Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 23

The fishing nets, spears, and traps stored in the lockers were all brought up to the deck, along with the two carbon fishing rods and some metal lures bought earlier from the outdoor camping store. This morning, they were going to test whether they could catch any fish.

The inflatable platform was lowered into the sea from the deck, with one corner tied to a rope, while the other end of the rope was fastened to the railing. This way, there was no fear of the inflatable platform drifting away.

Bai Xun climbed down the rope ladder, carrying a fishing rod and a bag of bait on his back. He also brought along a folding stool so he could sit on the inflatable platform while fishing.

The sunlight was pleasant today, so Bai Xun used six pieces of fabric and six natural dyes at the workbench to make a fisherman’s hat for everyone, ensuring they wouldn’t get sunburned while staying on the deck.

The morning work was divided into two groups: one was the fishing group, consisting of him, Cheng Wei, and Lu Jiaoshuang. The other was the vegetable planting group, with Grandma Bai, Bai Guifang, and Bai Yu tasked with planting as many vegetable seeds as possible this morning.

Cheng Wei’s fisherman’s hat was pressing down on his ears, so he took a pair of scissors and cut two small holes to free them. His soft, white-fur-covered ears looked fluffy and occasionally twitched slightly.

Bai Xun couldn’t help stealing glances at them from time to time.

His hands itched, he wanted to give them a good ruffle.

After both of them had boarded the inflatable platform, Lu Jiaoshuang pulled up the rope ladder. She didn’t need to join them; for her, diving directly into the sea to catch fish would be faster.

She removed her warm clothing, stretched her body with a lazy yawn, and then stood on the diving platform before plunging vertically into the water.

With a splash, a beautiful blue fish tail swept across the water’s surface.

“How about you two cast the net here while I drive the fish toward you?” Lu Jiaoshuang swam over and leaned against the edge of the inflatable platform, carefully hooking the fishing net with her sharp webbed claws.

Her nails were too sharp, she was afraid she might puncture the platform and let the air out.

“Alright, you go look for the school of fish. When you drive them over, we’ll cast the net,” Bai Xun nodded in agreement.

Lu Jiaoshuang submerged herself and disappeared beneath the water’s surface. It was uncertain how long it would take for her to drive the fish over.

Before fishing, they needed to bait the area. No one in the family was an experienced angler, so they had only bought metal lures from the outdoor camping store. The bait balls for attracting fish were made from minced fish meat frozen into ice chunks the night before.

After baiting the area, Bai Xun attached the metal lure to the hook and lowered it into the water by turning the reel with his right hand.

For today, he would play the role of Jiang Taigong, waiting to see who would take the bait.

Cheng Wei’s tail wagged restlessly behind him. The fishing net was neatly placed to the side, and his eyes were fixed on the float bobbing on the water’s surface. At the slightest movement, he would immediately reel in the fishing rod.

Bai Xun’s hook was the first to show activity. The float trembled, and he quickly began reeling in the line. The fish on the hook wasn’t very strong, so he pulled it up with ease.

As the hook emerged from the water, he took a closer look and exclaimed, “How did I manage to catch a jellyfish?”

Hanging from the metal lure was a translucent white jellyfish, with a round bell and short tentacles, resembling a clumsy, chubby mushroom from the forest. It had likely been swept by the current and gotten caught on the hook.

Bai Xun carefully removed the jellyfish from the hook. Its round bell felt just like jelly, soft, bouncy, and cool to the touch.

“You should give it a touch too.” He handed the poor jellyfish over to Cheng Wei, urging him to take a turn at feeling it.

“It feels like a transparent pudding,” Cheng Wei poked it with his fingertip, nearly knocking the jellyfish’s bell cap sideways.

“One serving of cold jellyfish salad,” he remarked casually, placing the jellyfish into the seawater-filled fishing box behind him once Cheng Wei withdrew his hand.

For the next half hour, they caught nothing, not even a brainless, clumsy jellyfish managed to hook itself onto their lines, giving them a true taste of what it meant to be “fishing without a catch.”

With a splash, Lu Jiaoshuang, who had been gone for half an hour, emerged from the water, holding a filefish in each hand.

