Chapter 5: Simple Water Filter Blueprint

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Simple Water Filter Blueprint

It was bizarre.

But then again, so was everyone being transmigrated.

Seraphina Sinclair was already getting used to it.

She hadn’t worn the t-shirt since it got dirty. Thankfully, she was wearing a sports bra today, so it wasn’t weird to walk around the room like this.

She shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips as she laughed at herself for overthinking.

’It’s the apocalypse. Who cares what I’m wearing?’ Besides, she was the only person in this godforsaken place. Oh, and a little Sunflower that hadn’t grown up yet.

Seraphina glanced at the Sunflower, which was huddled in a ball. ’That kid doesn’t know a damn thing.’

She casually pried open the last Supply Box.

[Obtained: Simple Water Filter Blueprint x1, Lighter x1!]

A blueprint!

And a lighter!

Seraphina’s eyes lit up, her gaze immediately locking onto the yellowed blueprint.

The blueprint seemed to be made of parchment, its surface covered in scorch marks and its edges stained with suspicious black smudges.

But the structural diagram drawn in the center was exceptionally clear.

It depicted a cylindrical device composed of a three-layer filter, with a dense list of material ratios annotated beside it.

[Simple Water Filter Blueprint (F-level)]

[Learning Requirement: Intelligence ≥ 8]

[Materials Required: Metal Fragments x10, cloth x5, Activated Carbon x3]

[Effect: Purifies contaminated water to a drinkable state (Filters up to 10 liters per hour)]

She had the Metal Fragments.

But cloth and activated carbon...

Seraphina was a little disappointed. Not only did she not have all the materials, but even if she did manage to build it, what good would it be if it never rained in The Black Mist World?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the huddled Sunflower suddenly muttered to itself in a small, child-like voice, "You have to move on before it rains."

"When it rains..."

It didn’t finish, but Seraphina keenly sensed its fear.

Even though the Sunflower was small, its first reaction to a Rotting Corpse was "Yummy," which meant it wasn’t scared of them at all. In fact, it was delighted to see them.

So, for something to actually scare it...

Seraphina shivered. ’It must be some kind of monster I really don’t want to meet!’

But she quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Now that she had a warning in advance, the danger was already neutralized for her.

’What a relief!’

Still, the phrase "before it rains" was interesting.

’Does it rain every day?’

If so, this water filter would be absolutely essential.

But this was just a guess. Seraphina couldn’t talk to the Sunflower directly, so she had no way of verifying if her idea was correct.

She took a moment to fiddle with the lighter she’d gotten. It looked no different from the cheap ones sold in supermarkets in her past life.

It sparked normally, and that was enough.

Seraphina decided to save the nutrient liquid for tomorrow. Today, she would focus on getting familiar with the weather patterns of The Black Mist World.

After all, she was a newcomer here. This was a completely new world to her, and it was never wrong to be cautious.

As for the rest of her time, Seraphina planned to study the water filter and see if she could make it.

The missing materials were cloth and activated carbon.

The activated carbon was a bit tricky, but as for the cloth...

Seraphina’s gaze fell on the t-shirt she had tossed on the floor to use as a rag. It seemed to be made of polyester fiber.

’This should count as... cloth, right?’

Seraphina crouched down and picked up the t-shirt, which was caked in black slime. The fabric had stiffened, and a few strands of semi-coagulated monster tissue clung to the edges.

She wrinkled her nose, fighting the urge to gag, and used her military knife to cut off a relatively clean piece of the fabric.

"I wonder if this will work..."

She muttered to herself, placing the cut piece of fabric next to the blueprint.

[Usable Material Detected: cloth (Extremely Poor Quality) x1]

Seraphina completely ignored the words in the parentheses. ’Seriously, I was just a wage slave. What kind of nice clothes did they expect me to have?’

’As long as it works!’

She immediately set to work, cutting half of the t-shirt into five similarly sized pieces, each of which was recognized by the system.

[cloth x5, Collected!]

’So smooth!’

’Thank goodness the system’s definition is so broad. I almost got stuck just because I’m poor.’

As for the activated carbon...

Seraphina opened the trade channel and searched through it several times. She read through almost all the listings but didn’t see anyone mention it.

She then opened the regional channel, planning to post a message asking if anyone wanted to trade for activated carbon.

A minute later, she posted: "Did anyone get activated carbon? I can trade food and water for it."

To Seraphina’s surprise, her message was met with a string of mocking replies.

"Seriously, sis, have you lost your mind? Why do you need activated carbon right now? Food and water are the most important things, okay?"

"Dude, no offense, but now’s not the time to show off. You think mentioning some high-level material makes you look cool? By the way, your anonymous mode isn’t on. Remember to turn it on next time you try to flex."

Seraphina: "..."

She hadn’t achieved her goal, but she had stumbled upon a new piece of information.

Anonymous mode?

Seraphina rummaged through the regional channel options for a moment before finding the feature. Since she hadn’t set a username and the system didn’t display players’ real names, she was currently in the default anonymous state.

’That’s pretty thoughtful.’

Seraphina hesitated for a moment before setting her username to "Blacktiger Ford."

First, the username was completely androgynous, which would have a nice confusing effect.

Second... well, Seraphina hadn’t thought of a second reason yet.

None of that mattered.

After setting her username, she earnestly posted another inquiry. When she was met with mockery once again, she helplessly closed the regional channel.

’Why are the other players so clueless?’

’Unbelievable.’

Seraphina fell silent for a moment, then had a bold idea.

Since she could cut the cloth herself and have the system recognize it...

Then activated carbon...

...could she make that herself, too?

Seraphina racked her brain for the chemistry she’d learned in her past life, then came to a depressing realization: with her current materials, the only thing she could make was charcoal. And even making charcoal was somewhat dangerous.

No.

It was *very* dangerous.

Seraphina stared silently at the wooden floor beneath her. Did this mean she had to start a fire in this godforsaken place?

’If I burn down my shelter, I’m done for.’

Besides, making charcoal required combustion in a sealed, low-oxygen environment. There was no way she could create those conditions here!

’Am I just supposed to stare at it and drool?’

Unwilling to give up, Seraphina opened the regional channel again, intending to settle for the next best thing and trade for some charcoal.

’If they don’t have activated carbon, surely someone must have regular charcoal, right?’

"Anyone have charcoal? I’ll trade food for it."

Seraphina felt her message was perfectly sincere.

But the people in the regional channel acted like they were on a hair trigger. The moment they saw the word "carbon," they started laying on the sarcasm.

"What do you need charcoal for in this weather?"

"Don’t want to live anymore? Planning to commit suicide by charcoal burning? Interesting."

’These people would probably poison themselves if they licked their own lips.’