottle; it was just a case of “looking at plums to quench one’s thirst.”

With those few blueberries there, Nian Gao could focus all its attention on fiddling with the plastic bottle—which would give it some exercise and help with digestion.

That night, Nan Liujing didn’t stay up late. He’d originally planned to wait and see how the mail-delivering bird would send out the letters, but he’d already figured that out today.

So Nan Liujing left 50 sol in the mailbox and placed Alfonso’s suitcase and a text message that sounded like a criminal’s confession next to it.

After finishing all this, Nan Liujing crawled into bed right on time at ten o’clock and drifted peacefully off to sleep. 

Day 13 of Survival: A peaceful day.

Nan Liujing woke up at six o’clock in the morning; at that time, Nian Gao and Hei Tang were still fast asleep.

The wooden shutters were tightly closed, with only a few rays of sunlight seeping through the cracks to illuminate the windowsill. The farmhouse was dark; the fireplace, which had been burning the night before, was now only lukewarm because no one had stoked it in the middle of the night. Nan Liujing yawned, squinted at the alarm clock, then sat up and opened the window.

The soft morning sunlight poured in, finally filling the room with decent light.

He quickly got dressed, washed up, poured some small biscuits into the two little ones’ bowls, then threw on his coat, pushed open the door, and stepped outside. He’d been looking forward to today ever since he went to bed last night, because the watermelons in his field would be ripe today.

Watermelons have a growing period of 8 days and come with the most expensive seeds in the entire farm—a whopping 430 Sol. If players in the trading zone generally didn’t realize the value of Sol, Nan Liujing would never have been able to trade for them at the price of two wooden planks.

Even the Sun Grass seeds only cost 300 Sol.

After planting the watermelons, Nan Liujing had fertilized them sporadically, unsure of how they would turn out. Feeling a bit nervous, he walked to the edge of the field and immediately spotted some watermelons.

Their vines had spread everywhere; what had started with just five seeds had now grown into a sprawling, sprawling mass.

Plump watermelons hung from the vines, their skins a deep green streaked with black. Their sizes varied greatly—some were as round and large as basketballs, while others were only slightly larger than Nan Liujing’s palm.

Nan Liujing strongly suspected this was a fertilizer issue. A few days earlier, when fertilizer was in short supply, he had been applying it sparingly, and indeed, some watermelon vines hadn’t received enough fertilizer.

“The difference between fertilizing and not fertilizing is actually that big?” Nan Liujing rubbed his nose, thinking to himself that next time he planted such expensive seeds, he’d better do his best to make sure to fertilize them every day.

He went out with his sickle to harvest the watermelons, yielding 14 watermelons ranging in star rating from ★ to ★★☆, along with one mutant watermelon. Since all the watermelons had been fertilized at least once, none of them had a ☆ rating—the lowest was ★.

【Watermelon★】

【Category: Food】

【A huge, round fruit with red flesh inside when cut open. Eating it restores 10 Stamina and increases Heat Resistance by 1 (for 1 hour).】

【Suggested Price: 630 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

Compared to the ★ watermelon, the ★★☆ watermelon has a Heat Resistance duration increased to 2.5 hours and a price raised to 980 Sol; all other attributes remain unchanged.

As for the Mutant Watermelon…

【Heart-Shaped Watermelon ★☆】

【Category: Ingredient】

【It’s supposed to be a huge, round fruit… How on earth did it end up looking like this?】

【Suggested Price: 900 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

The item’s description was also thought up by Nan Liujing. What on earth happened to a watermelon during its growth that caused it to turn heart-shaped? 

Nan Liujing stared at the pointy tip of the mutated watermelon, completely baffled.

He strongly suspected that this was nothing more than a defective watermelon that just happened to be misshapen and ugly—but because its misshapen appearance was particularly striking, it had been given the fancy name of “heart-shaped watermelon.” Not only could it be sold, but it also fetched over 100 sol more than watermelons of the same grade.

—This isn’t a mutation at all! It’s just a deformed watermelon!

Nan Liujing grumbled to himself as he stuffed the watermelons into his backpack.

There were only 15 watermelons in total, but because of their different star ratings, they took up several inventory slots at once, and Nan Liujing immediately began to worry.

“…From now on, when fertilizing, I’ll either apply it to all of them or none at all.” Keeping the star ratings consistent within the same batch is the only way to save storage slots. Nan Liujing had learned another lesson.

With the warehouse nearly full, Nan Liujing found an oak barrel, temporarily stored all the watermelons inside, and placed it under the eaves. The weather had been cool and overcast lately, so the watermelons wouldn’t spoil anytime soon if left outside.

