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墨書 Inktalez
“Loyalty and Righteousness, what are you daydreaming about?” A voice from Mai Lao snapped me back to reality. I realized I had been standing there, frozen in place for quite a while.
“Oh, nothing much, let’s go.” We made our way back to the shore, carrying our spoils.
Jenny and Shunzi were pacing back and forth, hugging their arms tightly. They looked so cold that their faces were nearly ashen.
Seeing the three of us return, Jenny exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, you’re finally back! If you hadn’t come back soon, we would have had to go look for you!”
“It’s fine; we’re all back safe now,” Mai Lao replied as he set down his things.
Jenny shivered and said, “The sea breeze is just too cold; I feel like I’m about to freeze to death.”
“Yeah, if you had taken any longer, we’d either freeze or starve,” Li Xin chimed in from the side.
Mantu added, “Even if we don’t freeze to death, we’ll die of thirst. We don’t even have a drop of water; how are we supposed to get by?”
Mai Lao casually tossed him a Doll Face Fruit, saying, “Well… you won’t die of thirst now.”
Mantu glanced at the item in his hand and asked, “What the hell is this thing?”
“It’s fun,” Jiao Ba interjected from the side. He then divided the Doll Face Fruits among everyone, ensuring that each person had at least one. However, no one dared to peel it open; they held it in their hands and stared at it for a long time, unsure of what it was.
“This looks like a Ginseng Fruit,” Li Xin was the first to speak up.
“It’s probably similar to a Ginseng Fruit. Anyway, whatever’s inside can be drunk. Don’t worry; it’s definitely not poisonous,” Jiao Ba said before slicing one open with a knife and tilting his head back to drink from it.
Others relaxed when they saw him drink. Jenny took a sip and said, "Hmm, it tastes pretty good, but it's a bit bitter and has an indescribable flavor. Why... why is this juice red?" After finishing her drink, she realized that the liquid inside was indeed red, and her expression turned incredulous.
At that moment, Jiao Ba suddenly flashed a strange look in his eyes—one that was sly and wicked—but it vanished just as quickly. "Oh, it's just this stuff. Don't worry about it; it's safe. It's from mountain fruits," he reassured.
I felt something was off; Jiao Ba's earlier expression was concerning. Others might not have noticed, but it didn't escape my attention. Did he discover something? There were too many people around to ask Otherworldly Princess Is Too Arrogant for a full read.
After finishing the drink, I got busy starting a fire. I placed some dry leaves at the bottom and waited for the flames to catch before adding branches on top. It didn't take long for the fire to blaze up.
Everyone was thrilled to see the fire and gathered around to warm themselves. However, I felt frustrated that Shunzi and the others had only caught two fish from the sea after much effort.
Meanwhile, Changshan managed to gather a pile of crabs by himself on the shore—at least twenty of them. Regardless, having something to eat was better than going hungry.
We roasted everything over the fire. As per tradition, the ladies ate first, so the two fish naturally went to the two women while we men had to settle for crabs to fill our stomachs.
As Jiao Ba munched on a crab, he exclaimed, "Mmm, mmm, delicious! This is the best thing I've ever eaten in my life; it can truly be called a delicacy."
The rest of us burst into laughter. Li Xin glanced at him and said, "That's because you're hungry; anything tastes good when you're starving."
I bit into a crab leg and replied, "In this environment, having food is already a blessing."
"Yeah, having food is great! I really miss being on the ship; at least we could have a full meal there," Big Guy lamented, clearly still hungry since there wasn't much food to go around.
After eating, I propped three forked branches next to the fire to create a makeshift drying rack. Then I took off my Diving Suit and hung it up to dry while sitting by the fire in just my underwear.
Jenny shot me an annoyed look and said, "What are you doing? Why aren't you wearing any clothes? Are you trying to be indecent?"
"Hey, how am I being inappropriate here? It's uncomfortable with these wet clothes. How can we not dry them?" I replied leisurely, enjoying the warmth of the fire.
"Yeah, I need to dry my wetsuit too." Jiao Ba said without hesitation, taking off his clothes and hanging them up.
Seeing this, Shunzi and the others followed suit. Except for Mai Lao, all of us guys stripped down and sat around the fire bare-chested.
I looked at the two ladies across from me and said, "Aren't you uncomfortable in those wet clothes? You should take them off and warm up."
I meant well, but Jenny was not pleased. "Mind your own business. I'm fine being uncomfortable."
I sighed in frustration. "Alright, then enjoy yourself. It's none of my concern."
