Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 55 - Chapter 55

The plan he came up with last night was very simple and easy: spread a thick layer of dried leaves on top, then cover it with a thick layer of dry grass, and light it on fire.

The next step was just to wait.

Finally, he would use the cooled ashes as a water absorber, which would help dry and sterilize the cave.

He planned to jump in and clean it briefly, hoping to finish by afternoon and start making “pit-roasted lamb.”

If all went well, they could have lamb legs for dinner and maybe bring some lamb meat on the exploration tomorrow.

But that was only the plan in theory.

In practice, Zhang Liu already found the first step troublesome.

The biggest issue was the burning efficiency.

Since the pit had no air inlet, although the dry grass had been carefully selected and was theoretically perfect for burning, the fire didn’t burn thoroughly.

After the top layer burned out, the layers beneath stopped burning altogether.

This forced him to stand beside the pit with a long stick, poking away the outer layer of ash that blocked the oxygen, helping the fire to burn.

This was a barely workable solution to the burning efficiency problem.

But a new problem appeared: at the bottom of the cave pit was about a five-centimeter layer of rotten mud and humus, and some black liquid remained inside.

Whenever he poked the pile of burning dry grass with the stick, it would come into contact with the liquid.

It would hiss and then go out—no big deal.

The real problem was that the smoke was thick and black—much worse than the smoke that had just smoked the lamb meat.

“Cough, cough, cough…” Zhang Liu stood nearby. He had no idea how much his appearance was affected by the smoke, but his coughing wouldn’t stop.

At the same time, his poking and stirring of the dry grass inside the pit never ceased.

With Zhang Liu’s persistent efforts—constantly adding dry grass, poking and stirring to improve the burning efficiency, and coughing violently—he was eventually forced to step away from the stone pit because of the heat.

This empty, rocky place left him in a state of embarrassment, and Zhang Liu decided to run back to the cave to help Anya. As for the pit, he could only wait for it to cool down before coming over to check on the situation.

However, the burning efficiency had clearly improved.

After the moisture in the pit evaporated, those yellowed and blackened leaves couldn’t escape becoming fuel for the fire.

The originally thick, black smoke gradually lessened—signaling that all the moisture inside had been baked dry and the fire was entering a smoldering phase.

Before leaving, Zhang Liu, following the old saying “more wood, bigger flames,” stuffed several handfuls of dry grass into the pit.

He also propped the stirring stick upright in the center to act as an air passage.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the island, a girl looked up at the sky, watching the smoke that had lingered for a long time gradually disappear. Excitement showed on her face.

Her appearance and outfit were almost exactly the same as Qin Ruoshang, who was bending over nearby the cave picking up firewood.

The only difference was the stockings wrapped around her legs—Qin Ruoshang wore black stockings, while this girl’s were white, though slightly yellowed from days of trekking.

“Hopefully it’s a rescue!” she murmured, looking at the forest ahead where wolf howls would ring out at night, biting her lip.

She ran out to the beach and began heading toward the direction where the smoke had come from.

Like Zhang Liu, the girl preferred to take the long way around the beach rather than entering the forest recklessly.

……………………

“Lamb skewers, lamb skewers, three skewers for one dollar!”

Near the cave, Anya was screaming loudly.

Zhang Liu and Qin Ruoshang were sitting nearby and laughing.

With ample food boosting their morale, the three of them felt noticeably more spirited.

After laughing, Zhang Liu looked helplessly at Qin Ruoshang. It was because of her that Anya was being so cheeky.

Claiming to want to put on a show, Anya had volunteered to perform imitate the “lamb kebab” seller, and the performance was indeed quite entertaining.

“What are you looking at?” Qin Ruoshang’s face flushed slightly. She looked down and scraped a piece of coconut meat from a coconut shell with a sharp flint stone, then held it up to Zhang Liu’s mouth and said, “Hungry?”

“No…” Zhang Liu shook his head helplessly, not knowing what to say. He reached out and took the coconut meat from Qin Ruoshang, then chewed it. The taste was still incredibly bland.

But their lunch was packed with protein.

After Anya finished grilling the last three skewers she had, they began to eat.

