Days passed peacefully as usual. Some lived easily and joyfully, while others struggled and suffered.
Chuck and the women in his family naturally belonged to the former. But while enjoying himself, as always, Chuck didn't completely lose himself in indulgence. Between every thrust of his hips, he continued to carefully calculate his next moves.
Aside from that group of women north of the deserted island, among the tasks currently before Chuck, the most important was undoubtedly killing the giant bird on the mountain peak and diverting the water source. Besides that, he needed to gradually complete the series of newly unlocked sub-blueprints for the villa expansion, and solve the dye problem needed to produce a wider variety of clothing in the future.
Tasks have different weights and urgencies. Although the water source was important, killing the giant bird wasn't something he could just do on a whim. This was Chuck's first time facing such a terrifying avian beast. He had to make even more adequate and meticulous preparations than when he faced the tiger.
The storm finally stopped nearing evening on the third day, having lasted for two days and three hours.
It indeed followed the pattern Chuck had previously deduced: the frequency of storms and hot weather on the island was decreasing, but the duration of each was slowly increasing.
After the rain stopped, Chuck and the women quickly handled the daily chores around the farm before sunset. They didn't race against the clock, instead returning to the house for a solid night's rest. It wasn't until the next morning that they got up, ate, and started their day's work step-by-step, just like on a normal sunny day.
Only half a day after returning home from the north of the island, Chuck received another message from Lee So-yeon. Unsurprisingly, she expressed her desire to arrange the next "trade" as soon as possible. But the heavy rain hadn't stopped then, and Chuck didn't reply immediately.
Now that the weather had cleared, Chuck thought for a moment and set the time for the next trade for two days later.
After staying overnight that night, Chuck could already confirm that among Lee So-yeon's companions, a few were practically in his pocket, especially the fiery Spanish mare Sofia, who had already proactively offered herself to him.
And based on Chuck's current understanding of Lee So-yeon, she probably wouldn't object to this. Instead, she would definitely use it to demand a large number of resources from him. In other words, to put a price on it.
If things went exactly as he expected, for the current Chuck, things actually became simpler.
No more need for persuasion, no more need for schemes. She wants food? Chuck will give her food—delicacies and fine wine.
These things might not warrant a second glance on a dining table in modern society, but on this deserted island today, they were unimaginable delicacies for the women struggling to survive in the northern jungle.
Chuck exchanges food for usable labor and submissive wives. Those who harbor resistance, and most importantly the Lee sisters, might live more comfortably initially. But giving a man a fish is not the same as teaching him to fish. Having obtained food but lacking the ability to produce it, they would ultimately just sit and eat until the mountain was bare, completely exhausting the food exchanged by "selling their companions."
And when that time comes, after re-experiencing the feeling of a full stomach and the joy of their taste buds on this deserted island, what would these women turn into before Chuck?
The only thing that can shatter dignity is desire. This was Chuck's tried-and-true, foolproof strategy for dealing with women. This time, it would only be easier for him.
So after the sun rose, after eating a delicious breakfast at home and enjoying fresh, fragrant milk from Yitong and Janet, Chuck took Valentina and Kaede, grabbed some simple gathering tools, and set foot on the stone slope platform after a long time, heading west.
Since defeating the tiger, Chuck had only returned to explore the lake plains once. Although he had mapped out the resources by the lake, he hadn't acquired many of them.
Especially the animal herds occupying the lake's edge.
In the livestock shed managed by Janet, the goats and the newborn lambs occupied half the space. The few recently caught wild chickens took up less than a quarter of the space. Not to mention if the shed was further upgraded.
He had narrowly escaped death to kill the tiger occupying the lake. Before expanding his territory further, he had to at least fully digest the territory he had already conquered to make his past efforts worthwhile, right?
Therefore, continuing to increase the variety and reserves of food at home and capturing new livestock for the shed was the first thing Chuck needed to do next.
Chuck had already personally confirmed before that besides wild chickens, there were also uncertain numbers of wild deer and wild boars living by the lake's edge.
