Arriving at the river, Zhang Ye naturally wouldn't act recklessly. He first examined the small river.
The river water was crystal clear to the bottom, and the depth was estimated to be no more than knee-deep. He didn't see any large creatures, so there shouldn't be any danger.
But out of caution, he still found a long wooden stick and poked around in the river.
He didn't poke out any danger, but he did poke out many crabs that looked like stones.
Without a word, Zhang Ye threw an analysis at them.
【Stone Crab: A river crab disguised as a stone. It is a creature without magic power, has a hard shell, and is edible.】
Without magic power, it didn't fall under the category of magical beasts.
Zhang Ye felt relieved and chuckled, “Gujiu, Big Bro will catch some crabs for you to eat!”
As he spoke, he rolled up his pant legs and carefully walked into the river. As he had expected, the water was only knee-deep, not very deep, and then he bent down and began catching Stone Crabs.
The Stone Crabs were only slightly larger than coins, with the biggest ones being about the size of a Chinese mitten crab. They were round, with shell patterns like stones, making them genuinely hard to spot when curled up at the riverbed.
However, Zhang Ye had a method: a simple stir with the wooden stick would startle the Stone Crabs, making them crawl out on their own.
The Stone Crabs didn't move fast, and their pincers weren't large, posing little threat. Zhang Ye, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed them one by one, not afraid of getting dirty, and simply stuffed them into his side pockets. With a button snap, they were guaranteed not to escape.
Before long, all four of Zhang Ye's pockets were full.
“What a great harvest, what a great harvest!” Zhang Ye laughed, jumped ashore, then picked up a small Stone Crab and presented it to Gujiu. “Eat up, Gujiu.”
“Gu-jiu~” Gujiu immediately made a joyful sound, enveloping the Stone Crab with its round body. The Stone Crab instantly began to struggle, bubbling all over.
Its hard shell dissolved at a visible speed, and before long, a small Stone Crab was completely digested by Gujiu, leaving nothing behind.
And Gujiu's body seemed to have grown a little larger.
Zhang Ye immediately continued feeding it happily, “Come on, come on, eat more, get nice and plump.”
“Gu-jiu~”
After a dozen or so Stone Crabs, Gujiu's body expanded to the size of a pomegranate, a bit larger than before, replenishing the energy it had consumed to heal Zhang Ye's wound.
As for the remaining Stone Crabs, Zhang Ye planned to eat them himself to see how crabs from another world tasted.
“I'm a bit hungry, time to sort out lunch.” As he spoke, Zhang Ye looked around. “First, let's make a fire.”
There were many ways to start a fire; Zhang Ye alone had learned several from videos.
Although the bow drill method was the most well-known, it was also the most difficult way to make fire, making it unsuitable for a theoretical novice like Zhang Ye. Therefore, he chose the simplest method: the Simple Planer Fire Starting Method.
The Simple Planer Fire Starting Method involves carving a long groove into a soft wooden board, placing tinder in front of the groove, and repeatedly rubbing a harder wooden stick back and forth until a spark ignites the tinder.
So, what Zhang Ye needed to do now was find soft wood and tinder.
He searched around and found a piece of wood and a stick. Then he went to the riverbank to pick up stones, knocking them together to get a stone shard with a somewhat sharp edge. He then used the stone shard to gradually chip the wood into a flat shape.
It was a bit strenuous, but for the sake of eating Stone Crabs, Zhang Ye was very patient.
Soon, he had the grooved wooden board and the stick, and the wood shavings he'd produced from shaping the wood served as tinder.
He also found some dry branches and dead leaves, preparing them for burning.
Then, let's begin!
He first sprinkled a little sand into the groove to increase friction, making it easier to start a fire, then began rubbing the wooden stick rapidly inside the groove.
It was a bit strenuous, but with his persistent attempts, the groove quickly began to blacken, and wisps of smoke emerged.
Sparks appeared, then died out, but Zhang Ye refused to give up, trying again, then a third time.
“Got it, got it!” Finally, a spark appeared in the groove. Zhang Ye immediately and carefully poured the spark into the wood shavings, blowing gently and cautiously.
The spark brightened, igniting the wood shavings. The smoke grew thicker, and gradually, a small flame flickered into existence.
Zhang Ye's face was filled with excitement as he began placing dead leaves onto the burning wood shavings, continuing to blow carefully.
Before long, a small bonfire appeared.
Zhang Ye felt a great sense of accomplishment!
Although the process took over an hour and left him drenched in sweat, for a theoretical novice, this was quite good. Even Ella couldn't help but exclaim, “Not bad, you actually managed to start a fire!”
