Chapter 15: A New Plane, Plane 0189 Ten-Day Passage Card

“Is this height okay?”

“Just about. Small animals shouldn’t be able to climb out if they fall in,” Bai Xi said, squatting by the edge of the trap. She took some soil from Bai Yu’s hand, tossed it aside, and picked up the sharpened branches they had prepared earlier. “Should I stick them in now?”

“Go ahead.” Bai Yu nodded, taking the branches and driving them one by one into the depths of the pit.

The soil in the forest was moist, so the sharpened stakes held firm once inserted. Unless an animal fell on them, they would hardly budge.

She finished planting all the prepared branches before turning around to climb out of the trap.

Afterward, the two of them laid crisscrossing vines over the pit and scattered a handful of leaves over them. Finally, they dropped a few small beach stones on top of the leaves. This was to prevent the three of them from accidentally stepping into it if they weren’t paying attention.

In addition to the small stones, they made clear markings on the nearby trees.

“Let’s go,” Bai Yu said, clapping her hands clean. “Time to pull in the fishing net. If there are fish or shrimp, we can boil the innards later and toss them here as bait.”

“There should be. I have a feeling,” Bai Xi said enthusiastically.

The three of them returned to the shore, and she immediately led the others toward the spot where they had cast the net.

The rope connected to the net was tied to a large nearby rock. It looked perfectly still, but for a fisherwoman like her, a single tug was enough to gauge the harvest.

Bai Xi pulled the rope. It moved slightly, and her face lit up with joy.

“Eldest Sister!”

“A catch?” Bai Yu immediately walked to her side.

“I think so,” Bai Xi laughed. She shared a knowing smile with Bai Yu, and the two began hauling in the net with practiced coordination.

As the net gradually broke the surface, the results of this trip became clear. The higher it rose, the more active the fish and shrimp inside became, sending splashes of water everywhere.

“At least seven or eight fish.”

“If there was a place to sell these, they’d fetch a good price.”

As they chatted, the entire net was hauled onto the shore.

By the time it was fully on land, the fish inside were still flopping and jumping vigorously.

Both Bai Yu and Bai Xi were experienced. Seeing how lively the fish were, they immediately dragged the net away from the water’s edge to ensure none could jump back in before they began pulling them out one by one.

The fish nearby weren’t usually hunted, so they all looked quite plump. Even so, when Bai Xi pulled out a fish that wouldn’t normally be considered small in their eyes, Bai Yu told her to throw it back.

“Let it grow a bit more. We’ll catch it when it’s fatter.”

“Compared to these big ones, it really is tiny.”

Bai Xi smiled and pulled a few more small fish from the net, tossing them back into the sea.

Aside from the fish, there were some shrimp and crabs in the net. They weren’t very large, but since those species didn’t grow much bigger anyway, they kept them. The remaining fish, however, all needed to be processed.

Bai Xi ran back to the boat to fetch the scissors specifically used for gutting fish. She and Bai Yu gutted the remaining fish together. They kept two for a meal and rubbed the rest with salt, planning to hang them to dry as salted fish.

Although they were by the sea, they didn’t know if they would always have a good harvest. It was better to preserve what they could, lest they find themselves hungry later with nothing to eat.

The inedible innards weren’t wasted either. They were tossed into the casserole pot and boiled, then cut into small pieces. Half were dropped into the trap in the Forest Plane, while the other half were laid out on large leaves to dry for future use.

After that, they started cooking. One pot was for rice porridge, and the other for seafood.

They had been smelling the aroma of rice for a few days now and had grown used to it, but today’s seafood scent was exceptionally rich. It was hard to tell if it was the seafood itself or the soy sauce they had added.

Either way, it tasted delicious.

Bai Yu placed some deboned fish into Bai Miao’s bowl, followed by shrimp meat and fish roe. Just as she looked up, a piece of fragrant fish was placed into her own bowl.

She used her chopsticks to pick up half a crab and put it in Bai Xi’s bowl. “Everyone, eat.”

“It smells so good. I’ve never thought fish tasted this delicious before,” Bai Xi wailed happily while eating. “Is sea fish better than river fish?”

“Maybe. I think today’s meal is especially tasty too.”

The three of them didn’t realize that seafood and river shrimp only taste their best when eaten fresh and when one’s stomach is actually full. Now, they weren’t just eating seafood; they had porridge to fill their bellies, and the catch was fresh from the water. Naturally, it tasted divine.

Their appetites weren’t usually large, but today they finished both the pot of porridge and the pot of seafood. Including Bai Miao, everyone’s stomach was bulging.

Since there were only the three of them on the island, when they saw Bai Miao lie down full and shout, “I’m so stuffed,” Bai Yu and Bai Xi lay down as well, watching the sun over the distant sea.

It was sunset. An orange-yellow glow surrounded the sun, dyeing the surrounding clouds and mist in the same hue.

Their small boat was moored below, and the three of them were stranded on this lonely island in the middle of the ocean.

Yet, this life didn’t seem to be too miserable.

“Eldest Sister, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed. Even though we’re on a small island, life seems even better than before.”

Back when they lived on the water, she and Bai Yu had to go into the water almost every day to catch fish and shrimp. They had no choice; if they relied solely on the nets, the catch wouldn’t be enough to sustain them.