She placed the palm-sized filefish into the fish box. “I don’t know if these sea fish have also drunk the mutated rainwater, but they’re incredibly cunning. Halfway through chasing them, they’d make sharp turns. After two rounds, I felt like they were toying with me rather than me chasing them.”

Bai Xun pulled the fishing box over to show her. “On our side… well, we only caught a jellyfish.”

Lu Jiaoshuang’s ability to bring back two fish was already impressive!

Cheng Wei said, “I think you could just take a fishing net down and scoop them up head-on. As long as you’re fast and strong enough, you could flick them into the net with your tail.”

Lu Jiaoshuang pondered for a moment. “I think your method could work, but there’s one problem, how many fishing nets do we have on the boat? I’m afraid I might tear the net apart with my tail.”

Bai Xun did a quick mental calculation. “There are three more in the storage cabinet, and we have enough materials to make another twenty. Go ahead and flick away, if it tears, we’ll just make more.”

Reassured, Lu Jiaoshuang took the fishing net and dove back into the water to continue her fish-catching.

Bai Xun felt that if they didn’t change their bait, they might end up empty-handed all morning. So, he took out a box of chicken breast, cut off a small piece, and hung it on the hook as new bait.

The new bait seemed to be a hit with the fish in this area of the sea. Ten minutes later, the floats on Bai Xun and Cheng Wei’s fishing rods began to shake violently.

“Please don’t be another jellyfish. I want a fish, any fish will do,” Bai Xun muttered under his breath as he tightly gripped the fishing rod and frantically reeled in the line, the carbon fiber rod bending into a half-arc shape.

After a fierce tug-of-war with the fish about to be hooked, the fishing line tautening repeatedly, the rod bending and flexing, he finally managed to reel it in.

However, the color gave him pause. Bai Xun stared thoughtfully at the fish thrashing on the hook.

“Can ornamental fish be eaten?” he asked, turning to Cheng Wei, who was still reeling in his own line.

The fish he had caught had a nearly triangular body, a small ribbon-like dorsal fin, a protruding mouth, and alternating vertical stripes of pale yellow and deep black. Though only palm-sized, it was surprisingly strong.

“That’s a Moorish idol. It’s edible and not poisonous,” Cheng Wei glanced at the fish in Bai Xun’s hand and quickly made the judgment.

His own fishing line was nearly fully reeled in, and a strange red fish with two wing-like fins was pulled out of the water.

“What kind of fish did you catch? Its fins are really beautiful,” Bai Xun set down the Moorish idol and reached out to poke the red fish’s fins.

“It’s a red gurnard, also called a redhead fish. It’s not poisonous and can be eaten,” Cheng Wei removed the hook from the red gurnard’s mouth and turned the fish over so Bai Xun could get a better look.

Bai Xun gently pinched its fin. The base color of the fin was a faintly fluorescent bluish-green, with blue spots scattered across the back half, and the edges of the fin were also a bright blue.

“Why are sea fish so much more colorful than freshwater fish? They’re so pretty, I almost don’t want to eat it,” he said, releasing the fin after a moment. He thought to himself that if it weren’t for the apocalypse, he’d love to keep it in an aquarium.

“Many sea fish live among coral reefs. Their bright colors serve as both camouflage and warning signals. Want to keep it?” Cheng Wei asked.

“No, better save it as emergency rations,” Bai Xun decided, taking one last look. The next time they met would be at the dining table.

Within half an hour, they had caught a tiger-striped fish and a sea bass. Lu Jiaoshuang returned, dragging a fishing net behind her.

“Total success!” She hoisted herself onto the inflatable raft, leaving the lower half of her mermaid tail still in the water.

She pulled up half of the submerged net, which held at least fifty sardines. The ones exposed to the air began flopping and splashing wildly.

These sardines weren’t large, about the size of a palm, with slender bodies and plenty of energy.

“I hereby declare you the fishing champion of the day!” Bai Xun gave her a thumbs-up, just as a sudden tug on his fishing rod nearly yanked it out of his hands.

“My fishing rod!”

“I’ve got it!”

Lu Jiaoshuang shoved the net into Cheng Wei’s hands, he looked stronger, and slipped back into the sea to chase after the rod.

Cheng Wei set down his own rod and used both hands to haul the entire net onto the inflatable raft. Bai Xun lent a hand, causing the raft to sink slightly under the weight.

