Ambush

After a long while, Chen Shouyi finally let go of the Shell Girl, who had been praised until she was dizzy as if drunk.

He stood up and stretched.

Suddenly, his body stiffened, and his pupils sharply contracted.

Out on the distant sea, a dugout canoe had appeared at some unknown time, with two Barbarians sitting in it, paddling steadily, seemingly heading this way.

"Barbarians!"

He snapped back to reality, shuddered, and quickly crouched low.

Since his body had been modified once, his eyesight had also greatly improved. Although the dugout canoe was still over a kilometer away, he could still clearly make it out.

This dugout canoe was quite large. Chen Shouyi estimated its diameter alone was four or five meters, and its length about ten meters.

He could imagine how massive and towering the tree that had been felled to make it must have been.

The two Barbarians in the canoe wore animal skins around their waists, their upper bodies completely **. Chen Shouyi didn't see if they carried any weapons, but their bronze, knotted muscles clearly showed their strength.

His heart pounded violently, his breathing rapid. The fear in his heart made him tremble slightly.

Ever since the bloody incident at the bookstore, especially after hearing that even a seasoned martial artist like Zhou Shaofeng had died, he had developed a phobia of Barbarians. Although he knew logically that not every Barbarian could be as strong as that one, his subconscious automatically substituted that Barbarian into every encounter.

"I can't stay here. I have to report the passage."

Chen Shouyi quickly stuffed the book and scattered debris into his briefcase, grabbed the still-dazed Shell Girl, and ran swiftly toward the nearby passage entrance.

A few steps later, he was back in the Underground Parking Lot, continuing to sprint outward.

But gradually, he slowed down. By the time he neared the parking lot exit, he stopped.

A powerful impulse seemed to surge into his mind, his blood boiling.

Was he really going to give up this Space Channel just like that?

Give up the Gold Sand on the island?

Just because of two suddenly appearing Barbarians of unknown strength?

His physical condition had already basically reached the standard of a martial artist, not far off from a Barbarian.

And besides, maybe their strength wasn't entirely unknown.

Chen Shouyi's mind stirred. He looked around, quickly walked to the wall, leaned his back against it, and his thoughts entered the Gray Mist Space. In the Memory Leaf, he immediately saw the two Barbarians on the dugout canoe.

After a moment, he opened his eyes.

From his physical perception, these two Barbarians were stronger than him, but only by a limited amount—at most one and a half times—far weaker than the mysterious Barbarian from the bookstore that day.

He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, then turned and ran back toward the passage.

Once inside the Otherworld, he took a deep breath and found a Wooden Stick lying on the ground.

This stick was no longer the thick one he'd picked up at the construction site. It was something he'd made in his spare time by cutting down a small tree here and whittling it with a knife. Its texture was as hard as iron.

Though it wasn't sharpened, as long as his speed was fast enough, ** wouldn't stop it.

He lay in the grass and looked toward the dugout canoe.

By now, the canoe was slowly approaching the Small Island.

After about ten minutes, the canoe finally touched the sandy beach and began to run aground.

The two Barbarians jumped off the canoe, pulled out a rope as thick as an arm, waded through waist-deep seawater to a large rock by the shore, and tied the rope around it to secure the canoe so it wouldn't be swept away by the rising tide.

The two Barbarians looked at the Small Island, seeming quite pleased. They chatted incessantly, occasionally letting out rough, hearty laughs. They turned back, took something like a Leather Pouch from the canoe, and soon started walking up the hill.

Chen Shouyi noticed they weren't carrying any weapons. For him, that was undoubtedly good news.

But it also meant this probably wasn't their first time on the island. For Barbarians still living in a primitive tribal era, a sense of danger in unfamiliar environments was almost essential.

If they weren't certain there was no danger here, they wouldn't have been so careless.

Yet another question arose in Chen Shouyi's mind.

Why were they here?

Looking at the Leather Pouch that seemed meant for carrying water, he thoughtfully turned his gaze toward a small Water Pool over a hundred meters away.

Could it be for fresh water?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. This small Water Pool was the only water source on the island—only a dozen or so meters across, but extremely deep, its bottom invisible. To be cautious, Chen Shouyi never went near it under normal circumstances. Even when thirsty, he brought his own bottled water.

If there was any place most likely to be their destination, it had to be this Water Pool.

He took a deep breath, set the Shell Girl aside carelessly, then gripped the Wooden Stick, crouched low, and moved swiftly yet softly through the grass toward the Water Pool.

Half a minute later, he crouched down again.

His judgment was correct. They really did seem to be just fetching water.