The watermelon vines, stripped of their fruit, lay wilted on the ground. Nan Liujing picked out a bunch of the tender ones to give the chickens and sheep in the animal shed as a special treat. He used a sickle to cut the remaining vines down to the ground, dug up the roots with a hoe, and sent both the roots and vines to the compost bin.

The weeds added yesterday had turned into 1 unit of fertilizer today. With training just around the corner, Nan Liujing didn’t rush to apply the fertilizer; he set it aside to wait until he had saved up 5 units.

Now that the watermelon patch was empty, it was time to plant something new. Nan Liujing rummaged through the storage shed and found 6 strawberry seeds.

While there’s nothing wrong with continuing to grow strawberries, from a food stockpiling perspective, strawberries—a fruit that’s hard to store—are of little value.

Even if turned into dried strawberries or strawberry jam, they wouldn’t fill anyone’s stomach.

In contrast, Nan Liujing would rather take advantage of the time before the natural disaster to grow more crops that are plentiful and filling. After looking around the trading area, he traded 3 basic materials for 5 pumpkin seeds and planted them in his fields.

【Pumpkin Seeds☆】

【Category: Seeds】

【A huge, round crop with a sweet and chewy texture. Can be harvested 6 days after planting. Can only be grown in farmland.】

【Suggested Price: 310 Sol.】

After planting, it was time to water them. After 4 days of growth, the Sun Grass had successfully grown into a large clump of unremarkable weeds. Nan Liujing crouched on the ground, carefully parting some of the deep green leaves and roots to water them, feeling quite confused—he even wondered for a moment if he’d planted the wrong seeds.

What on earth does this thing have in common with a magical plant?

After finishing his work in the fields, Nan Liujing hurried over to the animal shed.

The grass in the grazing area hadn’t grown in yet, so Nan Liujing wouldn’t let Hei Tang and Nian Gao go out to tend the black-faced sheep and white-feathered chickens; as a result, the two were still playing with slimes.

At the animal shed, the little animals rushed toward Nan Liujing as soon as they saw him, bleating and cooing as they gathered around him. Nan Liujing held up a watermelon vine to feed them.

Even though their feeders were stocked with hay for self-service, they still made a point of eating the watermelon vine right then and there.

While feeding the animals, Nan Liujing chatted aimlessly, patting and stroking them from time to time, watching as pink heart-shaped animals constantly appeared above their heads.

Yesterday, Hei Tang caught four wild rabbits and two white-feathered chickens on Chestnut Island. After returning, Nan Liujing put the white-feathered chickens in the animal shed, and after a night of taming, they had grown quite fond of him. All four were female chickens, huddled around Nan Liujing as they bent their heads to peck at the watermelon vines.

None of the four wild rabbits were suitable for fur harvesting, so they’ve now been turned into four rabbit skins and four smoked rabbits.

The smoked rabbits had only their innards and heads removed, so they could be hung whole in the cold-smoking cabinet. Last night, he managed to squeeze them in alongside the horse mackerel to be smoked, and they should be ready this morning.

He planned to roast the rabbit heads and innards until dry, then mix them with Hei Tang and Nian Gaos to make a snack.

After bonding with the animals, Nan Liujing picked up four eggs, ignored the mess on the ground, and hopped out of the hut as if playing hopscotch.

Since the animals eat, drink, and relieve themselves inside the shed, the floor gets filthy. Logically, one should lay down a layer of straw on the floor; that way, when cleaning up, you just need to remove the straw that’s gotten dirty and replace it with fresh straw.

The soiled straw can be sent to the compost pile; plant and animal waste are, after all, excellent raw materials for compost.

The problem was that Nan Liujing simply didn’t have that much hay.

Currently, the animal pens are decorative items that automatically appear in the house after construction; they don’t reproduce on their own, so every time one is used, there’s one less. Until he can reliably obtain large quantities of straw, Nan Liujing has no choice but to turn a blind eye.

The Blue Slime picked up 1 Sea Salt Jelly from its head, and Nan Liujing headed to the Ocean Pasture.

A few more fish had grown to size in the fish farm, so Nan Liujing scooped them out. He set aside a few small ones to feed the newspaper-delivering birds and turned the larger ones into smoked fish to keep for himself.

Whole smoked fish can also be hung in the cold-smoking cabinet, so they don’t have to compete for space with the mackerel fillets.

