If only he hadn't been so careless!
Chen Shouyi hurriedly searched all around, nearly covering the entire Small Island. At last, near the beach, he spotted her by following a thread dangling from the sky in the distance.
She was flying more than a hundred meters up, desperately heading out over the Great Sea. When she saw Chen Shouyi chasing after her, she panicked and flew even higher.
"Come back!" Chen Shouyi was getting anxious. He hurriedly shouted in his halting Common Tongue.
Shell Girl glanced back at Chen Shouyi, then turned away and continued flying without looking back.
Chen Shouyi was frantic. He immediately resorted to his old trick, fumbling in his pocket for a glass bead.
"Gem!" he shouted.
He'd made a point of memorizing that word because it let him communicate effectively with Shell Girl.
Shell Girl stopped in midair, wavering. But a few seconds later, she finally overcame the temptation and resolutely continued flying.
"Many!" he shouted.
He quickly searched his pockets, then dug a few glass beads, each smaller than a mung bean, out of the seams. He placed them in his palm and showed them to her.
Shell Girl hesitated again. She stayed motionless in the air for a long time.
"Big!" Chen Shouyi pressed on. He didn't have any large glass beads on him, though; he'd have to go buy some. For now, he could only make an empty promise.
That one word, "big," finally broke through Shell Girl's last resistance. After hesitating for a long while, she slowly flew down.
When the end of the Nylon Rope came dangling down, Chen Shouyi hurriedly grabbed it and breathed a sigh of relief.
Shell Girl drifted slowly to the ground and turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Chen Shouyi understood. He quickly crouched down and set the glass beads on the ground.
Shell Girl didn't even spare the beads a glance. She shouted, "Big! Big! Big!"
"'Big,' my ass!" Chen Shouyi snapped. The first "big" had been in Common Tongue; the rest were in Chinese.
He snatched Shell Girl up and strode back to his base.
Shell Girl struggled nonstop in his hand, angrily shouting something, but he couldn't understand a word of it.
He brought her back near the passage entrance, took out the Nylon Rope and Tape, and expertly tied up her hands and feet before sealing her mouth. Then he put her in his briefcase.
"Just who do you think you are, acting up like this?"
Before leaving, he checked his clothes and saw that there was no blood on them. Then he came out through the passage.
When he reached the street and saw the crowds bustling by, Chen Shouyi suddenly felt as if he'd crossed into another lifetime. Just moments ago, he'd been killing people, his life hanging by a thread. Now, all around him, everything was peaceful and serene.
He let out a breath, and the faint heaviness in his heart quickly vanished.
The first thing he did was buy a box of large glass beads, then he returned to the hotel where he was staying.
Back in his room, he let Shell Girl out. She freed herself from her restraints, then sat there with a wooden expression, unmoving and sulking.
She was clearly furious. Before long,
Actually, when he thought about it, it made sense. She'd had a chance to escape his clutches and regain her freedom, but in the end she couldn't resist temptation and foolishly walked right into his trap. Worse, he hadn't kept his promise; he'd treated her even more roughly instead.
Her heartbreak and regret went without saying.
Chen Shouyi looked at Shell Girl, then rudely pushed her over with a finger.
She lay on her back on the bed, expression numb, two streams of tears silently running down her cheeks.
Seeing her hopeless expression amused Chen Shouyi, so he stopped teasing her. He waved a hand in front of her, then stuffed a Fancy Glass Bead as big as her head into her arms.
Her face, which had been tear-streaked and sulky just moments ago, instantly brightened. She looked at Chen Shouyi in delighted surprise, hurriedly hugged the glass bead tight, and refused to let go.
Chen Shouyi smiled, picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and switched to the cartoons. Then he left her alone.
He needed some time to calm down.
All this time, he hadn't made much preparation at all, since there wasn't much danger on the island.
To him, the Small Island was just a place to practice.
Aside from a wooden stick and a kitchen knife that could barely pass for weapons, he had nothing else to deal with threats. After all, who could have imagined that barbarians would come to this desolate Small Island?
But the appearance of those two barbarians today had completely shattered his old illusions.
The Small Island wasn't safe. The barbarians' presence meant there had to be a gathering place for them nearby, perhaps on a neighboring island, perhaps on a continent.
Two barbarians had come today; more might pass by tomorrow. No one could guarantee this would be the last time.
Chen Shouyi didn't dare count on being this lucky every time. He had to prepare.
At least until he was strong enough to face them head-on, he didn't want to give up this island in the other world.
Fortunately, although the country strictly controlled weapons for anyone below the Martial Apprentice level, no one could stop him from buying weapons as long as he didn't carry them around in public.
He immediately took out his phone and logged into Weapon Treasure.
It was a specialized business-to-consumer online store for cold weapons.
His old phone loaded the webpage at a snail's pace, making him anxious as he waited.
It took well over a minute for the page to finish loading, and it only froze once along the way.
He felt that he really needed to buy a new phone.
He immediately searched for War Bows rated at over 300 pounds. Among cold weapons, if you were talking about killing efficiency, Bow and Arrow naturally came first; no other weapon could compare.
He soon realized that he had far less money than he'd imagined. War Bows were more expensive than swords, and even the cheapest one cost over thirty thousand.
Besides, a 300-pound War Bow was far too light for him. Especially under three times Earth's gravity, he wouldn't be able to shoot very far, and its power would be limited. Other than for regular practice and the Martial Apprentice assessment, it wouldn't be much use.
After weighing it up, he decided that rather than buying a 300-pound bow meant for apprentices, he'd be better off getting a powerful bow suited to his strength. He immediately filtered for bows rated at over 500 pounds. Bows of that draw weight were already in the range used by martial warriors.
The moment the webpage loaded, the string of zeroes after each War Bow's price made Chen Shouyi's head spin, even though he'd already guessed how expensive these bows would be.
150,000!
That was the cheapest War Bow, and that was after an 8.5 discount for the National Day promotion.
The mid-range ones cost five or six hundred thousand, and the most expensive reached over four million.
He'd gotten 110,000 from selling gold, plus the 18,000 Mother Chen had sent him. After subtracting what he'd spent over the past few days, he had just over 120,000 in total. He'd thought he was already quite well-off.
He hadn't expected he couldn't even afford a War Bow.
Unable to resist, he clicked on the most expensive one. It was a stunning War Bow with elegant lines and a futuristic look, its smooth bow body made of carbon fiber and its string made from the sinew of a mysterious animal from the other world.
According to the store's description, the mysterious sinew still retained its life force, so its abilities hadn't completely disintegrated on Earth; they'd merely gone dormant. If used in the other world, it could even gather streams of light around the arrows, multiplying their speed and power.
Chen Shouyi could only stare and drool. The War Bow was not only eye-catching but also powerful. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford it.
He resisted the urge to take one more look and resolutely closed the webpage.
Then he opened a secondhand cold-weapons marketplace.
The prices there were much cheaper, though there was no guarantee of quality. But with Chen Shouyi short on cash, he couldn't afford to be picky.
He soon picked out an 80%-new War Bow and an Alloy Sword from a reputable store. After chatting with customer service and repeatedly confirming that he could return them if there were any quality issues, he placed the order.
Seeing the total price of 105,000, Chen Shouyi couldn't help sighing. Money really didn't go far.
Fortunately, it had been easy for him to earn, so he didn't feel too pained.
Besides, Shell Girl's hard work over the past few days had helped him collect quite a lot of Gold Sand. He hadn't weighed it precisely, but Chen Shouyi estimated that it already weighed another half a pound.
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