The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Collaboration! Collaboration!

The high-quality bed was far more effective than the simple one. Not only did it increase health recovery speed, but it also significantly slowed the decline of hunger and hydration. Li Jianwei and Shu Heng tested it and found that they could survive by lying in bed all day, needing only one bottle of water and three tilapia.

Theoretically, if a survivor had many collection nets on their first floor, they could live an incredibly easy life: sleep all day, wake up to gather resources from the nets, and then go back to sleep after replenishing their stats. However, that lifestyle was for a “lie-flat” type of survivor, not for the duo of Li Jianwei and Shu Heng, who would even dig up every rock they passed.

[Name: Li Jianwei] [Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (88/100), Hydration (90/100)] [Days Survived: 28]

[A vicious aura is carried on the sea breeze. The gods residing in this sea have become restless. Please be mindful of the sea surface. When the sea is no longer calm, do not stay outdoors.]

The system alert sounded in both Li Jianwei’s and Shu Heng’s minds at the same time. Their movements were in perfect sync as they pushed open the door of their third-floor bedroom and looked out at the vast, boundless sea.

“All survivors received that warning. It’s the system’s subtle hint,” Shu Heng said, browsing the world chat. “The gods’ restlessness might cause unusual waves. I’ll use nails and metal ingots to reinforce the outermost foundation blocks in a bit.”

“Do we have enough metal ingots?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng thought about their inventory. “We have enough to reinforce the foundation. I’ll get all six furnaces working. There are still a lot of un-smelted metal ores in the boxes, so we should be able to stock up on twenty or thirty metal ingots.”

“That’s plenty. We’ve already got all our weapons and gear ready,” Li Jianwei said.

“But it looks like today won’t be smooth sailing either. I wonder when we’ll reach our destination,” Li Jianwei sighed, leaning on the third-floor railing and jumping down to the second floor.

After the radar was built, they had received a system alert, finally understanding the purpose of the paper slips they had found on the shipwreck. Once the numbers from the slips were entered into the radar, a stable signal appeared on the screen. The signal was very far from the raft, however. If they hadn’t opened a treasure chest and found a blueprint for a sail that could change the raft’s direction, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng would have to be doing daily arm-swinging workouts with plastic paddles.

Shu Heng took the stairs properly and stopped next to Li Jianwei. “The current speed of the sea is 2 nautical miles per hour. Even at this speed, we can reach our destination in five days.”

“The waves might actually make us go faster,” Li Jianwei said, her gaze on the radar. “Let’s prepare more metal arrows. It’s better to be cautious if we’re going deep into an island.”

Shu Heng understood. “Then let’s take advantage of the calm and dig up a little more metal ore.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. We should also stock up on planks. If the raft gets damaged, we can just repair it directly,” Li Jianwei said with a smile. This was why Li Jianwei loved working with Shu Heng; their views on handling situations were so similar that they never needed to argue. A quick discussion was all it took to reach an agreement.

After drifting for an hour, Li Jianwei spotted a large island with her binoculars and immediately adjusted the sail’s direction, steering the raft toward the island. Shu Heng hammered away with her construction hammer, smelting metal, and occasionally using empty bottles to collect fresh water from the purifier. Li Jianwei was on the second floor, using her binoculars to watch the surroundings and the sea, cooking meals from recipes, and taking time to comfort the animals, checking for eggs or if they needed milking or shearing.

Half an hour later, the anchor was dropped. They had gotten the blueprint for the anchor from a chest while exploring a previous island. Unlike the single-use disposable anchor, this one was reusable, just like a real ship’s anchor made of metal.

“The sea is still calm. We haven’t spotted any vultures on the island yet. It’s probably a boar-heavy island,” Li Jianwei said, rubbing her hands together. “Just six more pieces of leather and we’ll have enough to make two full sets of armor.”

“We’re short on metal ore. Seabed first, then the island?” Shu Heng suggested.

“Sounds good. Let’s take care of the shark first. Roasted shark meat can restore a lot of hunger. When we get to our destination, we’ll only need to bring shark meat with us,” Li Jianwei said.

Without putting on her oxygen tank or flippers, Li Jianwei jumped directly into the sea. Shu Heng followed, and with their machetes, they successfully killed the shark in less than twenty minutes. Li Jianwei kept her old habit, putting the shark hat on her head, then heading for the deeper water with her gear.

