Desert Island Survival Arc (End)

Desert Island Survival Arc (Complete)

Bear's English was excellent, perhaps because he was British.

The first thing the two did after returning from their expedition to the center of the island was plant the new vegetable seeds they had collected in the garden. After much hesitation, Zhang Heng ultimately gave up on the idea of making himself a short skirt. Mainly because, even with a skirt, he still couldn't cosplay the Great Sage Equal to Heaven without a staff.

In the end, Bear turned the two jaguar hides into blankets and spread them over the bed. Soon afterward, the breeding pen was filled with prey the explorer had caught.

Mickey Mouse seemed rather surprised to suddenly have so many new neighbors. Zhang Heng had even found him a wife, so the two people on the island would have bird eggs to eat from now on.

Zhang Heng finally had a bit of the feeling that he had conquered nature. There were more than twenty kinds of edible vegetables, along with two extra seasonings. Fish and crabs could be scooped up from the pond whenever they wanted, they had meat to eat every day, and most importantly, there was finally someone beside him he could talk to.

It felt a little like Robinson Crusoe meeting Friday.

Well, from the perspective of their teacher-student relationship, he was probably more like Friday.

Zhang Heng now set aside at least four hours every day to study English with Bear, covering listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Besides that, he had not abandoned his Archery Skill training. Although the target practice target had disappeared by now, he had kept at it for a year, and it had become a habit. Zhang Heng simply no longer spent as much time on it as before. On top of that, Bear taught him a few tricks for self-defense.

By this point, Zhang Heng finally felt somewhat like the master of nature.

And his journey on the deserted island was also nearing its end. On the morning of the 520th day, a rescue ship spotted the signal fire burning on the beach and lowered a lifeboat. Before it even reached shore, a woman jumped into the water from it and ran over crying.

"My wife, Kaila." The explorer put down his homemade fishing rod and rose to his feet excitedly.

The two embraced tightly.

Bear then untied the knife at his waist and placed it in Zhang Heng's hand. "As we promised before, this belongs to you. I've been to many dangerous places on Earth—the polar regions, deserts, plateaus... but this was my first time truly being stranded on a deserted island. It has been an unforgettable and precious experience. You are my friend forever. These days, it wasn't just you learning knowledge from me. I learned a great deal from you too. For example, I learned for the first time that English actually has something called grammar."

"..."

"Come on, my friend. It's time to go home."

Zhang Heng followed Bear and Kaila onto the rescue boat. There were even reporters from several television stations aboard. When everyone saw the explorer return safely, they cheered and applauded.

Zhang Heng took a hot shower on the ship and changed into clothes provided by the sailors. He finally felt like he had returned to civilized society. Yet he did not join the celebration that followed. Instead, he found an unnoticed corner and sat there quietly, because it would soon be two hours since he had left the real world.

They were undoubtedly the longest two hours of his life.

Zhang Heng was also rather curious about exactly how he would return to the real world. Then, in the next instant, everything before his eyes went dark, and that familiar notification sound rang out again beside his ears.

Return deadline reached. Mission completion confirmed...

Newbie instance Desert Island Survival cleared. The first round of the game has ended. Returning to the real world...

When Zhang Heng regained his vision, he found himself sitting at the bar counter, with the glass of lemonade he had only taken one small sip from still in front of him.

The first thing Zhang Heng did was reach up to touch his cheek. The thick stubble and the rough texture left by wind and sun were already gone.

Bartender Lady thoughtfully dug a compact out of her little bag and handed it to him.

Using the mirror inside, Zhang Heng saw that he looked no different from when he had first entered the bar. He was still wearing his original tracksuit and sneakers, and the Swiss Army Knife was still in his pocket.

"So what was that? Some strange dream?"

"No. During those two hours, you really did disappear. Not just from this room or this bar—your existence could not be found anywhere in this world." Bartender Lady took back her compact. "You should have many questions right now, but unfortunately, there are very few I can answer. You'll need to figure them out for yourself in the game."

"..."

"All I can tell you is that the game takes place once every calendar month. Other than the first round, whose time is fixed, you can choose any time to come to a Game Point and play. It does not have to be the City of Desire Bar, because every city has more than one Game Point. If you truly can't find one, you can call Customer Service and pay a certain price to use the special login service. If you fail to log in by the deadline, your player qualification will be revoked."

"Participants are considered to have accepted a confidentiality agreement by default. Do not reveal anything related to the game to anyone other than players and staff. Mm, that's also the most basic restriction. Don't take any chances."

Bartender Lady stroked her chin. "What else? Let me think... Oh, aside from logging into the game, Game Points also provide various other services. You can consult Customer Service for details about those services too."

She tore off a sticky note and quickly wrote down a string of numbers. "This is the Customer Service number. Don't call it for no reason, because I'm your Customer Service representative."

"You sure work a lot of jobs," Zhang Heng remarked.

"Can't be helped. Housing prices are so high in big cities these days." Bartender Lady sighed. "All right, is there anything else?"

Zhang Heng pulled a fluffy object from his pocket. "Among the services you mentioned, does identification happen to be included?"

Not only the beard on his face and the scar on his shoulder, but everything from that instance—including the pile of stone tools he had made and the knife Bear had given him—had ultimately failed to return to the real world with him.

Only this rabbit's foot, whose purpose he did not know, still lay quietly in his pocket.

"A game item?" Bartender Lady said in surprise. "Looks like you got quite a haul this time. Things like these are extremely rare. A lot of people don't encounter even one after several rounds of games. I can indeed identify it here, but the handling fee is 5 Game Points. Do you have them?"

"How do I pay?"

Bartender Lady took out a tablet and tapped it a few times to bring up the payment screen. "Just enter your player ID and tap confirm. Don't worry about someone using your ID fraudulently. This type of payment is only valid if you personally take part in it."

Perhaps because he had seen too many unscientific things since entering the bar, Zhang Heng had become somewhat numb to it all.

He had long since memorized that string of numbers. After he entered it, Bartender Lady put on gloves and carefully placed the rabbit's foot into a small wooden box.

"The identification will take some time, probably two or three days. I'll send you a message once it's finished."

But Zhang Heng's attention had been drawn by her actions, and an ominous feeling suddenly rose in his heart. "Wait, what do you mean? Why are you being so careful?"