Together, they opened a small gap in the net and began pulling out the tangled sardines. In no time, two of the three fish buckets they had brought were full.

Bai Xun pressed the walkie-talkie. “Hey, Mom, toss down a rope to haul up the fish. Our buckets are full down here.”

“Copy that!” came the reply from the other end.

A rope was thrown down from the ark. Bai Xun secured the lid on the bucket, while Cheng Wei caught the rope and tied a fisherman’s knot around it. After testing its stability with a tug, he nodded.

“All tied up,” Bai Xun said into the walkie-talkie.

The bucket was hauled up. Moments later, an empty bucket was lowered back down. They untied the knot, swapped it for another full bucket, and repeated the process.

When Lu Jiaoshuang returned with the fishing rod, she not only had the rod and the fish but also cradled two large, dark-purple spiny sea urchins in her hands. “Look what I found! There’s a whole patch of sea urchins down in the coral reef. How about I grab a few more and we have steamed egg with sea urchin for lunch?”

Bai Xun pulled over a bucket to take the sea urchins. “Aren’t they prickly? Ask them upstairs for a small rake to scrape the urchins. You can take a little net bag down to collect them.”

Lu Jiaoshuang clenched one of the sea urchins in her hand. With a couple of crisp cracks, the spines snapped off cleanly, leaving her palm smooth and unmarked, not even a red spot.

“Impressive!” Bai Xun could only manage a thumbs-up, at a loss for words.

Cheng Wei bent the handle of the fishing net into a makeshift small net bag and handed it to Lu Jiaoshuang.

She took it. “Thanks, bro.”

With that, she dove back into the water.

It must be said that for the entire morning, their fishing group basically relied on Lu Jiaoshuang, who had transformed into a mermaid, to do all the work. The two people on the inflatable float, along with one jellyfish and four fish, ended up becoming “Air Force One” and “Air Force Two” respectively.

After scooping up a net full of sea urchins, Lu Jiaoshuang seemed to have discovered a new world, gradually pulling up other things as well.

“Want some scallops?”

“Steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli!”

“How about a king crab?”

“Steam it in the pot!”

“Do you want this big lobster or this even bigger one?”

“Of course, I want both!”

“Exquisite tuna sashimi!”

“Make it happen!”

…

After hauling in a pile of seafood, they decided not to continue fishing for the next few days. The preservation time in the kitchen simulator was limited, and it would be a shame to let too much go to waste.

They returned to the deck of the Ark. The vegetable planting group had already sown all the seeds and watered them. Grandma Bai was lounging in a rocking chair, basking in the sun. Bai Guifang took the sea urchins and scallops to prepare lunch, while the others set about processing all the fish they had caught that day.

Lu Jiaoshuang had contributed the most effort, so she didn’t need to stay on deck with the others to clean the fish guts. Instead, she took the newly made pineapple preserves and went to chat with Grandma Bai.

Bai Xun picked up a small knife and rolled up his sleeves. In front of him was a large basin of fish waiting to be processed.

Sardines were slender, about the size of a palm, and didn’t have much meat. However, this size was already considered large for sardines, making them perfect for drying and preserving.

Bai Xun’s small knife sliced gently through the belly of the fish, and he used the tip to scrape out the innards. After removing the guts, he trimmed off the gills on both sides and tossed the cleaned fish into an empty basin.

The discarded innards went into another bucket, these were valuable too, as they could be fed into the fuel generator to produce oil.

After finishing the sardines, he picked up a filefish.

Filefish, also known as leatherjackets, have large heads and tough skin, both of which are inedible.

Bai Xun deftly peeled off the skin and cut off the head. There were only two filefish in total, so they could be frozen and stored in the kitchen simulator.

With three people working together, they were almost done. The fishing bucket now contained only a sicklefish, a greenfin fish, and that clumsy jellyfish.

Bai Yu poked the jellyfish. “How about we keep these for a couple of days? Their color and appearance don’t seem very appetizing.”

Bai Xun rinsed his knife in a bucket. “We’ll make cold jellyfish salad with the jellyfish tonight. The greenfin fish can be eaten tomorrow. As for this sicklefish… well, it looks quite cute. Let’s keep it for a few days.”

