Survival Day 14, a peaceful day.

Nan Liujing was out in the fields early in the morning, harvesting crops.

Today, two types of crops had ripened in the first plot of poor-quality farmland: the tomato plants were once again laden with red fruit, and the wheat—which had been green just yesterday—had turned golden.

Nan Liujing used a sickle to harvest the wheat; each stalk had produced three ears, and every grain on the ears was plump and beautiful, feeling substantial in his hand.

Stripping all the grains from a single ear of wheat yields x1 wheat; from five stalks, Nan Liujing obtained x15 wheat.

【Wheat☆】

【Category: Ingredients】

【A crop with a golden husk, it is one of the most important staple foods in the Impermanent Sea.】

【Suggested Price: 70 Sol.】

【Status: Fresh】

“I remember a single wheat seed cost 200 soles,” Nan Liujing said with a wry smile, looking at the handful of wheat grains in his hand. “That’s a pretty slim profit margin.”

It took a full nine days from planting to harvest, but the profit was a mere 10 sol—how could anyone not be speechless? 

But staple foods are, after all, different from vegetables and fruits; even with such meager profits, they still had to be grown.

Nan Liujing looked at the second plot of poor-quality farmland, where a full 25 plants of “Harvest No. 12” wheat had been planted; they now stood tall and graceful, their ears of wheat already sprouting.

The selling point of “Harvest No. 12” wheat is its higher yield compared to ordinary wheat; all he could do now was pin his hopes on the Bountiful Association.

He continued to harvest all the wheat stalks and toss them into the compost bin.

Yesterday’s watermelon vines had turned into 5 units of fertilizer today, and Nan Liujing immediately scattered them over the sun grass field.

With 5 empty spots freed up in the field, he couldn’t let the land go to waste. Nan Liujing browsed the trading area, picked out 5 white radish seeds, and planted them.

【White Radish Seeds☆】

【Category: Seeds】

【Seeds for plump, white radishes that have a slightly spicy flavor. They can be harvested just 5 days after sowing. Can only be grown in farmland.】

【Suggested retail price: 180 soles.】

He also picked up a fluffy makeup brush to pollinate the strawberries.

The strawberry seeds have been growing for 4 days since sowing and bloomed with white flowers this morning.

The petals are soft, curling outward in folds; the stamens are large, with deep yellow ones clustering around a pale yellow pistil. The pistil resembles a column, and the stamens have fuzzy edges and have already produced a large amount of pollen.

Use a brush to transfer the pollen from the stamens to the pistil, and the pollination is complete.

Brush each flower several times to ensure slow pollination; this way, the strawberries that grow will be perfectly shaped, rather than misshapen or flawed.

Nan Liujing crouched on the ground, diligently pollinating each flower while counting them, as if already anticipating the joy of a bountiful harvest.

After watering, he picked 25 plump, juicy tomatoes. The tomato plants showed no signs of wilting; they were still capable of producing another crop.

It wasn’t just the tomatoes and wheat that ripened today—the hay also matured just in time.

Nan Liujing brought Nian Gao and Hei Tang into the animal shed and solemnly entrusted the task of herding the animals to them.

“No need to take them outside—just let them roam around inside the fence.” To demonstrate, Nan Liujing picked up a white-feathered chicken from the animal shed and placed it in the grazing area.

The grass in the grazing area had grown as tall as a person’s leg, with a few weeds scattered here and there; surprisingly, it actually looked quite lush.

As soon as the white-feathered chicken touched the ground, it was dazzled by the sea of green. It clucked happily, bobbing its head up and down as it pecked at the grass and seeds, occasionally managing to peck a few bugs out of the ground.

Two of them crouched to one side; Nian Gao looked serious, tilting its head to study the scene. Hei Tang, on the other hand, seemed carefree, lifting a paw to lick it.

Nan Liujing gestured with his hands: “Let them out in the morning, and then you don’t have to worry about them. The fence will keep them from wandering off. Just herd them back into the animal house before dark. Got it?”

“Meow!” Nian Gao let out a playful cry. 

Nan Liujing turned to the cat: “Hei Tang?”

Hei Tang twitched its ears, glanced at him, and stood up gracefully.

It strutted into the animal shed, and before long, a white-feathered chicken burst out the door as if being chased by a killer, flapping its wings and squawking loudly as it ran out.

Hei Tang strolled out leisurely. When it reached Nan Liujing, it paused, turned its head to look at him, and twitched its whiskers slightly.