Li Xin was quite open-minded; she directly took off her soaked clothes and hung them on a tree branch to dry, leaving only her underwear on. Her alluring figure made Shunzi and the others stare, myself included.
Jiao Ba was practically drooling as he whispered in my ear, "Damn, Li Xin has an amazing body. It's perfect; if only..."
"Forget it, stop daydreaming," I interrupted him before he could finish.
After sitting down, Li Xin turned to Jenny and said, "You should take off your clothes too. They're too wet; you'll catch a cold."
Jenny looked a bit embarrassed. "I..."
"Come on, what time is it? Why are you still fussing over this?" Li Xin said seriously.
Jenny's face turned slightly red, but in the end, she took off her clothes as well. Like Li Xin, she sat on the ground in just her underwear. Both women had stunning figures, sitting closely together and revealing a bit too much for our comfort, making us guys feel a bit restless.
The scene was somewhat amusing. Currently, aside from Mai Lao, a group of people was sitting around the campfire completely naked. Those who knew the situation understood it was a shipwreck, while those who didn't might have thought it was some kind of wild party.
Mai Lao was an interesting character. No matter what we said, he stubbornly refused to take off his wetsuit. As long as he wasn't uncomfortable, we couldn't do much about it.
"What are you staring at? You should be thinking about how to get out of here," Li Xin shot me a glare. It was then I realized my gaze had been lingering on the two of them.
I pretended to cough and said, "Ahem... just thinking."
Shunzi chimed in from the side, "Who knows exactly where we are right now?"
"I don't know. This godforsaken place—who knows where it is?" Mantou cursed again; he had been a bit short-tempered lately.
Changshan spoke up, "Since we were sucked into that whirlpool and then thrown out at Sea Surface, it all happened very quickly—just a matter of one or two minutes. I suspect this is an underwater passage; we shouldn't be too far from the previous sea area."
"Yeah, I feel the same way. We just popped out in a flash," Big Guy added, gesturing with his hands.
Jiao Bayi remained silent, his eyes slightly glazed over as if he were deep in thought. I nudged him and leaned closer to whisper, "Hey, what are you thinking about?"
Jiao Ba didn't even move his lips; he managed to squeeze out a few words, "I'll tell you later; it's not the right time."
I stayed quiet and simply nodded lightly. At that moment, Li Xin said something crucial, "Mai Lao, according to our Nautical Chart, have we reached the last stop?"
"According to the Nautical Chart's display, that's indeed the case," Mai Lao replied softly.
"Mai Lao, who drew the downward arrow on the Nautical Chart?" I looked at him and intentionally asked this question. I had always felt that our arrival on this deserted island wasn't just a stroke of luck from escaping death.
"It wasn't drawn by anyone; it was left on the Nautical Chart. Jenny knows that too," Mai Lao glanced at Jenny.
"Yes, that's right. Below the last stop on the Nautical Chart, there is indeed a downward arrow marked there, and it was left previously," Jenny said, her face flushing as everyone's attention turned to her again.
"What about the Nautical Chart? Do you still have it?" Jiao Ba suddenly interjected.
"I have it with me; I've kept it on me all along," Mai Lao replied, pulling out the soaked chart from her Diving Suit. Luckily, it was made of sheepskin; if it had been paper, it would have disintegrated by now.
Jiao Ba took the Nautical Chart and examined it closely. I leaned in beside him to take a look as well, but I still couldn't see any changes. It looked the same as before, just that drawn arrow. I only suspected that someone had added it later.
"If this arrow was there all along, then it's understandable that we got caught up in this underwater cave; perhaps this place is where the Nautical Chart doesn't show, which could be our next destination," Jiao Ba said with a steady tone, not joking at all.
"Don't be ridiculous, Lao Ba. We were sucked in by a whirlpool and brought to this deserted island by dolphins. This place is nothing but barren mountains and wilderness; how could it possibly be our next stop?" Shunzi retorted, though he had a point.
Jiao Ba replied calmly, "Why is that not possible? According to what the Nautical Chart shows, that downward arrow could very well be that cave. Other than that, there's nothing else; this might be the connection point for our next destination."
"Then how do you explain this deserted island? If those dolphins hadn't rescued us, we might have already drowned in the sea," Shunzi insisted on emphasizing their fortunate rescue.
Jiao Ba smirked slightly and said, "Actually, even without the dolphins, we would still have made it to this island. Mai Lao, Jenny, what do you think?" He turned his gaze toward them again, leaving me wondering what he meant...
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