With a little while still left before low tide, Nan Liujing went to the mailbox to retrieve the newspaper and returned to the house to read it while eating breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of a stat-boosting dish and a handful of chestnuts he’d tossed into the fireplace the night before, which had turned into roasted chestnuts thanks to the fire’s residual heat. Without a slit in the shell, the chestnuts were particularly hard to peel. Nan Liujing patiently peeled two of them, leaving both pitted and scarred from his fingernails.

He pulled out his iron axe and split the chestnuts in half with just a few swings. While eating the chestnuts, Nan Liujing took out the newspaper.

Today’s issue was the *Heart of Dawn Daily*.

【Heart of Dawn Daily】

Year 213 of the Age of Catastrophe, Peaceful Day. 

Heart of Dawn Publishing House.

Issue No. 60.

【Weather Forecast】

Today’s Weather: Sunny. Temperature: 16°C–20°C. Light breeze.

Tomorrow’s Weather: Cloudy.

Temperature: 14°C–18°C. Calm.

【Today’s Top News】

The heinous Raven Pirates have once again been spotted. This time, they were sighted in the northern waters. Their last appearance reduced two picturesque and peaceful islands to ashes—what kind of turmoil will they stir up this time? Residents of the northern waters are urged to remain vigilant.

Recently, an isolated island hidden away in a secret waterway agreed to establish ties with other islands, thanks to the full support of the Impermanent Sea Islands Management Committee. The island is called Coco Island and is abundant in a fruit-bearing tree known as the cocoa tree. Cocoa beans can be used to make a delicacy called chocolate, which, upon its release, immediately captivated everyone’s taste buds. Currently, the price of cocoa fruit has risen to match that of Alexandrite, making it a trendy delicacy reserved for the upper class—one that ordinary people cannot afford.

Over 300 mu of tobacco fields on Tobacco Leaf Island were burned to the ground overnight, leaving the island with nothing to show for its investment. The court has now stepped in to investigate.

【Limited-Time Offer】

……

……

【Postcard Giveaway】

First Prize (1 winner): Golden Blood Unicorn (provided by Twilight Ranch)

Second Prize (10 winners): One-year supply of coupons from Daina’s Shop (provided by Daina’s Shop) 

Third Prize (100 winners): Plant Growth Potion x5 (provided by the Witches’ Roundtable)

Participation Prize (Unlimited): Grapevine Sapling (Provided by the Harvest Association) 

The postcard giveaway is open to members only.

Simply fill out the postcard attached to this issue correctly to enter the drawing. There is no cost to mail the postcard back.

Thank you to all the associations for their generous support of this newspaper!

——————————————

“The third prize and participation prize this time are pretty good,” Nan Liujing muttered to himself as he wrote a postcard, but if he had a choice, he’d still have preferred the plant growth potion—after all, he didn’t have any extra farmland to grow grapes on.

After dropping the postcard into the mailbox, Nan Liujing went to find Hei Tang to ask if it wanted to visit the island they’d been to yesterday again. Hei Tang was crouched among a pile of earth-colored slimes, looking as haughty as a royal official, and twitched its ears at the question.

It swiped at the slimes a few times with its paws; the muddy blobs made “plop, plop” sounds beneath its paws, each one looking on the verge of death, listless and weak.

They really don’t hold up well.

Hei Tang swished her tail, stood up, and walked elegantly to Nan Liujing’s feet, rubbing her little body against his pant leg: “Meow~.”

“We’ll be leaving soon.” Nan Liujing stroked the cat’s back a few times; her fur was smooth and silky, feeling very pleasant to the touch.

He walked straight to the dock to wait, while the highly responsible kitten ran off to roll all the mudballs back to the Slime Pasture, shut the gate, and only then trotted off to find him.

With an effortless leap, it hopped onto the small wooden boat. Hei Tang and Jinks locked eyes, and Jinks’s pupils instantly contracted into vertical slits.

Jinks’s feathers bristled, and she let out a soft “quack.”

Nan Liujing sat at the bow of the boat, casually lifting Hei Tang onto his lap and petting him. “Let’s set sail, Jinks. Our destination is Chestnut Island.” Hei Tang lay quietly on Nan Liujing’s lap, purring contentedly, no longer paying any attention to the parrot.

The alchemy parrot, having narrowly escaped disaster, took off in a daze. It circled the small wooden boat twice before remembering to set sail. On the beach, Nian Gao watched them enviously; it wanted to go out and play, too.

But the little fox cub had a mission of its own. With all its friends out, it had to stay behind to guard the house—and keep an eye on the blue slime so it wouldn’t escape.

“Awoo!” Nian Gao smashed the slime flat into the water with a swipe of its paw and let out a triumphant howl.

The slime cowered, not daring to make a single peep.