“…Very good!” Nan Liujing said, feeling both exasperated and amused. “That’s it! Hei Tang, you’re so smart!”

Hei Tang tilted its head back, its tail standing straight up like an antenna.

“Nian Gao, why don’t you give it a try?” Nan Liujing looked at Nian Gao encouragingly.

“Yi-yi!” The fox cub jumped up and ran into the animal house, full of fighting spirit.

A moment later, it laboriously herded a bleating black-faced sheep out.

Nan Liujing, of course, went on and on with his lavish praise, his emotional meter maxed out. Before long, everyone came out. As for the food, the two lambs were leisurely munching on grass.

Yesterday, he went to work on Chestnut Island. As for the wild rabbits—one of them was a long-haired rabbit that had escaped slaughter thanks to its incredibly soft fur—it had also been chased out by Nian Gao and was now crouching in the grass, munching on the pasture.

This rabbit was pure white all over; when crouched, it looked like a big fluffy ball. Its two long ears stood straight up, and its fur was so long it covered its eyes, but it didn’t seem to mind at all. Its eyes and mind were focused solely on the grass. Its three-lobed mouth moved back and forth, and it ate grass like a paper shredder—faster even than the lambs.

【Long-haired Rabbit】

【Category: Animals】

【A relatively common rabbit on the Impermanent Sea; its meat is average, but its fur is of excellent quality when carefully raised.]

After returning from the animal house with some eggs, Nan Liujing casually stroked the rabbit, which didn’t move a muscle as he petted it. Actually, its fur was long enough to be trimmed, but Nan Liujing didn’t have a specialized animal clipper. Using a regular knife or scissors would be tricky, and he worried that a single tremor of his hand might lead to irreversible consequences.

Since it’s a long-haired rabbit, he’d better treat it with a little more care.

Aside from the rabbit, the squirrels on Chestnut Island also fell victim to Hei Tang’s wrath. As a result, Nan Liujing ended up with four squirrel pelts, and last night’s dinner for Nian Gao and Hei Tang consisted of squirrel meat.

Nan Liujing simply didn’t dare to eat it.

It was highly likely that the fox cub was eating raw meat and bones for the very first time in its life; it seemed rather clumsy, not knowing where to start. It fumbled with the squirrel for ages, drooling all over it, yet the squirrel didn’t even have a single scratch.

Finally, Hei Tang couldn’t stand watching any longer and went over to teach it, step by step, how to eat.

Start with the head—the skin and flesh wrapped around the skull are crisp and crunchy when you bite into them. Both the brain and the eyes are nutritious, so don’t be picky. Then eat the offal; it’s the most tender part and the essence of the prey—don’t leave a single bite behind.

Finally, eat the meat—chew and swallow it from the neck to the tail. Cats and foxes are swallowing animals; they don’t bother to chew their food slowly. As long as they can swallow it and the bones don’t get stuck in their throats, that’s all that matters. 

Once swallowed, stomach acid will take care of digesting all the food.

After finishing, lick the blood and scraps from the food bowl—don’t waste a thing—and then it’s time to wash your face and paws.

The experienced Hei Tang eats with such elegance that others might overlook the fact that it’s feasting on raw meat and blood. By the end, only two testicles remain—left behind on purpose, since cats don’t like them.

Nian Gao, on the other hand, ate much more messily, splattering blood all over the floor and leaving its muzzle bright red. Still buzzing with excitement from successfully devouring its prey, it was jumping up and down.

It wasn’t until Nan Liujing couldn’t stand it anymore that he grabbed him, pinned him down, and gave his mouth a slow wipe—only then did he settle down.

After two days of work on Chestnut Island, Nan Liujing had collected 140 chestnuts. By the second day, the number of chestnuts in the woods had noticeably decreased, while the number of workers had actually increased. As a result, even though Nan Liujing was more skilled and faster than the day before, he still couldn’t gather any more within the limited time.

He figured gathering chestnuts today would be even harder. Pete had quietly told him yesterday that working on Chestnut Island just wasn’t worth it anymore; he was planning to quit and head to another island to harvest persimmons.

Apples, raspberries, chestnuts, persimmons—ever since Nan Liujing logged into the game, he’s encountered nothing but autumn fruits, which made him wonder if it was now autumn in the game world.

But then again, since there were still mangoes and bananas for sale in the trading area, it didn’t quite add up.

