The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

We Meet Again!

The survivor was, of course, Li Jianwei, who had risked landing on the island. When she set out, she had stuffed almost all of the most important supplies from her raft into her pockets, filling seven of her fifteen slots.

These were: Metal Spear * 1, Basic Bow * 1, Stone Arrows * 50, Water Bottle * 1, One Cup of Clean Water * 1, Roasted Shark Meat * 5, and Stone Axe * 1.

The Cup of Clean Water was treated as a consumable. Once her backpack was full of collected materials, she would drink the water and then discard the empty cup. An empty cup only requires four plastic to craft, a negligible loss for Li Jianwei at this stage.

Li Jianwei was lucky this time. She landed on the large island without being detected by a boar or vulture, and she successfully chopped down palm and mango trees, collected watermelons and pineapples, and even got some seeds. After finding a cave, she even found cave mushrooms, which are an important ingredient for making beneficial dishes later on.

But just as Li Jianwei finished collecting all five mushrooms, she heard the sound of footsteps from the cave entrance and instinctively looked up. A survivor holding a metal spear came running in, with a ferocious wild boar chasing her and a vulture overhead, looking for a chance to attack.

Did I just enter a linkable area? Were the boar and vulture both attracted by this unknown survivor, which is why my journey has been so smooth so far?

In just a second, Li Jianwei thought of many things. Then, she heard the unknown survivor shout that there was a boar. The familiar voice made Li Jianwei pause. After confirming that the person running towards her was Shu Heng, she didn’t hesitate to pull out her metal spear and charge at the boar without a second thought.

Fighting a boar and a vulture at the same time is very dangerous for one person, but Li Jianwei wasn’t alone now. She had Shu Heng, someone she could trust to have her back. In her previous life, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng didn’t cooperate many times, but every time was pleasant. It even made Li Jianwei consider forming an alliance with her.

An alliance in this survival game isn’t just a casual thing. Once the alliance is confirmed, both parties share all their resources. If either party dies, the surviving one inherits all of the deceased’s materials except for what was in their backpack. It’s an even more intimate bond than a married couple and no less significant than a bl00d relative.

A boar’s attack pattern is simple: it chases the survivor and then, after reaching a certain distance, activates a dash to ram into them. Running can slightly increase the distance between you and the boar, but it’s difficult to completely get rid of it. There are usually only two ways: either kill the boar or jump into the sea. If the survivor has already killed the sharks before landing on the island and also gotten rid of any hidden pufferfish under the large island, then jumping into the water is a good option.

…

Shu Heng quickly shoved the food in her backpack into her mouth to replenish the hunger and water she had lost from the intense running. After raising both stats to over eighty, Shu Heng picked up her metal spear, trying to find an opportunity to join the battle.

Uhm…

It seemed she didn’t have a chance to interfere at all. The agile survivor was perfectly dealing with the attacks from both the boar and the vulture and hadn’t even been injured yet.

Shu Heng didn’t dare to make a sound, fearing that her voice would distract the survivor and cause her to get hurt.

About half an hour later, the boar let out a final howl and fell heavily to the ground. Li Jianwei didn’t rush to collect the loot. Instead, she ran back into the cave and leaned against the wall to eat and drink. Dealing with a combined attack wasn’t difficult, but her hunger and water stats were dropping nearly five times faster than usual.

“Thank you. What should I call you?” Shu Heng put away her weapon and walked over to greet her.

“Li Jianwei, just call me by my name,” Li Jianwei said, pulling out a coconut and munching on it.

For some reason, Shu Heng found Li Jianwei’s movements very endearing. “I’m Shu Heng. I have a bottle of purified water. Do you need it?”

Li Jianwei nodded without politeness. “Just drop it, and I’ll pick it up.”

“Okay.” Shu Heng did as she was told, dropping the only bottle of water she had on the ground. Any item dropped on the ground turns into a small paper bag. If it’s not picked up within an hour, it automatically disappears. However, after adding a friend, a “trade request” option will appear when you are close to each other, allowing you to trade items using the game system.

