The cord made from fiber was about three to four millimeters wide and felt rough and uneven in thickness. It was completely incomparable in texture to the polyester sewing thread commonly used in modern society.
But it was usable for weaving clothes or fabric.
So, the next question was, what kind of tool would the Workbench recognize as a Weaving Tool?
Fortunately, the synthesis hint provided the answer promptly.
A series of light screen messages immediately appeared. To summarize, it included all tools capable of weaving, such as needles, spindles, and even looms. Depending on the function of each tool, the types of items that could be woven and the weaving speed would vary.
Chuck nodded, feeling that this was reasonable.
After all, a needle couldn't possibly be compared to a properly assembled loom.
Chuck pondered for a moment, then rummaged through his belongings. He quickly found the leftover, slightly dry and brittle wild boar bone fragments from before.
He further smashed the bone fragments with the axe, drilled holes in them, threaded a thin cord through a hole, and placed it along with the remaining cord into the Workbench…
[Workbench Loaded With: Fiber Cord x8, Weaving Tool (Simple Needle and Thread). Workbench triggered Multiple Recipe Options.]
[Fiber Cloth: Fiber Cord x4, Production Time 20 minutes] [Fiber Vest: Fiber Cord x30, Production Time 4 hours] [Fiber Shorts: Fiber Cord x20, Production Time 3 hours] [Fiber Backpack…]
Similar to when crafting furniture from planks or tools from flint, this time, as expected, it triggered multiple recipe options.
Chuck quickly scanned the recipe options and was surprised to find that almost everything necessary was available, from clothing and shoes to backpacks and bedding.
Clearly, these items were all made from tree fiber—organic and pollution-free. But, understandably, the comfort level wouldn't be great.
Furthermore, the quantity of cord was still insufficient to sew clothes. He could only synthesize two pieces of fiber cloth for now.
Fortunately, this was exactly what Chuck needed at the moment.
Twenty minutes later, as the light on the Workbench flashed and went out, two pieces of rough fiber cloth, each two square feet in size, appeared in Chuck's hands.
Chuck held them and shook them. He felt that the cloth made from tree fiber was not soft, somewhere between fabric and paper. However, because the fiber cord was quite thick, he didn't have to worry about its toughness. Due to the thickness, the gaps between the cords in the woven fabric were quite noticeable.
This made it perfect for use as a filtering tool to extract palm oil!
Since the Workbench queues were sufficient, before starting the palm oil extraction, Chuck didn't forget to grab several handfuls of the trunk fiber that the three women had worked hard to boil and dry that morning, and put them back into the Workbench to continue synthesizing cord.
[Cord x1, Synthesizing, Remaining Time: 9 min] [Cord x1, Synthesizing…]
It was a rare opportunity to have the unlocked queues of the Workbench running so fully. Although it was all thanks to the Workbench's Golden Finger power, Chuck felt a sense of pleasure akin to that of a capitalist.
"Next…"
Chuck still deliberately left one work queue free. He then looked at the six heavy clusters of oil palm fruits he had taken out, glanced up at the blazing sun, and wiped his forehead.
It was so hot…
Even Chuck, whose body had been strengthened several times, with far greater endurance and tolerance than ordinary people, had been outside for such a long period from morning to afternoon in this hot and humid weather. Not to mention he had had a couple of tumultuous rounds of sex with Julia and Gu Yitong earlier.
Even he felt a little light-headed now.
Looking around the stone slope platform, an idea suddenly popped into Chuck's mind.
The plan to excavate an artificial cave would not be completed overnight, so the matter of palm oil and Molotov cocktails was not an immediate urgency.
The weather was already so hot. If he continued to busy himself under the blazing sun all day, he and the three women in the cabin might suffer from sunburn or even heatstroke again…
It was a good opportunity to finally carry out something Chuck had wanted to do but hadn't had time for.
With this thought, Chuck nodded. He returned to the wooden cabin storage room, temporarily placed the palm fruit clusters aside, and then took his axe and walked down the stone slope.
For the next two hours, what Chuck did was simple and familiar: cutting down logs with his axe, then trimming the branches and leaves, and putting them into the Workbench.
But this time, these logs did not become part of the wooden cabin. Instead, through the use of the wedge tool and the Workbench, they were transformed into pieces of plain but sturdy log furniture.
A two-meter square wooden table, four simple wooden chairs with backs, and a three-tiered wooden cabinet were all made from the logs Chuck had just cut down.
The main event, however, was the palm awning Chuck erected outside the cabin, measuring about two meters long.
Completely different from the palm awning that preceded their current wooden cabin, this palm awning was smaller, and the four supporting columns were just slender, split planks. The roof was also crudely covered with a few large palm leaves over secondary cross supports, looking completely incapable of withstanding rain.
But Chuck was satisfied with it.
Because this structure was built by his own hands, not from a Workbench blueprint. And its purpose wasn't to shelter from the wind and rain.
It was to block the sun.
To this end, Chuck had specially designed the long support planks and the roof planks to be detachable, so they could be quickly disassembled and stored when heavy rain arrived.
Standing in the shadow of the awning, the unbearable heat on his head and the back of his neck was noticeably absent.
Chuck couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. His spirits were lifted considerably.
With this, no one in the family who cooked or worked outside would have to worry about getting sunburned anymore. Also, with the table and chairs inside, they wouldn't have to gather around the bed or squat on the ground to eat anymore.
Thinking this, Chuck thoughtfully rubbed his chin.
Honestly, he should have built this furniture and the awning much earlier. However, because his mind had been preoccupied with long-term plans lately, he had neglected these immediate tasks that could instantly improve their living conditions.
Perhaps, he should learn to relax a bit and not be so tense all the time.
