Chapter 181: Deserted Island Survival 5
Moira Lynch turned to leave. If she stayed here any longer, she was really going to throw up.
Her sense of smell was already protesting, and her stomach was churning violently.
However, before she left, Moira Lynch still put that one Small King Flower—the intensely fragrant variety—into her space.
’Different strokes for different folks. Maybe someone out there actually likes this scent.’
Leaving the area where the King Flowers grew, Moira Lynch walked for about another hundred meters, following a path where the vegetation was sparser and shorter.
The path was marked with clear animal tracks, suggesting creatures frequently used it to reach a water source on the other side.
Along the way, Moira Lynch picked a good number of wild vegetables. They were much fresher and more vibrant than the roots she’d collected before. ’I’ll have to stir-fry some tonight and see how they taste.’
After walking a bit further, Moira Lynch’s gaze was captured by some beautiful, small, light-blue flowers.
Arden: Prefers to grow in hot, humid environments with ample water. The entire plant is poisonous and has a powerful anesthetic effect, with the flowers and seeds being the most potent. When it blooms, it releases a faint, pleasant fragrance into the air.
After listening to Patience’s introduction, Moira Lynch belatedly realized her body was starting to go numb.
’But didn’t it say there’d be a faint fragrance? Why can’t I smell anything?’
Just then, the Healing Device spoke up to explain:
Due to the intensely fragrant King Flower from before, your perception of scents has become extremely dull. Repair?
"Repair it."
With that, Moira Lynch had a thought and collected all the Arden in front of her into her space.
A large patch of empty ground appeared before her, revealing what had been hidden beneath the plants.
She saw all sorts of small animals that had been anesthetized by the Arden: pheasants, small birds, wild rabbits, and deer.
Some were already dead, their bodies beginning to rot and serve as fertilizer for the Arden. Others were still alive, clearly having succumbed to the pollen only recently.
Moira Lynch hadn’t inhaled much of the fragrant pollen, and with the Arden now gone, the numbness in her body gradually faded after she waited in place for a few minutes.
She stomped her feet, and once she confirmed her body was back to normal, Moira Lynch walked over to the pile of prey and collected all the ones that were still breathing.
Some of them, due to prolonged inhalation of the anesthetic pollen, hadn’t died but were unable to wake up, having starved to skin and bones.
After collecting them all, Moira Lynch continued on her way.
The incident with the Arden made her even more cautious.
Fortunately, the rest of her journey was much smoother.
Although this area was much more dangerous than where she had been before, Moira Lynch planned to stay on this side.
It was simply because there were far more resources here.
Besides, whether the place she’d been staying before was truly safe was still questionable.
She looked up at the sky. It was gradually getting dark; time to find a place to sleep.
Just then, the faint sound of running water reached her ears.
Moira Lynch’s spirits lifted. ’A water source?’
’Was my previous guess wrong?’
Moira Lynch subconsciously lightened her steps, slowly approaching the direction of the sound.
If it really was a water source, that would be a very good thing.
However, when she was still about a hundred meters from the water, Moira Lynch stopped dead, not daring to take another step.
Because in front of her was a snake with black and gold markings.
It was as thick as her arm and lay coiled and motionless on the ground.
Seeing this, Moira Lynch certainly didn’t think it was dead.
She had noticed that the closer she got to the water, the cooler the air became.
As cold-blooded animals, snakes can’t regulate their own body temperature. With the island’s sweltering heat, they naturally sought out cool places to rest.
Gilt-vein Serpent: Extremely venomous. A single drop of its venom, even diluted ten-thousand-fold, is potent enough to kill a Gigas-plate Behemoth. The gall bladder improves eyesight.
Moira Lynch scanned her surroundings, and after confirming a nearby tree was safe, she quickly scrambled up into its branches.
This was to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
Even after a snake’s head is cut off, its body can still thrash about, and the head can still deliver a fatal bite. It was better to be cautious.
Positioned among the branches and leaves, Moira Lynch drew her bow and fired at the Gilt-vein Serpent’s head.
She had originally planned to aim for its vital point, but since the snake was coiled up, she couldn’t be sure exactly where it was.
So aiming for the head was the better option.
The arrow flew true, piercing the Gilt-vein Serpent’s head and pinning it to the ground.
In agony, the Gilt-vein Serpent on the ground thrashed violently, its massive body uncoiling and rolling ceaselessly on the ground.
The THWACK, THWACK, THWACK of its tail whipping against a tree trunk was a testament to the snake’s immense power.
Moira Lynch waited in the tree for a while. Seeing the snake still wasn’t dead, she drew her bow again and sent an arrow into its vital point.
This vital point marked the heart’s location. As the most critical organ, a damaged heart would cause the snake to go into shock from insufficient blood supply, leading to death.
This time, the snake went still soon after being hit.
Its body continued to twitch, but that was just due to the snake’s unique physiology.
After climbing down from the tree, the first thing Moira Lynch did was chop off the snake’s head. She then dug a hole and buried it, lest she accidentally step on it later.
After all, a bite from a Gilt-vein Serpent was no laughing matter.
All that was left was to skin the snake, clean the meat, and remove the gall bladder.
She looked at the purple gall bladder she had just removed, which still had a trace of blood on it.
Moira Lynch hesitated, her expression conflicted. "How am I supposed to eat this?"
’People usually steep these in wine, but I don’t drink.’
At that moment, Patience offered a solution:
The most common way to consume a Gilt-vein Serpent’s gall bladder is to wash it and eat it raw. It tastes sweet.
Moira Lynch fell silent.
’Eat it raw?’
’Are you serious?’
’And it tastes sweet, huh.’
Moira Lynch was extremely skeptical of Patience’s claim.
But after thinking it over, she couldn’t come up with a better way to prepare it. She decided to give it a try. ’Patience wouldn’t actually try to kill me, right?’
And so, after washing the gall bladder clean, Moira Lynch opened her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
The fishy, gamey taste she expected never came. Instead, the gall bladder tasted remarkably like fruit—it was actually sweet.
With the gall bladder in her stomach, she wasn’t sure if it was just a placebo effect, but she truly felt as if her vision had sharpened.
For example, she could now see a snake, perfectly camouflaged against its surroundings, slowly slithering toward her.