The two Barbarians walked along a familiar path, chatting as they came this way.

Barbarian appearances didn't conform to human aesthetics—at least these two didn't. Their faces were coarse and ugly beyond words.

One was slightly older, with wrinkles already showing on his forehead, a mouthful of yellow buckteeth slightly protruding, and nostrils pointing skyward.

The other was in his prime but had crossed eyes, and his face looked as if it had been smacked with a brick—completely flat.

Neither of them showed any vigilance. No one would have guessed that on this barren Small Island, someone was lurking in the grass, ready to take their lives.

In a few minutes, they reached the Water Pool.

They crouched down and began to fill their containers.

"Now!"

His expression hardened. He pushed off the ground with force, darting out from the hidden grass like an arrow loosed from a bow.

In just a few strides, he covered over ten meters.

The older Barbarian seemed to sense the movement and instinctively turned his head.

He saw a Wooden Stick rapidly closing in on his face. The next moment, it pierced through his throat without stopping, snapping his neck bones and exiting through the back of his neck.

The whole process was a flash of lightning, too fast for thunder to follow. Only then did the other Barbarian react, roaring in fury as he lunged at Chen Shouyi.

Chen Shouyi's mind was eerily calm, without the panic of his first fight. He swiftly pulled the Wooden Stick from the Barbarian's throat and agilely stepped back.

The Barbarian lunged into empty air, his body unavoidably faltering for a moment. Before he could make another move, a textbook Forward Lunge Stab sent the Wooden Stick like lightning, clean through his chest.

He didn't linger for a moment. After landing the hit, he quickly retreated.

The wound on the chest, as thick as a baby's arm, gushed a torrent of blood.

But such damage wasn't enough to kill him instantly.

He let out a thunderous roar, his face fierce. Without even glancing at the wound, he charged at Chen Shouyi with heavy strides.

But after just a few steps, his pace slowed. Finally, unable to hold on, he slowly sank to his knees.

Once both Barbarians were dead, Chen Shouyi let out a breath and sat down on the grass.

His hands were trembling uncontrollably.

During the fight, he had been utterly focused, with no stray thoughts—only the single aim of killing. But now, coming to his senses, he felt a creeping fear.

He felt as if he had become someone else just now, without a shred of hesitation, without a trace of struggle, without an ounce of fear. He could hardly believe that such a violent streak lay hidden deep within him.

After all, there was no personal hatred between him and these two Barbarians—only a conflict of interest.

Their existence stood in his way!

Or maybe there was also the influence of propaganda. In the eyes of Earth, Barbarians were almost indistinguishable from demons, always appearing alongside slaughter and bloodshed.

He gradually pulled himself together. He had killed them, and that was that. He stopped dwelling on it.

He stood up, his mind quickly calming down.

Sometimes, the panic after killing isn't about the act itself, but the consequences it brings. On this Otherworld island, even if two Barbarians died, or even two humans, no one would notice.

But he still had to deal with the two bodies. Not just because they would rot, but also to muddy the waters if more Barbarians showed up.

He walked over, hoisted a corpse onto his shoulder, and trudged heavily down the hill.

The beached Dugout Canoe was still tied in place.

He waded through the seawater and laid the body onto the canoe.

The Dugout Canoe was quite spacious. If packed tight, it could hold over a dozen people.

On it, he found dozens of sea fish of various sizes, a rough Fishing Net, two oars, a few black lumps that looked like sweet potatoes, and two spears.

Looking at these strange spears, over three meters long with sharp tips on both ends, Chen Shouyi felt a wave of relief. If those two Barbarians had been carrying weapons, the fight wouldn't have been so easy.

He made two trips back and forth, hauling the bodies onto the Dugout Canoe.

Then he untied the rope, and as the tide came in, he pushed the Dugout Canoe toward the Great Sea with all his might.

He knew full well that this Dugout Canoe and the bodies on it would still be a risk.

But the Dugout Canoe was too huge and too heavy to destroy and hide. Leaving it here would only be more dangerous.

He watched as the Dugout Canoe drifted farther and farther away.

He silently prayed, hoping that this matter would end here, with both sides leaving each other alone.

He stared for a long time, then let out a breath. Picking up the two spears, he turned and walked back.

When he reached the area near his passage, the place where he usually stayed, he found that the Shell Girl was gone.

Cold sweat broke out on him.

Earlier, when he was fired up and focused, rushing to ambush by the Water Pool, he hadn't bothered to tie the Shell Girl up again. He had just tossed her aside.

Now, she had clearly taken the chance to escape.