Chapter 2: After CPR, artificial respiration is performed.
Despite mental preparation for the lifesaving task, when Zhang Liu pressed and touched her, a slight palpitation coursed through his heart.
This feeling is truly something.
With the complete flexibility reflected from his palm, he couldn't help but murmur 'true material.'
After roughly thirty CPR cycles, artificial respiration commenced.
Zhang Liu had encountered this during his studies, but doubts lingered.
Do we really need artificial respiration?
Recalling the soft tongue seen during the mouth examination, his heart raced, intensifying the pressure on his hand.
Suddenly, the girl undergoing CPR began coughing.
"Cough, cough, cough... cough, cough..."
Her eyes, filled with red blood upon opening, glanced at the man before her. Turning over, she coughed violently, expelling salty seawater.
"Ah... you awake..."
Ignoring the boy's inquiry, she lay on the beach, panting heavily.
Zhang Liu, awkwardly retracting his palm on reflex, pondered where to place it. Opting for his pants pocket, he stood aside dazedly.
Once she finished panting, the girl stuck out her tongue, licked her lips, and hoarsely asked for water.
"Uh... water?"
Forgetting his own thirst until mentioned, Zhang Liu scanned the surroundings. A coconut tree stood nearby, brown fruits scattered beneath it.
Without hesitation, he sprinted over.
Picking up a brown coconut, a putrid odor overwhelmed him. Yet, shaking it, he heard liquid inside.
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Though they are not as pristine as store-bought coconuts, could they contain drinkable juice after opening?
And if there are coconuts, we must be in the tropics, right?
With simple geographical knowledge flashing in his brain, Zhang Liu ran towards the girl with the coconut in his hands, then froze.
There is a thick shell on the outside of the coconut, and there are self-service machines in supermarkets to help open it.
But where will the tools come from here?
The girl, pondering the issue, fell silent, eyeing the brown coconut in Zhang Liu's hand.
"I'll look for a rock to open it." Zhang Liu turned around, quickly spotting the reef beach a little further away.
Driven by thirst, he found a medium-sized stone, picked it up, and struck the coconut shell.
The fiber material in the coconut shell serves as strong insulation; it needs only blunt stones.
Zhang Liu knew a hard shell lay within the coconut, feeling a sense of helplessness about the time it would take to open it.
Yet he pressed on.
"If you don't knock it, you won't be able to eat it." He grasped this fact.
The coconut shell, both hard and slippery, evaded several knocks, with the stone falling but the shell slipping away.
A hoarse voice from the girl beside him suggested, "How about you hit it on a rock?"
Prompted by the reminder, Zhang Liu followed her advice.
He raised the coconut and struck it with a nearby sharp rock, far stronger than hitting it with fist-sized pebbles before.
Each strike left a deep hole, matching the previous effort.
The air was filled with the aroma of coconut wood fibers breaking.
After five or six strokes, he could feel the coconut making a distinct "clicking" sound.
Milky white liquid splashed out from the cracks, flowing along his fingers towards his wrist until it dripped on the beach.
No matter the smell or color, it's exactly the same as coconut juice from the supermarket.
"It's open!" Zhang Liu couldn't help but scream in surprise, observing the scene in front of him.
Then he quickly took the coconut out of the stone and handed it to the girl next to him.
"You drink first..."
As a man, Zhang Liu would still prioritize women unless it was a life-and-death issue, like when he had just saved her.
Besides, coconut resources were abundant here. Where he picked coconuts, many brown ones were sunken in the sand.
“Thank you.” The girl looked at the boy, extended her hands, took the coconut, and thanked him before drinking.
“You're welcome; we're colleagues after all.” After answering casually, Zhang Liu ran to the side, grabbing two coconuts in one hand.
After the first opening experience, the coconut opening speed greatly improved.
However, none of the coconut milk matched the milky white of the first; it was all clear or slightly yellowish juice.
This left him a little depressed.
After several trips back and forth, Zhang Liu and the girl, who had regained some strength by relying on coconut water, found a shady place to sit. A small pile of unopened coconuts stacked next to them, along with a sharp flint stone, is suited for opening and extracting the coconut meat.
"Um, what's your name?"
As time passed, the sun intensified, and the temperature rose. Even under the stone's shade, Zhang Liu felt sweat dripping, and the clothes that had dried became damp again.
Seeing the silent girl next to him, he couldn't help but ask her name.
“Qin Rushuang.” The girl turned to him and said, “I know you; your name is Zhang Liu, right? After all, you are the only boy in the school.”
“Mhm… Because my family is poor, I came to your aristocratic girls’ school to help improve the acceptance rate.” Zhang Liu explained awkwardly, his expression becoming a little unfortunate.
Most of the day had passed, and there was no sign of rescue.
He didn't even know what to do next.
Is it really possible to start surviving in the wilderness, like in those wilderness videos?
But those videos only showed scenes of success and not many failures.
Now, if it were truly my turn to try and make mistakes, how many opportunities would there be for success and mistakes?
And...what should we do now?
With these thoughts, Zhang Liu's original optimism gradually faded.
Qin Rushuang, observing the boy's sad expression, thought of her sister Qin Ruyan, also on the plane crash.
I've been saved.
But what about her?
Would she be as lucky?
Thinking of this, Qin Rushuang's heart became extremely confused, unable to find a solution. Eventually, she bent her legs and placed her hands on her knees to ease her feelings.