"Not quite," Ren Yuanyang said, shaking his head.
Lu Jiamei froze. "If we didn’t get any salt, then where are we going to find it?"
"We have this!" Ren Yuanyang said with a smile, pointing to the rice-grass beside them.
Lu Jiamei glanced at the rice-grass, her confusion deepening.
She had seen Ren Yuanyang pull this plant out of the water before, but she didn’t know what kind of grass it was.
Ren Yuanyang picked up a small spoon, scraped some crystalline powder from the veins of the rice-grass, and held it out to her. He gestured with his chin. "Try it."
Lu Jiamei paused, a flicker of realization on her face. Filled with shock, she reached out, dipped her finger in the powder, and brought it to her lips. The moment her tongue touched it, her eyes lit up.
"This is salt?" she asked, needing to be sure.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "This is rice-grass. It secretes the salt it absorbs..."
"A plant like this exists?" Lu Jiamei felt like a complete bumpkin. ’How little I know!’
"Of course. There are many halophytes, or salt-secreting plants, like sea-heath and saltcedar. They have salt glands or salt bladders that allow them to secrete the salt," Ren Yuanyang explained.
Lu Jiamei nodded in understanding, then asked, "How efficient is this rice-grass at producing salt?"
"It’s pretty good. We could add a few more people and still have more than enough," Ren Yuanyang replied with a smile.
Then, Lu Jiamei remembered Ren Yuanyang saying they had plenty of pure water. She asked cautiously, "Is the pure water also produced by a plant?"
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "We don’t have to worry about water or salt. We have food, too. We just lack the tools to cook it. Finding a generator would be the best-case scenario—a permanent solution."
"A generator? We’d probably only find one of those on a big ship!" Lu Jiamei replied with a bitter smile.
"Yeah!" Ren Yuanyang couldn’t help but sigh. "Even if we find a generator, we still need a power source to make it run. We’re missing too many things!"
Lu Jiamei shook her head helplessly.
"One step at a time," Ren Yuanyang said with a smile. "We’re already doing great. Now, let’s finish breakfast and get to work."
"Right!" Lu Jiamei replied.
’Just three days ago, I was still clinging to a wooden plank, exposed to the wind and rain.’
’Now I have shelter. It’s not big, but it keeps the wind and rain out.’
’There isn’t a lot of food and water, but it’s enough.’
’I even have a change of clothes and some basic daily necessities.’
’Of course, this was all thanks to Ren Yuanyang’s ex-girlfriend and her family.’
’You have to be grateful for what you have.’
Lu Jiamei ate a little less than half a compressed biscuit and took a few small sips of pure water. Then, she quickly put the Cannibal Fish she had killed into an empty can and took it to the small boat’s cabin.
At first, Lu Jiamei had only collected the empty cans to increase her plank’s buoyancy. She never thought they’d come in handy in so many ways.
All the plants Ren Yuanyang grew inside the shipping container also required those bottles and cans.
However, he didn’t plant the newly enhanced dizzy fish grass in a can. Instead, he planted it among the Round Duckweed near the four corners of the container, using bitter grass to hold it in place.
This way, the dizzy fish grass could serve its purpose of repelling aquatic creatures.
Placing it in a can or inside the container wouldn’t produce the same effect, of course.
This might mean they wouldn’t be able to catch any fish, but at least it was safe.
If they really needed to catch fish for food, they could just row the small boat away from the dizzy fish grass’s effective range before fishing.
After arranging the dizzy fish grass, Ren Yuanyang went back to the hanging alligator, preparing to butcher it himself.
Lu Jiamei had eaten alligator meat before, but after witnessing her knife skills yesterday, he knew she was only suited to eating, not cooking.
’They were both amateurs, so it didn’t matter who did it.’
’Besides, she needed to stand watch outside. He couldn’t just keep exploiting his employee, could he?’
Just as Ren Yuanyang picked up the Boning Knife, Lu Jiamei’s voice suddenly called out from above.
"Boss, another small boat spotted! It’s about thirty or forty meters away!"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang immediately asked, "Is it heading this way on purpose, or just drifting?"
Lu Jiamei paused for a moment, then replied, "I don’t see anyone rowing, and I can’t hear an engine. It must be drifting!"
Ren Yuanyang immediately passed the pistol up to her. "Wait for my command."
"Right!" Lu Jiamei replied grimly, taking the pistol.
The small boat drew closer, and Ren Yuanyang and Jiamei finally got a clear look at it.
It was a small aluminum alloy speedboat with a makeshift canopy of waterproof tarp.
"You stay up there in ambush. I’ll create a distraction," Ren Yuanyang ordered in a low voice.
"Got it!" Lu Jiamei lay flat on the container roof, aiming the gun at the speedboat.
Once Lu Jiamei was in position, Ren Yuanyang yelled to the speedboat, "Is anyone there? You’re about to run into us! Turn away!"
"Sorry! We’ll turn now!"
A woman’s voice, weak and tinged with panic, drifted over from the speedboat.
Ren Yuanyang froze for a second when he heard the voice.
But Lu Jiamei, lying in ambush on the container roof, suddenly called out, "Are you Xin Wan?"
Ren Yuanyang froze again. ’You can run into people you know even out here?’ he thought.
The woman on the speedboat seemed to pause for a moment. "You are...?"
"Do you remember Mei Lan?" Lu Jiamei asked instead of answering.
"Mei Lan?" The other person seemed to think for a moment, then replied, "Of course I remember. It’s rare to see someone that age so passionate about trendy cuisine, learning how to cook from me!"
"I’m her daughter. We met once, but you probably don’t remember me," Lu Jiamei explained.
Ren Yuanyang understood now. The person on the speedboat was the foodie celebrity who had taught Lu Jiamei’s mother how to cook.
’What a small world.’
Ren Yuanyang marveled internally, then whispered a reminder, "Stay ready for a fight. There might be more than one person on that boat."
Hearing his words, Lu Jiamei stiffened. She lowered herself again, watching the speedboat with renewed vigilance.
She knew she had been too impulsive, giving her position away so easily.
’If someone else was on that speedboat, they could have ambushed me. I would have been in serious danger!’
But this wasn’t the time to admit her mistake. She had to deal with the approaching speedboat first and apologize later.
Meanwhile, Xin Wan was lying on a seat inside the speedboat. Beside her was a small pile of Duckweed and other aquatic plants, which gave off a foul, fishy stench.
She had run out of food a week ago. For the past week, she had survived by eating these water plants.
Before the torrential rains flooded the land, Xin Wan had spent a full million to purchase this custom-built speedboat.
At first, she thought the downpour would last a month at most. She had prepared three months’ worth of food, assuming it would be more than enough.
She never expected it to last for over three months, with still no sign of stopping.
In those three months, she had been chased by other boats more than a dozen times. If her speedboat hadn’t been custom-built, she would have been caught long ago.
And judging from the crazed shouts of her pursuers, she knew the consequences of being caught would be horrific.
But now, the speedboat’s diesel reserves were gone. If she encountered another boat, she would be a sitting duck.
’Rather than fall into the hands of other strangers, it’s better to join this group. At least there’s a familiar face, even if we only met once.’

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