Splash, splash...
Following the rhythmic sound of the waves, Chuck slowly picked himself up from the beach.
A wave of dizziness washed over him, but it vanished as quickly as it came.
He raised his head and looked around. In the distance, the vast, azure ocean shimmered with specks of light, and beneath his feet stretched a long, golden beach.
Behind him was a large expanse of palm trees and tropical jungle.
Chuck stood still and slowly forced out a single word.
"Shit…"
Three years after graduating and starting work, he never expected his first international business trip to end in such a disaster.
About half an hour ago, Chuck, half-asleep, was jolted awake by a loud bang.
Then, emergency oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, the flight attendants were deathly pale handing out life vests, and everyone around him was in chaos...
The last thing Chuck managed to do was take out his phone and send a brief message to his family.
"I wonder if they even got it…"
Chuck sighed helplessly, staring at the endless horizon.
He bent down and brushed the sand off his body, then took off the life vest draped over his shoulder.
His clothes felt heavy, soaked through with seawater.
He pulled out his phone with two fingers from his pocket, watching water slowly trickle out of the charging port.
With his phone waterlogged, Chuck couldn't call for help.
All he could do now was try his best to survive on this island.
And pray for rescue to arrive quickly.
He wasn't dead, but the situation felt pretty close to it.
Thanks for asking.
Location: Deserted island. Just got off the plane. Preparing for survival.
But to his utter surprise, just as Chuck was feeling discouraged, a translucent screen unexpectedly appeared before him!
[Host detected to be stranded on a deserted island]
[Super Workbench Activated!]
[Usage: Place two or more different materials onto the workbench. If the combination matches a recipe, the 'Craft' button will light up. Press the button and wait for the specified time to complete the crafting.]
"What the hell."
Chuck was dumbfounded.
What is this?
A System?
The screen gradually faded, eventually becoming a small, workbench-shaped icon in the corner of his vision.
Chuck stood frozen, his mind blank.
A moment later, his gaze focused on the icon in the corner, and he cautiously reached out and tapped it.
The icon instantly enlarged, and a translucent workbench floated before him!
[Current Crafting Queue: 1 (Idle)]
[Note: Placing any item will provide a corresponding hint, but specific recipes still need to be self-discovered.]
"…Am I dreaming?"
He raised his hand and harshly pinched his arm.
It hurt.
He wasn't dreaming.
That means…
"I'm about to level up?"
Chuck muttered, looking at the workbench and the prompt in front of him.
After his emotions settled down, Chuck realized the situation.
The 'golden finger' (System) was great, but how should he use it?
He carefully read the workbench's notes. Driven by the urge to test it out, Chuck picked up a random stone from the ground and placed it on the bench.
The next moment, a line of text appeared on the screen above.
[Workbench input: Stone Block]
[Crafting Hint: This stone might be more useful if it were sharper.]
Oh!
There was a hint after all!
Sharper?
Chuck rubbed his chin.
How could he make the stone sharper?
After a moment of thought, Chuck looked for another stone and immediately placed it on the workbench.
The 'Craft' button actually lit up!
[Crafter input: Stone Block x 2]
[Craftable Item – Stone Knife!]
[Estimated Crafting Time: 5 minutes. Start crafting?]
It actually worked!
A wave of euphoria washed over Chuck, and he pressed the button without hesitation.
In the next instant, the two stones dissolved into balls of light and merged, slowly floating on the crafting platform.
A translucent countdown appeared within the ball of light!
[Crafting Queue: Stone Knife (Remaining 4 minutes 58 seconds)]
Chuck was mesmerized, watching the progress bar inch forward.
Five minutes later, the ball of light slowly extinguished.
A small, perfectly formed stone knife appeared in Chuck's hand.
While the edge wasn't razor-sharp, it was smooth and uniform, definitely capable of basic cutting tasks!
[Stone Knife – Crafting Complete!]
Theoretically, grinding two stones against each other could produce such a knife.
But Chuck hadn't participated in the grinding process at all!
Though it was called a workbench, it completely bypassed the physical making process. All he had to do was wait for the timer inside the ball of light to finish!
"This 'golden finger' really feels like a video game, doesn't it?"
Chuck muttered, the initial shock gradually turning into excitement.
Thinking this way, there seemed to be a huge potential here!
Despite having his System, a deserted island is still a deserted island, and survival won't be easy.
He wasn't sure how long it had been since the plane crashed, but Chuck's throat felt like it was on fire, and his lips were painfully dry.