Li Jianwei wasn’t short on water, but she still accepted it, using it to replace her empty water bottle.

Shu Heng subconsciously looked at the small paper bag on the ground. “You don’t want this?”

“Nope. The stuff outside is more important to me right now.” Li Jianwei walked to the edge of the cave, goading the vulture into dropping the rock in its talons. Then, like an agile monkey, she darted over to the boar’s corpse and started collecting the loot.

Li Jianwei’s luck was good. The boar dropped three pieces of meat, one piece of leather, and a boar head. Finding no empty slots, Li Jianwei decisively put the boar head on her own head. The boar head’s function is the same as the shark head: there’s a low chance that wearing it will make monsters think you’re one of them. If not worn, it just serves as a trophy.

Seeing the two bright boar tusks and ears on Li Jianwei’s head, Shu Heng was speechless for a moment, just staring at her.

“Do you have any free slots in your inventory?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng nodded. The boar had been chasing her almost the moment she landed, so she hadn’t collected many materials. After eating and drinking a while ago, she had plenty of empty slots.

“I’ll give you these. Don’t fight me for the intermediate chest inside the cave,” Li Jianwei said. Without waiting for Shu Heng’s agreement, she dropped the relatively valuable pineapple and watermelon seeds on the ground.

“You found the chest in the cave? Can you tell me what’s inside?” Shu Heng quickly picked up the dropped items, also putting the empty bottle Li Jianwei had discarded earlier into her backpack.

“I haven’t found it yet, but the fact that we met means we are very close to the chest,” Li Jianwei said, sharing the game’s ‘linking’ mechanism with Shu Heng.

Shu Heng nodded thoughtfully and subconsciously followed Li Jianwei. “If we have something to connect us, like linking ourselves with a rope, will we still get disconnected if we move away from the chest?”

Li Jianwei’s steps paused. “I haven’t tried that, but my gut tells me it’s not a good idea.”

In her previous life, Li Jianwei had heard Shu Heng ask the exact same question. It was their first time cooperating. With a “since we’re already here” mindset, after deciding how to split the chest, they held hands and tried it. Direct physical contact did not make the linking state disappear, but no matter which direction they walked, they would just end up back in the same place. After a while, they would even start to lose health from a bleeding debuff.

Shu Heng didn’t press for more information, just silently memorized the tip. The cave’s chests usually respawn in the deepest part, and this time was no exception.

“I tried it last time. After opening the chest, the linking status doesn’t disappear immediately; it lasts for about five more minutes,” Li Jianwei said. “If there’s anything you particularly need, you can tell me, and we can maybe trade.”

With that, Li Jianwei opened the intermediate chest.

[Congratulations, Survivor, you have obtained: Wood Planks * 4, Bolts * 2, Vine Adhesive * 3, Stones * 5, Scraps * 10, Recipe: Vegetable Soup.]

The intermediate chest dropped six items, including a new recipe she hadn’t found before. Her luck was pretty good. The wood planks could stack in her existing storage slots, but she had to make a choice about the other items. Li Jianwei didn’t hesitate, choosing to pick up the 2 bolts and the Vegetable Soup recipe.

“The stuff on the ground is yours. If you have any wood planks, rope, stone arrows, or roasted tilapia, you can trade them to me,” Li Jianwei said in one breath. “We have about four minutes left to trade.”

Shu Heng acted quickly. After picking up the dropped loot, she threw out the roasted tilapia and wood planks from her inventory. “I don’t have any stone arrows or rope. If we meet again, I’ll give you some of the things you need to make up for it.”

“Deal.” Li Jianwei agreed, giving a friendly reminder. “Monsters defeated while linked won’t respawn after you disconnect, but there isn’t just one boar on the large island. You should be careful not to get cornered again.”

“If you have no other choice, you can hide in the water, but it will only protect you from the boar’s attack. The vulture can still hit you with rocks when you come up for air.”

