Now Rookie was the main power unit of the entire vessel!

On a narrow bamboo raft, a beige Labrador was desperately paddling with its little paws. Eventually, Rookie found it too troublesome and directly jumped into the water to push the raft forward.

Li Yuan twisted his body with all his might, trying to keep the navigation on the correct course.

With great effort, Rookie finally pushed Li Yuan to the designated location.

Looking around, there were several pieces of wood floating on the sea, rising and falling with the waves. Besides that, there were many scattered items strewn about.

"What’s going on here? A shipwreck? Never mind, quickly, Rookie, grab a piece of wood, let's make the purification device first!"

Although Rookie was already exhausted, with victory in sight and seeing so many supplies, he mustered all his strength to help Li Yuan collect the materials.

[Ding, Wood +0.4]

Li Yuan glanced at the piece of wood, which was shorter than his bamboo pole, probably not meeting the system's standard for wood, thus only counted as 0.4 resources.

[Ding, Wood +0.7]

 

[Ding, Wood +2]

"Wow! Added 2! This one's long!" Li Yuan got excited, and even more thrilling was the sight of many more items waiting to be collected on the sea.

"Rookie, take a break first, let's make the seawater purification device!"

[Small Simple Seawater Purification Device in production... Device completed.]

In less than ten seconds, a small "house" with a triangular roof appeared on Li Yuan's ship body.

The base of the small house was a cube wooden box, about 30 centimeters on each side. On top of the box was a pyramid-shaped roof made of four triangular sides. The roof extended slightly beyond the edges of the box, and below the extended parts, four rectangular wooden grooves formed a circle, creating a sealed space except for the entrance.

[This device uses the distillation method. The wooden box holds seawater, and in the sealed environment, the water vapor pressure inside the box is greater than outside, accelerating seawater evaporation. The steam is collected and condensed into droplets by the fish skin at the top of the device, sliding down the slope into the water storage tank, completing the purification.]

 

[The triangular cooling roof and the interior of the water storage tank are all lined with fish skin, aiding in steam cooling and collection. Do not damage the fish skin surface. Open the plug at the bottom of the water storage tank to let water flow out automatically for direct drinking. Ensure the plug is tightly sealed when purifying seawater.]

So that's where all the fish skin went, no wonder Li Yuan couldn't see it.

The device utilizes the principle of forming pure distilled water after evaporation. Although it doesn't boil the water to 100 degrees, causing vigorous boiling, the daytime temperature can reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, and under the scorching sun, it can exceed 50 to 60 degrees, making the seawater evaporate quite quickly. This simple, almost crude device might actually provide drinking water for Rookie!

Li Yuan was a bit confused by the explanation, but that wasn't the point. The point was, the purification device was completed!

Finally finishing the purification device, Li Yuan quickly had Rookie collect some seawater into the wooden box to start purifying.

Strangely, when Li Yuan eagerly wanted to know what was happening inside the device, he could actually see the internal situation.

The external high temperature caused the seawater to continuously evaporate, increasing the pressure inside the container. The steam condensed into droplets upon meeting the fish skin on the roof, sliding into the water storage tank... After a dozen minutes, a shallow stream of water had accumulated in the surrounding storage tank, and after another dozen minutes, there was already a good amount of drinking water!

"Rookie, there's water to drink! Pull out the plug and drink directly with your mouth! Oh, and don't bite the plug, we'll need it later!"

Rookie wobbled over to the device, carefully biting open the wooden plug.

As soon as the plug was opened, water flowed out from the storage tank.

Rookie quickly stuck out his tongue to lap it up.

"Don't lap it up, it's too wasteful, just open your mouth and catch it directly!" Li Yuan was anxious.

Rookie was smart and immediately understood Li Yuan's words, trying to catch the sweet, pure water directly with his mouth, gulping it down continuously.

Unfortunately, the water wasn't much, and it was soon finished, leaving Rookie desperately licking the outlet.

"Hahaha, there’s no water left—licking won’t help." Li Yuan suddenly realized his words sounded wrong...

Wait. He was on a ship—definitely not that kind of thing. He meant it literally, nothing else!

Though the water wasn't much, it proved the purification worked. Li Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. With water and food, Rookie's survival was assured, and he felt indescribably relieved.

After drinking some water and resting for an hour, Rookie's dehydration symptoms improved. The little guy was very sensible, helping Li Yuan collect other sea materials by paddling with his paws without needing a prompt.

Though their speed was slow, at least Li Yuan was moving.

[Ding, Wood +0.6]

 

[Ding, Plastic Bottle +1]

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

 

[Ding, Wood +2]

"Evolution Points 4.7!"

[Ding, Women's Bra +1]

"Huh? Women's bra? Rookie, you sure know how to fish, but this thing seems to have wires inside, could be useful."

[Ding, Men's Briefs +1]

"What the heck, what's this? Shouldn't it be a set with the women's? Throw it... no, no, can't throw it, can make it into a rope, keep it, keep it, damn, I'm almost turning into a pervert!"

[Ding, Antibiotic Medicine +1]

"This is good, this is good, let's see if there are more medicines."

***

The azure sky gradually darkened, and the salvage operation was finally completed successfully. Rookie, too exhausted, was already asleep, resting his head on the sponge of the women's bra.

The simple seawater purification device continued working tirelessly. Although the evaporation effect was much less at night, it could still store some water overnight, ensuring Rookie would have water to drink in the morning.

The narrow space of the bamboo raft was piled with a heap of miscellaneous items, including clothes, plastic bottles, a life buoy, and a bunch of wood tied to the back of the raft.

Li Yuan couldn't bear the weight of the wood, so he tied it with a rope at the back, letting it drift along with him.

Li Yuan hadn't slept yet, though he wasn't sure if he needed sleep, he had maintained the habit before.

In this Azure Age, drifting alone on the ocean, keeping a clear mind at all times was crucial, making sleep indispensable.

However, even though Li Yuan was already very tired, he had more important things to do.

"Open the basic attribute menu," Li Yuan said wearily.

[Host: Li Yuan]

 

[Vessel: Three-Pole Bamboo Raft]

 

[Crew Number: 1]

 

[Ship Speed: Not equipped with a power system, immeasurable]

 

[Combat Power: 1]

 

[Load Capacity: 43.9/50 (kg)]

 

[Evolution Progress: 11.3/10 (Wood) Currently evolvable.]

Seeing the last line, Li Yuan almost cried.

Even though all this wood was scavenged, he had waited too long for this day.

Taking a deep breath, he accidentally inhaled a mouthful of water from the hollow bamboo at the front of the raft, feeling like he was choking... "Cough cough, damn, forgot I was at sea."

"Evolve!"

---

Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan