026 Are You Also a Survival Expert?

Cassius rushed over immediately and, after quite a struggle, finally managed to pull the man ashore. However, the two suitcases he’d been sitting on drifted away with the tide.

“Delivery completed.”

“Oh, thank you. If it weren’t for your help, I’d have been swept farther and farther out by the waves as my strength gave out.”

The man, still gasping for breath, sat down on the sand. Evidently, all his energy had been spent paddling against the waves, leaving nothing in reserve.

For some reason, Xiu Nan felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The last time he’d saved Lei Ya, Lei Ya had said almost exactly the same thing.

“No need to thank me, but we’re not out of danger yet,” Cassius repeated, using the same words as before.

“We’re stranded on a deserted island, but don’t worry, my friend. I’m an expert in wilderness survival and construction, and I’ve even appeared on a television show. I think we’ll have no trouble lasting a few months…”

Having rested for a moment, the man known as Machete stood up. He had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were remarkably large and expressive, though heavy bags hung beneath them, as if he were perpetually sleep-deprived.

The two exchanged names; the man’s nickname was Machete, a moniker he preferred among friends.

Taking advantage of this lull, Xiu Nan stepped away from the computer to pour himself a cup of hot water, setting it gently on his desk. He slipped his headphones back on as he returned to his seat.

Machete’s reassuring voice filtered through, calm and comforting. “Don’t be discouraged, my friend. I know an ordinary person suddenly stranded on a deserted island can feel completely out of place and overwhelmed. But we have to survive, don’t we? I’ll teach you everything you need to know…”

“Until we’re rescued… Hang in there!”

Machete even came over to pat Cassius on the shoulder, likely mistaking Cassius’s lack of movement for fear and unease in the unfamiliar environment.

“Thank you for your encouragement…” Xiu Nan resumed control of Cassius, selecting an option at random from four seemingly reasonable choices.

“Let’s go over there and take a look,” he said.

Machete led Cassius toward the far end of the beach, where several lush coconut trees, heavy with fruit, stood.

“The map has reset… I clearly picked these coconuts clean on the first day,” Xiu Nan muttered to himself.

“In the wild, our first priority is to find a potable water source. Coconuts are an excellent choice—you don’t even need to filter them; the juice is perfectly safe!” Machete, like Lei Ya before him, began with the same opening lesson.

“However, most coconut trees are three or four meters tall. Climbing them is exhausting and inefficient. So we can use branches to fashion a simple tool—”

Before Machete could finish, Cassius sprang up the trunk, nimbly scrambling to the top in a flash.

Using both hands and feet, he moved with the agility of a monkey.

With a soft thud, his leather shoe hit the ground.

Carrying two coconuts the size of basketballs, Cassius strode over to Machete and, with a swift jab from the black-bladed knife at his waist, poked a hole in one.

“Here,” Cassius offered the green coconut to Machete.

Pale, milky juice splashed from the top.

“Uh… You’re quite skilled at climbing trees…” Machete mumbled, but couldn’t resist tilting his head back and drinking deeply. After drifting at sea for so long, his strength was depleted, and he was severely dehydrated. He needed fluids badly.

“Gulp, gulp, gulp…” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank, the burning dryness in his throat finally soothed.

Machete felt much better.

When he set the coconut down, he suddenly noticed a pile of coconuts beside him—eight or nine, at least.

With a heavy thump, a dark figure leaped down from the tree.

Cassius expertly picked up his black-bladed knife and sliced the top off a coconut with a deft twist, making a neat round hole.

He handed the prepared coconut to Machete once more.

“Is this enough? If not, I can get a few more.”

“It’s… it’s enough…” Machete coughed a few times, then asked, “Did you grow up on a tropical coast or something?”

“No, I’m just good at climbing trees,” Cassius replied, wiping the blade clean on his clothes before tucking it back into his belt.

“Congratulations, you’ve completed Climbing: 150 times.”

“Climbing (Advanced): 25,380/25,000 meters.”

“Notice: Climbing skill cannot be further improved.”

Xiu Nan still needed Cassius to master more survival skills, but there was no sense repeating the same ones. Clearly, making a branch pole overlapped significantly with climbing.

No need to waste time here…

“Well, it seems we’ve solved our water problem for now. Next we need to gather food—fish, for example. While not the highest in calories, they’ll provide a decent amount of energy. We need to eat well to survive…”

Machete led Cassius into the forest, and together they used the sharp black-bladed knife to cut down many branches. They whittled some of the straighter ones into wooden spears.

Each armed with a spear, they walked to the edge of the beach and tried their luck at catching some seafood.

Machete, still famished and not fully recovered, spent over half an hour before he finally managed to spear a fish barely the size of his palm.

When he went to look for Cassius, he found him already sitting at the forest’s edge, grilling fish.

A ring of stones formed a hearth, with dry twigs burning inside. The flames licked greedily at the fish, the fat sizzling and crackling as a delicate aroma drifted through the air.

But that wasn’t all—three straight spears were stuck in the ground behind Cassius, each skewering two fat fish.

The last one held a long snake.

Machete glanced at the tiny fish in his hand, then silently left it behind.

“Cassius, you’re way too fast!” he exclaimed, sitting cross-legged beside the fire.

“Maybe the fish are just more plentiful on my side,” Cassius replied with a smile. “Give it a few more minutes; it’s only cooked through on the outside for now.”

“Is that a cat-eyed snake?” Machete pointed to the snake meat behind Cassius.

“Yes, I happened to run into one on the way,” Cassius answered, then gestured to another hearth on his right, where makeshift grills were already set up on both sides.

“We can grill together on both sides—it’ll be more efficient.”

Machete, still bewildered, walked over. Two branches, one large and one small, a leaf, and a bird’s nest lay nearby—a simple fire-starting kit that had already been used.

Just as he reached for it, Cassius had already taken over. With brisk, practiced movements, he set everything in place, then rubbed his hands together so quickly they blurred into a whir.

In less than two minutes, flames were rising steadily.

“Congratulations, you’ve completed Firemaking: 30 times.”

“Firemaking (Advanced): 570/500 times.”

“Notice: Firemaking skill cannot be further improved.”

Watching Cassius’s deft handiwork, Machete finally couldn’t help but ask, “Are you a survival expert too?”