“After you get in the water, sharks will find you quickly because of the scent. If you find a chest or glowing silver seaweed on the seafloor, remember to check your surroundings. Pufferfish will definitely spawn near good stuff.”

“When you get close to a pufferfish, it will self-destruct and release toxins. If you get hit, you have to watch your health. The continuous debuff will drain about 80 points of health. It’s better to use a bow and arrow to fight it from a distance.”

Shu Heng rapidly absorbed the information, committing it to memory. “Thanks. You can also find berries on the large island, which can restore some health, but they usually appear in places where boars are also present.” Shu Heng shared her recent discovery.

Before Shu Heng could say anything else, she saw Li Jianwei’s figure gradually fade.

“See you later!” Li Jianwei left two words, and then her figure completely disappeared from Shu Heng’s sight.

That’s strange. She’s a survivor I just met, so why do I feel so reluctant for her to leave?

Shu Heng began to think as she organized her materials.

On the other side, after disconnecting from the linked state, Li Jianwei ran back toward her raft. Her backpack was full, but she hadn’t finished chopping down all the trees on the island. Now, she had to empty her backpack and return to the island. There was more than one chest on a large island, with at least one guaranteed to be underwater and one on land. Since she was already here, she couldn’t miss out.

Oh, right, I haven’t mined the dirt in the cave yet. I’ll research the bolts to unlock new blueprints and see if I can make a shovel to dig up the dirt.

After successfully reaching her raft, Li Jianwei looked up at the sun in the sky. It had moved from the east to the west, and it would probably be dark in about two hours. The night affects visibility. She could risk going to the island if there was a moon, but if not, she would just continue fishing. After all, with no visibility, it was impossible to avoid the attacks of the boar and vulture, and running into either monster could easily get her killed.

Before the sun set, Li Jianwei went to the large island one more time, used her newly made shovel to dig up the dirt from the cave, and then returned to her raft before dark. After researching the dirt, she successfully unlocked blueprints for planting. After some deliberation, Li Jianwei chose to craft two center planters and planted the watermelon seeds she had collected from the small island. She then used a water bottle to get water from the simple purifier and watered the seeds.

It would be great to plant things during a rainstorm. Survivors can’t get rained on, but crops can. If it rains for seven days straight, I could get two harvests of watermelons!

Li Jianwei sighed wistfully. When she heard the crunching sound of a shark biting her raft, her first reaction was to look up at the sky. There was no moon. The seagulls were still circling, but they weren’t making any sounds. Li Jianwei was a bit slow to stab the shark. After she drove the shark away, a part of her raft’s edge was damaged, forcing her to go back to her chest and get her construction hammer to repair it.

The island could provide a certain amount of wood planks and palm leaves, but there was no plastic. Plastic could only be gathered from the drifting ocean using a hook or a collector’s net. It looks like I have to leave this island before the sun sets tomorrow, or my plastic reserves will be depleted.

Plastic is just as useful as wood planks. While it can’t be used as fuel, it is an essential component for making items like water bottles and arrows. Arrows can’t be retrieved after use. Compared to the luxurious metal arrows that use valuable metal ingots, most survivors choose to use stones, wood planks, and plastic to make stone arrows. Of course, if you have a surplus of metal ingots, the metal arrows with their longer range and higher attack power are the perfect choice.

Noticing something had taken her bait, Li Jianwei cleared her mind and started to reel in her line by feel. Using a pull-and-release technique could increase her success rate, but Li Jianwei never used it. She always just pulled the line in directly, deciding it was fine if she had to use her guaranteed catch.

[Obtained: Old Shoe * 1]

Huh? I caught a shoe? How did it even get hooked? My raft is even anchored!

Li Jianwei complained in her mind, but her hands didn’t stop as she placed the shoe on the raft. The old shoe couldn’t be worn, and it was filled with dirt. Besides being a decoration, it could be used to plant flowers. While it could only hold one flower, every little bit helps!