After easily taking care of a pufferfish with her bow and arrow, Li Jianwei’s eyes lit up, and she sped towards some silver seaweed. Just as the seaweed was within reach, a strange figure appeared in her line of sight, causing her to switch her scrap hook to her bow and arrow. The unfamiliar survivor also had an oxygen tank on his face. When he saw an arrow aimed at him, he was stunned, then frantically waved his hands to show he had no ill intentions.

Li Jianwei didn’t let her guard down. She raised her hand, motioning for the survivor to surface and talk. The stranger hesitated for three seconds, but finally nodded and began swimming to the surface.

“I don’t mean any harm. I just wanted to go to a deeper spot to find things,” the stranger said. To show his sincerity, he even took off his oxygen mask. It was better when he had it on, because the moment he took it off, Li Jianwei recognized his face, and a flash of killing intent crossed her eyes.

“Cao Luping?” Li Jianwei tightened her grip on her bow. She appeared to lower the arrowhead, but she was actually switching her stone arrows to higher-damage metal arrows.

“Huh? How do you know me? Have we met before?” Cao Luping looked puzzled. Who was this person in the shark hat? Could she be a survivor I met before?

Before he could ask his next question, he saw the survivor in front of him aim her weapon at him again, and a cold-gleaming metal arrow shot towards him. Cao Luping reacted quickly, using his legs to move his body through the water just in time. But faster than his movement was the arrow from the bowstring. The metal arrow sank into his shoulder.

“Why are you attacking me?! Aren’t we all survivors?!” Seeing his health drop sharply, Cao Luping quickly retreated, trying to put distance between them.

Li Jianwei remained silent, simply aiming and attacking. One metal arrow after another shot toward Cao Luping. He couldn’t help but curse, immediately stuffing healing food from his backpack into his mouth. He also pulled out his bow and started attacking Li Jianwei. Since she wouldn’t talk, he’d see who was stronger. How could he, a man, lose to a woman?

Whoosh! Another metal arrow sank into Cao Luping’s body. With his health below fifty, he immediately put away his weapon and ran without looking back. As long as I’m alive, there’s a chance. This woman ambushed me. If we had fought one-on-one, I’d definitely be stronger!

Cao Luping’s decision to run was correct, but the direction he chose was not. It wasn’t long before he ran into Shu Heng.

“Hey, beautiful, run! There’s a crazy woman over there trying to kill me! She must be an extremist! Just because there are no guards here she thinks she can…” Cao Luping’s words were cut short when he saw Shu Heng also raise her weapon at him. What in the world is going on?! I didn’t provoke either of them! Why are they attacking me without saying a word?!

Shu Heng didn’t recognize Cao Luping, but she saw that Li Jianwei was using precious metal arrows to attack him. The two of them had agreed to save their metal arrows to use against vultures. This meant that this unknown man must have done something incredibly wrong for Li Jianwei to be so intent on killing him.

When faced with the choice between trusting a stranger and trusting her allied partner, Shu Heng had no hesitation. She would only trust Li Jianwei.

When Cao Luping realized that Shu Heng was also relentlessly attacking him, his curses grew louder. He could only try to dive deeper, hoping to get out of the alliance area and save his life.

Whoosh! Whoosh! A metal arrow and a stone arrow simultaneously sank into Cao Luping’s body. He didn’t even have time to say his last words before his body began to dissolve, leaving behind a few small paper bundles containing his belongings floating on the surface of the water.

“That was my enemy,” Li Jianwei explained. “He tricked me with false information before and almost got me killed.” Actually, not “almost,” she had truly fallen into a monster’s mouth. It was just that she was lucky enough to get a chance to start over, Li Jianwei added silently in her mind.

“It’s a good thing we killed him. Otherwise, he would have tricked more people,” Shu Heng said, not asking any more questions and choosing to trust Li Jianwei unconditionally. She remembered that the first time she met Li Jianwei, she had rushed out to help her with a boar. Later, when they worked together, Li Jianwei had taken on the most dangerous tasks. No matter how you looked at it, she was a genuinely good person.

“True, we’ve done a public service,” the killing intent and anger in Li Jianwei’s eyes vanished, replaced by a sense of ease and joy.

“Let me see if he had anything good on him,” Li Jianwei said, picking up the small paper bundles into her backpack.

[Obtained: Plastic Bow *1, Scrap *29, Roasted Tilapia *5, Recipe: Barbecue]

“Not bad. He dropped some resources and a barbecue recipe,” Li Jianwei said, taking Shu Heng’s hand. “Come on, let’s hurry. There’s definitely a treasure chest nearby. We might get a useful recipe or blueprint.”

