The pressed oil-water mixture, after being boiled twice for separation and having its impurities removed, entered the next step: fractional crystallization. There were several methods for the fractional crystallization of palm oil, one of which was dry fractionation, which used no chemical reagents and relied solely on temperature control to purify the oil.

Fortunately, Bai Zhen’s ability happened to be related to temperature control.

The essence of Hati’s freezing ability was heat absorption; with proper control, she could precisely manage temperature changes. The main reasons Bai Zhen had rarely used her freezing ability in the past were the psychological trauma from the elevator incident and her inability to control it well.

Bai Zhen’s control over her spirit animal was masterful, not inferior even to some experienced veteran Sentinels. However, she had never been able to master the application of this particular skill.

The Tower had always been very interested in Bai Zhen’s ability because it was the first recorded, most direct example of interdimensional energy exchange. The emergence of Sentinels and Guides had once shaken the scientific system that had developed over many years, as the manifestations of their abilities often violated various laws.

The collapse of the scientific system almost meant the collapse of civilization itself. Scientists, desperate for an explanation, eventually accepted the theory of higher-dimensional interference.

According to the second law of thermodynamics, energy does not spontaneously flow from a colder body to a hotter one. This meant that when Bai Zhen released her freezing ability, she must be expending energy, and this energy was what was known as psychic power.

In fact, although “psychic power” was the conventional term used in Sentinel and Guide circles, researchers preferred to call it higher-dimensional interference force or spatial distortion dimension. Because there was no definitive conclusion yet, the terminology varied.

Since the abilities of Sentinels and Guides were diverse, many of them esoteric and difficult to study as a baseline, Bai Zhen’s appearance undoubtedly opened a door for researchers to explore. Being able to quantify psychic power in terms of energy loss, or entropy, would be a huge boost to the fundamental research into the nature of Sentinels and Guides.

Of course, for the current Bai Zhen, none of this mattered. Today, her ability finally had a real practical use.

After bonding with Hua Mu, Bai Zhen clearly felt an enhancement in her abilities and gradually began to understand why she couldn’t control this particular skill—she didn’t know the essence of her freezing ability.

To use a rough analogy, the old Bai Zhen could use an oil press but didn’t understand the principle behind it. She only knew that if she slammed the ram against the wedges, oil and water would appear in the barrel. As for what angle or force to use, she had no idea. Although Hati obeyed her, he had not fully revealed himself. But the current Bai Zhen could not only use the oil press and understand its principles, but she could also modify it according to the situation to make it more convenient and efficient. Although she still couldn’t articulate its essence well—after all, her focus on Sentinel courses meant she had only a partial understanding of research—she could now control it freely.

In the past, whenever Hati released his ability, it almost always resulted in a freezing effect, which was where the ability’s name came from. But now, she could perfectly lower an object’s temperature by just a few degrees and control the rate of cooling.

Bai Zhen even had a faint feeling that she might also be able to release heat. Although this would, to some extent, make the name “Ice Wolf” a misnomer, she figured no one would care about that.

The dry fractionation of palm oil was essentially a process of repeatedly heating, cooling, and filtering the oil to separate the stearin and olein. Palm stearin has a melting point above about 33°C and is generally solid at room temperature, while palm olein’s melting point is around 24°C, making it liquid at room temperature. Only the latter is suitable as cooking oil.

This process required repeated trials and was very demanding for the user of a Sentinel ability. Not to mention the fine control of temperature, just the prolonged, slow release of power was enough to drive any Sentinel to distraction.

In the past, Bai Zhen wouldn’t have had the slightest confidence in completing this task. But now, she didn’t even need to rest—except for that one time she was strongly urged by Hua Mu to take care of “proper business.”

After another two days, the palm oil was finally ready. From ten kilograms of oil cake, after removing all the water, impurities, stearin, and accounting for losses, they ended up with less than two hundred grams of cooking oil. The whole process had taken a full week.

Looking at the small amount of oil in the glass bottle, Hua Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was so difficult. For just this one small bottle, the two of them had expended a huge amount of effort and resources. If Bai Zhen hadn’t been so powerful, it might have taken even more time.

At times like this, she truly and deeply missed civilized society.

Seeing her complex expression, Bai Zhen comforted her, “Miss, there isn’t much oil, but there are plenty of by-products, and we can start treating the wood for the cabin. The result is still good. Once I get more skilled, I can increase production, shorten the time, and find other raw materials. Soon we won’t have to worry about cooking oil.”

Hua Mu knew the result was actually quite good; she just felt for Bai Zhen. The help she could offer was a drop in the bucket for the Sentinel. All the hardship and exhaustion fell on Bai Zhen alone.

“It’s great.” But after working so hard for so long, this was no time for discouraging words. Hua Mu lifted her spirits and smiled. “The New Year is coming soon. I can use this oil to make something delicious. Oh, right, we’re almost out of wine. We need to go back inside and get some more.”