After catching a small pomfret and getting her guaranteed catch, Li Jianwei packed up and lay down on her bed, waiting to wake up the next day to go back into the sea.

[Name: Li Jianwei] [Status: Life (100/100), Hunger (22/100), Water (19/100)] [Days Survived: 11]

The stats showed that Li Jianwei had been woken up by thirst. She pulled out the water bottle she had prepared in advance and gulped it down. Then, she opened the world chat channel.

[Tun Mo: Don’t eat raw saltwater fish! It will increase your hunger, but it will also lower your water!] [Lily: There’s a colored wild chicken on the large island that doesn’t attack me. Is there any way to catch it?] [Love6: I met a sheep. It jumped so high; I couldn’t even keep up with it.] [Jiong Er: Um, I tried using a bow and arrow to kill it, but it didn’t drop anything. It must have a special way of being captured.] [Tail Ring: Does anyone know what the monster headgear does?] [Li Jianwei: When worn, it has a low chance of confusing the same type of monster.]

Li Jianwei casually sent a message, using up her one-message-a-day limit, and prepared to close the chat to start her work. But a familiar name made Li Jianwei pause. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw the next message in the chat.

[Shu Heng: Pufferfish drop adhesive explosives. You need to use a bow and arrow to kill it from a distance.] [Cai Cai: Wow, a pro player has already killed a pufferfish. I’m still just sticking to the small islands.]

It seems Shu Heng has successfully killed a pufferfish. I wonder if she got the pufferfish head.

A pufferfish head is different from other monster trophies. Not only can it be worn or used for decoration, but it can also be used to make a dish, possibly a head soup? Drinking it can even give you a small buff.

Li Jianwei pushed the door open, first checking her stats, then glancing at her fully stocked inventory. Metal Spear, Plastic Bow, Stone Arrows, Scrap Hook, Oxygen Tank. The oxygen tank can be worn on her person without taking up a storage slot, but it will start to be consumed the moment she enters the water. Before killing the shark, she had no intention of wasting her hard-earned oxygen tank.

Using the metal spear made killing the shark much more efficient. An hour later, Li Jianwei came out of the water, shoved the loot into her chest, and then, with her oxygen tank on, dived into the deep sea. The deep sea has more abundant mineral resources, and she might even find silver seaweed and intermediate chests there.

Speaking of which, what did Shu Heng get after killing the pufferfish? Was it silver seaweed or a chest? If it’s the former, will the two of them meet again underwater?

Huh? Who is that?

…

Shu Heng sent her message after seeing Li Jianwei’s message. Thanks to the other’s generosity, Shu Heng was able to fill her backpack and return to her raft in no time. Yesterday’s experience of being chased by the boar and vulture left Shu Heng with lingering fears, so her choice was to go into the sea to kill sharks and see if there was a chest on the seafloor.

Shu Heng remembered Li Jianwei’s instructions. She used her last remaining resources to craft a plastic bow and stone arrows, and with five shots from a distance, she successfully killed the pufferfish. Pufferfish don’t drop meat, only a pufferfish head and adhesive explosive. After she dealt with the pufferfish, it got dark, forcing Shu Heng to regretfully turn back. A pufferfish doesn’t respawn, but a shark does. After she finally killed a shark, Shu Heng headed back in the direction where she killed the pufferfish yesterday. Before she could find any good stuff, she saw a familiar face.

Even though part of Li Jianwei’s face was covered by the oxygen tank, Shu Heng recognized her at a glance.

…

Li Jianwei’s mouth bubbled, and she realized she couldn’t speak, so she tried to gesture with her hands. Soon, the two of them floated to the surface.

“Shu Heng, it’s good to see you again,” Li Jianwei said with a smile.

“Good to see you, too.” Shu Heng smiled back. “I mined some materials with my scrap hook. Do you need any?”

“Give me some clay and sand. It’s too slow to smelt things with just one furnace,” Li Jianwei said, immediately picking up the items as Shu Heng dropped them.