Shu Heng didn’t object and didn’t say anything like, “we can swim faster without holding hands.”

…

The good news was that Li Jianwei and Shu Heng not only dug up silver seaweed but also received a crafting blueprint from a treasure chest. The bad news was that before they could finish mining all the metal and copper ore under the island, the sea surface became restless, giving the feeling that a storm was about to brew at any moment.

With their good haul, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng promptly stopped and hopped onto the raft.

“The wind has picked up, and it’s a tailwind now,” Li Jianwei said, looking at the fluttering wind sock.

“Should we wait for the storm to pass and then continue gathering resources, or should we set off immediately?” Shu Heng asked, sorting the items from her backpack into their respective chests.

“There will always be islands, but a tailwind like this isn’t something you find every day,” Li Jianwei said. “I suggest we set sail now. The resources at our destination will definitely be more plentiful.”

Shu Heng agreed and turned the handle to pull up the anchor. Li Jianwei unfurled the sail and began to adjust their direction according to the radar’s guidance. According to the radar display, the raft’s speed, which was originally 2 nautical miles per hour, quickly soared to 5 nautical miles per hour, and it was still increasing. The raft was moving faster, but the side-to-side rocking also became more pronounced.

“The waves are getting bigger. Come inside,” Shu Heng walked over, turned off the radar, and pulled Li Jianwei back to the second floor.

Baa! The milking goat made an anxious sound, the chickens hid in a corner of the pen, and the alpaca was nonchalantly chewing on grass as if nothing were happening.

The second floor had windows. Li Jianwei and Shu Heng sat on chairs in front of the cooking pot, one studying the new recipe and the other roasting shark meat. Their division of labor was clear.

[Pause: Whoa, what a huge storm! Sisters, remember to add railings to your raft!] [Again & Again: The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish! I feel like I can catch a huge one! Let’s do it!] [Minazuki: The seagulls and sharks are gone. This is the first time this has happened.] [541: This looks a little scary. A sea tornado isn’t going to pop up, is it?]

A sea tornado? Seeing the message, Li Jianwei took out her binoculars and looked out the second-floor window. The sky was gloomy, and visibility was even lower than on a moonlit night. Everything pointed to an impending storm. Li Jianwei had seen sea tornadoes before and knew that if a raft was smaller than one hundred square meters, it was very likely to be destroyed. But their current raft was over one hundred square meters, almost two hundred, with two hundred foundation blocks. If you also counted the second and third floors, the total area was approaching five hundred square meters. Even if they encountered a sea storm, they didn’t need to worry about the raft being destroyed.

“The waves are crashing over us, and our speed seems to have increased a bit,” Li Jianwei reported.

“I wonder how long this storm will last.” Shu Heng handed the finished barbecue to Li Jianwei, then pulled out some clay to make clay bowls. Food made in the cooking pot could replenish a lot of stats, but to serve it, they needed clay bowls, which were single-use consumables.

Li Jianwei looked at her stats and then ate the barbecue in two bites. “My hunger is at 100. The hunger recovery effect is over 50. My hydration hasn’t changed much. It seems to have a warming effect, but it’s negligible,” Li Jianwei said.

“The ingredients are relatively simple and it’s quick to make. It’s an upgrade from roasted shark meat,” Shu Heng concluded. “Not counting other dishes, we have enough ingredients to make about twenty servings.”

Li Jianwei looked at their inventory. “Let’s make ten servings first. When we go to the artificial island, we can bring some fruit. Fruit replenishes both hydration and hunger.”

“No problem,” Shu Heng agreed, continuing to work at the cooking pot. Li Jianwei, who had finished roasting the shark meat first, took out her fishing rod and cast a line, curious to see if she could catch anything different in this unusual weather.

Half an hour later, Li Jianwei began to pull hard on the line. After a three-minute struggle, a lucky cat still glistening with water appeared in Shu Heng’s hand.

“You can catch this too?” Shu Heng’s eyes were filled with surprise.

“Apparently. You can catch not just fish but also all sorts of strange things in the sea,” Li Jianwei said. When she saw the lucky cat’s arm could move up and down, a smile appeared on her face. Li Jianwei: “I think this is a good omen. Maybe we’ll get rich when we reach our destination.”

Shu Heng agreed completely. “Then let’s put it on the third floor. I’ll make a shelf for it and put it by the bed.”

