Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 28 - Chapter 28

The fish skin was extremely tough in its raw state. When Zhang Liu pressed the metal sheet against it, it only left faint marks.

But to him, that was enough. After all, it was like scraping in a game.

No matter how thick the armor, with enough scratches, it could still be broken!

“I have countless chances to try, and you’re already done for.”

When Zhang Liu felt his back was starting to burn from the sun, he finally managed to open the fish’s belly.

Pshh…

It sounded like muscle being squeezed. Zhang Liu reached inside the fish’s stomach and pulled out all the internal organs.

The fishy smell mixed with the warm and slimy feel was truly nauseating.

At the same time, he was amazed.

Zhang Liu had never imagined that the internal organs of a fish could be as large as those of poultry like chickens and ducks.

Looking at the mass of intestines in his hands, he hesitated for a moment.

Some science videos mentioned that fish innards could be eaten and provide essential nutrients, and were also good for making traps. One expert even talked about letting innards rot naturally before eating the maggots that came with it.

Eating fish innards…

Although he had never eaten sea fish innards, Zhang Liu had once tried cooking river fish innards with more seasoning, thinking it might taste okay. He had made carp tofu soup for his two younger sisters.

He himself tried slow-cooking the carp’s innards with ginger and cooking wine.

The terrible, overwhelmingly fishy taste was something Zhang Liu would never forget.

But now, in this wilderness, he couldn’t bear to waste the valuable food he had worked so hard to get.

After much deliberation, Zhang Liu washed the fish’s innards carefully in seawater.

The gills, intestines, and bile—things that looked especially fishy—he certainly didn’t want to keep, no matter how reluctant he was.

However, the liver, which was larger, and the swim bladder, he carefully cleaned off the blood and placed them in a coconut shell as a container.

After some thought, he filled the coconut shell with seawater as a way to preserve them.

Next, it was time to process the whole fish.

Zhang Liu was eager to cut it up. In his mind, if the fish that had been bled and gutted could still hop away, that would be a truly terrifying story.

Just as Zhang Liu thought this, the fish, which had been discarded on the rocks, suddenly twitched a couple of times.

Its dead eyes started to glow with an eerie light.

It was as if the fish, once a proud and undefeated champion of the seas, was now cursing its fate, being killed by a terrifying bipedal ape in this backwater.

After a brief silence, Zhang Liu decided to prevent the terrifying possibility of the fish escaping after being killed. He picked up the fish and began searching the beach for a large shell to use as a cooking vessel.

He was looking for the Tridacna (giant clam), which could supposedly grow to be 1.8 meters long and weigh 500 kilograms.

Zhang Liu didn’t need one that big, though. A shell the size of a basin would be enough.

And today, his luck was good.

After aimlessly searching the beach for a while, Zhang Liu found several giant clam shells left behind in the low tide zone.

After carefully picking the best ones, he went into the water and retrieved six shells: three large and three small.

Unlike the snow-white, crystalline appearance shown through filters or the vibrant colors people often saw, these shells, after being scrubbed by Zhang Liu, had various colors but mostly shades of white, gray, and yellow. They gave off a dull, gloomy appearance.

The shells were triangular, with curved paths from the top to the center, and deep, indented marks, as if they had been run over by a wheel. The edges were rough and had large teeth.

If one were to get technical, it looked like an enlarged, uglier shell.

The only part Zhang Liu was satisfied with was the smoothness of the inside after washing and the thickness of the shell. It looked perfect for cooking fish.

With a container ready, the unfortunate sea fish was now going to meet its end.

Although the metal piece wasn’t very sharp and the blade was short, it was already quite difficult to cut through the bones. Let alone the challenging task of severing the fish’s spine.

But Zhang Liu never expected to rely solely on this tool to cut the fish properly.

He simply made an incision on the other side of the bone, then grabbed both ends of the fish and twisted it with force.

With a cracking sound, accompanied by what might have been fish spinal fluid, or just seawater, flying into the air, the fish, which was previously over half a meter long, was immediately reduced by one-third in length.

Zhang Liu then continued in the same manner, cutting the fish into pieces.

Soon, the fish was divided with the fish head carrying some meat, the fish tail with some meat, and the fish body full of meat.

Holding the fish in one hand and possibly a seaweed-like large plant in the other, Zhang Liu hummed a tune as he made his way back to the cave.

This was only the first trip.

Next, he planned to make a few more trips to bring back the remaining clam shells.

Tonight, he was determined to have a proper feast.

Humming a tune, Zhang Liu was in an extremely good mood.

On the other side, Qin Ruoshuang was bending down to pick up the fallen Jabuticaba fruits and placing them into the coconut shells she was using as containers.

Anya, on the other hand, was standing under a tree, looking up and drinking water.

Their fruit picking work was nearing its end.

“Do you want some water?” Anya asked as she handed over the remaining half of the bottle of mineral water to Qin Ruoshuang, who had also started standing and catching her breath. “We should head back.”

“Mm, thanks.” Qin Ruoshuang took the bottle, drank a couple of sips, and nodded. “We should head back; the color of the sun is starting to change.”

According to Zhang Liu, when the sun turns red, it means dusk is approaching. If the sky turns red, they must speed up.

Qin Ruoshuang naturally didn’t want to cause any more trouble for Zhang Liu, especially since today’s harvest had been quite good.

The coconut shell containers were both full.

So, she planned to hurry back.

However, the fruits on the ground that could be directly picked up or easily plucked from the trees were now few and far between.

After all, these were not artificially bred high-quality products. The yield wasn’t very high, and the amount they had gathered was already impressive enough to last the three of them for two days.

“There aren’t many fruits left.” Before leaving, Qin Ruoshuang took one last look at the small forest. Halfway along the path, she couldn’t help but voice her concerns. “What will we do in the future?”

“Don’t worry, tonight we’re having fish!” Compared to Qin Ruoshuang, Anya appeared more optimistic.

She popped a Jabuticaba fruit into her mouth, savoring the sweet taste, and happily said, “By then, we’ll see who’s faster with the fish and who gets to eat more!”

“You have a point.” Thinking about tonight’s meat, a smile appeared on Qin Ruoshuang’s face as well.

She, too, was looking forward to dinner and quickened her pace.

The two soon arrived near the small mountain rock.

Looking at the large rock where they had curled up the previous night, Qin Ruoshuang couldn’t help but feel a pang of discomfort.

She remembered Zhang Liu’s carefree expression earlier that day during her and Anya’s conversation.

“Anya, do you think Zhang Liu will abandon us?” Holding the fruits, Qin Ruoshuang turned to ask, her voice full of concern.

She had asked this question before, and it had been echoing in her mind ever since. Now, she could no longer keep it in.

“Uh…”

Anya blinked, looking very strange, but she remained silent.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to respond.

It was because Anya saw Zhang Liu’s head popping up from the other side of the rock, his expression one of shock.