Wild deer were good hunting targets but not suitable for farming. Therefore, the sounder of wild boars was Chuck's target for this trip.
The sounder of wild boars by the lake probably belonged to the same species as the one Chuck encountered in the southern jungle before. But perhaps because that one was a boss monster, there was a certain size difference; these were a full size smaller.
But as long as they are fed properly, pigs are undoubtedly the most excellent meat-producing livestock.
When it comes to meat, there is no more precious meat on this deserted island than pork. The wild boar Chuck killed on the southern beach provided him with the most valuable starting resources. Simply because of its extremely high fat content, it could not only satisfy the taste buds but also provide a large amount of saturated fatty acids, storing more endurance energy for the body.
Whether pan-fried, stir-fried, stewed, boiled, roasted, or deep-fried, making it into bacon or sun-dried sausage, all are excellent choices.
So Chuck's goal this time was to select at least one healthy and strong male and one female wild boar, capture them alive, and take them back for Janet to carefully tend and breed.
This way, the livestock shed would have chickens laying eggs, goats producing milk, and pigs growing meat. There would be no need to add any new breeds. They just needed to wait for Janet to selectively breed generation after generation. When the time was right, they could upgrade the shed and further expand the scale and quantity of the farming.
This was also why Chuck brought Valentina and Kaede along. Since they needed to catch them alive, they couldn't rely on the convenience of the storage space. He needed help carrying the live wild boars all the way back home.
The catching process went without a hitch. After reaching the lake again, Chuck used his binoculars to select what he considered the best boar and sow. As the progenitors of all future pigs at home, he named them Adam and Eve, then greeted them with darts coated in anesthetic potion.
The sounder scattered in a panic, squealing loudly. After a few steps, Pig Adam and Pig Eve collapsed to the ground, completely surrendering.
However, although the capture was smooth, the three of them suffered terribly on the way back.
These two wild boars were not only much heavier than they looked, but they also reeked to high heaven. So much so that the three of them barely spoke on the way, afraid they might throw up if they opened their mouths.
After racking their brains and finally getting the two wild boars home, Valentina and Kaede couldn't wait to strip off their clothes and ran swiftly to the water tower to shower crazily.
As for Chuck, after handing the wild boars to Janet and receiving a burst of pleasant surprise and praise from this mature mare, considering he still had things to do, he wasn't in a hurry to shower. Enduring the residual stench on his body, he went behind the house to inventory the remaining construction materials.
In the expansion blueprint for the small villa, the materials required for the first sub-blueprint—Foundation Expansion and Reinforcement—were quite singular: only one hundred units of concrete. However, this was a material Chuck hadn't unlocked before.
But Chuck wasn't unfamiliar with this stuff. Similarly, as a construction industry professional and the designer of the blueprint, Yitong understood it even better. After her brief description, Chuck roughly guessed the synthesis path for this material through the workbench.
In short, the "lime mortar" Chuck previously used to pour the foundation was a simplified version of genuine concrete. It was merely the product of mixing a small amount of lime powder with water and gravel. Its nature was brittle and soft. Over these past few months, if a tool was occasionally dropped, it could easily chip a small hole in the floor.
Using mortar to lay the foundation was just a helpless move restricted by past conditions.
True concrete requires firing a large amount of quicklime, crushing it, mixing it with clay and water to form "cement," and then adding hard gravel including pebbles and ores to mix and solidify. Only then can it form a structurally strong concrete.
For this, Chuck needed to fire a large amount of lime. With the advanced furnace now, Chuck no longer needed to painstakingly harvest coral. Firing limestone directly could yield plenty of lime. But to mix cement, he also needed to wash a large amount of clay.
Limestone was everywhere on the island, easy to collect and fire. But there were no shortcuts to making clay. The only place on the island to collect mud was the swamp area near the southwest bay.
Obviously, this was a long-term job.