“Do you want to mine together? I’ve already dealt with the sharks and the pufferfish nearby,” Shu Heng offered.

Li Jianwei didn’t refuse. “I’ll go to the deeper parts to mine ore, and you can mine in the shallow areas. We can trade materials later.”

“Okay. But do you need another oxygen tank?” Shu Heng explained. “I used the empty water bottle you threw away yesterday to make an oxygen tank.”

“Sounds good. If I find a chest, I’ll wait for you to open it with me.” Li Jianwei tucked the oxygen tank into her backpack, then plunged into the sea.

Swallowing the unspoken “be careful,” Shu Heng began to diligently mine various things, using the spot where she killed the pufferfish as her center. Scraps could be made into nails, and nails are important parts, so she had to take them. Sand and clay were materials Li Jianwei needed, and she also needed to build more furnaces, so she had to take them. Stones were a raw material for disposable anchors and stone arrows, so she had to dig for those, too. Seaweed could be used to make vine adhesive and was also a raw material for flippers. Come here, you! Large clams—she hadn’t found a use for them yet, but since she was here, she might as well stuff them into her backpack, too.

Shu Heng worked in the shallow water, but she would occasionally see Li Jianwei come up to the surface for air. An oxygen tank made from an empty water bottle could only increase the amount of time she could hold her breath; it couldn’t allow her to stay underwater for long like a real oxygen tank.

Two hours later, after using up one oxygen tank, Li Jianwei brought some good news: she had found an intermediate chest on the seafloor. However, the chest was quite deep, and she might lose some health from suffocation if she didn’t wear an oxygen tank.

“Do you have enough free slots? If not, you can leave your stuff with me first,” Shu Heng said, then quickly added, “I can give you the materials that can stack, and you can go open the chest. If everything goes smoothly, we’ll have a minute or two to split the materials.”

Li Jianwei opened her inventory: Metal Spear * 1, Plastic Bow * 1, Stone Arrows * 50, Metal Ore * 24, Large Clams * 1, Copper Ore * 16, Water Bottle * 1, Scraps * 2, Roasted Tilapia * 2, Watermelon * 1, Clay * 5, and Sand * 6.

“Do you have any large clams?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng nodded. “I found two. Do you need them?”

“Give me the large clams. I’ll give you the clay, sand, scraps, and water bottle. I need enough space,” Li Jianwei said, pulling out the watermelon and crunching on it, instantly raising her water to 100.

After the trade was complete, Li Jianwei had eight empty slots. She took a deep breath and swam towards the chest. It’s still too slow. If I have space, I need to ask Shu Heng for more seaweed to make flippers to increase my swimming speed.

[Obtained: Glass * 4, Sand * 6, Hinges * 3, Vine Slime * 5, Nails * 12, Stones * 6, Recipe: Simple Fish Stew.]

It was a duplicate recipe and no useful blueprints, but it was still a decent haul. It would take more than a day just to smelt all these finished products.

“The recipe is yours; I already have it. Give me some clay and sand, and I’ll give you some metal ore and copper ore. If you have any extra, you can give me some stones and seaweed,” Li Jianwei said as she surfaced, throwing things out as she spoke.

Shu Heng was prepared and acted quickly, throwing out the stones, sand, clay, and seaweed. She used the recipe and the ore to fill her remaining slots. Before Shu Heng could speak, Li Jianwei’s figure began to fade again, but a system notification appeared at the same time.

[Detected a nearby survivor that can be added as a friend. Do you want to add Survivor Li Jianwei, the “Hundred Hooks, Hundred Hits,” as a friend?]

Huh? Why does Li Jianwei’s name have the title “Hundred Hooks, Hundred Hits”? How did she get that?

Shu Heng couldn’t help but think this, but she instinctively chose “Yes.”

[Successfully added. The friend chat system is now enabled. The first ten chats per day are free. Subsequent chats will cost points. You can increase points by investing materials.]