Hunting Wilderness: Starting with the Butcher

Chapter 12 Bathroom, Kitchen, Beachcombing!

Living on a tropical island, preserving fresh ingredients is often quite difficult. Yuan Linghan and Chen Duling had originally planned to keep half of the chickens they hunted yesterday in case of emergency.

After some thought, Yuan Linghan decided to try to eat as much as possible. He salted the remaining half of the chicken and placed it in a dug puddle. The constant flow of stream water would prevent the chicken from spoiling quickly.

When he got up in the morning, he used the remaining marinated chicken breast to cook some chicken porridge as usual. Just like yesterday, Chen Duling, who was sleeping in another room, only woke up leisurely after he finished eating and started working.

Looking through the bamboo wall at the bright daylight outside, Chen Duling said with a guilty expression, "Why do I always sleep so late!"

Without electronic devices, the athletes who landed on the island could only follow the daily routine of "working at sunrise and resting at sunset." But for Chen Duling, who was used to sleeping in late, she would sleep soundly whenever she wasn't working.

Now on a deserted island, she still can't break this habit. In the city, an assistant or family member would wake her up, and she could set an alarm in advance. But here, she can only rely on her own biological clock.

Fortunately, Yuan Linghan didn't mind and still smiled as he told her that breakfast was ready. She really couldn't refuse such kindness!

When Chen Duling finished breakfast and came over to help, Yuan Linghan didn't refuse and let her pass him tools or materials. The first thing they set up was an automatic flushing toilet.

The only thing that bothered Chen Duling was whether the filth washed away would pollute the water source below.

Seemingly sensing Chen Duling's concerns, Yuan Linghan explained in a timely manner: "We're going to live here for a month. If we don't flush away the filth, this toilet will definitely smell bad and attract mosquitoes and flies."

Now that the water flushes the waste downstream, the toilet remains clean and odor-free. The waste will decompose quickly in the downstream stream. Don't feel guilty; this is a form of waste recycling.

This explanation made Chen Duling want to laugh. But upon closer reflection, she really didn't want to experience the stench and swarms of flies and mosquitoes that she would have to use the toilet in the future.

After the toilet was built, the two moved on to another direction, again starting with digging a foundation pit and burying the foundation pillars. To Chen Duling's surprise, Yuan Linghan had specially built a scaffold next to the bathroom.

Seeing the frame, Chen Duling asked curiously, "Brother Yuan, why did you put up this frame next to us?"

"Last night, as I was falling asleep, I thought about it and realized that there's still a way for us to take warm showers here. I plan to use the waterproof tarpaulin left over from yesterday's roofing work to frame it and attach it to the bathroom, then add water at night and expose it to the sun during the day."

On a sunny day, after being exposed to the sun all day, the water in the tub should be lukewarm. So, as long as we shower before the water cools down, we won't have to worry about catching a cold from a cold shower.

After hearing Yuan Linghan's design intentions, Chen Duling understood that creating this bathroom was primarily to take care of her. After all, she really couldn't guarantee she wouldn't catch a cold if she took a cold shower.

Given that she'll be staying on the island for a month, would she dare take a cold shower if her relatives came to visit?

On the other hand, Yuan Linghan had been bathing in the stream below the shelter before going to bed these past two days. Even without this bathroom, it wouldn't have affected her at all. So it's no exaggeration to say that this bathroom was built specifically for her.

By covering the bathroom ceiling with palm leaves and installing a bamboo door, the bathroom instantly became warmer and safer. Knowing that Chen Duling hadn't showered for two days, Yuan Linghan immediately set up a waterproof fabric water tank.

Yuan Linghan tied the cut waterproof cloth to the frame with ropes, then found bamboo with its nodes removed to directly channel the stream water into the cloth water tank. As the stream water flowed in, the square cloth water tank was instantly formed with the support of the frame.

Standing nearby and witnessing this scene, Chen Duling suddenly asked curiously, "Brother Yuan, this water tank doesn't have a hole; how will you fill it with water?"

When asked, Yuan Linghan smiled and said, "Let's go to the beach this afternoon and see if we can collect some mineral water bottles. If we can find plastic bottles, we can make simple switches and shower heads."

Although she didn't know how to make a switch and shower head out of a bottle, Chen Duling didn't ask any more questions. If the water in the bucket could turn warm before sunset, she would definitely take a shower today.

She felt like she was going to spoil if she didn't wash it soon!

Meanwhile, viewers in the two's live stream were admiring Yuan Linghan's skillful hands. Compared to the other contestants, who were also busy, they didn't seem to have gained much.

Although there were contestants and they had set up shelters, those temporary shelters were nowhere near as good as Yuan Linghan's bamboo house. Most importantly, Yuan Linghan had even built a toilet and bathroom.

The remaining task was to build the kitchen, so that there would be nowhere to cook on rainy days. To get everything built by today, Yuan Linghan barely rested. After a quick meal, the two began a new round of construction work.

After the kitchen roof was built, it was enclosed with bamboo walls. With this kitchen, the two could still cook meals even when it rained. All that remained was to install the missing doors and windows for the bamboo house.

Fortunately, all the materials had been prepared in advance, so the construction didn't take much time. Once the doors and windows of the bamboo house were installed, Chen Duling felt a renewed sense of security. Without doors and windows, she always felt uneasy sleeping!

Seeing that only the guardrail hadn't been installed yet, Yuan Linghan looked at the sun and said, "Dudu, grab the flashlight jacket. Let's go to the beach to catch some seafood, and while we're at it, let's wander around and see if we can pick up any useful marine debris."

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll be right there."

Chen Duling was naturally delighted to hear that she could go beachcombing again. Grabbing her coat and flashlight, she quickly followed Yuan Linghan to the beach. Since the tide was just beginning to recede, the two didn't rush to go beachcombing.

Taking this opportunity, the two picked up trash near the bay. To Yuan Linghan's delight, he found quite a few usable items among the marine debris washed ashore, including a considerable amount of planks.

Looking at the wooden planks, Yuan Linghan smiled and said, "These are all good things. Once we carry them back, clean and dry them, they'll be perfect for making bed boards. The rest can be used to make chests or storage shelves."

Besides the unrotted planks, Yuan Linghan also cleaned out a lot of wire and nails from the garbage dump. Although there were ropes, a lot of them were used up when building the shelter. Now that there are nails, it's much easier to make things.

Yuan Linghan would sift out any trash that might be usable later and then set it aside for the time being. Gradually, Chen Duling noticed that the amount of trash Yuan Linghan was picking out seemed to exceed her expectations.

"Brother Yuan, with so much stuff, will we be able to carry it all back?"

"It's okay! Let's pick out the usable ones first, and then figure out how to move them back to the shelter. Anyway, it's not far, we can just make a few more trips. With these things, we can upgrade our shelter."

Seeing Yuan Linghan treating the trash like treasures, Chen Duling was puzzled but didn't stop him. Once they had rummaged through most of the trash, Yuan Linghan finally stopped and led Chen Duling to the beach, where the tide had receded considerably.

Because the tide had just receded, there were still many stranded marine creatures in the reef area, and they picked out some edible seafood. To their delight, Chen Duling also found a large octopus, and finally called Yuan Linghan to catch it.

Chen Duling felt that this octopus alone was too much for the two of them to finish in one meal. Adding in the other shellfish and clam shells, the entire beachcombing harvest was likely too much for them to eat in one sitting. If the other contestants knew this, they'd probably be mentally shaken!