The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Alliance? Alliance!

The successful capture of the animal meant the two had to temporarily part ways, since living creatures can’t be put into a backpack. Shu Heng could only carry the alpaca, avoiding its spit while heading towards her raft.

After chopping down a few trees to gather some basic materials, Li Jianwei also returned to her raft. If it was getting dark before, it was now completely dark. The sun’s disappearance caused the outdoor temperature to drop sharply, and even without touching the seawater, she couldn’t help but shiver.

[Shu Heng: Staying outside for too long will give you a debuff, but it seems to be fine near the furnace. If you plan to fish at night, remember to check your status. The alpaca can produce wool. After researching it, I’ve unlocked blueprints for armor and a basic backpack. The raw materials are wool and leather.]

[Li Jianwei: Okay, I have a lot of leather here. I’ll bring it to you tomorrow. Once you’ve accumulated enough wool, make a backpack for me first. We can hold off on the armor for a bit.]

Shu Heng didn’t refuse. She later sent a detailed list to Li Jianwei so she could plan her use of leather in advance.

Achoo!

After a sneeze, Li Jianwei had a sudden burst of good luck and reeled in a massive salmon. The salmon was almost a meter long, and a single one could fill up an entire oven. The satiety it provided was on par with three or four tilapia.

“Hahaha, it seems I have some fishing talent after all! The previous times I caught nothing were just a matter of bad timing!” Li Jianwei happily shared the good news with Shu Heng and promised to bring her the roasted salmon tomorrow.

Cooking the salmon took a while, so Li Jianwei put away her fishing rod and lay down on her still-basic bed to rest. As long as a survivor’s stats were above 20, they would wake up at 6 a.m. the next day.

As expected, something unexpected happened. The raft was too close to the shipwreck island, and before dawn, Li Jianwei heard a system alert.

[An unknown creature is approaching the raft. Please deal with it as soon as possible.] [An unknown creature is destroying the raft. Please take up your weapon and fight back.]

The two consecutive system alerts completely woke Li Jianwei up. She immediately grabbed her metal spear and ran outside.

What appeared before her were mutated, dog-like creatures with unhealthy, dark red eyes. In the light of her torch, she could clearly see their fangs and the drool constantly dripping onto the raft.

They were mutated hounds. Shouldn’t these be creatures from a shantytown island? Why did they show up here?

Li Jianwei didn’t dare to get close. She knew that without armor, a bite would inflict an infection debuff. Until she could make a salve, the mutated hounds were very dangerous. She switched her metal spear for her bow and arrow. Not wanting to take a risk, she retreated while aiming, and at the same time, she ran towards the half-built second floor.

The second floor wasn’t enclosed but was just a platform. Standing on it gave her a better view and protected her from ambushes. The mutated hounds’ attack style was similar to a boar’s. They would lunge and bite once they got close. Retreating would help her dodge, but the mutated hounds would attack three times in a row. A survivor’s attack could interrupt this three-lunge combo, but you had to time it just right, hitting them the moment they lunged. Otherwise, the mutated hounds would deftly dodge the attack and take advantage of the survivor’s opening to bite fiercely.

In the past, Li Jianwei had suffered losses from mutated hounds. If she hadn’t brought enough healing medicine, she probably would have lost her life to their “three-dog death formation.” This time, however, there were only two mutated hounds on the raft. Li Jianwei used a hit-and-run strategy, staying at a distance and using her bow and arrow to wear down and kill both mutated hounds on the spacious raft.

[Congratulations, Survivor, you have successfully repelled the monsters that raided your raft at night. The monsters dropped leather *2 and a paper slip with information *1. Would you like to view the information on the slip immediately?]

Li Jianwei didn’t let her guard down. She patrolled the raft twice to make sure everything was okay before reading the information on the slip.

[Can’t escape. No one can escape from here! Monsters! So many monsters! Run! Don’t look back! They’ve gone mad!]

The text on the slip didn’t seem to have much information, but the back still had messy lines that looked similar to the previous numbered slip. It was likely part of a larger puzzle.

After eating and drinking to replenish her stats, Li Jianwei sent a message to Shu Heng and opened the world chat.

[lu: Folks, I caught a huge raw catfish. It’s so big only the grill can fit it.] [Bailing: Is fishing at midnight better? I also caught a big salmon.] [Weijie: Do you guys think the moon is especially big tonight?] [Dong Ensang: Isn’t it always that big? The moon here doesn’t have phases.] [Dec: Thanks to the gifts from the seagulls, roasted bird legs are truly a delicacy! Wonderful! Beautiful!]

The world chat was very harmonious. It was hard to tell if no one had encountered monsters or if the ones who had were too busy to send messages. Before Li Jianwei could close the chat interface, a new message from Shu Heng popped up.

