After leaving the area where coastal sandy vegetation was widely distributed, the scene ahead turned into an inland tropical monsoon forest.
Li Younan didn’t rush to take action but observed the surroundings. The most urgent task now was to find a water source.
Although coconut trees can provide moisture, there are too many limitations.
Recording the plants on the island while continuing to explore, overall, the areas he had explored so far didn’t have particularly difficult paths.
Near the cliffs, Li Younan found two springs.
He crouched down, and around the freshwater spring, water ferns and sweet flags were growing. His heart was slightly delighted, but he knew that such spring water couldn’t be directly drunk and needed further filtration.
A small wetland had formed around the spring, but because the runoff was too small, it hadn’t formed a river on the island.
It should currently be the wet season in the tropical monsoon forest, so it’s very likely for heavy rains to fall intermittently.
Li Younan left the spring and continued towards his destination.
The journey was not entirely safe, mainly due to certain poisonous things.
With his rich knowledge of plants, he discovered a few white-flowered angel’s trumpets. The whole plant is poisonous, and the leaves can easily be mistaken for wild vegetables. If accidentally ingested, it can cause hallucinations, convulsions, and respiratory failure.
Apart from the danger from plants, he also found a kind of Spiny Luang bamboo stick insect on the branches in the rainforest, which wasn’t too dangerous, but could cause inflammation if it scratched the skin.
Overall, the island was safe, with basically nothing that could threaten him.
The island was small, and before long, Li Younan reached the high ground of the entire island.
This is the rocky coast on the north side of the island, mainly consisting of limestone cliffs, only about ten meters high, but the cliff face is very steep, with sea caves pitted throughout.
Li Younan climbed the cliff and looked down, seeing several bays below.
As is well known, the impact of wind and waves inside bays is very small. Judging by sight, the water depth is only about four or five meters. If there were a boat, it could be anchored in such a bay.
Then, looking over the entire island, it’s clearly small, irregularly elliptical in shape, about two kilometers long and approximately 1.5 kilometers wide by sight.
Now roughly understanding his situation, Li Younan began to plan his next steps.
The first thing, naturally, was to make a shelter. However, the current problem was his lack of tools, and it would be troublesome to handle those logs barehanded. The sea caves on the cliffs could serve as temporary shelters, but that’s not a long-term solution.
The shelter should naturally be placed on the highest point, where the view is better and the climate is drier.
There is also a beach near the high ground. If a ship passes by, it can be seen immediately.
Feeling a bit more settled, Li Younan decided to first find some food and consider further once he had enough strength.
Tropical regions have this advantage: resources are truly abundant, so there’s no need to laboriously fish or hunt. Li Younan easily picked some breadfruit in the forest.
Yes, it’s the legendary breadfruit that can be baked and eaten as bread.
This thing is entirely green, about the size of a bowling ball. Ripe breadfruit can be easily peeled by hand by Li Younan, and the pulp inside looks a bit like durian or cheese and can be eaten raw.
Li Younan tore off a piece with his hand and tasted it. He had to admit that the taste was quite good, much milder than durian, with a lightly sweet flavor.
Breadfruit contains rich starch and can be used as a staple food. Of course, it tastes even better if baked.
So the next step is to consider how to make a fire.
However, as Li Younan was about to undertake this task, the sky visibly darkened, not because of the time, but due to the accumulation of clouds.
Li Younan sighed slightly, then saw flashes of lightning in the cloud layers, followed by rain pouring down.
Although under such climate conditions, even when it rains, the temperature is above 20°C and not considered cold, getting soaked still wouldn’t be comfortable.
Fortunately, Li Younan had already decided on where he would stay when it rained. As the rain started, he climbed into the sea cave.
The rain poured down with a rush, and the world felt so vast as if only he existed.
With nothing to do, his mind became particularly active.
Does Liu Li know his current situation? How’s Huang Xiaoyang doing with his diving? And his younger schoolmate...does she like him?
With random thoughts swirling in his head, during such a rainy day, Li Younan leaned against the stone wall of the sea cave and fell into a deep sleep.
The rain didn’t last long; when Li Younan opened his eyes again, the weather was sunny, and the temperature seemed to have risen slightly.
