CH 4.1

Ji He quickly moved the stones he had selected before, and Wang Xuan had already shoveled a lot of bamboo leaves and piled them together. He planned to make the fire quickly, then go catch the big fish that he had just seen while there was still some light in the sky.

By the time Wang Xuan came back with another shovel full of bamboo leaves, Ji He had already set up the fire. Even the bamboo he had cut before had been put on a stone to form a simple shelf.

“Boss, do you still want these bamboo leaves?” Wang Xuan looked at the large amount of bamboo leaves he just brought back, but hadn’t been used. There were still a lot of them left, which caused him to scratch his head and ask uncertainly.

Ji He shook his head. Wang Xuan had gathered so many bamboo leaves that those plus the bamboo he himself had chopped before was enough.

“No, you can rest for a while.”

Wang Xuan obediently put the shovel aside, sat down by the fire, and saw that Ji He was cutting a slender bamboo there. Soon he had sharpened a section of the bamboo.

Wang Xuan gulped with lingering fear. He didn’t look at Ji He’s movements, and didn’t dare to ask Ji He why he wanted to do such a thing. Instead he grabbed a bamboo stick placed by the fire in his hand to stir the fire.

After cutting two pieces of bamboo, Ji He finally nodded with satisfaction.

“Wang Xuan, I want to go to the river again.”

Wang Xuan immediately asked: “Then what do I need to do?”

Ji He glanced at a thick bamboo that he had just seen. The bamboos here grew strangely in that they all quickly shot upwards in thin poles, then gradually became thicker after becoming tall enough. The one he had just seen however was not. It was thick, but only two meters high and ultimately took a lot of effort for him to cut it.

“You can split some bamboo into strips with the shovel and then use that as firewood. Don’t do anything with the thick one yet.”

“Okay!” Wang Xuan also looked at the bamboo that had been set aside on its own. The roughness of the cut surface as compared to the other bamboos that had been cut by the shovel seemed to show that it wasn’t a simple thing.

Ji He took two of the simple harpoons he had made himself and walked to the river.

The place he had gone to earlier wasn’t marked by the system, so he couldn’t quite find the exact place again. He could only try to walk to the river. It was almost dark, and looking at the river in front of him, Ji He couldn’t tell whether the fish was there or not.

He was a little regretful. He shouldn’t have gone back to make harpoons just now. He should have figured out another way to get the fish out. He couldn’t go into the water in this situation.

?

Could he?

Ji He felt that the current weather was neither cold nor hot. He was in the woods at noon and in the afternoon, and he couldn’t get direct sunlight at all. Once he arrived at the bamboo forest, the sunlight leaking from the gaps in the leaves was actually quite warm.

Now at night, when he stood by the river, he didn’t feel any wind. On the contrary, it was a little hot just sitting by the fire. Based on these circumstances, Ji He felt that it should be summer on this planet.

But this was fine, he could just ask Wang Xuan when the time came.

After confirming that he could go into the water, Ji He was happy for a bit. Now there was the more serious problem in that he wouldn’t be able to see anything in the water once he entered the water.

Ji He was a little frustrated when it suddenly occurred to him that he seemed to have a system.

‘Tem, you talked a lot before. Why are you so silent now?’

The system was currently helping Ji He monitor the barrage. Ji He didn’t want to watch this kind of thing, but the system is was all too willing and watched it with relish. Anyway, since Ji He’s tasks would trigger the automatic system, it could also ‘paddle water’ and ‘catch fish[1]’.

As a result when it heard Ji He’s words, the system was startled, [No, no, I’m helping master manage the bullet screen to see if there is anything unusual on it.]

[Master, many people in your barrage are wondering what those things you dug up are, and some people are wondering what you are going to do with the two sharpened bamboo sticks.]

Ji He was silent for a while. He thought that the system had gone to slack off, but hadn’t expected that it had been helping him manage the barrage so seriously. Ji He felt guilty for a second for his guess, but still firmly grasped the system as a tool.

‘Tem, can you see any fish in the river?’

[Wow! There are so many fish! If master catches these fish, you can complete the task again!!] The system didn’t understand Ji He’s sinister intentions, and simply followed Ji He’s words and looked into the river.

The system wasn’t exaggerating. When he saw the fish earlier it had just started to get dark, and Ji He just casually glanced at the river and didn’t see any such spectacular scene, he only felt that a big fish was passing by. Flocks of fish were swimming in the river, not afraid of Ji He who was standing beside them.

Ji He was surprised by the system’s words and tried to ask: ‘Tem, can you let me see through the river clearly?’

The system was silent for a moment. Ji He only felt a white light flashing in front of his eyes before the originally dim view in his eyes became like daytime. Ji He hurriedly lowered his head to look.

~~~~~Translator’s Corner~~~~~

[1] 划水 / 摸鱼 – HuàShuǐ / MōYú – lit. paddle water & catch fish, slang and in this case awesome puns both for slacking off on the jo