Chapter 165 : Chapter 165
Chapter 165: How Much Longer Must We Endure This
Yi Ning sat beside the campfire, her legs lightly drawn together, chin resting in her hands, idly watching Lu Zheng—who sat beside her, happily playing nonstop with the universal tool she had given him.
Wrench, hammer, screwdriver…
A different tool every second, endlessly transforming in his hands.
It had been about an hour since they decided to clear a space and collect wood to build a device that could get them out of the forest.
In that time, Lu Zheng had single-handedly cleared a circular area with nearly a 50-meter radius.
The trees he chopped down were neatly stacked at the edge of the clearing in triangular piles.
She really had picked the right guy for the job.
Yi Ning marveled to herself.
Though her universal tool could make short work of these ordinary trees with just a light swipe, creating a usable clearing also meant digging out tree roots and filling in the ground afterward.
That kind of tedious work—Lu Zheng had managed to finish in under an hour.
Not only that, during the process he had also gathered food, built a simple shelter from branches and leaves, and finally started a fire.
With a lighter.
Yi Ning still chuckled, recalling how Lu Zheng had stubbornly tried to start a fire the traditional way.
He had gathered flammable materials, then crafted a little wooden bow and attempted to start a fire by friction—completely ignoring the fact that the forest was relatively damp. He drilled for ages without so much as a spark.
Eventually, when Yi Ning’s stomach growled and she asked when dinner would be ready, she’d wordlessly handed him a lighter from her pocket.
The look on Lu Zheng’s face at that moment had been priceless.
(Side note: her universal tool also included a flamethrower.)
Night was falling.
Yi Ning sat atop Lu Zheng’s jacket, bored stiff, gazing at the enormous moon hanging in the sky.
There seemed to be a time difference between this planet and Blue Star.
By her estimate, they’d been here for about three hours.
Back when they arrived, it was around 5 p.m. Blue Star time—meaning it was now roughly 8 p.m.
On Blue Star, it was midsummer. At 8 p.m., it wouldn’t be this dark—not to the point of pitch-black.
Fortunately, the two planets didn’t differ much in season, so it wasn’t cold enough for her to be shivering.
“Crunch!”
Yi Ning bit into a fruit shaped like an apple.
It was sweet.
Though it looked like an apple, the texture resembled a pear, and the flavor had hints of peach—clearly an alien product.
At her feet, she had a small pile of similarly shaped fruits.
All of them had been picked by Lu Zheng while chopping trees.
He’d noticed birds pecking at the fruit and deduced from the bite marks that it was likely non-toxic and edible.
To be safe, he tested it himself before bringing them back.
Given how lively he still was, it seemed safe enough.
Yi Ning finished one in a few bites and poked at the horned rabbit roasting over the fire—cleaned and prepared by Lu Zheng.
This one was also his catch.
According to him, the rabbit had tried to shoot ice spikes at him using the horn on its head.
Bold move.
Its current fate showed exactly what happened to creatures that challenged Lu Zheng.
“How much longer must we endure this?”
This was Yi Ning’s first night on an alien planet—no TV, no computer, no phone signal…
She was dying of boredom.
She already missed her game console at home.
She sighed and tossed the fruit core into the fire.
The flames wavered for a moment, then gradually settled.
“Hey!” Lu Zheng frowned, shooting her a glare of disapproval.
“Pfft.” Yi Ning turned her head, rolled her eyes dramatically where he could see, and stuck out her lip. Then she grabbed another fruit to munch on.
This time, she behaved.
She waved the fruit core over the fire for a bit, then tossed it somewhere else.
Lu Zheng gave her a glance but said nothing.
He picked up the roasting rabbit, examined it in the firelight, then flipped it over and set it back down.
“Needs a bit more time. Be patient.”
He picked up one of the fruits near Yi Ning and tossed it to her.
“Here, hold yourself over with this.”
“I’ve already eaten who knows how many.”
Yi Ning caught the fruit.
She held it in both hands, staring at it blankly in front of her.
Lu Zheng tossed a few more branches into the fire, causing the flames to blaze brighter.
The firelight illuminated the two silent figures.
The fire crackled with burning wood, and the shadows danced over their faces with the occasional forest breeze.
It was hard to say how much time passed before Lu Zheng picked up the rabbit again.
Its skin was crisp and golden, glistening with oil that dripped down its surface and hissed into the flames below, making them flare up even more.
“Yeah… this should be about ready.”
He tore off a piece and chewed it. After making sure there were no problems, he handed the whole thing—still on the skewer—to Yi Ning.
She didn’t stand during the ceremony. She grabbed the stick, tore off a leg, and stuffed it into her mouth without caring about the heat.
“Ssss—”
“Owwwwww—”
“Hot as hell!”
Yi Ning opened her mouth wide, blowing frantically in the air. After a while, she finally chewed a few times and hesitantly swallowed.
“How should I put it…”
It wasn’t bad.
Probably because it was a magical beast from some fantasy world, the rabbit’s meat quality was surprisingly good. Plus, Lu Zheng’s grilling skills weren’t bad—juicy, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth.
But…
There was no flavor.
The meat was great, but it had no seasoning.
Understandable—they were in the middle of nowhere. Where would they get spices?
Miss Yi Ning, spoiled by modern comforts, couldn’t take it.
Face drooping, she listlessly bit into the rabbit leg again, then handed the rest of the rabbit back to Lu Zheng.
“You take the rest. I’ll stick to my fruit.”
She dropped the leg, picked up another fruit, wiped it on Lu Zheng’s jacket she’d been sitting on, and started gnawing again.
But fruit alone couldn’t satisfy her hunger.
In the end, she not only finished her leg, she ate most of the rabbit she’d just handed back to Lu Zheng.
“Yaaawn—”
Yi Ning stretched.
Now full and a little sleepy.
“Get some sleep,” Lu Zheng said, glancing at her while poking the fire with a stick. “I’ll keep watch.”
“Then I’m counting on you… haahh…”
Yi Ning rubbed her eyes, curled up on Lu Zheng’s clothes under the makeshift shelter on the other side of the fire, laid out her lab coat and his jacket as bedding, and dozed off—murmuring softly as she drifted into sleep.