Others try to survive on an island, I try to survive on a raft?

Chapter 49 A roundabout way to save the country

"Huh? You're not kidding, are you, uncle!"

The little girl was dumbfounded. How could she have made it in just one day?

Although she had already formed a general idea upon hearing the words "ballista" and seeing the harpoon bolt, she still had a clear idea in her mind.

It has to be said that Su Jin's idea was simply ingenious; she would never have come up with it.

But it was precisely because she had an idea in her mind that she felt this task was particularly difficult.

A ballista capable of carrying such a large harpoon bolt must be quite large, even larger than a regular cannon.

According to her estimate, it would probably be as big as a catapult.

But Su Jin didn't care about all that. If it were before, he would have been more understanding of this young girl and given her more time.

But the situation is different now. The sooner the ballistae can be built, the greater their safety will be.

"Just one day, ideally tonight I should see the ballistae assembled at the bow of the ship."

Su Jin's tone was just like Shen Qiaoqiao's homeroom teacher assigning homework—cold and without a hint of doubt about whether she could complete the task.

Shen Qiaoqiao clenched her fists, glared fiercely at the despicable uncle, and then... she obediently agreed.

"Okay, uncle, I will definitely try my best to make the ballista."

She gave up; it was clear that Su Jin had no room for negotiation.

Looking back and thinking about it carefully, her brain was actually dominated by laziness first; she didn't want to do something so tiring... um, homework.

In fact, if she were more efficient, it wouldn't be impossible for her to finish before evening.

Ultimately, this ballista is just a larger, assembled structure that can be disassembled with a little thought.

Then, with her master-level craftsmanship, it wasn't actually a very difficult thing.

A skilled craftswoman never stops working because something is difficult; as long as she has the materials, she will work her way up!

Seeing the enthusiasm gradually fill Shen Qiaoqiao's eyes, Su Jin felt very gratified.

I never knew I could build an aircraft carrier if I didn't push myself!

At Shen Qiaoqiao's age, she should be striving and working hard. For a young girl, making a crossbow is easier than making a set of five-year college entrance exam simulations.

If it were that kind of thing, it might not even be possible to make it in a day.

He handed the harpoon to Shen Qiaoqiao, telling her to roast her own brain, and then looked at Shen Ruying and Li Yuanyuan.

Before he could even speak, Li Yuanyuan interjected:

"Brother Su, weapons alone aren't enough; defense is also a big problem!"

"That's right." Su Jin was just about to bring up this issue. "Although our wooden boat looks quite sturdy, it's no different from a crispy biscuit to those sea monsters."

For example, a coral crystal crab probably wouldn't require much force; a gentle pinch would be enough to split the boat in two.

In fact, regarding defense, there is a rule that was mentioned at the beginning of the system.

That ship is actually part of Su Jin's territory. Normally, he should be absolutely safe in his territory and have the power of life and death over it.

He truly experienced the latter, that's for sure, the key point is absolute safety.

He never felt safe on the boat, after all, the seashells he pulled up could pinch him until he bled.

In other words, he would get injured on the ship, which meant there was almost no safety to speak of.

He didn't know what this so-called absolute safety meant, but that wasn't something he needed to think about right now.

Regarding the defense aspect, Su Jin currently feels that it is still unsolvable.

He asked Li Yuanyuan, who had raised the question, with a glimmer of hope. The adorable young girl just shook her head blankly. When she saw Shen Ruying, the young woman also quickly shook her head.

Well, he's incredibly stupid to actually rely on these two big-breasted, brainless guys.

However, even though the defense problem could not be solved, Su Jin still had a roundabout way to achieve his goal.

Defense is only needed when you are attacked. If the enemy can't attack you, then it doesn't matter if your defense is low, right?

So, to put it simply, his method is...

"Speed! Low defense doesn't matter, we just need to increase our speed!"

In reality, their ship isn't going much faster now.

After racing against the coral crystal crab last night, he realized that in the eyes of sea monsters, his ship was only slightly better than a turtle.

Those coral crystal crabs from last night were among the sea creatures that weren't known for their speed.

If even these sea monsters could chase them half to death, wouldn't they have no chance of escaping from real sea monsters?

At that point, even the highest level of defense will be useless. Being surrounded and attacked by a group of sea monsters is no different from waiting to die on the spot.

Shen Ruying always wholeheartedly agreed with Su Jin's words, so she directly asked:

"Brother Su, just tell me what you need us to do, and I will do my best to do it."

Having gone through so much, she has gradually come to accept that she is a member of the ship, or rather, she has developed a sense of belonging to the team.

She had a slight unease in her heart before, because it was Su Jin's boat, and they were living under someone else's roof.

Most of her actions were aimed at pleasing Su Jin, rather than doing anything for the ship.

Things are different now. She realizes that her efforts can make her and her daughter safer and their lives better.

This shift in mindset made her more proactive and motivated.

Seeing how enthusiastic the young woman was, Su Jin smiled happily.

"Qiaoqiao has a lot of tasks, and you have quite a few too. Next, I need to focus on upgrading the sailboat, which requires a lot of flax."

"So, Ruying, your task is to gather as much flax as possible from your island in the next two days. I have a feeling that the island is becoming increasingly uninhabitable."

"Not all of this flax will be used to upgrade the sails; most of it will be used to make clothes to cope with the cold wave. It would be even better if we had cotton... Hmm, let's not think about that for now."

Upon hearing this, Shen Ruying immediately felt that the task was somewhat arduous.

She knew very well how big the flax field was, but she still accepted it immediately.

"Okay, Brother Su, leave it to me. I'll do my best."

"Very good!" Su Jin couldn't help but praise.

Shen Ruying accepted the offer. Regardless of whether she could complete it, she would definitely try her best. He liked people like that.

Then, he turned to look at Li Yuanyuan, took a deep breath, and said:

"Yuanyuan, your task is equally important. First, you need to take a risk and go into the forest to pick mushrooms while also searching for steel wood."

"Steel and wood?" Li Yuanyuan was taken aback; she had never heard of it before.

Su Jin patiently explained:

"It's a tree that's as hard as iron, so it should be different from ordinary trees. You absolutely must find it."

"Also, when it gets dark at night, you feel like you're coming out of there, but of course you can't just sit idle at this time; you have to deal with the food on the ship."

"Extract fish oil from both the rock snake and the small crystal crab. If the leftover scraps can be used as spare food, then use them; if not, then forget about it."

"In addition, wolf meat and other small fish were smoked and used as dry rations when the cold wave came."

Li Yuanyuan nodded solemnly. Her task was not easy either. She had to look for things during the day and work at night. It was almost like she was splitting herself into two people.

Then, something occurred to her, and she asked curiously:

"Brother Su, what are you going to do? Go out to sea to fish?"

Su Jin nodded, then shook his head:

"It's a trip out to sea, but not for fishing. I'm going on a long journey."