Especially after the “family split¹.”

After separating from Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle’s families, they all knew that they would have to rely on themselves from then on.

“It’s because of the Shell. Without the Shell, our life on the island wouldn’t be this good,” Bai Yu said, turning her head. “Mainly, we wouldn’t have salt.”

“True. Without the Shell, we’d have no salt, no wood, and no water. We’d have to go searching deep inside for everything,” Bai Xi remarked. “Thank goodness for the Shell.”

Bai Miao, lying between the two of them, didn’t understand their sentiment, but she heard the word “Shell.” She kicked her feet up and grabbed the Shell hanging at her chest. “Check-in successful.”

Hearing her voice, Bai Xi laughed and raised both hands. “Check-in successful.”

Bai Yu also raised her hands. “Check-in successful!”

“Let’s lie here a bit longer. We’ll go back to the boat once it gets dark; it’s quite gloomy inside.”

“Mm, it’s still light out,” Bai Yu said, sitting up and resting her chin in her hands as she watched the distant sun. “I’ve never seen a sun like this before. It really is beautiful.”

“The ocean is beautiful too,” Bai Xi said, spreading her arms wide. “Look, Eldest Sister, this vast ocean feels like it belongs entirely to us. The sun is ours too.”

“It really does,” Bai Yu smiled. “It feels like we’re the only ones in this entire ocean.”

The three of them lay there like that, watching the sun sink until the sky turned dark. They returned to the cabin just before night fully settled in.

Inside the cabin at night, it was pitch black, and there was nothing they could do. They chatted idly until drowsiness took over, and they all fell into a deep sleep.

The next day was another clear, sunny day.

Bai Yu didn’t have any urgent matters to handle today. After getting up, she walked around the boat as usual, tidying the bow and stern and checking the vessel’s condition.

Since the boat was on land, her movements didn’t cause it to rock; there was only the sound of bare feet padding against the wooden planks.

The surroundings were exceptionally quiet. There were no bird calls, no human voices, and no other noises. However, if one listened closely, the sound of waves crashing against the reefs could be heard in the distance.

Once the boat was mostly tidied up, she took an axe and went above deck. She began chopping the tree trunks they had hauled out earlier into segments, making them easier to burn for cooking later.

The axe was a bit heavy, but she knew she would adapt to its weight as long as she used it more.

Bai Yu held a trunk with her left hand and the axe in her right, striking down stroke by stroke. When she was halfway through a cut, she would use her foot to snap the wood.

“Eldest Sister—”

“You’re all awake?” Bai Yu panted. “Just in time. I’m a bit hungry, let’s make some food.”

“Then you take a break, Eldest Sister,” Bai Xi said as she led Bai Miao to tidy up the small kitchen, calling out to Bai Yu. “There’s no rush with those logs. It won’t be too late to chop them after we eat.”

“It’s fine, I might as well stay busy,” Bai Yu said, though she still set down the axe. “Have you done the check-in for this morning yet?”

“Not yet. I just gave her a quick wash and brought her over. We only get one check-in chance a day, so we should listen together.” Bai Xi quickly finished tidying the small kitchen, started the fire, and began boiling porridge.

There were plenty of dry branches in the Forest Plane, and they had brought quite a few back. Whether they burned for a long time was another matter, but they were certainly very easy to ignite.

In any case, the Forest Plane was full of trees, so picking up more would be no problem at all.

While the porridge was boiling, Bai Xi looked at the approaching Bai Yu and said, “Eldest Sister, we should stock up on more of these large logs. We need to burn more charcoal later. Once our fire starter² is used up, we’ll have to keep a fire going ourselves.”

Fire starters weren’t cheap. They had them only because life on the water was prone to all sorts of problems. If the fire on the boat ever went out and they didn’t have a fire starter, they wouldn’t even have a spark, forcing them to eat raw food.

To avoid eating raw food, every boat made sure to carry a fire starter.

But because they were expensive, most of the time they would use a preserved fire source—covering charcoal embers with ash and using dry grass to blow them back into a flame when needed.

They only had this one fire starter, and Bai Xi had only thought of this while using it just now.

“Then we’ll make time to go to the Forest Plane today to find more wood. We’ll prepare the charcoal first to keep the embers alive and stop using the fire starter for now.”

There was nothing on the island. Aside from things obtained through the check-in, they had to provide everything else for themselves. Therefore, they had to be as frugal as possible with the supplies they had brought over.

As the two were talking, Bai Miao forced her way between them. She looked up, clutching the bag containing the Shell, and raised her hand: “Check-in.”

“Right, I almost forgot,” Bai Yu knelt down and pulled the girl into a half-hug. “Come on, Miao Miao, let’s start today’s check-in.”

Bai Xi also knelt down, looking at the girl’s movements with anticipation.

Bai Miao happily pressed the button on the Shell.

“Check-in.”

[Check-in successful. Obtained [Plane 0189 Ten-Day Passage Card] * 1]

“Plane?”

“Passage Card?”

“Last time… no, what was the number for the Forest Plane?”

Bai Miao replied confidently, “0126.”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi’s eyes lit up simultaneously.

“A new plane?”

“A different number!”

Translator’s Notes