Bai Yu protested, “Isn’t the jellyfish cute too? This is blatant discrimination against jellyfish!”

“Why aren’t you speaking up for the greenfin fish?”

“It looks so ugly, it must taste delicious.”

“Isn’t that discrimination against the greenfin fish too?”

While the siblings bickered, Cheng Wei carried the entire basin of sardines into the kitchen. Before drying them, the sardines needed to be washed and salted.

After Cheng Wei went inside, Bai Xun stood up and poured all the fish scales and innards into a bucket. He carried it down to the fuel generator on the lower deck to make oil.

In total, they had processed 61 sardines, 2 filefish, 1 tigerfish, and 1 sea bass. In the kitchen, there were also 16 sea urchin shells, filling an entire bucket of kitchen waste.

Arriving at the fuel generator, Bai Xun opened the feed port and dumped an entire bucket of kitchen waste into it.

The fishy-smelling kitchen waste was ground into four bottles of fuel with a grinding sound. Judging by the volume, the conversion rate was close to 1:1, an excellent efficiency. Bai Xun decided to toss in the leftover scallop shells from lunch later as well.

Carrying the empty bucket back upstairs, Bai Yu had already finished cleaning the basins and buckets that had held fish outside and was about to wash them under the kitchen faucet.

“Brother, how much material do we have left? Is it enough to make two more faucets outside? It’s really inconvenient to keep carrying things in and out,” Bai Yu said, lifting the basin and bucket in her hands and nodding toward the interior.

Bai Xun replied, “We can.”

Previously, they hadn’t engaged in much activity on the deck, but today, with planting vegetables and processing fish, water usage had surged, making the constant back-and-forth quite cumbersome.

Using two copper ingots, Bai Xun crafted two faucets and installed them on either side of the planting boxes. He then used two wooden planks to make an additional shelf, placing it under the eaves and arranging all the gardening tools on it, eliminating the need to run back and forth.

After finishing these tasks, Bai Xun casually washed his hands under the newly installed faucet. Below it, a raised, shallow sink caught the wastewater, preventing it from spilling onto the deck, a handy feature.

Today’s kitchen menu consisted entirely of seafood: garlic vermicelli steamed scallops, sea urchin steamed eggs, and pan-fried tuna for the main dishes. The vegetables were pickled ginger and pickled cowpeas fished out of the kimchi jar, while the staple was pan-fried pumpkin cakes.

A bottle of pomegranate juice stored in the kitchen simulator was also brought out, with each person enjoying a little sweetness during lunch.

Even before the apocalypse, such a lunch wouldn’t have been affordable for every meal. They were fortunate to live by the sea, enjoying fresh, zero-cost seafood straight from the water.

Especially the tuna that Lu Jiaoshuang had caught from the sea, it weighed nearly a hundred pounds, half a person’s length, with a plump belly that promised a satisfying feast.

Cheng Wei was called to help in the kitchen. On this ship, he had the greatest strength, able to effortlessly lift the tuna with one hand to flip it over, making him the most suitable person to gut it.

A plastic bucket was placed beside the central kitchen counter beforehand, ready to collect the blood and entrails from the tuna.

Bai Xun, entering from the deck, arrived just as Cheng Wei was bleeding the tuna. He pulled up a chair and sat at a moderate distance to watch, much like how he enjoyed observing chicken slaughter and plucking as a child.

The indoor fireplace was lit, as the temperature had dropped to a low of 10 degrees Celsius, making it quite chilly.

Cheng Wei rolled his sleeves up to his forearms, holding a broad-bladed kitchen knife retrieved from the kitchen simulator in his right hand. His first cut was made on the tuna’s back to bleed and remove acidity from the fish; otherwise, the meat would taste sour and bitter.

After making the back incision, he opened a small hole near the side fin, supporting the tail and belly with both hands to let the blood flow into the empty bucket beside the counter.

Once the bleeding was mostly done, Cheng Wei laid the tuna flat and sliced open its belly, roughly removing all the entrails and tossing them into the bucket, which was immediately filled.

The tuna was still fresh, and a few splatters of blood from the gutting process landed on the side of his face. Against his fair skin, the crimson spots stood out starkly.