[Shu Heng: I haven’t found any monsters yet. I surrounded my raft with fences. I don’t know if that’s why. How are you doing? If you’re short on silver seaweed, I can bring you a couple tomorrow.]

[Li Jianwei: I’m alright. It’s just that the reward doesn’t match the effort; I only got two pieces of leather. You can keep the silver seaweed. It will be more valuable when it’s processed into a dish later. The sun will rise soon. I’m going to start fishing. See you at our spot when it’s light.]

After ending her conversation with Shu Heng, Li Jianwei took out her fishing rod and started casting. The appearance of the mutated hounds gave her a sense of urgency and also made her less trusting of the information she had from her past life.

In her previous life, she had only been in the Endless Sea for a little over fifty days. That was hardly enough to say she knew the place well. If she kept relying on her past knowledge without exploring and discovering new things, she might stumble in the same place twice!

Li Jianwei mentally reviewed her recent actions. She felt a pull on her fishing rod and quickly raised it, reeling it in.

[Congratulations, you have obtained a damaged candlestick *1.]

She caught something! Not a fruitless trip. But the candle on the candlestick was white, which didn’t feel very auspicious to put by her bed. If only I could fish up a lucky cat! Even if it doesn’t bring wealth, it would at least be a good omen!

Li Jianwei sighed and put the candlestick next to her, letting it provide some light and warmth. After catching a tilapia and a pomfret, the sun rose from the east, driving away the cold night, and the outdoor temperature slowly began to rise. Li Jianwei shoved her fishing rod into a chest, grabbed the agreed-upon roasted salmon and leather, and, after making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, ran toward the shipwreck island.

Their agreed-upon meeting time was around 6:30 a.m., but as someone who valued punctuality, wasn’t it normal to arrive early?

It seemed Li Jianwei wasn’t the only one who thought this way. In what felt like no more than five minutes, Shu Heng’s figure appeared in her line of sight.

“Good morning,” Li Jianwei said with a smile, holding the huge roasted salmon.

A smile appeared on Shu Heng’s face. “Good morning. It seems the second half of the night was calm.”

“It was alright. I fished up some food and stocked up on a few bottles of water,” Li Jianwei said, expertly trading the roasted salmon and leather to Shu Heng and receiving silver seaweed from her.

“Let’s go. While we’re in good shape, let’s find an entrance outside the shipwreck,” Shu Heng said, equipping her flippers and oxygen tank.

Li Jianwei nodded, equipping herself as she walked. She held her metal spear as usual and jumped into the water one step ahead of Shu Heng. Then, Li Jianwei saw a shark with a gaping mouth charging at her.

Damn! She was careless. She was so busy guarding against the mutated fish monster that she forgot this thing would also spawn outside the shipwreck.

Shu Heng had also clearly overlooked the basic shark, but it wasn’t a problem. With their teamwork, the shark quickly turned belly-up, defeated.

“Let’s just keep going. It’s too much of a hassle to go back to the raft,” Li Jianwei said, stuffing the shark meat into her backpack. She then put the shark’s head on her own head without hesitation. The gaping maw was ugly on the shark, but with Li Jianwei’s pretty face inside, the ferocious fangs looked almost cute.

Shu Heng sighed inwardly and continued to follow Li Jianwei with her bow and arrow, ready to provide support at any moment.

After circling the shipwreck for half a round, they actually found an entrance. It wasn’t a door but a broken gap just big enough for a person to fit through.

Li Jianwei and Shu Heng looked at each other, then surfaced to talk.

“It’s very dark inside, but my intuition tells me there are good things in there,” Li Jianwei said. “Let’s do the same as before. I’ll go first, and you watch out for any glowing spots. The mutated fish monsters have their own light source.”

“Okay. Move a little slower when you go in. Let’s not get too far apart,” Shu Heng didn’t refuse.

Li Jianwei gave her a thumbs-up. After a deep breath, she dove back into the water and slipped into the broken gap like a loach, her movements agile.

It was very dark inside the gap; visibility was less than three meters. Luckily, after she got in, it was a corridor. One side was blocked by debris, and there was only one path forward. There were some plastic and scraps along the way. Since she had come all this way, Li Jianwei took everything, then continued to move forward.

After bumping into some very fragile-looking wooden planks, the familiar mutated fish monster appeared in Li Jianwei’s line of sight. She narrowly dodged the monster’s ambush, and a water-piercing arrow flew past her, successfully pulling its aggro. After adjusting her stance, Li Jianwei pulled out her machete and began to attack the monster. She trusted Shu Heng’s ability to hold its aggro, so she decided to use a more daring method of attack.

