"I don't see anything edible here. Only some mildly contaminated water," Su raised his brows. As soon as Mu Qingyun looked over, he quickly coughed a few times.
Mu Qingyun: …
Something feels off.
[Just got back from the bathroom. Quick question—where's the snake-mask guy? Why didn't he come?][Oh, he didn't want to. So only Mu Qingyun and the other two came.][Ah, got it. Thanks!]
...
"It's just down there," she pointed seriously beneath the sea.
"D-Down there?" Xiong Ruoyou was stunned. "That water hasn't been purified. How could anything even live in it? And even if there is, can we really eat stuff growing in contaminated water?"
[Hey, Bear Sis makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?][Think what you want, but we did see Mu Qingyun catching fish yesterday and eating them. She's not dead.][Right! And this warrior even ate Zergs. Why not some fish from polluted water?]["Warrior"? Are you serious? He's skinnier than that stick next to him.][Mind your own business. I'm totally a fan now. Don't like it? Come bite me through the network!][You +^#-%]
Mu Qingyun glanced at her wrist screen. Words she didn't understand were scrolling quickly. But even if she didn't understand them, she could roughly guess that they weren't… friendly.
But judging by the tone, it seemed they weren't insulting her—they were arguing with each other.
Interesting.
"Sis, you said it yourself—it's mildly contaminated," she raised her brow, unfazed.
In her memory, the original host lived on a garbage planet where they couldn't even afford protein powder. Most of the food came from mildly polluted water. It just tasted weird—not deadly.
"Su, you have water powers, right? Can you pull something up from the deep sea?" she turned to Su.
A simple trap could only catch shallow-water creatures. For a proper meal, they needed to go deeper.
"I can… cough cough, my water ability is weak, but catching something like that, I can still… cough, manage." Su nodded. Blue energy surged in his palm as he aimed at the water.
The slightly rippling sea suddenly began to swirl, forming a small vortex in his palm.
With splashing sounds, a few large lobsters and black fish flew out of the sea, controlled by the blue energy. With a flick of his hand, Su tossed them onto the shore.
"Huff—cough cough cough cough—"
As soon as he finished, Su collapsed, gasping for breath, coughing so hard it looked like he might cough up a lung.
"Deep breaths. Anyone got water?" Mu Qingyun frowned tightly. Xiong Ruoyou quickly handed over her water bottle.
Taking the bottle, Mu Qingyun quickly gave Su a few sips.
As the water trickled down the corner of his mouth, she instinctively reached out to wipe it. Only after his breathing calmed did she ask, "What illness do you have?"
"No formal diagnosis," Su pouted pitifully. "I've always had a weak constitution. Not exactly sick, just too fragile. Using powers wears me out and makes me cough."
Mu Qingyun nodded. Exactly like her brother. Except her brother was poisoned as a child—Su was clearly a different case.
"Rest for a bit."
[Ugh, such a sickly guy. Why is he even in the military academy trials? He just wants to lie his way through.][Hey, the trials are supposed to be fair. Everyone gets a shot. Besides, from stage two onward it's all individual. If you want to win, it's on your own.][Don't care. I just don't like freeloaders. He was hiding behind others this morning when they fought Zergs.][Shut it. He was hiding because Mu Qingyun told him to. He probably wanted to fight too.][What, is he your dad or something? Why are you defending him?][Seriously. Just because she said hide, he had to?]
Mu Qingyun was busy preparing the fish and lobster, not paying attention to the screen. But as the center of online chatter, Su only chuckled softly as he read the messages, saying nothing.
He actually found it amusing. No one had ever talked about him like this before.
"Bear, help me out," Mu Qingyun pulled a dagger from her belt and continued cleaning the fish and lobster.
"What is it?" Xiong Ruoyou quickly responded.
"Do you have a basin in your storage bag? One that can be heated with fire."
Fire-heatable?
Xiong Ruoyou paused for a second, glanced at Mu Qingyun's serious expression, then didn't ask and started rummaging through her bag.
"Well, speak of the devil,"
A familiar voice came from behind. Mu Qingyun, still scraping fish scales, casually looked up.
Oh, it was the fake princess and her follower.
Not worth acknowledging.
[Whoa, it's Her Royal Highness! She's gorgeous!][Planetary Glory ahhhh!][Obsessed with her, mad for her—she's my light!][Wife! So beautiful, my wife!][Back off! She's mine!]
...
"Ugly boy, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?" A sickly sweet voice rang out. The voice was just bearable, but the words were sharp and biting.
Mu Qingyun ignored it and continued her task.
"Hey, you—"
"Alright, Feifei, don't talk like that," Mu Xueyao gently stopped Bai Feifei, though the smile in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
She really hated this ugly guy.
The first time they met, she hadn't done anything, yet he glared at her.
That inexplicable act instantly put her off, so she deliberately provoked him. When he finally snapped back, she used it to start an online smear campaign.
"Your Highness, I really admire you!" Xiong Ruoyou rushed over when she saw Mu Xueyao, totally forgetting about the basin. She stared at this so-called "Planetary Glory" up close.
As an Imperial Princess, Mu Xueyao lived up to her title with a high-purity water power. She didn't just purify her own planet's water sources—she was invited to purify others too.
Her fame spread across planets. People called her the "Planetary Glory."
"Thank you," Mu Xueyao smiled. Her face was already breathtakingly beautiful. With Xiong Ruoyou already biased in her favor, that one smile completely melted her.
"Your Highness is so amazing!"
The praise made Mu Xueyao's smile deepen, her eyes filled with pride.
Meanwhile, Mu Qingyun and Su remained totally indifferent.
Su took out a basin from his storage and purified some water according to Mu Qingyun's request, pouring it all in.
"Do you have any… easily cut plastic bottles?" she asked Su.
"Yes, the ones that used to hold nutrient solution," Su responded, pulling one out and handing it over.
Taking the bottle, she used her dagger to pierce the bottom. Then, she took out a piece of charcoal and some gauze that the original host had packed before coming to the island.
She stuffed the gauze into the bottle, crushed the charcoal and poured it in. Then she grabbed some sand and gravel from the ground.
She scattered the fine sand on top of the charcoal, then added the coarse gravel.
"Give it here." She took the basin and poured the water through the filter. Then, with flames in her right hand, she increased the heat and quickly boiled off the water. Once the bottom revealed a layer of white residue, she poured out the remaining liquid and handed the basin back.
"Scrape off that top layer."