And even if he finished the concrete foundation, this first sub-blueprint, Chuck would only have completed 15% of the villa expansion progress. There were still a full five blueprints waiting for him. The day the villa expansion is finally completed would probably be at least a month or two later.
But this was actually good news.
The appearance of sub-blueprints allowed Chuck to complete each part of the project in stages during this massive expansion construction. With each completed sub-blueprint, the original living conditions would improve a bit. Although the blueprint wasn't fully upgraded, they could practically enjoy part of the "upgrade" results.
For the next period of time, Chuck's plans became clearer.
He would lead the women at home to systematically advance the construction of the villa's sub-blueprints. At the same time, he would save half his energy to officially begin preparing with Valentina for the expedition against the giant volcanic bird.
...
The women at home were already very familiar with the steps of washing clay and firing lime. The task of collecting clay naturally fell to Chuck, who had the storage space.
After assigning the work to the women, Chuck ran two consecutive trips to the southwest swamp before lunch, only then going to the water tower to wash off the dirt and stench.
Lunch ended, it was time for an afternoon nap.
The women yawned one after another and went to their rooms to take a short nap. Chuck and Valentina stayed at the dining table, both with their heads down, frowning tightly.
"Honestly, I might not be able to give you any experiential advice this time. After all, in the wild, as long as there's a choice, no one would target avian creatures as prey. We are humans, and humans don't grow wings..."
Hearing Valentina's serious words, Chuck wasn't discouraged. He tapped the table slowly and rhythmically, suddenly looking up at her.
"The previous ballista, if we can improve it, increasing the rate of fire and power, but shortening the range... what do you think?"
Hearing this, the corners of Valentina's eyes twitched twice.
"Didn't you hear what I said? That thing flies in the sky. Even if you increase the range, you have almost no chance of hitting it. What's the point of shortening the range?"
"What if it can't fly?"
"...?"
Chuck's abruptly thrown out, seemingly nonsensical sentence instantly filled Valentina's face with massive confusion.
A bird that can't fly?
What does that mean?
Seeing Valentina's bewildered expression, Chuck finally revealed a meaningful smile and pointed out the window.
"Rainy days."
Hearing this term, Valentina's green eyes widened sharply.
Yes, when crossing the volcanic zone during the last storm and discovering the giant bird had "clocked out," a plan began brewing slowly in Chuck's mind.
By now, it finally had a rough outline.
That giant bird is huge in size, but its weight absolutely cannot be heavy. So when a storm hits, it will definitely hide in advance.
Perhaps in a nest, or a cave, but in short... it absolutely won't fly!
In other words, as long as Chuck can withstand the storm, climb all the way to the top of the volcano, find this beast that has transformed from a sky-covering giant bird into a helpless grounded chicken, block it in its hiding place, and inflict a heavy blow with the improved powerful ballista, all he has to do next is turn and flee, just like hunting the tiger before.
In the storm, the giant bird cannot spread its wings. As long as Chuck flees with all his might, the probability of being caught by that thing approaches zero! As long as he can successfully escape, go home and rest for a night, he can just go up the mountain to collect the giant bird's corpse after the rain stops!
After detailing his plan to Valentina, the silver-haired female warrior sat blankly in her chair. She remained silent for a long while before finally looking up, casting a puzzled look at Chuck.
"You are clearly an incredibly powerful man, but why are the methods you come up with all so despicable?"
Hearing this, Chuck curled his lips.
"This is a deserted island. The winner is king, and the loser only becomes a piece of shit crapped out from the winner's belly. So it has nothing to do with strong or weak. As long as it's effective, of course, any means necessary must be used."
"Besides, as humans, our brains are our most powerful weapons. From ancient times to the present, we are the true kings of the wilderness."
Hearing Chuck's words, the confusion in Valentina's eyes gradually dissipated, turning into female lust and provocation.
She stared straight at Chuck with those green pupils. The firm abs beneath her robe heaved slightly. She bit her lower lip lightly and whispered hoarsely.
"Damn it... you're making me a little wet."