Chapter 15: Buying Goods at the Sea

Steve followed Jarvis's gaze and chuckled. "It's an octopus, and it's quite big." He stepped forward and grabbed the octopus with a firm grip.

The startled octopus immediately wrapped itself around Steve's wrist, its suction cups sticking tightly to his skin.

"Ugh, that looks disgusting," Jarvis muttered, grimacing at the sight of the wriggling creature.

Steve smirked and held it out toward him. "Want to give it a try?"

"I'll pass," Jarvis replied, taking a step back.

Shrugging, Steve tossed the octopus into the floating bucket. "Alright, let's keep going."

Jarvis hesitated for a moment before following him. He lowered his voice and said, "You know, if it came down to it, I think I could catch it myself. It's just... since you're here, I'd rather not."

Steve nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. It's like when you're starving—you might turn your nose up at something at first, but if you're desperate, you'll eat anything."

"Exactly!" Jarvis agreed, nodding. "When you're pushed to the edge, you'll do whatever it takes to survive."

"I'm not like that," Steve said suddenly.

Jarvis raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I had a C-section," Steve said with a straight face.

"...What?"

Ignoring the confusion on Jarvis's face, Steve continued searching.

The two of them moved along the rocky shore, collecting several conches, crabs, and other common seaside creatures like small fish, shrimp, and even a few sea urchins.

Despite the remote location, the abundance of seafood was remarkable. Within a short time, Steve managed to find a few abalones, and soon, their small bucket was filled to the brim.

Jarvis, looking at the overflowing bucket, sighed in amazement. "I can't believe there's so much food. Honestly, surviving 99 days here doesn't seem that hard."

Steve shook his head, smiling. "Don't get too confident. Not every tide brings this much seafood—we got lucky today.

"The real challenge isn't just finding food; it's avoiding disease and surviving the elements. Even if we have plenty of seafood, we're not getting enough vitamins, fats, and carbohydrates. Without those, our bodies will weaken, and when sickness hits, it'll be hard to recover.

"Plus, the temperature here changes a lot. A weak body won't be able to handle it. The only good news is that this part of Australia doesn't get many typhoons, and since it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, we shouldn't have to worry about storms."

Jarvis glanced at Steve, impressed. "Wow, you know a lot."

Steve shrugged. "Just common sense. I did some research before coming here."

Looking back at their bucket, Jarvis frowned. "It's completely full. What now?"

Steve sighed, eyeing the octopus trying to crawl out. "We've got no choice—we should head back. I bet everyone else has gathered a lot too. We need to figure out how to store all this before it spoils."

---

Back at the Shelter

Returning to the shelter, they found Chris and Kevin already there, sorting through their own piles of seafood.

As expected, everyone had gathered a massive haul, and now there was another problem—where to store it all.

"What do we do with so much?" Jarvis asked, scanning the barrels of seafood.

Without a large container, keeping everything alive was impossible. Most of the seafood would die if left out, and dead seafood couldn't be eaten safely.

Kevin scratched his head and chuckled. "Before coming here, I was worried we wouldn't have enough food. Now I'm worried we have too much!"

"Why don't we dig a hole and fill it with seawater? That way, we can store the seafood there," suggested Mina, who had been quiet until now.

Steve shook his head. "That won't work. The sand here won't hold water—it'll just seep through.

"Plus, we'd have to worry about rats stealing food. And crabs? They'll dig their way out. It's not a reliable solution."

Mina's face flushed slightly with embarrassment. She had been proud of her idea, but Steve had shut it down immediately.

Not noticing her reaction, Steve continued, "The best option is to dry what we can. We can dry out the conches and small fish for long-term storage. The crabs don't have much meat anyway, so we should eat them all today."

Sister Bird nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a solid plan. Let's do it."

The rest of the group agreed—there really wasn't a better option.

But another challenge arose: who actually knew how to dry seafood properly?

Steve stepped forward. "I can handle it. A few of you can help me, while the rest should keep fishing while the tide is low. We might not get another haul like this for a while."

"Good idea," Kevin agreed.

With that, most of the men left to continue gathering seafood, while a few of the girls stayed behind to assist Steve.

---

Preparing the Seafood

The first task was to boil the conches.

Steve built a fire, set up the iron pot, and began boiling seawater. The steps were simple:

1. Boil the conches until the shells opened.

2. Extract the meat using bamboo sticks.

3. Lay them out to dry on banana leaves.

As the first batch of conches boiled, Steve made a simple drying rack out of sticks. Since there wasn't a proper stove, the makeshift fire pit made boiling slow and inefficient.

After the water boiled, Steve pulled out the conches and let them cool in seawater. He then changed the pot's water—if seawater is used for too long, the salt concentration gets too high.

"Just like that," Steve said, demonstrating how to extract the snail meat. "Put it on the banana leaves to dry."

With some practice, the girls quickly got the hang of it.

Meanwhile, Peng Peng returned periodically, dropping off more seafood. Steve's team cleaned, boiled, and dried whatever they could.

Before long, a huge pile of conch shells formed nearby—there had to be at least 100 kilograms of them.

But there was a catch.

Most of that weight came from the shells. The actual edible meat was only one-tenth of the total, and after drying, even less would be left.

Still, it was a start.

As Steve worked, he thought about the long days ahead. The excitement of the first few days would wear off soon. After that, the real test would begin—not just of skill, but of mental endurance.

For now, though, he was satisfied.

They had food. They had a plan.

And they had survived another day.

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