Chapter 14: A Simple Kitchen, We Can Make the Traps a Bit Larger

“Stay on the boat, I’m going to take a look,” Bai Yu spoke softly to Bai Xi, who had just opened her eyes. “If you come with me, Miao Miao will cry if she wakes up and finds no one here.”

Bai Xi glanced at the still snoring Bai Miao, then looked up at Bai Yu. “Then be careful, Eldest Sister.”

“I will, don’t worry.” Bai Yu nodded to her, turned, and walked out of the cabin.

After a full day of clear weather yesterday, the water on the shore had completely receded. The hull was resting almost entirely on the beach, so even walking quickly didn’t cause the boat to rock as it did on the water.

Bai Yu walked to the bow, bent slightly, and jumped off the boat.

It was likely still early, but the island was already fully illuminated. She climbed up the small hillside, picked out a sturdy wooden stick from the Rain Pavilion, and headed deeper inland, walking past a few scattered trees.

As she walked, she poked at the ground, checking for any large animal droppings. If there were any, they would have to be extra cautious living here.

Fortunately, the situation was better than she had imagined.

Along the way, she found some droppings from small animals, but almost no signs of large animal waste or tracks.

…

“Second Sister.”

“You’re awake. Eldest Sister went to look for a water source,” Bai Xi pulled Bai Miao up and walked onto the deck. She dipped a cloth in water and wiped the girl’s face. “Are you hungry?”

Bai Miao rubbed her stomach blankly, not feeling particularly hungry. “Did Second Sister eat?”

“Not yet. Eldest Sister ate some of the leftover porridge from yesterday,” Bai Xi said as she wiped the girl’s hands. “Shall we have some porridge too? Then we’ll cook a proper meal once Eldest Sister gets back.”

Bai Miao nodded obediently. “Okay.”

The Casserole Pot was sitting on the boat. The porridge cooked last night had gone completely cold, but they were used to eating cold food. Bai Xi used a spoon to dish out a bowl for Bai Miao and had her sit down to eat.

She also served herself a bowl and ate slowly.

As the cold porridge hit her stomach, Bai Miao became more and more awake. Halfway through the meal, she looked down. “Second Sister, the Shell.”

“Right, we can check-in today. We’ll do it as soon as we finish eating,” Bai Xi said immediately.

“Mhm.” Bai Miao smiled and sped up her eating. Once the bowl of porridge was finished, she impatiently handed the bowl to Bai Xi and used both hands to pick up the Shell and press it.

A practiced motion, followed by a familiar response.

[Check-in successful. Obtained [Axe] * 1]

The moment she heard the voice, Bai Xi was startled. Only when she saw the axe appear directly beside Bai Miao did she breathe a sigh of relief. She quickly grabbed the handle of the axe and moved it away, then grabbed Bai Miao’s arm to check her over. “Did it hit you?”

“No,” Bai Miao opened her hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Axes are very heavy,” Bai Xi said, her heart finally settling. “You mustn’t touch this later, okay?”

Bai Miao looked curiously at the axe nearby.

Bai Xi felt she needed to let the girl know just how heavy an axe really was. She stood up, lifted the axe, walked to the edge and dropped it down. Then she jumped off the boat herself and helped Bai Miao down.

Only then did she let her try to lift the axe on the sand.

The axe was indeed very heavy. Bai Miao tried several times, but she could only strain against the handle without moving it. Stubborn as she was, the more she couldn’t lift it, the harder she tried, until she was panting and covered in sweat.

When Bai Yu returned, this scene of her wrestling with the axe was the first thing she saw.

She intended to step in and help, but as she approached, Bai Xi pulled her back a couple of steps. “It’s fun, don’t interrupt her.”

“You’re just teasing her,” Bai Yu said, though she ultimately didn’t step forward. She stood by the side, smiling as she watched. “Is this what you just got from the check-in?”

“Mhm. It’s quite heavy. Luckily it appeared on the deck rather than falling from above,” Bai Xi said with some lingering fear, then added in surprise, “The [Check-in] Shell really can produce all sorts of strange things. It has everything; it even gave us an axe today.”

“An axe is good. We can chop up those tree trunks we moved earlier. Otherwise, they’re so big they take up too much space,” Bai Yu said, still smiling at Bai Miao’s efforts. “I found a water source just now. It’s quite clean and it’s fresh water. If we can’t get to the Dimensional Forest in the future, we can just take water from there.”

“That’s wonderful,” Bai Xi said excitedly. “I was really afraid there wouldn’t be a water source on the island and we wouldn’t be able to reach the Dimensional Forest. If that happened, we’d have to find another place, which would be very difficult.”

“Yes, the ocean is so vast. Finding another island wouldn’t be easy,” Bai Yu remarked.

As the two chatted, Bai Miao finally realized her sisters were teasing her. She gripped the axe handle and pouted.

Bai Yu stepped forward quickly and took the handle. “Miao Miao is so strong, being able to hold it for so long. When you grow up, you’ll definitely be able to lift an axe easily.”

At these words, the pouting Bai Miao immediately grinned, showing her teeth. “Really?”

“Of course. If you don’t believe me, ask Second Sister.”

Bai Miao immediately looked at Bai Xi.

Bai Xi suppressed a smile and nodded. “It’s true. I also think Miao Miao will definitely be able to lift it easily in the future.”

Bai Miao pumped her fist. “Miao Miao can do it!”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi burst into laughter.