Zhang Ye chuckled, then went to find more firewood. After stoking the fire, he directly tossed the Stone Crabs into it.
The Stone Crabs struggled for a few moments before becoming still. Soon, an enticing crab aroma wafted out.
While he waited, Zhang Ye took off his wet pants, propped them up with branches, and hung them by the fire to dry.
This scene made Ella's cheeks flush slightly, but she said nothing.
Soon, the Stone Crabs were cooked. Zhang Ye used a branch to pick them out.
“Hoo, hoo, hot, hot… Wow, so fragrant!” Zhang Ye forcefully pried open a crab shell, looking at the golden roe inside, and chuckled, beginning to feast.
Speaking of which, the Stone Crab's shell was truly hard; he had to smash it open with a stone. Gujiu, meanwhile, crawled to the discarded shells Zhang Ye had tossed aside and simply digested them too.
Seeing it eat, Zhang Ye immediately stopped it. After all, how could he let Gujiu eat kitchen waste?
“Here, Gujiu, try some cooked crab.” Zhang Ye picked up a large, perfectly cooked Stone Crab and placed it in front of Gujiu.
“Gu-jiu!” Gujiu cried out joyfully, and the two of them began slurping down the crab.
Soon, full and satisfied, it was time to depart!
Zhang Ye got up, intending to put out the bonfire, when suddenly Ella pointed to the small river and said, “Look quickly, there's someone there!”
“Where, where?” Zhang Ye hastily looked and was instantly stunned.
He saw a person floating on the river, drifting downstream from the upstream. When they reached the section of the river where Zhang Ye was, they bumped and scraped due to the shallow water.
Seeing this, Zhang Ye quickly ran over. Although he didn't know if the person was dead or not, he figured he should pull them ashore first.
Zhang Ye reached the person, grabbed their clothes, and pulled them towards the bank. It took a lot of effort to drag them next to the bonfire.
Then he examined them closely.
It was a woman, and a very striking one!
Why 'striking'?
He didn't know, but this woman just gave Zhang Ye a sense of being 'striking'.
Her face was exquisitely refined, with slight angles that still appeared soft. Her features leaned towards Western characteristics, very defined. Her beautiful eyes were closed, her eyelashes were red, and she even had natural red eyeshadow, as did her eyebrows.
Typically, 'sword-brows' are used to describe men, but this woman's eyebrows truly were sword-brows, and like her eyelashes, they were red. The thick, red sword-brows added a touch of wildness to her.
Her hair, too, was a fiery red. Even drenched in water, it didn't look disheveled; instead, it resembled a blazing flame underwater.
Although she was completely soaked, she didn't appear disheveled. Instead, she exuded an inexplicable beauty.
The woman's attire was very peculiar: an outer dark red robe, and an inner white fitted undershirt. The high-collar design further accentuated her slender, swan-like neck, and her impressive bosom, even while she lay prone, was quite noticeable.
Looking at the exquisite style of the robe, Zhang Ye knew that this woman's identity was certainly not simple.
Because even after being submerged in water for so long, the robe was still dry. Perhaps that was why she could float.
“That robe is a magic item with powerful magic resistance. It seems this person is a magician,” Ella said.
“Magician?” Zhang Ye's eyes lit up, then he shook his head. “No, now isn't the time to think about magic. First, let's see if she's still alive.”
He pried open the woman's eyelids and found that her eyes were also red, like beautiful rubies, or as if they contained flames.
“Her pupils aren't dilated, so she should still be alive, but she's not breathing. She probably choked on water. First aid!” Zhang Ye said, then suddenly hesitated. “CPR? Chest compressions?”
“If I do this, will she misunderstand and then just kill me when she wakes up?”
Thinking this, he shook his head. “Never mind, saving a life comes first!”
With that, he pried open the woman's mouth, confirmed there were no oral obstructions, pinched her nose, and gave a forceful breath into her mouth.
As for feeling the touch of her cherry lips?
Saving a life was paramount; at this moment, Zhang Ye had no romantic thoughts.
Then he observed the rise and fall of the woman's chest and began chest compressions.
Although it wasn't perfectly standard, Zhang Ye did his best to perform the rescue.
After about ten minutes, just as Zhang Ye was about to give the woman another breath, she suddenly coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of water directly into Zhang Ye's mouth.
“Holy crap!” Zhang Ye was startled and quickly spat out the water.
Water spat out from someone else's mouth, even a beautiful woman's, tasted not sweet at all to him.
Absolutely disgusting, ptui, ptui, ptui!
...
...
Rate on N.U.