Even Pete, a seasoned worker, says it’s no longer worth working on Chestnut Island, so of course he’s not going today either. But he can’t just sit around all day. As he walked from the Animal House to the farmhouse, he was thinking about what to do, and when he checked the mailbox, it finally hit him: he still hadn’t done anything with the hazelnuts he’d picked on Mushroom Island earlier.

And the dried goods he’d been sun-drying were ready to be harvested, too.

“I’ll take care of that after breakfast.” He walked into the house and casually tossed the magazine onto the five-drawer chest. Today’s delivery was the *Chamber of Commerce Weekly*—in other words, Nan Liujing had just earned 6,000 Sol from his part-time job; he didn’t feel he could afford any of the recommended items in the magazine.

There was also a blank one-time-use card inside—it contained his prize from the postcard giveaway in the previous issue.

Sure enough, Nan Liujing hadn’t won anything; the card contained only a single, lonely grapevine sapling. If this sapling were to grow, it would take up an entire plot of farmland. Nan Liujing didn’t have any spare farmland to spare for it at the moment, so he could only store it in the warehouse for now.

Since he wasn’t in a rush today, Nan Liujing took the time to give some thought to breakfast.

Mainly because he’d run out of the attribute-boosting ingredients he’d traded for earlier—thank goodness.

However, even though the stat-boosting rations were disgusting, the benefits they provided were very real. Nan Liujing glanced at his stats.

【Name: Nan Liujing】

【Talent: Hoarding Compulsion】

【Class: None】 1

【Health: 10/10】

【Stamina: 114/150】 (Full of energy)

【Energy: 210/210】

【Strength: 12】

【Agility: 12】

【Spirit: 21】

【Skills: None】

【Island: Unknown Island】

His Spirit stat was already high, and now it’s nearly doubled.

Unfortunately, the Spirit stat is tied only to the stamina bar, and his stamina bar has long been in the awkward position of having nowhere to go—so a high stat is of little use.

In contrast, the boosts from Strength and Agility were much more tangible. Nan Liujing could clearly feel that he was more agile, ran faster, worked more quickly, and found his tasks much less taxing.

His backpack still contained freshly harvested tomatoes and eggs that he hadn’t had time to put in the warehouse yet. Nan Liujing took out a tomato and two eggs, deciding to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry was one of the few home-style dishes Nan Liujing knew how to make besides “white people’s food”; in terms of how often he made it and his proficiency, it ranked second only to boiled noodles and mixed fried rice.

The flavor is straightforward—the kind that locals would find unremarkable, but foreigners would shout “amazing!” at. To cook, he first had to start a fire, and before doing that, he had to clean out the fireplace.

After burning the fireplace for several days in a row, the ash in the firebox had piled up to the point where Nan Liujing could no longer ignore it. He dug out a plastic bucket he’d previously bought to store his catch, collected all the wood ash and charcoal from the fire into it, and set it aside.

Nan Liujing would never throw these ashes away—plant ash fertilizes the fields, and as for the charcoal, the smaller pieces can be mixed with the plant ash and spread into the soil, while the larger chunks were to be carefully set aside.

Charcoal burns more easily than dry firewood and produces less smoke, making it a better fuel than wood.

Some players on the forum have also shared how to make charcoal on the island. According to his method, every 2 units of dry firewood yields 1 unit of charcoal, and charcoal burns a little longer than dry firewood, so it’s actually a good deal.

The crafting tutorial is simple and requires few materials, but the need to dig a large pit and pile the firewood inside to smolder stumped a whole bunch of players who didn’t have shovels.

Nan Liujing was one of those stumped. He did have a hoe, but figuring out how to remove the dirt from the pit proved to be a real struggle. Since the temperature hadn’t yet dropped low enough to require charcoal for heating, and making charcoal would also consume a certain amount of wooden planks, Nan Liujing thought it over for a moment and decided to put the idea on hold for now.

He could always burn charcoal once it got colder.

After cleaning out the fireplace, Nan Liujing stacked fresh firewood inside and pulled out his lighter to ignite it.

The flames danced across the dry wood, emitting a soft crackling sound. Once the fire had spread, Nan Liujing casually picked up his knight’s sword to use as a fire poker, poking a few burning logs into a pile and placing several flat stones around them to ensure they were roughly the same height.

He selected a round baking dish and set it on the stones, making it look just like a skillet.

Once the flames had heated the bottom of the pan, he poured in some olive oil, tapped the egg against the edge of the pan to crack it in, and quickly stirred it with a silicone spatula into large chunks of scrambled eggs.