He didn’t even have time to wipe it off before the next cut landed inside the fish gill, cleanly severing the entire head. Then, with meticulous care, he began to separate the belly portion bit by bit, placing the whole slab of tuna belly onto a large metal tray.

Bai Xun found Cheng Wei particularly sexy like this, his sleeves rolled up and taut around his forearms, the beautiful muscle lines clearly visible as he exerted force while cutting the tuna.

To prevent blood from splattering onto his clothes, he wore an apron tied in a bow at the back of his waist. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and well-defined muscles, paired with that focused expression that seemed to see nothing but the tuna, he was a sight to behold.

As the saying goes, a man who works seriously is the sexiest.

Bai Xun privately believed Cheng Wei was sexy enough to launch a rocket.

But he understood the principle of admiring from afar without overstepping boundaries. Looking was enough; as for touching those chest muscles, he didn’t dare even think about it.

Cheng Wei flipped the tuna over and, with the side of his knife, sliced off the skin piece by piece, revealing the deep pink flesh with its clear, intricate marbling beneath.

The belly portion didn’t yield much meat; the thicker cuts were mostly from the back. Cheng Wei’s knife split the tuna in two from where he had removed the belly, then skillfully separated the back meat from the spine along the bone.

The entire process flowed smoothly and was a pleasure to watch, no wonder people specifically visited Japanese restaurants to watch tuna being cut. Sushi made from freshly sliced tuna belly by a skilled chef probably tasted even better.

After dividing the meat, he set aside a large piece of the fatty belly for pan-frying and stored the rest in the kitchen simulator to keep it fresh for future use as sashimi or grilled dishes.

As Cheng Wei finished and put his knife away, Bai Xun pulled out a handkerchief. He had initially intended to hand it over for Cheng Wei to wipe his face himself, but at the last moment, he changed his mind.

Cheng Wei’s hands were covered in fishy residue; if he wiped his face himself, he’d probably end up looking like a messy kitten.

Bai Xun’s hand shifted direction, gesturing for Cheng Wei to lean his face closer. “Your face is dirty. Let me wipe it for you.”

Just then, Lu Jiaoshuang walked in from outside, her mouth forming a perfect “O.” Last night, Bai Yu had secretly shared the “Love Story of Brother and Brother-in-Law” series with her, and now, at noon, she had stumbled upon a live broadcast of it, right in her face.

Lu Jiaoshuang quickly composed herself, pretending she hadn’t seen anything, and slipped past the kitchen counter like a rabbit.

She dunked the empty pineapple can into the sink to wash it. In situations like this, it was best to keep a respectful distance.

Bai Xun gently dabbed the handkerchief on Cheng Wei’s face, causing the furry ears on his head to twitch slightly. Thankfully, shedding season was over, or the air would have been filled with floating “dandelion fluff.”

“There, all clean. Go wash your hands,” he said, patting Cheng Wei’s shoulder after wiping his face. Hiss, that felt nice.

He subtly withdrew his hand, swearing to himself that he absolutely hadn’t done it on purpose!

Cheng Wei appeared calm on the surface, but the tip of his tail, held high behind him, betrayed his true feelings.

Tail tip perked up, happy big cat!

Lu Jiaoshuang quickly made room for Cheng Wei as he came over to wash his hands. Her glass jar was already cleaned, so she quietly placed it upside down on the counter and swiftly retreated from the scene.

The sardines they had salted earlier had already released some moisture. Today’s weather was dry and sunny, perfect for drying fish.

However, they had a food dehydrator, so even on rainy days, they could easily make dried sardines.

While the kitchen was still busy preparing the meal, Bai Xun and Cheng Wei wasted no time, quickly arranging the fresh sardines neatly on the drying racks.

The dehydrator was placed between the living room and the kitchen. Dozens of sardines soon filled three racks, and once they were all loaded inside, fully dried sardines would be ready in about 8 to 10 hours.

From the kitchen came the savory aroma of tuna sizzling in the pan, a scent of protein caramelizing. Originally, it was Bai Xun and Cheng Wei’s turn to cook today. According to their division of labor, pairing someone who could cook with an assistant was just right.

However, Bai Guifang was worried that they might not have much experience cooking seafood and could accidentally ruin the ingredients, so she temporarily reassigned them to the dishwashing team.

