Chapter 47: The Reward of the Pygmy Anaconda

Page (1/3)
Chapter 47: The Dwarf Anaconda's Reward
In less than 15 minutes, Su Keke finished her bath.
She washed at this exact speed back in her own village, too.
After all, resources in the village were limited, and they always had to boil their own water for bathing.
If she took too long, the water would cool down, making it easy to catch a cold.
Besides, there was no soap, shower gel, or shampoo here, which made bathing an even quicker affair.
"Dad, I'm done."
Su Keke put on Xu Yi's clothes, looking rather comical in them.
Yet, to the viewers, Su Keke's appearance was utterly adorable.
Consequently, the bullet screen comments exploded once again.
Xu Yi paid no attention to this; he dumped the pebbles from the wooden bucket into the campfire.
After turning on the tablet's flashlight, Xu Yi picked up the bucket and went to fetch water.
While Su Keke was bathing earlier, Xu Yi had already crushed the lemongrass and rubbed it all over his body.
He wanted to test its mosquito-repelling effectiveness.
Since Su Keke had just taken a bath, it wouldn't be quite appropriate to apply it directly to her skin right away.
Once Xu Yi tested its efficacy, he could apply it to her clothes if it proved effective.
Rubbing this substance directly on the skin was somewhat uncomfortable anyway.
"It seems the mosquito-repelling effect is pretty good. Even though the surrounding area is filled with the buzzing of mosquitoes, none of them are coming to bite me."
[Just hearing that sound makes my scalp tingle. Number One is too hardcore, actually going out to fetch water as if nothing is wrong.]
[Going out for water right now is what I call hardcore. If there were any wild beasts out there, Number One would be done for.]
[Mosquitoes are truly the worst; I can't stand them at all. I feel like they'd drive me insane.]
The mosquitoes were indeed terrifyingly numerous. This area was significantly more humid than the jungle Xu Yi and the others had stayed in a few days prior, making it a much more favorable breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The camp was not far from the water's edge, a distance of less than thirty meters, so Xu Yi fetched the water and returned in no time.
A large amount of water wasn't necessary since he only needed to boil some snake soup.
After pouring out a portion of the water, Xu Yi put the sliced snake meat and lemongrass into the bucket.
Once the stones were sufficiently hot, he would drop them into the bucket to boil the snake meat.
"Keke, go watch your cartoons and keep watching until the tablet runs out of battery."
Su Keke happily took the tablet and tapped to open her favorite animated series.
Taking advantage of this time, Xu Yi went and chopped down a tree about the thickness of a rice bowl.
He wanted to make a few more wooden bowls so they would have enough containers to hold things.
Otherwise, having only two wooden bowls was far from enough.
If he could find a suitable large log, Xu Yi also planned to make several more water buckets.
Water was located at a lower elevation, and trying to channel it upwards was extremely difficult.
Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)
If Xu Yi were to build a waterwheel right now, that would be nothing short of wishful thinking.
After felling the tree, Xu Yi used tongs to transfer the hot stones into the bucket, beginning to boil the snake meat.
After boiling for five minutes, the snake meat was done.
He transferred the pieces of meat into a bowl, let the snake broth settle for a few minutes, and then poured it into the bowls as well.
"Keke, time for dinner."
Sitting in the hammock watching cartoons, Su Keke quickly turned off the tablet screen and came over to the campfire.
"Dad, it smells so good."
Su Keke took the wooden bowl and took a deep sniff.
"Is it because you added lemongrass?"
Su Keke blew on the snake meat soup because it was still very hot.
Xu Yi nodded and took the first sip.
This snake was unlike the two types he had eaten previously.
Therefore, he was very curious about what kind of reward it would yield.
"Ding, consumed prehistoric dwarf anaconda meat soup. Skin perception has been enhanced."
???
Skin perception enhanced?
What kind of strange ability is this?
Just as Xu Yi was feeling puzzled, he felt a distinct coolness in the air behind his back.
It wasn't the sensation of being cold, but rather the perception that the temperature behind his back was relatively lower.
There was also the humidity; he could perceive it through his skin as well.
Fortunately, it was perception, not direct sensation.
Otherwise, Xu Yi's physiological reactions to heat and cold would become even more extreme.
If that were the case, he would be much more sensitive to cold, heat, and pain than anyone else, which would be a terrible trap.
For now, Xu Yi felt that this ability had very little practical help for his wilderness survival.
Consequently, Xu Yi was not particularly satisfied with this reward from the system.
On the contrary, he was quite pleased with the anaconda soup itself.
Taking another sip, Xu Yi glanced at Su Keke.
She would undoubtedly love drinking this anaconda soup too.
"Dad, this snake soup is so delicious."
This was the seventh day they had spent in the wilderness, and the first time they had tasted hot soup—let alone such a delicious hot soup.
Thus, Su Keke felt exceptionally fulfilled.
"Mhm, this meat is so tasty."
After eating a piece of meat, Su Keke's eyes lit up brightly.
Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)
Although roasted meat was also fragrant, it was somewhat different from boiled meat.
If one ate the exact same thing all the time, no matter how delicious it was, it would eventually become tiresome.
"Eat slowly, don't rush, there's still some left in the bucket."
Seeing Su Keke eating rather hastily, Xu Yi spoke up gently.
Then, the two of them slowly finished off all the anaconda soup and meat.
After finishing, Xu Yi threw the bones and the anaconda skin directly into the campfire.
Once Su Keke was full, she went to change her clothes, putting her own garments back on.
Only then would Xu Yi have his own clothes available to wear.
"Dad, hurry up and put your clothes on."
Su Keke handed the clothes to Xu Yi, urging him to put them on with a very sensible attitude.
"Alright. You should go apply a bit of lemongrass juice to your clothes and face."
"The juice of this lemongrass has a really good mosquito-repelling effect."
Staying near the campfire reduced mosquito bites, but sitting too close made it uncomfortably hot.
Just moments ago, Su Keke had been sitting rather close, so her little face was still flushed pink.
After applying a generous amount, Su Keke returned to the hammock to continue watching cartoons on the tablet.
During this time, Xu Yi took out his eyeglasses.
His glasses were made of titanium alloy; besides being lightweight, they were also quite rigid.
Turning them into a sewing needle wouldn't be easy, which was why Xu Yi hadn't used them to craft a needle for sewing earlier, choosing snake bones instead.
If Xu Yi wanted to take apart his tablet, he needed a sturdy pry bar.
Only by doing so could he avoid damaging the internal structure of the tablet as much as possible.
If he ever managed to rig up a biological battery or a hand-cranked generator one day, he might even be able to charge his tablet and phone.
After breaking off the hinge of the temple piece, Xu Yi detached one of the temples.
Next, Xu Yi split a selected small tree branch down the middle.
Then, he wedged the glasses temple into the center of the twig, leaving just a tiny bit of the tip exposed.
Afterwards, he wrapped the twig tightly with thin strips of snake skin, securing the temple firmly in place, transforming it into a makeshift flathead screwdriver.
This prevented the entire temple from bending and made the tip sturdier and more resistant to deformation.
However, the viewers did not quite understand why Xu Yi was crafting such a tool.
They were all extremely curious about how Xu Yi intended to utilize his new creation.
Special thanks to book friends: Dream Literature, for their generous tips to this book.
(End of Chapter)
Page (3/3)