"Oh my god, Chuck? Why are you grabbing shit?"
Julia, who was carrying the last water-filled bamboo tube and preparing to return, was completely stunned by Chuck's actions.
Hearing her question, Chuck sighed helplessly and took a moment to explain.
"It's not 'shit,' Julia, it's mud."
"I understand, but Chuck… I still don't understand why you're doing that."
Chuck let out an exasperated sigh.
"Let me ask you this: if you put a bamboo tube full of water into a fire, will the bamboo tube crack first, or will the water boil first?"
Hearing his question, Julia's intelligent blue eyes lost focus.
She lowered her head and mumbled, "Maybe the water boils first? Oh no, perhaps the bamboo will crack first? But it seems unlikely for the bamboo to crack before the water boils…"
Seeing her slightly overloaded, Chuck smiled and prompted, "So, if the bamboo tube can't handle the fire well, coating it with a layer of mud as protection will naturally make it much more fire-resistant, right?"
As he finished speaking, the foreign woman instantly realized what he meant.
"Oh my god, you are so clever!"
Chuck smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.
Honestly, this was just a temporary measure in the absence of a fireproof container.
The other option, the legendary hot-stone boiling method, would not only struggle to boil the water but also add a lot of impurities to it, making it counterproductive.
Bamboo tubes smeared with mud still couldn't be heated repeatedly, but they could at least survive one round of boiling water, buying them some precious time.
After collecting a tube full of mud, Chuck and Julia returned to the cave.
The sky was already dimming, and faint shades of light orange were beginning to appear over the distant ocean.
It was almost evening.
Both of them were parched, on the verge of dehydration.
Chuck didn't hesitate. He took out the last remaining coconut, opened a hole with the stone axe, drank half of it himself, and then handed it to Julia.
"Time is running out. I'll figure out how to start the fire. You take the mud I just collected and smear it evenly on the bottom of all the bamboo tubes. Make sure there are no gaps."
In the current lack of fresh water, the phrase time is life was literally true.
The stagnant water they had collected in the wetland was their last hope.
"OK, leave it to me!"
Julia, who now understood Chuck's plan, knew exactly what she needed to do. Without wasting time, she downed the coconut water and immediately turned around to diligently carry out the task.
Seeing her efficiency, Chuck was increasingly pleased with this foreign companion.
She was not only beautiful, had an explosive figure, and a straightforward personality, but she was also quick-witted and followed instructions well when working.
Stranded on a deserted island, what more could he ask for than a teammate like this?
Chuck left the cave and returned to the jungle, but this time he didn't step into it. Instead, he began collecting firewood around the perimeter.
With the water secured, his task was now reduced to one—starting a fire before dark.
So, the question was: How to make a fire?
It is commonly known that without a lighter or matches, the methods for starting a fire in the wild, though varied, all follow the same basic steps:
Prepare tinder, gather fuel, ignite the tinder, and build the fire.
Regardless of the method, suitable tinder was essential.
Fortunately, Chuck knew this. So, when he first collected the bamboo, he had already rubbed some fibers from the coconut husk into a small ball of tinder and placed it on the sand outside the cave to dry in the sun.
When he tentatively placed the tinder into the Workbench, he received a crafting hint.
[Workbench input: Dry Tinder x 1]
[Crafting Hint: If you want to ignite it, you will need a fire-drilling tool. Perhaps you could make one from easily accessible branches.]
Having successfully crafted twice already, Chuck was slowly mastering the technique of using the Super Workbench.
As long as he gathered the appropriate materials according to the hint and threw them onto the bench, he would get the desired item, completely bypassing the need for the intermediate crafting process!
Fire-drilling tool?
Ha ha, he had no idea what that looked like.
But it didn't matter.
Since the hint said to make it from branches, he would give it a branch, and a cutting tool, and leave the rest to the 'master craftsman' behind the ball of light!
Sure enough, things proceeded smoothly as usual.
[Workbench input: Small Branch x 1, Cutting Tool]
[Craftable Item – Hand Drill!]
[Estimated Crafting Time: 5 minutes. Start crafting?]
While Chuck was collecting firewood on the edge of the jungle, the Workbench quickly synthesized a rather professional-looking wooden hand drill for him.
Throwing the drill and the tinder together into the Workbench was the moment of truth…
[Workbench input: Hand Drill x 1, Dry Tinder x 1]
[Craftable Item – Ember!]
[Estimated Crafting Time: 15 minutes. Start crafting?]
Although he had prepared himself mentally, the moment he saw that the Workbench could actually synthesize an Ember, Chuck was utterly shocked.
With the Workbench, he didn't have to laboriously rub wood together, risking a bunch of blisters on his hands; he just had to wait for the countdown in the ball of light to finish!
If even fire could be synthesized, what couldn't it do?
It seemed the limits of his 'golden finger' might be far more insane than he had ever imagined.
Fifteen minutes later, Chuck returned to the cave with two large armfuls of firewood.
The bottoms of all the bamboo tubes had been uniformly smeared with mud, but Julia was not in the cave; she had probably briefly stepped out for something.
This was a good chance to use his System to start the fire.
He built the fire pit inside the cave just as the Workbench countdown officially ended.
With a slight sense of nervousness, Chuck tossed the crafted Ember into the fire pit.
As the light flashed, a strand of orange-red flame slowly illuminated the dimly lit cave.
"…"
That's it?
He has fire already?
Staring at the flickering orange-yellow flame, Chuck felt a shiver run down his spine.
The first step of civilization, which took human ancestors tens of thousands of years to discover, the survival skill that countless wilderness experts honed through extreme hardship…
All seemed meaningless in the face of this 'Super Workbench.'
Chuck scratched his head, feeling a momentary pang of guilt.
Of course, the overwhelming feeling was still pure elation.
With the fire started, Chuck didn't rush to boil the water.
Since they were mutually supportive companions, he wanted to share the joy of the first fire with Julia.
Chuck stepped out of the cave and looked around.
Where did the blonde woman go?
There was no sign of her on the nearby beach. Just as Chuck was about to walk around and call out loudly, his attention was suddenly caught by a small patch of white on the distant reef.
Chuck focused his gaze and instantly grinned.
That was the T-shirt Julia had been wearing…