Day 90: A Misunderstanding?

After eating my fill, a sudden sense of emptiness washed over me. Accustomed as I was to being busy, I found myself momentarily at a loss for something to do.

Feeling a bit drowsy in the afternoon, I poured out a tiny bit of the remaining honey and brewed a cup of honey lemon water to perk myself up. Though I sat quietly, my mind refused to settle. I felt as though my thoughts were racing too wildly, sometimes even annoying myself.

The drowsiness was partly due to my lingering concerns over Brother Qian and the others' behavior, though it didn't quite amount to a rift between us. Still, I couldn't shake my worry. Days had already passed; if they had harbored any ill intentions toward me, they wouldn't have waited until today. Besides, my gun had always been well-hidden, and they had never laid eyes on it. So it was impossible they were acting this way out of fear of my weapon.

Could it be that Ye Qingchen had been observing me for a while? That seemed unlikely too. What would be the point? I had nothing else of value, nor were there any conflicts of interest between us. Even the most foolish person wouldn't choose to clash with me at a time like this.

...

These repetitive thoughts chased away my initial drowsiness. It wasn't that I didn't want to stop thinking, but rather that their actions made no sense to me. I simply couldn't figure it out.

"Forget it! Whatever, I won't think about it anymore!" After finishing the honey lemon water, I shook my head and stood up from the doorway. I decided to wait; once they returned, everything would come to light. To put it bluntly, even if a conflict broke out, I wasn't afraid. Despite walking closely with them lately, the safety on my handgun was always disengaged. The moment danger struck, I wouldn't hesitate for a second...

Hanging by the doorway were the several snakes they had killed previously, already cured using salt they had boiled themselves. Because they claimed that boiled salt left a strange aftertaste in cooking, I had leaned in to sniff it, but detected nothing unusual—though the inherent fishy smell of the snake meat made me cough. It seemed that kind of salt could only be tasted upon consumption.

In my view, boiling salt and sun-drying it were practically the same. I remembered boiling my own salt when I first arrived on the island, though I had given up because the yield was too small, and the salt I produced was completely odorless. The problem must have lain either with their seawater or the stone pot they used for boiling. Who knew what kind of mineral that large boulder was made of; nobody here was a geologist. Those were the only two possibilities.

...

Idleness breeds overthinking. Before long, I slapped my forehead as I suddenly remembered the notebook—the one I hadn't mentioned to Brother Qian and the others. Bringing that up would only complicate things further and likely erode their trust in me even more, especially since they hadn't really believed my previous talk about a ship.

However, I had barely settled into the upper level of the treehouse when I heard the loud voices of Brother Qian and the others chatting as they returned. Hearing them, I immediately walked to the entrance.

They were in the midst of hauling a life raft. Unlike sealed ones, this was an open-topped model, resembling a small skiff, and the boat was piled high with supplies. Could it be they hadn't managed to bring everything across in one trip?

I rushed out immediately. "Did you guys go transport the boat?"

"Yeah, haha! We finally managed to haul this big guy over. We paddled along the coastline—getting it here wasn't easy. We ran into alligators a few times, and there's a mangrove swamp over there too. It was unbelievable, took us half a day just to paddle across." The moment the boat entered the courtyard, everyone stopped and collapsed onto the ground, some sitting, some lying flat.

"Brother Luo, you were sleeping soundly this morning so we didn't wake you. Besides, the trip back required crossing a swamp full of alligators, which was quite dangerous, so we just went by ourselves. Oh, and to boost the men's morale this morning, I took a few cans of your soda and two packs of cigarettes. Didn't get a chance to tell you beforehand, so sorry about that."

"It's fine." I waved my hand, forcing a smile. I wasn't an idiot; a sense of vigilance toward Brother Qian had already taken root in my heart. When I first met him, he had come across as open, bold, and straightforward. After spending a couple of days with him, I thought he was experienced and possessed good coordination skills. But now, he was starting to grate on me.

I didn't know if he would push his luck further in the future, but a gut feeling told me he was putting on a display of dominance, letting me know that he was the one calling the shots here, and that he could take anything without needing anyone's permission... Whether that intuition was accurate, that was precisely how it felt right now.

Fall out over something like this? Out of the question! Even though it felt as sickening as swallowing a fly, I didn't let it show on my face—after all, this was still just guesswork at this stage. It was also unclear whether this was some form of testing on their part.

I casually drifted closer, pretending nothing was amiss, to see what kind of items they had brought back. Rummaging through the pile actually gave me quite a shock: there was an object that looked uncannily like a bomb, scaring me half to death.

"Hahaha!" Brother Qian burst into laughter at my reaction, and even Ying Yuefeng chuckled quietly nearby.

"Brother Luo, care to guess what this is? Go ahead and pick it up to take a look."

"Isn't this an explosive? A signal flare?" I had never laid eyes on such a thing before, so how could I guess? Weren't they just asking the obvious?

"Ha! Brother Luo, this is a signal flare! Well, we actually had three of them originally, but we set two off when we first arrived, and now only this one is left. So we're too stingy to use it unless it's a critical moment."

"Then where did you get all these items?" I pointed to the tow ropes and two small knives at the bottom of the boat.

Brother Qian didn't even bother to stand up. Still smiling, he replied, "Brother Luo, these things were all inside the life raft. Actually, there used to be a lot more stuff in here, but we've used up most of it. In the beginning, we even had two boat hooks with gaffs, an iron anchor, and even lighting equipment. But... sigh."

"And where are those things now?" To me, they were likely lost or worn out. But since he was willing to explain, I naturally had to keep asking.

"Alas, the boat hooks were used by two of our fallen brothers to stab at an alligators, but it didn't do much damage to the beast; instead, they lost their lives and the hooks vanished along with them. As for the iron anchor, because the rough waves kept us from pulling ashore, it got ground down and snapped by the reef underneath when we were finally mooring the raft. Long story short, everything got lost. This is all that's left." Brother Qian scratched his head with an expression of vexation.

I took the opportunity to observe the expressions of the others, searching for any subtle changes in their faces. If there were any, Brother Qian's story was likely fabricated. But I found none...