The rain fell without end, and the sky was perpetually gray and overcast.
’How much rain has built up? It hasn’t stopped even for a moment to catch its breath!’
Ren Yuanyang muttered as he watched the unrelenting downpour.
’I wonder what things are like in other places?’
He desperately wanted news from the outside world. Drifting alone on the vast ocean, he was still having trouble adjusting.
Ren Yuanyang glanced at the phone he had just fished up. He picked it up and examined it closely. It seemed to have a unibody metal frame, so its waterproofing was probably decent.
After a moment’s hesitation, he decided not to turn it on. ’I’ll wait a while longer.’
Over the next eight hours, despite the Duckweed platform now having seven new tendrils, it didn’t manage to catch any supplies.
"I guess it’s all just luck," Ren Yuanyang sighed.
The sky slowly darkened.
[Warning: A bitter grass stolon is under attack by three semi-evolved bream. Recommend mobilizing remaining bitter grass for support!]
Startled by the system prompt, Ren Yuanyang froze for a second before immediately giving the order for the other seven bitter grass plants to go provide support.
Bream are herbivores. They were only attacking the bitter grass to find something to eat.
The perpetual rain had diluted all the water, washing away and dispersing any food.
Former shallows had become deep water zones. The fish native to those areas could only stay near the surface, unable to dive to the bottom for food because they couldn’t withstand the pressure.
So these three bream, much like Ren Yuanyang, were fighting to survive. They were starving!
When they finally found some aquatic plants, instinct drove them to bite down hard.
Although bitter grass was a low-level plant on the food chain, once enhanced, its toughness was on another level.
The three bream latched onto the bitter grass stolon and began tearing at it violently, but they couldn’t rip off even a single rootlet.
Even so, the bream refused to let go.
Just then, seven more stolons shot out to entangle them. The three bream paid no mind to their sudden appearance.
As far as they were concerned, aquatic plants were just passive mouthfuls of food; it never occurred to them that the plants might attack.
Thus, the bitter grass stolons easily entangled the three bream.
The three bream immediately began to struggle violently. Ren Yuanyang realized a single bitter grass plant wasn’t enough to control one of the fish. He had to use two plants to entangle it, and only then did he barely manage to get the situation under control.
’Weren’t they supposed to be able to entangle any normal-sized fish?’ Ren Yuanyang wondered, confused.
[The bream in question are in a semi-evolved state and do not fall into the category of normal-sized fish...]
Ren Yuanyang then realized the system prompt about the bitter grass being attacked had already mentioned this.
"Ahem. The bitter grass has already been enhanced. Why can’t it handle a single fish that hasn’t even fully evolved?" Ren Yuanyang asked, abruptly changing the subject.
[Aquatic plants (bitter grass) are the food of herbivorous fish, giving the fish a natural advantage. Furthermore, these three bream show signs of evolution. Due to this combination of factors, two enhanced stolons are required to control one semi-evolved bream.]
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly, muttering to himself, ’Looks like I’m going to need more bitter grass.’
[The entanglement ability of the bitter grass can be further enhanced. After a second enhancement, the bitter grass will be able to control Level 1 fish and below.]
Ren Yuanyang paused for a moment, then asked, "Are the numbers after the plus signs the enhancement level?"
[Yes.]
Having received confirmation, Ren Yuanyang immediately attempted the second enhancement.
[Based on calculations, the Host’s Mental Energy is only sufficient for a second enhancement on five bitter grass plants. Forcibly enhancing a sixth may cause the Host to lose consciousness...]
"Then enhance five of them!" Ren Yuanyang decided without hesitation.
Once again, he felt that sensation of being completely drained.
[Enhancement successful.]
[Bitter grass (+2): Stolon’s entanglement ability enhanced a second time. All parameters, including length and hardness, have been doubled...]
Seeing the system’s notification, Ren Yuanyang’s lip twitched. ’That description really gets the imagination going!’ he thought.
He then directed three of the twice-enhanced bitter grass plants to restrain the three bream, while the remaining two twice-enhanced plants and three singly-enhanced plants continued salvaging for supplies.
"By the way, why are these bream in a semi-evolved state?" Ren Yuanyang asked curiously.
[Insufficient data. Unable to determine.]
"And here I thought you were all-knowing!" Ren Yuanyang grumbled, then picked up the remaining half of the chocolate bar and popped it into his mouth.
After eating the chocolate, Ren Yuanyang felt it hadn’t done much to sate his hunger, so he drank a carton of yogurt.
Although the feeling of hunger was gone, his stomach still felt empty.
’Do I really have to eat those bream raw?’ Ren Yuanyang wondered.
But he quickly shook his head. He still couldn’t bring himself to do it. After all, he had other options. Unless he was absolutely forced to, he didn’t want to eat raw fish like the people from that one island nation who have it so good.
For one, he wasn’t used to it. For another, eating raw fish could lead to stomach aches and diarrhea. In his current situation, with no medicine or doctors, an illness like that could be fatal.
Ren Yuanyang couldn’t guarantee he’d be able to fish up any medicine for stomach aches and diarrhea in time.
Finding that ginger earlier had been incredibly lucky; he didn’t dare bet that his luck would hold.
The sky darkened once more. Listening to the heavy drumming of the rain outside, Ren Yuanyang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before the system’s prompt suddenly rang out.
[Beep. A singly-enhanced Duckweed has been detected approaching.]
Ren Yuanyang, who had been drifting off, was instantly wide awake.
"Pull it in, now!" Ren Yuanyang commanded excitedly.
’This must be the Duckweed that got washed away yesterday when I was unconscious.’
’There’s no telling if I’ll find more Duckweed in the future, so every piece I can recover now is a victory.’
Ren Yuanyang controlled a bitter grass stolon, pulling the newly found Duckweed directly in front of his tent.
The plant that spotted the enhanced Duckweed was one of the twice-enhanced bitter grasses; it had detected the Duckweed at a distance of at least fifteen meters from Ren Yuanyang.
’It’s a good thing I did that second enhancement, or I never would have found it.’
The Duckweed drew closer. When it was about four or five meters away, Ren Yuanyang faintly made out a large, dark shape on it.
"Stop!" Ren Yuanyang hastily used his Mental Energy to make the stolon stop pulling.
The rain was too heavy for him to see clearly what the dark shape was.
’But it didn’t move at all while I was pulling the Duckweed over,’ he thought. ’Maybe it’s not a creature. Perhaps it’s just some supplies that got snagged on it.’
Despite this guess, Ren Yuanyang didn’t dare to act rashly. He cautiously controlled the stolon, making it creep toward and coil around the dark shape.
Although these enhanced plants were like extensions of his own body, Ren Yuanyang’s current Mental Energy wasn’t strong enough for him to "see" what the dark shape was through the plant.
Resigned, he could only control the stolon to continue feeling its way around.
Faintly, it felt as though the stolon climbed over a high mountain and descended into a valley. Just as Ren Yuanyang prepared to explore further, a scream tore through the night!

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