Ms. Bai Guifang performed as brilliantly as ever, ensuring every dish was a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate. The newly made pickles were also delightfully sour and spicy, with a crisp texture and a hint of sweet heat, making them both appetizing and perfect with rice.

After lunch, Bai Xun and Cheng Wei finished washing the dishes and headed to the attic to rest. While the rooms offered better light-blocking and were more conducive to sleep, why didn’t they return to their rooms for a nap?

“Hurry, let me get a good sniff!” Bai Xun rubbed his hands together eagerly, almost ready to tear off Cheng Wei’s clothes himself.

Cheng Wei unzipped his windbreaker, stripping down to just a thin layer of clothing underneath. As the jacket hit the floor, four fluffy paws landed steadily on the ground.

Bai Xun spread a wool blanket on the floor, and Cheng Wei, in his snow leopard form, curled up on it, lazily flicking his tail.

Sunshine, ocean views, and a fluffy companion.

Blissfully, Bai Xun buried his face in the snow leopard’s back and took a deep breath. The soft fur brushed against his skin, and with each inhale, he caught the scent of gardenia.

The body wash in the bathroom seemed to be gardenia-scented.

Warmed by the sun and the cozy belly beneath him, Bai Xun soon drifted off to sleep, leaning against Cheng Wei’s back.

Cheng Wei’s breathing gradually steadied, and with his eyes closed, they both fell asleep.

They woke up again at two in the afternoon.

After a well-rested nap, Bai Xun and Cheng Wei put on their diving suits and headed back into the sea to collect trash. They still needed a lot of materials to build defensive facilities.

This time, only the two of them went into the water, with Lu Jiaoshu staying behind on the Ark.

The afternoon sun had raised the temperature, but the seawater was still icy and biting. Bai Xun couldn’t help but shiver as soon as he entered the water.

After the weather cleared, the Ark had set an automatic course toward the nearest land. It would pause its journey while they collected trash and resume once everyone was back on board, heading toward land.

Being in the deep sea wasn’t safe, the deeper the water, the more massive creatures could hide there. Their survival risk would significantly decrease once they reached the coastal areas.

Today, they changed direction for their underwater trash collection. The Ark had sailed over a hundred kilometers overnight, so they wouldn’t encounter the sunken cruise ship again.

The trash collection went very smoothly. This time, they managed to compress a total of 287 resource blocks from the collected debris, even more than the previous day.

As per the usual routine, they called Bai Yu and Lu Jiaoshu. Those with good luck should always be brought in to draw ten at a time!

This round yielded 70 iron blocks, 5 copper ingots, 10 gold ingots, 5 silver ingots, 40 steel bars, 60 synthetic plastic blocks, 40 bottles of natural resin, 50 iron nails, and 7 bundles of rope.

Although it still wasn’t enough to complete all the electric fences and barbed wire nets, the materials were sufficient to make 30 electric fences, finally covering the entire Ark’s guardrails.

They just didn’t know how effective they would be once powered.

They found out two days later.

Just as they finished installing all the barbed wire nets, the Ark’s monster attack alarm blared: “Warning! Warning! Mutated marine life attacking! Warning! Warning! Mutated marine life attacking…”

Everyone on board grabbed their weapons and searched frantically for the mutated marine creature, only to smell… the aroma of grilled squid.

To be more precise, it was the electric grid that fried the squid to a crispy, fragrant state.

“I think sprinkling some cumin would make it even more aromatic,” Bai Xun blurted out after a moment of silence.

“I think we should add some chili powder too,” Bai Yu chimed in.

Following the scent and the faint crackling of electric currents, everyone gathered at the rear right side of the deck, where the commotion was coming from.

The alarm was still blaring in their ears. The railing of the ark originally reached just below chest height, but now an electric grid had been installed around the outer edge, topped with a layer of barbed wire, raising the height to neck level.

They couldn’t lean out to see what was happening below the ship. If they accidentally touched the barbed wire, they’d be electrocuted and turned into little charcoal figures.

But it wasn’t entirely hopeless.

“Lift me up so I can see what’s going on,” Bai Xun said, turning to Cheng Wei.

“Alright,” Cheng Wei replied, putting down the military shovel he was holding and hoisting Bai Xun up by his legs.

