Chapter 43: She Struck It Rich!

Seeing this, Lily Rhodes examined them one by one. They were all the most ordinary sea fish, lacking even a Level.

In the end, these fish were kept in the ocean by the two whales as a food reserve.

"Speaking of which, that evil whale we met before was so massive, yet it didn’t have a Level either," Lily noted, suddenly recalling the giant beast she had encountered previously.

Although she hadn’t been attacked when she approached it, that was only because the creature had been nearing the end of its life and didn’t want to bother. Had it chosen to strike her, given her strength at the time...

She likely would have ended up as fish feed.

Lily fished while keeping a close eye on her surroundings. Suddenly, her fishing rod dipped heavily.

She instinctively yanked back hard. Having learned her lesson from the tuna, she was fully prepared this time. But reeling it in was unexpectedly smooth; she didn’t encounter any resistance at all.

As the line was fully reeled in, a fish radiating a brilliant golden light broke the surface.

"A Golden Fish!"

Lily looked at her catch, overcome with joy. After waiting for so long, she finally had her second Golden Fish!

Just as she was about to temporarily place the fish in freshwater, she noticed a small black dot on the distant ocean surface. As Shelly swam closer, the black dot became highly conspicuous.

Lily pulled out her binoculars to get a better look.

It was another island.

A look of pleasant surprise flashed through her eyes. Fantastic! Ever since she had stripped her first island bare, she hadn’t come across another one for days—the island coiled by the giant python didn’t count.

However, Lily didn’t instruct Shelly to head over immediately. It was already afternoon. Even if she claimed the island, she wouldn’t have much time to explore. It would be better to rest up today and set out tomorrow.

With this in mind, she put away her fishing rod, released the Golden Fish into the stream, and began preparing for tomorrow’s exploration.

She still had plenty of sand for making glass, but she planned to restock a bit more, along with small planter boxes. Having sold them once before, she realized they were highly lucrative. It made perfect sense; after all, not everyone possessed Lily’s uniquely blessed farming conditions. If other survivors wanted to grow crops, they had to rely entirely on planter boxes.

Early the next morning, Lily suited up. She had Shelly swim close to the island before storing the turtle away and paddling over on her wooden raft. She left the two Orcas out in the open sea as backup.

About ten minutes later, her raft slowly approached the shore. She jumped off, stepping onto the soft sandy beach.

Having done this once before, she was quite experienced with exploration now. Visually, this island appeared somewhat larger than the previous ones she had encountered.

The beach was lined with numerous coconut trees, heavily laden with green coconuts. Seeing this, Lily first took out a Bronze Treasure Chest and began filling it with sand. Only after she had collected enough did she venture further inland.

The coconuts could be picked on her way back. She headed deeper into the island. Before she had gone far, she came across numerous low bushes laden with clusters of orange-yellow wild fruits. They looked like miniature lanterns.

At first, Lily didn’t recognize the plant; she only found it familiar. But when she touched its leaves and the System prompted an alert, she was surprised to discover it was Dragon Hollyhock.

Back in her hometown, this plant was also called wild grape. It occasionally grew by the roadside, and whenever she saw it, she would pick some as a snack. However, this was mutated Dragon Hollyhock. The fruits had changed from their original purple to yellow, which explained why she hadn’t recognized them immediately.

If she remembered correctly, Dragon Hollyhock was a great find. The entire plant and its fruits could be used as medicine, possessing the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, reducing swelling, and promoting blood circulation to remove stasis. This was no ordinary Dragon Hollyhock; the mutated version’s medicinal properties were far stronger.

There was a massive patch of it here—too many plants to count. Lily swiftly transplanted all of them into small planter boxes.

Once the transplanting was complete, she stood back up.

Just then, a faint rustling sound came from a short distance to her front left. Lily looked over vigilantly. A second later, a dark shadow darted out from the grass.

Without hesitation, Lily raised her arm, and a bolt flew straight from her Crossbow.

Since she rarely used the weapon and the situation was urgent, the shot wasn’t a clean kill. However, it still inflicted significant damage, pinning the creature directly to the ground.

Only then did Lily realize it was a plump rabbit.

Her eyes lit up. She walked over and hoisted the rabbit up by its ears. Though injured, the creature wasn’t dead and continued to struggle, yet it couldn’t break free from her iron grip.

She weighed the rabbit in her hand. Not bad, it was meaty, easily weighing seven or eight pounds.

The pasture she had received as a reward already housed chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, and sheep, but she only had a single pair of each. They had to be kept for breeding and couldn’t be eaten. Rabbits were a fantastic alternative—they bred like crazy, and their meat was delicious.

She just didn’t know if this rabbit was male or female. If she could get one of each, she would have an endless supply of rabbit meat!

Since this island was larger than the ones she had explored before, it took some walking before Lily finally reached its center.

Her vision, previously obstructed by vegetation, cleared up in an instant, revealing a stretch of golden desert before her.

Of course, that wasn’t the crucial part. The truly important detail was how unusual the sand here was.

"Golden" wasn’t merely an adjective here. It didn’t look like sand, but actual crushed gold. Nestled within the grains were chunks of ore with a metallic sheen, glittering brilliantly under the sunlight.

Looking at this scene, Lily’s breath hitched.

These ores probably weren’t iron. They looked far brighter and purer.

The moment she stepped into the desert, the System’s prompt chimed in her mind.

[Congratulations, Survivor Lily Rhodes, for discovering a special scenario: The Golden Desert.]

[The Golden Desert: A magical desert with a minimal chance of appearing on islands. Composed entirely of golden sand, it constantly nurtures high-quality ore.]

After reading the System’s Introduction, only one thought remained in Lily’s mind.

She was rich!