Of course, the machete’s higher attack power was also a factor. They didn’t have much oxygen left and had to quickly kill this fish to find a place to breathe. Shu Heng was startled by Li Jianwei’s actions. If she weren’t in the water, she would have broken out in a cold sweat for her. In less than five minutes, the mutated fish monster turned belly-up and disappeared. Unfortunately, it didn’t drop anything this time; its only purpose was to create a challenge for the two of them.

Phew…

Li Jianwei took a deep breath, not forgetting to reach out and pull Shu Heng onto the platform.

“This is an unexplored area. There are no fish monsters here, but it’s very likely the monsters I encountered last night will show up,” Li Jianwei said, putting her oxygen tank into her backpack.

Shu Heng asked, “Do you have any debuffs on you now?”

Li Jianwei shook her head. “I’m great. My health is at 100.”

Shu Heng’s lips moved. After a moment of hesitation, she said what was on her mind, “Don’t be so reckless next time. Using a machete to attack a monster is very dangerous. I suspect that getting bitten by this kind of monster will give you a bad debuff.”

“Didn’t we work together before? I trust that you can hold the monster’s aggro,” Li Jianwei said with a smile. “Didn’t it turn out great?”

“But what if I had missed? You didn’t discuss it with me beforehand,” Shu Heng’s expression became serious. “I’m very grateful that you trust me so much, but I don’t want to be the reason for your recklessness.”

Meeting Shu Heng’s reproachful gaze, Li Jianwei touched the shark hat on her head. Between making excuses and apologizing, she made the right choice. “Sorry, I won’t do it again.”

Shu Heng’s expression softened. “I know you did it to save time, but next time, remember to discuss it with me. We can’t talk in the seawater, but you can send me a message.”

Li Jianwei nodded like a pecking chick. “I will absolutely not make a unilateral decision again. I’ll discuss it with you.”

“Okay, let’s continue exploring,” Shu Heng lightly coughed. Li Jianwei’s quick apology made it difficult for her to keep a straight face.

“Okay, roger that!” Li Jianwei replied with a smile, and they continued their exploration.

As they went deeper, the visibility inside the shipwreck changed from three meters to two meters. Besides the sound of the seawater hitting the ship, the only sounds were their footsteps and breathing. It was very dark, but thankfully, there was no danger.

Their exploration speed became very slow. To avoid missing anything, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng had to explore every path. When they reached a dead end, they had to feel around for any hidden mechanisms.

Fortunately, their hard work paid off. After exploring in the dark for an unknown amount of time, Li Jianwei found a blueprint for a radar. She traded it to Shu Heng without a second thought.

“Learn it quickly. It should be the blueprint that follows the circuit board,” Li Jianwei said.

Shu Heng didn’t refuse. She didn’t have many free slots in her backpack and couldn’t afford to hoard this blueprint.

“How is it? Did you learn it?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng: “Mhm. But I only have enough raw materials to make one radar. When I make it, I’ll give it to you first.”

Li Jianwei: “Short on copper ore?”

Shu Heng: “Circuit boards require copper ore. One radar requires a lot of copper ore, and to power it, we need batteries. Batteries are consumables and also require circuit boards.”

“No rush. We haven’t explored the seabed yet. We can go down and mine some ore tomorrow. As long as we work for a bit and rest for a bit, it won’t trigger the debuff if we don’t stay down for long,” Li Jianwei said optimistically.

Copper ore was a basic resource, and its biggest use was for crafting these electrical devices. She hadn’t unlocked the related blueprints, so she only needed to stock up on some for emergencies, and the rest she could share with Shu Heng.

Shu Heng didn’t refuse or agree, but in her heart, she was determined to make a set of equipment that could power the radar so that Li Jianwei could use it first. After they left the shipwreck island, their next destination would definitely be a normal island. The linking and matching mechanism for normal islands was too reliant on luck. Shu Heng hoped the radar could make linking up more stable. After getting used to having someone to look out for her, Shu Heng didn’t want to go back to being a solo player.

As they continued to explore, they found a new path. They eventually used a device to open a hatch-like cellar door from below and re-entered the kitchen.

“Huh? Why are there extra blueprints?” After her vision returned, the sharp-eyed Li Jianwei made a new discovery.

“What blueprint is it? The radar?” Shu Heng asked.

“It’s the blueprint for the cooking pot. After we unlock it, we should be able to use recipes!” Li Jianwei said with a smile. “This trip wasn’t a waste. We’re very lucky.”

Shu Heng also smiled. “We are. I’ll trade you the red berries later so we can use them to their full value.”

[The affinity between Survivor Li Jianwei and Survivor Shu Heng has reached 60. The Alliance function has been unlocked. Would you like to form an alliance? (The first time is free. Subsequent times will require a certain fee.)]

Li Jianwei’s eyes lit up, and she looked eagerly at Shu Heng. “Did you get a system alert?”