Chuck pulled up a chair for himself and rested comfortably under the awning for a while. Then, he got up, continued taking fiber to synthesize cord, and also brought out the heavy clusters of oil palm fruits.
He then sat back down in the wooden chair and began working.
According to the Workbench synthesis hint, the oil palm fruits needed to be boiled and have their pits removed before they could be placed in the Workbench for synthesis.
This meant he had to do these steps manually.
Chuck wasn't dissatisfied with this. After all, processing resources to the point where they could be synthesized was part of the gathering work. He was a capable man and couldn't rely on the Workbench's Golden Finger for everything.
Each cluster of oil palm fruits was about the size of a basketball. The deep-red, chestnut-like round fruits were embedded in the thick main stem. It was easy to peel off the fruits, but the tricky part was the numerous thorns between the fruits, making it difficult to handle them directly.
So, he had to laboriously pick off the fruits one by one with a bone knife.
It was tedious work, which made Chuck feel even more strongly that building the awning beforehand was the right decision.
Fortunately, the oppressive heat in the air gradually faded as time passed. The bombshell, who had been comfortably napping indoors to avoid the sun, emerged from the wooden cabin right on time. After marveling at Chuck's masterpiece, she pulled up a wooden chair and helped him peel the palm fruits.
So, Chuck went back and forth between the awning and the drying rack every ten minutes.
Cluster after cluster of oil palm fruits were peeled off by him and Julia, gradually accumulating into a small hill on the ground. Simultaneously, strands of fiber were fed into the Workbench, and as the countdown ended, they were synthesized into cord.
The work proceeded smoothly.
Suddenly, another set of footsteps sounded from inside the wooden cabin door.
Chuck looked up and saw Gu Yitong, the beautiful milf mother, with her black hair loose and a slightly languid expression. She was wearing her floral dress and flip-flops, stepping out with her plump, pale legs.
"Awake?"
"M-hm."
Gu Yitong nodded slightly at Chuck, responding softly, her beautiful face blushing.
In the morning, she had been exhausted from the work. Due to the muggy heat and the inexplicable stinging on her back, she had to take off her outer clothes and rest in a prone position. She never expected Chuck to "seize the opportunity" like that, pounding her without a word…
Although it was genuinely comfortable, precisely because of that, she had planned to continue cleaning the cabin in the afternoon, but ended up sleeping until now.
"Eat first. I saved your lunch for you."
Chuck raised his hand and pointed with the back of his knife to the clay bowl by the fire, which contained Gu Yitong's lunch.
Even though it was already past four in the afternoon.
"Oh… thank you."
Due to Chuck's "interruption," Gu Yitong had completely missed lunch and had barely eaten anything since the morning. Her stomach was rumbling with hunger.
So, she nodded her thanks, picked up the clay bowl, and began to eat.
But as she ate, her gaze suddenly froze. She belatedly turned her head to look inside the wooden cabin door behind her.
Wait a minute…
That table wasn't there at noon!
Nearly choking on her food, Gu Yitong quickly drank some water, patted her full chest, and looked down at the seats of the two people.
Now that she noticed, they were sitting in chairs…
And this cool, shaded awning…
"Well, what do you think?"
As if sensing her gaze, Chuck, who was busy working with his head down, suddenly looked up at her, pointing to the awning above his head with the back of his knife, a look of pride on his face.
Julia next to him also looked at her with a cheerful smile, enthusiastically offering praise and a kiss to Chuck.
Gu Yitong's heart involuntarily sped up. She pursed her red lips and nodded.
"It's amazing."
The career woman who once spoke eloquently and coined golden phrases at various business meetings and department assemblies, always winning applause, was now, in this moment, clumsily like a shy little girl when sincerely complimenting the man she loved.
Just like her daughter.
Chuck smiled and said no more, going back to his work.
Being a woman, even though she had starved all day, Gu Yitong's appetite was not huge.
She quickly finished her "lunch," put down the bowl and chopsticks, and hurried over to the two of them, speaking softly in embarrassment.
"Let me help too."
"No need, we're almost done."
Chuck finished speaking, then looked up at her, asking gently with concern.
"How is the sunburn on the back of your neck?"
"…Sunburn?"
Hearing Chuck's words, Gu Yitong was first stunned, not reacting immediately.
What sunburn on the back of her neck?
But when she felt puzzled and subconsciously reached for the back of her neck, feeling a stinging pain where she touched.
Gu Yitong immediately frowned, then looked blankly at Chuck.
"I didn't even know…"
Chuck smiled at her response.
"Don't worry, it's only mild. I applied some aloe vera to the sunburn. Just be careful not to rub it off when you sleep tonight. With this awning, you won't get sunburned again."
But halfway through, Chuck suddenly paused. His expression immediately became serious as he instructed.
"Even when you're busy, you need to be constantly careful. This is a deserted island. Staying healthy is more important than anything else, understood?"
"…"
Aloe vera?
Gu Yitong nodded subconsciously, but then looked down at her long, slender fingertips. She could see a dried film on them, not peeling skin, but some kind of dried gel.
No wonder she suddenly felt a cool sensation while sleeping.
So, at that time, Chuck helped apply medicine to her sunburn, and because of this, he even built this awning outside the door…
Looking up at the simple yet spacious awning again, Gu Yitong felt deeply moved. The indescribable emotion in her eyes as she looked at Chuck grew even more intense.
Since she reached adulthood, she had almost never experienced this feeling of being cherished.
Yet, she had felt it more times from this man, who was several years younger than her, than in all the years combined.
Being stranded on a deserted island with her daughter had driven her to despair several times, but after everything that had happened, to this day…
She looked up again. Her eyes, fixed on Chuck, were now filled with profound love.