Bai Xun leaned forward confidently. Cheng Wei’s hold was steady, and there was no risk of falling.

“What’s happening now?” Lu Jiaoshuang tiptoed but couldn’t see anything.

“Looking, looking,” Bai Xun craned his neck.

Peering down, he saw a pitch-black tentacle. A massive octopus was clinging to the electric grid, convulsing from the shock. Its muscles had contracted so tightly around the grid that it couldn’t break free. A little longer, and it would be charred inside and out.

“It’s a big octopus stuck on the electric grid. Let’s wait until it stops moving before we check. For now, everyone go back to what you were doing,” Bai Xun announced.

“I have a question: can mutated octopus be eaten? It smells pretty good,” Bai Yu asked.

Cheng Wei set him down, and Bai Xun shook out his pant legs. “Better not. What if eating it makes you mutate and you end up with a head full of octopus tentacles?”

“Ew, stop talking!”

With the crisis resolved, everyone returned to their tasks. Once the alarm stopped, Bai Xun went to the workshop on the lower deck to temporarily cut off the electricity. He grabbed a fishing spear and returned to spear the octopus.

What he hauled up was a massive lump of charcoal with eight tentacles, definitely dead.

Though inedible, the charred octopus wasn’t wasted. Chopped up with a kitchen knife and fed into the fuel generator, it was converted into four bottles of fuel.

After that charred octopus incident, no mutated sea creatures bothered the ark again. The sea was so calm it was as if the apocalypse had never begun.

Day 34 of the apocalypse, sunny.

The vegetable seedlings transplanted into the planting boxes five days ago were thriving. Cheng Wei cut several long wooden strips as supports for the tomato plants, propping up their main stems. The sprawling cucumber vines needed trellises, so he spent some time building frames for them.

Since completing all the defensive installations, Bai Xun and Cheng Wei had only ventured into the sea once. After gathering 200 resource cubes, they gradually eased into a more relaxed pace.

On the ark, they lived a life of gardening, flower-tending, and occasionally teasing fish, a prelude to retirement.

But peaceful days were never meant to last. That morning, Bai Xun had just been marveling at the serene and beautiful retirement life when trouble struck in the afternoon after their nap.

He was humming a tune while watering the small garden at the rear of the deck with a watering can when a loud thud echoed from the front deck, shaking the entire ship twice.

Everyone stopped their work and rushed to the front deck to see what was happening. The once clean, flat deck was now dented by a black goldfish about three meters long, its black fins and tail spread out like delicate, crumpled black gauze.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that there was a person on the goldfish’s back.

Bai Xun cautiously approached, still holding the watering can in his hand, ready to use it as a weapon to throw or block if necessary.

The goldfish thrashed its tail, trying to get closer to them. In that moment, Bai Xun nervously raised the watering can high above his head!

But the goldfish meant no harm. It simply nudged the person on its back toward them.

Wherever they turned, the goldfish adjusted the man’s position, determined to make them save him.

The man on the goldfish’s back was paler than paper bleached with fluorescent whitening agents. His beautifully shaped peach-blossom eyes were tightly shut, and there was a massive penetrating wound across his abdomen, stretching from his chest down to his lower belly. His internal organs were nearly spilling out.

“Are you asking us to save him?” Bai Xun asked the goldfish.

As if understanding, the goldfish raised its head and nodded vigorously, then clasped its side fins together as if in prayer, bowing toward them.

After bowing twice, it spat out three crystal cones from its mouth, nudged them toward Bai Xun with its fin, and then retracted them, as if wanting to make a trade.

Bai Xun had to admit he was tempted.

“Is he alive or dead?” Bai Yu glanced at the gruesome wound and immediately turned away, too unsettled by the bloody sight to look again.

“Little sister, take Grandma inside. Boil some water and bring the first aid kit,” Bai Guifang said after checking the man’s chest and noticing a faint rise and fall, he was still alive.

“Can you save him?” Bai Xun asked Lu Jiaoshuang.

“I’ll do my best. Do you have scissors, needles, and tweezers? Alcohol, gloves, and gauze would be ideal too. You two lend a hand and help move him down and lay him flat,” Lu Jiaoshuang said, rolling up her sleeves with a serious expression. This was her first time trying to save someone, and she couldn’t guarantee success.