The distinctive aroma of eggs began to waft through the air. As Nan Liujing stirred the mixture, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath; it had been so long since he’d smelled this scent that he actually felt a little moved.

Once the eggs are half-cooked, use a spatula to push them to the edge of the baking sheet, making room for the tomatoes. Remove the stem from a whole tomato, place it directly on the baking sheet, and chop it into large chunks with the spatula.

The tomato juice spills over the oil, sizzling as the tomato’s tangy aroma takes over, instantly overshadowing the rich, oily scent of the eggs.

Nan Liujing quickly stirred the tomatoes with the spatula until they softened, then gathered the eggs into the center and mixed them with the tomato chunks, stir-frying them into a sticky mass, seasoning with just a pinch of salt.

A vibrant red-and-yellow dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes is ready.

【Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry☆】

【Category: Dish】

【A simple yet delicious home-style dish made by stir-frying tomatoes and eggs together. Restores 20 Stamina upon consumption.】

【Suggested Price: 160 Sol.】

【Status: Fresh】

【You have unlocked a new recipe: Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry.】

Carrying the baking sheet directly to the table and pulling out the whole-wheat bread he’d previously obtained from a treasure chest, Nan Liujing began to enjoy his breakfast. His first bite was of the scrambled eggs.

The yolk and white hadn’t been mixed slowly before the protein set, so it looked a bit yellow and white, but fortunately, the taste should be fine.

He blew on it to cool it down before popping it into his mouth; the sweet-and-sour flavor of the tomatoes blossomed on his tongue. Nan Liujing squinted his eyes, then took a big bite of bread—perfect with rice!

After resting for half an hour after breakfast, Nan Liujing got back to work.

First, he gathered up the dried goods spread out all over the ground. The 77 units of raspberries had turned into dried raspberries; the plump red fruits had shriveled, leaving only wrinkled, curled-up pulp. Nan Liujing secretly ate one—it seemed a bit sweeter than when they were fresh.

It must be because the moisture had dried out.

The dried lotus root was ready too; the thin, white slices with holes had turned light brown and curled slightly. When you cupped them in your hands and rubbed them gently, they made a sound like crumpling a plastic bag.

Next were some mushrooms. Nan Liujing hadn’t given it much thought while drying them and had simply spread them out all together. It wasn’t until he went to pack them up that he realized these light, fluffy items had all gotten mixed together—even the item name had changed to 【Dried Mushrooms】 x97.

Nan Liujing: “……” Oh well, never mind. It won’t stop me from eating them anyway, and storing them this way saves two inventory slots.

With the dried goods packed away, he needed to pick up the canvas scraps he’d used as a base and return them to the warehouse. Just then, Nian Gao came running over, whimpering, and as soon as it reached Nan Liujing, it started nibbling at his pant leg.

Nan Liujing was yanked off balance: “Nian Gao, what’s wrong?”

“Woo-woo, ying, woo-woo.” Nian Gao was straining with all four of his short legs, his little butt sticking out as he tried to drag Nan Liujing away with a body not even as big as a single cotton slipper.

“What’s going on?” Nan Liujing was completely baffled. Afraid the fox cub might knock out his teeth, he had no choice but to toss the canvas scraps into his backpack and take the initiative to set off with Nian Gao. “All right, stop tugging. I’ll come with you.”

“Yi!”

Nan Liujing understood what it meant. Nian Gao let out a little cry and decisively ran ahead to lead the way, glancing back every now and then to make sure Nan Liujing was keeping up.

As the man and the fox ran onto the beach, Nan Liujing realized the tide had already gone out. A sea turtle—a full circle larger than a millstone—was lying between the seawater and the sand.

At the edge of the beach, it was stretching its neck out and munching away on something.

Upon closer inspection, that translucent blue lump looked very familiar.

Nian Gao was frantic, circling endlessly at Nan Liujing’s feet, whimpering softly, and occasionally barking furiously at the giant sea turtle—yet he didn’t dare to approach. Nan Liujing suddenly remembered: “……”

Didn’t the description of the ocean slime subspecies say it was sea turtle food? S—l—i—m—e—!

Nan Liujing took a deep breath and shouted, “Hei Tang!!!”

Two seconds later, a mud-covered black cat appeared behind them: “Meow?”

Nan Liujing pointed his arm at the giant sea turtle, which was happily slurping up jelly, and swung it with all his might: “Take it down!”