His initial excitement cooled down.
If he didn't replenish his fluids soon, he would likely become dehydrated.
It seemed that before exploring new crafting recipes, he had to figure out the most basic survival issues first…
But since it was a deserted island, maybe he could find coconuts?
Sure enough, walking along the beach, Chuck found several fresh coconuts on a tall palm tree.
Desperate for water, Chuck felt like he had found a lifeline. He struggled for a while, using a long branch he had found nearby to knock down all the coconuts.
Four big, green coconuts in total!
He shook them and heard a sloshing sound inside.
They must be full of water!
Chuck couldn't wait. He immediately used the newly crafted stone knife to open a hole in two of the coconuts…
Soon, fresh coconut water was pouring down Chuck's throat.
It was cool and sweet!
After downing the contents of both coconuts in one go, Chuck felt completely revived.
Coconuts were a great resource.
Not only was the juice sweet and delicious, but the shells could be cut open and used as containers for water, and the flesh could provide some much-needed sustenance.
If deserted island survival was a game, this would be the survivalist's starter kit.
After drinking two, Chuck stopped and carefully wrapped the remaining two in his life vest to carry with him.
After walking such a long stretch of the coast and only finding this single palm tree, it was wiser to keep the remaining two as a freshwater reserve.
With his energy mostly restored, Chuck continued exploring along the beach.
Unfortunately, even when he reached the end of the beach—a narrow cove covered in dark red coral reefs—he couldn't find a second coconut tree.
Without more coconuts to pick, the need for fresh water instantly became critical, a matter of life or death.
But at this moment, Chuck completely forgot about that.
Because, suddenly, a curvy figure wearing a life vest appeared in his line of sight.
He could tell it was a woman, with a voluminous, dyed blonde hairdo. Her full figure floated between two nearby reefs, slowly bobbing up and down with the waves. The life vest she was wearing was identical to Chuck's.
Clearly, she was a passenger from the same flight!
Had she drowned?!
Chuck immediately tensed up and hurried toward her.
He then noticed that the bulging life vest was rising and falling slowly and rhythmically.
And on the reef facing her, there was a small patch of water that was clearly not yet dry.
Chuck finally let out a breath of relief.
That's good.
It seemed that thanks to her side-position, she had instinctively coughed out the seawater in her windpipe, preventing her from suffocating.
However, she was still unconscious, likely due to prolonged lack of oxygen.
But when Chuck changed his position and came to face the woman, he was stunned.
A high nose bridge, snow-white skin, and exquisite features.
Chuck had initially thought the blonde hair was dyed.
But the truth was…
This woman was actually a foreigner?!
This was Chuck's first time seeing a blonde, foreign woman in real life, and she was the type with a rather refined appearance that fit the typical Eastern aesthetic preference.
Regardless, the priority was to wake her up.
He reached out and grasped her delicate arm, pulling her with effort from between the reefs onto the sandy shore. Then he gently shook her shoulder.
"Wake up, are you okay? Hello? Are you OK?"
"Ugh… Shit…"
The foreign woman's long eyelashes fluttered, and she let out a blurred groan.
As Chuck continued to shake her, her long eyelashes finally trembled and slowly lifted.
Seeing this, Chuck appropriately withdrew his hands.
A moment later, he met a pair of eyes as blue as the sea.
In an instant, the air fell into an awkward silence.
Chuck scratched his head, just about to say something, when the foreign woman suddenly shivered, gasped, and pushed herself up, scooting backward on the sand to put distance between herself and Chuck.
"You… Who are you?!"
A not-quite-standard but understandable English sentence came from the woman's lips, catching Chuck by surprise.
She could speak English?
At least communication wouldn't be an issue.
Chuck kept a calm expression, raising his hands to show he meant no harm, and responded in the most measured tone he could manage.
"You were on flight XX too, weren't you? Our plane crashed. You and I are probably the lucky ones who drifted here because of our life vests."
Upon hearing his words, the woman stared blankly down at the life vest slung over her shoulder.
Her eyes became clearer, but her expression grew increasingly distressed.
"Oh my god, I remember…"
Seeing her mumble to herself, Chuck felt a sense of relief.
Thankfully, she hadn't suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
It would have been a dark joke if the only other person on the whole island who could talk turned out to be an invalid.
The foreign woman seemed to have trouble accepting reality and simply sat on the beach, spacing out, looking like a Western statue.
As silence settled again, being a healthy adult male, Chuck's gaze was naturally drawn to the considerable swell beneath the life vest.