Bai Xun and Cheng Wei stepped forward, supporting the man’s arms and legs, carefully laying him flat on the ground. The goldfish made no aggressive moves. Once they had lifted the man down, it barely moved.

Bai Guifang went inside to search for all the medical supplies Lu Jiaoshuang had mentioned, while Lu Jiaoshuang crouched down to examine the man’s injuries.

Besides the clearly visible abdominal penetrating wound, the man’s right forearm hung unnaturally, likely fractured. Beneath his torn clothes, his skin was covered in numerous small wounds.

Normally, a fracture patient shouldn’t be moved carelessly, but since the man was on the brink of death, the priority was to stop the bleeding and suture the wound to see if he could be saved.

After moving the man, Bai Xun hurried inside to help. Water was already boiling in the kitchen, likely for sterilizing the medical tools.

For a moment, everyone was bustling in and out, gathering everything Lu Jiaoshuang needed as quickly as possible. They didn’t have a sterile environment, so they could only do their best to disinfect and treat the man’s injuries promptly.

Lu Jiaoshuang washed her hands in a basin of warm water that had been brought out, put on rubber gloves, and examined the abdominal wound to see if there was any internal bleeding. In her mind, she roughly calculated the stitch spacing and margins needed for suturing.

Following her instructions, Cheng Wei bent a sewing needle and tossed it into the boiling water to sterilize it.

Due to limited conditions, they hadn’t managed to acquire more professional medical equipment when gathering supplies in the early days of the apocalypse. They could only use bent sewing needles as sutures and sterilized fishing line as surgical thread.

Lu Jiaoshuang used tweezers to hold a large wad of cotton, poured iodine solution over it, and disinfected the chest wound before suturing. After thoroughly cleaning the wound, she held the tweezers in one hand and scissors in the other, threading the needle to stitch up the injury.

It took her a full twenty minutes to completely suture the large wound. Fortunately, there was no internal organ bleeding, the man had simply fallen unconscious from excessive blood loss.

After suturing, she grabbed a roll of gauze and tightly bandaged the wound. The pressure would help stop bleeding and promote better healing.

Once the bleeding wound was handled, only the fractured right arm remained. Lu Jiaoshuang asked Cheng Wei to carve a wooden board about 60 cm long and 20 cm wide. She then used bandages to secure the right forearm to the board and applied an ice pack to reduce swelling.

This emergency treatment took nearly an hour, mobilizing everyone as they rushed in and out. Even the goldfish, which had smashed a small dent in the deck, wasn’t forgotten. Bai Yu specially brought a basin of water and asked if it needed watering to avoid drying into fish jerky.

The goldfish understood her words and quickly shrank to the size of a palm, flicking its tail with a splash as it jumped into the basin Bai Yu was holding. Bai Yu carried it inside and placed it on the coffee table in the living room.

Bai Xun went down to the basement to fetch two rolls of cloth and a wooden board, making a simple stretcher so they could carry the man indoors.

There was still plenty of space in front of the fireplace in the living room. Cheng Wei brought down the daybed from the glass greenhouse, which was about the size of a small single bed. Placing the man in the living room would make it easier to care for him than on the second floor.

Bai Xun and Cheng Wei then lifted the bandaged man onto the stretcher, carried him inside, and moved him onto the daybed. They changed his clothes and thoughtfully covered him with a cashmere blanket.

The goldfish in the living room occasionally poked its head over the edge of the basin to check on the man’s condition. Bai Xun found a large glass bowl from the kitchen simulator and gave it to the goldfish, so it wouldn’t have to keep clinging to the basin’s edge.

Lu Jiaoshuang periodically checked the man’s pulse to confirm he still had vital signs. Overall, the emergency treatment was relatively successful, the rest would depend on his own healing.

Several hours passed, and as night fell, the man finally awoke from his coma.

His lips, still pale, parted slightly: “Xiao Hei…”

Everyone had just finished dinner and was resting in the living room. Hearing the noise, they all crowded around: “You’re finally awake!”

The scene was exactly like the meme of Tang Sanzang and his three disciples saying, “You’re awake.”

It took a while for the man’s vision to clear and focus. Suddenly faced with so many people crowding around, he closed his eyes again.