Shu Heng was stunned for a moment. “I did. But what is an alliance?”

“I feel like it’s a closer relationship than just being friends, since it needs an affinity of 60 to unlock,” Li Jianwei said, pretending to be in deep thought and raising her hand to touch her chin.

Instead, Shu Heng touched the shark hat on her head. The texture of the smooth fish skin. Shu Heng lightly coughed, suppressing a laugh. “I agree. Did you get any alerts on your end?”

Li Jianwei nonchalantly moved her hand down and confirmed with her mind.

[Survivor Li Jianwei has formed an alliance with Survivor Shu Heng. Both rafts are in a pending state. Please select one raft to bind. The items on the other raft will be temporarily stored in the system space. Please retrieve them within 24 hours.]

“This is telling us to choose one raft to survive on together?” Shu Heng’s eyes showed surprise. “How big is your raft now?”

“Uh, about a hundred square meters? I just roughly built the first floor, and the second floor only has the floorboards,” Li Jianwei said, stroking the shark head on her head. “What about yours?”

“Mine is more compact. It would take a lot of effort to rebuild it into two stories. Why don’t we just choose yours?” Shu Heng subconsciously touched her chin.

Li Jianwei: “What about the animals? Will your animals be saved?”

Shu Heng nodded. “They should be. The system space is different from our backpack space. It should be able to store living things.”

Li Jianwei: “Then I have no problem. Let’s choose my raft. If you need to make adjustments to the layout, you can go ahead and do it. I don’t have much talent for building.”

“Okay,” Shu Heng nodded.

After they decided whose raft to keep, the two of them efficiently completed the binding. The system then gave a notification, and Shu Heng saw her items fill up in a huge backpack with a 24-hour countdown. Without checking, she wouldn’t have known that she was quite wealthy in another sense.

“Let’s go. We’re done here. Let’s go explore the next island!” The smile on Li Jianwei’s face still hadn’t faded. She even felt so energized that she could challenge three mutated hounds without armor!

Shu Heng hummed in agreement. After they successfully left the shipwreck, they walked step by step to the beach. Unlike before, the ship-shaped raft appeared on the water, somehow giving the feeling that it was waiting for its owners to come home.

“It seems we can work together from now on,” Li Jianwei said, kicking a small stone.

“That’s great news. It’ll be a lot faster to explore as a pair,” Shu Heng couldn’t help but quicken her pace.

Li Jianwei noticed Shu Heng’s eagerness, and her smile became even brighter.

“Hurry up! You only have 24 hours to organize the materials, and we have to figure out where to keep the animals!” Li Jianwei took Shu Heng’s hand without hesitation, their fingers naturally interlocking.

Before Shu Heng could react, Li Jianwei pulled her forward and they started to run. She had to admit, having a bonded partner felt truly amazing.

…

The disposable anchor was quickly removed, and the raft began to drift with the wind. Li Jianwei and Shu Heng began to work together. Shu Heng’s temporary backpack was full of materials, so her current task was to organize them, turning the first floor’s main hall into a warehouse and categorizing all the materials. Li Jianwei worked on the second floor, hammering and nailing, adding walls to the existing pillars, and installing a ceiling to quickly create an animal farm.

Shu Heng had a very clear plan for the raft. The first floor would serve as a warehouse and a place for the furnaces, water purifiers, and other machines. The second floor would have the indoor breeding area and a kitchen, with a radar for exploration placed outdoors. The bedroom was planned for the third floor. However, they didn’t have enough basic materials for now, so they would sleep on the second floor, which meant sleeping near the animals.

They couldn’t complete such a large amount of work in just 24 hours, not to mention that when they encountered an island, they had to temporarily stop to collect materials. If they came across a small island, after killing the shark together, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng would split up. One would be responsible for collecting materials on the island, and the other would use a scrap hook and diving equipment to dig and mine under the island.

Their luck was good when they worked together. On a small island, they even found a very useful blueprint that unlocked the bed. Because she wanted a perfect bedroom, Li Jianwei’s backpack plan was temporarily put on hold. The wool would first be used to make a soft, high-quality bed. However, with the two of them combined, they had thirty slots, which was enough to collect most of the materials on the island.

The exploration of the seabed of the large island was still divided. Shu Heng was in charge of the surface, and Li Jianwei was in charge of going to the deeper parts with the diving equipment. Even if they had to get back on the raft after being in the water for a while, they insisted on collecting all the materials from the seabed, not even leaving a single rock behind.

After working diligently until the end of the low-temperature weather, the warehouse on the first floor was already quite impressive. No matter how many things were in the boxes, each item had its own individual, luxurious box! Of course, the bedroom on the third floor was also completed. With one more alpaca on the farm, the high-quality bed they had been craving for days was also crafted.