While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 42: Fishing

"But Margaret once told me that when I washed up on shore, my skin was all red, and I kept mumbling something. That's all I know. If she hadn't mentioned it, I'd have no clue what I looked like when I was out cold," I said after thinking for a moment.

"You really need to take better care of yourself. I always feel like something's off," Nora said, still not convinced I was totally fine.

But she didn't push it. The other girls woke up soon after, and we had to get started on another day of work.

We had a bunch of fishing nets from the sailboat, but after that freaky incident, we put them aside for a bit.

Now, we finally had time to catch some fish.

These nets were pretty big, so it wasn't too hard to snag some fish.

If the girls could learn how to fish, I'd have some time to handle other stuff.

I still wanted to check out that secret room under the cave, but now wasn't the right time.

I just had a spat with Abbott, and the cave was close to their camp. Running into them could mean trouble.

No one wanted to mess with a guy like Abbott!

For now, the priority was getting the fishing gear ready and teaching the girls how to fish.

"Let's hit the beach today," I said, grabbing the biggest fishing net from the box and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Are we going fishing?" Ivy asked, looking super excited as she got ready.

The other girls seemed pretty pumped about it too.

We took salt, fire-starting gear, and the essential fishing nets to the beach.

"Do we just toss this net into the water like this?" Aimee asked, about to throw the open net into the sea.

"Wait, that's not how it works!" I quickly stepped in and tied stones to the four corners of the net.

The stones couldn't be too big, or the net would sink too fast. But they couldn't be too small either, or the net would just float.

Once the net was ready, I had a few girls stand on either side to fully open it.

Finally, Lilian and I tossed the two small stones at the bottom of the net into the sea. The whole net slowly sank, trapping the fish inside.

There was a long rope attached to the top of the net. After waiting a bit, we pulled the rope to lift the net.

Our first catch was way better than expected. We hauled in about a dozen big fish, each about the length of an arm.

People say sea fish don't have a strong fishy smell and their meat is super tasty. We never really got to try them properly before. Today, we finally could!

We strung the fish together, made a few cuts with a fruit knife, and placed them around the campfire. We also put the rest of the fish into a bag made from the fishing net.

This bag could be placed in the water, keeping the fish from escaping or dying on land.

The fish, smoked by the fire, soon smelled amazing. Sprinkling some salt on the cooked fish made it taste incredible!

We all ate our fill and even saved some for Charlie, but there were still a lot of fish left that we couldn't finish.

Ivy thought we should release the leftover fish to keep a sustainable supply for the future.

But honestly, I wasn't too worried about that. Our small group's fishing wasn't going to make a dent in the sea's fish population.

What really bugged me was how to preserve these fish.

Catching fish wasn't a walk in the park; it took a team effort. If we had to release the extras every time, it would be such a waste!

"Why don't we just leave the net here and keep the fish? It'd be easy to catch them again when we need them," Aimee suggested, standing up from the beach.

"That won't work. If someone passes by, they'll take our net and the fish," I said, shaking my head.

Then, I noticed the salt jar nearby.

I had taught the girls how to make salt, and they used the seawater for salt extraction every day.

Therefore, we had plenty of salt.

"We can salt the fish to preserve it, so it'll last longer," I said.

"That's a great idea," Nora nodded and immediately started taking the fish out of the net.

She was way more efficient than me. As she talked, she was already rubbing salt on the fish.

Nora was a quick learner. She knew way more about this stuff than I did. I only knew that fish could be preserved with salt, but I had no clue how to do it.

Nora, on the other hand, was a pro.

She built a small drying rack over the campfire with branches, then used a fruit knife to gut the fish, cleaned out the innards, and rubbed a thick layer of salt inside and outside the fish.

Finally, she hung the salted fish on the drying rack to smoke them.

"This is a method for making smoked food. I made some improvements," she said, and we were all stunned.

I couldn't believe a recent graduate could pull off something like this.

We spent most of the day by the sea, and the fish were almost done smoking. The girls carried the smoked fish back to the camp.

I followed them, carrying the fishing net and a few fresh fish for Charlie.

I had set a rule that the girls must always stay within my sight, no matter where they were.

The deserted island was full of dangers, with traps everywhere, not to mention the wolves and freaks that could show up at any time.

As the only guy in the camp, if I didn't protect them, who would?

After getting back to camp, I chopped the fresh fish into pieces and fed them directly to Charlie.

His teeth were sharp, and the fish we caught weren't very big, so he could easily crush the bones.

Evenings at the camp were always warm and cozy. After the girls massaged me, they walked around the camp in their underwear and makeshift short clothes, laughing and chatting.

Every day, my favorite time was dusk because the scenery was so beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off it.

After goofing around for a while, Aimee suddenly suggested she wanted to gather some mushrooms and jumped down from the cave, heading towards the edge of the camp.

There were lots of edible mushrooms in the woods in that direction. The warm and humid climate made them grow quickly.

Since it was close, I didn't pay much attention. Just as I was about to lie down and rest for a bit, I suddenly heard Aimee's voice.

Her scream made everyone in the camp, including the dog, look over.