After their laugh, Bai Xi climbed back onto the boat and moved the items needed for cooking down one by one, bringing the fishing net out from the cabin as well.

After that came cooking, casting the net, and tidying up the area around the Rain Pavilion.

The island’s terrain varied in height. Bai Xi chose a spot that wasn’t too high to cast the fishing net. She didn’t expect to catch a huge amount of fish and shrimp, just enough for their daily meals.

On the other side, while Bai Yu was cooking, she began building a simple kitchen that could block the wind.

The simple kitchen would have only one opening for air, with the other three sides enclosed. This way, even if the wind blew, the fire wouldn’t be affected much as long as the front was shielded.

But that wasn’t enough.

Bai Yu estimated the space around the simple kitchen, went to the Rain Pavilion to pull out some long, thin branches, sharpened one end with the axe, and drove them deep into the soil.

By the time Bai Xi returned from casting the net, a circle of branches already surrounded the small kitchen.

Bai Yu was currently worrying about how to make the roof and sides waterproof.

“Why not try vines?” Bai Xi suggested. “We can wrap vines around a few times, leaving some gaps, and then go to the Dimensional Forest to find some large leaves to tuck between the vines. That should block both the wind and the rain.”

“Great idea!” Bai Yu immediately went to find some long, thin vines and began winding them around the branches.

Afterward, Bai Xi took Bai Miao into the Dimensional Forest. When they returned, both were cradling piles of large, relatively stiff leaves. They tucked the leaves one by one into the vines, and the simple rain shelter was complete.

They had originally planned to do the same for the woodshed, but the woodshed was a bit more difficult to manage compared to this small shack.

The three of them stood in front of the simple kitchen, crossing their arms in identical poses.

The fragrance of the cooking rice wafted toward them.

“Let’s eat.”

“Time to eat!”

The freshly cooked meal was piping hot, and the three of them blew on their food as they ate.

The kitchen was right beside them. Even if it was the most primitive kitchen imaginable, it was still a kitchen.

Bai Xi looked at the kitchen while eating her porridge. “Does this mean we’ll be able to eat the hottest meals every time from now on?”

“I think so. We aren’t short on firewood now. Even if we can’t go to the Dimensional Forest, we can find some on this island,” Bai Yu said, also looking at the small kitchen. “When I went looking for a water source earlier, I noticed quite a few dead branches on the ground. But I figured since we can still find plenty of wood in the Dimensional Forest, we should leave the island’s branches where they are for now.”

Bai Xi nodded. “Yeah, we’ll search the island when we can’t go to the Dimensional Forest anymore.”

Bai Miao was busy focusing on her food. “Gulp, gulp…”

Bai Xi continued, “I hope the fishing net has a good harvest later. I haven’t really eaten sea fish before. I wonder what they taste like and if they’re fragrant.”

Bai Yu took a sip of porridge. “I wonder if sea fish need salt. The ocean is so salty, so the fish should be salty too, right?”

Bai Miao remained focused on her food.

As Bai Xi chewed on her cabbage, a spark of inspiration lit up her eyes. “Eldest Sister, do you think we could catch animals in the forest? Like wild chickens or rabbits?”

Bai Miao suddenly looked up. “Chickens?!”

Bai Yu blinked.

Bai Xi leaned in, as if sharing an important secret. “When we went into the forest before, didn’t we see some small animal droppings? If we dig a trap there, would we have a chance to catch something?”

They had lived on the water their whole lives, so they never lacked fish or shrimp, but the chance to eat chicken, duck, or pork was extremely rare. After all, those things were far too expensive.

Because they had always lived on the water, none of them had ever thought about setting traps in a forest before.

Now that Bai Xi brought it up, Bai Yu suddenly felt that it wasn’t impossible.

“How do we dig a trap?” Bai Yu asked, already feeling a bit impatient for a taste of meat.

Bai Xi thought about it seriously. “I don’t really know much about it, but there are only so many kinds of traps. Eldest Sister, do you have any ideas?”

Bai Yu pondered carefully. “We could dig a big pit and put a net inside… No, we can’t use nets for forest traps. We need something else to make sure the small animals can’t get out once they fall in.”

Bai Miao raised her hand.

“Go ahead, Miao Miao,” Bai Yu said, looking at her.

“Fishing spears,” Bai Miao said. “I saw Third Brother use a spear to catch fish before. The fish died instantly, and then Second Aunt scolded him.”

For fisherfolk like them, they naturally tried to catch fish alive whenever possible. Dead fish couldn’t be sold for a good price.

Therefore, items like fishing spears were very rare in the memories of Bai Yu and Bai Xi.

“But we don’t have a fishing spear,” Bai Xi frowned.

“We don’t have a spear, but we have this.” Bai Yu stood up and brought over a wooden stick with a sharpened end from nearby. “I used this to build the shelter just now. If we sharpen this end and stick it into the bottom of the trap, would it pin down the animals that fall in?”

Bai Xi’s eyes brightened bit by bit. “That works! I think that could work.”

“It should, right? And we can make the trap a bit bigger now.” Bai Yu turned and gripped the handle of the axe. “We couldn’t do it before, but now that we have an axe, loosening the soil won’t be hard.”

“Then let’s sharpen the sticks first. Once we have enough, we’ll go to the forest to dig the pit.”

“Once the trap is ready, we can sprinkle some rice on top.”

“Rice doesn’t have enough scent. If we sprinkle some cooked fish guts, it’ll definitely attract small animals.”

“Right, those things have a strong smell!”

“Come on, let’s get to work!”