Li Younan emerged from the cave and resumed his activities, first needing to make a fire. This wasn’t difficult; friction by drilling sticks, though ancient, was indeed effective.
Li Younan found several trees in the forest that were relatively easy to ignite, and broke off their branches. However, since it just rained, and fresh branches tend to have a lot of moisture, they would be difficult to use for fire.
Fortunately, this was easy to solve. Li Younan placed these branches under the sun to dry. After a few hours, the moisture would be just about gone.
A few hours later, Li Younan successfully started a fire using friction, combined with the coconut fibers he had found on the beach earlier.
Seeing the fire ignite, Li Younan felt an indescribable excitement within him. It truly was a giant leap for mankind.
With flames now available, Li Younan roasted the breadfruit he collected earlier. After a hearty meal, he felt much more comfortable.
With the basic needs for sustaining life now secured, it was time to seriously consider searching for the plane.
Li Younan was well aware that to establish communication with the outside world, he would need parts from the plane. Even if he found a piece of steel, it could greatly improve his current situation.
But after a day of exertion, with the sky turning dark, Li Younan decided to wait until tomorrow to continue.
During the time waiting for the wood to dry, Li Younan did not stay idle. He used pandan leaves to weave a mat and a sunshade, laying out the mat inside a cave, with a row of branches underneath.
This made it certainly more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.
At night, the island was hit by heavy rain again.
The sound of rain masked all other noises.
The next morning, upon waking up, Li Younan had a hearty meal of the leftover breadfruit from the day before, then headed directly to the beach.
He had only been here for one day, so the sooner he searched the sea, the more likely he was to find the plane.
After all, some things in the plane are able to float. If luck is on his side and he finds some clues, he can roughly determine the position of the plane.
The current troublesome thing is that he has no boat. To conserve energy, Li Younan gathered many coconut shells along the beach, which had previously fallen and were hard and hollow.
Li Younan used vines to tie them together into a simple floating platform, then took the coconut shells and swam out to sea.
During this process, Li Younan kept his eyes searching underwater.
To be honest, judging by the quality of the seawater alone, it’s truly very clean. Even if compared to other top-notch tropical resort islands in the world, it’s at such a level, and the seawater in coastal areas domestically can’t compare at all.
Li Younan’s swimming skills naturally need no elaboration, allowing him to search easily for a while.
Amusingly, Li Younan thought, it might be interesting to buy this little island and build a vacation house.
Although Li Younan could roughly determine the sea area where the plane had crashed, finding the wreckage was still not so easy.
In the following few days, Li Younan devoted most of his energy to searching for the plane wreckage, even neglecting further improving the shelter, mainly because he had no tools and couldn’t use his skills to the fullest.
Yet gradually, he adjusted his mindset, understanding that how you perceive a situation affects how it is. Treating this venture on a deserted island as a unique holiday helps maintain a better frame of mind.
The reason he didn’t completely break down mentally is that Li Younan knew that even with a grid search, eventually, he would find the plane wreckage.
And once he found the wreckage, relying on his electrical engineering skills, he would definitely be able to use something there to make contact with the outside world.
Finally, after three days, Li Younan found a tag, as well as a colorful ribbon of leaked fuel on the sea surface.
He felt a surge of happiness and dove underwater.
The depth here was about twenty meters. For most people, this depth is extremely difficult to dive, but Li Younan simply held his breath, smoothly diving to the seabed.
The deeper he went, the cooler the water temperature became, but overall it remained within a comfortable range.
Li Younan opened his eyes underwater, and since the water quality here was very clear, his visibility was within tens of meters.
Finally, he saw the wreckage of the plane.
Sunlight penetrated through twenty meters of clear seawater, scattering light on the sandy seabed.
The cabin windows were shattered, the clear seawater had long submerged the fuselage, with some lightweight debris floating slowly in the water.
Upon finding the plane wreckage, Li Younan felt reassured.
He cautiously swam to the front of the cabin, and peered into the cockpit through the glass. The captain and co-pilot’s figures were no longer there, probably swept away by ocean currents that night.
They were both wearing life jackets, so if swept to another island, there was still a chance of survival.
This was actually better; seeing two bodies would be somewhat terrifying.

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