And so, the clean lucky cat was placed on the bedside table on the third floor. In the light of the fireplace, it looked very dignified.

The storm still hadn’t stopped after nightfall. Realizing the fishing yield was low, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng didn’t stay up late. After replenishing their stats, they got into their warm beds.

“If this weren’t a game, this environment would be a great place to retire,” Li Jianwei said, fully stretching her body on the bed.

“After we get out, we can buy a villa by the sea and renovate it,” Shu Heng said.

Li Jianwei wriggled her body to face Shu Heng. “Hmm, what if we convert a ship? Wouldn’t that feel more authentic?”

“It would, but in the real world, we’d have to be more careful. For long-term survival, land is more suitable,” Shu Heng pulled the blanket. “We could get a yacht and experience it for a couple of days and try some sea fishing.”

“I feel like my fishing skills have improved a lot. Maybe I can catch a super-sized grouper or a tuna!” Li Jianwei couldn’t help but look forward to a beautiful future.

This had become their fixed bedtime topic since forming the alliance: imagining a beautiful future. This way, they could build a beautiful dream for themselves and wake up full of energy the next day to throw themselves into the survival game. Based on their efficiency these days, this method was very useful. Compared to the lonely nights she had by herself, the nights with a companion felt much warmer.

“Shu Heng, would you be willing to live with me after we get out?” Li Jianwei suddenly asked.

“Of course,” Shu Heng answered quickly, thinking for less than three seconds.

“In the same room?” Li Jianwei asked. The face-to-face position allowed her to clearly feel Shu Heng’s breathing.

Shu Heng’s eyelids fluttered. She realized that Li Jianwei was holding her hand, their fingers intertwined. Realizing what Li Jianwei was trying to convey, the corners of Shu Heng’s mouth curved into a smile in the light of the fireplace. “Like this is fine too. Sleeping in the same bed.”

“I think so too. We’re sisters who have gone through thick and thin together,” Li Jianwei also smiled. She moved her body, getting even closer to Shu Heng.

“Shared life and death, through thick and thin,” Li Jianwei emphasized.

“Mhm. We’ll leave this place together,” Shu Heng said. She took Li Jianwei’s other hand and placed it on her own lower abdomen. This action was a silent permission for Li Jianwei to continue.

Li Jianwei didn’t miss this opportunity. Her nimble fingers soon found their destination.

“I have to say, the game’s automatic cleaning function is really great,” Li Jianwei sighed, then pressed her lips against Shu Heng’s, not giving her a chance to speak.

In the game, some physiological needs were omitted, but human physiological structures still existed. From the different heights and faces of the survivors, it was clear that their bodies in the game were a one-to-one replica of their real-life bodies. Could a digitized body experience human pleasure? Li Jianwei had thought about this question a long time ago, and tonight, she got her answer. Yes, a survivor would feel pain when attacked, so when they reached the peak, they would feel pleasure. The only downside was that the game seemed to not allow survivors to be naked; at least one-half of the body, either the top or bottom, had to be fully clothed. This meant that after Li Jianwei was done with the lower half, she had to put her head into her shirt to continue with the upper half.

Not losing hair was also a plus. Otherwise, with the strength Shu Heng was using to grip her head, she would have lost at least twenty strands of hair! Li Jianwei muttered to herself while making a mental note of Shu Heng’s more sensitive spots, working diligently.

“Li Jianwei…” The overwhelmed Shu Heng whimpered, her fingers gripping the bed.

…

[Name: Li Jianwei] [Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (56/100), Hydration (48/100)] [Days Survived: 28]

[Name: Shu Heng] [Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (59/100), Hydration (43/100)] [Days Survived: 28]

Hmm, based on a comparison of the stats, I can somewhat tell what happened last night. Li Jianwei consumed more energy, while Shu Heng consumed more hydration. Realizing her back didn’t ache and her hands weren’t tired, Li Jianwei once again praised the benefits of digitized body stats. As long as hunger and hydration remained above 20, she wouldn’t feel tired even after a whole day’s work!

“The distance has shortened a lot. We only have a hundred nautical miles left. If things go well, we’ll reach our destination tomorrow,” Shu Heng said, opening the radar, unaware of what was going through Li Jianwei’s mind. She was very satisfied with their current speed of 4 nautical miles per hour.

“Then let’s make some more metal arrows today,” Li Jianwei said happily, humming a cheerful tune.