Others try to survive on an island, I try to survive on a raft?

Chapter 25 Even a beautiful girl can be a coal miner

Su Jin focused his mind and looked down, and his furrowed brows relaxed slightly.

Because what was under Li Yuanyuan's feet was not a living thing, but just some black debris.

The girl had just taken the thing apart and heard a cracking sound, which made her subconsciously think that she had stepped on some kind of sea monster egg, almost scaring her half to death.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked down and saw that it was just some crumbs.

At this moment, Su Jin had already squatted down, picked up a small crumb with his fingers, and gently kneaded it.

The black fragments were easily crushed into a grayish-black powder, emitting a slightly pungent odor.

But Su Jin was not surprised but rather pleased, and said:

"It's black coal! Good stuff!"

The presence of black coal scattered on the ground suggests that there must be a huge coal mine beneath this island.

Li Yuanyuan blinked and squatted down to examine it, but she didn't touch it because she thought it was dirty; she just looked at it up close.

She tilted her head and whispered:

"This stuff can only be burned, it's only slightly better than wood. It's not bad for cooking, oh, I think it can also be used to make gunpowder."

Su Jin chuckled and shook his head. He felt it was necessary to give the girl a little科普 (popular science) explanation.

"Using it for burning is just the basic use of coal, while gunpowder, although a more advanced use, is still very difficult to manufacture at present."

"The majority of coal is used for iron and steel production, and it can also be used as a common fuel for some internal combustion engines."

"It's fair to say that most things can't be done without coal."

The girl only partially understood what they were saying, and then asked a question in return:

"We don't have any iron ore either, so what use is this to us now?"

Su Jin was speechless for a moment, then said, somewhat unwilling to give up:

"Let's trust our luck. We'll look around this island later; maybe the coal mine will also contain iron ore?"

Li Yuanyuan nodded. Anyway, picking up some coal is fine. At worst, you can take it back to burn. It's much more useful than wood.

So the two of them began picking up black coal on the outskirts of the rocky island while searching for any scattered iron ore.

After searching for nearly an hour, they had collected a lot of coal, but not a single iron ore was found. There were, however, a lot of rocks, or rather, the whole island was made of rocks.

Since he couldn't find it, Su Jin gave up.

That's true. It's already good enough that there's a coal mine on an island, how could there also be iron ore?

After all, if he were to actually settle on this island, he could produce a batch of ironware in no time.

At that time, other players will be using stone or even wooden tools, while he will be using iron tools. Wouldn't that be a game-changer?

That's obviously impossible. If that were the case, the people on Chestnut Round Island wouldn't be able to play anymore; they'd be crushed in no time.

However, the trip wasn't entirely fruitless; at least we collected a lot of black coal and some stones that looked quite nice, which we can make into tools later.

Compared to Su Jin, Li Yuanyuan wasn't as disappointed, because she felt that burning coal was the same as burning wood.

But collecting coal was much easier than chopping wood. Fortunately, it didn't burn. Gradually, she worked harder and harder, and was now constantly carrying coal onto Su Jin's boat.

"Heave-ho..."

This was the fifth time she had moved here. Black coal was scattered everywhere on the island, and she could pick it up anywhere by the roadside. No matter how hard she tried, she could never finish collecting it all.

"Hehehe, a happy problem, huh~"

Beautiful girls can also be coal miners!

As she picked them up, she even started humming a little tune.

Su Jin looked at the increasing amount of black coal on the ship and didn't know what to say, but picking up more black coal was never a bad thing.

So he stepped forward to help, and this grown man was much more efficient and decisive than the cute, naive girl.

Before long, the ship was almost full of black coal.

Although the ship was still far from being overloaded, the haphazardly piled-up loose coal left Su Jin's ship with very little space.

"Okay, that's enough for now, that's a lot already."

Su Jin glanced at the sunset on the sea and stopped Li Yuanyuan, who was still trying to carry coal onto the ship.

At this moment, the girl's face, her Lolita dress, and even the white stockings on her legs were all stained black.

He was filthy, but he looked so good that you couldn't help but want to bully him.

Li Yuanyuan was unaware that Su Jin was staring at her. She was washing her hands with seawater at the beach, but that was all she did was clean them.

Girls all love beauty and cleanliness, the young girl couldn't help but mutter:

"I'm going to take a good shower when I get back, and I also need to do the laundry..."

Suddenly, she remembered that Su Jin was also there. If she wanted to do laundry, she would have to wash everything, including her underwear.

There was no other way; I'd worn that outfit for two days straight, and last night I'd been snuggling up to Su Jin all night, so I had to wash it.

But if she's going to take a shower, wouldn't she be left completely naked?

No!

She had never been completely naked in front of a man; it was simply too shameful.

But not washing the clothes isn't an option either; Su Jin might wash them too...

The thought of the two of them being completely honest with each other made the girl blush involuntarily.

Just then, she heard Su Jin's voice.

"You've been washing for so long, are you done yet? We're leaving now. After we take you home, I'll be leaving."

"Huh?" Li Yuanyuan looked up at Su Jin blankly for a while before asking:

"So soon... you're leaving?"

Although Su Jin had mentioned it before, she still felt a pang of disappointment when she actually heard it.

This feeling is like when you were a child and friends came to visit. Even though you knew they would go home to eat and sleep at night, you still felt like the time was very long, even eternal.

But when it comes time to part, that feeling is the hardest; there is reluctance, but also the inability to let go.

Finally, she slowly stood up, becoming quiet and silent. Even when Su Jin picked her up to make it easier to board the ship, she didn't make a fuss.

Under the setting sun, the small boat slowly sailed on the sea, but the boat was very silent.

Upon returning to her island, Li Yuanyuan eagerly disembarked and ran to collect the fish oil from the colorful fish that Su Jin had refined while cutting down trees that afternoon, using a seashell, and gave it to Su Jin.

Then he worked very hard to help Su Jin unload the coal and store it on his own island. He also carried the firewood he had chopped that afternoon onto Su Jin's boat.

Her behavior might appear to Su Jin as the girl becoming more diligent.

But in her own eyes, it was like a farewell gift for departing friends, with big bags and small packages, hoping that her friends would stay at her house again next time.

That's exactly what she thought. If Su Jin didn't come, she would only be left to die alone on this island.

After working for a while, the sun was almost setting, and it was about to get completely dark.

The sky was overcast tonight, so there probably wouldn't be much moonlight. Li Yuanyuan had already lit a campfire and started cooking fish soup.

Now that she's all alone on the island, she can take a bath and do laundry without any restraint.

But she couldn't be happy. The girl sighed softly and, for some reason, said something she herself didn't expect.

"Actually, showering together isn't a bad idea; at least someone will be there to keep you company..."

After a while, she looked at the short-handled stone axe that Su Jin had made for her, and her eyes gradually became firm.

Meanwhile, Su Jin had already sailed out of the Coral Sea and begun his first nighttime sea voyage.