Others try to survive on an island, I try to survive on a raft?

Chapter 59 A Unique Gift

Su Jin first found a tree, cut off a branch with a stone axe, peeled off the outer bark, and sharpened it with a knife.

Then, he walked to a sunny open space, squatted down, and searched carefully.

He picked out a few pretty pebbles with natural patterns from among the smooth pebbles that had been smoothed by the water flow. Their colors were a warm grayish-white and light brown.

Finally, he stopped by a clump of bushes, picked a few fragrant leaves, and also gathered a small handful of brightly colored, non-toxic berries.

With these things in hand, he returned to the edge of Clear Water Pool.

Li Yuanyuan was still sitting there, but as soon as she saw him return, she immediately sat up straight.

Su Jin didn't say anything, but simply sat down in front of her and began to fiddle with the materials in his hands.

He used the shaved branch as a frame, stacked the fragrant leaves together, and cleverly fixed them together with extremely fine plant fibers to make an upside-down little bag.

Then he picked up the smoothest, light brown pebble and repeatedly struck it with the back of the stone axe and another hard stone as a chisel until a small dent appeared.

Next, he picked up another lighter-colored pebble and patiently ground off a little bit of fine stone powder using the same method.

Li Yuanyuan was so engrossed in watching that she didn't know what he was doing.

Su Jin carefully poured the light-colored stone powder that had been ground down into a small pouch made of leaves.

Then he picked up a berry, crushed it with his fingers, and let a few drops of deep purple juice drip into the stone powder.

He pinched the opening of the bag with his fingers and shook it gently to mix the juice with the stone powder.

Then, he took a sharpened twig, dipped it in the mixed paste, held his breath, and gently began to dot the smooth side of the light brown pebble.

His movements were steady, but he didn't have much artistic talent and looked a bit clumsy.

After a while, he stopped, gently blew on the pebbles, and then rinsed off the excess color with water.

After doing all this, he handed the pebble, along with several other round, spare pebbles, to Li Yuanyuan.

A simple smiley face symbol was drawn on the pebble.

【：）】

"Here, a mystery reward." Su Jin cleared his throat, trying to sound casual, and then slowly explained:

"This one with the smiley face is the main stone."

"For the other plain ones, if you find other colors later, such as red or blue berries, you can grind some paint and paint them on, or you can just leave them as they are."

"If the paint in the leaf packet dries out, you can add some water and use it a few more times. As for the twig... you can use it as a stirring stick or a hairpin, it's up to you."

He paused, then added:

"There's no mirror right now, but if you want to check if your face is dirty or want to look pretty, you can use the smooth surface of this stone to check your reflection. It's clearer than the water."

"Besides, don't worry if you mess up the painting, there are plenty of pebbles and you can make more paint."

Li Yuanyuan stared blankly at the smiling stone in her palm, then looked at the smooth pebble next to her, the small paint packet, and the polished twig.

It's nothing valuable, just the most common materials from the forest.

But Su Jin had processed each item, thought of its purpose, and even left her room to draw it herself.

The smiley face stone had a slightly crooked mouth, making it look silly when it smiled, but it warmed her heart.

She slowly clenched her fists, gripping the stones and branches tightly in her hands, lowered her head, and felt a lump in her throat.

After a few seconds, she looked up, her eyes a little red, but a smile even brighter than the one on the stone bloomed on her face.

"Thank you, Brother Su!"

"I love it! I absolutely love it!"

The girl's voice was a little muffled, but you could tell she was very happy.

She carefully placed the smiley face stones and paint packets into the little pocket on her Lolita dress and treasured them.

This is a gift that belongs only to her, so it can't be lost.

Su Jin chuckled lightly, then looked up and noticed that it was already getting dark.

He originally wanted to go see where the steel and wood were, but soon the forest would be pitch black and he might slip and fall.

Anyway, steel and wood don't grow legs and run away, so we can come back tomorrow.

I'll go back to Shen Qiaoqiao tonight and have her make an iron axe. Tomorrow I'll just chop down the steel and wood.

Thinking of this, he looked at Li Yuanyuan and said:

"Yuanyuan, it's not safe for you to stay here alone, especially since you're injured. Let's go back to your sister Ruying's place."

"Mmm." Li Yuanyuan nodded gently, then skillfully stretched out her hands to Su Jin, asking for a hug.

Seeing this, Su Jin couldn't help but tease:

"So proactive? I remember you used to dislike this kind of thing."

Li Yuanyuan, however, said with a straight face:

"Anyway, even if I don't want to, Brother Su will force me to hug him, so I might as well accept it willingly."

The main problem is that she's really too weak to walk anymore, and it would take her a long time to get to the beach on her own.

Actually, she had long since stopped resisting him. In fact, after Su Jin gave her a gift, she even started to enjoy being close to this man.

She didn't know why, but she felt that Su Jin's scent was getting better and better.

Su Jin didn't say anything more, but gently picked up the girl and walked towards the boat.

On the way, Li Yuanyuan told him that before setting off, she had refined some fish oil from rock snakes, which would be just enough for Su Jin to use tonight.

After all, it's already dark, and we need to use the guiding star torch.

When sailing at night, the fish oil from ordinary marine creatures is not enough; you have to use the fish oil from marine mammals.

Simulating it as a rock snake is a good choice, since not many sea monsters like to bite such hard creatures of their own kind.

After Su Jin carried the girl onto the ship and settled her in, he filled the lamp of the guiding star torch halfway with rock snake fish oil.

The soft yellow light quickly enveloped the entire ship, illuminating a 3-meter radius around it.

After the rock snake oil burned, Su Jin clearly saw a thin yellow light emanating from the surface of the ship.

This yellow light is actually an earthy color, similar to the color of the rock snake's skin.

He tried tapping the boat plank with the back of the stone axe and found that the sound was different from usual, it was more muffled.

He nodded thoughtfully and murmured:

"Looks like they've added some defense; that's very Rock Serpent-like."

He hadn't been able to think of a way to increase the ship's defenses before, but now he had a viable solution.

However, the trade-off is that while the Guiding Starlight is primarily used for defense, it can no longer perform other functions; for example, the effect of the Lightning Fish Oil is now obsolete.

However, defense is more important than offense. Until there are more ways to improve defense, we can only make some sacrifices.

In addition, simulating some highly defensive sea monsters can reduce the aggressiveness of other sea monsters to some extent.

This would kill two birds with one stone, increasing the chances of survival.

His idea proved to be correct; there were no sea monsters or birds on his ship along the way.

He could even see sea monsters splashing around him, then seemingly glancing at his boat before leaving.

Clearly, they had no interest in this large, hard lump of something, and could even be described as disgusted by it.

Following the planned route, the two successfully returned to the grassland island.

But as soon as Su Jin got off the ship, he heard bad news from Shen Qiaoqiao.

"Uncle! I have two pieces of bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"