Each had three skewers of lamb, a coconut, a big bowl of lamb offal soup, plus two jiabao fruits.

Just from appearances, it looked quite decent and even considered a hearty meal.

But the actual taste…

“If only we had salt,” Anya said with a sour face after sipping the lamb offal soup. “It’s so bland, and it tastes a bit off…”

Qin Ruoshang, who was eating lamb skewers, also showed a somewhat unsatisfied expression after chewing carefully.

Wild lamb, when cooked by a famous chef, might indeed bring out a wilder flavor and taste better than ordinary farmed lamb.

But there were two prerequisites.

One: a famous chef.

Two: proper cooking.

Among Anya, Zhang Liu, and Qin Ruoshang, the only ones related to famous chefs were Anya and Qin Ruoshang.

But even they only dined in luxurious restaurants occasionally, where chefs might come by to show off their skills—but that was the extent of it.

As for cooking, the three were still stuck in a primitive state, like slash-and-burn agriculture.

They also don’t know any spices like wild onion, ginger, or garlic.

Being able to cook meat over a fire was already an incredible achievement.

As a result, they couldn’t detect the wildness in the mountain goats’ meat.

However, Zhang Liu did notice the lamb’s natural gaminess and odor, as well as the sour and bitter tastes caused by blood left in the meat—because he hadn’t drained it properly beforehand.

The lamb offal skewers eaten that morning for breakfast were delicious, helped by the seasoning of hunger—anything tastes good when you’re hungry.

But the lamb skewers and lamb offal soup they had for lunch didn’t taste as good. The three of them, thinking “save the best food for last,” prioritized eating the coconut and jiabao fruit first.

That’s why Qin Ruoshang and Anya began to feel the food wasn’t very tasty—though it didn’t stop them from eating eagerly.

Today, the seasoning of hunger was gone, but the lingering effects from the past few days still remained!

They could only fill their stomachs with fruit or seafood, and the painful hunger that followed left the two girls only able to complain about the lack of seasoning and the poor taste.

Beside the two girls, Zhang Liu had already finished his food quickly and was eagerly staring at the lamb ribs, lamb rump, four big legs, and several unknown cuts hanging on the drying rack, smoked by the smoke.

“Here!” Anya divided her two remaining skewers, handing one to Zhang Liu as she said, “For you!”

She saw the longing in Zhang Liu’s eyes for meat.

Although Anya also craved meat, remembering how he had once starved himself to let her eat, she chose to share her meat.

While handing over the skewer, Anya also said to Qin Ruoshang, “I’m already eating less meat than usual, so don’t you dare snatch my lamb leg tonight!”

“Okay!” Qin Ruoshang said, suppressing a smile as she brought her half-finished bowl of lamb offal soup over to Zhang Liu. “Zhang Liu, my stomach feels bad. This lamb offal is too tough, so you should finish it for me.”

“Your stomach hurts?” Zhang Liu nervously took the skewer from Anya and placed it on a large shell, looking anxiously at Qin Ruoshang.

“It’s nothing. Maybe I’ve eaten too much fruit lately and can’t handle too much meat all at once,” Qin Ruoshang said casually, putting down the soup and beginning to carefully chew the roasted meat.

“Really nothing?” Zhang Liu still looked worried.

In this wilderness, stomach problems were a huge deal.

“Yeah, it’s nothing, just a bit uncomfortable.” Qin Ruoshang found it complicated to face Zhang Liu, who took everything so seriously, but she didn’t show it on her face. Instead, she softly added, “It should get better soon. Help me finish the lamb offal soup so I feel better inside—wasting food would be such a shame!”

“Oh, okay!” Zhang Liu quickly picked up a piece of what was probably intestine from the soup and began chewing. Just as he was about to swallow, Anya suddenly grabbed his collar.

“My stomach hurts now too! Eat this piece of meat and make me happy!” Anya shoved the last piece of meat left in her hand into Zhang Liu’s mouth, holding his collar with one hand. She shot a glance at the stunned Qin Ruoshang, then turned to threaten the equally stunned Zhang Liu: “Or else I’ll be unhappy about wasting food too!”