Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Rainstorm, Poisonous Guava Tree

Looking out, the long-unseen green hue shimmering through the misty water was as intoxicating as a Monet painting.

The water hyacinths were so dense that a single scoop could yield dozens of pounds. The yacht encountered resistance, and its progress slowed.

Zhang Qingfang looked at the hyacinths on the water’s surface and said with regret, "Sigh, this rain never stops. If the weather were just a little better, we could dry these and store them as animal feed."

Jiang Chengwu laughed. "There’s so much of it right here. Why are you always thinking about making feed? Our chicks haven’t even hatched yet."

Zhang Qingfang shot him a glare. "You never know what the future holds. The more we stockpile, the more secure we’ll be."

"Besides," she continued, "our chicks are about to hatch, and we’ll have even more later on. We might even raise ducks, cows, sheep, or pigs! They all eat so much—what doesn’t need feed?"

"Chickens and ducks, fine. But where are we going to get cows, sheep, and pigs? You’re just daydreaming. You haven’t even learned to swim yet!"

Grandma got a little irritated. "Look who’s talking! You’re not even as good at steering as I am!"

As the old couple argued, Jiang Linhai and Shen Baoying hurried to intervene. "Mom, Dad just wants you to learn to swim sooner. He didn’t mean anything else. Look around, we’re surrounded by water. It really is dangerous if you can’t swim."

Grandma glanced at the sheepish-looking Grandpa and said proudly, "I’ve just about gotten the hang of it."

The luxurious bathtub on the yacht could fit several people. Back home, Grandma had no way to practice, but the tub provided the perfect environment. With Jiang Si offering expert guidance, she quickly grasped the essentials.

Her breaststroke was shaping up nicely, and she was learning freestyle as well.

Niu Niu raised her hand. "I can prove it! Grandma is a great swimmer!"

The atmosphere lightened. Realizing his mistake, Grandpa quickly seized the opportunity to smooth things over. "Yes, I need to learn from your grandma. I’ll work on learning how to dive as soon as I can!"

Grandma wasn’t truly angry and broke into a laugh. "I’ll definitely learn it before you!" Then, not forgetting the important task at hand, she added, "I just wish the sun would come out soon so we can start making that feed."

Grandma’s worries were not without reason. The dimension was a powerful tool that helped them survive, but they couldn’t become overly dependent on it.

The two times the dimension had faltered had left her deeply worried. If something were to happen to the one they all relied on, the family would be left without its greatest asset.

This was why she was always trying to teach everyone various wilderness survival skills.

Until they found a suitable place to settle ashore, this yacht was the home they relied on, and the resources around it were their lifeline.

They had to make use of what was available.

Jiang Si had downloaded a large amount of agricultural information onto her tablet. She returned to her room and searched for two hours, finally finding a way to make feed from the water hyacinths without having to dry them.

All they needed to do was clean the roots, drain the excess water, chop them up, add a fermentation agent, and let them ferment. The water hyacinths would turn into silage, which also reduced the risk of poultry being infected by parasite eggs.

When Jiang Si told everyone, they immediately got to work, hanging ropes in the cabin hallway to let the surface water drain from the hyacinths.

The silage produced with this method fermented with incredible speed, and they soon filled the few plastic barrels they had on the boat.

Meanwhile, the red veins visible on the eggshells gradually darkened into shadows. The chicks were about to hatch.

Everyone was thrilled.

This meant that they would soon have a self-sustaining source of poultry and eggs.

They watched for a whole day, but the chicks still hadn’t hatched. Anxious and worried, Niu Niu couldn’t help but ask, "Sister, can’t I help them by peeling the shells?"

Jiang Si explained it to her patiently, like a teacher. "A chick has to break through the shell using its own strength. It’s a necessary process for their bodies to properly develop and increases their chance of survival. If we interfere, even if they hatch, their systems won’t be fully developed, and they won’t live for very long."

Niu Niu understood and said with a sweet smile, "I want to be like a little chick and learn from them."

’If it weren’t for the apocalypse,’ Lu Zhifeng thought, feeling a mix of pride and sorrow, ’Niu Niu would just be a carefree kid starting elementary school.’

To ensure she could survive in this new world, Lu Zhifeng had her train in self-defense with Jiang Si. And this little girl had never once complained about the exhaustion or the pain.

After a patient wait, the chicks finally began to hatch.

One, two, three... Out of the fifteen eggs, ten damp little chicks successfully hatched.

The newly hatched chicks needed immediate hydration to help them flush the remaining fluids from their digestive tracts. To give them a boost, Jiang Si added some brown sugar to their water, helping them regain strength and improve their immunity.

Niu Niu watched, her eyes filled with delight, as the chicks’ fuzz gradually fluffed up. "Sister," she asked, "don’t they need something to eat?"

Jiang Si explained, "Chicks can’t eat right after hatching; they can’t digest it. They just need water for now. After two days, we can start feeding them some softened rice and the feed we made."

Niu Niu’s face lit up with understanding, and she eagerly volunteered, "I can feed them!"

Everyone smiled. "Thank you, Niu Niu."

While the chicks grew strong and healthy, the group also began incubating duck eggs.

Duck eggs take about ten days longer to hatch than chicken eggs. While everyone waited patiently, a lush green forest appeared ahead of the yacht.

The extreme heat had caused most trees to wither and die. Only a few exceptionally hardy plants could burst back to life after the torrential rains.

The water hyacinth was one such plant, and cacti were another. Now, before them, was a third type: trees covered in fruits the size of walnuts.

As the yacht slowly navigated into the flooded forest, Jiang Si noted she had never seen these trees before. There were no water hyacinths growing beneath them, and she found the deathly quiet of the woods to be sinister and unnerving.

Niu Niu asked excitedly, "Dad, is that a fruit we can eat?"

Lu Zhifeng smiled. "They look like green jujubes, so they should be edible. I’ll pick a couple and see."

’If the fruit is edible, why aren’t any birds eating it?’ Just as Jiang Si was about to shout a warning, a drop of rain from a leaf dripped down the collar of her raincoat. A searing, corrosive pain immediately spread across her neck.

The burning sensation was even more intense for Lu Zhifeng, who had his hood down as he reached for the fruit.

Qin Shen shouted even before Jiang Si could, "The trees are poisonous! The toxin is water-soluble! Get back inside the boat, now!"

Everyone froze in shock and scrambled back into the cabin. They quickly tore off their raincoats, but it was already too late.

Welt-like sores erupted on any skin that had been touched by the rain, and the pain was as agonizing as a splash of sulfuric acid.

Big Black and Little Black had been kept inside to avoid getting wet and needing a bath, so their paws had never touched the deck. They were the only ones who escaped unharmed.

Lu Zhifeng was the most severely affected. While the others only had red blotches, his entire face was covered in red, tumor-like swellings. Niu Niu, terrified, huddled in his arms with tears streaming down her face, timidly crying, "Daddy... Daddy..."

Enduring the excruciating pain, Lu Zhifeng managed to respond to her. Through his tears, he looked at the others, his eyes pleading with them to take care of his daughter.

The immediate priority was to identify this tree so they could find the correct treatment.

Jiang Si rushed back to her room, looked it up on her tablet, and quickly found the answer.

They had actually encountered the Poisonous Guava tree—a plant that was lethally toxic in its entirety.