I Played Both Women and Children Very Successfully

A snow-white lifeboat lay motionless on the vast, tranquil sea.

Nothing could be heard except the faint sound of waves lapping against the hull, as though no one were aboard.

Yet ten people lay scattered across the boat, not one of them speaking.

Having narrowly escaped death, all ten were still shaken. They clutched the survival packs they had grabbed in their haste to escape and leaned warily against the sides of the boat.

A mother and daughter nestled beside Stock. The girl raised her innocent eyes and said to him, "Daddy~"

"Stop!"

Hearing Xie Qi speak in a high-pitched voice, Phil broke out in goosebumps. He stared at Xie Qi speechlessly and said, "Have you never met a child? What kid calls someone that?"

"Huh? They don't? Then what should I call him?"

Xie Qi tilted his head, still immersed in playing the girl, and looked at him with an innocent expression.

Phil shuddered, as if trying to shake something off. "Just a normal 'Dad' will do."

"All right, all right. You really have no sense of humor."

Xie Qi waved a hand and continued his performance.

The girl said to Stock, "Dad, I'm hungry."

The woman hurriedly covered her mouth and glanced worriedly at Stock.

The others heard the girl too. Saul, who was leaning against the outside wall of the cabin, raised his head and said to everyone, "There's no real danger now, so there's no need to be so tense. Eat and drink as you need to. Rescuers should be here soon."

After all, they had only just been shipwrecked, and there were only ten of them on the vast sea. At first, people would tend to stick together.

So everyone ate some compressed biscuits from their survival packs and drank a little water.

After everyone rolled the dice to add points, Brussels had a stroke of luck and gained 6 points, while the others gained 2 or 3 points each.

"Everyone, start writing down today's actions. If you want to keep an action hidden, you can make a note of it~"

Xie Qi's words made even those who had no other ideas pause to consider it.

After resting, Song Nan immediately got up, took out a nautical chart and compass, and began making notes and marks on the chart with a pen.

"How do I determine my progress in finding our bearings?" Song Nan asked.

"Given your Seamanship bonus, rolling a 1 to 3 each day will increase your progress by 10%. Once it reaches 100%, you can find the right direction."

"All right, then my action every day from now on will be studying the nautical chart." Song Nan settled on her future actions on the very first day.

She then began rolling. Her first roll was a 2, increasing her research progress by 10%. Her second was a 5, reducing her stamina by 5.

Song Nan's HP at the end of the first day was 343.

Besides Song Nan taking action, Brussels proposed that they take turns going into the water to catch fish each day. They still didn't know how long they would be adrift, so they had to ration the compressed biscuits.

Saul and Phil agreed with his proposal. The others didn't have as much stamina as the three of them, so they ultimately decided that the three would take turns fishing each day.

Brussels went fishing on the first day. Unfortunately, he needed to roll higher than a 4 to catch anything, but he only rolled a 2.

At the end of the first day, everyone's HP was as follows:

Saul: 493

Brussels: 490

Phil, Bailey: 398

Song Nan: 343

Annie, Sofina, the wife, Stock: 298

Girl: 198

Aside from the child, who had no ability to act, everyone's HP was safe for the time being. And so the first day passed.

"It's my turn today, right?"

Phil toyed with the die in one hand. After Xie Qi nodded, he rolled it.

"Not bad luck. Looks like we'll have fish to eat today."

The number facing up on the table was 5. Phil had successfully caught fish on the second day.

But because of his limited stamina, Xie Qi said he could catch no more than three fish. Moreover, the hot weather would cause the fish to spoil after a day, so everyone needed to eat them quickly.

"Who's three fish going to feed? I don't think the women and kids need any. After all, we men are the ones who'll have to do the work later." Sure enough, the speaker was Brussels. He had rolled for the action of grilling fish and was talking as he grilled them on the deck.

Song Nan and Saul disagreed. They said it was only the second day and that they could simply divide the fish among everyone. Besides, they still had compressed biscuits, so they wouldn't be too exhausted to go into the water.

Hearing this, Stock's wife wanted him to speak up and persuade Brussels too. "Hubby~ I want some fishy too~ Get me a little, please~"

Xie Qi repeated his performance, and this time everyone at the table stared at him in silence.

With his fingers held in a delicate pose, he had twisted his body almost into a pretzel.

"Pfft—"

Someone burst out laughing. The others looked toward the sound and discovered that it was Annie.

Seeing them all staring at her, Annie hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand. Her face flushed red, and steam seemed to be rising from her head.

This time, no one paid any more attention to Xie Qi's dramatic antics, leaving him to put on his own show.

"Hey! Once the fish is done, bring it over for my darling wife and daughter. When we get back to land, I'll give you an apartment."

Stock stuck out his belly and spoke to Brussels with his nose in the air.

One fish for an apartment?

Even though Brussels earned plenty in tournament prizes, he spent money freely and hadn't saved much, let alone enough for an apartment in Manhattan. Land there was worth its weight in gold, and an apartment would cost several million dollars at least.

So, without asking anyone else's opinion, he handed the fish to Stock after grilling it.

As for the other two fish, Phil took one for himself. Given his family background, no one dared object.

That left only one fish. Brussels wanted it for himself, but Saul stopped him and used his action for the second day to divide the fish among the other three women.

The other two were grateful to Saul when they accepted the fish. Only Annie declined his kindness, saying she could just eat biscuits.

The second day passed.

Unfortunately, over the next five days, they never managed to catch another fish and could only stave off hunger with compressed biscuits.

They also went from fishing once a day to three times a day, with all three going into the water to fish. But their luck was truly terrible, and not one attempt succeeded.

Everyone's HP fell sharply. Even though they had food and water, Xie Qi gave them debuffs such as heatstroke and mental stress. The girl, who had the lowest HP, had already dropped to 160.

Stock's wife was also close to falling below 250, while Brussels, who had the most HP, still had 420.

They had thought their HP could keep dropping at that rate for another three or four days, but then Xie Qi suddenly informed them—

Because of the scorching weather, they had been drinking too much water each day, and the drinking water supplied in the survival packs was nearly gone. If they didn't take action soon, they would run out of water on the eighth day.

"What? Are you screwing with me?"

Brussels had never been patient, and the feeling of going through it all over again made him even more irritable.

Hearing that, he no longer cared how wary he was of the person in front of him. He immediately stood up and tried to grab the pretty boy, intending to show him whose fist was bigger.