Before, Hua Mu would have just gone to get it herself. But after that incident, she was now genuinely a little scared to go into the cave.

“I’ll go get it. I can also put away the things we got this time.”

The cave was currently mostly filled with food. With her enhanced abilities, Bai Zhen now had the capacity to create an ice cellar. Every day, she would freeze a few buckets of water and place them in the cave, which had become a semi-natural freezer.

Although Bai Zhen was very strong, Hua Mu was still worried.

“I’ll go with you.”

Luna wasn’t very useful, but at least she could see that ugly-cute little thing.

Bai Zhen thought for a moment and agreed.

The two had long since cleaned and organized the cave, not only adding new shelves but also installing fixtures on the cave walls to hold lighting equipment. Rings for holding torches, platforms for placing candles, and small sconces for oil lamps—they had thought of everything.

The by-products from this extraction included grease that could be used as fuel, which was perfect for lighting.

There were two sets of shelves in total, each about two meters long and wide, fifty centimeters deep, with four tiers. One was for storing food, the other for storing items. As for the documents and candles they had found earlier, Bai Zhen had already moved them into the cabin.

The shelves stood on the left and right. Further in, the cave narrowed like a bottleneck, the tightest spot being less than 1.8 meters high and half a meter wide. Past this narrow opening was the wine cellar.

The temperature in the wine cellar was very low, only about ten-something degrees Celsius. Probably because of her previous experience, Hua Mu was very nervous this time, holding tightly to Bai Zhen’s hand the whole way. She even couldn’t help but shiver upon entering the cellar.

“Meow~”

To be safe, she not only summoned Luna but also, rather unkindly, woke up the sleeping Emergency Rations. She was thoroughly prepared.

Seeing her fear, Bai Zhen simply pulled her into her arms.

“It’s okay. I don’t sense anything wrong for now. Your previous experience here wasn’t necessarily related to that thing.”

With Bai Zhen there, Hua Mu naturally felt much more at ease.

“Mhm… let’s just get the wine quickly. Let’s take a bit more this time.”

They had cleared out the wine in the cellar once before, and what remained were all in intact containers. A rough estimate of the various bottles amounted to several hundred kilograms. Even if some of it had gone bad, it was more than enough for two people who didn’t drink much.

Hua Mu guessed that the person who was stranded on the island before must have been an alcoholic and a heavy smoker. Otherwise, why would they have made so much wine and even homemade tobacco? Winemaking was a huge waste of grain, after all, and she had no plans to do it herself.

“This should be fine for cooking,” Bai Zhen said, picking up a wine jar that weighed about ten kilograms. “Is there any wine you’d like to drink? You didn’t seem to like the mead last time.”

Hua Mu had only had one glass that day and hadn’t touched it since, pouring it all for Bai Zhen instead. A tipsy Sentinel had an even more astonishing charm—wilder and more amorous. She liked that very much.

“I don’t really like drinking; they just look good. Hmm… but let’s take a bottle. I see you quite enjoy it.”

In the past, Bai Zhen rarely touched alcoholic beverages because of her missions, but that didn’t mean she was a lightweight. On the contrary, her tolerance for alcohol was quite high.

“Alright, you pick a bottle then.” Besides, it was Hua Mu pouring for her now. As long as her Miss prepared it, she would consume anything.

The image of a tipsy Sentinel in her mind completely dispelled Hua Mu’s nervousness. As she bent over to carefully select a bottle of wine, she thought about what could serve as “side dishes” for the drinks that night.

“This blue one looks delicious. I’ll take this one…”

“Wuwuwu-aow-meow!”

Just as Hua Mu picked up a glass bottle of about five hundred milliliters, Emergency Rations, who had been in her arms, suddenly let out a roar. At the same time, Hati, who had been hidden in the shadows, leaped out and stood protectively in front of Hua Mu.

Hua Mu was startled, nearly dropping the bottle in her hand. After fumbling to catch it, she saw that Emergency Rations had already jumped out of her arms and was standing by Hati’s feet—as if it knew such a giant wolf was beside it.

“Hff! Hff!” Hati made a threatening sound. Only Luna, still sensing no danger, calmly walked toward the direction where the two beasts were facing off.

Hua Mu reflexively switched to Luna’s perspective and, sure enough, saw the spirit animal at the boundary between the firelight and the darkness.

“It’s here!”

Bai Zhen had already shielded Hua Mu behind her. Hearing her voice, she couldn’t help but frown.

“Is it the spirit animal from last time?”

“Mhm… I think so.”

“You think so?”

At first glance, Hua Mu immediately identified it as the creature from before, but then she became uncertain because the spirit animal was clearly a size smaller than last time.

“Yeah, it got smaller.” Hua Mu gestured with her hands. “It used to be as big as a seabird, but now it’s just a little bigger than Emergency Rations. It looks rather pitiful.”

It wasn’t just the size; the spirit animal’s condition didn’t look good either. It appeared to be on the verge of death.