Chapter 66: Injured Orca

"These grasses are pretty good. I can take them back to use as pasture."

Lily Rhodes glanced down at her feet. The weeds she had previously ignored were actually growing quite lushly, making them perfectly suited for grazing.

Her ranch didn’t have many animals right now, so food wasn’t an immediate concern. However, once their numbers multiplied, the natural forage definitely wouldn’t be enough. She couldn’t possibly feed them her cultivated fruits and vegetables—that would be far too extravagant.

With that in mind, Lily bent down and gathered some grass seeds, planning to plant them when she returned.

About ten minutes later.

Ripples suddenly disturbed the previously calm surface of the water. A moment later, the Baby Orca breached.

"How is it? Is there anything down there?"

The Baby Orca shook its head.

"There’s just an underground river down there. Nothing else. But I did find this on my way back."

It opened its mouth, and a pitch-black cobblestone rolled out.

[Endless Water Stone: Continuously generates an unending supply of water.]

[Detected that the Survivor currently possesses the cooling water stone, Healing Water Stone, Purifying Water Stone, and Endless Water Stone. All Water Stones have been successfully collected. Initiate fusion into the Water Spirit Pearl?]

Hearing the System’s prompt validated her earlier suspicions. The Water Stones really were connected to the Spiritual Pearls.

Based on her experience with the Water Stones, she only needed two more Wood Stones to synthesize the Wood Spirit Pearl.

She already held the complete Earth Spirit Pearl and Fire Spirit Pearl. Now, the Water Spirit Pearl was whole as well. The Wood Spirit Pearl was halfway done. Of the five elements—Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—only the Gold Spirit Pearl remained completely elusive, without a single clue to its whereabouts.

Lily didn’t choose to fuse them immediately. After all, there were other people nearby. Stowing the Endless Water Stone away, she turned and left the area with the Baby Orca.

After walking a fair distance, an angry roar echoed from afar.

She crept toward the source of the sound. Through the foliage, she vaguely made out a group of people launching a coordinated attack against a massive black bear.

The bear looked incredibly familiar—it was one of the two that had tried to steal her honey yesterday.

If this bear was here, where was the other one?

Not intending to get involved in their hunt, Lily turned and walked in the opposite direction.

As she traveled, she continuously crafted small and large planter boxes.

The number of Survivors on the island was steadily increasing. More people meant more danger, especially since the island’s resources were strictly limited. Early arrivals had claimed the lion’s share of the premium resources, leaving only scraps for the latecomers. Over time, these conflicts would only multiply and escalate until they eventually reached a boiling point.

She had a sinking premonition that her time on Rugged Isle was drawing to a close.

"Come to think of it, I just need soil to make the planter boxes. I don’t necessarily have to stay on the island to do that," she murmured. Besides, dirt was everywhere—nobody was going to fight over it.

Mind made up, Lily stood and jogged toward the outer perimeter of Rugged Isle.

The moment she stepped onto the beach and lost the protective canopy of the trees, the blistering ambient temperature nearly knocked her out. The sunbaked sand was scorching hot, searing like the surface of a frying pan.

Gritting her teeth, Lily powered through the punishing heat across the beach and pulled out her sailboat.

A dozen minutes later.

She safely returned to Shelly’s back.

"I’m alive again."

Lily collapsed onto the deck, her face a mask of profound relief, like she had just survived a disaster.

Her original plan was to return at night, so she hadn’t bothered to bring any cooling potion with her. As a result, she had nearly roasted to death in that sweltering heat.

After lying on the floor for a moment to recover, Lily opened her System interface, navigated to The Supreme Shop, and posted a new commission.

One ton of soil in exchange for one small planter box.

The task wasn’t difficult. Almost any Survivor who had landed on the island could complete it with a little time and effort. However, Lily wasn’t accepting just any random dirt. Parched, cracked soil full of impurities was completely off the table.

Not long after she posted the task, someone initiated the first trade. A ton of soil materialized in front of her, piling up into a small mound.

A single ton of soil yielded enough material to craft one hundred small planter boxes, or ten large ones.

Lily sorted the soil by quality. She allocated the rich, fertile earth for the large planter boxes and used the slightly inferior dirt for the small ones. With her stock replenished, she continued trading the boxes for more soil.

In truth, some people had previously tried to bypass buying her planter boxes. They had simply hauled dirt onto their own rafts, hoping to start farming directly on the deck. The results had been disastrous: not only did their crops fail to grow, but their rafts were nearly destroyed by the moisture and rot.

Once news of those failures spread, the other Survivors obediently fell in line and started buying Lily’s proprietary planter boxes.

"Right, I almost forgot the most important thing."

Lost in the rhythm of crafting, Lily suddenly remembered the Endless Water Stone.

She retrieved the cooling water stone, Healing Water Stone, Purifying Water Stone, and Endless Water Stone, arranging them together on the floor. A second later, a brilliant white light pulsed across the surface of all four stones.

The halo of light steadily expanded until it completely enveloped them.

Then, the glow began to contract inward. Deep within the blinding light, the stones fused together. Several minutes later, the radiance faded entirely, leaving a pristine, aqua-blue orb hovering before her eyes.

[Water Spirit Pearl detected. Initiate fusion with a vehicle?]

"Yes."

[Please select the target vehicle:

Atlas Titan Turtle (Level 10)

Sailboat (Level 3)]

"That’s a no-brainer. Shelly, obviously."

As the Water Spirit Pearl fused into her base, Lily instantly felt the ambient temperature mellow into a comfortable, soothing warmth.

Though it had been cool before, that was merely the damp chill of the surrounding water—a biting, humid cold. Now, that harshness was entirely gone. At the same time, a new feature materialized in her small courtyard: a two-meter-wide circular pond enclosed by neatly stacked stones. It was filled with crystal-clear, pale-blue water that radiated a gentle, refreshing coolness.

From this day forward, she had an unlimited supply of Healing Water!

Before Lily could even react, a mangled, bloody mass suddenly plummeted from the sky.

Staring at the grievously mutilated body of the Mother Orca, Lily froze in absolute shock. Her hands hovered helplessly in the air; she was desperate to step forward and help, yet terrified of causing further agony.

The Mother Orca hadn’t completely lost consciousness. Catching sight of Lily, she opened her mouth and let out a weak, desperate cry.

"Save... save them..."

Lily quickly realized who "them" referred to. Hovering just outside her base was an entire Orca Pod—over twenty killer whales in total.

Every single one of them bore the same gruesome wounds as the Mother Orca.

Seeing this, Lily quickly waved her hand, granting the entire pod access to her sanctuary.

The moment the orcas entered, they swam straight toward her small courtyard. They clustered around the Mother Orca, their eyes full of sorrow as they released a chorus of mournful, keening wails.