Xin Wan had already prepared lunch and was calling him over to eat.
The moment he stepped into the speedboat’s cabin, Ren Yuanyang was hit by the pungent stench of blood.
Looking at the bowl of dark red rice porridge on the table, Ren Yuanyang frowned slightly. "This isn’t porridge made with that crocodile blood, is it?"
Xin Wan nodded, looking rather resigned. "We don’t have anything to get rid of the gamey taste right now, so we’ll just have to make do!"
Ren Yuanyang was now regretting that he’d eaten all the ginger they had previously gathered in one go. But he had a high fever at the time and couldn’t think that far ahead.
Besides the bowl of dark red rice porridge, there was also a large slab of crocodile meat. To raise his Mental Energy as quickly as possible, he would probably have to eat crocodile meat until he was sick of it!
If other survivors knew Ren Yuanyang was eating meat until he was sick of it, their eyes would turn red with envy!
Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan each had a small bowl of white rice porridge and a small piece of crocodile meat.
"Let’s eat!" Ren Yuanyang said, pinching his nose as he began to eat.
Soon, the aroma of the food drifted over to Qin Haonan, who was patrolling nearby.
"Smells so good!" Qin Haonan looked toward the speedboat, and his stomach, which he had just filled, started rumbling again.
He shook his head and paddled his wooden plank a little farther away. Smelling it without being able to eat was pure torture.
SPLASH!
A spray of water erupted, and a black figure flashed past!
Qin Haonan was immediately on alert. He put down the flat wooden stick in his hand, grabbed his cleaver, and stared at the spot where the splash had just appeared.
’Could it be that same black fish I fought last time?’ Qin Haonan frowned, staring at the water’s surface.
As if in answer to his question, the water’s surface splashed again.
This time, Qin Haonan saw it clearly. It was indeed a black fish, though whether it was the same one he had fought before was impossible to say.
However, the black fish seemed to be eating the Cannibal Fish entrails he had just thrown in.
’As expected, it attracted a carnivorous fish!’ Qin Haonan thought. After a brief hesitation, he decided against moving closer to Ren Yuanyang’s group. Instead, he gripped his cleaver and stared intently at the spot where the black fish had just appeared.
The entrails of a single Cannibal Fish weren’t much, so the black fish quickly finished what Qin Haonan had thrown in and began to circle his wooden plank.
Clearly, something else on Qin Haonan’s plank was attracting it.
The black fish occasionally thrashed at the surface, creating splashes as if it were taunting Qin Haonan!
’It doesn’t see me as its next meal, does it?’ Qin Haonan narrowed his eyes, shifting his stance to follow the black fish’s movements.
Suddenly, he lunged, swinging the cleaver in his hand fiercely into the water.
SMACK!
The sound of his fist, still gripping the handle, hitting the water was loud and clear.
Qin Haonan clearly felt his blade strike something, but it slid off to the side. The next moment, a sharp pain shot through the heel of his palm!
HISS!
Qin Haonan hastily pulled his hand out of the water. The heel of his palm had been bitten, and blood was streaming from the wound!
Ren Yuanyang and the others heard the commotion and hurried out.
"Qin Haonan, what’s going on?" Ren Yuanyang asked in a low voice.
"I think the entrails I threw in earlier attracted a black fish! It’s right next to my plank!" Qin Haonan didn’t turn his head, his eyes remaining fixed on the surrounding water.
Hearing it was just a fish, Ren Yuanyang breathed a sigh of relief. "Didn’t I tell you? If you run into a fish, you can just move closer to us!"
"I only have two fish right now, which isn’t enough to eat. I wanted to see if I could take this one down myself!" Qin Haonan explained.
"Just come a little closer!" Ren Yuanyang said after a moment’s thought. "I’ll catch the black fish, and I’ll give you half!"
Qin Haonan was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head. "If you catch it, it’s yours. You don’t have to share it with me!"
Ren Yuanyang was a little speechless. He immediately directed the runners of the bitter grass toward Qin Haonan.
This time, he dispatched three stalks of bitter grass, their entangling ability enhanced four times over. Even if this newly evolved black fish was incredibly fierce, they would be more than enough to capture it!
Three aquatic plants suddenly drifted over underwater. The black fish, unaware of the danger, continued to circle Qin Haonan’s plank, waiting for an opportunity.
The black fish hoped Qin Haonan would put his hand back in the water. The taste of fresh blood from moments ago had excited it immensely!
It rose to the surface again, trying to bait Qin Haonan into striking.
Qin Haonan didn’t disappoint it. He slashed with his cleaver again. The black fish was incredibly agile, darting to one side, then instantly turning and snapping at Qin Haonan’s hand like a flash of lightning!
Qin Haonan’s strike missed. Knowing the black fish would surely attack his hand again, he quickly pulled it from the water.
At that very moment, the runners of the three bitter grass stalks shot out and wrapped around it.
The black fish immediately sensed the danger and began to struggle violently.
As it was already near the surface, its struggles sent water splashing everywhere!
But no matter how much it thrashed, it couldn’t escape the bitter grass’s entanglement.
Sensing that the bitter grass had the black fish under control, Ren Yuanyang immediately pulled it back.
Ignoring the utterly dumbfounded Qin Haonan, Ren Yuanyang walked back into the speedboat’s cabin and went back to pinching his nose and drinking his crocodile blood porridge!
’What just happened?’ Qin Haonan thought, trying to recall the details. ’It was like something grabbed the black fish, which is why it started struggling so violently!’
’Could it be that the boss has some kind of Fishing Device installed underwater?’
’That has to be it! How else could he have caught all those Cannibal Fish!’
’No wonder the boss is so generous, trading fish for plants! With a Fishing Device, catching fish would be so much easier!’
’If I could just follow a boss like him, I’d never have to worry about food again. I just wonder if he’s looking for any followers!’
Qin Haonan’s mind raced with possibilities, but in the end, he shook his head. ’I’d better just focus on finishing these three days of patrol first.’
Ren Yuanyang grimly finished his lunch, chugging a bottle of water, but he could still taste the blood in his mouth.
"Did the bitter grass runners bring back any good supplies?" Ren Yuanyang asked casually.
"Five bottles of mineral water, three bottles of cola, five packs of instant noodles, and a package of new clothes. The packaging is unopened, but it’s soaked. Everything else was worthless!" Xin Wan replied immediately.
"Not a bad haul. Let’s have a change of pace tonight and eat instant noodles!" Ren Yuanyang was very pleased with the find.
Lu Jiamei smiled and replied, "We can have a change of pace, but you can’t. You have to work on increasing your Mental Energy!"
Ren Yuanyang replied helplessly, "I don’t mind continuing to eat crocodile meat, but please, at least leave me a little bit of the instant noodle broth to rinse my mouth with!"
"How about I use the instant noodle seasoning packet to cover up the gaminess of the crocodile blood?" Xin Wan suggested.
"That could work!" Ren Yuanyang nodded immediately.
"Alright, I’ll do that for dinner!" Xin Wan agreed. "But... we probably only have enough electricity for two more days of cooking. After that, we might have to start eating raw food too!"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang’s brow furrowed.
They had only just had two days of hot meals. Were they going to regress to their old ways already?
Without electricity, wouldn’t he have to drink the crocodile blood raw?
He had no desire to live the primitive life of a savage, eating raw meat and drinking blood!
"What if we tried putting gasoline into the diesel engine?"

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