Hei Tang looked forward at the sound, its pupils instantly narrowing to slits. Sharp claws shot out from its paw pads, tearing four holes in the land-dwelling slime.

“Meow-aaah—”

Nan Liujing felt a gust of wind sweep past his side; in the blink of an eye, the giant sea turtle was sent flying back into the sea by a single swipe of the cat’s paw. The sea turtle lay on its back, its shell floating upside down on the surface, still too dazed to realize what had happened.

Hei Tang leaped onto its chest, raised its front paws, and slapped its face repeatedly, leaving the giant sea turtle dazed and disoriented as it flapped its limbs helplessly. Nian Gao ran to the shore and howled furiously at the giant sea turtle, cheering Hei Tang on with a mix of howls and whimpers.

The peaceful beach suddenly turned into complete chaos. A stranded octopus took the opportunity to quickly burrow into the sand, while a clam sprayed a jet of seawater out of its shell.

Nan Liujing crouched beside the slime’s remains, pinched a bit between his fingers to examine it—and sadly, all that was left was a single layer of skin. Only then did Nan Liujing realize that slimes actually had skin.

“I guess there’s no saving this one,” Nan Liujing sighed.

Although the ocean slimes weren’t as useful as their land-dwelling subspecies, they at least provided him with a steady supply of sea salt jelly every day, which he could sell for 150 Sol!

By then, Hei Tang had had enough of the fight and jumped off the giant sea turtle. The giant sea turtle finally managed to flip itself over and swam away in a panic.

With no one left to curse at, Nian Gao returned to Nan Liujing’s side. He looked at the puddle of slime, nudged it with his nose to make sure it wouldn’t spring back up and gurgle, then lay down dejectedly, whimpering.

Nan Liujing ruffled the fox’s head and comforted him, “It’s okay. You can’t make room for the new without letting go of the old. Shall we make a few more?” 

“Wah?” Nian Gao lifted his head and looked at Nan Liujing uncertainly.

Can we really make them?

Who could resist that?!

Nan Liujing nodded vigorously: “We can do it—let’s do it right now!”

To comfort the heartbroken Nian Gao, Nan Liujing put his plan to create a land-dwelling slime subspecies on hold and spent the entire day experimenting with other recipes.

Take desalinated seawater from the sanitation area and pour it into the machine—creates 1 Pure Water Slime.

【Slime (Pure Water)】

【Category: Magical Creature】 

【Attribute: Water】

【The purest form of Water-attribute slime, virtually nonexistent in nature. Produces 1 Jelly per day.】

【Attribute Skill: Moisture.】

【Moisture: Keeps the body constantly moist; other than that, it serves no purpose.】

【Jelly】

【Category: Ingredient】

【Produced only by artificially raised slimes, this flavorless, chewy jelly is best enjoyed with jam. Eating it restores 5 Stamina points.】

【Suggested Price: 150 Sol.】

The Pure Water Slime was as slimy as a big glob of snot; as soon as Nian Gao saw it, he made a disgusted face and refused to go near it. Nan Liujing put the peeled hazelnuts back in the warehouse, scratched his head, and set his sights on the free sand on the beach.

【Slime (Beach Subspecies)】

【Classification: Magical Creature】

【Element: Earth】

【A beach subspecies of the Earth-element Slime that feeds on sand to survive. It occasionally excretes crystal-clear substances believed to be natural glass.】1

【Elemental Skill: Sand-Eating.】

【Sand-Eating: Eat a little sand, a little more, a little more. Burp.】

The beach subspecies of slime is completely translucent, looking just like a giant glass ball. Before Nian Gao could do anything, Hei Tang, who was passing by, let out an excited “meow-woo” and eagerly ran over to roll the glass ball away.

A new toy ball!

Nian Gao looked at Nan Liujing with a pitiful expression: “Woo…”

By then, it was already dark, so Nan Liujing had no choice but to use his flashlight to go to the beach to fetch water. After pouring enough seawater into the machine, he promised Nian Gao that a blue slime, exactly like the previous one, would appear the next morning.

That night, Nian Gao didn’t even go back to the farmhouse; he dragged his rice bowl over to the slime pasture to eat dinner. He even planned to sleep in the shed, placing his cotton cushion on the haystack as he kept watch over the rumbling machine.

Nan Liujing couldn’t do anything about it, so he had to wait until it fell asleep before quietly carrying the fox cub back to the farmhouse.