Chapter 55 Two Late Rewards

After finishing Su Keke's toothbrush, Xu Yi spent another half an hour crafting his own.

Although it was a small item, it was of great importance. They were not going to live here for just a few dozen days, but hundreds of days, or even a year or two. If they got a tooth cavity, the pain could truly be life-threatening.

Standing up to stretch, Xu Yi climbed up the ladder. Yesterday, he had already marked the height of the main beams. Today, all he needed to do was cut out the notches and then bind the four main beams into place to form the base frame of the wooden house.

With the sharpness of the stone chopper combined with Xu Yi's enhanced physical strength, which was somewhat superior to that of an average manual laborer, he managed to carve out the required notches in just over forty minutes. Following that, he used rattan to secure the four main beams tightly. He secured the longer sides, placing one beam on the inner side and another on the outer side of the trees. This way, even if one beam were to fail in strength, the other could still serve its purpose.

Next, he just needed to lay and secure a row of logs across the main beams to form the flooring of the wooden house. Therefore, Xu Yi tied down the remaining dozen or so small trees. Aligning them on one end, he left the overhang on the other side as it was without cutting it off.

Once the flooring was laid, Xu Yi checked on the progress of the smoked fish. He had hung those fish up while cooking breakfast. Since he hadn't finished earlier, Su Keke had hung up the rest while Xu Yi was making the toothbrushes.

Adding some firewood to the fire, Xu Yi glanced at the time. "Time flies so fast. It feels like I haven't done anything, and yet it's already eleven o'clock."

Xu Yi figured it was time to prepare lunch again, even though he didn't feel particularly hungry. Still, meals had to be eaten on schedule; it was better for both his and Keke's digestive systems. In the wilderness, paying attention to such details was even more crucial. Because Xu Yi's knowledge of medicinal herbs was limited, if their stomachs suffered any damage, he wouldn't know which herbs to use for conditioning and treatment.

He placed the cassava into the earthen pit to roast and went to fetch some fresh water to prepare fish soup. Then, Xu Yi retrieved the small pot from the fire pit and began tapping on it to flatten it out as much as possible. This way, food wouldn't stick to the bottom as easily when he stir-fried things in the future. After pounding it into shape, he put it back into the fire, planning to give it one more round of hammering in the evening, which should finish the job.

At that moment, Su Keke stood up, holding a round wicker basket, and walked over to Xu Yi.

"Dad, I've finished weaving the basket for gathering honey."

Xu Yi smiled faintly and said, "Then help Dad put it on and let's see."

Su Keke took the round basket and placed it over Xu Yi's head. The basket was quite tall, reaching all the way down to his neck, with some space remaining above the top of his head. There were still some gaps in the weaving, through which Xu Yi could catch glimpses of the outside world. With this basket, his head would certainly be safe from bee stings. As long as he coated his body with a thick layer of mud, he could go directly to harvest that honey.

Although Su Keke had also woven one for herself, Xu Yi had no intention of bringing her along. It was simply too dangerous; how could he possibly let her participate in such a hazardous task? Besides, Xu Yi had no plans to harvest the honey at this stage. He lacked containers to store it, and honey was truly a precious resource. When food was scarce, drinking water mixed with honey could provide the body with essential energy.

Lunch had two fewer small shrimp compared to the morning meal. When Xu Yi ate fish and crabs in the morning, he hadn't received any system rewards. When he asked the system, it explained that the fish and crabs were too small to trigger rewards, and advised him to eat a larger portion to activate them. Consequently, Xu Yi boiled more fish for lunch. As for the crabs, there was nothing he could do; there were only seventeen of them, and he couldn't very well hog them while leaving Su Keke with fewer.

[Consumed stream redfin, diving capability has been enhanced.]
[Consumed freshwater little marsh crab, skin toughness has been enhanced.]

After eating his fill, Xu Yi received two rewards in quick succession.

Diving capability was something Xu Yi appreciated; it was a highly practical skill that would be very useful for his survival in the wilderness. The other reward was an increase in skin toughness, which was equally useful. With this, his skin wouldn't get scratched as easily when walking through the jungle. Over the past nine days, both his hands and face had accumulated several minor cuts, as he was often the one clearing the path and easily scraped by sharp leaves.

These two belated rewards made Xu Yi realize something: the larger the animal, the better the rewards likely were. Therefore, he needed to find ways to catch and consume larger animals in order to grow stronger and survive better in this place.

However, for Su Keke, her mind was occupied only by immediate matters. Feeling rested, she looked up at Xu Yi.

"Dad, are we going to eat stream snails tonight?" As she spoke, Su Keke glanced toward the river. Those stream snails had been placed in a basket and submerged in the river to be kept alive, allowing them to spit out the mud and sand in their digestive tracts.

"Let's eat them tomorrow. The snails aren't clean enough yet; they need to be purged a bit longer."

Su Keke nodded and said nothing more.

"Dad is going across the river to work. What about you?"

Su Keke was very decisive and immediately replied, "Of course I'm going across the river with Dad! I can pick a few more stream snails to keep, and who knows, maybe we'll find some crabs too."

The crabs tasted exceptionally good, with a savory, salty hint to them. Therefore, Su Keke loved eating them. Of course, it would be even better if they were larger and had rich crab roe. If Xu Yi hadn't tested the stream water that morning, he would have suspected the crabs came from the ocean rather than a freshwater stream. Why the crabs had such a high salt content was something Xu Yi could no longer figure out.

Upon arriving at the other side of the river, Xu Yi began processing the small saplings, stripping the branches away from their trunks. This would make it easier to carry the main trunks back to build the campsite. The branches could be left behind to dry in the sun, and once dried, they could be bundled up and brought back as firewood.

As soon as she reached the opposite bank, Su Keke waded right into the stream. She planned to gather a few more stream snails so they would have food to eat in the next few days. Additionally, she wanted to check if there were any crabs around. The little fish in the stream were too small and incredibly agile; without tools, catching them was impossible. Of course, if she found the right plants, she could use them to poison the fish and easily collect them for a meal. However, barring exceptional circumstances, poisoning the fish was not a method he wished to employ, as it left few survivors and would deplete their future food source.